Litigator- and A**-Kicker-in-Chief vs. the Leaks
It would be nice if we had a commander-in-chief whom the troops (even avowed liberals like Gen. McChrystal) respected. But barring that, at least we have a litigator-in-chief who can, as he says, “kick some a**” -- in the courts and Chicago-style. And he’s got a strategy for a legal “surge” of new lawyers & government regulators that will result from the new 2,000-page regulatory bill – a whole new army of lawyers & SEIU members, to supplement the ACLU, the army of IRS agents to enforce the health care bill, etc.
It would seem that Obama actually has created jobs – primarily in the government (he also took credit for the temporary census takers) and legal professions. That should do wonders for the economy and GDP, and towards becoming more like such economic bulwarks as Greece, California, LA,.... After all, if throwing a whole bunch of money at the recession hasn’t seemed to work, it must mean that we just haven’t thrown enough money at it. Never mind that that’s never worked in the past. And never mind that even the socialistic countries in the G-8/20 this week were lecturing Obama about lowering deficits rather than raising them. The world is upside down.
Leaks in the Gulf, the Border & the Press
And our chief litigator seems to be in quite the a**-kicking mood, threatening legal action against BP, Arizona, and booting Gen. McChrystal. It seems he (& Congress) are more interested in public show trials and stemming the flow of a free market than effectively stemming the flow of oil in the Gulf, of illegals into the U.S., or of the military’s & public’s opinion away from him.
Now some 70 days into the Gulf oil spill, he seems to be more of an impediment to local attempts to protect the beaches than a help. He won’t give authorizations to build barriers, or allow a host of private volunteers to do more. Or to lift the Jones Act and allow a veritable flotilla of foreign oil skimmers and equipment to enter our waters. No, must protect those union jobs – unless, of course they’re oil drilling, which he attempted to halt, but was overturned in court. Well, even the litigator-in-chief can’t win ‘em all.
He’s acknowledging it’s the worst ecological disaster in our history, but his major thrust seems to be legal threats, and Chicago shakedown (yes, basically – though apologies for that were owed Americans, not BP) of $20 billion from BP for another slush fund he can claim credit for doling out, just as the TARP & stimulus funds. And we have a Navy with deep-diving equipment that can open & rescue sunken submariners, but has no capability here? And we’ve supposedly run out of places on land to drill???? How about ANWAR (much easier to deal w. a spill there), etc., etc. – again, our hands are tied by regulation.
An interesting parallel – a massive invasion of our shores & economy (the spill), and his liberal-Left instinct is the courts rather than pulling out all the stops to protect us – whatever happened to “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?” Likewise with the war on terror (which he won’t acknowledge in such terms) – his instinct (& that of his Attorney General Holder) is to take the top Al Qaida brass to civilian courts and Mirandize them all. And with a massive illegal invasion across our borders, he goes right to the courts against Arizona for trying to do something about it. Again, more of a hindrance than help. He needs to get out of the way and let us help ourselves, if he won’t help us. I like the attitude of the Colorado man who went on a one-man hunt for Bin Laden. But of course Obama's big government mentality is that he’ll take care of it. But his lack of real leadership in all of these crises is becoming increasingly evident. Along with his incompetent Leftist advisors (excuse the redundancy).
A more cynical and conspiratorial view (vs mere incompetence) would be that they’re holding back on the beach and border protection in order to assure crises so severe that they can take advantage to promote their liberal-Left agenda, as Rahm Emmanuel says, and “not let a crisis go to waste.” Note that in his first Oval Office speech, on the oil spill, he also justified stopping offshore drilling, and the cap-in-trade bill. Not much of a stretch to justify nationalizing oil – as Maxine Waters has openly advocated, and “comrade” Chavez has done in Venezuela, etc.
And the border crisis was occasion to promote “immigration reform,” aka amnesty & the Hispanic vote. Lending credence to the conspiratorial view, highly credible Sen. Kyle even said that Obama said as much in a private mtg. – that if he were to control the border, there wouldn’t be the pressure for needed immigration reform!!! We’ve been down that road of amnesty without border control before. Seems to me you first secure the border (for a variety of reasons – including drugs, cartel violence, terrorists, etc.) – stop the leak -- then deal with cleaning up the mess. Cheap, illegal labor has driven Americans out of many labor fields – you’d think there’d be a hue & cry in a recession, but too many have come to look to government for an unemployment handout, forgetting who’s paying for it (and whose grandchildren).
And VP Biden is even getting into the a**-kicking mood, biting the hand of a Wisconsin frozen custard shopkeeper who gave him & entourage free samples. When asked what they owed him, the shopkeeper said “no charge – just lower our taxes and we’ll call it even.” Biden snapped back, accusing him of being a "smart-a**." Got to watch out for those plumbers and shopkeepers -- people who actually produce something of value.
A MacArthur Moment
Regarding Gen. McChrystal’s MacArthur moment, apparently the liberal media (e.g., Rolling Stone Magazine) is no respector of even a self-avowedly liberal general – the enemy is the military. Of course the general shouldn’t have been so naive about that. David Brooks in the NY Times spoke of our “culture of exposure” in the media, elevating the trivial over the important. Seems the Stone reporter was indeed sowing dissension among brethren to force a confrontation & discrediting of the military.
And most interesting to see an about-face on that same Gen. Petraeus, whom Senators Clinton & Obama and others pillaried, and MoveOn.Org ran the full-page ad about “Gen. Betray Us.” In fact, MoveOn for the last 3 years has had anti-Petraeus stuff on their website, but the day Obama picked him to lead the Afghanistan campaign, and one after another in the media were tripping over themselves calling his selection “brilliant,” MoveOn took down the material. No explanation or apology needed – after all, being liberal means never having to say you’re sorry, or wrong. Same general, different commander-in-chief. Oh, yes, Afghanistan is the “just war,” although even that seems to be quickly changing with the press for more than a TBD 7-11 withdrawal.
Interesting that speaking of yet another 2,000+ page bill (the regulatory one), Sen. Chris Dodd seemed to echo Pelosi’s earlier statement of that earlier (health care) one, that “we won’t know what’s in it until it’s passed.” Indeed – job insurance for lawyers.
And a plug to support Harry Reid's opponent, Sharron Angle, in the Nevada senate race. He's apparently put out a million-dollar ad misquoting her, and she could use some financial help to counter it.
It would seem that Obama actually has created jobs – primarily in the government (he also took credit for the temporary census takers) and legal professions. That should do wonders for the economy and GDP, and towards becoming more like such economic bulwarks as Greece, California, LA,.... After all, if throwing a whole bunch of money at the recession hasn’t seemed to work, it must mean that we just haven’t thrown enough money at it. Never mind that that’s never worked in the past. And never mind that even the socialistic countries in the G-8/20 this week were lecturing Obama about lowering deficits rather than raising them. The world is upside down.
Leaks in the Gulf, the Border & the Press
And our chief litigator seems to be in quite the a**-kicking mood, threatening legal action against BP, Arizona, and booting Gen. McChrystal. It seems he (& Congress) are more interested in public show trials and stemming the flow of a free market than effectively stemming the flow of oil in the Gulf, of illegals into the U.S., or of the military’s & public’s opinion away from him.
Now some 70 days into the Gulf oil spill, he seems to be more of an impediment to local attempts to protect the beaches than a help. He won’t give authorizations to build barriers, or allow a host of private volunteers to do more. Or to lift the Jones Act and allow a veritable flotilla of foreign oil skimmers and equipment to enter our waters. No, must protect those union jobs – unless, of course they’re oil drilling, which he attempted to halt, but was overturned in court. Well, even the litigator-in-chief can’t win ‘em all.
He’s acknowledging it’s the worst ecological disaster in our history, but his major thrust seems to be legal threats, and Chicago shakedown (yes, basically – though apologies for that were owed Americans, not BP) of $20 billion from BP for another slush fund he can claim credit for doling out, just as the TARP & stimulus funds. And we have a Navy with deep-diving equipment that can open & rescue sunken submariners, but has no capability here? And we’ve supposedly run out of places on land to drill???? How about ANWAR (much easier to deal w. a spill there), etc., etc. – again, our hands are tied by regulation.
An interesting parallel – a massive invasion of our shores & economy (the spill), and his liberal-Left instinct is the courts rather than pulling out all the stops to protect us – whatever happened to “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?” Likewise with the war on terror (which he won’t acknowledge in such terms) – his instinct (& that of his Attorney General Holder) is to take the top Al Qaida brass to civilian courts and Mirandize them all. And with a massive illegal invasion across our borders, he goes right to the courts against Arizona for trying to do something about it. Again, more of a hindrance than help. He needs to get out of the way and let us help ourselves, if he won’t help us. I like the attitude of the Colorado man who went on a one-man hunt for Bin Laden. But of course Obama's big government mentality is that he’ll take care of it. But his lack of real leadership in all of these crises is becoming increasingly evident. Along with his incompetent Leftist advisors (excuse the redundancy).
A more cynical and conspiratorial view (vs mere incompetence) would be that they’re holding back on the beach and border protection in order to assure crises so severe that they can take advantage to promote their liberal-Left agenda, as Rahm Emmanuel says, and “not let a crisis go to waste.” Note that in his first Oval Office speech, on the oil spill, he also justified stopping offshore drilling, and the cap-in-trade bill. Not much of a stretch to justify nationalizing oil – as Maxine Waters has openly advocated, and “comrade” Chavez has done in Venezuela, etc.
And the border crisis was occasion to promote “immigration reform,” aka amnesty & the Hispanic vote. Lending credence to the conspiratorial view, highly credible Sen. Kyle even said that Obama said as much in a private mtg. – that if he were to control the border, there wouldn’t be the pressure for needed immigration reform!!! We’ve been down that road of amnesty without border control before. Seems to me you first secure the border (for a variety of reasons – including drugs, cartel violence, terrorists, etc.) – stop the leak -- then deal with cleaning up the mess. Cheap, illegal labor has driven Americans out of many labor fields – you’d think there’d be a hue & cry in a recession, but too many have come to look to government for an unemployment handout, forgetting who’s paying for it (and whose grandchildren).
And VP Biden is even getting into the a**-kicking mood, biting the hand of a Wisconsin frozen custard shopkeeper who gave him & entourage free samples. When asked what they owed him, the shopkeeper said “no charge – just lower our taxes and we’ll call it even.” Biden snapped back, accusing him of being a "smart-a**." Got to watch out for those plumbers and shopkeepers -- people who actually produce something of value.
A MacArthur Moment
Regarding Gen. McChrystal’s MacArthur moment, apparently the liberal media (e.g., Rolling Stone Magazine) is no respector of even a self-avowedly liberal general – the enemy is the military. Of course the general shouldn’t have been so naive about that. David Brooks in the NY Times spoke of our “culture of exposure” in the media, elevating the trivial over the important. Seems the Stone reporter was indeed sowing dissension among brethren to force a confrontation & discrediting of the military.
And most interesting to see an about-face on that same Gen. Petraeus, whom Senators Clinton & Obama and others pillaried, and MoveOn.Org ran the full-page ad about “Gen. Betray Us.” In fact, MoveOn for the last 3 years has had anti-Petraeus stuff on their website, but the day Obama picked him to lead the Afghanistan campaign, and one after another in the media were tripping over themselves calling his selection “brilliant,” MoveOn took down the material. No explanation or apology needed – after all, being liberal means never having to say you’re sorry, or wrong. Same general, different commander-in-chief. Oh, yes, Afghanistan is the “just war,” although even that seems to be quickly changing with the press for more than a TBD 7-11 withdrawal.
Interesting that speaking of yet another 2,000+ page bill (the regulatory one), Sen. Chris Dodd seemed to echo Pelosi’s earlier statement of that earlier (health care) one, that “we won’t know what’s in it until it’s passed.” Indeed – job insurance for lawyers.
And a plug to support Harry Reid's opponent, Sharron Angle, in the Nevada senate race. He's apparently put out a million-dollar ad misquoting her, and she could use some financial help to counter it.
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