Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

OUR DAILY SNIPPETS ARE HERE.

SUNDAY,  MAY 23,  2010

KOREAN CONFRONTATION – NEXT STEPS – AT 5:14 P.M. ET:  This story is not getting the attention it deserves.  It could lead to a major flareup in Asia. 

BEIJING -- South Korea said on Sunday that it would ask the U.N. Security Council to punish North Korea for its deadly attack on a South Korean warship, a move that could ratchet up pressure on the isolated Stalinist regime and mark a defining moment for Asia.

The request will come in an address to the nation Monday by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak during which Lee will detail a package of measures South Korea will take in response to the March 26 torpedoing of the 1,200-ton Cheonan and the killing of 46 sailors, according to a statement by presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan.

A senior U.S. official, traveling with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in China, said the United States would back "all the steps the South Koreans are going to announce tomorrow." In an indication of the seriousness with which the Obama administration views the unfolding drama, he added: "We have not faced something like this in decades."

That's an important statement, underlying a level of toughness toward North Korea that we've not seen from the Obama administration.  Question:  Is this Hillary Clinton speaking, or the president?  Will Obama back Clinton if she stands strong toward the North Koreans, or will we have the classic Obama backdown?

Among the other measures, analysts said, were cuts in South Korean trade with the North, the re-listing of North Korea on the State Department's list of states that sponsor terrorism and tighter international sanctions on Pyongyang.

Already the attack on the Cheonan is shaking the region. It has provided the political cover for Japan's new government -- only the second opposition party to take power in nearly 50 years -- to end a feud with the United States and accept a base relocation plan for U.S. Marines in Okinawa that the government had battled for eight months. On Sunday, Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama announced his country would abide by the 14-year-old agreement with the United States to move the Futenma Marine Corps air base in Okinawa to a less populated part of the island.

And...

The attack and its aftermath is also threatening China's place in the region and could force it to make an unwanted choice between South Korea and North Korea -- two countries that it has handled deftly since Beijing normalized relations with Seoul in 1992.

COMMENT:  As the great James Durante used to say, "Everybody wants to get into the act."  Follow this story closely.  It will tell us a great deal about the direction of Obama's foreign policy in Asia, where, after all, he grew up.

May 23, 2010     Permalink

BUILT-IN BIAS – I heard something on ABC radio before that reminded me of the very real problem of media bias.

The newsreader was reporting that the individuals who murdered two police officers in Arkansas this week were rightist anti-government types who'd hinted at violence before.  A spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center was interviewed about the incident, and claimed that anti-government groups with violent tendencies have been growing in the last few years.

I had no real problem with the report.  It seemed pretty straightforward, and described, reasonably, the beliefs of the people involved.  What angered me, though, was the contrast between this report and the ones we get after real terrorist attacks, like Fort Hood, where the media does handstands to avoid attributing the outrage to militant Islam.  We're usually told nothing of the perpetrator's beliefs until Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, or some other brave journalistic souls bring it out. 

It's the double standard, based in left-wing ideology.  The rightist anti-government types are the enemy.  The jihadists are merely misunderstood, or have "grievances."

Journalism it ain't, which is why so many Americans have lost faith in the mainstream media.

May 23, 2010     Permalink

OH HOW CULTURALLY CHIC – AT 11:04 A.M. ET:  Do you laugh?  Do you cry?  Get this:

Masked gunmen from an islamic militant group torched a UN-run summer camp for children and teens in Gaza on Sunday, Army Radio reported, the top UN aid official in Gaza said.

John Ging says the assailants tied up the guard early Sunday, burned tents and vandalized bathrooms. UN officials say the attackers left behind three bullets and a note threatening to kill Ging and others unless the UN cancels its activities for some 250,000 Gaza children.

Two days before the incident, the previously unknown "The Free of the Homeland" militia issued a statement criticizing the camp's organizer, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), for "teaching schoolgirls fitness, dancing and immorality."

UNRWA responded to the destruction, saying Gazan youths suffer from heightened stress, and need opportunities like this summer camp, calling the perpetrators of the act, “people who hate life and children.”

Gaza's Hamas rulers have set up rival camps. Some Hamas leaders have also railed against U.N. camps.

COMMENT:  When Islamists attack a UN facility, you know just how extreme the Islamists are.  The UN is practically a front for the Muslim world.

Any comment from the Obama crowd?  Probably not.  They'd have to choke on the words "Islamic extremism."  Maybe Eric Holder can find that the Islamists really were just ordinary folk settling a personal grudge.  After all, Holder recently testified that there are many reasons why someone would commit a terrorist act.

And these are the extremists with which America and Israel are supposed to make peace.

May 23, 2010     Permalink

TREND CONTINUES – AT 10:49 A.M. ET:  President Obama's recent slippage in the Rasmussen poll is continuing.  For several months the president had been holding steady in that poll, but the old trend recently surfaced again:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -17.

And...

Overall, 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove.

COMMENT:  It's hard to know if there's any one factor that's driving the president's numbers down once more, but recent unemployment reports, his sluggish response to the Gulf spill, and his constantly losing foreign policy certainly aren't helping his cause.

Recent reports indicate that even some Democrats are distancing themselves from Mr. Obama's program as they run for office.  Not a good sign for the party for November.  But let's not get complacent.

May 23, 2010     Permalink

IT COULD MAKE YOU SCREAM – AT 10:37 A.M. ET:  Well, finally, Vietnam vets are getting some respect in Wisconsin.  Please read:

MADISON - When Jim Kurtz returned to Madison in 1967, he saw how strong the anti-war feelings were and decided not to talk about his years as an Army officer in Vietnam.

He went to work for state government not knowing that many of his co-workers were keeping the same secret. Kurtz discovered how much they had in common when he read their obituaries.

"You go to war and it's the single dominant experience you've had, but you don't talk about it," Kurtz said. "People I worked with closely for 20 years, and we never talked about it because in Madison, being a veteran was just not the thing to be."

Imagine that.  Not the thing to be.  Of course, it's Madison, which thrives on its chic left-wing culture.  Notice the contributions to the nation.

After serving in Vietnam in the 1960s and early 1970s, Kurtz and other veterans returned home to a country torn apart by mounting death tolls, reports of atrocities and revelations of government lies. In Madison, the anti-war movement was among the biggest and loudest in the country, and many veterans who re-entered civilian life here kept their heads down.

I'd have some hesitation about sweeping statements regaring "government lies."  I'm sure there were lies, but they were nothing compared to the lies and misinformation spread by the other side, and by some arrogant, irresponsible journalists, including Walter Cronkite, whose famous video editorial from Vietnam has turned out to be almost completely wrong.   

So it's a measure of how attitudes have changed that thousands of Vietnam veterans are expected to attend LZ Lambeau in Green Bay next weekend, an event designed to publicly express overdue thanks for their service, said lead organizer Don Jones of Madison.

"I can't count the number of veterans who've said this is the first time that anybody had ever mentioned the word 'thank you' to them," Jones said.

Wonderful.  Finally.  As far as attitudes changing, I'm not sure that's true of the old sixties crowd, which still resides in the woodwork of Madison.  But we have a 9-11 generation that at least understands the sacrifices of our forces.

May 23, 2010    Permalink

CELEBRATE FOR THE MOMENT – AT 10:04 A.M. ET:  A Republican has won a special congressional election in Hawaii, giving Mr. Obama's home state its first GOP representative in 20 years.  The winner will fill out the term of Neil Abercrombie, who resigned to run for governor.  There will be a rerun in November, for a full term.

There's a big asterisk here.  The district is heavily Democratic, and the Dems couldn't agree on a candidate, so two ran, splitting the Democratic vote.  That won't be true in November.

Republican Charles Djou won a special congressional election in Hawaii Saturday night, giving the GOP a boost as it attempts to retake the U.S. House in the November elections.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in an emailed statement, conceded the defeat shortly after the preliminary results of the race were released Saturday night. The Democrats hope to win back the seat in the regular November election.

With most votes counted, the 39-year-old Honolulu city councilman led the field with 39.5% of the vote. Behind him were two Democrats: Hawaii state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, with 30.8%, and former Congressman Ed Case, with 27.6%.

So, we can celebrate now, but please note that the combined Dem vote is more than 58%.  Djou has a pretty high mountain to climb in November.

May 23, 2010    Permalink

SATURDAY,  MAY 22,  2010

NOT SURPRISING – AT 8:49 P.M. ET:  This is really about assassination, but with a jihadist twist.  From The Times of London:

SCOTLAND YARD is preparing to embark on a wide-raging review of the security of all 650 MPs in light of intelligence that lone Muslim “self-radicalisers” may be targeting politicians.

Well-placed police officials said yesterday that the perceived security problem has now extended across all MPs, with the possibility of an attack by a self-radicalised Islamist extremist now being raised in recent intelligence reporting.

The latest intelligence coincides with growing concern in the Metropolitan police and Whitehall about David Cameron’s decision to jettison much of his personal-protection detail and his insisting on walking around and travelling without motorcycle outriders.

Terrorist “chatter” is said to have spiked recently as the England football team prepare for next month’s World Cup finals in South Africa.

But senior security sources say the real threat is also growing closer to home, with individual politicians among high- profile individuals at risk of being singled out for a shooting or stabbing attack similar to that involving Theo Van Gogh, a Dutch film-maker, in 2004.

COMMENT:  If there's concern in Britain, there's got to be concern here, the land of the Great Satan.  We've already taken an airliner strike on the Pentagon.  And remember that another airliner on 9/11 was headed for Washington before crashing in Pennsylvania.

It is awfully hard to protect all members of Congress or the administration, given the freewheeling nature of American politics. 

On March 1, 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists fired 30 rounds inside the chamber of the House of Representatives, wounding five congressmen.  A repeat, even something on a larger scale, is well within the realm of possibility.

May 22, 2010     Permalink

LET THE HYPOCRISY BEGIN – AT 8:33 P.M. ET:  What do you say about a guy who announces for governor, then tells a tale of woe about how his state has been run, lo, these many years, when his own father was governor during many of those years, and his own party has been in power the last four?

Does the word "hypocrite" come to mind?  From AP:

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo declared his candidacy for governor Saturday, delivering a full-throated call for political reform and pledging to make the notoriously dysfunctional state government more accountable to its citizens.

The announcement by Cuomo to seek the governorship once held by his iconic father, Mario Cuomo, had been widely expected. The Democrat disclosed his candidacy in a video released on his website before appearing before supporters later in the day.

Iconic?  What's iconic about Mario Cuomo?  No one here can recall what he did.  Oh, he was a liberal Democrat.  I guess that's what makes him iconic.

Cuomo made the announcement on the steps of the Tweed Courthouse in lower Manhattan, named for the leader of the city's corrupt 19th century Tammany Hall political machine. Cuomo said he did so because "Albany's antics today could make Boss Tweed blush."

And it wasn't thus while daddy was in the governor's chair?  Did these problems just begin?

"Enough is enough," Cuomo declared. "It's time for the people of the Empire State to strike back."

I guess that's a play on the movie, "The Empire Strikes Back."  How cutey.

Cuomo promised to cap the state's property taxes, which are among the highest in the nation, and to consolidate local governments and create a more favorable environment for job growth.

When did Dems like Cuomo ever have a problem with high taxes?

With his father standing nearby, the younger Cuomo cast himself as a populist crusader who would lead a "citizen's coalition" to restore integrity to state government.

"New York wasn't always like this. This isn't New York at its best," he said. "I represent the people of the state of New York and we want our government back."

When did you notice it was stolen, Andy?

Cuomo's effort to run as an outsider to reform state government will have to overcome some skepticism, given his deep ties to Albany and his membership in one of New York's most storied political families.

COMMENT:  That is one of the great understatements that I've read recently.

May 22, 2010     Permalink

NEW GUY IN TOWN – UH, NO, MAKE THAT OLD GUY STILL IN TOWN – AT 12:54 P.M. ET:  Continuing the Obama no-diversity policy, a good-old-guy is being named number two chap at Eric Holder's Justice Department.  Graduate of Hastings College of Law.  That's Berkeley.  Aren't you shocked?  From WaPo:

The White House nominated James M. Cole as deputy attorney general Friday, turning to a veteran Washington lawyer to fill a critical position that has been vacant for months.

Cole, 58, is a white-collar defense lawyer and longtime friend of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.

That's all we have to know.  "Longtime friend of..."  I'm sure we'll all sleep more soundly.

Cole has held numerous jobs in government, including 13 years at the Justice Department. He also worked as an independent monitor reviewing the operations of American International Group, the insurance giant that was bailed out during the financial crisis. Senate Republicans said they plan to make that an issue in his confirmation hearings.

COMMENT:  Yeah, I hope they bring it up.  This is the most inside administration I've ever seen.  Anybody hired who didn't go to one of the approved liberal schools?

May 22, 2010     Permalink

SPECIAL ELECTION DAY IN HAWAII – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  There's a special congressional election in Hawaii today, birthplace (we think) of Barack Obama.  It will fill the seat left vacant by ultra-libby Neil Abercrombie, who's running for governor.  Because of special circumstances, the GOP has a shot:

Republicans may have struck out in their bid to pick up a House seat in Tuesday's special election in southwestern Pennsylvania, which they had hoped would signal they were headed toward wiping out Democrats in November.

But Republicans will get another shot Saturday, in a special election in President Obama's native Hawaii. And their chances are looking good, as Democrats remain divided on who to support.

If Charles Djou wins Saturday against two Democrats who seem to be splitting their party's vote, he will be Hawaii's first Republican congressman in decades.

Obama, who was born in Hawaii, carried the state with 72 percent of the vote in the presidential election just two years ago. But prominent Democrats acknowledge the possibility of losing the seat on Saturday.

"Yeah," Rep. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said simply when asked this week if his organization is writing off the special election.

The party is split on whether to support state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa or former U.S. Rep. Ed Case. And the infighting among Democrats locally and nationally has left the door open for Djou.

"I think the people of Hawaii are learning, just as the American people are learning, that we do not have to follow the marching orders of the old boy network and the establishment," Djou said this week in a TV interview. "This congressional campaign is an opportunity for the voters of Hawaii to say, we own this seat, not the Democratic Party."

COMMENT:  The election is to fill an unexpired term.  Even if Djou wins, he would have to run again in November, presumably against a unified Dem party.  But we can enjoy the moment.

May 22, 2010     Permalink

RANDY, WE HARDLY KNOW YE – AT 11:39 A.M. ET:  The Rand Paul problem grows for the GOP, which now realizes it has a pain on its hands.  Paul is now trying to cancel his scheduled appearance on Meet the Press, apparently under pressure from party elders afraid of another gaffe.  From the McClatchy Newspapers:

WASHINGTON — In public, Senate candidate Rand Paul's Republican colleagues have tried to contextualize his controversial comments about anti-discrimination laws and the Obama administration's handling of the Gulf Coast oil spill, but privately they bemoan the political newcomer's gaffes and wish he'd focus less on the national media spotlight and more on Kentucky and the economy.

"In any campaign there's going to be a few bumps," said Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Yeah, but they all shouldn't be within 48 hours.

Paul didn't return calls requesting comment.

In an indication that he was heeding advice to limit his national exposure, Betsy Fischer, the executive producer of NBC's "Meet the Press," Tweeted late Friday afternoon that Paul said he was having "a tough week" and was trying to cancel his scheduled appearance on the show this Sunday. According to Fischer, such cancellations are rare, and only Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia have ever nixed planned appearances.

I love the way the TV guys make it seem that a scheduled appearance is a command performance.  The public won't care, but it should care about Rand Paul's candidacy.  The makes-your-blood-boil point is that Paul's views should have been examined before the Kentucky primary, but the press was AWOL on issues, reporting only the horse race.  Another great moment in journalism.

I realize we have Rand Paul supporters among our readers.  I've heard from you.  Your opinion will always be treated with respect, but on this dude I'll have to dissent.

May 22, 2010     Permalink

WELL, SHE ALREADY KNOWS ABOUT PHONY WORLDS – AT 11:06 A.M. ET:  Following on the streak of weird choices begun with the nomination of Rand Paul for the Senate from Kentucky, the GOP has now selected Linda McMahon as its Senate candidate in Connecticut.

Who's she, you ask.  You'd better.  Among other indications of refinement and class, she's the co-founder of the Worldwide Wrestling Federation, that great organizer of on-the-level wrestling events.  Uh, she will face a primary challenge, which will actually decide the nomination.

So, as Sinatra might have said, leave us we should examine how the GOP is exploiting its advantages.  Connecticut is a blue state.  Its attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, the Dem Senate candidate, was seen as a shoo-in for election in November...until this week when we learned he lied about his Vietnam War record.  That put the seat into play.  So who do the Republicans come up with, now that they've got a real shot? 

Why, of course, a lady who made her fortune in...wrestling.  That'll certainly move the foreign-policy crowd.  Well, I guess there are foreign wrestlers.  I'm assuming the GOP gave Ms. Full Nelson the nod because she can finance her own campaign.

Coming after Rand Paul, the beat goes on.  What next?  A female impersonator? 

May 22, 2010    Permalink