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MARCH 1,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:38 P.M. ET: 

UKRAINE ESCALATION – From CNN:  "Simferopol, Ukraine (CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared Saturday to dismiss warnings from world leaders to avoid military intervention in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, even amid growing evidence that pro-Russian forces were already in control of the region.  The rhetoric escalated Saturday night, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemning what he called 'the Russian Federation's invasion and occupation of Ukrainian territory' despite a statement by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev that no decision had been made on whether Moscow would dispatch forces."  Who's afraid of the Obamans?  Nobody.

RUSSIAN THREAT – Russia is making plans to administer another slap to Obama's face, although no move has been announced.  From Fox:  "The Russian government is making plans to recall its ambassador from the United States.  The request is being made by Russia's upper house of parliament to President Vladimir Putin, the chamber's speaker said on Saturday.  The request comes a day after President Obama warned Moscow that 'there will be consequences' if the county intervenes militarily in Ukraine.  The country is amid a major civil unrest, which has resulted in the ouster of its president and a new, interim leader.  The request also comes the same day the Russian parliament gave Putin permission to mobilize the country's military in Ukraine."

SARAH RIGHT AGAIN – Sarah Palin is giving herself a well-deserved pat on the back for having predicted Russian action in Ukraine.  From CNN:  "Sarah Palin may be having a bragging rights moment.  In 2008, when she was the GOP vice presidential nominee, Palin questioned in a speech whether then-Sen. Barack Obama would have the foreign policy credentials to handle a scenario in which Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.  'After the Russian army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama's reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence – the kind of response that would only encourage Russia's Putin to invade Ukraine next,' she said in Reno, Nevada on October 21, 2008.  The former Alaska governor was happy to highlight her prediction on Friday and scold those who criticized her 2008 comments."   Sarah has been right on many things, but she doesn't fit the media's image of a serious person.  Obama, who's perpetually wrong and incompetent, does."

March 1, 2014       Permalink

BAD CALL – AT 11:04 A.M. ET:   Should we put our faith in America's intelligence community?  Consider this, from first-class defense reporter Eli Lake, at the Daily Beast: 

A day after U.S. intelligence said there would be no Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s troops started coming over the border.

On Thursday night, the best assessment from the U.S. intelligence community—and for that matter most experts observing events in Ukraine—was that Vladimir Putin’s military would not invade Ukraine. Less than 24 hours later, however, there are reports from the ground of Russian troops pushing into the Ukrainian province of Crimea; the newly-installed Crimean prime minister has appealed to Putin to help him secure the country; Putin, in turn, is officially asking for parliament's permission to send Russian forces into Ukraine. It’s not a full-blown invasion—at least, not yet. But it’s not the picture U.S. analysts were painting just a day before, either.

There was good reason to think Putin wouldn’t do it. Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov told Secretary of State John Kerry that Russia respected the territorial integrity of the Ukraine. U.S. intelligence assessments concluded that the 150,000-man Russian military exercises announced by Putin on Wednesday were not preparations for an invasion of Ukraine because no medical units accompanied the troops. And Russian and U.S. diplomats were still working on Iran and Syrian diplomacy. All of this followed a successful Winter Olympic games for Putin’s Russia.

Yet private security contractors, working for the Russian military, seized control of two airports in Crimea on Friday. And Ukrainian border officials said that Russian cargo planes had landed inside the province, and that 10 military helicopters flew into Ukrainian airspace.

COMMENT:  You don't think them Japs could attack Pearl Harbor, do you?  I mean, they make plastic toys and can barely see. 

March 1, 2014       Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 10:41 A.M. ET:  Who is Barack Obama?  What president does he resemble?  From defense analyst K.T. McFarland at Fox:   

Russia, flush with new-found wealth from oil exports, expands its military reach and political influence abroad. A war-weary America slashes defense spending and retreats from the world. The president embarks on a massive government-subsidized program to develop alternative energy to replace fossil fuels.

Pundits cluck about America in retreat, and point to the rise of an Asian economic superpower. That’s the world circa 1976, but it sounds like quotes ripped from today’s headlines.

History has a way of repeating itself, or to quote the great Yogi Bera, it’s déjà vu all over again. The Obama administration is looking a lot like the Carter administration. Only worse.

President Obama may think the Cold War is over, as dated as yesteryear’s fashions. But President Putin thinks it’s game on, and Russia is winning. And there is ample evidence to support his claim.

I can’t wait for the pictures from the next Obama-Putin meet-up. It will be in June in Sochi, where President Obama would NOT go for the Olympics, but has to go for the G-8 summit.

In the past, Putin has looked bored, picking lint off his sleeve while Obama droned on.

This time he’ll no doubt have a smirk on his face: he’s got Snowden safely ensconced in Moscow, he’s calling the shots in Syria, he’s taken America’s place with Egypt, and Europe is addicted to his natural gas.

His budget is in surplus and his coffers flush with oil revenues.

COMMENT:   The Obama administration is the second term of Jimmy Carter.  But, as McFarland says, it's worse. 

The only two forces that have become more powerful in the world since Obama became president of a country he holds in contempt are Communism and radical Islam. 

We had Reagan in 1980.  I don't see anything similar today, but you never know.  Reagan had been laughed at by the Republican establishment in the late 70s.  Some new leader, also outside the establishment, can rise in 2016.

March 1, 2014       Permalink

BULLETIN:  A SLAP IN THE FACE – AT 10:20 A.M. ET:  Less than a day after President Obama warned Russia about military intervention in Ukraine, Moscow just gave its answer...a slap in the president's face.  From CNN, just published:

Russia's upper house of parliament voted Saturday to approve the use of military force in Ukraine. The vote was unanimous.

Here is the original story, published just a short time ago:

(CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked the upper house of parliament for approval to send Russian troops into Ukraine's Crimea region to normalize the political situation there, the Kremlin said Saturday.

Due to the "extraordinary situation in Ukraine," Putin said, there are threats to the lives of Russian citizens and Russian military personnel based in the southern Crimean region.

It comes on the same day that the new pro-Russian leader of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, asked Putin for help in maintaining peace in the Black Sea peninsula -- where Russia has a major naval base at Sevastopol.

International concerns are mounting that Moscow may intervene militarily in the crisis, despite warnings from the United States and other Western powers that it should respect Ukrainian sovereignty.

In response to Putin's move, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted: "Russian military intervention in Ukraine is clearly against international law and principles of European security."

I'm sure Putin really cares what the Swedish foreign minister says.

The newly appointed interim government in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, is seeking to prevent tensions in Crimea, which has a majority-Russian population, escalating into a full-blown bid for separation.

Ukraine suspects Russia of fomenting separatist tensions in the autonomous region.

Amid the uncertainty, about 300 gunmen wearing Russian Special Forces uniforms attempted to take over the Sevastopol unit of the Ukrainian Coast Guard, a senior official with the Ukrainian Border Service said Saturday.

COMMENT:  No one expects the U.S. or NATO to intervene militarily in the Ukraine.  We didn't intervene militarily during the Hungarian uprising against the Soviet Union in 1956, nor did we intervene during the Czech uprising in 1968. 

However, there are economic and diplomatic alternatives.  But Obama is a pathetically weak and intellectually corrupt president, and I doubt if we'll do anything serious.  Putin understands who Obama is.  He is laughing.

March 1,  2014     Permalink

FEBRUARY 28,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:56 A.M. ET: 

HOW COLD IS IT? – The classic Johnny Carson question is answered by Green Bay.  From Greenbaypressgazette.com:  "Its not a good winter to be a weather record in Wisconsin. Or anything else, for that matter.  A pair of records fell within hours of each other in Green Bay early Friday.  At midnight, Green Bay made it 49 days with subzero temperatures, the most in a winter. The previous record, 48 days, was set in 1976-77.  Just before 4 a.m., the temperature was minus 18, breaking the previous record of minus 17 set in 1962. The mercury continued to fall to minus 21 just before 5 a.m., according to the National Weather Service office in Ashwaubenon."  Al Gore is rushing a supply of blankets.

OBAMA WARNS RUSSIA – President Obama warned Russia that there would be consequences if Moscow intervened militarily in the Ukraine.  Of course, he didn't say what the consequences would be, but the president not known as Old Ironsides did vigorously threaten to consult with the 'international community' to arrive at a proper response.  Vladimir Putin must be shaking...probably with laughter.  Obama devoted three minutes to his statement on Ukraine, and did not take questions.  What an impact.

RUSSIA PUSHES IT – From CNS:  "At a time of escalated tensions with the West over Ukraine, Russia says it is negotiating with eight governments around the world for access to military facilities, to enable it to extend its long-range naval and strategic bomber capabilities.  Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday the military was engaged in talks with Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Algeria, Cyprus, the Seychelles, Vietnam and Singapore."  At the same time, we are cutting our defenses.  Hats off to Field Marshal Obama and Sergeant Minor Hagel.

HILLARY'S HEALTH – I don't know if this is a story or non-story.  Most of you have probably seen the speculative stories around the internet today suggesting that Hillary Clinton is "sicker" than advertised and that health may prevent her from running in 2016.  I've not found any real evidence so far to back this up.  The stories seem to be based on theories, guesses, and the fact that Ms. Clinton has been looking a bit haggard.  But she's in her late sixties and maintains a heavy schedule.  You can get to look haggard in that situation.  I'll be on the lookout for any real information, but I haven't seen it thus far.

February 28, 2014       Permalink

DISGRACE – AT 9:42 A.M. ET:  Detroit is a disgrace.  It is a model of how a city shouldn't be run.  The Washington Post, which once again shows that it has the best liberal editorial page in the country, calls the situation right, while other liberal papers are silent.  Praise to the Post:

DETROIT’S BANKRUPTCY is so catastrophic, and its causes so local, that it is tempting to say that the Motor City’s downfall has few lessons for state and other local governments. It’s hard to imagine a combination of deindustrialization and population loss more powerful than what afflicted Detroit.

Still, mismanagement made matters worse. Anyone who doubts that should peruse the bankruptcy plan filed by the city’s emergency manager, Kevyn D. Orr, on Feb. 21. It prescribes pension cuts for city retirees and an 80 percent haircut on bondholders, and it documents the terrible governance that helped make these unavoidable.

Mr. Orr proposes cutting police and fire pension benefits by up to 10 percent per year; civilian retirees face a potential cut of 34 percent. The latter is especially painful, given that Detroit civilian pensions average only $19,000 per year. (The figure is $30,500 for police officers and firefighters.) Not surprisingly, the city’s unions want to fight the cuts, and a citizens’ group is vowing to “shut the city down” in protest.

As Mr. Orr’s report explains, however, Detroit’s pension funds might be less vulnerable today if their trustees, many of them city union officials, had not repeatedly dipped into them to make bonus payments, sometimes known as “the 13th month,” to retired and active city workers. That ploy cost the city’s two largest pension funds $1.92 billion between 1985 and 2008, according to Mr. Orr’s filings.

Bondholders, too, are bemoaning their fate under Mr. Orr’s plan. Pensioners are getting too much, and they are getting it at bondholders’ expense, they cry. Labeling the plan “hostile” to holders of $2 billion in general revenue obligations, the Fitch bond rating firm has issued a statement suggesting that Mr. Orr’s plan could damage the bond market’s “perception of the state and its local governments.”

Lenders have come to treat tax-backed municipal debt as nearly risk-free, and no doubt Detroit’s bankruptcy experience may cause some to reprice the risk of financing municipal governments, not only in Michigan but also around the country. But that might not be an entirely bad thing, within limits, if it prompts loosely run municipalities to keep their finances in better order. Surely banks that took fees to help Detroit fund its pensions with $1.4 billion in dodgy “certificates of participation” deserve to be taught a lesson. As Mr. Orr alleges in a separate lawsuit related to the bankruptcy, the certificates were essentially loans to shell corporations that enabled Detroit to take on debt in violation of its legal borrowing limits.

COMMENT:  What a great picture.   And it didn't help that the Big Three automakers, who helped make Detroit a thriving city, have been in decline, in part because of their own catastrophic ineptness and cynicism. 

There's plenty of blame to go around, but a good chunk of it goes to the media, which was too often reluctant to criticize a black-run city.  That certainly has helped the black citizens of Detroit, hasn't it?

February 28, 2014        Permalink

A KEY SPECIAL ELECTION – AT 9:21 A.M. ET:  It hasn't gotten much attention, but there's a key special congressional election coming up within days.  Watch it carefully.  From Fox:

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Special elections rarely attract this much attention. But the race for Florida's 13th Congressional District is a hot one -- with so much at stake in November, what happens here is seen as a possible indicator of how the midterm elections could break.

"I think it's very important because, obviously, both parties have got their eyes focused sharply on what the ObamaCare issue does," said Susan McManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida. "Does it push (David) Jolly, the Republican across the finish line? Or does it help (Democratic candidate Alex) Sink win?"

The election is coming up on March 11, in the race to fill the seat held for 43 years by Republican Bill Young -- who died last October.

Republican contender David Jolly, a first-time candidate, worked for Young in Washington. Democrat Alex Sink narrowly lost the governor's race to Rick Scott in 2010.

At Frida's café in Largo, Fla., which serves up cookies adorned with the faces of political candidates, some early voters voiced fierce opposition to ObamaCare, a key issue in the race.

"I had Blue Cross, Blue Shield," small business owner Roy Badie told Fox News. "And when ObamaCare kicked in, basically I couldn't afford it. I lose coverage on my children because it was so high. So now I am paying out of my own pocket for them."

Badie said he had cast an early ballot for Jolly.

Another small business owner, Sarah Paul, is on the fence about who to vote for. A registered Republican, she's a fan of ObamaCare and recently signed herself and her husband up for coverage.

"We haven't had insurance for 28 years," Paul told Fox News. "No joke. We couldn't afford it."

The opposing opinions are a reflection of the 13th Congressional District, a purple district in a purple state. While Young represented the district for 43 years, Sink -- a Democrat -- actually carried it in her failed bid for governor in 2010.

Jolly is hoping his push to repeal ObamaCare will win over voters, mindful that he needs to propose alternatives.

"We can't just be the party of 'no.' We can't just say ObamaCare is bad. We have to have creative solutions," Jolly told Fox News.

COMMENT:  We're rooting for Jolly, but if the districts flips and goes Dem, it will be a warning sign to us that November will not be a cakewalk.

February 28, 2014       Permalink

UKRAINE UPDATE – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  It is hard to get precise information on what's happening in Ukraine, in part because we don't know who's lying.  But the situation is grim, with a serious threat of Russian military intervention.  From London's Telegraph:   

Ukraine accused Russia of staging an "armed invasion" of Crimea on Friday as the ex-Soviet state's ousted leader prepared to emerge defiant from five days of hiding after winning protection from Moscow.

Unidentified armed men were patrolling outside of Crimea's main airport early Friday while gunmen were also reported to have seized another airfield on the southwest of the peninsula where ethnic Russians are a majority and where pro-Moscow sentiment runs high.

Western governments have been watching with increasing worry as Kiev's new pro-EU rulers grapple with dual threats of economic collapse and cession from Russified southern and eastern regions of the divided nation, which had backed fugitive ex-president Viktor Yanukovych.

Russian President Vladimir Putin this week stoked concerns that Moscow might use its military might to sway the outcome of Ukraine's three-month standoff by ordering snap combat drills near its border involving 150,000 troops and nearly 900 tanks.

COMMENT:  This is occurring where East meets West in Europe.  If Putin should move militarily, and get away with it, it would mark a new day in international relations – a rising Russia facing a weakening America, with a perpetually frightened Western Europe in the middle.  And a militant China rising in Asia.

Aren't you glad Obama is in the White House?

February 28, 2014       Permalink

WELCOME TO THE RECOVERY – AT 8:41 A.M. ET:  Washington announces an economic adjustment.  They really need to put fresh batteries in those calculators.  From The New York Times:

The economy grew at a slower pace in the fourth quarter of 2013 than first thought, weighed down by disappointing retail sales, inventory adjustments and a less robust trade balance.

The Commerce Department said Friday it now estimates the economy grew by 2.4 percent in October, November and December, down from an initial estimate of 3.2 percent released on Jan. 30.

Economists had been expecting the government to revise the estimated rate of growth downward to 2.5 percent.

At 2.4 percent, the revised figure represents a substantial slowing from the pace of growth in the third quarter, 4.1 percent.

Most experts believe the economy will continue to expand at a lackluster pace in the first several months of 2014, with growth picking up over the remainder of the year. Economists are looking for growth of about 2 percent in the first quarter.

One reason for the current weakness is the more rapid pace of inventory gains in the second half of 2013, which tends to pull growth forward and then create slack as stockpiles at warehouses and store shelves are gradually wound down.

Still, after a burst of optimism late last year, fears have been rising that the economy is not gaining momentum as originally hoped and is entering another of the periodic slow patches that have characterized the recovery of the last five years.

COMMENT:  And the jobs picture is bleak.  The administration's answer seems to be more regulation and a crazed health-care system that is a track wreck on arrival.

Can conservatives capitalize on this mess?  It should be easy, but it won't be.  Unimaginative Republican candidates platforms and management have held the party back.  And the Dems have a built-in constituency made up of those people dependent on the government.  That number is expanding.

It will be hard, but our side can win, if the right fires are lit.

February 28,  2014     Permalink