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APRIL 14,  2011

YOU MEAN, SOMEONE ACTUALLY RESIGNED? – AT 11:52 P.M. ET:  The late Steve Landesberg, a nice guy and a terrific comedian, once did a routine satirizing a British cabinet minister resigning and heaping abuse on himself.  ("I'm despicable, and you must get rid of me.")  And yet, resignation after a blunder or embarrassing mishap is one of the more honorable traditions in Britain.

Not so here, as Landesberg liked to point out.  Here you can blame a kid in a baby carriage and get away with it, no matter what you've done.  And in those rare cases where someone does resign after a major boo-boo, he might be rewarded with a TV talk show.

So it's refreshing to see an actual, genuine resignation by a man who takes responsibility for things that happened on his watch.  Now, to be sure, he could have been asked to resign, to walk the plank, but he did in fact submit a resignation:

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration's Air Traffic Organization resigned today, the day after another air traffic controller was caught napping while planes were trying to land.

"Hank Krakowski has submitted his resignation and I have accepted," FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said in a statement. "Hank is a dedicated aviation professional and I thank him for his service."

Krakowski had held the position since 2007 and prior to joining the FAA had worked for United Air Lines for nearly 30 years, says his FAA bio.

Krakowski's resignation comes as the FAA investigates five incidents in recent weeks of air controllers possibly sleeping on the job.

Following the most recent incident on Wednesday in Reno, Nev., the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Transportation announced that additional air traffic controllers would be immediately added on the midnight shift at 27 control towers that currently have only one person working overnights.

COMMENT:  This is pretty scary stuff, and requires a congressional investigation.  If controllers are dozing off, we must ask how many are too tired to work effectively, where human lives are involved.   The most famous recent doze-off came at Reagan Airport in Washington, not exactly a place lacking in traffic. 

The FAA has long been a troubled agency, hobbled by the dual and sometimes contradictory mission of promoting air safety and and the economic health of the airline industry.

April 14, 2011       Permalink 

OBLIVION – AT 11:29 P.M. ET:  The name  you hear less and less of these days is Nancy Pelosi.  Remember Nancy?  Not many months ago she was the speaker of the House, with a really neat office.  Lots of free plane trips.  And she got to be called "Madam Speaker."  That was then.  This is now, as The Politico notes:

During the past election season, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) could have starred in a remake of the Hollywood cult classic “Attack of the 50-Foot Woman.” In an endless string of campaign ads, Republicans caricatured her — even put her image on billboards — as a political monster.

But now, the former House speaker more closely resembles “The Incredible Shrinking Woman.”

Her diminished stature has affected the way she is perceived in Washington’s power game and the way she handles her duties as head of the House Democratic minority. It all adds up to this: At times, the once-omnipresent Pelosi seems practically invisible in the Capitol.

When President Barack Obama, Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hammered out a deal last week to avert a shutdown and fund the government for the rest of the year, Pelosi was delivering a speech at Tufts University near Boston.

But her hands would have been idle if she had stayed in Washington: The White House didn’t want her involved in the talks.

In fact, Democratic and Republican sources tell POLITICO, none of the power brokers wanted her in the room. They feared that her presence and her defense of liberal values would have made it impossible for Obama to cut a deal with Boehner. The sources say Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also was excluded so the White House could justify keeping Pelosi out.

Boehner, more or less, had McConnell’s proxy in negotiating with Senate Democrats and the White House.

COMMENT:  Obama doesn't need Nancy any longer, so under the bus she goes, joining a star-studded host of former friends and allies. 

Nancy isn't helped, of course, by the fact that her ultra-liberal, San Francisco-based leadership of the House was a key factor in the Republican victory last November.  She not only lost, she lost big time, throwing away a comfortable majority.

She retains her leadership of House Democrats, although they, too, are greatly diminished, both in number and in spirit.  They've become so easy to ignore.

I would imagine that Nancy may well have a real fight on her hands to stay minority leader.  She will probably win it, but why?

April 14, 2011     Permalink

THE ONGOING TRAGEDY – AT 9:35 A.M. ET:  The Duke lacrosse case, and its legacy, keep making headlines.  The case taught America how a college can throw its own falsely accused students under the bus, as long as political correctness is involved.  Now the legacy takes a tragic turn:

DURHAM, N.C. — A man who police say was stabbed by a woman who falsely accused Duke lacrosse players of rape has died, and the woman could face murder charges in the death.

Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez Jr. told The Herald-Sun of Durham Wednesday that 46-year-old Reginald Daye was dead.

According to WRAL-TV and the newspaper, Daye had been taken to Duke University Hospital after being stabbed with a kitchen knife on April 3.

Crystal Mangum was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and has been jailed since the stabbing.

"More than likely, we will be upgrading the charge to murder," Lopez told the Herald-Sun.

COMMENT:  Crystal Mangum, working at that time as an exotic dancer, falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape, setting off a scandal that went national.  Mangum is African-American, the players were affluent whites.  The local D.A. was running for election in a heavily African-American district.  He pounced on the case and came close to ruining the players' lives, despite no real evidence against them.  Duke turned on them, with 80 faculty members calling, in effect, for a legal lynching.

The D.A. was eventually disbarred for prosecutorial misconduct.  The accuser was convicted of abusing her own child.  And now this.

The boys were exonerated, but every time someone Googles their name, the case will come up, and the accusations against them listed.

Duke University never apologized for the hysteria whipped up against these players.  You may be sure that it won't comment on the legacy of the accuser, who was made an instant campus heroine, back in the day.

April 14, 2011       Permalink

OH, A SWELL TIME FOR THIS – AT 9:15 A.M. ET:  Mr. Obama seems determined to make us just another country.  Just folks, you know, no better, no worse, than anyone else.  There is an international price to be paid for his failure to keep America in the forefront as a leader.  It is being paid.  From Reuters:

DOHA/TRIPOLI – Britain pressured other NATO members to increase ground attacks in Libya on Wednesday, but cracks appeared in the alliance, as foreign ministers met in Qatar to try to break the deadlock in the civil war.

NATO divisions surfaced at the international “contact group” meeting – not only over arming the rebels and increasing air strikes, but also on creating a fund from frozen Libyan assets – to help the opposition attempting to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon underlined the humanitarian disaster caused by the war, telling the meeting that up to 3.6 million people – or more than half the population – could need assistance.

Paris and London are increasingly frustrated that air strikes have neither tipped the balance of the war in favor of rebels trying to end Muammar Gaddafi’s 41-year rule, nor ended devastating shelling of the besieged city of Misrata.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe criticized NATO on Tuesday for not doing enough to stop the bombardment of the rebel-held port town, where hundreds of civilians are said to have died in more than six weeks of siege.

COMMENT:  History shows us that it's tough enough to win even a small war with an air campaign alone.  It is tougher when some of the countries you depend on in NATO just won't do much, if anything.  President Obama has said Gaddafi must go, yet Gaddafi stays, and digs in, and we wear our weakness on our sleeve.  Don't lead, cut defense budget.  The left must be thrilled.  The rest of us remember better days for our country.

April 14, 2011       Permalink

ABOUT THAT RECOVERY – AT 8:55 A.M. ET:  The economy took an unexpected blow this morning, reminding us that presidential speeches and sound economic policy are two very different things.  From CNBC:

New claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, bouncing back above the key 400,000 level, while core producer prices clumbed faster than expected in March, government reports showed on Thursday.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 27,000 to a seasonally adjusted 412,000, the Labor Department said.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims slipping to 380,000.

The prior weeks figure was revised up to 385,000 from the previously reported 382,000.

The four-week moving average of unemployment claims—a better measure of underlying trends—climbed 5,500 to 395,750.

COMMENT:  And inflation is up, something any of us can plainly see every time we want, as Jack Benny used to say, to try a gallon.  Gasoline prices in our area are now over four dollars for regular, heading for five, according to many observers.  It is hard even for Obama to blame this on BUSH (!!), or even CHENEY (!!!!!). 

The president's intent to cut defense spending will be another blow to the economy, as defense procurement translates into jobs. 

It is hard to see what Mr. Obama can point to as we now enter a vigorous election cycle, with Republican candidates making their intentions known.  But the president still can count on his campaign skills, and the fact that his base, although possibly smaller than in 2008, retains a certain charming fanaticism, reminiscent of the kamikaze.

April 14, 2011       Permalink

HE JUST CAN'T HELP IT – AT 8:35 A.M. ET:  This president is a continuing campaign.  More comfortable as candidate than as elected official, Barack Obama is at his most normal when in campaign mode, like yesterday.  Even the liberal-tilting Politico has noticed:

President Barack Obama extended a fiscal olive branch to Republicans on Wednesday. Then he beat them up with it.

Obama’s long-anticipated speech on the deficit at George Washington University was one of the oddest rhetorical hybrids of his presidency – a serious stab at reforming entitlements cloaked in a 2012 campaign speech that was one of the most overtly partisan broadsides he’s ever delivered from a podium with a presidential seal.

The centerpiece was a battle cry to his base, a call for $1 trillion in new taxes on the rich – on top of billions saved by allowing Bush-era tax cuts to lapse — in lieu of the deep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and now identified with the GOP.

Liberals, for the most part, were assuaged. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said Obama’s call for $4 trillion in cuts over 12 years was “much better than many of us feared.” His conclusion:“I can live with this.”

But the combative tenor of Obama’s remarks, which included a swipe at his potential GOP challengers in 2012, may have scuttled the stated purpose of the entire enterprise - starting negotiations with Republicans on a workable bipartisan approach to attacking the deficit...

...“This was not a speech designed for America to win the future, this was a speech designed for the president to attempt to win re-election,” snarled Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), the No. 4 in House Republican leadership.

As president, Mr. Obama is a consummate amateur.  He even swiped the "king of amateurs" award from Jimmy Carter, who now must be resentful.  The late Democratic House speaker Tip O'Neill famously said, "Only amateurs stay mad." 
The president's intense partisanship yesterday, at a time when the public was demanding that he and the GOP work together, was the mark of an amateur. 

Look, maybe he needs more practice.  He's only been president a little over two years.  Give the man the full four years to sharpen up.  Then that second term will be fabulous!

Oh dear.

April 14,  2011     Permalink

APRIL 13,  2011

PENTAGON WORRIED – AT 11:07 P.M. ET:  You're all now aware of President Obama's unexciting speech today laying out his plan for debt reduction.  It sounded more like an appeal to the Democratic base than a true plan of action.  Obviously, any plan is going to be modified many times, and may not be recognizable a year from today.

One of the most troubling aspects of the President's plan involves cuts in defense, something that will cheer the hearts of the representatives from San Francisco and Cambridge, Massachusetts.  But the Pentagon is clearly worried:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States may have to scrap some military missions and trim troop levels if President Barack Obama sticks with his goal of saving $400 billion on security spending over a 10-year period, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

Arms makers' shares sold off after Obama made a speech on the budget deficit in which he called, in effect, for holding growth in the Pentagon's core budget, excluding war costs, below inflation through 2023, starting in fiscal 2013.

The squeeze on the Pentagon's budget, which has roughly doubled since 2001, is part of a larger drive to cut the budget deficit by $4 trillion over the 10-year period.

Standard & Poor's aerospace and defense index declined 0.9 percent on Wednesday, underperforming the S & P 500 index, which closed up .02 percent. Lockheed Martin Corp, the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier by sales, dropped 2.6 percent to close at $80.37 on the New York Stock Exchange.

"It's not just a math exercise which is 'cut $400 billion'," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. "It's 'let's review our roles and our missions and see what we can forgo, or pare down, in this age of fiscal constraint, where we are all collectively trying to work with the deficit problem.'"

COMMENT:  I have an idea:  Before we cut anything, let's figure out how this country can be safeguarded as threats against us increase.  Isn't that radical?  I mean the idea that the defense budget may have something to do with national defense may not go down well with the current administration crowd, but somehow I think ordinary Americans might be interested.

April 13, 2011       Permalink

THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD NEWS – AT 10:40 P.M. ET:  I went to a briefing today by a key figure in MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute, which is based in Israel.  MEMRI was founded to solve the problem of Arab leaders saying one thing in English to the West, and something entirely different in Arabic to their brethren.  MEMRI is a translation service that informs Western journalists what the Arabs are saying in their own language.  It's been a revelation.

Of course, MEMRI is disparaged by chic Western journalists, who regularly accuse it of being just a branch of the Israeli lobby, but it's translations have proved impeccable and are used all over the world.

The gentleman today had good news and bad news.  The good news was his feeling, based on what's being said in the Arab world, that the revolutions now in progress will be good for the United States and other Western countries.  He based this on a unique interpretation of events – that Arabs are now turning inward, trying to improve their own societies, and hostile to the usual excuses.  As a result, they will have little appetite for ideological foreign adventures, or campaigns directed against us.

Also, the gentleman said, the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is exaggerated.

He said that hatred toward the West, and toward Christians and Jews, will probably last for centuries, but that it will be benign because there'll be no incentive to act on it.  Not the greatest deal, but better than people planting bombs.

That's the good news.  The bad news, and it was surprising to me, involved Jordan.  Of all Arab countries, Jordan has probably been closest to the United States.  The late King Hussein was a friend who also made peace with Israel.  His son, the current King Abdullah, seems similarly disposed.  But the man from MEMRI warned that Islamists are rapidly taking over Jordan, and the brand of Islamism involved is Al Qaeda.  The implications for us are enormous should this trend continue.  Jordan has always been dependable, and a bulwark against extremism.  No more, according to this source.

It's always fascinating to listen to someone who actually reads Arabic, and isn't housed in one of the "Middle East Studies" departments of American or British universities.

April 13, 2011       Permalink

PRAISE HILLARY? – AT 9:49 A.M. ET:  We don't agree with Hillary Clinton too often here, and I wouldn't trust her with the family jewels, but she gave a gutsy speech to an Islamic gathering, and we're happy to applaud what she said:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton decried the marginalization of women in the Islamic world Tuesday night, calling women’s empowerment key to true democracy in the Middle East.

Mrs. Clinton made the remarks in a wide-ranging speech at the 2011 U.S.-Islamic World Forum. She noted “troubling signs regarding the rights and opportunities of women” in Egypt and Tunisia following their recent revolutions.

“So far, women have been excluded from key transitional decision-making processes,” Mrs. Clinton said.

“When women marched through Tahrir Square to celebrate International Women's Day in their new democracy, they were met by harassment and abuse.”

We're glad that Ms. Clinton is getting that information.  Our government is often short on human intelligence.

“You can’t claim to have a democracy if half the population is silenced,” she added.

Mrs. Clinton cited the United Nations’ first Arab Human Development Report in 2002, which found the political and economic participation of women in the region to be the lowest in the world.

“Successive reports have shown little progress,” she said, quoting the 2005 edition’s contention that women’s empowerment is “a prerequisite for an Arab renaissance, inseparably and causally linked to the fate of the Arab world.”

COMMENT:  Okay, at least someone in the administration is showing some spine.  She might lend some to her boss, who's in desperate need of a spinal transplant. 

A former Israeli prime minister said that Golda Meir was the best man in his cabinet.  Maybe Barack will be saying the same about Hillary.

April 13, 2011      Permalink

WOMEN MARCH IN SYRIA – AT 8:45 A.M. ET:  Even some journalists are commenting that we're taking our eyes off the Mideast just as new eruptions are occurring.  One of the most critical Mideast countries is Syria, Iran's strongest ally in the Arab world, and a place where the government doesn't hesitate to fire into crowds of protesters.

Now women of Syria are taking to the streets. It's always news when Arab women, often seen by the masters of their societies as little more than property, begin taking political action.  From Reuters:

AMMAN - Hundreds of women from a Syrian town that has witnessed mass arrests of its men marched along Syria's main coastal highway on Wednesday to demand their release, human rights activists said.

Security forces, including secret police, stormed Baida on Tuesday, going into houses and arresting men aged up to 60, the activists said, after townsfolk joined unprecedented protests challenging the 11-year rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

The women from Baida were marching on the main highway leading to Turkey chanting slogans to demand the release of some 350 men who have been arrested, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"The women of Baida are on the highway. They want their men back," the organization said.

Women demonstrated in support in the nearby Mediterranean city of Banias, it said.

A human rights lawyer earlier said security forces had arrested 200 residents in Baida, killing two people.

There is more bloodshed coming in Syria.  Please notice the silence of "human rights activists" on the political left in the West.

We received a note from retired Army Major General Frank J Schober Jr, who writes as follows:

"I was in Syria a couple of years ago. Everywhere, throughout the capital of Damascus, were 'big brother' mega-sized photos of the 'dear leader' Assad.  I saw frightened people then.  Now those same people are out on the street, fighting for freedom and for their dignity as human beings."

Well said.  Gen. Schober also refers us to this YouTube video depicting what is happening in Syria right now.  It is in Arabic and is, ironically, from Al Jazeera, but you'll get the picture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBs1T_zwNsc

Syria is critical.  So is Egypt, and news from Egypt each day gets more and more depressing, as Islamist forces make their political moves. 

Don't take your eyes off the Mideast.

April 13, 2011      Permalink

TROUBLE ON THE RIGHT – AT 8:24 A.M. ET:  We began a discussion about this yesterday.  Republicans in the House are scheduling a symbolic vote on Paul Ryan's courageous budget proposals.  Not a good idea, I think.  The Ryan plan has zero chance of passing the Senate, and voting for it in the House adds nothing to the Republican record. 

By contrast, the flaws in the plan, and there are some serious ones, will be used against any Republican in a swing district who votes for it.  So where are the political benefits in a symbolic vote?

The main problem is the Medicare segment of the plan.  Although I got some serious flak from readers, I will say again that it's a non-starter, as it requires seniors to give up current benefits in exchange for a voucher to buy private health insurance.  The emotional strain on seniors, aside from the dubious economic considerations, will send millions of angry seniors to the polls, and you know how they'll vote.  The story in The Politico emphasizes that point:

Some Republicans are already squirming over a vote that provides a ready-made campaign ad for their opponents: Rep. Paul Ryan’s fiscal 2012 budget, which will restructure Medicare, alter Medicaid funding and slash $6 trillion from federal spending over 10 years.

Whether they’re new lawmakers in formerly Democratic seats or House veterans who represent districts with large elderly populations dependent on Medicare, a significant number of Republicans realize that embracing the Ryan plan may be one of the most treacherous votes of the year.

Don't take the vote just to satisfy the Tea Party.  As readers know, I believe elections are fought to be won, and budget proposals are introduced to be signed into law.  I am not interested in philosophical victories and symbolic back slapping. 

So rather than taking a strong stand, they’re hedging during the leadup to the roll call.

Rep. Tim Murphy, a fifth-term Republican who represents a western Pennsylvania district south of Pittsburgh with roughly 17 percent of residents older than 65, is still undecided. Susan Mosychuk, Murphy’s chief of staff, said it’s a “high-profile vote” that they are “still taking a look at.”

Rep. Gus Bilirakis, a Republican from western Florida with a district in which roughly 20 percent of its residents are older than 65, is “still looking it over and trying to decide.”

“Last I talked to him [Monday] night, he was still trying to figure out what all is in it and what might be affected,” said his spokesman, Creighton Welch.

Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.), one of the most high-profile freshmen, said he’s undecided. Rep. Steve Southerland, a Republican who took Democrat Allen Boyd’s northern Florida seat, is in the same place as Bilirakis. So is Ohio freshman Rep. Jim Renacci.

The message is being sent, even by conservative Republicans:  Redo the Medicare part.  One way is to provide choice.  Seniors could be given a choice of the Ryan plan, or the choice to stay with the current system, with greater efficiencies and controls. 

If the GOP pushes the Medicare segment of the Ryan plan, the party will face an electoral disaster in many states.  And to what end?

This is what political debate is for.  Back to the drawing board, Mr. Ryan.  Many of us see you as a potential president.  Don't ruin it by ideological rigidity. 

April 13, 2011       Permalink

DEAR LEADER SPEAKS TO SUBJECTS TODAY – AT 7:58 A.M. ET:  President Obama, in office more than two years, will finally address the issue of debt reduction in a speech today.  Advance notices are not promising.  From Fox:

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama enters politically tricky territory Wednesday when he outlines his plan for reducing long-term deficits and the national debt amid a climate of tense budget negotiations.
Obama's speech at George Washington University will follow White House talks in the morning with congressional leaders who are staking out positions on upcoming issues, including approval of last week's budget deal for the rest of the current fiscal year, increasing the federal debt ceiling and crafting a budget for fiscal year 2012.

For Obama, the speech is a response to a Republican budget plan for next fiscal year released last week by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, that would overhaul the Medicare and Medicaid government health care programs for the elderly while reforming the tax code to lower rates and eliminate loopholes.

And...

A White House official said Obama's speech would emphasize "shared prosperity and shared responsibility," advocating a balanced approach to control expanding deficits while protecting vital spending for education, innovation and clean energy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  You can see what's coming.  "It's for the children."  I have no problem with "spending for education" if someone could show me that the dollars are well spent, which they're not.  We already spend more per student than any country in the world except Switzerland and possibly Norway.  What, precisely, are we getting?  And why should we have to subsidize Ivy League universities that already have huge endowments? 

And I worry when words like "innovation" and "clean energy" are used.  Will someone show us what "clean energy" dollars have produced at the federal level?  Has anything worked?  I'm willing to be convinced, but details are always scarce.

According to the official, Obama will call for holding down domestic spending, cutting defense spending, reducing costs while strengthening Medicare and Medicaid, and tax reform.

Cut defense spending?  There's a fish thrown to the militant left of the Democratic Party, a wing that doesn't even believe in national defense.  Okay, I'll listen.  Yes, there is waste in the Pentagon.  But what are you going to cut, Mr. President?  We have pilots flying planes that are older than they are.  The Navy's carrier fleet is rapidly aging beyond usefulness.  And we have growing, not declining, threats all over the world.

Sounds like the usual suspects in the White House have come up with the usual proposals.  NGE.  Not good enough.

April 13, 2011     Permalink