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SEPTEMBER 23,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:52 P.M. ET: 

CLOSE CALL – From National Journal:  "The U.S. launched eight airstrikes Monday night against a little-known, al-Qaida-affiliated militant group in Syria.  The United States Central Command said Tuesday morning that American forces hit the Khorasan Group near Aleppo to stop 'imminent attack-planning against the United States and Western interests' At a Pentagon press briefing shortly after, defense officials explained just how imminent such an attack may have been.  'The intelligence reports indicated that the Khorasan Group was in the final stages of plans to execute major attacks against Western targets and potentially the U.S. homeland,' said Lt. Gen. William Mayville, the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff."  There is no guarantee the air strikes will stop any attacks.  In fact, it's likely that jihadist groups will now step up their attempts to hit us, in retaliation for our military action.

MAJOR CAMPAIGN BLUNDER – From the Christian Science Monitor:  "The Republican Party’s top leader in Congress is catching flak for a comment that appears to call the jobless lazy – a comment that has rekindled an old challenge for the party: appearing insensitive or uncaring toward Americans who are poor or in financial difficulty.  House Speaker John Boehner was asked after a speech last week to comment on a plan for addressing poverty – promoted by a Republican colleague, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.  Speaker Boehner gave a response that was favorable toward Representative Ryan's plan, but not so favorable about Americans’ work ethic. He said in part: 'I think this idea that’s been born over last ... couple of years that, "You know, I really don’t have to work, I don’t really want to do this, I think I’d just rather sit around," – this is a very sick idea for our country.'"  That line is gonna cost us.  I don't know how much, but the Dems will use it.  Callous Republicans.  Cruel.  Indifferent.  I wish Speaker Boehner would choose his words more carefully, or, preferably, not use any at all, especially in English.

CADILLAC TO NEW YORK – From AP:  "Cadillac wants a jolt from the city that never sleeps.  General Motors' 112-year-old luxury car division, founded in Detroit and named for the city's founder, is moving its headquarters to New York.  Cadillac, which has been steadily losing sales to its German rivals, wants to get closer to its ideal buyers. Executives and marketing staffers will set up shop in a loft office in Manhattan's trendy SoHo neighborhood starting next year.  'There is no city in the world where the inhabitants are more immersed in a premium lifestyle than in New York,' Johann de Nysschen, the brand's new president, said in a statement issued Tuesday announcing the move. 'It allows our team to share experiences with premium-brand consumers and develop attitudes in common with our audience.'"  Yeah, right.  Mr. de Nysschen will soon find out that New York premium trendies associate Cadillac with their grandfathers, the ones who disinherited them.  New York has become shallow.  It would probably go for a car called the Obama Mark Zero.

THE FIELD MARSHAL EATS HIS WORDS – From Breitbart:  "President Barack Obama dismissed the F-22 fighter jets used during Monday’s airstrikes against terrorist targets in Syria as 'outdated and unnecessary' in a speech on July 21, 2009.  'I reject the notion that we have to waste billions of taxpayer dollars on outdated and unnecessary defense projects to keep this nation secure,' Obama said. 'That's why I'm grateful that the Senate just voted against an additional $1.75 billion to buy F-22 fighter jets that military experts and members of both parties say we do not need.'  The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the United States used the F-22 to carry out its airstrikes against ISIS and Khorasan targets inside Syria."  The field marshal argued for biplanes, but they're all being serviced.

September 23,  2014     Permalink 

UNBELIEVABLE CYNICISM – AT 10:31 A.M. ET:   It's sometimes hard to fathom the open cynicism of this administration.  It's one reason why it's also hard to take the Obamans seriously on anything.  It's been made very clear that the president will wait until after the election to take sweeping action on immigration "reform."  This is a blunt admission that he realizes the action will be unpopular and therefore doesn't want Americans to know the details when they vote.  You'd think the political class, and at least part of the press, would be in an uproar.  It ain't.  From the Washington Times: 

President Obama is preparing to do “an awful lot” on immigration when he issues an executive order later this year, Vice President Joseph R. Biden told supporters Monday night.

Speaking at a Hispanic Heritage Month event, Mr. Biden told the audience that he understands their frustrations with the administration’s delayed action.

The president has backtracked on a promise to take executive action on immigration by the end of summer, saying he didn’t want the issue to become embroiled in the November mid-term elections. He now says he will issue an executive order after the election because Congress has failed to address the immigration system’s problems.

Mr. Biden predicted that Republicans “may just see the Lord” in the lame-duck session of Congress after the president acts. His comments also suggested that Mr. Obama might wait to allow the GOP to digest the election results before taking unilateral action.

“Watch when this election is over, watch what happens when all of a sudden our friends in the other team realise their prospects for future electoral success hinge upon acting rationally,” the vice president said. “They will either act rationally, or we will act for them. And if we have to act for them, they will not be around a whole lot longer to act in large numbers.”

He added, “When this election [is] over in the lame duck session, they just may see the Lord. It is possible. But if they don’t, they will see some lightning.”

COMMENT:  Don't you think we have a right to see the lightning before the election?  If I were Hispanic, I'd be outraged at how patronizing this is.  Clearly, we're in for sweeping executive orders that the public opposes.

Anybody for democracy?

September 23, 2014       Permalink

SAVING KANSAS – AT 9:41 A.M. ET:  All of a sudden there's a Republican crisis in Kansas.  This should be an easy win for the incumbent Senator Pat Roberts.  But the Democratic candidate suddenly dropped out of the race, and Roberts, whose popularity has declined, is facing an independent who is beating him in the polls.  This could result in the loss of a "safe" GOP seat, and possibly the loss of the GOP dream of taking over the Senate.  So now the Republicans have awakened and are actually trying to win.  From the Wichita Eagle: 

Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida and a possible 2016 presidential candidate, will come to Wichita on Sept. 29 to stump for U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts in a tight Senate race that has drawn national attention.

Bush, the son and brother of the former presidents, will join the three-term senator at a luncheon at Murfin Stables, 14525 E. 13th St. Cost for attendees ranges from $100 up to $2,600 for a seat at the head table, according to the invitation.

On Thursday, Roberts will be joined by a special guest at the Independence Historical Museum and Art Center in Independence, Kan. A source close to the campaign said that guest is Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska who served as running mate in 2008 for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

The political forecasting site FiveThirtyEight.com on Monday gave Roberts’ independent opponent, Greg Orman, a 61 percent chance of winning with an expected margin of 3 percentage points.

Winning the seat could prove critical in the Republican Party’s quest to retake control of the U.S. Senate. Orman has not committed to caucusing with either party.

It's tough to imagine a man running against a Republican in the general election and then caucusing with them.

Roberts is touring the state with other Republican icons this week, including McCain and former Sen. Bob Dole, both of whom served as the GOP’s nominee for the presidency in unsuccessful runs.

Dole used to be a Kansas senator. 

September 23,  2014     Permalink

GERGEN BLASTS WAR ROLLOUT – AT 9:22 A.M. ET:  David Gergen, presidential adviser to both parties, doesn't care for the way Obama is presenting military action in the Mideast, and compares it to the rollout of Obamacare, the ultimate insult.  From Newsmax: 

The rollout of President Barack Obama's strategy to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) has been dogged by problems comparable to the bungled rollout of Obamacare, said David Gergen, the CNN Senior Political Analyst.

"Someone in the Obama White House clearly has a good book to write one day: 'How Not to Do Rollouts,'" Gergen wrote in a commentary for CNN.

"With one hapless episode after another, the rollout of the President's plan to destroy ISIS is beginning to rival the less-than-splendid debut of the Obamacare website."

Gergen said, like any war effort, the stakes are high and it is critical for the Obama administration to get on the offensive with a firm strategy and take clear international leadership.

"Ever since the president went on prime-time television to announce his new strategy to 'degrade and destroy' ISIS, he and his team have slipped on one banana peel after another," Gergen wrote.

He cited a list of muddled messages about the terminology of the conflict, including numerous contradictions emerging from the administration. There also continues to be a lack of clarity about whether there will be "boots on the ground," he said.

Meanwhile, it continues to remain unclear as to what role the international coalition will play in supporting the mission.

Gergen also notes there has been a chorus of doubts among experts and those in the media about the likely effectiveness of the president's chosen strategy of combining American air power with a reliance on local ground forces. Doubts are being amplified by reports of rifts between the White House and military officials.

COMMENT:  As Americans, we hope for the best.  We want what is best for this country, which is the destruction, not only of ISIS, but of other jihadist forces that threaten us and our allies.  But we have a commander-in-chief who has already lost the confidence of most Americans, and very possibly the nation's military leaders.  Obama has to rebuild that confidence for any sustained effort to succeed.  I'm not sure he can.

September 23, 2014       Permalink

SYRIA – AT 9:05 A.M. ET:  From Fox: 

The United States, joined by five Arab allies, launched an intense campaign of airstrikes, bombings and cruise-missile attacks against the Islamic State and another militant group in Syria Monday night – marking the first U.S. military intervention in Syria since the start of that country’s civil war in 2011.

U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement released early Tuesday that 14 Islamic State targets were hit, including the group's fighters, training camps, headquarters and command-and-control facilities, and armed vehicles. The operation involved a combination of fighter jets, bombers, Predator drones and Tomahawk missiles launched from the Red Sea and Persian Gulf.

"We believe we hit, largely, everything we were aiming at," Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby told Fox News.

The strikes "destroyed or damaged" multiple targets, according to the U.S. military, which reported "all aircraft safely exited the strike areas."

The mission was not limited to hitting Islamic State positions. Centcom said that U.S. aircraft also struck eight targets associated with another terrorist group called the Khorasan Group, made of up Al Qaeda veterans. Those strikes, near the northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo, targeted training camps, a munitions production facility, a communication building and command-and-control facilities.

Centcom said the Khorasan Group was involved in "imminent attack plotting against the United States and Western interests."

COMMENT:  Now we must be told the ultimate objective, and work toward it.  I fear this will be a quick show, with little result.  I hope I'm wrong.

September 23,  2014     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 22,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:51 P.M. ET: 

U.S. COMBAT IN SYRIA BEGINS – From The Washington Times:  "President Obama on Monday night authorized a major escalation of the war against the Islamic State, sending missiles and warplanes on bombing missions for the first time into Syria to strike the terrorist group’s strongholds in that country.  The Pentagon announced that both U.S. and allied pilots, along with missile-firing U.S. ships, launched their first airstrikes inside Syria after a sweeping diplomatic push by the Obama administration had secured dozens of verbal commitments from leaders around the world and in the Middle East to join the fight against the Islamic State."  We can't comment on this until we know more facts.  How far will this go?  Will it be effective?  Or will it suddenly end after the elections, which are in six weeks?  And what effect will this have on those elections?

PUT BATTERIES IN THE CALCULATOR – From Fox:  "President Obama’s claim last spring that 8 million people had enrolled in ObamaCare recently got a significant downgrade from the head of the agency overseeing the plan.  Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told a congressional committee that 'as of August 15, this year, we have 7.3 million Americans enrolled in Health Insurance Marketplace coverage and these are individuals who paid their premiums.'  A key part of her statement was Tavenner's reference to those who paid, because just signing up isn't enough to be counted as enrolled.  As Doug Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, explained, 'it’s not enough to sign up. You have to sign up and pay on a regular basis to really be enrolled.'"  Just a minor technicality.  A few million enrollees here, a few million there.  Pretty soon you're talking about real people.

GORED BY HYPOCRISY – From Breitbart:  "Former Vice President Al Gore made his exit from Sunday's climate change march in New York City in a Chevrolet Suburban SUV after speaking to reporters about renewable energy.  Gore asked a security officer, 'You want me here?' before stepping into the SUV, which appears to be a Suburban LT model, as seen in a logo behind the passenger door Gore entered. It is unknown if the large Chevy SUV was a flex fuel vehicle.  Breitbart News asked the environmental activist about the financial costs of renewable energy, as well as his own house—a mansion in Nashville which has previously been criticized for the amount of energy it reportedly uses. Gore simply replied, 'Hundred percent'"  Lots of money is flowing in the climate-change game.  No press coverage of that.

SAD – It's observed often that many children of prominent leaders turn out to be disappointments.  From CNS:  "Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., says he wants a law to punish politicians who dissent from man-made climate change theory - and calls them 'contemptible human beings.' Kennedy made the remarks in an interview with Climate Depot at a climate march in New York on Sunday:  Kennedy Jr. accused skeptical politicians of 'selling out the public trust.' 'Those guys are doing the Koch Brothers bidding and are against all the evidence of the rational mind, saying global warming does not exit. They are contemptible human beings. I wish there were a law you could punish them with. I don't think there is a law that you can punish those politicians under.'"  Great argument for fascism.  What a disgrace.

September 22, 2014       Permalink

THE SKY DIDN'T FALL – AT 10:16 A.M. ET:  They were out in force in New York City yesterday – every left-wing and environmental group you can think of.   It was something called the "people's march" against climate change.  Rule of thumb:  Any political event labeled the "people's" anything is to be avoided.  What people were they talking about?  Were you asked your opinion?  John Fund, at NRO, has a devastating portrait of a movement in desperate condition: 

The United Nations Climate Summit will begin in New York this Tuesday, but environmental activists didn’t wait. All day Sunday, they filled the streets of Manhattan for a march that featured Al Gore, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, and various Hollywood actors.

But they certainly didn’t act like a movement that was winning. There was a tone of fatalism in the comments of many with whom I spoke; they despair that the kind of radical change they advocate probably won’t result from the normal democratic process. It’s no surprise then that the rhetoric of climate-change activists has become increasingly hysterical. Naomi Klein, author of a new book on the “crisis,” This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, said, “I have seen the future, and it looks like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.” In her new book she demands that North America and Europe pay reparations to poorer countries to compensate for the climate change they cause. She calls her plan a “Marshall Plan for the Earth” and acknowledges that it would cost “hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars.” But she has an easy solution on how to pay for it: “Need more money? Print some!” What’s a little hyperinflation compared to “saving the planet”?

And...

One reason the rhetoric has become so overheated is that the climate-change activists increasingly lack a scientific basis for their most exaggerated claims. As physicist Gordon Fulks of the Cascade Policy Institute puts it: “CO2 is said to be responsible for global warming that is not occurring, for accelerated sea-level rise that is not occurring, for net glacial and sea-ice melt that is not occurring . . and for increasing extreme weather that is not occurring.”

COMMENT:  Read the whole piece.  It's well worth it.  I'm neither a proponent nor a skeptic.  My view is that we just don't know enough to justify spending trillions of dollars on a theory that really isn't proving out.  That view, that we don't know enough, is gaining traction. 

But behind the "science" of global warming are social theories that involve transfer of wealth from achieving countries to non-achieving countries.  In the end, that's what it really may be about.

September 22, 2014       Permalink

GOP MORE INTENSE THIS ELECTION YEAR – AT 9:24 A.M. ET:  A new survey shows the GOP winning the intensity race.  We hope that translates into more GOP voters at the polls, a counter to the Democratic ground game on election day.  From NBC: 

Even the most casual sports watcher knows that winning sometimes comes down to which team wants it more. And by that measure, six weeks away from the elections in November, Republicans are dominating the midterm game.

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Annenberg poll shows that 54 percent of Republicans say they’re highly interested in the upcoming elections, compared to 44 percent of Democrats who say the same.

Another way to look at the GOP intensity advantage: Democrats hold a four-point lead on the generic ballot, 46 percent to 42 percent. But among high-interest voters, Republicans have the edge, 51 percent to 43 percent.

“Off-year elections are about intensity, which becomes a question of which set of voters cares most,” said Democratic pollster Peter Hart. “In the opening lap of the general election, the GOP is winning.”

And...

Key Democratic constituencies also don’t seem that enthralled with the upcoming races.

Among registered voters, just 42 percent of women, 31 percent of African-Americans, 23 percent of Hispanics and 20 percent of voters aged 18-34 said they’re highly interested in the election.

COMMENT:  Look for the Democrats to counter these poll results with a scare campaign.  "If you don't vote for us, they'll take away your (check one or more than one) Social Security, Medicare, welfare check, tax refund, payment for just being you..."

September 22, 2014       Permalink

LEON JUMPS SHIP – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  Former Secretary of Defense and CIA director Leon Panetta always struck me as one of the grown-ups in the Obama administration, and frustrated by the chief's indecision and shallowness.  Now Panetta is pretty much jumping ship.  From Fox: 

Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said Sunday that he believes the Islamic State terror group was able to flourish in part because the U.S. entered the conflict in Syria too late, saying the Obama administration should have armed the country’s moderate rebels earlier.

Panetta, who served in the Obama administration from July 2011 to February 2013, said in an interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” that he was in support of arming the moderate Syrian rebels in 2012, along with several other members of the administration.

“I think that would've helped,” Panetta said. “And I think in part, we pay the price for not doing that in what we see happening with ISIS.”

According to CBS News, Panetta writes in his new book “Worthy Fights” that he, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the director of the CIA and the joint chiefs chairman all urged Obama to arm the rebels at a 2012 meeting.

“The real key was how can we develop a leadership group among the opposition that would be able to take control,” Panetta said. “And my view was to have leverage to do that; we would have to provide the weapons and the training in order for them to really be willing to work with us in that effort.”

However, Obama decided against it.

“I think the president's concern, and I understand it, was that he had a fear that if we started providing weapons, we wouldn't know where those weapons would wind up,” Panetta said. “My view was, ‘You have to begin somewhere.’”

Panetta also discussed the war in Iraq; saying that when the U.S. withdrew from the country in 2011 he was not confident pulling out was the right decision.

“I really thought that it was important for us to maintain a presence in Iraq,” he said. “The decision was that we ought to at least try to maintain 8,000 to 10,000 U.S. troops there, plus keeping some of our intelligence personnel in place, to be able to continue the momentum in the right direction. And frankly, having those troops there I think would've given us greater leverage on (former Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki) to try to force him to do the right thing as well.”

Panetta said he believes the Islamic State is a real threat to America, and will take a “long time” to destroy.

COMMENT:  Some will accuse Panetta of disloyalty, but that is false.  It's always been assumed that this is where he stood.  But his willingness to speak out publicly, and Hillary Clinton's public distancing of herself from Obama's Mideast policy, represents, I think, more than personal political calculation.  There is a certain contempt for Obama and the way he runs things.

Panetta is one of the good Democrats, the dwindling number who know that the post-World War II Democratic Party grew out of the lessons of that war.  The Leon Panettas are no longer welcome in much of the Democratic Party.  Indeed, there is a growing resistance even to Hillary Clinton by those who consider her too "moderate."  And I doubt if Jack Kennedy would even be a Democrat today.

September 22, 2014       Permalink

WHY WE FIGHT – AT 8:34 A.M. ET:  London's Daily Mail reminds us of just who we're fighting in the Mideast.

ISIS is once again urging Muslims to 'kill disbelievers' and attacking Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama for recent statements they have made about the terrorist group in a new audio recording.

Islamic State spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani refers to Sec. of State Kerry as 'the old uncircumcised geezer' and calls Pres. Obama 'the mule of the Jews' on the recording, which is roughly 42-minutes long.

He then asks Muslims to do whatever they can to kill those who do not share their faith.

'If you can kill a disbelieving American or European - especially the spiteful and filthy French - or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State … kill him in any manner or way however it may be,' says al-Adnani.

France angered the group when four of their airstrikes killed dozens of the group's fighters after they targeted a logistics depot in northern Iraq this week.

The group then takes aim at Pres. Obama just days after his announcement that 40 countries would aid the U.S. in the fight against ISIS.

'Obama, the mule of the Jews, suddenly became a sheikh, mufti, and an Islamic preacher, warning the people and preaching in defense of Islam, claiming that the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam,' says al-Adnani.

COMMENT:  You may be sure that there will be "scholars" at colleges and universities who will tell us that these views must be "understood" and not condemned.  And there were scholars at colleges and universities in the 1930s who lectured us on the good that Hitler was doing.

September 22,  2014     Permalink