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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Capitol Goes Into Lockdown

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 3:46 PM

The Capitol went into lockdown this afternoon after Capitol Police apprehended a man with a gun. It was only expected to last a brief period of time, but Hill staffers were instructed not to leave their offices, and no one was allowed into the halls.

No details were given about the suspect.

Tags: Capitol

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Christmas in the White House: Tranvestites, Obama and Mao

Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 1:31 PM

Check out the following ornaments, prominently featured on the White House Blue Room's Christmas tree this year:

Celebrity Transvestite Hedda Lettuce:

Barack Obama's image super-imposed on the Mt. Rushmore national landmark:

And what would Christmas be without White House friend Chairman Mao?

H/T: BigGovernment

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

"The U.S. president - the practical saviour of our times."

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 12:54 PM

Here's a German newspaper on the Christmas Eve passage of the health care bill in the Senate:

...we have Jesus’ miracles that everyone still remembers, but which only benefitted a few. At the same time, we have the wonderful parables about his life and deeds that we know from the New Testament, but which have been interpreted so differently over the past 2000 years that it is impossible to give an unequivocal result of his work.

Obama is, of course, greater than Jesus – if we have to play that absurd Christmas game.

HT: Gehragty

Tags: Politiken

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

What Abdulmutallab's Half-Cup Of Explosives Could Have Done

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 12:07 PM

This ABC video shows what happens when 50 grams of PETN explodes on an airplane. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was carrying one and a half times that amount in his underwear on the Detroit flight.

The relevant footage starts at -1.42.

Tags: Abdulmutallab

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Byron York: Get Going For The 2010 Elections

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 11:50 AM

As Michael Medved noted in an earlier post, "elections have consequences." It's been a common refrain with the passage of stimulus packages, bailouts, and health care by partisan Democratic majorities. But Byron York says Republicans are the ones who should feel guilty:

They know the GOP created the conditions that set in motion the electoral swings of 2006 and 2008, leading to the overwhelming majorities that allow Democrats to pass legislation the public doesn't want.

What should we learn? Get in gear for 2010. Voters have achingly little enthusiasm for mid-term elections when the Presidency isn't on the ballot, but that's not an option this time. November 2010 is crucial.

Tags: 2010

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Re: Obama Speech On Terrorist Attempt Sounds Aggressive

Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 11:20 AM

I'll agree with Jillian, that Obama's statement regarding the Christmas Day attempted bombing of an inbound international flight sounds aggressive. Unfortunately, I'm not holding my breath that the Obama administration is actually getting aggressive in dealing with the threats facing our country.

First of all, I'd just like to point out that President Obama noted he "will not rest" until those responsible are held accountable--an announcement made amongst his own tennis games, golf rounds and hula lessons. Give me a break... the guy took two days to even announce how outraged he was. His own press secretary and Homeland Security secretary denied the airport security system was even failing a full 36 hours after the attempted bombing.

Finally on Monday morning, Obama had a speech prepared made a statement, during which he noted, "As the plane made its final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, a passenger allegedly tried to ignite an explosive device on his body, setting off a fire.” Allegedly. This courtroom legalize is a perfect example of how this administration is failing to understand the jihadist threat against our nation.

Instead of treating the man who tried to blow up a plane (with hundreds of witnesses able and willing to testify to this fact), we're treating him like a guy who tried to rob the local 7-11! How about we start treating these "terrorists" like jihadists they are--Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is a foreign national who was radicalized in London by mullahs at his local mosque and worked with known terrorists in Yemen in plotting to murder hundreds of Americans. He's not merely a defendent in a criminal case--he is instead an agent of war and should not be treated as if he were an otherwise law-abiding American citizen!

As this man is now being treated like your run-of-the-mill criminal, he has now lawyered-up and police officials can't even get a swab of saliva for a DNA sample. Instead of questioning him (dare I say interrogating him) to find out who sent him, who he's worked with, where they're located, finding out the chain of command in the line of terrorists still waiting to attack us, etc., we've given him a public defender.

And knowing that Abdulmutallab did NOT act alone in constructing this plan of attack and weaponizing an undergarment, Obama insisted in his statement that this was the act of "an isolated extremist.”

Obama's words might sound aggressive, but his view of this global war on terrorism is frighteningly narrow and short-sighted--a combination that will likely lead the way for more attacks on America in the future.

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Obama's Latest Executive Order Grants Interpol Immunity From American Laws

Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 10:50 AM

One of the latest stories buzzing around the blogosphere during this holiday break is one regarding President Obama's December 17 Executive Order, “Amending Executive Order 12425.”

EO12425 was issued by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1983 which granted the international policing agency INTERPOL diplomatic status in the United States to help conduct global investigations more effectively. However, Reagan specifically made two exceptions to INTERPOL's diplomatic immunities. The first had to do with taxation; the second required INTERPOL to operate under the oversight of US law enforcement agencies, be held accountable according to US laws and produce records when demanded by courts.

Obama's "amendment" to Reagan's original Executive Order, however, completely undermines these exceptions and threatens to give international policing agencies immunity from US laws when operating within our own borders. ThreatsWatch reports:

Last Thursday, December 17, 2009, The White House released an Executive Order “Amending Executive Order 12425.” It grants INTERPOL (International Criminal Police Organization) a new level of full diplomatic immunity afforded to foreign embassies and select other “International Organizations” as set forth in the United States International Organizations Immunities Act of 1945.

By removing language from President Reagan’s 1983 Executive Order 12425, this international law enforcement body now operates... on American soil beyond the reach of our own top law enforcement arm, the FBI, and is immune from Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests. …

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Fewest Homicides On Record For NYC In 2009

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 10:24 AM

The city tracked 461 homicides this year; the record low was in 2007, when there were 496.

Tags: NYC

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Why Is Government-Run Health Care Problematic? Because Americans Live A Long Time

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 10:08 AM

Research from Dr. Jack Rowe of Columbia University's School of Public Health didn't directly consider the effects of a longer lifespan on the health care bill cost, but it did note that "U.S. government agencies' projections do not match the study's for increases in life expectancy because they assume improvements in mortality in the coming decades will decelerate."

According to the research, Americans could be living eight years older than the current government projections. Women could average between about 90-92 years in 2050, and men about 93-86 years, but the U.S. Census Bureau and the Social Security Administration's budget projections don't allow for women to live past 85 and men past 81. Here's Rowe:

We don't know that we're right, but we think rather than using these conservative estimates the nation is better served by having a range of estimates that include the potential for continued advances.

There could be other problems associated with this conservative lifespan estimate, such as job structures, education, city planning, and retirement plans.

Tags: aging

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Monday, December 28, 2009

Michelle Obama's Polls Down

Posted by: Carol Platt Liebau at 4:45 PM

The LA Times' Andrew Malcolm reports that the poll numbers of First Lady Michelle Obama are sliding down, even as her husband's approval ratings continue to erode.

This is an interesting phenomenon to me, as it's always seemed -- at least in recent years -- that the popularity of the First Lady was inversely correlated to that of the President. President George HW Bush had low poll numbers; his wife didn't. Bill Clinton polled well; Hillary didn't. The nation embraced Barbara "the Silver Fox" Bush, but voted her husband out of office. Although Americans loved Ronald Reagan, as for Nancy Reagan . . . not so much. You get the drift.

So it's noteworthy that Michelle Obama's numbers are falling. I think there may be two different explanations that are coming into play here.

(1) The Obamas came into office as very much of a "package deal" -- not in the "get two for the price of one" sense of the Clintons, but very much in a lifestyle sort of way. Barack Obama has been very canny about using his family to promote an image as just a "regular guy," and the press has been quick to peg them as the most glamorous twosome to occupy the Capitol since, say, Jack and Jacqueline Kennedy. Given that they are closely linked in the public's mind, then, it makes sense that as the bloom comes off the President's rose, the First Lady might experience something of the same phenomenon. Those who were worshippers at the temple of Obama are likely viewing its goddess with a measure of the same disillusionment as they do its god.

(2) Michelle Obama has worked hard to showcase herself as a "regular mom" -- but in its eagerness to rhapsodize about her glamour and elegance, the press has covered enough of her goings-on to make it clear to people that she's not living the same kind of lifestyle that they are. From the personal trainer to the expensive sneakers to the fashion focus, it's hard simultaneously to be the most fabulous First Lady in recent history -- as the press would have us believe -- and also just one of the girls. And the expensive tastes and ooh-la-la lifestyle contrast with her husband's policies, most of which apparently disdain and resent the kind of privilege that characterizes many of Michelle Obama's doings. That sort of implicit hypocrisy doesn't go down well, especially during a recession.

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Monday, December 28, 2009

THE YEAR’S TOP LESSON: ELECTIONS MATTER

Posted by: Michael Medved at 4:04 PM

One clear lesson emerges unmistakably from the confusion and passion of 2009, and that message should provide some encouragement for 2010. The first year of Obama’s presidency reminds us that elections matter, and they matter greatly. Cynics who claimed in 2008 that the choice was meaningless, insisting there were no deep differences between Republicans and Democrats, must adjust to harsh reality. A change of less than 500 votes in Minnesota, would have kept hardcore leftist Al Franken out of the Senate and Democrats couldn’t have reached their 60 votes for the health care takeover. Every Senate Republican opposed the bill and with one more GOP colleague they could have stopped it. The good news is that 2010 will at last bring the nationwide chance for worried conservatives to actually vote against the Obama agenda, and not just sulk and complain.

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Monday, December 28, 2009

Obama Speech On Terrorist Attempt Sounds Aggressive

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 3:55 PM

President Obama gave an address on the attempted Detroit terrorist attack from the Kaneohe Marine Base near his vacation home in Hawaii.

We will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable... The American people should be assured that we are doing everything in our power to make sure you and your family are secure during this holiday season.

The President said that amped-up security measures were being put into place as a result of the terrorist attempt. Republicans have criticized the President for failing to make any public announcements until now, and for carrying on with his Hawaiian vacation after he heard the news.

Tags: obama

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Monday, December 28, 2009

Michelle And Barack Play Tennis In Hawaii

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 2:13 PM

As of ten minutes ago, the President and First Lady just finished a tennis match in Hawaii, according to CNN's Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry .

Tags: obama

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Monday, December 28, 2009

Is Baucus Bombed?

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 2:04 PM

Max Baucus' low-life chicanery during the health care debate is nothing to be excused, but the extent of it might give him an excuse that this showing on the Senate floor is not alcoholism, as some conservatives are suggesting. Take a look for yourself:

Tags: baucus

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Monday, December 28, 2009

After Health Care Debacle, Cap-And-Trade Too Risky For Democrats

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 1:51 PM

After pushing for health care, it seems that Democrats aren't able to stomach more jobs-killing legislation, as evidenced today by moderate Democrats' push to drop the cap-and-trade issue until further notice.

On the heels of a failed Copenhagen summit, the excising of cap-and-trade from their agenda signals a significant retreat from a key Democratic issue that served as a capstone of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. But as Politico reports, moderate Democrats who voted for cap-and-trade before the summer recess were not well received by the tea party protesters back home.

...Republicans have vowed to make the issue a key line of attack during next year’s elections. Some Democrats would prefer to deny them that target.

Democratic Sens. Evan Bayh (Ind.), Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin are just a few legislators who have broken line with Democratic leadership and tried to discourage pursuit of the cap-and-trade bill.

Tags: cap-and-trade