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MARCH 11,  2011

IS THERE MORE TO THIS THAN WE MIGHT THINK? – AT 9:14 P.M. ET:  Bill Clinton appeared on a closed-to-the-press panel with George W. Bush, and Clinton's comments were startling, especially as his wife serves in the current administration.  From The Politico:

Former President Bill Clinton said Friday that delays in offshore oil and gas drilling permits are “ridiculous” at a time when the economy is still rebuilding, according to attendees at the IHS CERAWeek conference.

Clinton spoke on a panel with former President George W. Bush that was closed to the media. Video of their moderated talk with IHS CERA Chairman Daniel Yergin was also prohibited.

But according to multiple people in the room, Clinton, surprisingly, agreed with Bush on many oil and gas issues, including criticism of delays in permitting offshore since last year’s Gulf of Mexico spill.

“Bush said all the things you’d expect him to say” on oil and gas issues, said Jim Noe, senior vice president at Hercules Offshore and executive director of the pro-drilling Shallow Water Energy Security Coalition. But Clinton added, “You’d be surprised to know that I agree with all that,” according to Noe and others in the room.

COMMENT:  Clinton knew that even if this meeting was closed to the media, his comments would leak out.  The bluntness of those remarks is startling. 

Is Clinton perhaps signaling that he, and, by extension, his wife, are starting to distance themselves from some of Obama's policies?  I've wondered how long Hillary Clinton would put up with Obama's amateurism in foreign relations.  Does she really believe some of the stuff she's been spouting, especially about how America wants others to lead in the Libya crisis?

We assume Obama is running in 2012.  But if the economy tanks again, and his numbers start to slip, anything can happen.  Waiting in the wings is Hillary.  Hillary is always waiting in the wings.

I don't want to read too much into Bill Clinton's remarks, but that kind of public split with Obama policies is something to be examined.  I'd love to be listening in on his phone calls to the secretary of state's private line.

March 11, 2011       Permalink

JAPAN BATTLES A CATASTROPHE – AT 8:42 P.M. ET:  The death toll in today's quake, the worst in Japanese recorded history, will undoubtedly go into the thousands.  But please note the word "thousands."  Not "hundreds of thousands."

The contrast between the quake in Japan and natural catastrophes that have hit other countries is telling.  Haiti was hit by a major quake last year.  The death toll was ghastly.  It is estimated at 230,000.  There will someday be another quake in Haiti, and the death toll will probably be just as high.  And once again the politicos and the rock stars will rush down and start making their endless appeals for cash, food and medicine.  Careers will be polished.  Maybe some telethons will be run. 

In Japan, strict building codes, a disciplined society, and emergency services, will dramatically reduce the toll from today's quake.  And Japan will rebuild.  In Haiti, observers say the place looks like it did the day after the quake.

And yet, if we ask questions about Haiti we're called racists or, at minimum, culturally insensitive.   Haiti is a corrupt, horribly run country, but pointing it out is considered rude.  How, I ask, do the people of Haiti benefit from such sickening political correctness?  They don't benefit at all, but trendiness and political correctness are about how certain people feel about themselves, not about actually helping.

Next time there's a natural disaster in some "poor, impoverished" country, maybe we should break the mold and insist that any relief effort be accompanied by demands for changes in the way that country is run.  The terms "racist" or "imperialist" will start to flow from the usual suspects, but such demands could revolutionize the way we deal with disaster relief.

We wish Japan well at this terrible hour, but we know they'll recover because of their attitude and work ethic.  Other nations might learn.

March 11, 2011     Permalink

GATES SLAMS U.S. ALLIES – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:   Almost lost in today's news is a blunt speech delivered by Defense Secretary Gates to American allies.  From The New York Times:

BRUSSELS — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates sharply rebuked the United States’ allies on Friday for preparing to effectively abandon Afghanistan, threatening what he described as tenuous progress in the nearly decade-old war.

In a deliberately undiplomatic speech to NATO defense ministers, Mr. Gates called on European allies to put aside their domestic politics and work with the United States to secure the “semblance of normalcy” that he said was emerging in some parts of Afghanistan.

“Frankly, there is too much talk about leaving and not enough talk about getting the job done right,” Mr. Gates said. “Too much discussion of exit and not enough discussion about continuing the fight. Too much concern about when and how many troops might redeploy and not enough about what needs to be done before they leave.”

COMMENT:  We are reminded of the Biblical admonition, "If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?"  Gates is right, and many of our allies should, as usual, be ashamed of themselves.  But why shouldn't our allies abandon the fight, when American leadership these days is so weak?  True, Barack Obama has taken Afghanistan seriously, but his whole international demeanor is so lacking in spirit that no one is inclined to follow him.

Further, the Western alliance is becoming old and frayed.  NATO has always been primarily an American operation, which is why the NATO commander is always an American.  Other countries contribute, but many Europeans seem more interested in being protected than in doing the protecting.  The contributions of NATO nations to the war in Afghanistan, a war derived from an attack on a NATO member – the U.S. – have always been minimal, with the exception of the old reliables, Britain and Canada.  Australia has also made an important contribution, as it always does. 

Even in America, Afghanistan is the forgotten war.  In September we will mark ten years since the 9-11 attacks, and the nation is forgetting.  We will be reminded again.

March 11, 2011      Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY - AT 9:53 A.M. ET: 

From The New York Times:  Mr. Obama has told people that it would be so much easier to be the president of China. As one official put it, “No one is scrutinizing Hu Jintao’s words in Tahrir Square.”

And the take-out is much better than those places around the White House.  Look, the job will open up, Obama used to live next door in Indonesia, so why not?  If he becomes president of China he could help a country hostile to the United States.  He's had plenty of practice.

March 11, 2011       Permalink

ON WISCONSIN – AT 9:08 A.M. ET:  Governor Scott Walker has won a major victory in Wisconsin, with the legislature's passage of a bill that effectively strips government workers of most of their collective bargaining rights.  From WaPo:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker won his drive to strip the state's government workers of nearly all of their collective-bargaining rights Thursday, after a three-week standoff that brought tens of thousands of protesters to the Capitol.

The new legislation represents a major setback for organized labor, but the political battle over public employees and their rights to bargain is likely to continue - not only in Madison.

The state Assembly passed Walker's proposal a day after Republican senators outmaneuvered the 14 Democratic senators who had fled Wisconsin to deny a quorum needed for passing a budget measure. By stripping the bill of its spending language, they were able to pass it with only Republicans present.

Despite losing the battle in Wisconsin, union leaders said it would have repercussions across the country.

COMMENT:  I don't think either side necessarily comes out very well here.  As readers know, I was skeptical about Walker's strategy – using collective bargaining as a wedge issue, rather than concentrating on the nuts 'n bolts, and the numbers.  Walker has won, the people of Wisconsin will be better off, but he's also stirred up the hornets.  Other Republican governors, like Chris Christie have expressed some skepticism over this approach, and Walker's poll numbers are down.  The reason is that many people, even those outraged by union behavior, see collective bargaining as a right, and they're reluctant to take away a right once it's been granted.  Also, why stir up such fierce opposition, and get the other side so motivated, when a more subtle approach might be more effective in the long run? 

The fact is, of course, that the federal government doesn't permit collective bargaining for its employees, nor do half of the 50 states. 

Walker was helped by the appalling behavior of Democratic legislators, who skipped across the international border to the nation of Illinois, to avoid voting on the union-weakening measure.  He was also helped by a thuggish element, some from out of state, who invaded the capitol building in the People's Republic of Madison, a rather leftish place to start with. 

There may be an attempt to recall Walker, but it will fail. 

Now Walker, and other Republican governors, must make real progress in bringing down the outrageous costs of state employees, especially pension plans that have not actually been funded.  Many states are underwater, and there is no appetite in Washington for bailing them out.  This fight for fiscal sanity at the state level has just begun.

March 11, 2011      Permalink 

OUTRAGEOUS!  YOUR DEFENSE DOLLARS AT WORK – AT 8:32 A.M.  ET:  Don't you just love it when the guys down below get blamed for the mistakes up above?  The Pentagon has now rendered judgment on Army officers who, it says, should have recognized danger signs in the Fort Hood shooter, and didn't.  From NBC News:

Army Secretary John McHugh has ordered disciplinary action against nine officers for allegedly failing to flag any potential warning signs related to Maj. Nidal Hasan, accused of killing 13 soldiers at Fort Hood in November 2009, NBC News has learned.

The nine officers were in Hasan's chain of command at the Walter Reed Medical Center and the military's medical school. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, allegedly showed signs of Islamic radicalization that were ignored by superior officers.

While the Army's investigation found "no single event" that led to the Fort Hood shootings, "certain officers" in Hasan's chain of command "failed to meet the high standards expected of them," McHugh found.

McHugh also ordered the Army Surgeon General to review the Army Medical Commands training and evaluation of all medical officers. Investigators allege that Hasan's evaluation reports were inflated so he could be promoted and continue practicing at a time when the Army had a shortage of psychiatrists.

COMMENT:  Oh, come on.  Look at the examples set at the top.  We have an administration that refuses to use the term "Islamic extremism," we have an administration that came into office trying to replace "terrorism" with "man-made disasters," we have a chief of staff of the Army who, after the Fort Hood shootings, said publicly that his greatest worry was that Muslims in the service would be hurt, and we have a Defense Department that issued a report on Fort Hood that made not a single reference to Hasan's religious fanaticism, even though he screamed a traditional Muslim phrase when gunning down our service personnel.

And who gets blamed?

The guys down below.

Leadership is by example.  If one of the people under charge had warned about Hasan, you may be sure he would have been reprimanded and sent to cultural sensitivity training.  The hypocrisy here just flows, as the Pentagon looks for sacrificial lambs to satisfy critics.  When the Army chief of staff resigns and takes responsibility for the tone he set, then I'll listen to the rest.

March 11, 2011      Permalink

TSUNAMI – AT 8:24 A.M. ET:  A huge earthquake, followed by a tsunami, has hit Japan.

TOKYO — A huge earthquake struck Japan on Friday, churning up a devastating tsunami that swept over cities and farmland along the northern part of the country and threatened coastal areas throughout the Pacific.

Walls of water whisked away houses and cars in northern Japan, where terrified residents fled the coast. Trains were shut down across central and northern Japan, including Tokyo, and air travel was severely disrupted. A ship carrying more than 100 people was swept away by the tsunami, Kyodo News reported. A fire broke out at the nuclear plant in Onagawa, but Japanese officials said it was extinguished.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the disaster caused major damage across wide areas. Several hours after the quake, Kyodo News was reporting 48 deaths, but with rescue efforts just getting under way, the extent of injuries and damage is not yet known.

COMMENT:  It's likely that the casualty toll will grow much higher. 

You may be sure, though, that President Obama is on the case.  After blaming the quake and tsunami on global warming, he'll probably call for an international conference sometime next year to assess what we can do, without intruding on the cultural norms and proud traditions of Asian peoples.   And then it's off to a game of hoops.

March 11, 2011     Permalink

MARCH 10, 2011

AND NOW BIG OIL – AT 9:05 P.M. ET:  There was violence in Saudi Arabia, with fears (or hopes) for more tomorrow.  From WaPo:

DAMMAM, SAUDI ARABIA - Three people were injured when police opened fire during a protest in eastern Saudi Arabia on Thursday, according to a witness and a Saudi official.

The witness, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals by authorities, said police at first fired over protesters' heads but then began shooting directly at them during a march in central Qatif, a predominantly Shiite town in oil-rich Eastern Province.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said police fired over the heads of protesters after demonstrators attacked them, the Reuters news agency reported. He did not say how the injuries were caused but said one of those hurt was a policeman.

At the time of the shooting, "the police were maybe 50 meters away" from the protesters, who were calling for the release of prisoners, the witness said. It was not immediately clear whether the bullets were live or rubber.

"The guy, he goes talking only, and directly the police shot at him by gun, and all the people started running," the witness said.

And...

Larger protests are planned for Friday across Saudi Arabia. Demonstrators are seeking reforms that include a say in government, better economic opportunities and, in the Shiite-heavy eastern area, an end to what protesters call systematic discrimination by the Sunni monarchy.

Shiites are a minority in Saudi Arabia, making up 10 to 15 percent of the population.

COMMENT:  Should Saudi Arabia descend into an Egyptian-style revolt, and I think the odds are still against it, the disruption to the world's oil supply could be extreme.  Even President Obama might notice it. 

We've now had violence in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Bahrain, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.  There are, of course, no guarantees here.  All could be quiet in a month, with little change in government policies or social conditions.  But eventually, people in the Arab world will realize that their destiny doesn't lie with corrupt totalitarians.  Nor does it lie with a weak United States.

Obama came to office promising a more modest American foreign policy.  He might examine the different between modesty and humiliation.  He has given us a return to the indecision and flabbiness of the late 1970s.  He cannot point to a single foreign-policy success on his watch.  Maybe, in a strange way, that's the way he wants it, given his contempt for the American people and their values.

March 10, 2011      Permalink

RAS LANUF, Libya —Forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi retook this strategic refinery town after an assault by land, air and sea Thursday, opposition leaders and fighters said, an onslaught that sent scores of rebels fleeing along a coastal road and underlined a decisive shift in momentum in an uprising that has shaken the Libyan leader’s four decades of rule.

In testimony before a Senate committee today, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper suggested that Qaddafi would win.  The White House reprimanded Clapper, but he was speaking the truth.  Unless there is outside intervention, Qaddafi's forces will probably prevail.

The fighting was a stark illustration of the asymmetry of the conflict, pitting protesters-turned-rebels against a military with far superior arms and organization and a willingness to prosecute a vicious counterattack against its own people.

As we reported earlier, the rebels did gain some ground diplomatically today when France extended recognition to a fledgling rebel government.  But that is paper recognition.  It won't change the military situation.

We thought, in this crisis, that Hillary Clinton might push for a firmer American response, and would seek an American leadership role.  On the contrary, she has acted the good soldier, making it plain that America wanted others to lead in a a reaction to the Libyan uprising.  How sad.  The world used to look to us for leadership.  And the world, or much of it, applauded the election of Barack Obama.  But "leadership" and "Obama" don't fit well together.

Fouad Ajami of Johns Hopkins, one of the wisest observers of the Mideast, said a few days ago that the United States would pay a bitter price for its inaction during the Libyan crisis.  We seem willing to let NATO squabble over what to do, when every hour is precious.  I fear Ajami will be right.

March 10, 2011      Permalink

ANOTHER TROUBLING SIGN FROM EGYPT – AT 8:18 P.M. ET:  Which way the Egyptian revolution?  That is the question.  Some of the recent answers, such as sectarian clashes in Cairo, have been troubling.  Now we have this, from Reuters:

CAIRO - Egypt has released two prisoners who were jailed for involvement in the 1981 assassination of a former Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, al-Jazeera television reported on Thursday.

"The Egyptian authorities have released Abboud el-Zomor and Tarek el-Zomor who were accused in the case of Sadat's assasination," al-Jazeera said.

Former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, in power from 1970, was shot during a military parade by Khaled el-Islambuli, a member of an Islamist group, after Sadat became the first Arab leader to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

Tarek and Abboud el-Zommor had been imprisoned for participating in the assassination plot.

COMMENT:  Why now?  What's the hurry?  What signal is being sent?  This reminds us of the release of the Lockerbie bomber from a Scottish jail, on corrupt "compassionate" grounds. 

The focus has been off Egypt, but we should realize that there are dangerous forces at work in that country, including forces aligned with Iran. 

I suspect we'll be caught by surprise again.  Why change things?

March 10, 2011      Permalink

WHAT A GEM! – AT 11:35 A.M. ET:  How often have you read a first-class, stimulating column by a 103-year-old? 

Jacques Barzun, formerly provost at Columbia University, and still fighting at 103, writes a fine piece for the Wall Street Journal, urging the return of ROTC to Columbia.  (If the link turns up a partial column, blocked by the WSJ's subscription requirement, simply Google the title.  You'll get the whole thing, as I did.)  Here are some quotes, from a guy who actually can write...and probably remembers World War I:

In 1969, spurred by antiwar student riots, the university cancelled its Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program, which had its roots in the Columbia Midshipmen's School that trained over 23,000 naval officers in World War II. By the 1990s, after the fervor around the Vietnam War had subsided, university officials justified keeping ROTC off campus because of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

With Congress having repealed that edict last year, Columbia faculty have raised new arguments against ROTC. Some faculty members have recently circulated a petition that the military should remain banned because it continues to be a "discriminatory institution" on the basis of "many reasons from physical disability to age." The basketball team discriminates too.

The petition also vaguely warns that a few students wearing uniforms around campus would be a harbinger of "militarization." They ignore the Eisenhower Leadership Development Program, a joint endeavor with West Point that sends dozens of commissioned and uniformed officers each year to Columbia's sacrosanct campus. They also ignore Columbia's law and medical schools, which commission students directly into the Armed Forces Judge Advocate General's Corps as well as medical residencies, and count among their faculties several active-duty military officers.

That's an example of superb, clear, direct writing.  Indeed, Barzun once wrote a manual for writers called "Simple and Direct."  I still use it.

Read the rest of the piece.  It's a pleasure, and a powerful argument to bring ROTC back to a campus celebrated in Herman Wouk's "The Caine Mutiny" as a training ground for Navy officers, but which has gone off the tracks in recent decades, the better to pander to the political left.  Barzun concludes:

Columbia's president and trustees must act to restore the university's long-estranged relationship with the armed forces.

Yes, indeed.  It's too bad Columbia still needs lectures from a man who's 103, but it does.

March 10, 2011      Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 9:41 A.M. ET: 

RIYADH, March 9 (Reuters) - A senior Saudi prince questioned the need for a ban on women driving on Wednesday and said lifting it would be a quick first step to reduce the Islamic kingdom's dependence on millions of foreign workers.  The Gulf Arab state is a monarchy ruled by the al-Saud family in alliance with clerics from the strict Wahhabi school of Islam. Women must be covered from head to toe in public and are not allowed to drive.

Women drivers, what a concept!  Does this mean that women will soon be allowed to have opinions?  Watch TV?  Read?

March 10, 2011       Permalink

DID WE EVER THINK WE'D SEE THE DAY? – AT 9:21 A.M. ET:  Do you recall our image of France when George W. Bush was president and Jacques Chirac was president of the French republic?  Remember (cheese-eating surrender monkeys" and "freedom fries."

My, how things have changed.  Did we ever think we'd see the day when France would lead, and America would be left in the dust?  This relates to the post just below.  France has taken the lead on Libya.  From The New York Times:

PARIS — Moving ahead of its allies, France on Thursday became the first country to recognize Libya’s rebel leadership in the eastern city of Benghazi and said it would soon exchange ambassadors with the insurgents.

The move was a victory for the Libyan National Council in its quest for recognition and a setback for Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi who has been seeking whatever international support he can as NATO members in Brussels began a debate about the possible imposition of a no-flight zone over Libya.

The French announcement came as loyalist forces in Libya claimed new successes against the rebels west of the capital in the town of Zawiyah, while, to the east, loyalist forces renewed ferocious assaults on the key oil town of Ras Lanuf.

President Nicolas Sarkozy met in Paris on Thursday with Mahmoud Jibril and Ali Al-Esawi, representatives of the Libyan National Council that was set up after the uprising in Libya erupted in February. He was the first head of state to meet with insurgent leaders.

COMMENT:  Look, we can't know whether this was premature or not, but real leaders seize the moment.  They force history, they don't stand beside it.

It is perfectly obvious that no one, except maybe the teenagers of Europe, really cares about Barack Obama's vision any longer.  The fact that France, a country we used to ridicule, is out in front of us is humiliating.  And it comes at the same time that some members of the president's own party, such as Senators Dianne Feinstein and Joe Manchin, are publicly questioning Obama's domestic leadership as well.

Obama isn't only Jimmy Carter.  He's Jimmy Carter lite, and I didn't think there was anyone lighter than Carter.  But we learn every day, don't we?

March 10, 2011     Permalink

THIS IS WHAT WE'VE COME TO – AT 8:39 A.M. ET:  We once had Ronald Reagan as president.  He told Gorbachev to "tear down this wall."  We once had George W. Bush as president.  He made clear to enemies of the United States precisely what would happen to them.  Now we have someone else, as the Washington Post tells us:

President Obama is content to let other nations publicly lead the search for solutions to the Libyan conflict, his advisers say, a stance that reflects the more humble tone he has sought to bring to U.S. foreign policy but one that also opens him to criticism that he is a weak leader.

The latter is correct.  There's nothing humble about him.

The tactic is anathema to many conservatives and worries some liberal interventionists, who believe that only overt American authority can assemble an effective opposition to brutal authoritarian governments such as that of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.

Although Obama sees advantages in keeping Washington in the background, especially in a region where the United States is held in such low regard, he has exposed himself to Republican charges that he is absent at a time of crisis. Conservatives say his one-of-the-team approach could also signal a decline in American fortitude after nearly a decade of war.

It signals a decline in leftist fortitude, not that there was much there to start with.

Since the uprising began, Obama has devoted just one set of public remarks solely to the situation in Libya, where fighting has reached a harsh stalemate. European nations have taken the lead in drafting a no-fly zone resolution, and Obama has yet to say whether he favors one. He followed France in calling for Gaddafi's ouster.

COMMENT:  How pathetic we've become under this president.  And what is the left exercised about today?  Why, they're upset about Rep. Peter King's congressional probe into radicalization of American Muslims.  I guarantee that if some liberal announced hearings into the radicalization of Christians, the left would be cheering.

March 10, 2011        Permalink

A TALE OF NUMBERS – AT 8:23 A.M. ET:  I'm confused.  Please unconfuse me.  Isn't the Obama administration supposedly fighting for the average family?  Maybe I got that wrong.

From Reuters:

(Reuters) - U.S. drivers will pay another 10 cents a gallon for gasoline before the latest jump in wholesale costs is fully passed on at the pump, and yearly motor fuel costs will rise 28 percent from last year, the Energy Department said on Wednesday.

The average U.S. household will spend about $700 more for gasoline in 2011 than it spent last year, bringing total motor fuel expenses up 28 percent to $3,235, based on an annual pump price of $3.61 a gallon, the department's Energy Information Administration said.

From the Boston Herald:

More than a dozen WGBH honchos at PBS’ taxpayer-subsidized flagship station are raking in upwards of $200,000 a year while toiling in the lap of a luxurious $85 million multimedia palace dubbed the “Taj Mahal” that boasts a 200-seat amphitheater, state-of-the-art recording studio and Hamburg-Steinway grand piano.

The Herald’s review of the nonprofit producer behind such PBS stalwarts as “Frontline” and “Nova” comes on the heels of yesterday’s sudden ouster of National Public Radio’s boss following a viral video that showed another NPR executive calling Tea Party Republicans racist. The furor is fueling a new push to end taxpayer subsidies for public television and radio.

The freewheeling spending at WGBH — which produces one third of all PBS programming — has put the station in the crosshairs of congressional Republicans looking to cut off federal funding of Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which totaled $430 million this year.

Those Republican barbarians.   Don't they understand the ways of Boston?  I guess they're still clinging to their guns and their religion.

You know, pretty soon Americans are going to wake up and realize how little the average American means to this White House and its congressional allies.  After all, darlings, how many of those little people come to Aspen to attend meetings on climate change?

Yuch.

March 10, 2011     Permalink