ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE

Political correctness strikes again.

FOXNews.com - Brown University Kills 'Columbus Day' for 'Fall Weekend'

Hundreds of Brown students had asked the Providence, R.I. school to stop observing Columbus Day, saying Christopher Columbus's violent treatment of Native Americans he encountered was inconsistent with Brown's values.

Hundreds? Hundreds of students? Is that all it takes?

Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated By Spies - WSJ.com

WASHINGTON -- Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials.

The Humbling of a Superpower

by Nile Gardiner


It is hard to imagine a bigger slight to the memory of the more than 100,000 American soldiers who died liberating Europe than the image of a U.S. president attacking the “arrogance” of his own country on French soil. President Obama’s speech last week ahead of the NATO summit in Strasbourg, barely 500 miles from the beaches of Normandy, marked a low point in presidential speechmaking on foreign policy.

WSJ:
Mackubin Thomas Owens: The Pirates Challenge Obama's Pre-9/11 Mentality

Distinctions between lawful and unlawful combatants go back to Roman times.

Environmentalists seek ban on owner-operated diesel trucks at N.J. port - NJ.com

by Brian T. Murray/The Star-Ledger

The independent trucker is an American icon, glorified 30 years ago in B-movies like "Smokey and the Bandit" as the modern cowboy making a living on his own wits and diesel-powered rig.

But it's time for them to hit the highway -- permanently -- charged a coalition of environmental groups and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters today, blaming the bulk of diesel engine pollution in New Jersey and New York ports on owner-operated trucks handling most of the port-hauling business.

EXCLUSIVE: Climate bill could trigger lawsuit landslide - Washington Times

Self-proclaimed victims of global warming or those who "expect to suffer" from it - from beachfront property owners to asthmatics - for the first time would be able to sue the federal government or private businesses over greenhouse gas emissions under a little-noticed provision slipped into the House climate bill.

Environmentalists say the measure was narrowly crafted to give citizens the unusual standing to sue the U.S. government as a way to force action on curbing emissions. But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sees a new cottage industry for lawyers.

The bill was written by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat, and Rep. Edward J. Markey, Massachusetts Democrat.

Henry Waxman and ...... lost twin brother?

Homeland Security Secretary Can’t Say If Illegal Aliens Will Get Stimulus Money
(CNSNews.com) – Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Thursday could not say whether $100-million in additional funding for a program that helps hungry and homeless people throughout the United States would be used to provide services to people who are in the country illegally. The Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which is receiving $100 million in stimulus funds, is a nationwide social service program created by Congress in 1983.

GOP Lawmakers Criticize Black Caucus Members' Praise of Cuba’s Communist Regime
(CNSNews.com) - At a press conference on Capitol Hill Thursday, Republican lawmakers criticized members of the liberal Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) for meeting with Cuban dictators Raul and Fidel Castro during a junket to Cuba last week, and for failing to condemn the totalitarian regime’s human rights violations.

Phantom of the Opera look-alike Henry "Nostrilitis" Waxman (D-CA).
(Ripped off from Moonbattery)

Fascist Henry Waxman Has a Plan . . .

. . . for your living room, showerhead, jacuzzi . . .

To The Point News:

CHINA'S ZERO-SUM GAME
by Dr. Jack Wheeler


The evidence is now as high as Everest that America's greatest foreign threat is not a bunch of illiterates chanting verses of the Koran and willing to blow themselves up in order to have 72 whores in heaven. It is Red China.

Yet the Chicoms are not simply a threat to America. They are the greatest threat to freedom world-wide. A good example as any is a fellow named Joel Fitzgibbon.

He's the Defense Minister of Australia, and he's in town (DC) today (4/09) to meet with his American counterpart Defense Secretary Bobby Gates for the annual Australia-US Ministerial (AUSMIN) meeting. Gates and his aides will be very cautious in talking to him, however - because Mr. Fitzgibbon has been having an affair with a spy from Chinese Military Intelligence.

The scandal has now exploded all over Australian newspapers. Not only will Fitzgibbon have to resign, but so might the man who appointed him - because Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's best friends are all Chicoms. He speaks Mandarin fluently, travels to China at every opportunity, promotes China buying up Australia's natural resources, and consistently takes China's side in most any dispute.

To many Aussies, it looks like their leader is as much of a Manchurian Candidate as America's.

Barack Obama: President Pantywaist - new surrender monkey on the block
Gerald Warner
Telegraph.co.uk

President Barack Obama has recently completed the most successful foreign policy tour since Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. You name it, he blew it. What was his big deal economic programme that he was determined to drive through the G20 summit? Another massive stimulus package, globally funded and co-ordinated. Did he achieve it? Not so as you'd notice. Read more.

Michael Medved : The Dangers of Leveling - At Home and Abroad

One of the most important distinctions between liberals and conservatives involves their contrasting explanations of the existence of inequality.

Paul Greenberg : Born Free

Anthony M. Kennedy seems to have caught on. He's the associate justice and swing man of the U.S. Supreme Court who made a pertinent point when the court was hearing arguments for and against the government's attempt to keep an anti-Hillary Clinton docudrama from being shown shortly before the last election.

If the court is going to declare such an attempt to suppress free speech unconstitutional, asked Mr. Justice Kennedy, what does that say about the law on which it is based -- the McCain-Feingold law, aka the Campaign Reform Act?

"If we think the application of this [law] to a 90-minute film is unconstitutional," Mr. Justice Kennedy reasoned, quite correctly, "then the whole statute should fail."

To adapt a phrase from Professor 'Enry 'Iggins in "My Fair Lady," I think he's got it!

Ken Blackwell : The Moral Sentiments of Capitalism

Economic conservatives have aggressively opposed President Obama’s agenda to radically expand government, financed by deficits that run into the trillions. If social conservatives want to protect America’s families and social values, they must join with fiscal conservatives to oppose President Obama and reverse America’s culture of debt.

America was built on individual opportunity. This is the core of the economic conservative agenda. The family unit is the core building block of American society. This is the heart of the social conservative agenda.

Ben Shapiro : The Second French Revolution

Every old ideological conflict eventually becomes new again. So it is with today’s battle between the forces of socialism, called “fairness” by its advocates, and the forces of capitalism, labeled “liberty” by its supporters. What we are witnessing is an ancient struggle between those who believe in the rights of the individual and those who believe in a sort of “general will.” Those of conservative bent ardently hope for a second American Revolution; those of the left wish desperately for a second French Revolution.

This is not mere rhetoric. Look at the history of the first......

Michelle Malkin : Transparency Killer at HUD: Another Disastrous Obama Nominee

If you need a shining example of the utter disingenuousness of Barack Obama's commitment to government transparency, I have two words for you: Ron Sims. This lifelong political hack is to transparency what sunlight is to Dracula, what salt is to a slug, what kryptonite is to Superman, what "The View" is to intelligent debate.

That is: lethal.

Mind-changing Books
by Thomas Sowell

Mona Charen : Apologizing for America

Don't hold your breath waiting for any European to acknowledge that they have been guilty of arrogance.

Dennis Prager : America Has a Naive President

“The basic bargain is sound: countries with nuclear weapons will move toward disarmament, countries without nuclear weapons will not acquire them.” -- President Barack Obama, Prague, April 6, 2009

It is hard to imagine a more destructive goal. A nuclear disarmed America would lead to massive and widespread killing, more genocide, and very possibly the nuclear holocaust worldwide nuclear disarmament is meant to prevent.

There is nothing moral, let alone realistic, about this goal.

Thomas Sowell : Random Thoughts

We have now reached the truly dangerous point where we cannot even be warned about the lethal, fanatical and suicidal hatred of our society by Islamic extremists, because to do so would be politically incorrect and, in some European countries, would be a violation of the law against inciting hostility to groups.

ONLY 17?

Bachus tells city and county officials he's worried about socialists in Congress - Breaking News from The Birmingham News - al.com

Bachus said 17 members of the U.S. House are socialists.

How many are there in the senate, I wonder. 60?

But, some believe, apparently, that as long as you have an (R) or a (D) behind your name that it means you cannot be a socialist. Mutually exclusive properties?

Hardly.

Times Online: General Ray Odierno: we may miss Iraq deadline to halt al-Qaeda terror

UNBELEIVABLE, BUT TRUE: YES THE FRENCH !

French forces retook a yacht that had been captured off the Somalian coast last week. 2 French couples and on child were on board when the pirates hijacked the boat and kidnapped its occupants.

The Somalian businessman, er ... pirates had asked for ransom, but French President Nicolas Sarkozy said no way Jose.

One hostage was killed along with two entrepreneurs - I mean pirates. The child was unhurt.

UPI story here.

WSJ:
The Nuclear Illusionist

Obama's 'moral authority' won't deter Tehran or Pyongyang.

COMMENTARY

THOMAS DONNELLY and GARY SCHMITT
WSJ

Obama and Gates Gut the Military

The secretary's new budget will leave us weaker to pay for the president's domestic programs.

Red Alert: A Possible Revolution Simmering in Georgia

Georgian opposition politicans announcing plans for protest
STRATFOR

Georgian opposition movements have planned mass protests for April 9, mostly in Tbilisi but also around the country. These protests could spell trouble for President Mikhail Saakashvili. The Western-leaning president has faced protests before, but this time the opposition is more consolidated than in the past. Furthermore, some members of the government are expected to join in the protests, and Russia has stepped up its efforts to oust Saakashvili. Read more.

AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE?

"London hosted a Group of 20 meeting amid chaos. Chinese communists are now the capitalists, France's president is Hungarian, the Anglo-Saxons are being led by a socialist and a Kenyan, and Germany is refusing to send troops into other countries. Astronauts aboard the Space Station report the Earth is spinning backwards."

--comedian Argus Hamilton

CONGRESS' WINNING HAND

"Socialists believe in government ownership of the means of production. Fascists believed in government control of privately owned businesses, which is much more the style of this government. That way, politicians can intervene whenever they feel like it and then, when their interventions turn out badly, summon executives from the private sector before Congress and denounce them on nationwide television."

--economist Thomas Sowell

THE CONSTITUTION AND THE LEFT

"[M]ore important than the left's hypocrisy is their ongoing disrespect for the Constitution when it suits their political ends. We are living in a time when the very integrity of the Constitution is being threatened daily, from federal bailouts to federal assumption of control over private business."

--columnist David Limbaugh

PURPOSE OF TARP

"It's recently been reported that President Obama is refusing to allow banks to repay their TARP funds. In other words, he's declined to allow them to exercise the 'accountability' he has rhetorically embraced. ... Could it be, after all, that President Obama's objective isn't so much to demand responsibility from the private sector than it is to strengthen the government's control over it?"

--columnist Carol Platt Liebau

"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there'd be a shortage of sand."

--Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman

"Back in the thirties we were told we must collectivize the nation because the people were so poor. Now we are told we must collectivize the nation because the people are so rich."

--National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr.

ON THE BANK BAILOUT

"Didn't Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner say that it was not the administration's intent to control private companies? Then why is it reportedly reluctant to accept TARP repayments from some banks? If it has indeed declined to accept $340 million in payments from banks in Louisiana, New York, Indiana and California, the administration is tacitly admitting that it wants to control those banks as well as others that will try to pay back the taxpayers' money they took in the Troubled Asset Relief Program. By refusing repayment, the government can keep the leverage it bought with the bailouts. Banks that still 'owe' would not be in position to reject the administration as a 'partner.' This reminds us of mobsters making a small 'investment' in a family-owned shop, which is not always wanted by the owners, and then using it to justify taking over the business. ... Before his trip to Europe, President Obama, according to Politico, told a group of financial institution CEOs who were unhappy with the federal war on executive salaries and bonuses, 'My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.' At the time, that sounded like nothing more than exaggeration. ... Looking back, these are small signs that reveal the administration's desire to seize command of the nation's financial system. The bigger, unmistakable sign is the reluctance -- or is it outright refusal? -- to take $340 million from four banks trying to be responsible and operate on their own. This shouldn't be happening in this country. The private sector and the state are not to be mixed. The American financial system is best directed by markets, not politics. Prosperity and liberty suffer when the latter excludes the former."

-- INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY

ON POWER

"A fondness for power is implanted, in most men, and it is natural to abuse it, when acquired."

--Alexander Hamilton

ON SACRIFICE

"It only stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master."

--Ayn Rand

INSIGHT INTO SOCIALISM

"Legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways; hence, there are an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, bonuses, subsidies, incentives, the progressive income tax, free education, the right to employment, the right to profit, the right to wages, the right to relief, the right to the tools of production, interest free credit, etc., etc. And it the aggregate of all these plans, in respect to what they have in common, legal plunder, that goes under the name of socialism."

--Frederic Bastiat, French economist, statesman and author (1801-1850)

ON CULTURE AND MORALITY

"Most of our nation's great problems, including our economic problems, have as their root decaying moral values. Whether we have the stomach to own up to it or not, we have become an immoral people left with little more than the pretense of morality. ... Do you believe that it is moral and just for one person to be forcibly used to serve the purposes of another? And, if that person does not peaceably submit to being so used, do you believe that there should be the initiation of some kind of force against him? Neither question is complex and can be answered by either a yes or no. For me the answer is no to both questions but I bet that your average college professor, politician or minister would not give a simple yes or no response. They would be evasive and probably say that it all depends. ...[That] is because they are sly enough to know that either answer would be troublesome for their agenda. A yes answer would put them firmly in the position of supporting some of mankind's most horrible injustices such as slavery. After all, what is slavery but the forcible use of one person to serve the purposes of another? A no answer would put them on the spot as well because that would mean they would have to come out against taking the earnings of one American to give to another in the forms of farm and business handouts, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and thousands of similar programs that account for more than two-thirds of the federal budget. There is neither moral justification nor constitutional authority for what amounts to legalized theft. This is not an argument against paying taxes. We all have a moral obligation to pay our share of the constitutionally mandated and enumerated functions of the federal government. ...[But] now that the U.S. Congress has established the principle that one American has a right to live at the expense of another American, it no longer pays to be moral."

--Walter E. Williams, George Mason University economics professor

Obama's Next Hostage Crisis

Pirates are flourishing because the world is letting them.

Tax 'Cuts,' Tax Hikes, Media Back Obama Either Way

Cable and network news applaud Obama's stimulus bill for 'tax breaks,' but barely explain president's proposed tax hikes in the 2010 budget.

New totalitarian consensus: God must go to the back of the bus

Memo: Libya recruited brother of U.S. intel chief to help spruce up Gadhafi's image in U.S.

THE NEVER ENDING CAMPAIGN

Barack is in perpetual campaign mode. His campaign has never come to an end. First and foremost it was for the U. S. presidency - but he cannot stop. It is too exhilarating for him and he needs the adulation.

There are other peoples and other countries that he must pander to in order to massage his massive ego.

John Kinsellagh writes in his column Obama's European trip: for our president, the campaign never ends,

"For Obama, it's as if the history of our relations with the Continent began with the election of the "cowboy unilateralist" George Bush and now have ended with his ascension to the presidency. Nothing that has transpired before or since has any significance.

Six members of the US Congress traveled to Communist Cuba and sucked up to Fidel Castro.

Read Castro's Communist Cuba and Our Congressional Black Caucus

President of what?

Sounds like Obama is better suited for the United Nations' top position.

Obama is America's first global president, historian says.
"Obama came of age, really, after the Cold War, with the Internet being the transformative engine of society, and he now takes his multicultural heritage and the geographical diversity of his upbringing" [to the world], said historian Douglas Brinkley.

Obama's Spring Apologies Tour

We are to blame - for everything.

Ask the Europeans, Obama told them so.

Ask the Russians, Obama told them so.

Ask the Chicoms, Obama told them so.

Ask the Turks, Obama told them so.

What does naivete and a desire to be liked bring you? The road to embassy takeovers and strategic humiliation.

Almost Half of New Americans in 2008 Were Latino

Washington (AP) - Hispanics made up nearly half of the more than 1 million people who became U.S. citizens last year, according to a Hispanic advocacy group.

Obama Names Pope-Basher to Faith-Based Initiative Board
(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama has named to the federal government’s faith-based initiative a gay-rights activist who last month described Pope Benedict XVI and certain Catholic bishops as “discredited leaders” because of their opposition to same-sex marriage. Harry Knox, who is a newly appointed member of Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, is the director of the religion and faith program at the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual activist group.

Treasury Secretary Geithner May Replace CEOs of Bailed-Out Banks

Washington (AP) - The government may require new faces in executive suites at banks requiring "exceptional assistance" in the future, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Sunday.

WHAT? THEY DON'T SPY ON US?

Russian TV Accuses U.S. of Spying on Russia, China

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (AP) - A documentary on Russian state television has accused the U.S. of using an air base in Kyrgyzstan to spy on Russia and China -- an allegation a spokesman for the base flatly denied on Monday.

The film, aired Sunday on the Rossiya TV channel, showed a building it said was used for electronic surveillance and identified a woman it said worked in the U.S. Embassy as a CIA agent.

U.S. Must Work with Pakistan to Stop al Qaeda, Gen. Petraeus Says
Washington (CNSNews.com) – Gen. David H. Petraeus, who heads the Army’s Central Command, advised members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that Pakistan is now home base for al Qaeda and should be the focus of U.S. attention. Petraeus, who serves as the overall commander for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the additional forces made available by President Obama’s strategy to deal with Afghanistan “will not by themselves be sufficient to achieve our objectives.”

Obama’s Afghanistan Strategy is Indecisive, Says Vice Chair of Senate Intel Committee
(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama is demonstrating indecisiveness in his strategy for the war in Afghanistan, said Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-Mo.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Bond said he thinks the White House is split on whether they will choose to pursue a counter-terrorism strategy in Afghanistan, which Bond said would be less likely to succeed, or a counter-insurgency strategy, which he said could result in victory.

Return N. Korea to Terror-Sponsor List, Invest in Missile Defense, Lawmakers Say
(CNSNews.com) – U.S. lawmakers are pressing for a determined unilateral U.S. response, including returning Pyongyang to a list of terror-sponsoring states and stepping up investment in missile defense. As anticipated, U.N. Security Council members China and Russia urged “restraint” Sunday as the decision-making body held urgent talks following the launch.

Obama Unsettles Europeans With Comments Supporting Membership for Muslim Turkey in European Union
(CNSNews.com) – President Obama’s warm reception in Europe took a chilly turn Sunday after some leaders took issue with his support for Turkey’s aspirations to join the European Union. Speaking ahead of his arrival in Ankara late Sunday for his first visit as president to a Muslim country, Obama urged E.U. leaders in Prague to move ahead with E.U. membership for Turkey.

The Song of Kim Jong Il

The condemnations will probably soon become concessions.

Obama's NK Reaction: More Talks

John Bolton Says Barack Obama's Reaction to the North Korean Missile Launch Sends the Wrong Signal to Israel and Iran - WSJ.com

The president sends the wrong messages to Israel and Iran. 

By JOHN R. BOLTON

Prior to North Korea's launch yesterday of a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile, President Barack Obama declared that such an action would be "provocative." This public statement was an attempt to reinforce the administration's private efforts to urge the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (DPRK) not to fire the missile.

That effort failed, as have countless other attempts to deal softly with Pyongyang. Incredibly, U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Stephen Bosworth revealed -- just a few days before the launch -- that he was ready to visit Pyongyang and resume the six-party talks once the "dust from the missiles settles." It is no wonder the North fired away.

Hamas turns to Chinese rockets over homemade: 'We need weapons that work'

GAZA CITY — The Hamas regime has elected to deploy Chinese-origin extended-range rockets for attacks against Israel.

Former Iran minister sees imminent threat to mullah regime from youth, the economy

TEL AVIV — Former Iranian Justice Minister Mehdi Haeri Khorshidi described life in today's Iran and said the mullah regime in Teheran is on the verge of collapse.

Missile launch for dummies; Given the economy who besides Japan really cares?

SEOUL — Call it a success or failure, North Korea's launch on Sunday of a long-range missile, supposedly carrying a satellite that failed to go into orbit, demonstrates conclusively Pyongyang's ability to deliver a warhead to a distant target.

In that sense, the latest version of the Taepodong-2 accomplished what North Korea had wanted — and also bore out United States, Japanese and South Korean charges of violating United Nations resolutions adopted in 2006 when the North entered the ranks of the nuclear powers by testing a small warhead.

The UN Security Council this time is not about to enforce the previous resolutions, much less adopt a meaningless statement of "condemnation". The council, after three hours of closed-door palaver on Sunday, failed to agree to anything after calls for restraint by both China and Russia, North Korea's only friends and one-time Korean War allies.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE HAS BEEN REPEALED

By DICK MORRIS

On April 2, 2009, the work of July 4, 1776 was nullified at the meeting of the G-20 in London. The joint communiqué essentially announces a global economic union with uniform regulations and bylaws for all nations, including the United States. Henceforth, our SEC, Commodities Trading Commission, Federal Reserve Board and other regulators will have to march to the beat of drums pounded by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), a body of central bankers from each of the G-20 states and the European Union.

The mandate conferred on the FSB is remarkable for its scope and open-endedness. It is to set a "framework of internationally agreed high standards that a global financial system requires." These standards are to include the extension of "regulation and oversight to all systemically important financial institutions, instruments, and markets...[including] systemically important hedge funds."

Note the key word: "all." If the FSB, in its international wisdom, considers an institution or company "systemically important", it may regulate and over see it. This provision extends and internationalizes the proposals of the Obama Administration to regulate all firms, in whatever sector of the economy that it deems to be "too big to fail." Read it all.

News Headlines - Obama to ease Cuban travel, financial restrictions

The Obama administration intends to allow Americans to visit relatives in Cuba and send money back to their families on the communist island nation, senior U.S. officials said Saturday.

News Headlines - Taliban threaten 2 attacks per week in Pakistan

A suicide bombing at a crowded Shiite mosque south of Pakistan's capital killed 22 people Sunday, the latest evidence of how security in the U.S.-allied nation is crumbling well beyond the Afghan border region where al-Qaida and Taliban fighters thrive.

The violence came as a senior Pakistani Taliban commander said his group was behind a deadly suicide bombing Saturday night in Islamabad and promised two more attacks per week in the country if the U.S. does not stop missile strikes on Pakistani territory.

Austin Hill : Is Barack Obama The "Moral Alternative" To Capitalism?

Who ever imagined that in the year 2009, the President of the United States and the protesters who sought to disrupt the G-20 Summit would actually agree on something?

“Capitalism is immoral” was one of the phrases scrawled on several of the banners carried outside the summit meetings this past week. And although he has never said this in so many words, indeed President Obama would seem to be in lock-step with that assertion, or at least with the sentiment that the assertion entails.