Archive for June, 2010

Or anything else he wants to run for:

David Karki

The mortgage industry. General Motors and Chrysler. Obamacare. Suing Arizona for enforcing the federal immigration law that he won’t. A $20 billion shakedown of BP. Unilaterally banning deepwater offshore drilling, and when a judge throws it out, trying to forcibly reimpose it.  And last, but certainly most, seriously considering an attempt to shove amnesty for illegal aliens down America’s throat via executive order.

You WILL comply!

It’s been only a mere 17 months, but the rampage Obama has been on, the carnage left in his wake, and the list of victims are unparalleled in American history:  one entire

industry after another seized and taken over, intimidated and extorted, liquidated and centrally controlled. No limit on his power even paid attention to (except to determine how best to get around it), much less respected;  anyone who dares tell him he’s overstepped his authority is just an annoying insect to be waved away, and squashed if he doesn’t go.

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Dan Calabrese

Sarah Palin has agreed to a settlement on one of the many ethics charges filed against her in Alaska – this one concerning the establishment of her legal defense fund prior to her resignation as governor.

The decision follows a finding by an independent counsel that Palin’s fund did not comply with Alaska ethics laws.

Here we go.

I just got off a conference call with some of Palin’s representatives and several other writers and bloggers who were contacted by Palin’s camp. They believe the independent counsel’s finding is absurd, but Palin agreed to settle the matter because a) an agreeable remedy was easy to put in place; and b) she didn’t think the protracted legal battle was worth it.

The long and short of it is this: The legal defense fund set up on Palin’s behalf, designed to pay her legal fees once she became besieged with frivolous ethics charges, is alleged to have been illegal under Alaska law mainly because the fund used the word “official” in its name, and that implied that it was an arm of the governor’s office.

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Bob Franken

The generals have been having a wild time of it lately. It was just a little over a week ago that Gen. David Petraeus, the head of Central Command, physically passed out right there for the world to see as he testified before a congressional committee. Now, it’s Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s turn to collapse – or least for his career to.

Feeling faint?

Petraeus apparently had not had enough liquids. McChrystal was done in because he and his aides spouted off in front of a reporter.

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Lawrence J. Haas

A week from today, a federal judge in San Diego has an opportunity to right a grievous wrong – to reverse last year’s decision by the Department of Homeland Security to deny political asylum to a young Palestinian man who, over the course of a decade, prevented the deaths of potentially thousands of innocent people in Israel and the territories.

Do the right thing, America.

His name is Mosab Hassan Yousef and his life story, as recounted in his autobiographical Son of Hamas, reads like the best in historical fiction – though his extraordinary tale is true, confirmed by Israeli intelligence.

Born in 1978, he is the oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, who he describes as a beloved figure among Palestinians and who, he reveals, was one of seven founders in 1986 of the terrorist organization Hamas, which now runs Gaza. It is his connection to his renowned father that made his exploits both possible and, at the same time, so improbable.

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President Obama likely did the only thing he could do: Gen. Stanley McChrystal has been relieved of command in Afghanistan, and the only other general capable enough to get the job done there, David Petraeus, will return from CENTCOM and resume command in the field.

Out.

Fox News reports:

Gen. Stanley McChrystal is no longer the top U.S. commander and strategist for Afghanistan, reportedly being told Wednesday by President Obama that he is out of a job following a scathing article in which McChrystal and his aides were quoted criticizing the commander-in-chief over his leadership in the Afghan war.

McChrystal got his marching orders as he held a face-to-face meeting at the White House, where he met with the president after a meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the Pentagon.

The Wednesday meeting preceded a regular session of the administration’s strategy team for Afghanistan, held in the White House Situation Room. Normally, McChrystal would have joined via teleconference but he was summoned to Washington as he faced a private flogging over the article that appeared in Rolling Stone.

If not insubordination, the remarks in the Rolling Stone magazine article were at least an indirect challenge to civilian management of the war in Washington by its top military commander.

Military leaders rarely challenge their commander in chief publicly, and when they do, consequences tend to be more severe than a scolding.

What else could Obama have done?

Brett Noel

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Large version for newspaper publication.

Greyscale version for newspaper publication.

Bob Franken

Among the first things we need to determine is whether Vice President “Bite Me” considers this a “Big F______ing deal”. “Bite Me” is the name an aide to Afghanistan military commander General Stanley McChrystal gave to Mr. Biden if we are to believe a new piece in Rolling Stone by freelance reporter

What did I say? You never listen...

Michael Hastings. Hastings was apparently given close access to McChrystal and his crew and it is certainly a big f____ing deal for them.

The piece, set for release Friday, calls McChrystal “The Runaway General”. Well, he’s crawling away from Afghanistan, back to D.C. He has been jerked back after accomplishing what many thought was impossible. Apparently the article with all its contemptuous quotes about damn near the entire national security team has made the president…dare I say it…ANGRY!! He’s so mad that his press guy won’t even rule out the possibility that he’ll be fired.

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Andy Hefty

There, I’ve said it.  And for reference, let’s go to Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice:

Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

Not good.

General McChrystal opened his mouth when he should have kept it shut.  When it comes to railing against the president (and let’s face it, I greatly enjoy that pastime), military officers – especially flag officers – are barred from this practice.

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Joe Bell

The Republican Party anticipates significant gains at the polls this November. Should the GOP pick up congressional seats its ability to hold them will depend upon whether its current embrace of conservatism is genuine and permanent or merely advantageous posturing.

Conservative? Not even close.

The conservative credentials of the 1990s Republicans faded as the party spent like Democrats (well, almost) during the George W. Bush years.

In his book, “A New American Tea Party,” John O’Hara observed the 1994 Contract With America was supposed to have been a landmark event in conservatism. O’Hara noted while nine of 10 items in the Contract were passed in the first 100 days “the majority of those items failed to pass the Senate and many were eventually rolled back by future Republican majorities. …The combined budgets of 95 of the major programs that the Contract With America promised to eliminate increased by 13 percent in 2000. A moratorium on all new federal regulations died in committee.” Read the rest of this entry »