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JULY 8,  2011

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE:

WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE CANAVERAL –  Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched today, the last launching in America's space shuttle program.  The first was in 1981.  When Atlantic returns, the only way for Americans to get into space will be aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft.  Incredible, isn't it?  We beat them to the moon, now we have to hitch a ride at an exorbitant rate.  (The old reds have learned that when you have a monopoly, you can charge anything.)  Maybe there's a rational reason for this, and we do have space travel planned for the distant future, but where will the inspiration be for young kids who want to be astronauts?  I guess those dreams don't can't anymore in Barack Obama's America.

A PERRY ERROR? –  A Mexican was executed in Texas yesterday for the unspeakable rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl.  The White House, State Department and others, including former President George W. Bush, asked for a stay, because there were some possible errors made in the handling of the case.  The Supreme Court rejected that argument, 5-4.  Texas Governor Rick Perry could still have granted a stay, but refused.   Did Perry make a mistake?  I think he did.  He will probably jump into the presidential race, and hardly has to prove his conservative credentials.  But the question is whether he can rise above local politics.  By granting a brief stay so that all questions could be answered, he would have shown himself the statesman, not the local prosecutor.  Execution is the most profound act a state can perform, and even we law-and-order types should approach it with awe.  Perry, who must appeal to independents to win a national election, missed a chance to show some size.

ABOLISH JURIES? –  I've never heard such questioning of the jury system as I've heard in the last few days, since the Casey Anthony verdict.  People recall the farcical O.J. Simpson verdict, and just a few days ago a similar farce played out in New York.  Some legal wags on TV have even ridiculed jurors themselves.  One defined a jury as 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty.  I still believe in the jury system, but modern tactics employed by slick lawyers – including a former presidential candidate named John Edwards – may be overwhelming the best intentions of that system.  We need some improvement in the selection and qualifications of jurors, the the interpretation of scientific "evidence," and in reassuring the public that the system actually functions.

FUTURE LEADERS FOR AMERICA – One of the most valuable uses of our presidential nomination process is identifying future presidents.  It's not usually listed as a purpose of the process, but it is.  Consider:  John F. Kennedy was spotted as a future president in 1956, when he allowed his name to be entered at the Democratic convention as a candidate for vice president.  He lost to Estes Kefauver, but made an impression.  Ronald Reagan ran in the primaries in 1976 against incumbent President Gerald Ford.  Reagan lost, but his future became apparent.  Barack Obama made his first national impression at the Democrats' 2004 nomination, in a keynote address.  Many felt they were looking at a future president, and, regrettably, they were.  So watch the process carefully.  Watch Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan.  And watch the maneuverings of Marco Rubio of Florida.  They are making their names.  We'll hear from them.

July 8, 2011       Permalink   

RUBIO RISING? – AT 10:05 A.M. ET:  Are you getting the same impression I am, that we're seeing a lot of Marco Rubio these days?   After months of relative silence, Rubio, one of the most charismatic individuals in the Republican Party, has moved front and center, all the while denying he has any ambitions for 2012.  Here's a late quote from him:

“We don't need new taxes. We need new taxpayers, people that are gainfully employed, making money and paying into the tax system. And then we need a government that has the discipline to take that additional revenue and use it to pay down the debt and never grow it again. And that's what we should be focused on, and that's what we're not focused on..."

And...

"I have never met a job creator who told me that they were waiting for the next tax increase before they started growing their business. I've never met a single job creator who's ever said to me I can't wait until government raises taxes again so I can go out and create a job.

"And I'm curious to know if they say that in New Hampshire because they don't say that in Florida. And so my view on all this is I want to know how many jobs these tax increases the president proposes will create because if they're not creating jobs and they're not creating new taxpayers, they're not solving the problem."

COMMENT:  Hmm.  Did the man say "New Hampshire"?  Isn't that where the first primary will be held?  I mean, for a guy who's not interested, why pick New Hampshire to be curious about.

Why do I get the feeling that Marco Rubio will be on the national ticket next year?  Why do I get the feeling that this is a very good idea?

July 8, 2011       Permalink 

NEW POLL GRIM FOR OBAMA – AT 9:34 A.M. ET:  A new survey shows a darkening mood in the American public, based on economic reality.  Word of caution:  This is a poll from a GOP polling firm.  From The Politico:

RESURGENT REPUBLIC FINDS DARKENING MOOD – Independents, Hispanics and other swing voters may be running out of patience with President Barack Obama and the pace of economic recovery, according to a new set of data collected in focus groups by the GOP polling outfit Resurgent Republic. In four battleground focus groups held last month, Resurgent Republic found that voters “were unanimous in their overwhelmingly negative descriptions of the economy, and unlike our focus groups a year ago, these voters could not see an end to the nation’s economic decline,” according a memo from former RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie and pollsters Whit Ayres and Leslie Sanchez. But voters differ on who to blame for the weak economy: Independents “did not hold President Obama primarily responsible,” the memo states, while “Hispanic voters were more likely to say President Obama made the economy worse, joining Republicans and Tea Party voters.”

And...

MORE – OBAMA’S WEAK POINTS – It’s not just the economy where the president has to contend with deep and growing skepticism from some important voting blocs. Participants in the Resurgent Republic study generally agreed that Obama “has made the national debt worse” and were unsympathetic to arguments for raising the debt ceiling. And while the “intensity” of voters’ focus on the health care law has lessened, the perception that the Affordable Care Act is “complicated and bureaucratic” remains. The Resurgent Republic data was gathered from focus groups in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida and Colorado.

COMMENT:  This pretty much confirms what we've seen elsewhere, although some of the language is clearly biased toward the GOP.  With today's dismal job figures, the impression of the economy is bound to get worse.

At the same time, we stress what we've stressed before – that companion surveys show that the GOP remains an unpopular party, and none of its potential candidates for president has caught fire.  Obama's misfortunes won't necessarily translate into Republican fortune unless the message is right, and appealing from right to center.  Ditto the candidate.

July 8, 2011       Permalink

STRANGE MEN IN WHITE SUITS – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  Have you ever noticed how many high-ranking jihadists are physicians?  I have no idea why this is so, but Michelle Malkin has written a very well-reported piece on the phenomenon.   It's chilling:

Splendid news: Our homeland security officials have sent fresh warnings to foreign governments that "human bombs" may try to board planes with surgically implanted explosives. The ticking terrorists are reportedly getting help from murder-minded Arab Muslim physicians trained in the West. Infidels beware: Dr. Jihad's version of the health care oath omits the "no" in "Do no harm."

And...

...radical Islam's bloody perversion of the medical profession traces back to the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood, the global terror operation that wooed wealthy young docs and other intellectual elites with cushy union benefits.

-- Ayman al-Zawahiri, a surgeon from a family of doctors, was raised in the Muslim Brotherhood; helmed the murderous Islamic Jihad; and masterminded myriad al-Qaida plots before succeeding Osama bin Laden this summer.

-- Former Hamas leader Abdel Rantissi, bent on wiping out the children of Israel, was a pediatrician.

-- Convicted al-Qaida scientist Aafia Siddiqui studied microbiology at MIT and did graduate work in neurology at Brandeis.

-- Rafiq Abdus Sabir was a Columbia University grad who served as an emergency room physician in Boca Raton, Fla., before his terrorism conviction in 2007 for agreeing to provide medical aid and treatment to wounded al-Qaida fighters so they could return to Iraq to kill American soldiers.

-- Rafil Dhafir, an Iraqi-born oncologist, practiced in New York before being convicted in 2004 on 59 criminal counts related to violating Iraqi sanctions and committing large-scale medical charity fraud.

-- A den of well-heeled jihadi doctors from around the world was implicated in the 2007 London/Glasgow bombings. At least one of the convicted terror MDs worked for Britain's National Health Service.

-- Mahmoud al-Zahar, another bloodthirsty Hamas biggie and medical doctor, described his specialty to a New York Times reporter in 2006 this way: '''Thyroids: I'm very good at cutting throats,' Dr. Zahar said, drawing his forefinger across his neck as a rare smile spread across his face."

And...

Closer to home, Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan starkly diagnosed the ideological fanaticism of every soldier of Allah in a Koranic-inspired PowerPoint presentation that concluded: "We love death more then (sic) you love life!"

Military officials plagued by political correctness ignored Hasan. Thirteen Fort Hood soldiers and civilian personnel, and one unborn child, paid with their lives.

COMMENT:  Let us remember that there were many physicians in the Nazi regime who carried out hideous experiments on prisoners. 

The medical jihadists are an extension of that tradition.

And I guarantee you that they will make house calls.

July 8,  2011     Permalink

AND THE TITANIC IS UNSINKABLE, CAPTAIN SMITH – AT 8:36 A.M. ET:  The Obama political team is very highly regarded, but illusions like this do nothing to sustain its image.  From The Hill:

President Obama’s senior political adviser David Plouffe said Wednesday that people won’t vote in 2012 based on the unemployment rate.

Plouffe should probably hope that’s the case, since dismal job figures aren’t expected to get any better for Obama and the economy on Friday.

Most economists expect a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to show that the nation added about 100,000 jobs in June. That’s not enough to keep up with population growth, let alone lower the unemployment rate or make a dent in the 9 million jobs lost during the so called Great Recession.

It’s looking more and more like Obama will have to do something no president has done since Franklin Roosevelt: Win reelection with unemployment around 8 percent.

Ronald Reagan, another president Obama is sometimes compared with, was reelected in 1984 when unemployment was 7.2 percent. Obama isn’t likely to see a number that low.

BULLETIN:  Just in as this is being written:  The U.S. economy added only a pathetic 18,000 jobs in June, much, much worse than the expected 100,000.  The unemployment rate has gone up to 9.2 percent.

This may interfere with the president's golf game.

July 8, 2011     Permalink

JULY 7,  2011

YOUR EDUCATION DOLLARS AT WORK – AT 11:20 P.M. ET:  Another outrageous example of what is happening to American education, despite vast expenditures.  Illinois says it wanted to save money.  How does it save it?  You won't believe this:

CHICAGO (AP) - Illinois will assess only reading and arithmetic now that high school juniors will no longer be tested on their writing skills during standardized exams every spring, according to a published report.

Cutting the writing exams will save about $2.4 million amid the state's budgetary shortfalls. Writing tests for elementary and middle school students were dropped last year.

"We're trying to minimize the damage" of the cuts, Schools Superintendent Christopher Koch told the Chicago Tribune for a story published Wednesday. "Writing is one of the most expensive things to assess."

Oh please.  They're cutting writing tests because the kids do so poorly.  Why advertise falure?  I've seen some writing samples of high-school juniors from our local community here in New York, and I was appalled.

Federal law doesn't require or fund writing tests. Under the federal No Child Left Behind law, public schools are evaluated based on their reading and math test results.

Illinois isn't alone in struggling with how to offer an effective education for less money. Oregon and Missouri also recently made money-saving cuts to their writing exams.

Illinois education officials expect to restore the writing assessments in 2014 when a new state testing plan will require students to periodically take online tests, Koch said.

And the end of the writing section on state standardized exams for now doesn't mean students won't be tested on their writing at all. Many Advanced Placement exams given in May require writing, and the SAT college entrance exam has a writing requirement. 

COMMENT:  One of the problems is that a number of teachers can't write properly, to put it mildly.  When I was a young student in the New York City public school system we had Irish teachers who could diagram an English sentence.  Today kids are lucky to have teachers who can write an English sentence.  Unless that changes, and kids figure out that writing is more important than playing video games, the writing problems in schools will not be solved.

July 7, 2011       Permalink

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 8:57 P.M. ET:  I've wanted to try this, and let's see how it works out.  More than 80% of the time devoted to building Urgent Agenda each day goes into research, and most of that research is never used.   But it provides great background, and gives me a sense of trends.  So, I thought we'd start a new feature - "Short Takes on the Passing Wreckage" –  which will give you some idea of what I'm seeing.  These will be short posts, maybe bunched together, without long quotes from articles.  To begin:

GOP SWEATS THE DEBT TALKS – There is apprehension in conservative circles that GOP Congressional leaders will be taken for a ride by President Obama in the current debt talks.  That would not be shocking, as GOP negotiators are always taken for a ride.  There are reports of huge defense cuts and even some tax increases, on the table.  Charles Krauthammer commented on TV that whatever is agreed to by the GOP negotiating team might very well fail to be supported by the Republican-controlled House.

BACHMANN IN THE SPOTLIGHT – No doubt about it, she's rising in the polls, even in New Hampshire, which is Romney country.  But some conservative-leaning analysts, like Brit Hume, are worrying out loud that Bachmann could never win the general election because she has so little appeal to independents.  I'm inclined to agree, though cautiously.  She's an inside-the-party favorite, but her views are too far right to bring in the vital middle.  On the other hand, and importantly, we recall that Ronald Reagan was liked, and supported, by many voters because they liked his style and character, even if they didn't agree with him on everything.

PLEASE NOTICE THE WORLD – We don't praise the administration very often, but it has been strong in nailing Iran this week for its supply of weapons to Iraqi and Afghan jihadists.  Some of those weapons are being used to kill American troops.  The latest charge comes from Joint Chiefs Chairman, Admiral Mike Mullen.  But is anyone listening?  With the exception of John McCain and Lindsey Graham, the Republican Party seems to have taken a vacation from foreign policy.  Anyone interested?  The GOP cannot revert to being only a party of green eyeshades.

CNN SHAKEUP – CNN, which has the internal stability of a South American government, is shaking up its primetime schedule, canceling Eliot Spitzer's 8 p.m. talk show and giving more display to Anderson Cooper.  Only Larry King successor Piers Morgan keeps his time slot.  Even Wolf Blitzer, who covered the Lincoln administration for CNN, is being moved.  Frankly, I thought Spitzer did a good, intelligent job, despite his liberal tilt, but he never attracted an audience.  Reporting on CNN has been sharper in the last year, possibly owing to the departure of hyper-biased Christiane Amanpour, who now is depressing ratings at ABC.  I have no idea whether the shakeup will bring more viewers to CNN, but the head honcho is new, and I guess he had to do something.

More short takes coming.  The wreckage grows.

July 7, 2011      Permalink

NOW WE KNOW! – AND MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT – AT 9:38 A.M ET:  Forget the fact that the state is essentially bankrupt.  Forget the fact that it is overrun by illegal immigrants.  Forget the fact that its universities have become hotbeds of kookism and screwball politics.  California legislators know what's important, and they act on it.  This is what made California great:

It may be obvious to most people, but California State legislators are ploughing ahead with a new food safety bill - to define what constitutes a hot dog.

The bill passed the State Assembly Health Committee yesterday and now awaits approval from the Appropriations Committee before a final floor vote.

The bizarre legislation is buried in bill S.B. 946 - which also deals with Medicare consultations, access to health care and HIV reporting.

A tiny paragraph in the bill reads: "A 'hot dog' means a whole, cured, cooked sausage that is skinless or stuffed in a casing, may be served on a bun or roll."

Let the word go forth, from this time and place, that never again will we doubt what constitutes a hot dog. 

To those enemies who seek to change the ingredients, we say that California has spoken. 

Now what is needed is the money to publish the definition.  Contributions may be sent.

July 7, 2011       Permalink

CALL PERRY MASON! – AT 9:02 A.M. ET:  You know, I don't know if I can stand the excitement.  With the Anthony trial finished in Florida, with the case against Dominque Strauss-Kahn collapsing in New York, can our delicate systems stand one more legal spectacular?  Brace yourselves:

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran announced on Wednesday that it plans to try 26 US officials in absentia and file lawsuits against them at international bodies.

"Iran will certainly put the 26 US officials on trial in absentia and will pursue their cases at international circles," member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Seyed Ali Aqazadeh told FNA.

"The Islamic Republic has earlier lodged complaints with international circles against the crimes committed by certain US officials in different countries, but today it has compiled a plan for sanctioning 26 US officials and will try these 26 criminals based on the plan," he added.

Aqazadeh lamented that while the 26 American officials have played direct roles in the US crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries, they still continue their activities in different posts in the US very freely today.

Yeah, I'm sure it'll be a regular Nuremberg Tribunal.

Some of the 26 aren't all that well known to the public.  But the stars of the group are the usual suspects – Gen. David Petraeus, Gen. Stan McChrystal (name spelled wrong in the story), former FBI Director Louis Freeh (name spelled wrong, job listed wrongly as former CIA director), FBI Director Robert Mueller (name spelled wrong, incorrectly listed as former CIA director), General Tommy Franks, former Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz (incorrectly named as former secretary of defense), former Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey (dates of his chief of staff position are incorrectly stated)...well, you get the picture.

We don't know when the trial of these officials will begin.

As to the person who researched and wrote the story, his trial should begin sometime later today, and we recommend the death sentence.

July 7, 2011       Permalink

JOBS ANYONE?  – AT 8:49 A.M. ET:  The numbers go up a little, down a little, but they're still grim.  Anything over 400,000 is grim.   From Bloomberg:

Initial jobless claims in the U.S. fell to a level that shows the labor market will take time to heal.

Jobless claims fell by 14,000 to 418,000 in the week ended July 2, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg News survey called for a drop to 420,000. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls and those getting extended payments also declined.

Supply-chain disruptions from Japan’s March earthquake, European default concerns and gasoline prices that neared $4 a gallon prompted some companies in recent weeks to fire workers, further weighing on the consumer spending that makes up two thirds of the economy. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast the Labor Department will report tomorrow that the unemployment rate in June held unchanged at 9.1 percent.

COMMENT:  Daniel Patrick Moynihan once penned an article in a scholarly magazine called "Defining Deviancy Down."  In it he argued that, after a time, people get used to low standards and deviant behavior.  A fear that we hear expressed in a number of places is that Americans will get used to this economy – high unemployment, declining manufacturing, other nations forging ahead.  A program to fight back starts at the top, and you see the kind of top we have in the White House right now.

July 7, 2011       Permalink

BRITS TAKE IT SERIOUSLY – AT 8:31 A.M. ET:  A day after we learn of warnings that Al Qaeda may start surgically implanting bombs in its terrorist brigades, we hear of a new British device that may become critical in turning back the terror menace.  From Fox:

A sensor that can scan huge crowds and pick out a lone suicide bomber by homing in on hidden explosives has undergone official tests, The Sun reported Thursday.

The revolutionary gadget -- similar to airport scanners but top secret -- is believed to silently analyze materials using the unique "terahertz" waves emitted by different substances.

British government scientists began testing it a year ago on mock crowds where one person in every 75 carried a "Person-Borne Improvised Explosive Device."

Heavily-censored reports obtained by the newspaper in a freedom of information request reveal other trials saw the guinea pigs armed with "handguns and knives."

Real terrorists would have no idea they had been scanned from a distance -- and could be intercepted before causing mayhem.

The futuristic device -- officially known as a "stand-off imaging system" -- could be used to protect Al Qaeda targets such as rail stations, shopping malls and sporting events.

COMMENT:  Sounds great, if it works out.  And notice that the only information that a British newspaper could get on the gadget was "heavily censored."  Here, The New York Times revealed details of a secret, and effective, counterintelligence program, and nothing happened to The Times.  One thing about the Brits – most of them take security seriously, despite the presence of a large, left-wing fringe that doesn't. 

Now, of course, the self-appointed protectors of our privacy will have a fit over this technology, but, really, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public place.  And carrying a bomb is not a private affair.

I hope the thing works, and that we use it.

July 7, 2011     Permalink