Please Attend Gilad Shalit Event 8/26/09

Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured by terrorists in 2006 while on duty near the Gaza Strip. Our friends at Minnesotans Against Terrorism are hosting an event on his 23rd birthday, Wednesday, August 26th at the Sabes Jewish Community Center. Click on the title of this post to learn more. Please tell others about this event and try to attend.

Senator Grassley: I Won't Sell Out My Party

Gee, thanks for that. You idiot. Click on the title of this post to read more.

The Bravest Person On Planet Earth

Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma. Her sentence in a show trial recently ended is expected any day. MC assumes with a heavy heart that the Vapid One will be silent as he wouldn't want to meddle in another country's affairs (that's reserved for Israel). MC further assumes that Secretary of State Lady Macbeth will say little of any substance. Shame on us.

Meet Rabiya Kadeer, Uighur Activist

Kadeer said today in Tokyo that "The nearly 10,000 (Uighur) people who were at the protest, they disappeared from Urumqi in one night." Kadeer called for an internation investigation to uncover more about the riots. China claims that 197 people died in the riots, with a further 1,000 detained.

MC likes it when human beings stand up for human beings in China. Or anywhere else. Women seem to be possessed of an exceptional courage in this regard. In fact, seee the post above.

The Coen Brothers' Latest: A Serious Man

MC loves the Coen brothers. So sue us already. And no, this post has nothing to do with politics. That's the beauty of it.

Visualize Health Care "Reform"

MC likes the visual approach to the relentless drive to ruin health care in America. Click on the image to enlarge and click on the title of this post to go to the home page of the National Taxpayers Union.

Hat tip: True North

Ryan Destroys Obamacare, MSNBC & Katrina vandel Heuvel

Death Of A Doctrine: Obama's

While fending off his destructive policies domestically, MC notes that Obama's vaunted foreign policy doctrine of engagement is an unqualified failure. Click on the title of this post to read Michael Gerson's measured take on the phenomenon.

Obama & End Of Life Care, or, "Man Has Become Death"

MC notes with grim amusement that the boomer generation is hearing very clear signs from the Vapid One that when they get just a wee bit older that hospice rather than health will be their only choice under Obamacare. Always self-absorbed, the worst generation now can cluck about what they have, or might have, brought upon themselves. There are plenty of stories online and in the drive by media about this end of life problem offered by Dr. Chicago (h/t: Rush Limbaugh). We aren't linking to any of them here.

The quoted portion of the title of this post is from John Paul the Great.

How Lice Thwarted Napoleon's Invasion Of Russia

MC isn't sure: with history over, pace Fukuyama's "The End of History and the Last Man," what can historians do but embroider? MC, however, is not a fan of the Corsican.

"'Napoleon doesn't give a damn how many of his soldiers are collapsing on the road,' Westphalian batallion commander Friedrich Wilhelm von Lossberg wrote to his wife. The emperor had an unsentimental view of the sick and dying."

You must be joking: he had an unsentimental view of the living!

Zhou Enlai, when asked his opinion of the French Revolution, is said to have replied:

"It's too soon to tell."

Of course it isn't and only a handmaiden to the monster Mao could have feigned such.

Click on the title of this post to read about a theory concerning the decimation of the Emperor's Grand Army and its legendary march on Moscow.

If The Pill Fits, Take It.

Hat Tip: John H. Click on the image to, um, enlarge.

Israel: Military Attack On Iran Possible

Israel, realizing it has no friend in Obama, repeatedly stated during Def Sec Gates's just concluded trip to Jerusalem that no option is off the table concerning stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. In other words, President Obama can play diplomat but Israel is a nation of adults and can't afford any margin of error with a threat to its existence like Iran.

Relations between the US and Israel are dreadful: have they ever been worse? Click on the title of this post to read the WSJ piece on what happened during Gates's visit. Go here to read the editor of Haaretz say plainly that Obama has lost the confidence and trust of virtually all Israelis (nicely done Barack!).

Then go here to read Rick Richman's analysis of it posted at Contentions.

India To Buy American Weapons Not Russian

India will no longer buy its military equipment from Russia but will instead purchase some of what it needs from America. MC considers this an unequivocal good. MC's been called neoconservative and we don't deny it. We've also been called communists and that leaves us baffled. We are, however, amused to be able to link to this story at Pravda. Yes, just one of those joyful ironies in life. Click on the title of this post to read the (English lanuage) story in Pravda.

Questions To Ask Your Member Of Congress

The American Thinker has a short article on some initial, basic questions to ask your member of Congress when he or she is back in your district for the August recess (is DC Paris where everyone leaves for August?). Click on the title of this post to read the article but be warned: if you were worried about this issue before you'll be mildly panicked after reading this piece. But do it. We have to stop this catastrophe-in-the-making.

Obama & Race: The Mask Slips

Click on the title of this post to read Melanie Phillips' trenchant and concise take on the arrest of a certain Harvard professor who shall not be named in this blog and Obama's ham-handed addressing of it. His past truly is his prologue and how can we say we weren't warned? We were; it's just that 53% of the voters apparently didn't take it to heart.

Phillips says more in fewer words than most anyone else MC knows. Get clicking.

Smart Car Tossing Into Amsterdam Canals

How does MC do it? Bringing readers the latest in all sorts of news and bad behavior? We have our ways. The latest nonsense to catch our fancy is drunken louts in Amsterdam tossing those hideous Smart cars into the canals of that famed, desiccated city. MC doesn't approve of vandalism or property crimes of any kind but we've not been able to wipe the smirk from our face since we first heard about this. Click on the title of this post to read more.

Update: We knew if we waited there'd be a picture. From The Sun (UK), naturally.

Melanie Phillips & Alan Dershowitz: Is Obama Good For The Jews?

Front Page magazine hosts a written debate between Melanie Phillips and Alan Dershowitz over whether the Obama administration can be given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to its dealings with and treatment of Israel. Click on the title of this post to read the exchanges. And speaking of doubt, MC has none when it comes to concluding which one of them has the better argument.

Waterboarded? Hansen "Apologizes" To Sutton

Isn't this curious? Nate Hansen toughed it out at the last 4th CD meeting and refused to apologize either to the 4th CD in whose name he appeared to speak in his remarks posted online at the Pioneer Press or to the military personnel assembled in the room. Instead he was censured by the 4th CD. That half of MC who is on the 4th voted against the censure because no pre-existing guidelines were in place for officers to abide by when commenting in public as a private person as opposed to their position as an officer. (MC previously defended Hansen in this blog on free speech grounds and in opposition to those who demanded his ouster)

Hansen went so far at that meeting as to refuse to agree that he would not identify himself in his future public comments as the Deputy-Chair of the 4th. Pluck, MC admires pluck.

Now comes a letter to the Chair of the RPM (with whom he is good friends) apologizing, kind of, for his comments. MC supposes this is all to the good but believes the letter ought to be addressed to Bev Aplikowski, Chair of the 4th, for whom enormous headaches were created by his comments. Neither the Chair of the RPM nor the Deputy Chair were present at that last, raucous 4th CD meeting. Aplikowski handled the meeting exceeding well although some have criticized her (including, don't you love it?, some who were not present!).

MC is fairly certain that the criticism would not be made if the 4th CD Chair were male. What is it with men in this party being afraid of strong, competent women?

The third paragraph of the letter (click on the image to enlarge it), MC is forced to note, constitutes a classic example of the non-apology apology. Nate regrets his comments because it has been asserted by some that they were insulting to our armed forces? Rubbish. They were objectively insulting and were intended as such.

MC, clever things that we are, notices Hansen's letter is dated July 16, 2009. We note that Chair Sutton sent an email dated July 17th concerning the upcoming State Convention and announcing that Nate Hansen would be chairing the Bylaws and Constitution Committee.

What's Latin for quid pro quo?

On balance, resolving snafus like the one Hansen created is a good thing. MC will remain vigilant, however, in seeing that people are treated fairly, not just those who are friends of the Chair.

Sutton/Brodkorb Go After Ellision Ethics Scandal

MC was pleased to see RPM leadership ask Congress for an ethics investigation of Congressman Ellison for the reasons set out below in their press release. Click on the image above to see the disclosure made as to who was funding his trips to Saudi Arabia.

In The News

07.22.2009

Republican Party of Minnesota Calls for Ethics Investigation of Keith Ellison; Also Calls on Ellison to Reimburse State & Apologize For Actions

by Press Release

In a letter to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, Republican Party of Minnesota Chair Tony Sutton and Deputy Chair Michael Brodkorb today called for an Ethics investigation of Rep. Keith Ellison regarding travel Ellison undertook at the expense of a local non-profit. Chair Sutton and Deputy Chair Brodkorb also called on Ellison to reimburse the state for the travel expenses that were incurred and to publicly apologize for his actions.

"Today's Minneapolis Star Tribune raises deeply troubling questions about Rep. Ellison's ethical conduct in office. According to the newspaper, Rep. Ellison accepted a paid trip from a local nonprofit that "typically would be reported as a gift to a public official,'" Republican Party of Minnesota Chair Tony Sutton and Deputy Chair Michael Brodkorb wrote in a letter to Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Chair of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

"Rep. Ellison's actions and stonewalling are clearly wrong and he should apologize to the people of Minnesota. Taxpayer money intended for students must never be used for a politician's personal travel. To avoid the appearance of inappropriate use of taxpayer money, he should return the funds immediately," Brodkorb emphasized.

Sutton and Brodkorb called on the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to investigate the matter. "The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct is the appropriate body to investigate these matters. Therefore, we respectfully request that the Committee commence an ethics investigation into Rep. Ellison's travels and his disturbing lack of transparency," Sutton and Brodkorb concluded.

A copy of the letter is attached below:

July 22, 2009

Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
HT-2, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515


Dear Chair Lofgren,

We are writing to you regarding Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota.

Today's Minneapolis Star Tribune raises deeply troubling questions about Rep. Ellison's ethical conduct in office. According to the newspaper, Rep. Ellison accepted a paid trip from a local nonprofit that "typically would be reported as a gift to a public official."

In spite of congressional gift rules and IRS regulations, Rep. Ellison has stubbornly refused to disclose the cost of the trip. "Such trips generally must be reported under congressional gift rules that call for full financial disclosure. IRS rules, moreover, bar nonprofit religious groups from furthering individuals' ‘private interests," the Star Tribune reported.

Moreover, there are questions whether the organization that funded Rep. Ellison's trip used taxpayer money to do so. "Tax records show the group that paid Ellison's expenses, the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, received nearly $900,000 in taxpayer money in 2006 and 2007 from a rental arrangement for Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA), an Inver Grove Heights charter school. ... The school received state funding to pay rent to the Muslim American Society Property Holding Corp., a nonprofit spinoff of the Muslim American Society that owned the building. The corporation then turned over $879,000 to the Muslim society as a grant," the Star Tribune noted.

Rep. Ellison's actions and stonewalling are clearly wrong and he should apologize to the people of Minnesota. Taxpayer money intended for students must never be used for a politician's personal travel. To avoid the appearance of inappropriate use of taxpayer funds, we also believe he should reimburse the state for any and all expenses incurred during this travel immediately.

The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct is the appropriate body to investigate these matters. Therefore, we respectfully request that the Committee commence an ethics investigation into Rep. Ellison's travels.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Sincerely,


Tony Sutton, Republican Party of Minnesota Chair
Michael Brodkorb, Republican Party of Minnesota Deputy Chair

Cc: Rep. Keith Ellison

In Trouble

Click on the title of this post to read Karl Rove's assessment.

Obama & Israel: Into The Abyss

MC's patience is exhausted with those--Jews or non--who cannot see what this administration has done, is doing and will do to Israel. Ergo we leave it to Daniel Pipes to say it all again. Click on the title of this post to read him in the Jerusalem Post.

UPDATE: Attorney General reaches out to American Muslims. It's all of a piece, isn't it? Click here to read about this fool's errand.

The Return Of Bobby Jindal

We're delighted to see Bobby Jindal become more visible lately. There can be no serious talk of a conservative future without him being included in the discussion. Click on the title of this post to read his opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. Click here to read Marc Ambinder's take in The Atlantic. That Jindal knows a great deal about health care and any ersatz reform only adds to our pleasure of seeing him again on the national stage.

Obama's Press Conference Gets Panned

Reviews around the net on Obama's press conference last night are variations on the theme of lost opportunity, no energy, unfocused and unclear, etc. When Salon pans you, you know it's not just MC who gives last night's performance a failing grade. We're pleased to suggest that it did little, if anything, to recover the momentum on healthcare reform. Good. Click on the title of this post to read Salon's take.

Enough Already With Obama's Birth Certificate!

If MC has to stop this car and slap you, we will. Please shut up already about Obama not being born in the USA and producing a fake birth certificate. For some reason this wingnut meme has come to life again. We're resolved to killing it until it remains dead. Please people, we have enough of an uphill battle on our hands; no need to go off into "the Clintons killed Vince Foster" wilderness.

Gidget Es Muerto!

MC is unconsolable upon learning that the world's most famous Spanish speaking Chihuahua has died. MC has an unopened blister pack containing a key ring with her at the end and must truncate this post in order to list it on eBay for mucho dinero. Click on the title of this post to learn the sad facts of this wee thing's passing.

Obama Post-Partisan? Stop, You're Killing Us!

William McGurn at the WSJ lays out the obvious case that Obama is not, as he pretended, post-partisan. Click on the title of this post to read the article. MC never believed for a moment that he was, of course. We await further scales falling from more eyes.

Watergate Hotel Fails To Sell At Auction

MC didn't even know it was going on the chopping block, let alone that bidding failed to reach the opening bid of 25 million dollars. We have no idea what this means. Things just keep getting weirder.

Obama Tracking Lower Than Carter

It would be foolish to consider Obama down for the count. However, MC is enjoying him being on the ropes and lower than Carter at this point in his presidency qualifies as such. DO click on the title of this post to see an excellent interactive graph from USA Today.

Eva Ng Announces For Mayor Of Saint Paul!

MC attended Eva Ng's filing and announcement for mayor of St. Paul. A good crowd was on hand to wish her well and support her efforts to reign in local government and reduce taxes. Click on the title of this post to be redirected to Eva's website. Sign up to volunteer or donate or both and tell your friends about our fine candidate.

David Brooks Overstates The Obvious

The New York Times's (and PBS's) idea of a conservative, the cringe-inducing David Brooks, has written yet another column of astonishing obviousness bordering on over-statement ("Liberal Suicide March"). MC has never been a fan of Mr. Brooks although the Center for the American Experiment wined and dined him not long ago. Memo to Mitch Perlstein: enough! (to quote the President).

And no, we are not linking to David's column. Find it yourself if you're in a masochistic mood.

Public Losing Trust In President Obama

Of course sensible people never had it to begin with. Click on the title of this post to read the Politico story it must have killed Andy Barr to write. Heh.

The Decline And Fall Of Hillary Clinton

Of course it takes The Telegraph (UK) to print what MC and many others have known for some time: agreeing to be The One's Secretary of State was a fatal mistake. Gloating is unseemly (and MC reserves the right to it when the Vapid One's healthcare dragon is slayed) so for now MC will simply observe that Lady Macbeth deserves her fate. Click on the title of this post to read Nile Gardiner's short, deadly, accurate observations.

RIP: Leszek Kolakowski 1927-2009

All things pass but MC was distressed to learn just today that Leszek Kolakowski died on July 17th. Click on the title of this post to read Christopher Hitchen's thoughts on his passing. Go to Amazon and consider buying "God Owes Us Nothing" or "Modernity On Endless Trial." Or just read the Wikipedia entry (always with caution) on him. A great mind has left us.

Him Or Your Lying Eyes?

57% Say We Are On The Wrong Track

MC read with interest a July 13th CBS (yes, we know) poll in which a bracing 57% of respondents said the country was on the wrong track. Did many, if any, of our readers hear much about this result in the media? MC certainly didn't and only came across it in a wonderful article by Matt Welch & Nick Gillespie in yesterday's Washington Post. Click on the title of this post to read the article and find the link to the poll (how can one resist an article titled "What's Next Mr. President--Cardigan's?").

Surely one poll does not a reality make. Still, we are struck by the fact that such data points are buried by the complicit press when they run counter to the meta-narrative of Obama as saviour. MC remembers well when the shills in the press would claim that most other numbers didn't really matter in a poll: the right track/wrong track question was the one to pay attention to.

Well, we are. Is anybody else?

Eastern Europe To Obama: Don't Forget Us

MC notes that lost amongst the noise of the Obama's overreach on healthcare "reform" and cap and tax energy "policy" was a letter from the leaders of Eastern Europe asking our President not to forget them. Mr. Multilateral, forgetting half of a continent? We have no doubt that the drive by media would be harrumphing about this had such a letter been sent to President Bush. Naturally, though, it got scant attention in the Obama-stream media.

Too bad: it is important. Signed by such statesmen as Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa, the letter deftly addresses the shortcomings of Obama's worldview. Click on the title of this post to read the entire letter.

Cheney Derangement Syndrome Redux

Click image to enlarge.

When Democrats Attack Each Other!

MC is always happy when Democrats go after each other. It is a sign of flop sweat that the DNC is running ads attacking senators like Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota. Keep your fingers crossed and the pressure on Congress up: this healthcare debacle may yet not come to pass!

UPDATE: Senate Majority leader Harry Reid calls the ad above "a waste of money." Oops. Click here for the story.

In A (Democrat) New York State Of Mind

Click on the image above to enlarge the nightmare.

Welcome To Obamacare!

The Hurt Locker

Please, please see this movie. You'll thank us. And those in uniform.

Obama Rewrites The Cold War

The formidable Liz Cheney demolishes the nonsense that passes for observation by President Obama. She rightly takes him to task for his astonishing ignorance of history and his stomach-turning readiness to strike a pose of moral equivalence between America and its adversaries.

Click on the title of this post to read her excellent commentary in the Wall Street Journal.

Still Dead To Us: Peggy Noonan

Don't ask: MC doesn't know why it still reads her from time to time. As her latest article dealt with Sarah Palin we felt somehow obliged to slog through the delusion of what passes for thought and analysis from the once bracing and insightful Peggy Noonan. We regret it. Click on the title of this post to read her yourself. Peggy needs to be dead to more of us. She has no place to tell Republicans anything about our party. She voted for Obama.

This post is for MC's friend Sue Jeffers.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: "Growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of."

Oh? And which "populations" would those be, Your Honor? Margaret Sanger, meet Justice Ginsburg. Justice Ginsburg, meet your predecessor. A girl's club! "O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"

Her Honor made these astonishing remarks in an interview forthcoming in the NYTimes Magazine, not yet available online. MC will link to it when it is. Ed Whelan of NRO has the following to say:

"As part of her broad-ranging discussion of abortion, Ginsburg offers this, er, interesting comment why the Court's 1980 decision in Harris v. McRae, which ruled that the Hyde Amendment's exclusion of nontherapeutic abortions from Medicaid reimbursement was constitutionally permissible, "surprised" her: Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion. Which some people felt would risk coercing women into having abortions when they didn't really want them. But when the court decided McRae, the case came out the other way. And then I realized that my perception of it had been altogether wrong."

The drive by media coverage? None. If Justice Scalia had talked about "populations that we don't want to have too many of?" Mein Gott. Mon Dieu. Yah Allah. Pinch would have it on the front page of the NYTimes for weeks until he resigned from the bench. The drive by media would have followed in spades. But this?

Crickets. Silence.

Pathetic.

Buy This Book Before It's Too Late

MC is an unapologetic fan of Melanie Phillips. Read the post below. Then click on the title of this post to be redirected to Amazon where you can buy this clarion-call of a book. Buy several.

Oy! Melanie Phillips Takes Apart Alan Dershowitz

The insufferable Alan Dershowitz is being taken apart by the much sharper and clearer-eyed thinker Melanie Phillips. MC thinks Phillips is a treasure. No soft thinking about anything from her, thank you. Here is a taste of what she has to say:

"My argument was rather that Dershowitz and those like him amongst American Jews appeared incapable of acknowledging the terrible truth about Obama simply because they appear incapable of acknowledging that a Democratic President could ever be bad for Israel and the world. Their obsessive and irrational – indeed, Manichean -- dread of the Republican party means they approach politics with heavy blinkers on and become incapable of seeing what is under their noses, a fact which Dershowitz’s own article merely underscores."

Click on the title of this post to read her entire article and, while there, add her to your RSS reader. Don't know what that is? Google it. Don't have one? Get with it.

The Trend Is Our Friend

Still, MC believes we underestimate Obama at our peril. Pray for continued overreach.

Israel Incoherence: Biden Yes, Obama No

Astonishingly incompetent in matters of foreign policy, the Obama administration continues to alarm almost every serious observer of international affairs. The latest gang that couldn't shoot straight moment came when Vice President Biden said, truthfully, that Israel is a sovereign nation that has a right to defend itself, ie, against a nuclear Iran. Today the President said that the US was not giving Israel a green light for an attack (it needs none, Mr. President). Discretion is always needed in diplomacy but it strikes MC as odd that one who touts the virtues of it is so abject in its execution. Expect much more of the same.

Obama Charm Fail

Naive, foolish, arrogant. That's the community organizer. Jive doesn't work abroad.