Libertyblog

Obambi Was Right

His decision to keep his kids out of Chicago’s public schools has been vindicated. His decision to appoint the head of that system as US Secretary of Education? Not so much.

Same Nonsense, New Format

This weekend, Obambi had published an op-ed on the economy. He’s wrong about almost everything: the circumstances we faced, the effects of government spending, the peak of unemployment, and—as always—how expanding government health care and needlessly increasing energy costs will make things better not worse.

Cruelty to Taxpayers

As predicted here, the controversy over killing zoo animals continues:

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick accused Zoo New England of using false and inflammatory scare tactics to draw sympathy to Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo after it claimed that budget cuts would force as many as 200 animals to be euthanized.

“As a supporter of the zoo and a parent who has visited often, the governor is disappointed to learn that Zoo New England has responded to this difficult but unavoidable budget cut by spreading inaccurate and incendiary information,’’ Kyle Sullivan, a spokesman for the governor, said in a statement, The Boston Globe reported Monday.

Patrick cut state funding for the zoos to $2.5 million, from $6.5 million.

Officials at Zoo New England last week said in a letter to legislators that without more funding they’ll have to shut down in October and close its smaller Stone Zoo in Stoneham. They said zoo animals might have to be destroyed because it would likely be impossible to find new homes for all of them.

In a revised statement released Saturday, the zoo said it meant the state would be forced to either care for the animals or euthanize them.

“There will be no consideration given to euthanizing any animals under the state’s watch,’’ said Joe Landolfi, Patrick’s director of communications.

He told the Globe if the zoos were to close, the state would work to find new homes for the animals.

The first story said that finding new homes for all animals would likely be impossible. Given the pressure all zoos face in a nationwide, indeed worldwide, economic slowdown, this is understandable. What is to be done with those unwanted zoo animals? The sensible answer is to euthanize them. The Kumbayah answer is to warehouse them, providing them food and veterinary care at a cost only somewhat less than keeping them on display as traditional zoo animals, and to the detriment of the zoo’s mission.

Let me propose a third alternative, one that will solve the long-term care problem and generate some short-term revenues: interspecies death matches. You know you’d watch, don’t you?

And isn’t it just awful that Howie Carr is recovering from hip surgery as this story breaks?

More Mush From the Wimp

Obambi opines on slavery:

President Obama says slavery is a terrible part of the United States’ history and should be taught in a way that connects that past cruelty to current events, such as the genocide in Darfur.

During an interview with CNN while traveling in Ghana, Obama compared the legacy of slavery to the history of the Holocaust. He said both are horrible historical points that cannot be ignored and that their lessons must not be forgotten.

“I think it’s important that the way we think about it and the way it’s taught is not one in which there’s simply a victim and a victimizer. And that’s the end of the story,” Obama said at Cape Coast Castle, a West African site where traders once shipped slaves to the New World.

[...]

“I think the way it has to be thought about, the reason it’s relevant, is because whether it’s what’s happening in Darfur or what’s happening in the Congo or what’s happening in too many places around the world, you know, the capacity for cruelty still exists,” Obama said.

Well then, is he prepared to go to war to stop slavery in Darfur? Our own experience with slavery was not just about “a victim and a victimizer,” but hundreds of thousands of troops who were neither, but who died to settle the question.

Much Ado About Nothing

The other shoe has dropped in the matter of a CIA program the Congress complains it didn’t hear about:

A secret Central Intelligence Agency initiative terminated by Director Leon Panetta was an attempt to carry out a 2001 presidential authorization to capture or kill al Qaeda operatives, according to former intelligence officials familiar with the matter.

The precise nature of the highly classified effort isn’t clear, and the CIA won’t comment on its substance.

According to current and former government officials, the agency spent money on planning and possibly some training. It was acting on a 2001 presidential legal pronouncement, known as a finding, which authorized the CIA to pursue such efforts. The initiative hadn’t become fully operational at the time Mr. Panetta ended it.

In 2001, the CIA also examined the subject of targeted assassinations of al Qaeda leaders, according to three former intelligence officials. It appears that those discussions tapered off within six months. It isn’t clear whether they were an early part of the CIA initiative that Mr. Panetta stopped.

This account tracks with previous reports that activities were limited to planning and training. If no one was killed or captured, the Congress has no valid complaint about not being informed. “Highly classified” and “Congressional oversight” have proven to be incompatible concepts in the past.

What’s still a bit puzzling is the assessment floated this weekend that the then-unidentified program was the sort of thing that would have been approved in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, but not thereafter. I’m ready to assassinate al Qaeda types now and on an indefinite basis. I doubt I am alone.

A Man’s Home Is His Contractor’s Cash Cow

You may have heard about the provisions in the cap-and-tax bill that would set loose the carbon footprint police upon your home should you deign to sell it, renovate it, or even change the name on the utility billing. Michelle Malkin has the details.

I was reminded of a passage from the Declaration of Independence:

He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance.

As has been pointed out before, it is no better to be ruled by 3,000 tyrants one mile from your home than by one tyrant 3,000 miles from your home.

Nothing to See Here, Move Along!

Power Line has two powerful posts about the Bush program to eavesdrop on jihadists, its benefits, the New York Times’s disclosure of the program, and the harm that disclosure has caused. The proximate event is the release of a report from the Inspectors General of five agencies that documents the program and its effects.

Almost incredibly, the New York Times let the reporters who exposed the program—and thereby made themselves part of the story—write about the IG report. As expected, the IG report’s characterization that the program was a “useful” tool that provided information “previously unavailable” and allowed us to “disrupt al-Qaeda operatives” was held to a different standard by the rats. Because the program didn’t stop any ticking time bombs with seven seconds left on the counter, its benefit was “unclear.”

This Times analysis overlooks the brutal calculus of countering jihadists: A program that frustrates even one mass casualty attack, whether a day before that attack or five years before, is a very useful thing. And exposing that program is a very disloyal thing.

It’s Not the Crime, It’s the Cover-Up

The Washington Post taught that lesson to pols during the Watergate scandal a generation ago. They didn’t learn it themselves. The WaPo ombudsman exposes the initial reaction of the newspaper to the “salon” scandal—wherein WaPo would get money, lobbyists would get access to pols, and pols would get favorable coverage—as a lie. Ed Morrissey provides the vital comparison of what WaPo said in the hours after the story broke to the reality reported now.

I also noted this passage from the ombudsman’s report:

But Pelton raised questions about some of those very issues in a May 21 e-mail to Weymouth, Brauchli and Stephen P. Hills, The Post’s president and general manager. Pelton reports to Hills, who declined to be interviewed.

So the publisher of the Washington Post sends the ombudsman to investigate something, and this guy “declines”? I think the nation’s pols have a new standard to invoke when refusing to speak with WaPo reporters. Or perhaps Hills will shortly have a new job, elsewhere.

UPDATE: Separately, Ed notes that Obambi’s highly fluid ethics rules prohibit his minions getting free dinners from lobbyists, but not from journalists pimping for lobbyists. Convenient, no?

The Creepy Science of the Left

First we had Ruth Bader Ginsburg opining on the eugenic benefits of abortion. Now we have Obambi’s science advisor, who proposed in repsonse to an overpopulation scare:

• Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not.

• The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation’s drinking water or in food.

• Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise.

• People who “contribute to social deterioration” (i.e. undesirables) “can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility” — in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized.

• A transnational “Planetary Regime” should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans’ lives — using an armed international police force.

No worries, he’s no doubt more concerned these days with controlling every watt of energy Americans use.

A Tin Ear for Politics

The off-brand Obambi whom the Bay State elected governor has found a surefire way to win over the hearts of his constituents:

The Franklin Park Zoo, a Boston landmark for nearly a century, may be forced to close and euthanize up to a fifth of the animals in its care due to devastating budget cuts.

New England’s largest zoo and its counterpart, the Stoneham Zoo, saw their state funding cut from $6.5 million to $2.5 million by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, the Boston Globe reported, and expects to run out of money by October.

Zoo officials said they would have to lay off most of their 165 employees and find new homes for the more than 1,000 animals they currently house, the Globe reported. Those they cannot relocate — at least 20 percent, officials estimate — may have to be destroyed.

The Zoo’s director is now calling on state lawmakers to override Gov. Patrick’s decision, which he made with a line-item veto of the legislature’s budget. More than half of the zoo’s funding comes from the state.

Gosh, the TV ads just write themselves.

How Do You Say “Amazing Coincidence” in Argentinean?

The Lovernor had an important state trade mission to conduct in precisely the place his chiquita was living. This article fails to ask if any increase in trade between South Carolina and Argentina has occurred since the Lovernor’s trip—apart from the Lovernor’s own subsequent acts of sexual tourism.

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign, Blocking Out the Scenery, Breaking My Mind

The government has decided to spend a little less money on “stimulus” construction programs and a little more money on signs celebrating the mortgaging of America’s future. I’m thinking those signs would look just dandy in the dorm rooms of conservative college students.

And no, the title of this post does not imply that “long haired freaky people” may apply for work at Libertyblog. This is still a hippie-free zone.

Right Result, Wrong Reason

Can the government ban the flying of American flags upside-down because it is “disruptive”? No, but they can likely do it because such a display is often used as a sign of distress, making the “protest” not unlike a false 911 call or fire alarm.

Half the Data

The Defense Department is considering a smoking ban. It cites the health costs of treating service members and retirees for smoking-related illnesses:

Tobacco use costs the Pentagon $846 million a year in medical care and lost productivity, says the report, which used older data. The Department of Veterans Affairs spends up to $6 billion in treatments for tobacco-related illnesses, says the study, which was released late last month.

Typically, no estimate is provided of the money saved as the smokers perish before they (a) can get sick from something else or (b) receive billions for additional years of retired pay. (Via Hot Air.)

Bless Her, Father, for She Is an Idiot

One of the lesser Kennedys tries to convince us Obambi better represents American Catholics than does the Pope. This is misleading on two counts. First, Obambi represents all apostate Catholics, or better yet pretend Catholics, than does the Pope, regardless of nationality. Conversely, the Pope represents all believing Catholics better, regardless of nationality. Second, Catholicism is not a democracy. The Pope is not interested in representing Catholics, he is interested in leading them to spiritual salvation. He doesn’t listen to followers on matters like abortion and homosexuality, he listens to God.

How do I understand this more clearly than someone professing to be a practicing Catholic? God or nature gave me a brain.

Brilliant

Iowahawk writes an obit:

Millions of fans from around the globe gathered along Sunset Boulevard to pay final respects to California today, as a slow moving funeral procession transported the eccentric superstar state’s remains to its final resting place in a Winchell’s Donuts dumpster in Van Nuys. The self-proclaimed ‘King of Pop Culture’ died last week at 160, in what coroners ruled an accidental case of financial autoerotic asphyxiation. The death sent shock waves across the world and sparked an outpouring of grief by rabid fans.

Read the whole thing. (Via InstaPundit.)

UPDATE: On a related note, California pols are now claiming that tourism taxes will more than offset the sizable cost to government of Jacko’s send-off. This should give pause to other celebs. I can picture Arnold Schwarzenegger cutting the brake lines on some cars. (Via NRO Corner.)

Never Write When You Can Speak ...

More evidence of our mobbed-up government:

Carol Browner, former Clinton administration EPA head and current Obama White House climate czar, instructed auto industry execs “to put nothing in writing, ever” regarding secret negotiations she orchestrated regarding a deal to increase federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-WI, is demanding a congressional investigation of Browner’s conduct in the CAFE talks, saying in a letter to Rep. Henry Waxman, D-CA, that Browner “intended to leave little or no documentation of the deliberations that lead to stringent new CAFE standards.”

Federal law requires officials to preserve documents concerning significant policy decisions, so instructing participants in a policy negotation concerning a major federal policy change could be viewed as a criminal act.

Of course, the government owns some of these auto companies, but not others, so negotiations are especially sensitive. One can play favorites, but not be seen to be doing so. (Via Hot Air.)

Huh?

A Congressman tells constituents he’s happy cap-and-tax passed .. and happy that he voted against it.

If You’re Going to Be One-Sided, Pick the Right Side

Ed Morrissey has some fun with the Washington Post today. They’ve supplemented their bass-ackwards coverage of the Honduras situation—reporting the removal of an anti-Consitutional president as a coup—by attacking the Honduran media for telling the truth.

Pissing Away Our Cold War Victory

Krauthammer on Obambi and the Rooskies:

Poland and the Czech Republic thought they were regaining their independence when they joined NATO under the protection of the United States. They now see that the shield negotiated with us and subsequently ratified by all of NATO is in limbo. Russia and America will first have to “come to terms” on the [strategic defense] issue, explained President Dmitry Medvedev. This is precisely the kind of compromised sovereignty that Russia wants to impose on its ex-Soviet colonies -- and that U.S. presidents of both parties for the past 20 years have resisted.

Resistance, however, is not part of Obama’s repertoire. Hence his eagerness for arcane negotiations over MIRV’d missiles, the perfect distraction from the major issue between the two countries: Vladimir Putin’s unapologetic and relentless drive to restore Moscow’s hegemony over the sovereign states that used to be Soviet satrapies.

That -- not nukes -- is the chief cause of the friction between the United States and Russia. You wouldn’t know it to hear Obama in Moscow pledging to halt the “drift” in U.S.-Russian relations. Drift? The decline in relations came from Putin’s desire to undo what he considers “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century -- the collapse of the Soviet empire. Hence his squeezing Ukraine’s energy supplies. His overt threats against Poland and the Czech Republic for daring to make sovereign agreements with the United States. And finally, less than a year ago, his invading a small neighbor, detaching and then effectively annexing two of Georgia’s provinces to Mother Russia.

That’s the cause of the collapse of our relations. Not drift, but aggression. Or, as the reset master phrased it with such delicacy in his Kremlin news conference: “our disagreements on Georgia’s borders.”

At Heart, an Ass Man

Those aren’t two of the seven hills of Rome he’s looking at:

Needless to say, his good friends at ABC are willing to cover for him:

On first glance, the snapshot appears to show President Obama caught in a moment of less than lofty analysis. But upon looking at the video, the moment might seem to appear quite innocent -- one of those times when a picture can be misleading. The president was on a higher step and was stepping down -- so he looked down to assure his footing as the woman was walking up the stairs.

Please. His feet are at the bottom end of his legs, not the top end of hers. At least Sarkozy has the balls not to disguise his appreciation of the young lady, breaking out in a souffle-eating grin. Or maybe he was simply amused by Obambi’s behavior.

Twofer will not be pleased.

Too bad he’s not Catholic. He’s meeting with the Pope today and could receive absolution. Considering her age, I think 16 Hail Mary’s ought to cover it.