BLOGOSPHERE NEWS:
December 4 2008

MORNING INTELL: Friday October 9 2009

A WORLD OF NEWS

1. IRANIAN NUCLEAR SCIENTISTS ARE DISAPPEARING? I hope this is true.
   Ransom note: “Give us back our peace of mind or you’ll never see him again!”
   signed-the world.

2. REALLY?: UK Times: Troop Morale in Afghan. Falling:
   Money: “Couldn’t be because they have a feckless pantywaste hoser as a President who cares more about destroying the US healthcare system, about the Olympics and about appearing on David Letterman than he does about protecting our troops in the field and ensuring their victory and safe return.”
   Note to Obamabots in future elections: You get what you vote for.

3. JOE BIDEN’S POLICY ADVICE: Retreat first.
   “…Pakistan’s leaders consider the Taliban’s advances in Afghanistan to be, in the words of the Pakistani foreign minister, “a mortal threat to their country.” The Post also reminds us that elements of Pakistan’s military and intelligence services are sympathetic to the Taliban. If the U.S. retreats in Afghanistan, these elements will be strengthened at the expense of the pro-Western government.

   At that point, Biden and his fellow Democratic defeatists can abandon Pakistan on the theory that the government no longer supports our efforts. We can then implement our “Indonesia First” strategy.”
   Remember the good ol’ days when Biden could claim to be a foreign policy whiz and the media would give him a pass? Why don’t we hear about his famous plan about dividing Iraq into three different countries because there was no way to win there? It would be buffoonish if he was a Hollywood celebrity. Strike that. It’s buffoonish anyway.

4. WHERE HEALTH CARE REALITY MEETS THE ROAD: Health Care Speechwriter for Edwards, Obama & Clinton Without Insurance Now.
   “For the first time in my life, I am without health insurance and it is a terrible feeling.
   In the past, I paid attention to the health care debate as a speechwriter who prepared speeches, talking points, op-eds, and debate prep material on the topic at different times for John Edwards, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and others. Now, I’m paying attention because I’m a citizen up the creek without a paddle….
   Since I care more about my country than my personal pride, here’s how I lost my insurance: I moved. That’s right, I moved from Washington, D.C., back to Massachusetts, a state with universal health care.”
   “Universal Health Care” means “universally bad, insufficient, costly, rationed health care”. This is just the latest example from a true believer.

QUICK HITTERS

• GRADE INFLATION: Time’s Mark Halperin Grades Obama’s First Incomplete Year. TIME gives Obama an “A-”. Ace gives TIME scorn and ridicule. Including, “Hmmm… Hugh Hewitt notoriously dubbed Bush’s Harriet Miers pick a “B+,” which, for reasons of internet lore which escape me, became known as the “shit sandwich” grade.” Now, THAT’S news to me. Someone actually gave the Harriet Miers pick a “B+”. DBKP wasn’t around then to heap scorn and ridicule on that grade.
  Phweeeeeweeee! (h/t Hot Air)

• DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT THE: Thugs attack two transvestites… who turn out to be cage fighters wearing fancy dress?
  Already, sit-com writers are busy and the NEA will award a grant to the first artist who can tie the transvestite cage fighters to ObamaCare or cap N’ trade.

• IT’S GONNA GET WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER: Ministry of Truth, Obama-style.
  “President Obama has been agitating for the authority to criminalize political opponents since he took office.”
  All of these attacks on the freedom of the Internet, free speech and labeling of political opponents coincidentally have occurred in the last six months. Which leads to Internet Security in the Age of Obama. And we were thinking we might be the only one noticing these things.

• JAY LENO: “Obama had a very tense 25-minute meeting aboard Air Force One last week, with Gen. McChrystal, our top general in Afghanistan. Apparently McChrystal gave a speech in London last week that was very critical of Obama’s policies in Afghanistan, and Obama was not happy. In fact, Obama considered this so important he’s thinking of canceling an upcoming appearance on “Ellen.”
• NYC PARADE MARSHALL: White Collar Hero
  He is Kenneth Langone, a self-made investment banker, venture capitalist, and philanthropist. He is co-founder of The Home Depot. Of even greater importance, he is a proud American who did not flinch when Spitzer went after him. He and an associate, Richard Grasso, spent some $70 million defending their good names after Spitzer trashed them. Then, several months after the former attorney general had trashed his own good name, they won. It took four years, but they won.
  In Eliot Spitzer’s New York, it took $70 million to keep your good name. Eliot Spitzer was a ….(supply your own invective). Like John Edwards, he’s biding his time, waiting for the moment to re-enter “public life, non-prison division”. The public should keep them both firmly in the private sector, where their mischief can be limited.

• WISDOM FROM THE INSTAPUNDIT: WALL STREET JOURNAL: Intelligence Fiasco Footnote:
  The authors of the 2007 Iran NIE have some explaining to do. “When it comes to politicized intelligence in the Bush years, the critics may finally have a point. Perhaps the work of America’s intelligence agencies was manipulated to suit the convenience of a small group of willful officials, intent on getting their way against the better judgment of their colleagues. Except the intelligence was about Iran, not Iraq, and the manipulators weren’t conniving neocons but rather the Administration’s internal critics on the left.” As I said earlier, the purpose of the N.I.E. was to paralyze us until after the election, and it worked.
  Where are these geniuses now. The ones who declared that Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program and we didn’t have anything to fear from them?

• PEANUTS COME TO MIND: ‘Smart Power’ Diplomacy?.
  “Taking office earlier this year, the Obama administration promised to pursue “smart power” diplomacy. Eight months in, it seems fair to conclude that the term was a misnomer: “Smart power” diplomacy has so far consisted of unrequited concessions that have emboldened our enemies and dispirited our allies.”
  Jimmy Carter was another proponent of appeasing your enemies, be tough on your friends. The 1970s couldn’t end quick enough for that and other reasons. America sometimes needs a replay to remind them why it’s tough out there in this bad, old world. Joining hands around the campfire and singing doesn’t cut it with the bad guys. They’ll steal your marshmallows while you’re singing.

• YOU MIGHT WANT TO KEEP THIS: Differences Between Conservatives and Liberals.

SEE ALL, KNOW ALL

BROUGHT TO YOU BY THOSE CASH FOR CLUNKERS FOLKS: GM Bailout II Right On Track!.
Money: “Ten thousand new layoffs would provide a test of whether Congress and the White House can refrain from intervening to stop them, I suppose. Wouldn’t it be better for the UAW to take a small cut in hourly pay and save some of the jobs? And attract more production in the future? … But I forget: Hourly pay cuts hurt all union members. Layoffs only hurt the laid off. If you are an elected UAW official, the course is clear.”
Giving away taxpayers’ money is such a hard habit to break. 77 years and counting…
1. GET READY! 3…..2…..1…..America, You’ve Been Punk’d!
   “It’s okay to admit it: you thought you were voting for a more benevolent and wiser version of Tiger Woods when all you got was a smoother version of Chicago-style, brass knuckle politics. It isn’t so much that you voted for the wrong guy; you were lied to by the media. ”
   …errr, make that, “lied to by the Old Media.” This administration is becoming historic in one way which wasn’t desired: most un-vetted by the press. That’s not Obama’s fault. The results, which are on display almost daily, will only contribute to the death of the media dinosaurs.

2. ANOTHER ACORN FALLS: The Nine Voting Lives of ACORN’s Darnell Nash
   The conviction of Darnell Nash, apparently known by several aliases including Serina “Sexy Slay” Gibbs, is hugely significant for several reasons, not least of which is the fact that ACORN has long maintained that vote fraud, as opposed to the lesser crime of voter registration fraud, essentially never happens.
   Convicted in…Cleveland Rocks!

3. CONAN on NANCY: “The other day at a political fundraiser, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi got to meet actor Robert Redford, and witnesses say she was flirting with him. There was an awkward moment when Pelosi winked at Redford — and $4,000 worth of Botox squirted out.”
4. MORE OBAMA TRANSPARENCY and ETHICS: Return of Walpin-gate
   “When last we left Gerald Walpin, the unfairly fired inspector general for the Corporation for National and Community Service, he had filed a lawsuit on July 17 protesting his dismissal. He submitted technical amendments to his complaint on July 24, and the government was supposed to respond within 60 days. Seventy-five days later, the government still is stonewalling. Justice delayed is justice denied.”
   Only the latest of many in an un-vetted administration.

5. RINO HUNT: McCain Continues to Prove Himself the Enemy of the Grassroots.
   Outside of McCain’s service to his country, the man has almost a complete record of nincompoopery. He’s a snobbish elite, with disdain for anyone outside his circles. No wonder he’s so popular with liberals. When a bill that limits free speech (McCain-Feingold) bears your name–and you’re proud of it!–you should have been put out to pasture long before.

MEATY LINK FUNK GOODNESS