THURSDAY,  JUNE 25,  2009

THE POWERS THAT BE - AT 11:13 P.M. ET:  John Conyers, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, is one of the most left-wing members of Congress.  His wife has serious corruption charges against her.  Yet, he recently agreed to conduct an investigation of ACORN, the shady political group that "registers" voters and does other things, always on behalf of ultra-lib candidates.  ACORN was instrumental in the Obama campaign.

Well, Conyers's investigation has vanished into thin air.  From The Washington Times:

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. has backed off his plan to investigate purported wrongdoing by the liberal activist group ACORN, saying "powers that be" put the kibosh on the idea.

Mr. Conyers, Michigan Democrat, earlier bucked his party leaders by calling for hearings on accusations the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) has committed crimes ranging from voter fraud to a mob-style "protection" racket.

"The powers that be decided against it," Mr. Conyers told The Washington Times as he left the House chambers Wednesday.

The chairman declined to elaborate, shrugging off questions about who told him how to run his committee and give the Democrat-allied group a pass.

COMMENT:  By any standard, this should be a major media story.  ACORN has great influence inside the Democratic Party, and it will participate in taking the census next year, an outrageous arrangement that puts a group with very questionable practices right in the center of the process that determines which states gain and lose congresspeople, and where. 

But is the press concerned?  What do you think the answer is?

June 25, 2009   Permalink

OH - AT 10:52 P.M. ET:  There seems to be so much happening, that most Americans are unaware that U.S. forces in Iraq must withdraw from central cities by June 30th.  Now, though, there are second thoughts, as The Times of London reports:

There are fears that a premature departure will lead to a return of sectarian violence or allow al-Qaeda to re-establish itself. Many would like the Americans to remain until security is restored permanently.

“After you guys pull out from the city I don’t know what our enemies are going to do,Thaban Hassan said. The head of an Iraqi Army battalion in Baquba, he told the American soldiers gathered in his office that “safety is not 100 per cent . . . why are the Americans leaving?”

“If it was up to me,” a US army captain said, “we would stay in the city, take a more active role, even.”

COMMENT:  This is what happens when you establish arbitrary deadlines to satisfy political groups, including political groups in Iraq.  We can easily snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, as, in the opinion of many, we did in Vietnam.  There has been a major spike in terrorist violence in Iraq recently.  The Obamans don't seem very concerned.  If things start to unravel in the coming months, they'll just blame BUSH (!!).  But the excuse is wearing out.  We should have tactical flexibility in Iraq to save a fragile situation.

June 25,  2009   Permalink

THE NATIONAL BUSINESS - AT 7:53 P.M. ET:  There's an old saying that Americans have two businesses, their own and show business.  Show business makes news, and Americans are riveted.  Farrah Fawcett died today, after a struggle with cancer.  But even on her dying day she couldn't get the individual starring role, as Michael Jackson died hours later.  I felt more sorry about Farrah, who suffered greatly, and who tried, over the years, to constantly improve herself as an actress.  Underneath the glamour, she was the real thing, and deserved more credit.

I've been monitoring the news networks.  It's all Michael, all the time.  He was a phenomenon, rather than a great artist.  I can't say that I cared for his music, which was directed at kids.  However, he was an entertainer in the great sense of that term, and had the good sense to work with Quincy Jones in building his career.  I guess there'll be an autopsy, but his death, according to first reports, was sudden and natural. 

Coming a few days after the death of Ed McMahon, we see three pictures of show business.  Ed, the second banana, represented traditionalism.  Basic meat-and-potatoes entertainment for grown-ups.  Farrah was the consummate female "movie star," an image that is hard to forget.  Her famous poster recalled the pinups of Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth.  Michael Jackson was the minority, who came along when minorities could become stars in their own right, cross over to entertain whites, and use the same entrance used by everyone else. 

All three will be missed in their own way.  But Ed, who died at 86, achieved longevity.  The others did not. 

June 25, 2009   Permalink   

OUR RIGHT NOT TO CHOOSE - AT 10:23 A.M. ET:  President Obama appeared on ABC yesterday, in what Republicans have charged was an infomercial for his health-care "reform" plan.  What the president said was chilling to anyone who could read between the lines, and anyone who's ever been to a doctor can easily do so:

Reporting from Washington -- President Obama suggested at a town hall event Wednesday night that one way to shave medical costs is to stop expensive and ultimately futile procedures performed on people who are about to die and don't stand to gain from the extra care.

In a nationally televised event at the White House, Obama said families need better information so they don't unthinkingly approve "additional tests or additional drugs that the evidence shows is not necessarily going to improve care."

There you have it.  We need "better information."  From whom?  We get our information now from the physicians we choose.  Who will be this new educator that we need so much?

And those dumb families out there had better stop "unthinkingly" approve procedures that may "not necessarily" improve care.  Stupid, unthinking families, trying to do the best for their relatives.  How unintellectual is that?

"Not necessarily" improve care?  What does that mean?  Who decides? 

Oh sure, there are unnecessary tests, often ordered by doctors to cover themselves and avoid malpractice suits.  But reform the scandalous malpractice lawsuit business?  Nothing doing, according to this administration.  Trial lawyers are among the largest contributors to the Democratic Party.

Doctor Obama, showing the same human feeling he displayed toward the Iranian freedom fighters, added:

"Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller."

Obama said he has personal familiarity with such a dilemma. His grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given less than nine months to live, he said.

She fell and broke her hip, "and the question was, does she get hip replacement surgery, even though she was fragile enough they were not sure how long she would last?"

Who decides that, Mr. President?  The physician treating her, or a government bureaucrat with a chart listing alternatives?

COMMENT:  Now, consider this:  Are you familiar with the abortion debates?  This has nothing to do with your position on abortion - our readers are all over the lot on this one - but with the logic of the arguments.  One of the key arguments made by pro-choice forces is that "a woman's right to choose" involves a decision between her and her doctor, with no one else intervening.  Am I right in describing that?  In other words, it is a private decision.

Now, though, the president is changing the standard.  In his world, our right to make medical decisions will not be based on private deliberations.  A third party will be present, providing different information, different suggestions, and giving different orders.  That party will, of course, be the government, as in socialist countries. 

Question:  Why should the standard for life-and-death family matters be different from the standard for abortion?

Yes, our system needs improvement.  And yes, I do believe that, under our moral codes as a Judeo-Christian country, everyone should receive quality health care.  And yes, insurance companies can be both good and bad, and I've been \with both.  But the solutions to our problems do not lie in systems that have failed elsewhere and will reduce the quality of care to one mediocre level. 

As with most things, President Obama has not thought through his proposals.  He sees things intellectually, not related to the real world.  There is a catastrophe in the making here unless we stop and look at exactly what's being proposed, then modify it, or stop it entirely if it does more harm than good.

June 25, 2009   Permalink 

WATCH THIS CAREFULLY - AT 8:43 A.M. ET:  The first lady makes her move, from The Washington Post:

WASHINGTON -- For weeks, Michelle Obama had been telling her staff and closest confidantes that she wasn't having the impact she wanted. She is a woman of substance, with a background in law, public policy and management, who found herself relegated to role model in chief. The West Wing of the White House -- the fulcrum of power and policy -- had not fully integrated her into its agenda. She wanted more.

So, earlier this month, she changed her chief of staff, and now she's changing her role.

Her new chief of staff, Susan Sher, 61, is a close friend and former boss who the first lady thinks will be more forceful about getting her and her team on the West Wing's radar screen. The first thing Sher said she told senior adviser David Axelrod, whom she has known for years: When I call, "you need to get back to me right away."

COMMENT:  First, I love the comment, "She is a woman of substance, with a background in law, public policy and management..."  And if she had chosen to devote all her time to raising her two daughters?  Would that have made her less substantive?  The cultural bias in this piece is overwhelming.

Next, when did "first lady" become an official position?  Was Michelle on the ballot?  I don't recall her name there.

Third, are we seeing the emergence of the next Democratic candidate for president, in 2016?  That is a serious question.  After all, Hillary tried it.  The precedent is there. 

Hmm.

June 25, 2009   Permalink 

WHAT WE CAN DO - AT 7:56 A.M. ET:  A distinguished physicist alerts Urgent Agenda to the fact that Iran imports 85% of its refined gasoline.  There's a bill up in Congress that would try to clamp down on those imports through sanctions.  You can call or e-mail members of Congress to get going on this.  Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee are listed here.  The bill is, naturally, being opposed by the Obama administration.

June 25, 2009   Permalink

CHANGE IN TACTICS - AT 7:41 A.M. ET:  Ace reporter Eli Lake, formerly of the well-remembered New York Sun, now of the Washington Times, reports that the opposition in Iran is changing tactics in a bid to stay alive, against the overwhelming repressive power of the regime:

Iran's pro-democracy movement is changing strategy and will use smaller and more dispersed demonstrations to try to protect protesters from security forces, who dissidents now say have killed nearly 250 people in the past 10 days.

Mohsen Makhmalbaf, a prominent Iranian filmmaker who is serving as a spokesman in the West for opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, told The Washington Times that the opposition movement is also asking Iranians all over the world to light candles in silent protest Friday to commemorate Neda Agha-Soltan, a young woman killed by security forces Saturday.

Her slaying, captured on video and sent around the world via the Internet, has become a symbol of the protest movement and of the Iranian government's crackdown on those disputing the purported landslide victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

COMMENT:  Lake adds that President Obama described Neda's death as "heartbreaking."  We will add for the record that the description had to be pried out of him by a reporter at the president's news conference.  Mr. Obama's coldness will be remembered.

June 25, 2009   Permalink

FROM IRAN - AT 7:23 A.M. ET:  Government forces are clearly winning the battle for the streets, as CNN reports:

(CNN) -- A ceremony Thursday to remember the victims of Iran's post-election protests has been postponed -- a day after security forces crushed a planned demonstration with a show of force...

...The event was postponed for a week, but the Web site did not offer an alternate date.

According to official figures, 17 people have died in clashes with government forces since the protests began.

CNN has received unconfirmed reports of as many as 150 deaths related to the popular uprising on just Saturday alone.

And...

The number of demonstrators venturing into Tehran's streets had fallen since Sunday, said CNN's Reza Sayah, who returned to the U.S. Wednesday from Iran.

He said exhaustion from consecutive days of protest may have combined with fear of government reprisals.

CNN has received numerous accounts of night-time roundups of opposition activists and international journalists by government forces.

COMMENT:  To watch cynicism in motion, note how the "world community" adjusts to the thug regime once it has entirely put down the revolt.  We did it with the Soviet Union once it put down Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.  Sad, but the amoral Obama administration will probably lead the world in its eagerness to "engage" the mullahs, and their President Ahmadinejad.

June 25, 2009   Permalink

WEDNESDAY,  JUNE 24,  2009

BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE...OR A LITTLE LESS WARM - AT 9:03 P.M. ET:  With all the foreign news, Americans may not be aware that a "global warming" bill is making its way through the Democratic-controlled Congress, all based on the "science" that's become religious doctrine to a good chunk of Washington.  But reader John Catherwood alerts us to a great piece at Real Clear Politics on how the global-warming scare is becoming less scary in Australia, thanks in part to a major scientist who's had the courage to come forward and expose the hokum, and a journalist who's had the intellectual honesty to admit that he'd been wrong: 

As the US Congress considers the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill, the Australian Senate is on the verge of rejecting its own version of cap-and-trade. The story of this legislation's collapse offers advance notice for what might happen to similar legislation in the US—and to the whole global warming hysteria.

Since the Australian government first introduced its Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) legislation—the Australian version of cap-and-trade energy rationing—there has been a sharp shift in public opinion and political momentum against the global warming crusade. This is a story that offers hope to defenders of industrial civilization—and a warning to American environmentalists that the climate change they should be afraid of just might be a shift in the intellectual climate.

The scientist is Australia's Ian Plimer, author of "Heaven and Earth, Global Warming: The Missing Science."

One of the most remarkable changes occurred on April 13, when leading global warming hysteric Paul Sheehan - who writes for the main Sydney newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald, which has done as much to hype the threat of global warming as any Australian newspaper - reviewed Plimer's book and admitted he was taken aback. He describes Plimer, correctly, as "one of Australia's foremost Earth scientists," and praised the book as "brilliantly argued" and "the product of 40 years' research and breadth of scholarship."

That's when the nonsense starts to come apart:  Real scientists using real science, not theory, to examine "global warming."  The entire piece, which examines the way global warming has been sold as a new religion, is well worth reading.  It concludes:

Australia is not that different from America. If a shift in public opinion against the global warming dogma can happen on one side of the earth, it can happen on the other—especially when the US edition of Plimer's book, scheduled for July 1, hits the stands.

His role, Plimer says, is to show "that the emperor has no clothes." After three decades of relentless global warming propaganda, it's about time.

COMMENT:  I just hope it isn't too late.   The Very Rev. Al Gore is relentless, and his parishioners are on the warpath.  A law may be signed soon, and we'll see hundreds of billions down the drain as we worship a dying theory.

June 24, 2009   Permalink

FROM IRAN - AT 7:30 P.M. ET:  The sketchy news from Iran indicates that there were small demonstrations today, brutally put down by the government.  It is clear that the mullahs are winning the battle in the streets, no surprise given their overwhelming military and police power.

TEHRAN — Hundreds of protesters clashed with waves of riot police and paramilitary militia in Tehran on Wednesday, witnesses said, as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, insisted that the authorities would not yield to pressure from opponents demanding a new election following allegations of electoral fraud.

It was impossible to confirm the extent of the new violence in the capital because of draconian new press restrictions on coverage of the post-election mayhem. But the witnesses reached by telephone said the confrontation, in the streets near the national Parliament building, was bloody, with police using live ammunition.

COMMENT:  I fear that this story will be history within days, and a relieved Obama administration can get back to the real business of "engagement," with a heavy dose of appeasement and a flavoring of apology.

Oh, by the way, in an act of diplomatic courage unrivaled in modern history, the Obamans today withdrew - yes, I said withdrew - the invitation previously extended to Iranian diplomats to attend July 4th celebrations at American embassies around the world.  No hot dogs for them!  And dammit, no Cokes either!  You want tough, we'll give them tough!

Uh, yes, we have to add the administration's admission that no Iranian diplomat had accepted our invitation anyway.

June 24, 2009   Permalink

DIPLOMATIC NEWS - AT 7:03 P.M. ET: 

MARACAY, Venezuela (Reuters) - The United States and Venezuela will soon reinstate ambassadors expelled in a diplomatic spat last year, a sign of warmer relations between President Hugo Chavez and what he calls the U.S. "empire."

Leftist Chavez has toned down his strident criticism of U.S. foreign policy since Barack Obama took office in January, partly because the U.S. president is popular in Latin America in contrast to his predecessor George W. Bush.

Obama, in turn, has pledged to engage with countries considered problematic by the United States.

COMMENT:  This news comes on the same day that we learn that we're returning our ambassador to Syria, another gem of a regime.  It is simply another indication of the march to the left by the Obama administration.  It comes in the same week when the president of the United States had to be dragged by his former opponent, John McCain, into a statement endorsing the drive for Iranian democracy.

Aren't you proud of your government again?

June 24, 2009   Permalink

THE OBAMA IRAN LETTER - AT 5:34 P.M. ET:  Eyebrows are being raised in response to news that President Obama sent a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader just before the Iranian "election" calling for diplomatic engagement. 

(CNN) -- U.S. President Obama sent a direct message to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei weeks before this month's disputed election, Iranian sources said Wednesday.

The letter requested dialogue and engagement between the two nations, the sources said.

The sources said that Khamenei has yet to reply to the letter but that nonetheless it "had set the negotiating table in order for both sides to sit around it after the election."

The White House refused to "get into the specifics of our different ways of communicating," a senior Obama administration official said.

COMMENT:  You'd think the president of the United States could have at least waited until after the "election," so he'd know who he was dealing with.  And you'll notice that the Supreme Leader hasn't even responded yet, even though the letter was sent weeks ago. 

That's more groveling, equal to today's major grovel, in which we agreed to send an ambassador back to Syria, getting nothing in return for our gesture.  We'd removed our ambassador four years ago in protest over Syria's alleged involvement in the murder of a Lebanese leader.  Apparently, that's not important anymore.  Just ask the Lebanese.

Anyone want to volunteer to be a friend of the United States?

Jimmah Carter, you have found your match.

June 24, 2009   Permalink

SANFORD SINS - AT 5:16 P.M. ET:  Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, a possible Republican hopeful for president in 2012, doesn't have much hope left.  As you know, he was missing for, oh, four or five days.  Jokes were made.  Stories were told.  The governor was hiking.  The governor was resting.  The governor was on the trail.  Off the trail.  Decompressing after the strain of a legislative session.  Hosting the Tonight Show.  (No, no, strike that one.)

It turns out that the governor was in Argentina having an affair with an Argentinean woman:

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina, said he had conducted an extra-marital affair with a woman in Argentina, ending a mystery over his week-long disappearance that had infuriated lawmakers and seemed to put his rising political career in jeopardy. He apologized for the affair and the deception surrounding his trip in a rambling, nationally televised news conference Wednesday afternoon.

“I hurt a lot of different folks,” Gov. Mark Sanford said during a news conference at the statehouse in Columbia, S.C.

Governor Sanford, 49, admitted that he had been in Buenos Aires since Thursday, not hiking on the Appalachian Trail as his staff had told reporters.

COMMENT:  A few weeks ago Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada, another rising star, admitted that he'd been unfaithful.  A bit further back, Democratic Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York admitted the same, and resigned.  His successor, current Dem Governor David Paterson also confessed.  Bill Clinton admitted it.  John Edwards, presidential candidate, confessed big time.  As Johnny Carson used to ask, "Who am I leaving out?" 

Just once I'd like to see a headline reading:  GOVENOR JONES STAYS FAITHFUL; ADMITS TO BEING A BORING MAN. 

Would CNN cover that news conference?

So two potential GOP presidential contenders, Ensign and Sanford, are history.  The party had better start building some new stars.  It should start by sending private eyes after them with cameras.

June 24, 2009   Permalink

LATEST ON IRAN - AT 8:26 A.M. ET:  To its credit, The New York Times has been running a minute-by-minute from Tehran, the news largely supplied by bloggers and Twitterers.  We caution that these reports cannot be verified, and are presented in raw form:

Update | 8:19 a.m. According to an update on Twitter a minute ago, attributed to the Iranian blogger Mojtaba Samienejad, there have been clashes in front of Iran’s Parliament:

Conflict in Baharestan Sq. They even attack to people walk on sidewalk and use Tears GAS

Update | 8:12 a.m. Iran’s Press TV reports that police officers in Tehran have raided a campaign office for the opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi, and declared that it was the “headquarters for a psychological war against the country’s security.” According to the satellite broadcaster financed by Iran’s government:

COMMENT:  The anticipated rally in Tehran was apparently moved from 7:30 a.m. ET to 8:00 a.m.  We are trying to get confirmation that it is taking place.  That may take hours.  But a major day of confrontation can possibly occur in Iran.

June 24, 2009   Permalink

IS THE PRESS GETTING TOUGHER ON OBAMA? - AT 8:14 A.M. ET:  A study of yesterday's presidential news conference does show a toughening in reporters' attitudes that we haven't seen before.  Michael Goodwin of The New York Daily News comments on what we hope is a permanent change:

Yesterday, the White House press corps called the end of the Obama honeymoon.

By peppering the President with forceful questions on Iran and other big topics and by challenging some of his slippery answers, reporters captured the changing tone in the country. Like the end of a real honeymoon, blind infatuation is giving way to a more accurate view of reality.

The reality is that polls show rising doubt about President Obama's handling of the economy and wide disapproval about exploding deficits. The reality is that even many Democrats worry the White House health plan is messy and unaffordable. The reality is that ranks of independents who voted for him find Obama far more liberal than they expected.

It's also true that many news organizations have embarrassed themselves with fawning Obama coverage and are the subject of growing ridicule, including from Obama himself.

Goodwin writes of Obama's missed chances at the press conference:

He blew another chance when a reporter asked whether criticism by Sen. John McCain and other Republicans had forced the tougher stance. "What do you think?" he said, getting defensive and saying, "Only I am the President of the United States."

It's a bad habit, a sign of weakness, to pull rank, yet this White House does it repeatedly. Obama brushed back calls for changes in stimulus spending by saying, "I won," and his press secretary said, "We won," just the other day to a question.

We wrote about that here last night.  It continues what I've characterized as the adolescent quality of this administration.

Finally...

...voters are getting significantly more skeptical about the President. Iran added to the doubts.

The press corps gets it. For Obama, the hard part begins now.

COMMENT:  Let's finally see what he's made of.  The Iran crisis is far from over.  We are still tracking a North Korean ship believed to be carrying illegal materials.  The economy continues weak, with no sign the stimulus package is having any effect. 

A cautionary note, though:  The toughness of reporters at a news conference does not automatically translate into toughness by their editors back home.  Don't be shocked if you see the honeymoon continue a bit on the editorial pages, especially those in Washington, New York, and Boston.

June 24, 2009   Permalink

FLASHPOINT? - AT 7:42 A.M. ET:  From Fox News:

Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi is expected to attend at a rally Wednesday amid an intensifying government crackdown on protesters following the country's disputed presidential election.

Mousavi's attendance is noted on his Facebook page, and there is speculation that former President Mohammad Khatami also will attend the rally, scheduled for 4 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EDT) in Tehran's Baharestan Square, outside of the Iranian parliament.

Also on Mousavi's Facebook page, online supporters have posted that peaceful protests will be held at the same time in over 15 countries and 10 American cities.

COMMENT:  A word of caution is in order.  We've noticed during this crisis that many things are promised, and few are delivered.  A general strike had been called for yesterday, but never materialized.  The number of demonstrators in the streets had been reduced to the hundreds, in the face of a cruel government crackdown.

So let's see if Mousavi shows up, or even if there's a demonstration.  So far, the government appears to be winning. 

June 24, 2009   Permalink 

NOTHING LIKE A LITTLE CYNICISM - AT 7:30 A.M. ET:  From The Washington Post:

President Obama has decided to return a U.S. ambassador to Syria after an absence of more than four years, marking a significant step toward engaging an influential Arab nation long at odds with the United States.

The acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, Jeffrey D. Feltman, informed Syria's ambassador to Washington, Imad Mustafa, tonight of Obama's intention, according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the decision had yet to be made public.

COMMENT:  Syria is one of the strongest backers of the Iranian regime.  And here we are rewarding Syria...at this time.  The cynicism is pathetic.  You'll notice that the demonstrators in Iran are not shouting "Obama!  Obama!"  The only people still shouting that are probably in Cambridge, Massachusetts, or Berkeley, California. 

This administration has thus far been the most indifferent toward human rights since Bush 41.  Not a great record to stand on.

June 24, 2009   Permalink