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MARCH 23,  2011

WHY NOT THE WORST? – AT 9:38 P.M. ET:  When he ran for president, Jimmy Carter published a book about himself called "Why Not the Best?"  It was an omen of the ego to come.  If every wife or husband could be loved to the degree that Jimmy Carter loves himself, there'd be no divorce courts. 

Now we find that Carter is back in action again, inserting himself into the prickly relationship between the U.S. and North Korea.  As usual, it's hard to know which side has Carter's sympathy:

WASHINGTON, March 23 (Yonhap) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter will likely visit North Korea next month to broker rapprochement in U.S. relations with the reclusive communist state, which have chilled over the North's nuclear and missile programs and other provocations, a diplomatic source here said Wednesday.

"It is highly likely that ex-President Carter will travel to North Korea in about a month as the North Korean mission in New York has been arranging for the visit," said the source, who requested anonymity.

Carter is expected to be accompanied by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other prominent figures who are ready to be middlemen in U.S. relations with the impoverished but nuclear-armed state.

Carter visited Pyongyang in August and brought back Aijalon Gomes of Boston, who had been sentenced to eight years in a labor camp and fined about US$700,000 for illegally entering North Korea months earlier.

Carter was expected to play a role in mending U.S. relations with the North at the time, but he could not meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who had traveled to China for a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao. Kim made the trip in an apparent attempt to seek Chinese support for the unprecedented third-generation power transition to his youngest son.

There is nothing in Carter's record to recommend him.  We are still paying for his administration's role in bringing down the shah of Iran and replacing him with hate-filled cleric. 

Carter's presence as even an unofficial representative of the United States is an embarrassment, especially as our current president seems to work hard to place himself in the Carter tradition.

March 23, 2011      Permalink

TOO MUCH TO HANDLE – AT 8:59 P.M. ET:   We feel President Obama's pain at having to cut a few hours of sightseeing from his Latin American schedule to travel to another country on his visitors' tour, the United States.  Some suggest he may have a role to play here.

With eyes focused on Libya because of our military action there, we may be ignoring an equally important eruption, the rebellion in Yemen.  Yemen is critical because it is home to some of the most active Al Qaeda groups.  We have an ambassador there, but no policy, as Fox points out:

The Obama administration, after helping to orchestrate a U.N.-backed military intervention in Libya, is facing pressure to do more to prepare for the potential collapse of the government in another Mideast country, Yemen -- but U.S. officials admit they are doing little more than watching at this point.

Though Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh has already offered to step down by the end of the year, anti-government demonstrators still swell the streets of the capital Sana'a as the government declares a state of emergency.

Yemen's parliament is now giving Saleh, who has led the country since 1978, even broader powers to arrest opponents and censor media coverage as he faces growing opposition to step down immediately.

Yemen is a central ally of the U.S. government against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The group, along with its operational planner, the American Anwar al-Awlaki, the first American on the CIA's kill or capture list, are now considered a greater threat than Usama bin Laden's network in Pakistan.   And one U.S. lawmaker suggests that chaos in Yemen could result in a worse terrorist breeding ground than Afghanistan.

COMMENT:  There are times in history when we had a real president, not someone from the Make Believe Ballroom.  Yemen can turn out to be more critical to our safety than Libya, yet the U.S. is just "watching." 

And regarding Libya, there are now so many cracks in the "coalition" participating in military action against the country that we wonder what actually will be done, and how effective it can be.  President Obama proudly says that we will turn over "leadership" of the coalition by Saturday...but we still don't have a command structure in place.  In other words, there's no one there who can play the leadership role.

This isn't exactly change we can believe in.  I would love to be a fly on the wall of a foreign ministry of friend or foe, as diplomats discuss this man Obama, and his abysmal failure to develop coherent policies, or to lead.  The Chicago City Council would have been a nice spot for him.

March 23,  2011     Permalink

STILL IN THE DUMPS – AT 11:37 A.M. ET:   New housing statistics show that we are still very much in the housing dumps, yet Washington talks about a brilliant recovery.  Where's the recovery?  From Bloomberg:

Purchases of new U.S. homes unexpectedly declined in February to the slowest pace on record and prices dropped to the lowest level since December 2003, adding to evidence the industry is floundering.

Sales decreased 16.9 percent to a 250,000 annual pace, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a gain to a 290,000 rate, according to the median estimate. The median price fell 8.9 percent from the same month in 2010.

Builders are struggling to compete with existing homes as foreclosures add to the overhang of unsold properties and drive down values. The figures underscore the Federal Reserve’s view that the housing market “continues to be depressed” even as the rest of the economy improves.

COMMENT:  The reality here is that a home is usually the largest expenditure in the history of most famlies, and people often have their life savings tied up in where they live.  But more and more Americans are getting into a situation where the house owns them, rather than the other way around.  Add to this the drumbeat of rising property taxes, the better to pay the vast benefits demanded by public-service employees, and we have a bad fix.

I get the sense, from the materials we review here, that our economic doldrums will last years, and that any "recovery" will be tentative and delicate.  We still don't know the impact of the Japanese earthquake on that country's economy, which will surely impact the United States.  Nor do we know the impact of the Mideast mess.

Not exactly good news for the unemployed.

March 23, 2011      Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 10:22 A.M. ET: 

From Fox:  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez thinks capitalism may be responsible for the lack of life on the planet Mars.  "I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet," Chavez said in a speech on Tuesday. 

Aren't you, like me, sick of spending so much on scientific research, when answers are so readily available from Hugo Chavez?  Let's suck it up and cancel any further exploration on Mars.  We have all the answers we need.

March 23, 2011      Permalink

BOMB ATTACK IN JERUSALEM – AT 9:53 A.M. ET:  There has been a bombing in Jerusalem, leading to immediate fears that the simmering conflict between Israelis and Palestinians will escalate again:

JERUSALEM (AP) — A bomb exploded at a crowded bus stop Wednesday in central Jerusalem, wounding at least 25 people in what appeared to be the first militant attack in the city in several years.

The blast could be heard throughout Jerusalem and blew out the windows of two crowded buses.

Rescuers were seen removing bloodied people from the area on stretchers.

Israel's national rescue service said 25 people were wounded, including 15 seriously. No deaths were reported.

Meir Hagid, one of the bus drivers, said he heard a loud explosion as he drove by the site, located near the main entrance to Jerusalem and its central bus station.

"I heard the explosion in the bus stop," he said. He halted his vehicle and people got off. He said nobody in his bus was hurt.

COMMENT:  In recent days there's been an escalation of violence between Hamas, which runs Gaza, and Israel.  This incident will not help.

One thing to always be concerned about in attacks like this is the possibility of a copycat bombing...anywhere in the world, including here.  Those who attempted to blow up an airliner over Detroit, or to set off a car bomb in Times Square, got their inspiration from others.  Many terror experts have expressed amazement that we haven't had a Jerusalem-style bombing here.  We hope our luck continues, but we can never count on luck.

March 23, 2011      Permalink 

BULLETIN – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  Elizabeth Taylor has died at 79.  Think of her what you will, but she was one of the last of the true stars of the golden age of Hollywood.  She was also a fine actress, although her personal life often overshadowed her talent.

Elizabeth Taylor symbolized the glamour of the golden age.  Her death does not, however, end that era.  Olivia de Havilland, a star of "Gone With The Wind," survives, and is in her mid-90s.  So does Mickey Rooney, who, it's hard to believe, was considered a major star in the late 1930s and early 40s.  CNN notes:

Though a two-time Oscar winner -- for "Butterfield 8" (1960) and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966) -- Taylor was more celebrated for simply being Elizabeth Taylor: sexy, glamorous, tempestuous, fragile, always trailing courtiers, media and fans. She wasn't above playing to that image -- she had a fragrance called "White Diamonds" -- or mocking it.

"I am a very committed wife," she once said. "And I should be committed too -- for being married so many times." 

Let us remember the talent, and the extraordinary beauty that went with it. 

March 23, 2011     Permalink

LIBYA MESS – AT 8:57 A.M. ET:  It is being noticed that 1) we apparently have no clear objective in Libya, 2) the Europeans are divided, and 3) the head man in Libya keeps attacking civilians.  Great way to go to war.

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Loud explosions and heavy anti-aircraft gunfire rang out early Wednesday in the Libyan capital, hours after the nation's defiant leader vowed to win his battle with coalition forces.

The sources of the blasts and gunfire in western Tripoli were unclear, but there is a large military base in the area.

U.S. officials said while coalition forces conducted airstrikes Tuesday night, they did not "specifically target anything" in the capital.

Four days of military strikes by French, Britain and the United States' forces have rendered Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's long-range air defenses and his air force largely ineffective, military officials have said.

Here is the key:

But on the ground, forces loyal to the ruler continued their assault on towns with a rebel presence.

"Tanks and snipers are in the center of the city," a witness said early Wednesday, about the western port city of Misrata. "The people are living in a state of fear. Electricity has been cut off, water has been cut off."
The witness said hospitals are overflowing.

"Injured people are sleeping on the floor," he said. "Misrata needs help."

What if Gadhafi realizes he can win without air power?  After all, he didn't have much to start with.  What if the coalition really starts to fracture after a week?  Obama proudly announced that we are giving up leadership of the military effort, a disgraceful stand.  When you're the leader, you call the shots.  How will Americans react when they find out that American pilots are being ordered into action by Europeans?  Or even by Arab members of the coalition?  (There are reports that some Arab nations are about to join active action against Libya, but that hasn't happened yet.)

This column supported the initial attempt to establish a no-fly zone over Libya, but there apparently is no phase two, and not much thinking about it.  The president has been busy in Latin America.  The secretary of state seems adrift.  And, on the ground, Gadhafi continues attacking.

Some British officials are hinting that Britain may have to employ ground troops in Libya.  Obama has ruled out American ground forces.  In this he's correct, as Americans will not accept it.  But there is no coherent strategy because the man in the White House only knows how to organize a community.  The world is a different matter.

March 23, 2011      Permalink

THIS IS PATHETIC – AT 8:37 A.M. ET:  When Lyndon Johnson signed the civil rights laws of 1964, he predicted that they would cost his Democratic Party the South for a generation, but that it was the right thing to do.  He was right on both counts...except that the South has become increasingly Republican – for other reasons – in recent decades.

The Dems pride themselves on protection of "minority rights."  Sometimes, though, that protection has taken on the form of groveling and vote-grabbing, having almost nothing to do with actual rights.

And the Dems are at it again.  Eric Holder's Justice Department makes it clear that it favors only certain groups.  And get this latest gem:

Just weeks after House Republicans held a hearing looking at the dangers of radical Muslims in the U.S., Senate Democrats are countering with a hearing of their own, scheduled for after Congress returns from a 10-day vacation, to examine Muslims' civil rights.

Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, announced the subcommittee hearing Tuesday, saying there has been a spike in anti-Muslim bigotry in the last year that demands closer attention.

“Our Constitution protects the free exercise of religion for all Americans,” Mr. Durbin said. “During the course of our history, many religions have faced intolerance. It is important for our generation to renew our founding charter’s commitment to religious diversity and to protect the liberties guaranteed by our Bill of Rights.”

Durbin is a fierce partisan, but has always struck me as a fundamentally decent guy, not at all a crackpot.  But this is really over the top.  Do you see a groundswell of anti-Muslim resentment around you?  We do resent jihadists who try to murder our citizens, and I hope Durbin understands that.  We have an administration that won't even identify the ideology of terrorist attackers, for fear of "offending" the Muslim world.  Boy, we're really coming down hard on Islam.

The fact is that Americans respect the difference between loyal Muslims and radical jihadists.  But Americans also insist that the radicals be labeled for what they are, and that we have the right to find out who's teaching and guiding them.  Apparently, Mr. Durbin doesn't agree.

And note this:

In 2009, the latest FBi statistics available, anti-Islamic hate crimes accounted for 9.3 percent of the 1,376 religiously motivated hate crimes recorded. That's far less than the 70.1 percent that were anti-Jewish.

Please observe that the Jews don't get any hearings.  Not politically correct on the left.  And the fiercely hostile attitudes we see toward traditional Christians, especially evangelicals, are ignored by the Democratic investigators. 

I have no problem with Durbin holding his hearings, although I can't see what revelations will come up.  I do hope, though, that those other groups make their voices heard in their own defense, and take a big bite out of the political correctness that has all but destroyed the once-great Democratic Party of Harry Truman and Jack Kennedy.

March 23,  2011     Permalink

MARCH 22,  2011

UNBELIEVABLE, JUST UNBELIEVABLE – AT 10:19 P.M. ET:  The weakness and confusion of this president have now become the stuff of jokes and international ridicule.  Just a few weeks ago he was saying that the leader of Libya had to go.  Now, even though we have committed our forces to battle against that very leader, he sings a different, weaker tune.  From The Politico:

President Obama indicated on Tuesday that Muammar Qadhafi may still have an opportunity to “change his approach” and put in place “significant reforms” in the Libyan government.

Asked by NBC’s Savannah Guthrie what the U.S. commitment is in Libya if Qadhafi remains in power but continues to pose a threat to his people, Obama appeared to leave the door open for political reforms.

“You are absolutely right that as long as Qadhafi remains in power, and unless he changes his approach and there are significant reforms in the Libyan government that allow the Libyan people to express themselves, there are still going be potential threats against Libyan people—unless he is going to step down,” Obama said.

His quick shift back to what he had earlier stated—that Qadhafi must step down—is more in line with the conclusion that he and his administration officials had come to weeks ago. But a return to the call for “political reforms” is reminiscent of the White House position on Egypt during its upheaval.

COMMENT:  Translated into English, no one actually understands what Obama is saying.  He makes George W. Bush look like a model of clarity. 

We wonder whether Obama is getting international pressure to go easy on Qadhafi.  Qadhafi has allies, among them, disgracefully enough, Nelson Mandela.  (Although knowing Mandela's real beliefs, that may not be so shocking.  And remember that Qadhafi, a participant in oil deals and the deal for the despicable release of the Lockerbie bomber, knows much.  There may be people around the world who may fear what he might reveal if he were forced from power.

Qadhafi made his first TV appearance in a week today, and vowed defiance.  There are some reports circulating that he's trying to negotiate an exit from Libya, but they have not been confirmed.  Today he didn't sound like a man contemplating defeat. 

March 22, 2011       Permalink

LET'S NOT FORGET – AT 10:08 P.M. ET:  Our eyes are on Libya and Japan, but we have some pretty serious headaches right here at home.  From CNBC:

The United States is on a fiscal path towards insolvency and policymakers are at a "tipping point," a Federal Reserve official said on Tuesday.

"If we continue down on the path on which the fiscal authorities put us, we will become insolvent, the question is when," Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher said in a question and answer session after delivering a speech at the University of Frankfurt. "The short-term negotiations are very important, I look at this as a tipping point."

But he added he was confident in the Americans' ability to take the right decisions and said the country would avoid insolvency.

"I think we are at the beginning of the process and it's going to be very painful," he added.

COMMENT:  The federal budget is being debated in Congress right now, and President Obama is showing his usual lack of leadership. 

We are told that we're in a recovery, but it's hard to see where that recovery is.  Unemployment is still high.  The housing market is swimming with the fishes.  Fuel prices, which Americans see every day, are soaring, while chic environmentalists tell us that's a good thing. 

One of these days, a foreign crisis will erupt and America just won't have the money to deal with it.  The world is becoming less, not more, stable, and we are becoming weaker and less resolute under our current leadership.  The next election will be one of the most critical in this nation's recent history.

March 22, 2011       Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 10:33 A.M. ET:

(Reuters) - A New York man has been arrested for allegedly selling illegal prescription drugs from his ice cream truck, making more than $1 million in a year, prosecutors said.

Is nothing sacred in this country any longer?  This gives an entirely new meaning to the term "Good Humor man."

March 22, 2011       Permalink

OH DEAR, YOU MUST PUT BATTERIES IN THE CALCULATOR – AT 9:44 A.M. ET:  Let us return for a few moments to the world of gritty, delightful politics.  A major Republican target in next year's senatorial races is incumbent Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri.   Not exactly a giant of the Senate, McCaskill is already facing sharp challenges.

Unfortunately the senator has also developed a habit of not paying taxes.  We know how hard her day must be, but, really, she must take care of these matters before next year's election...unless it's already too late.  From Fox:

Any way you slice it, $287, 273 is a lot of money, especially in this economy. For one-term Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., up for re-election in 2012, that's the amount of personal property taxes she failed to pay since 2007 on a plane she and her husband, a millionaire businessman, partially owned.

"I have discovered that the...personal property taxes on the plane have not been paid," McCaskill told a small number of reporters on a conference call Monday. "There should have been a reporting to the county of the existence of this airplane...There are people I could blame for this, but I know better. As (a former) auditor, I know I should have checked for myself. I take full responsibility for the mistake."   Audio of the call was sent to Fox by a McCaskill aide and can be found here.

The senator said she had done her own "thorough review" of all 89 flights she had taken following a political controversy that erupted recently over the same plane that was first reported by Politico.

The senator had used the plane for political purposes, paying for the travel with taxpayer money from her Senate office, a "mistake" the senator said, for which she reimbursed the government nearly $89,000. "All of the money has been repaid for the public funds," McCaskill said Monday.

The senator said she had paid sales taxes on the plane, both local and state, evidence, she said, that she had made no attempt to duck her financial responsibility. "I want to reiterate, there was no attempt to evade the plane...This is just a mistake that I take full responsibility for."

But Republicans did not buy the explanation from McCaskill, a top GOP target in 2012. "In the past two weeks, we have learned that Claire McCaskill billed taxpayers for political travel and failed to pay nearly $300,000 in personal property taxes on her plane. Over the last four years, cash-strapped school districts and the children in these schools have been deprived of these much-need funds," Missouri Republican Party chairman David Cole blasted in a statement from his office.

COMMENT:  McCaskill is probably toast, but the level of her toastiness will depend on the quality of the candidate the GOP runs against her.  Given some of the GOP's bizarre personnel picks in 2010, I'd be reluctant to put this contest in our column just yet.

March 22, 2011      Permalink

JAPAN SAGA – AT 9:06 A.M. ET:  With new military action in the Mideast, we've been distracted from the serious drama going on in Japan, as workers, many risking their lives and health, try to tame a damaged nuclear plant.  Day by day progress is being made, but the outcome still is uncertain.  From Fox:

The operator of Japan's leaking nuclear plant says power lines have been hooked up to all six reactor units, though more work is needed before electricity can run through them.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, announced the hookup Tuesday but cautioned that workers must check pumps, motors and other equipment before the electricity is turned on.

Reconnecting the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex to the electrical grid is a significant step in getting control of the overheated reactors and storage pools for spent fuels. But it is likely to be days if not longer before the cooling systems can be powered up, since damaged equipment needs to be replaced and any volatile gas must be vented to avoid an explosion.

Nuclear plant workers resumed work Tuesday morning to restore power and cooling functions at the crippled reactors after smoke was detected at the Unit 2 and 3 reactors, Kyodo News Agency reports.
The operator of the plant told the Kyodo News Agency that firefighters and the Tokyo Electric Power Co. sprayed water onto the spent nuclear fuel rods at the Unit 3 and 4 reactors.

COMMENT:  We are getting a lot of conflicting stories about radiation damage thus far.  We may not know for some time the extent of that damage, or how long some areas around the plant have to remain evacuated.  But, up to now, this has not proved the unmitigated disaster that some disciples of Dr. Gloom had gleefully predicted. 

In assessing radiation damage, scientists will look at the intensity of the radiation, its type, the degree to which a particular type of radiation lasts, dispersal patterns, and medical knowledge.  Fortunately, warning systems are in place.  There is constant monitoring.  This isn't Chernobyl, where Soviet authorities never even warned citizens not to drink milk produced in areas around the stricken plant.

We await further, authoritative information.

March 22, 2011       Permalink

PRESIDENT UNDER FIRE – AT 8:46 A.M. ET:  Americans usually rally 'round the flag when our armed services go into action, and, indeed, one poll now shows that a majority of Americans now favor the Libya operation, a change from last week.

But enthusiasm is limited, and Obama is being widely criticized across the political spectrum, in large part because of the way he went to war in Libya and his AWOL style of leadership.  Even liberals are exasperated.  Richard Cohen of The Washington Post writes:

The change that Obama promised has settled on us all like an irritating drizzle. His ideas were untested by either age or experience. It is one thing to decry American unilateralism and quite another to await international action when time is of the essence. It is not necessary for America always to lead, but it is sometimes necessary for it to do so — and always necessary for the president to know when that moment has arrived. Obama seems not to know. He often solves problems by ignoring them.

To tell you the truth, I don’t know whether it was appropriate for Obama to go through with his trip to South America, but it sure was symbolic. Here was his country entering yet another military operation, and there was the president in Brazil. The contrast was jarring — as if he was quite literally distancing himself from the consequences of his own policy. The man supposed to be the center of it all was on the periphery.

COMMAND:  Wolf Blitzer of CNN pointed out last night that Obama didn't even make the traditional address to the nation from the Oval Office when ordering American men and women into combat. 

I think it's unlikely, given their self-brainwashing over the decades, but maybe the Dems will grow some appreciation for the decisiveness of George W. Bush, at least in his first term.  Bush was not internationally popular, in part because of the way the international leftist press portrayed him, but he was taken seriously, and feared.  Obama was supposed to lead America out of the wilderness it was never in.  He seems to have lost his Boy Scout compass, and led us into the woods.  Now our president is neither popular nor feared.  His leadership is being ridiculed.  With a lot of guns, and nuclear missiles pointed at us, this is not the guy we need.

March 22, 2011       Permalink

U.S. F-15E CRASHES IN LIBYA – AT 8:14 A.M. ET:  Details are sketchy, but an American F-15E has crashed in Libya after both crew members ejected.

Obviously, Americans on the ground in Libya would set up a potential hostage situation, but this story, after hours of waiting, now has a happy ending:

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- A U.S. Air Force fighter jet crashed in Libya after experiencing an equipment malfunction, but both crew members ejected safely and are now out of Libya and in U.S. hands, the U.S. military and a senior U.S. defense official said Tuesday.

A pilot and weapons officer aboard an F-15E Strike Eagle had flown from Aviano Air Base in Italy to Libya when the fighter experienced problems, the U.S. military command for Africa said in a statement. Both pilots ejected, the statement said.

The pilot and weapons officer suffered minor injuries but landed safely in Libya, the military said.
A U.S. military plane picked up the pilot, a senior defense official said. Libyan rebels recovered the second crew member and "took good care of him" until coalition forces "could come get him," the official said.

COMMENT:  An instructive story.  How many times have you heard that "they all hate us"?  How many times have you heard that we don't dare intervene in the Mideast because the "Arab street" will explode? 

Well, the Arab street has exploded...against its own leaders.  That wasn't in the playbook written by left-wing academics and journalists who parroted the line that we were uniquely hated.

Here we have a rebel force that didn't take an American hostage, but took good care of him and got him back safely to our people.  The rebels appreciate American and allied intervention.  They may not have loved colonialism, but they love our power, when it's on their side.  That mutual interest has value to us, if we recognize it.

March 22,  2011     Permalink