Federal Government Shut Down by Snowfall

February 10th, 2010

Morning Bell: Is USA Today Serving the Goals of Al-Qaeda?

Morning Bell: Is USA Today Serving the Goals of Al-Qaeda?

Posted By Conn Carroll On February 10, 2010 @ 9:46 am In Protect America | No Comments

Yesterday, USA Today ^[1] ran an editorial on the Obama administration’s handling of terrorism, writing: “Officials’ handling of Christmas Day attack looks like amateur hour.” Graciously given the space to respond to this charge, Obama administration Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan replied ^[2]: “Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda.”

Got that? The Obama administration considers any criticism of its national security policies, even from as benign a source as USA Today, as serving “the goals of al-Qaeda.” And the problems with Brennan’s letter don’t end there:

Interrogation Contradictions: First Brennan asserts that “Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was thoroughly interrogated and provided important information.” But just one sentence later Brennan admits: “The most important breakthrough occurred after Abdulmutallab was read his rights.” So which is it? Was the first interrogation so thorough that no active and useful intelligence was lost, or did “the most important breakthrough” come over a month later ^[3], giving al-Qaeda a month’s head start?

Coordination Contradictions: Brennan asserts “Senior counterterrorism officials from the White House, the intelligence community and the military were all actively discussing this case before he was Mirandized and supported the decision to charge him in criminal court.” But this has been directly contradicted by the sworn testimony of National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair ^[4] and FBI Director Robert Mueller ^[1]. Someone is not telling the truth about a vital national security matter. Congress must investigate.

False Miranda History: Brennan writes: “Would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid was read his Miranda rights five minutes after being taken off a plane he tried to blow up. The same people who criticize the president today were silent back then.” But Brennan leaves out the fact that Reid was arrested in December 2001, before the military detention system ^[5] was in place. This is like accusing George Washington of treason for not using machine guns against the British. He didn’t use them because they didn’t exist yet!

Military vs. Civilian Custody: Brennan writes: “There is little difference between military and civilian custody, other than an interrogator with a uniform. The suspect gets access to a lawyer, and interrogation rules are nearly identical.” That is perhaps the most fatuous sentence in Brennan’s op-ed. The roles of lawyers in the civilian and military system are completely different. In military custody, detainees are not read their Miranda rights and their lawyer’s purpose is to challenge his detention as an enemy combatant ^[5]. Under civilian custody, the suspect is read his Miranda rights and his lawyer is there to make sure he does not say anything that will incriminate himself. ^[6] The situations are completely different, not “nearly identical.”

Military vs. Civilian Trials: “Cries to try terrorists only in military courts lack foundation.” The false choice of all civilian or all military trials is what lacks foundation. There are hundreds of witnesses who stand ready to testify and send Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to jail. We do not need his testimony to be admissible. There is nothing stopping the administration from questioning Abdulmutallab as an enemy combatant without reading him Miranda rights and then trying him in civilian court later.

Last month, The Washington Post editorial board ^[7], who has endorsed every single Democratic Presidential candidate since 1988, wrote:

UMAR FAROUK Abdulmutallab was nabbed in Detroit on board Northwest Flight 253 after trying unsuccessfully to ignite explosives sewn into his underwear. The Obama administration had three options: It could charge him in federal court. It could detain him as an enemy belligerent. Or it could hold him for prolonged questioning and later indict him, ensuring that nothing Mr. Abdulmutallab said during questioning was used against him in court.

It is now clear that the administration did not give serious thought to anything but Door No. 1. This was myopic, irresponsible and potentially dangerous.

Myopic. Irresponsible. Potentially dangerous. That is a spot-on assessment of the Obama administration’s knee-jerk Miranda-rights-for-everyone counterterrorism policy. And admitting as much would be the first step to defeating, not supporting, al-Qaeda.

Quick Hits:

• President Barack Obama’s goal of achieving bipartisanship succeeded yesterday when both Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) expressed opposition ^[8] to different parts of the President’s agenda at a closed door meeting at the White House.
• According to ABC News ^[9], the $2 billion from Obama’s failed stimulus that was spent on wind energy has not created American jobs, since 80% of the money went to foreign manufacturers of wind turbines.
• Senior Chinese military officers have proposed that China could possibly sell some U.S. bonds ^[10] to punish Washington for its latest round of arms sales to Taiwan.
• According to Reporters Without Borders, Iran now has more journalists in prison than any other country in the world ^[11], with at least 65 in custody.
• According to a new Washington Post poll ^[12], more than seven in 10 Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing, and as many say they’re inclined to look for new congressional representation, much like in 1994 and 2006.

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Article printed from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.: http://blog.heritage.org

URL to article: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/02/10/morning-bell-is-usa-today-serving-the-goals-of-al-qaeda/

URLs in this post:

[1] USA Today: http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2010/02/debate-on-war-on-terror-our-view-national-security-team-fails-to-inspire-confidence.html

[2] replied: http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2010/02/opposing-view-we-need-no-lectures.html?csp=34

[3] over a month later: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/what-we-lost-while-abdulmutallab-clammed

[4] National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/declassified/archive/2010/01/20/intel-chief-s-comments-infuriate-obama-officials.aspx

[5] military detention system: http://www.heritage.org/research/nationalsecurity/enemydetention/

[6] the suspect is read his Miranda rights and his lawyer is there to make sure he does not say anything that will incriminate himself.: http://volokh.com/2010/02/03/eric-holder-letter-to-senators-on-abdulmutallab/

[7] The Washington Post editorial board: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/22/AR2010012204349.html

[8] both Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) expressed opposition: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/32757.html

[9] ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/wind-power-equal-job-power/story?id=9759949

[10] China could possibly sell some U.S. bonds: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6183KG20100209

[11] Iran now has more journalists in prison than any other country in the world: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/world/middleeast/10arrests.html?ref=todayspaper

[12] new Washington Post poll: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/10/AR2010021000010.html

Barack Obama and Corpse Man

By Jeannie DeAngelis, American Thinker

 Obama’s verbal mistakes are as bad as Bush’s

Coming from a woman who speaks fluent Brooklynese and pronounces the word “coffee” as “cawfee,” I try to avoid pointing out enunciation oddities in others. Sounding a lot like a congested Fran Drescher, early on as a granddawta, I learned from Grandma Emma how to  “berl erl” before frying eggplant. Largely forgiving of “tawking” mispronunciations, my wide berth excludes only “birfdays,” “youse,” and “nuffin.”

Growing up in Brooklyn, George W. Bush’s creative elocution of the word nu-cu-lar never fazed me. I, as well as most normal Americans, knew what Bush meant, and in spite of his stumbling and oftentimes mumbling, G.W. has proven more adept at expressing core beliefs than dazzling articulator and high-wire word performer Barack Obama.

George Bush always seemed uninterested in Madison Avenue impressions emphasizing message over public persona. I chuckled when Bush said, “I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.” Bush never defended obvious linguistic deficits or shortcomings when giving a speech, and he ignored a mocking press who defined the ex-president’s affliction as proof of idiocy.

Truth is, reading from a script does not indicate brilliance. John Fund speaking about Bush was of the insightful opinion that “the inarticulate can often be shrewd and the fluent can often be fatuous.” Take actor Brad Pitt, for instance: when reading from a script, Pitt can convince viewers that he is Jesse James. However, off-script, starting with deserting Jennifer Aniston for Angelina Jolie, Pitt proves time and again that his filaments don’t light up the Brad bulb to its fullest potential.

Read More:

GOP Blocks Obama Labor Board Nominee

February 10th, 2010

Newsmax

 Obama Labor Nominee was blocked in the Senate

Senate Democrats on Tuesday failed to push through President Barack Obama’s choice of a union lawyer to serve on the National Labor Relations Board after two of their own joined Republicans to block the nomination.

By a 52-33 vote, Democrats fell far short of the 60 needed to overcome a GOP filibuster of the nomination of Craig Becker.

The vote is a setback for organized labor, which was counting on a strong pro-union voice on the agency that oversees union elections and referees labor-management disputes.

It’s also a blow to the NLRB, which has postponed hundreds of cases for more than two years while political wrangling has stalled nominations to fill three vacancies on the five-member board.

Republicans have held up Becker’s confirmation for months, saying they fear he would circumvent Congress to make labor laws more union-friendly.

But the task for Democratic leaders turned more difficult when two Democrats — Sen. Ben Nelson, of Nebraska, and Sen. Blanche Lincoln, of Arkansas — joined Republicans in opposing Becker.

Read More:

Obama Says Bipartisanship, But What He Wants Is GOP Surrender

February 10th, 2010

by Mark Knoller, CBS

 Obama only wants things done his way

Unannounced, President Obama took to the lectern in the White House briefing room today to give a personal readout of his meeting earlier with congressional leaders of both parties.

“Despite the political posturing that often paralyzes this town, there are many issues upon which we can and should agree, he said.

It was more a plaintive plea than a political observation. His top legislative priorities are going nowhere and he’s searching for a way to get them out of lockup.

In this 13th month of his presidency, he’s anxious to pass a jobs bill and be seen addressing an unemployment rate that only last week declined from double digits. And his efforts to enact bills on energy, financial regulatory reform and especially health care are stuck in Congress despite the solid majority his party holds in both chambers.

He’s appealing for a spirit of bipartisanship – urging Democrats and Republicans alike “to put aside matters of party for the good of the country.”

It’s a familiar refrain from U.S. presidents who can’t get their way in Congress.

“We must put aside our political differences if we’re ever to set our economy to rights,” said President Reagan in 1982.

Read More

Obama’s class warfare rhetoric costing jobs

Bill Weckesser

With a friend like Obama in the White House, who needs enemy? That’s what lots of hotel employees in Las Vegas must be asking these days according to Loews Corp CEO Jim Tisch. He didn’t mince words with Bloomberg, calling Obama’s outbursts against travel and lodging the “death knell” for the industry.

It’s easy for the politician to get the sound bite. What they are doing with those sound bites is putting maids and bellmen out of work.”

 

Bloomberg goes on to report that in a bizarre twist Obama’s bank bashing has also sent key employee’s fleeing AIG to Loews.

President Barack Obama last year said companies receiving aid should curtail travel and pay. “You are not going to be able to give out these big bonuses until you’ve paid taxpayers back,” Obama said at a town hall meeting in February 2009. “You can’t get corporate jets. You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers’ dime.”

Tisch explained that he had a hard time keeping good employees because of the president’s rhetoric directed against the pay and bonuses of bankers:

“Last time I looked, we don’t have indentured servitude in the United States,” he said. “The situation is such that the good people have every incentive to leave to maximize their income.”

Tisch joined billionaire Warren Buffett in opposing the Obama administration’s proposed fee on lenders to repay bailout funds. He said it is unfair to penalize financial firms when regulators, mortgage brokers and borrowers contributed to the recession as well.

“It sounds good when you say it fast,” Tisch said. “To take out this retribution solely on the banks makes sense from the populist politician’s perspective but is not necessarily good economic policy. If they put this tax in place, it will simply make it more expensive for people to borrow money because banks are in the business of earning a rate of return on their capital.”

Mr. Tish’s bluntness is as accurate as Mr. Obama’s rhetoric is dangerous.

Bill Weckesser

E. Lansing, MI

Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/02/obamas_class_warfare_rhetoric.html at February 10, 2010 – 07:42:13 AM CST

Paranoia Strikes Deep in Obama’s America

By Robin of Berkeley

I usually don’t go anywhere near my leftist hubby’s reading material. While he subscribes to Mother Jones and Newsweek, I buy National Review.  His emails are from moveon.org; mine from Newt Gingrich.

However, after being home for three days with a bad cold, I was desperate to read something new.  So I reluctantly picked up one of his Harpers.

I was pleasantly surprised that the magazine carried an article, The Mendacity of Hope, critiquing Obama’s first year.  The author, Roger D. Hodge, even confronts Obama on the hypocrisy of eliminating water boarding yet supporting torture in the form of overseas renditions.

But Hodge still maintains that Obama is heads above Bush, McCain, and Palin.  And he goes into attack mode with this sentence about Obama:

“Nor is it surprising that the broken remnants of the old White Supremacy coalition hate and fear the man. . .”  

Now, this got me thinking: who exactly comprises this White Supremacy coalition?  Even though I’ve immersed myself in conservatism for the last two years, I haven’t seen hide nor hair of it.

So I dug deeper:  Is Sen. Strom Thurmond up to his old tricks?  (No, he’s dead.)  Is Sen. Robert Byrd reviving the old Ku Klux Klan?  (Impossible; Byrd is a saintly Democrat.)  

Is the Republican Party at the forefront of this white conspiracy?  (Couldn’t be; it’s headed by a black man, Michael Steele.)

There’s a word for people like Hodge who believe something that just isn’t so:  paranoid.  And from where I sit, liberals are getting more paranoid by the minute.

To get technical for a moment, there are several kinds of paranoia.  The most extreme form is a schizophrenic with bizarre delusions and hallucinations.

Another type is a paranoid personality.  They’re not psychotic, but they are suspicious, hypersensitive grudge holders who are quick to anger and slow to forgive.

Lastly, there’s delusional disorder:  a person has fixed beliefs that are not bizarre.  In other words, the events could be happening, like a cheating spouse, but they are not. 

To illustrate, if you know an edgy, mistrustful guy named Dave who has a persecution complex, that’s a paranoid personality.  But if Dave says that aliens are torturing him, he may be a schizophrenic.

Now, if Dave is a decent enough guy, but turns into a rabid beast upon hearing the words “tea party” or “Sarah Palin,” he’s got a fixed delusion. 

One of the greatest threats we’re facing is this:  there are a lot of paranoid/delusional people running the show.  Pelosi tars health care opponents as Nazis.  Charles Schumer calls average Americans “tea baggers.”  Obama insinuates that a white police sergeant is a stupid racist.  With each vicious utterance, Democrats foster a paranoid atmosphere.

Branding opponents as Nazis and racists is disgraceful, beyond the pale.  It’s also a dangerous practice since mass hysteria can prove deadly.   

In 17th century Salem, Massachusetts, for instance, hysterical, deluded villagers burned “witches.”  Or take a more recent example:  American tourists have been beaten and killed in Guatemala after rumors spread that foreigners were stealing babies and selling their organs.

Whether it’s Salem or Guatemala or Germany circa l930, stoking paranoia is like pouring gasoline on a fire.  The Left-infested Democrats know this; they’re throwing around the R word (racist) because an agitated, divided, and paranoid citizenry is as pliable as putty. 

But the problem goes deeper than simply politics.  There are many at the helm who believe the hate they’re spewing.  Because the Left is by its very nature a paranoid movement.  What binds people together is a collective rage against certain groups of people.  

Little Barry grew up imbibing the progressive, paranoid Kool-Aid of his Communist leaning family.  The grown-up Barack now lives in a black and white world, inhabited by good guys (the left) and bad (any and all opposition). 

In Obama’s brain, his father’s womanizing and boozing wasn’t due to low moral standards; white supremacy was to blame.  His grandmother was “a typical white person,” not someone who had personal failings.  

Obama married Michelle, a woman who sees everything through the lens of race.  Rather than feeling honored to attend Princeton, she regarded the place as a hotbed of racism.  Some of her speeches, pre-First Lady, reek of loathing for America.

Obama chose as his pastor the delusional Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who accused the government of creating the AIDS virus.  And Obama best buds?  Terrorists such as Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.  Shady men behind the curtain — Soros, the strange Czars; the creepy bosses at Media Matters, Tides Foundation, and Acorn.                        

The mainstream media promulgates the hysteria.  A recent cover of the Atlantic bellows that Christians caused the 2008 stock market crash.  Newsweek implicates every white baby as a potential racist.  And Harpers hallucinates some sort of White Supremacy coalition.

It’s no wonder, then, that average liberals have become deluded, given that they’re fed lies over and over.  The MSM portrays Obama as a really nice, brainy guy, simply doing his best.

Liberals identify with him; they root for him.  Deprived of the truth about why conservatives actually fear and dislike Obama, liberals scream, “Racists!”

Curiously, racism has now been elevated to the greatest evil known to humankind.  (While racism is abhorrent, aren’t there any other actions that should be widely condemned,  like looting the economy, “wilding” conservative women, and  “queering” youth?)  Thus, when liberals spot an evildoer, they, like our Salem forefathers, respond with blind rage.

Ironically, Obama promised a colorblind, post-racial era.  But has there ever been an administration so obsessed with race — and so paranoid?

This government makes Richard Nixon look as trusting as Mary Poppins.  While Tricky Dick had his enemies list, it didn’t comprise most of the American people.

So what’s the solution?  Is there a way to snap liberals out of their mass delusion?

I’m afraid not.  Delusions are notoriously resistant to treatment without the full arsenal of psychiatric drugs.

The next best thing:  Vote, attend tea parties, and stay connected and informed.  Elect as many conservatives as possible.

And, one more thing: watch your back.   Because, as the unmarried women of Salem learned hundreds of years ago, paranoia stoked by the powerful can be a dangerous thing.

A frequent AT contributor, Robin is a psychotherapist and recovering liberal in Berkeley.

Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/02/paranoia_strikes_deep_in_obamas_america.html at February 10, 2010 – 07:40:24 AM CST