Friday, July 02, 2010

Pure Karma: Steele calls it 'a war of Obama's choosing'

Boy Moto offers a different take on Michael Steele's controversial remarks on Afghanistan. And, indeed, it warrants analysis:

Some have overtly treated Michael Steele with hostility, with many frustrated conservatives expressing disagreement with some of his more controversial and tenuous remarks.

While he is far from perfect, removing him could be more destructive -- and rather pointless to boot.

However, give credit where credit is due. This is golden irony offered from Mr. Steele. He is absolutely on target with this offering, (even if I personally disagree with any conception, suggesting the U.S. cannot win 'again' in Afghanistan):

"Keep in mind again, federal candidates, this was a war of Obama's choosing. This was not something that the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in," he said. "But it was the president who was trying to be cute by half by building a script demonizing Iraq, while saying the battle really should be in Afghanistan. Well, if he is such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that's the one thing you don't do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan?"

The other day, we watched an utterly dishonest Mr. Obama offering numerous lies on many subjects.

Perhaps his biggest fabrication is the subtle implication that his administration holds some responsibility for the finished job in Iraq. Of course, that is utter nonsense. It should not only be ridiculed -- but highlighted -- as another example of Obama's gargantuan dishonesty. We all know, had Obama succeeded in his Senatorial agenda, that we would have a humanitarian disaster on our hands in Iraq.

Few seem to note that the jihadists had their asses kicked in Iraq, and predictably have reformulated along the Pakistani-Afghan border in order to recover some semblance of order.

Mr. Steele, however, turns the tables quite nicely here. He could even have asked, what happened to the Obama Doctrine? The one that declares the U.S. should not "meddle" in the affairs of others?

The Democrats' cheap, dishonest and ugly rhetoric, designed solely to gain power, debased an admirable mission in Iraq (which they overwhelmingly voted for -- including Clinton and Biden). With an honest media, their turncoat mantra would have been laughable; certainly it was unserious. Obama personally advocated a sophomoric concept suggesting this Global War on Terrorism Man-Made Disasters need only occur in one place: Afghanistan. It is actually quite possible, Steele implies, that then-candidate Obama could have encouraged the radical Muslim militants to see Afghanistan at the front line, once again.

Of course, the McCain campaign never bothered to challenge the provinicial offering from candidate Obama. The Illinois Senator had advocated some sort of delusional isolationist folly in which freedom and Democracy meant nothing.

McCain could have turned the tables, as Mr. Steele did, with the simplistic challenge: "I am surprised Mr. Obama does not seem to care about the millions of formerly oppressed human beings in Iraq... the rape rooms, torture, millions of murders and utter depravity."


Feds Look the other Way As Drugs and Illegals Stream in from Mexico While Warning Hikers That Crossing Canadian Border Will Get Them Jailed

Do you think Janet NapoliReno ever looked up the word irony?

Consider the hilarious AP story entitled "Feds warn Pacific Crest Trail hikers about crossing border."

The U.S. Border Patrol is warning hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail they could face arrest, jail and a $5,000 fine if they cross the U.S.-Canadian border improperly.

The Wenatchee World reports that the agency sent a letter last month urging the Pacific Crest Trail Association to warn hikers to only enter the U.S. at designated border crossings... ...Mike Dawson, trail operations director for the Pacific Crest Trail Association, said he hopes exceptions can be made for hikers...

So Mexican gangs' drug- and human-smuggling operations are permitted to operate with total impunity on our southern border -- but a few hikers who accidentally cross the U.S./Canada border are thrown in jail and fined?

And all this time I thought Democrats believed in open borders.

Not to put too fine a point on its schizophrenia, but once this administration gets booted out of office, its members definitely have a future as writers for SNL.


Hat tip: Tooba Man.

Related Reading Just to Tick You Off Even More:
The Shameless Duplicity of the Obama Administration: Napolitano Directly Contradicts Solis on Immigration Enforcement; Media Strangely Silent.
Four Border Stories Guaranteed to Make Your Blood Boil
Obama Administration Unveils Dramatic New Plan to Seal Massive Gulf Leak: Suing Arizona for Arresting Drug- and Human-Smugglers
Anyone know what you call it when heavily armed intruders cross the border into the U.S. unmolested by authorities? Oh, that's right: Arizona.


Larwyn's Linx: Why Kagan is Unqualified -- and Dangerous

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Kagan Nomination

Why Kagan is Unqualified -- and Dangerous: AT
Elena Kagan's Socialist Associations: the Middle Years: NewZeal
Coburn won't rule out a filibuster: ABC

Nation

Comprehensive Immigration Platitudes: Malkin
DOJ slimes Panthergate whistleblower: Simon
And Justice for All: Belmont Club

GOP must call Obama's bluff!: RWN
Socialism's Second-Guessers: PJM
Bubba is Back -- and that's Bad News for Barry: WashExam

Economy

Financial Reform: 'Gigantic Ponzi Scheme': TechTicker
It's official: debt highest since WWII: BlogProf
Fed Made Taxpayers Unwitting Junk-Bond Buyers: Bloomberg

Pelosi: Unemployment Checks Best Way to Create Jobs: Malkin
Wealth, Jobs, the Fishing Industry, and Obama: AT
ObamaCare Medical Loss Ratio Is Healthcare's Loss: Kesler

Climate & Energy

Congressional Report On Obama’s Gulf Oil Incompetence: Strata-Sphere
Nearly Every Exxon Valdez Cleanup Worker Dead?: SIGIS
Cimate Insanity of the Week: the Mammoth Hunters: WUWT

Media

'Goober' Graham: Tea Party 'Unsustainable': Patterico
Chicago's Culture of Torture: Volpe
Media shocked that Sharron Angle, who is pro-life, is really pro-life: BlogProf

Politico Misleads on NJ Gov. Chiristie’s Immigration Position: RWN
'Leading' presidential 'scholars; rank Obama ahead of Reagan: Toldjah
Crap In, Crap Out: Babalu

ABCBSNBC Continue to Lose Audience: NewsBusters
Predicting the Recession of 2011: ConTeach
The decreasing relevancy of Obama's presidency: AT

World

Ohio Homeland Security official Omar Alomari fired after Jawa Report investigation: Jawa
Oh Boy: Federal Judge Allows Mexico to Have a Voice in Arizona Immigration Lawsuit: GWP
King Abdallah Compliments President Obama, Sort Of?: BRubin

SciTech

Comcast's Diabolical Plans: Cringely
Apple Sued Over New IPhone Reception Problems by Consumers: Bloomberg
Behind the scenes with the next-gen $100 bill: CNet

Cornucopia

Mr. Shallow & Fantastic: Anchoress
More Grog: Mel Gibson Alleged Caught In Another Drunken Rant: Ace
Ringo Starr & the All-Starr Band: Anchoress

Images: The 100 Greatest Movie Insults of All Time -or- How to Talk to a 'Progressive' If You Really Must
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: J.D. Hayworth for U.S. Senate


Thursday, July 01, 2010

Cincinnati Tea Party Founder Mike Wilson Puts His Career On Hold To Run Against Leftist Crackpot Connie Pillich

Correspondent Amalaur filed this report from the heart of Tea Party country in southwestern Ohio.

Cincinnati Tea Party founder Mike Wilson is a patriot. He left a successful IT career to try and make a difference in Ohio... and is running for Ohio House District 28.

Unsurprisingly, he won the Republican nomination through name recognition alone (getting good coverage on Instapundit never hurts).

But the general election will be considerably tougher. As was the case in 2008, the radical Marxist crackpot Connie Pillich (I hear that's the phraseology she prefers) will be his opponent. Supported by union bosses and willing to spend taxpayers' money until the next seven or eight generations are broke, Pillich is about as radical a leftist as Ohio has ever seen from a major political party.

To give you an example, Ohio's budget deficit will soon approach $10 billion. So what's The Pillich Plan™?

Why, spend billions more, of course! She favors the incredibly practical Ohio light rail system that will cost taxpayers heaven knows how much -- say a billion or more before it's all said and done -- and, by golly, it could attract well over two dozen riders!

Say, but doesn't Shelbyville have a monorail system? Well, dammit, we need one too!.

But I digress. Tonight Wilson held a fundraiser at Doctor Jay's house, one in a series of events to face off on TV with the unions who are backing Pillich (if you've got a few spare bucks, click here to help get the message out).

His speech was a great one and, while this is not a perfect transcript, should reflect his words pretty well. Note: I did not see any teleprompters in the room.

I can't overstate the importance of this race... this time, we're really at a crossroad. I honestly believe it's one of the most important elections in our lifetime. We are standing at the edge of a cliff and the consequences of stepping off are dire. Do we want to be like lemmings?

We have a clear choice this time, and we can't always say that. At the federal level, the legacy of debt we're leaving is truly immoral. At the state leve, it's the same. We have enormous deficits... roughly an $8 billion budget deficit.

The good news is that our state constitution mandates a balanced budget. Unlike the federal government, we can't print money.

You know what the business climate is like at the state level. In 1970, Ohio was 5th in business climate. In 2010, Ohio is at 47th. We've lost 410,000 jobs under Governor Strickland.

We have a choice as to how we fix this. We can embrace the free market and reject socialism, or we can continue on the path of high taxes and millions of pages of regulations.

Unlike my opponent, I've signed the Americans for Tax Reform tax pledge. I will not vote for a tax increase in the legislature. My opponent [Connie Pillich] and Gov. Strickland have already voted to increase taxes.

The $8 billion deficit was not unanticipated. We took $6 billion from stimulus funds... we stole the rainy day fund... and added a retroactive tax increase going back to the first of the year. My opponent [Pillich] already said we don't have control over what we spend. Then why are we electing you? Leave office and we can save your salary!

Ohio needs a 4% sales tax increase to close the budget.

Bottom line: we're going to drop from 47th, because New Jersey elected Chris Christie. Christie rejected calls for more spending and cut spending instead. He fought the unions. He stuck to his principles. It's common sense. It's not that hard.

...We have some tough decisions to make to get the state budget back under control. We need worker's comp reform. As for right-to-work legislation, I am not an anti-union guy. But at the same time, some unions are out defending the indefensible. Throughout our history, they've protected workers. But workers have the right to join... so why should we live in a state where you're forced to join a union?

...Consider that Oklahoma has 4% unemployment, low taxes, lower regulation... Nebraska's unemployment is 5%, Utah 6%, Texas 7.5%.

The high-tax, high-regulation states are dying: Ohio with high unemployment, Michigan 17%, California 15%, New York 13%. We know what works and what doesn't.

In my race, we have an opportunity to take back my seat as a conservative Republican. The most important vote I'll cast is for House Speaker. In Congress, Steve Driehaus voted for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker. Connie Pillich voted for the most liberal Speaker in Ohio history.

If we get Kasich elected along with a few conservatives, we can make a difference. Rahm Emanuel said, "Never let a crisis go to waste". We can change the momentum in Ohio. All of you being here recognize that and together we can make a difference.

My opponent will spend half a million on this race. She has the unions' money. I have you. And I'm telling you right now that we're going to win this race [applause].

They've got half a million dollars to spend saying that I'm a racist extremist. I have you to tell people the truth about me.

But, as you're well aware, this isn't about me. I've got three kids: 10, 8 and one about to turn 6. This is about their future. I've got a great career in IT. But although I don't need this, they need this...

...We have a chance to course-correct from socialism to the free-market. It's important that we do this now. Thank you for your support, both financial and in terms of getting the word out.

As the founder of one of the first and strongest Tea Party activist groups in the U.S., Wilson is a grass-roots organizer of the first order and one who deserves conservatives' support.


Welcome to Chicago: Judge halts questioning on Obama Even Though It's 100% Germane to Blago Trial

Yesterday's excellent Blago trial coverage from the Tribune described a strange incident in which the judge silenced testimony regarding President-Elect Obama's involvement.

Thought experiment: if the person in question were named, say, George W. Bush, would conversations with and about him be off limits to the defense?

Sheldon Sorosky, one of Rod Blagojevich’s lawyers, has been trying to drag President Barack Obama into the fray this afternoon, asking union official Tom Balanoff whether the FBI asked him about campaign money going to Obama... Prosecutors objected, as they have so often during cross-examinations, and U.S. District Judge James Zagel said Sorosky should only ask in general what the FBI had said to Balanoff.

Sorosky tried the question again [but] Zagel wouldn’t let the line of questioning go on after a private sidebar discussion among the lawyers.

Sorosky did get to ask about Balanoff’s labor group -- the Service Employees International Union -- supporting candidates for office. He asked whether the SEIU had supported “a young state senator” named Barack Obama as well as Blagojevich in his first run for governor in 2002.

...Sorosky then walked Balanoff through his earlier testimony, when he had talked about going to Blagojevich to promote Valerie Jarrett after Obama called Balanoff and said Jarrett was his preference...

Obama's involvement in the deal-making and his use of SEIU cutouts to shield himself from direct interaction with Blago is completely relevant to this case.

Perhaps a litigator could explain the rationale for shutting down discussion of Obama, Emanuel, Jarrett and other key players in this bizarre affair.


Related: Gee, What a Surprise: Under Oath, Union Official Says Obama Lied About Blago Contacts

Exclusive Photo: Eric Holder Welcomes Visitors to the Justice Department

Former Justice Department Attorney J. Christian Adams:

On the day President Obama was elected, armed men wearing the black berets and jackboots of the New Black Panther Party were stationed at the entrance to a polling place in Philadelphia. They brandished a weapon and intimidated voters and poll watchers. After the election, the Justice Department brought a voter -intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party and those armed thugs. I and other Justice attorneys diligently pursued the case and obtained an entry of default after the defendants ignored the charges. Before a final judgment could be entered in May 2009, our superiors ordered us to dismiss the case.

The New Black Panther case was the simplest and most obvious violation of federal law I saw in my Justice Department career. Because of the corrupt nature of the dismissal, statements falsely characterizing the case and, most of all, indefensible orders for the career attorneys not to comply with lawful subpoenas investigating the dismissal, this month I resigned my position as a Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney.

The federal voter-intimidation statutes we used against the New Black Panthers were enacted because America never realized genuine racial equality in elections. Threats of violence characterized elections from the end of the Civil War until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Before the Voting Rights Act, blacks seeking the right to vote, and those aiding them, were victims of violence and intimidation. But unlike the Southern legal system, Southern violence did not discriminate. Black voters were slain, as were the white champions of their cause. Some of the bodies were tossed into bogs and in one case in Philadelphia, Miss., they were buried together in an earthen dam.

Based on my firsthand experiences, I believe the dismissal of the Black Panther case was motivated by a lawless hostility toward equal enforcement of the law. Others still within the department share my assessment. The department abetted wrongdoers and abandoned law-abiding citizens victimized by the New Black Panthers. The dismissal raises serious questions about the department’s enforcement neutrality in upcoming midterm elections and the subsequent 2012 presidential election.

This administration and its cronies -- Eric Holder in particular -- are unique in American history. They are unraveling one sacrosanct American institution after another, even to the point of undermining the integrity of the voting booth.

This is the kind of stuff you see in Third World countries.

Should we not throw these bums out in November, I fear for the future of this country.


Larwyn's Linx: Kagan -- an Obama liberal jurist for life

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Kagan Nomination

Kagan Damns Herself: the Day Three Summary: Foundry
Kagan: well, that looks like my handwriting...: Ace
Does GOP have cojones to filibuster Kagan?: RWN

Kagan is an Obama liberal jurist for life: Owens
Coburn to Kagan: 'Can Feds Tell You What to Eat?': BlogProf
Kagan's hidden hand in partial-birth abortion law: WashExam

Nation

Awakening From The Collective Dream: Doc Zero
Indiana voting ID law upheld: Politico
Forecast: Category 5 Riot in Oakland: Zombie

Four Justices Make the Case Against the Constitution: Reason
Jews Against Obama: RWN
Joe Biden does the Blitzkrieg Bop: Driscoll

Economy

No One's Capital Is Safe in Obama's America: AT
House Dems Jam Domestic Spending into War Bill: WashExam
Good News: DPS Has a $363 Million Deficit: BlogProf

Heeding Obama’s Advice, Boehner Punches Back Twice as Hard: Driscoll
Why Obamanomics Has Failed: WSJ
Chicago: Union Operators and Laborers to Strike : OrgExp

Climate & Energy

Top Ten Things Obama Should Be Doing: Foundry
Feinberg Clueless Over Management of BP Shakedown Funds: SIGIS
Almost Every Cleanup Worker From '89 Exxon Valdez Now Dead: Insider

Baucus openly questions Dem grandstanding on BP: Malkin
Former oil worker: the 'cleanup' is all for show: GWP
Democrats suppress GOP visits to Gulf: RedState

Media

The Mysterious Disappearance of Ann Coulter: RWN
Enquirer not letting go of Gore story: Hot Air
7 Things Every Blogger Should Know How To Do (Besides Write): RWN

The Chris Christie Interview: WyBlog
Obama on Marriage: Bigot or Liar?: NRO
Memorializing George Tiller's Evil: Cashill

World

Will the Democrats get the blame for Iran's nukes?: AT
Blue Suede Jihad: Major Hamas Fundraiser Welcomed in the Land of Elvis: PJM
The Petraeus challenge: Can he ditch his own doctrine?: Peters

Kids Day Camp in Gaza: Patterico
Want worse health care? Try British model: Tapscott
Can we call this kid a 'G-bagger'?: DC

SciTech

Apple hiring iPhone antenna engineers for some reason: Engadget
Internet Points of Control: TechPolicy
Apache Software Foundation Receives Approval for Sale to Oracle Corporation: Apache

Cornucopia

Elena: Super Spy: MOTUS
2010: Year of Vivid Campaign Ads: AmDigest
After the fall -- John Edwards parties on: TNR

Images: Maktoob.
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Joel Pollak for Congress -- Give Jan Schakowsky a Pink Slip

QOTD: Another reason to doubt the [Supreme Court Second Amendment] dissenters' sincerity: They would never accept federalism as a rationale for letting states "experiment" with freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or due process protections. Much of their job, as they themselves see it, involves overriding "local preferences" that give short shrift to constitutional rights. -- Jacob Sullum


Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Thomas Friedman: a Crazed Sex Poodle Pining for China's Government Here in the United States

Thomas Friedman can't stop talking about the magnificence of the government of the People's Republic of China. Pity he hasn't moved yet.

Last year the New York Times’s Thomas Friedman, lamenting the political paralysis that was hindering the Obama administration’s legislative agenda, made this remarkable comparison: 'One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century.'

Last month on Meet the Press, Friedman warmed to his theme: “I have fantasized—don’t get me wrong—but that what if we could just be China for a day? I mean, just, just, just one day,” he said. “You know, I mean, where we could actually, you know, authorize the right solutions … on everything from the economy to environment.”

Tommy's the best the Times can muster -- and his recommendation is as follows: Let's ignore thousands of years of brutal experience and the counsel of Polybius, Plato, Aristotle, Montesquieu, Locke, Jefferson, Adams and Madison, and follow instead the model of China's dictators.

Okay, Tommy Boy, let's check out the news from inside the PRC:

[In December], Wuhan City organized over 800 law enforcement officers to forcefully demolish nearly 40,000 square meters of illegal buildings that are near the Wuhan City to Huangshi City railway construction site. The phenomenon of local famers rushing to “grow houses” is very common.

Protesting the forceful demolition, a farmer woman was blocked out by hundreds Chengguan (city management) from her illegally built building.

...Experts pointed out that farmers “grow houses” are directly motivated by profits, however a deeper reason was because they fear for their lives after losing their land to the government project. In order to stop the root of the “growing houses” problem, the government should make efforts to find employment opportunities for the farmers and include them into the new city lives.


Well maybe that's just a fluke, because Thomas Friedman is oh-so-very knowledgeable about China's despots!

The case of Nail household is a common occurrence in China, however this incident is by far the most escalated conflict between residents and the government demolition team. Ms. Fan attempted to defend her house from the demolition squad by throwing home-made fire bombs…

Today, Ms. Fan’s house in Minghang district was to be forcefully demolished, Ms. Fan standing on the 3rd floor threw home-made fire bombs (at the demolition squad)... Upon seeing this news, I am pleased that after two decades of development, society has progressed. Sub-machine guns are replaced by high-pressured water gun. Then why would it lead to such brutal resistance? Because of the large-scaled building project of Hongqiao, Ms. Fan had an area 480 square meter home, but the government is only willing to offer the compensation of 670,000 yuan, which is 761 yuan per square meter of housing subsidies and 1,480 yuan for the compensation of the land.

When the city’s average commercial housing is measured by tens of thousands (per square meter), forced eviction’s price is still calculated with the hundreds, this is the reason why residents threw fire-bombs. That is, they were living in a 480 square meter home, you acquired their land for so called construction, that’s also business, your compensation for the family only is enough to buy a 40 square meters home, and then the demolitions team came. I think anyone who had weapons probably could not help themselves but to take them out in this situation.

But that kind of brutal repression must be an outlier sort of situation... because Thomas Friedman thinks tyrants are cool!

“Ten thousand girls go to Lingnan (South of the Five Ridges – the area covering Guangdong and Guangxi), millions of whoremasters go down to Dongguan”, this is an up and coming popular phrase and also depicts an image of how prosperous Dongguan is...

Prosperity is people’s first impression of Dongguan – in the past 30 years, Dongguan’s economy was developing at an unbelievably fast pace... As famous as its prosperity is the city’s sex industry...

Dongguan’s Tourism Bureau released data from the first half of this year showed that the city had a total of 96 hotels of various stars. In the past year, the financial crisis ruined Dongguan’s export-oriented economy. However in Houjie, this famous town in Dongguan, even in the middle of the night, there are young girls who are dressed sexily on the street. They wear short skirts, black stockings, high heels, carry a small handbag and hold a cigarette in their hands. Their faces are covered with heavy make-up, and they do not seem to mind the chilly night.

As for Friedman's desire for a command-and-control approach to the climate "problem"? Yes, sir, that's a compelling proposition.

Hebei Province Shexian Tianjin Iron and steel plant (河北省涉县天津钢铁厂) is a heavily polluting company. Company scale is still growing, seriously affecting the lives of local residents. Thomas Friedman Approved!

Guiyu, Guangdong province, (广东省贵屿镇) rivers and reservoirs have been contaminated, the villager is washing in a seriously polluted pond. Thomas Friedman Approved!

In the Yellow Sea coastline, countless sewage pipes buried in the beach and even extending into the deep sea. Thomas Friedman Approved!

In Inner Mongolia there were 2 “black dragons” from the Lasengmiao Power Plant (内蒙古拉僧庙发电厂) covering the nearby villages. Thomas Friedman Approved!

Large amount of the industrial wastewater flowed to Yellow River from Inner Mongolia Lasengmiao Industrial District (内蒙古拉僧庙工业园区) every day. TFA!

Longmen town in Hanchen city, Shaanxi Province (陕西省韩城市龙门镇) has large-scaled industrial development. Environment is very seriously polluted there. TFA!

There are over 100 chemical plants in Jiangsu province coastal industry district. (江苏滨海头罾沿海化工园区) Some of them discharge wastewater into the ocean; some heavily contaminated sewage is stored in 5 “Sewage Temporary Pools”. During the 2 high tides in every month, the sewage then gets discharged into the ocean with the tides. TFA!

Anhui Province Cihu Chemical Industry District (安徽省慈湖化工园区) built a underground pipe to discharge wastewater into the Yangtze River. The wastewater sometimes is black, gray, dark red, or yellow, wastewater from different chemical factories has different colors. TFA!

Shanxi Province is the most polluted areas of China. It is also the province with the highest rate of birth defects. This loving farmer couple adopted 17 disabled children. TFA!

15-year-old boy from Tianshui, Gansu Province (甘肃天水), dropped out of the school after 2nd grade, followed his parents to Heilonggui (黑龙贵) Industrial District. He earns 16 yuan a day. TFA!

Inner Mongolia province Heilonggui (黑龙贵) Industrial District, the couple who worked at the Plaster Kiln and just got home. TFA!

Villagers from Kang village in Linfen City, Shanxi Province (山西省临汾市下康村) due to long-term consumption of the polluted water contaminated by industrial waste, there were 50 people who have cancer and cerebral thrombosis. 64-year-old Wang Baosheng got ill since 2003, he has fester all over his body so he cannot go to bed and lying face down on the edge of the bed each day. TFA!

Zhaozhuang village by the Hong River in Wugang City, Henan province (洪河边的河南省西平县张于庄村), Gao Wanshun’s (高万顺) wife died of cancer. Now he lives in poverty. TFA!

In Shanxi Province there are a lot of charitable nursing homes, to help disabled infants abandoned by their parents. TFA!

The oldest is 9, not going to school. The youngest is less than 2 years old. They lived in severely polluted area. They hands and faces were always dirty. TFA!

Every year, a lot of deficiency babies in Shanxi Province were abandoned. Kong Zhenlan (孔贞兰) in Qi town (祁县) who was making a living by recycling trash adopted 25 abandoned children. TFA!

Xuanwei (宣威) in Yunnan province is a cancer village. Every year there are more than 20 people die of cancer. 11-year-old student Xu Li (徐丽) is suffering from bone cancer.

The world is flat? No, Thomas Friedman's world-view is seriously f-ed up.


Oops! 2002 Document: In Case of Spill, Thad Allen Indicated That Coast Guard Incident Commander (Future Thad Allen) Should Waive Jones Act

USCG Admiral Thad Allen has spent a lot of time of late in front of the television cameras after the White House realized he made a much better face-man than, say, Janet Napolitano (oops -- did I say that out loud?).

 

 

Perhaps some of this time would have been better spent in front of a web browser, where he might have Googled his own 2002 recommendations from the 2002 International Oil Spill Conference (PDF).

Among the national issues identified back in the days of the evil Emperor Chimpy McBushitlerburton was this gem:

Put simply, this document summarizes the '2002 Spill of National Significance Exercise' in -- you guessed it -- the Gulf of Mexico.

A certain Vice Admiral by the name of, uhm, Thad Allen was in command of the entire region.

On page 3 of the document, a process to instantly waive The Jones Act was put in place.

The responsible party (steward) of the process is the United States Coast Guard (USCG).

MARAD (the United States Maritime Administration, responsible for naval defense readiness reserve) and Customs are also involved in vetting the waiver.

In short, Admiral Thad Allen should have instantly requested a waiver of the Jones Act, according to his own 2002 spill response exercise. In fact, the exercise that he helped spearhead identified it as a key -- key! -- issue.

Why isn't this a scandal?

And why is legacy media asleep at the wheel as we near day 73 of the worst maritime environmental disaster in American history? Could it be that President Not-Bush is in office?


Hat tip: CD.

Victor the Contractor: Incompetent Like a Fox

By Victor the Contractor

Lately I have been reflecting on why the Obama Presidency is so long on academic credentials yet so short on accomplishments. It has to do with the difference between doers and thinkers. The president has surrounded himself with stars of academia and political strategists who have an agenda to push in the process of governing but little in the way of management experience. Note that I distinguish between managing and governing. A governor, as described in the mechanical sense, guides a system that is already operational but requires minor adjustments to function optimally. A manager modifies that system to a greater or lesser degree to achieve a goal.

President Obama is barely able to govern, let alone manage when the need arises. A manager would have set up new guidelines for say, a national oil policy, instead of simply badmouthing fossil fuels and browbeating the corporate world into product reformulations that re-labeled existing technologies as new or green. A manager would have immediately set up a consortium of interests who had tangible experience with oil drilling and the attendant problems associated with it and not filled a room with academics and called it 'expert.' And lastly, a competent manager would not have ignored the whole mess for two months and lied about creating a panel that hadn't met nor had the expertise to deal with such a protracted problem a mile under water.

Even a governor who was worth his salt would have caught on, albeit late in the game, that you have to bring together people with real experience to deal with a developing environmental crisis. It may close beaches in four states for years. It may put a hold on a fishing industry whose workers already live hand to mouth. That BP decided to pay out unlimited funds, and we know that that is what it will come to barring bankruptcy, is small comfort to those who labored by the sea they are now barred from even dipping a toe into. Why the president waited two months to take control and even now is barring equipment and manpower from aiding the cleanup effort is secondary to the result of such incompetence: his neglect has resulted in a monumental environmental catastrophe.

You may say that the President needed time to formulate a plan or cull information from experts to engage in such a large scale enterprise, but there is little evidence that he paid any attention to the situation at all. His experts are accomplished authors and may even have received a Nobel Prize (of which he never tires of reminding us), but they live in pristine, oil-free ivory towers. They could no more stop a leak a mile down in the sea than I could convince liberals that budgeting helps you bounce fewer checks. No matter: President Obama can take time out from his various sporting activities to proclaim the spill solved while simultaneously giving a shout out to his intellectual 'soul brothers' in the New Black Panthers or some such nonsense.

I used to think that we were experiencing a sort of Jimmy Carter Redux: an incompetent president who enjoyed cloying press coverage while shaming the country for its superpower status and pontificating on our need to lower expectations. No more. I now feel that the far left splinter group of the Democrat Party is in fleeting control of the levers of power and will die on their collective swords to accomplish a fraction of the socialist agenda they have been advocating for a century. You've got to give them kudos for staying true to an ideology. They truly believe that most people need a government to care for them and protect them from themselves - even though history tells us otherwise. But I digress.

All agendas aside, and that is a big aside because I believe this catastrophe could have been avoided, the White House governs like a blindfolded sufferer of Parkinson's Disease serving high tea. It tramples the spirit of the Constitution while happily proclaiming the benefits of its high-minded efforts to grant the same 'rights' to Americans enjoyed by the Europeans. Those rights include a legal requirement to pay 60%+ taxes, the right to be free of moral restrictions like the rule of law or the maintenance of borders, the right to stay home and be provided for by 'evil rich people' and the right to limit the free speech of anybody who disagrees with them through the implementation of various 'Fairness Doctrines.'

Who can bemoan the loss of a few thousand acres of shore-front property in the effort to save us from Global Warming through legislation that restricts the use of fossil fuels. After all, oil is poisoning the environment, whether in crude form or as an oxidized greenhouse gas. This mentality is exactly the same as banning guns because they kill people. Or banning SUVs because they burn too much fuel. Assuming the human race is unable to control its lusts is key to understanding the Democrats' tendency to over-legislate and -regulate.

But I fear in the case of the oil spill the White House is simply in over its head. Yes, an environmental disaster might make unconstitutional bans on drilling more palatable to a skeptical public. And yes the argument for alternate energy sources is buttressed by our inability to guarantee flawless drilling a mile or ten undersea. And yes, the environmental calamity fits well with that sex-crazed poodle Al Gore's scenario of fossil fuels destroying the planet, if only it were true...

There is no excuse for incompetency in the White House. That's why the press is so adamant about blaming an oil company and not the regulators who are charged with ensuring safe drilling practices. And all the better if you can blame a past president of the 'evil' party. But the claims of the press can no longer shield the Democrats' inattentiveness and often brutal arrogance from public view. The liberal apologists who mouth approval every minute and with every printed word no longer protect its favored party. Perhaps they still believe that incompetence can be ignored by the public so long as it serves their chosen agenda.

I could mention our porous borders hemorrhaging illegals while the scandalously incompetent Janet Napolitano declares them as secure as ever. Or the financial condition of our economy, with Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd insisting the housing market is sound after they effectively bankrupted the entire world through their criminal undersight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But Janet Napalitano was incompetent before President Obama came along; he just put her in charge of homeland security, a grave mistake indeed. And as for Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd, they have systematically planned for the ruination of the housing industry for decades. Yes, for decades. Under the guise of forcing banks to write mortgages for minorities, Messrs. Frank And Dodd have undermined the financial underpinnings for the entire world. They knew this would happen: they didn't care.

So when you refer to Obama as incompetent, you might want to think of it as, 'incompetent as a fox.' For even thought there is no management experience in the White House, there are many academics and failed revolutionaries who want to see our country burn. And they have until November 2nd to achieve their goals. After that, they will melt back into academia and become consultants and lobbyists. Think Harry Reid is worried about what he'll be doing on November 3rd? He's already got a lobbying gig lined up. Nancy Pelosi will be re-elected by the most liberal district in the union, or simply return to the Republic of California to mismanage her winery and hotel.

Management experience speaks volumes about style, substance and ethics. If President Obama had ever served as a Governor he would not now be President. But, as the press did not cover his wildly socialist stint in academia or his populist votes while in office, I wonder if experience would have mattered in his case. Incompetent like a fox: now there's a phrase.

Victor The Contractor