










A related must-read: No Substitute for Victory.Video: Final Surrender, 1945.











A related must-read: No Substitute for Victory.Predictably, the unions haven't been running to City Hall to cut a deal. But given what's been commonplace in the beleaguered private sector, the mayor's proposal is hardly out of line.Otherwise, city officials say they're prepared to fire 146 workers if some concessions aren't in place by June 1, when the new fiscal year begins. And Mayor Goodman took it a step further on Wednesday, and threatened to fire the lot of them -- the entire municipal bureaucracy -- and then rehire those who are willing to come back at reduced hours.
...Well here's a clue for you [Union bosses]. If you really want to save jobs and do what's best for your members, you'll realize that the city can't remain solvent if it doesn't get a handle on compensation costs. If it takes a "bully" to force government union leaders to understand that struggling taxpayers are neither willing nor able to ensure that city workers make it through this recession unscathed, so be it.
The ADL is a dyed-in-the-wool liberal outfit and its national director for life, Abraham Foxman, has spent a good deal of time defending Barack Obama's attitude toward Israel and the Administration's handling of the "peace process." However, the tone and manner of Obama/Biden/Clinton's reaction to Israel's Jerusalem construction announcement seems to have shook up our hero, who narrowly survived the Holocaust. Maybe Abe is hearing footsteps from his past and senses the possibility that the next knock on his door might not be room service.
Administration's Dressing Down of Israel is a 'Gross Overraction'
We cannot remember an instance when such harsh language was directed at a friend and ally of the United States.
New York, NY, March 12, 2010 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today said it was shocked and stunned by the Administration's public dressing down of Israel by saying it had "undermined trust and confidence in the peace process, and in America's interests," as related by Assistant Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley in his daily briefing. Crowley was referring to the announcement about future building in Jerusalem made during Vice President Joe Biden's Israel visit.
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:
We are shocked and stunned at the Administration's tone and public dressing down of Israel on the issue of future building in Jerusalem. We cannot remember an instance when such harsh language was directed at a friend and ally of the United States. One can only wonder how far the U.S. is prepared to go in distancing itself from Israel in order to placate the Palestinians in the hope they see it is in their interest to return to the negotiating table.
It is especially troubling that this harsh statement came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly and privately explained to Vice President Biden the bureaucratic nature in making the announcement of proposed new building in Jerusalem, and Biden accepted the prime minister's apology for it. Therefore, to raise the issue again in this way is a gross overreaction to a point of policy difference among friends.
The Administration should have confidence and trust in Israel whose tireless pursuit for peace is repeatedly rebuffed by the Palestinians and whose interests remain in line with the United States.
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.
Not that I'm recommending it, mind you. But that history part is true.Under White House pressure to act swiftly, House and Senate Democratic leaders reached for agreement Friday on President Barack Obama's health care bill, sweetened suddenly by fresh billions for student aid and a sense that breakthroughs are at hand.
"It won't be long," before lawmakers vote, predicted Speaker Nancy Pelosi [as] officials worked to maximize Obama's influence over lawmakers who control the fate of legislation that has spawned a yearlong struggle. They said he would delay his departure on an Asian trip for three days -- until March 21 -- and he will go to Ohio next week for a campaign-style pitch for his health care proposals.
..."I'm delighted that the president will be here for the passage of the bill; it's going to be historic," said Pelosi, D-Calif. -- though there's no guarantee the House can act by then. A procedural vote in the House Budget Committee is set for Monday afternoon, but as of late Friday lawmakers still hadn't gotten the final analysis from the Congressional Budget Office that they need to go forward.
House Democrats plan to tack a major reform of the nation's student loan system onto the health care overhaul bill, a move that could help corral votes in the House but might make the bill's passage more complicated in the Senate.
House Democrats have been skeptical of voting for the Senate version of the health care bill [because the] Senate bill contains a number of provisions they don't like -- including federal aid targeted at specific states that critics say was used to buy votes and a tax on high-cost insurance plans. House Democrats fear that, after they approve the current Senate version of the bill, the Senate won't be able to pass the reconciliation bill and fix the objectionable parts.
...the president and leaders of the majority party have become infected with a kind of mania. President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders seem determined to ram through a severely flawed piece of legislation by any means necessary, heedless of the desires of the American people or the negative impact on the system they mistakenly say needs to be saved.
...All they need to do is pass the bill, and the poor, frightened, deluded American people will see the wisdom of their decisions. Hence House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's memorable (and revealing) comment, "We have to pass the [health care] bill so that you can find out what is in it." In her imagination, once the bill is signed, voters won't remember the struggle, just the glow of the accomplishment. Rip off the bandage; you'll feel better after the sting.
The Democrats' headlong drive is leading to bouts of political insanity, such as the aptly named Slaughter rule, which potentially could allow the House of Representatives to "deem" the health bill passed without a final vote. That the Democratic leadership would consider resorting to such a stunt betrays a high degree of contempt for the electorate...


Constitution Be Damned: ObamaCare Vote Next Week: 
The Washington Examiner reports that House Democrats appear poised to adopt a rule that would pass the Senate health care bill without actually voting on it.U.S Constitution, Article I, Section VII, Clause II.
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively...
Levin: And do you want to know why? Because this clause goes to the heart of this Republic.
This clause goes to the heart of how our representative body, that is Congress, makes laws. And so I want you to [observe] how particular the Framers were... They have to pass a Bill to present it to the President...
This is one of the most exacting clauses in the Constitution.
And, to the best of my knowledge, which extends over three decades, no Congress has previously tried to institute policies without actual statutes.
Here we have the President of the United States and Congressional leaders actually talking about the possibility of a brazen and open violation of one of the most fundamental aspects of our Constitution and Republic! How we actually make laws!Let me be as clear as I know how. If this is done, this will create the greatest Constitutional crisis since the Civil War. It would be 100 times worse than Watergate.
...It would be government by fiat... meaning there would be no law... the mere discussion by officials in this government is such a grotesque violation of the actual legislative function of Congress [that it] puts us... at the brink. At the brink.
This is why we conservatives revere the Constitution. This is why we stress the Constitution's words have meaning and historical context and must be complied with. Because otherwise we have anarchy, which leads to tyranny.
This is a crucial lesson for those of you who... aren't sure what your beliefs are, or if you have any beliefs. Or aren't sure if you even care. We have an effort underway by the one of the most powerful chairmen in Congress, the woman who heads the Rules Committee, ...openly discussing gutting Congress. Gutting Congress.
And if this is done, this is about as close to martial law as you'll ever get... So Louise Slaughter, a Representative from New York, is discussing, in essence, martial law. Now I can tell you, if they pursue this process, and try to impose this kind of a law, without actually passing a statute, that I will be in a race -- with scores of others -- to the courthouse to stop this.
I can't think of a more blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution than this. And the liberal media has essentially ignored it!
...It's not only absurd on its face -- that these power-hungry ideologues, party-first-country-second types, would make the claim that the House voted on something it never voted on... that's not only absurd on its face, it's blatantly unconstitutional!
Levin: I wanted to bring additional firepower on this subject, my buddy Arthur Fergenson, who is a Constitutional expert and who has argued cases in front of the Supreme Court, including Buckley vs. Valeo...
What do you make of this unbelievable -- that they're even talking about, this chairman of the Rules Committee -- acting as if members of the House voted on something when they didn't actually vote on it?
Fergenson: It's preposterous. It's ludicrous. But it's also dangerous. It's dangerous because, first, ...because [the U.S. Constitution's] Article ISection VII says every bill -- and it capitalized "bill" -- ...it is common sense that the bill is the same item, it can't be multiple bills, it can't be mashups of bills. And, in fact, in 1986, Gene Gressman, no conservative, and one of the experts -- the expert -- on Supreme Court practice... was writing an article that was dealing with a less problematic attempt to get around this section of the Constitution... [Ed: the line-item veto] and he wrote, "By long usage and plain meaning, 'Bill' means any singular and entire piece of legislation in the form it was approved by the two houses."
...the bills have to be revoted until they are identical. Both chambers have to vote on the bill.
If this cockamamie proposal were to be followed by the House and there were to be a bill presented to the President for his signature, that was a bill that had not been voted on -- identically by the two Houses of Congress -- that bill would be a nullity. It is not law. That is chaos.
I cannot recall any circumstance in which that has happened.
...What we have here is a measure, that if Obama signed it, would immediately affect taxation, it would change rules of practice in the insurance industry, it would regulate 17% of the nation's economy, and it would be done without any legal basis whatsoever!
Fergenson: It's like, the closest I can think of is martial law! The President would have no authority -- there would be no law! It's not like it would be constitutional or not. There would be. No. Law.
Levin: What do you make of people who sit around and even think of things like this? To me, they are absolutely unfit to even be in high office!
Fergenson: You're right, Mark. And I would go back to what caused Gressman to write this... he was asked for his comments by the Senate... because the Senate was trying to do the equivalent of a line-item veto. And, in 1986, you were in the Justice Department under Attorney General Meese... there was a proposal... to take a bill and divide it into little pieces and.. then the President would sign each one or veto each one. That was unconstitutional. A Senate Rules Committee reported it unfavorably.
Levin: You know what's interesting about this... Attorney General Ed Meese considered it unconstitutional even though President Reagan had wanted a line-item veto. And President Reagan agreed that it was unconstitutional without an amendment to the Constitution...
...Speaking for myself, I would tell the people who listen to this program that you are under absolutely no obligation to comply with it [this health care bill] because it is not, in fact, law. Do you agree with me?
Fergenson: I agree with you. I believe it would be tested by the Supreme Court. I believe that, under these circumstances, chaos would reign. There is no obligation to obey an unconstitutional law. The courts are empowered to determine whether it's unconstitutional... it's not a law.
Under this scenario, the various arms of the federal government will be acting under a law that does not exist.
Greeks return to work as debt crisis looms
Monsters and Critics.com
Unions from garbage collectors, tax officials and taxi drivers have stepped up protests in recent weeks and the main private and public sector unions...
Union chief upbeat ahead of talks with Government
Ireland Online
General Secretary of IMPACT Peter McLoone says he is upbeat ahead of today's "difficult and challenging" talks on resolving the public-sector pay row....
Council leaders to defy public-sector pay freeze with 6.5% rise
WalesOnline
A UNION leader expressed outrage last night after it emerged that most council leaders in Wales have been recommended for a pay rise of more than 6.5%. ...
Public sector pension costs may reach £79bn a year
Independent
Neil Walsh, the union's pensions officer, said: "The report makes it clear that public sector pensions are far from being the unsustainable burden on ...
Could the Massa scandal bring Pelosi down?: HillBuzz
Item 2: "...in his budget address, [Illinois] Governor Pat Quinn will unveil how he plans to make up a huge shortfall [of] $13 billion... The state of Illinois meets the classic definition of insolvency. That is, it is unable to pay its bills as they come due... Budget observers also expect him to push for some kind of tax increase... And they're watching to see what, if any reforms, he comes up with to fix the state's broken public pension system. It's now more than $60 billion in the red."No one remembers exactly when they started, but there is no doubt that the campaigns for Senate majority leader are raging on Capitol Hill. They have not been formally declared, of course, and for good reason — the position is still filled. But as Harry Reid's November re-election has looked increasingly imperiled, his two top deputies in the Senate have become more overt in their quests for his job. And in a Senate that is already near paralyzed by partisan rancor, the two Democrats' maneuverings are threatening to further gum up the works.
Jihad in Nigeria
By Melanie Phillips (Spectator-UK)
In appalling violence by Muslims against Christians in Nigeria, the latest tally after weekend attacks on three mostly Christian villages is some 500 dead.
What is happening to Nigeria's Christians makes a mockery of the frenzied Western obsession with Israel.
To understand the real cause of global tumult we should look carefully at Africa, and the appalling suffering of those upholding the religion that underpins the Western world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Narrative? What narrative? I don't see any freakin' narrative.
...the Paterson administration [is] pressuring the Legislature to close the state's $9 billion budget deficit by the April 1 deadline... To the rescue is Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch with a plan that mimics the way New York City staved of bankruptcy in the 1970s...
* Borrowing $2 billion a year for three years
* Establishing a financial review board
* Giving the governor the power to make spending cuts to balance the budget without the Legislature's approval
"Objective number one is to achieve structural balance of our budget within a five-year period. It is not in my judgment possibly to cut $9.5 billion out of this budget this coming year," Ravitch said.
But in the offing is a new budget gap -- $300 million -- if state officials decide to cancel a deal with the company AEG to run the Aqueduct racino... "If the lottery division found AEG unlicensable, then we wouldn't be able to move forward," Paterson said.
Sources said the Paterson administration and company officials negotiated most of the day about whether to go forward with the Aqueduct project, which is under investigation by both federal prosecutors and the state inspector general... The probes forced the politically powerful Rev. Floyd Flake and rapper Jay-Z to quit the company Tuesday.
And if the proposed soda tax falls flat that would open another $500 million hole, which is why lawmakers are giving the Ravitch plan serious attention.
This afternoon, by a vote of 402 to one, the U.S. House approved a resolution calling for the House Ethics Committee to investigate House Democratic leaders and their handling of ethical allegations concerning former Rep. Eric Massa (D., N.Y.). House Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) offered the privileged resolution.In the resolution, Republicans urge the ethics committee, based on recent media reports, to probe into allegations of sexual harassment made by Massa’s former congressional staffers...
Inaction by House Democratic leaders “may have exposed employees and interns of Rep. Massa to continued harassment,” the resolution reads. The resolution also asks the committee to investigate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.), and their staffs...
...On Tuesday, Kilpatrick’s office manager in Detroit, Andrea Bragg, let the Speaker’s office know she had been subpoenaed as well before a grand jury... The topic of the subpoenas is not known. Kwame Kilpatrick has been fighting in state court over restitution to be paid on a perjury plea. The Free Press also has reported that a contractor who pleaded guilty in a federal corruption probe has told investigators he handed over bribes to the former mayor in 2002.Cheeks Kilpatrick – Michigan’s only member of the powerful Appropriations Committee – has not been publicly implicated in any of those probes but has been a loyal defender of her son.
Pence: The Next 2 Weeks Decides It: Riehl"The only 'Green Jobs' this President wil save or create are in the rice fields." -- Me, at 3am, awakened by the sheer brilliance of this sentence.
If you live in the village of Curmudgeon, Montana, where there are no doctors, will the government compel a doctor to move to the area?
Health care is an infinitely complex series of transactions facilitated by doctors, nurses, pharmaceutical companies, insurers, hospital systems, brokers, third-party networks, caregivers, volunteers and others.
Marathon Pundit reports that John Conyers' wife was sentenced to three years and one month in a federal prison for her role in a bribery scandal. The former Detroit city councilwoman had admitted taking cash from a company interested in doing business with the city.She is the wife of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), who is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee... There was some drama in the courtroom, as Conyers tried to withdraw her guilty plea, "If I have to I'll go to jail for what I've done, but I won't go for what I didn't do."
The longtime Detroit congressman has not been implicated in his wife's crimes, but I find it odd that the national media has not picked up on this story. After all, federal penitentiaries are under the purview of Conyers' committee.
Nine people have pleaded guilty, including two former directors of the downtown convention center, and prosecutors have promised more charges are coming... Conyers' plea deal was limited to taking bribes to support a contract with Synagro worth $47 million a year. But the recent trial of her former aide, Sam Riddle, exposed a series of alleged schemes involving others making payoffs to do business at city hall.
...Earlier this year, jurors at the Riddle trial heard secretly taped phone calls in which he and Conyers discussed money, bank deposits and how to split cash.
In a November 2007 call, Conyers told Riddle, "You'd better get my loot." On another call, businessman Rayford Jackson, who passed bribes to Conyers for her sludge vote, said, "You're my girl. Don't forget that."
Conyers told the judge some taped conversations would exonerate her... "They have taken tapes and used them out of context," she said of the U.S. attorney's office...
Before the hearing, Conyers moved around the courtroom like a playful host, blowing kisses to supporters while wearing dark sunglasses. Her husband, who has an office in the federal courthouse, was not in the courtroom. Spokesman Jonathan Godfrey said he didn't know his whereabouts.
More than a few conservatives (e.g. here and here) jumped for joy today after reading St. Thomas Friedman's NYT column today (sorry, I don't link to, or read, NYT weasels). I am told Tommy admits that Bush was right on Iraq and democracy is truly taking hold there - reversing an earlier ruling. What these right-of-center chumps don't understand is that they, Iraq, Bush and democracy have just been been given the kiss of death.
In the latish 80s St. Thomas wrote a piece for the Sunday Magazine opining Israelis moving to the West Bank were non-ideological yuppies looking for affordable homes and a short commute to their jobs inside the Green Line. Ergo, he went on to say, the Palestinians wouldn't consider them a threat and settlers and Arabs would live happily ever after in Levittown-by-the-Jordan. I'm not sure whether Friedman snagged a Pulitzer for that one or not, but a few months later Intifada #1 broke out, and a brilliant journalism career was launched.
If these same conservative scribblers could have shorted Friedman's foreign policy prognoses from that point on, they'd be writing posts from their yachts off the Mediterranean instead of sitting in some cramped bedroom pecking away on an old Lenovo laptop and staring out at a brick wall. Even in a job where being right is optional, Tommy eventually realized the jig was up. After years of producing flops people might begin to notice. Why do you think in the latter years he's stopped making a fool of himself on the Middle East in favor of making a fool of himself on the "Green" mania, globular warming and the environment? And like clockwork, that's now on the rocks.
Point being, by using Mr. T as proof Bush was right about Iraq, the odds are both the former president's legacy and that benighted country are headed for oblivion - and soon. Sorry, cons, but it's too late to do anything about it now.