Bloodthirsty Liberal

First, let’s take a moment to congratulate The New Orleans Saints and the city of New Orleans. That was thrilling to watch.

Ok, on to the perplexing state of our nation. Did you know that the chief executive of JP Morgan Chase is a good buddy of Barack Obama? Isn’t that fascinating?

If the Democratic Party has a stronghold on Wall Street, it is JPMorgan Chase.

Its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, is a friend of President Obama’s from Chicago, a frequent White House guest and a big Democratic donor. Its vice chairman, William M. Daley, a former Clinton administration cabinet official and Obama transition adviser, comes from Chicago’s Democratic dynasty.

But this year Chase’s political action committee is sending the Democrats a pointed message. While it has contributed to some individual Democrats and state organizations, it has rebuffed solicitations from the national Democratic House and Senate campaign committees. Instead, it gave $30,000 to their Republican counterparts.

I am flabbergasted. I thought he didn’t like bankers?

No wait!

Just two years after Mr. Obama helped his party pull in record Wall Street contributions — $89 million from the securities and investment business, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics — some of his biggest supporters, like Mr. Dimon, have become the industry’s chief lobbyists against his regulatory agenda.

Republicans are rushing to capitalize on what they call Wall Street’s “buyer’s remorse” with the Democrats. And industry executives and lobbyists are warning Democrats that if Mr. Obama keeps attacking Wall Street “fat cats,” they may fight back by withholding their cash.

Let me assure the bankers and the democrats that Mr. Obama will stop attacking Wall Street “fat cats”. They need the money. It will stop. Take a chill.

But this article in the NY Times today is the intellectual equivalent of finding out that John Edwards had a love child. Instead of the sex tapes with the mistress, we get hanky-panky with the bankers. Sure, I imagine this was all part of the public record, but how odd that a President who has spent considerable energy bashing business leaders and bankers, hangs out with them in his free time.

Wall Street fund-raisers for the Democrats say they are feeling under attack from all sides. The president is lashing out at their “arrogance and greed.” Republican friends are saying “I told you so.” And contributors are wishing they had their money back.

Huh. To tell you the truth, I’m not opinionated about this mess. I don’t understand finance at all and know what I don’t know. But, to a casual observers of the Obama campaign and first year in office, it is astonishing to me that the financial people didn’t perceive his hostility. It wasn’t a secret. I wonder what they were thinking?

- Aggie

The rest of the MSM is sitting on this quote like Horton the elephant on the egg.

I heard it on Rush, and searched for it on Yahoo News.

Exactly three responses.

“We’ve got to make sure that our party understands that, like it or not, we have to have a financial system that is healthy and functioning, so we can’t be demonizing every bank out there,” Obama said. “We’ve got to be the party of business, small business and large business, because they produce jobs.”

This is controversial? Democrats need to “understand” this, “like it or not”?

And who’s been demonizing banks more than anyone since William Jennings Bryan?

When President Obama stages his little dog and pony shows (he calls them “jobs summits”)…

… he asks everyone to come up with ideas, form little working groups, break for juice and crackers, and then present their ideas to the class.

Are we to believe that not one participant has suggested an across the board tax cut, a la Kennedy, Reagan, and Bush? I know he wouldn’t do it—I’m not an “effing re**rd”, in Rahm Emanuel’s words—but why won’t anyone stand up to the emperor and tell him his Johnson is hanging out (economically speaking)?

I disagree with almost everything that Richard Cohen writes, but he’s right about terrorism

Interesting that he is able to understand the nuances - or lack thereof - of fighting terrorism in Lower Manhattan by opening the city up to financial disaster and potential physical attacks, but can’t see how that plays out in Israel. A simple blind spot, I suppose. But that’s a digression.

There is almost nothing the Obama administration does regarding terrorism that makes me feel safer. Whether it is guaranteeing captured terrorists that they will not be waterboarded, or whether it is reciting terrorists their rights, or whether it is the legally meandering and confusing rule that some terrorists will be tried in military tribunals and some in civilian courts, what is missing is a firm recognition that what comes first is not the message sent to America’s critics but the message sent to Americans themselves. When, oh when, will this administration wake up?

And so it goes. This is the astonishing conclusion:

The Obama administration, on the other hand, seems to have bent over backward to prove to the world it is not the Bush administration and will, almost no matter what, ensure that everyone gets the benefit of American civil liberties. But the paramount civil liberty is a sense of security and this, sad to say, has eroded under Barack Obama. Repeatedly, the administration has shown poor judgment. Abdulmutallab’s silence is a scream that something is wrong.

Remarkable. Does this guy live in Manhattan? His kids maybe? I’m asking because he is so sensible and so sensitive to the security needs of the area, but that respect for security and a the need to live life in a fairly normal manner certainly isn’t a theme from past columns.

Whatever the reason, glad to have him on board. After all, a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged by reality.

- Aggie

A very thoughtful and impressive woman

I recommend going to the link and listening to this interview with Snowe about the health care bill. There is no ranting or contemptuous rhetoric at all. She describes the process and what, in her opinion, went wrong. Fascinating and impressive.

- Aggie

Does it really matter that the Secretary of State is delaying the certification of Scott Brown?

Why yes, it does.

The Senate agreed yesterday to raise the legal limit on government borrowing to a record $14.3 trillion, a total that would permit the Treasury Department to cover the nation’s bills through the end of this year.

The vote fell strictly along party lines, with all 60 Democrats supporting and 39 Republicans opposing a plan to increase the cap by $1.9 trillion. Democratic leaders were able to prevail only because Senator-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts, a Republican, has yet to be seated. If lawmakers had approved a smaller increase, Democrats would have had to revisit the deeply unpopular topic of the soaring national debt before facing voters in November.

Not only are the voters of Massachusetts disenfranchised, all citizens of the United States are similarly misrepresented. By denying our rights to one group, the State of Massachusetts has denied them to all.

- Aggie

This is not a joke

Dear Scott Brown: Well, we’re almost here, aren’t we? The end of a long, arduous, four-month campaign for a Senate seat that you have approximately the same chance of filling as you did the pilot’s chair of the Starship Enterprise. Things might not be looking too terrific for our Democratic president — or, for that matter, for his good pal, our Democratic governor — but the notion that Massachusetts would elect a Republican to fill the seat left vacant by Edward Kennedy was the property of people who buy interesting mushrooms in interesting places. You might as well expect the House of Windsor to be succeeded on the British throne by the Kardashian sisters. (And, by the way, if Teddy gets wind of how you claimed in your commercials to be the true heir to the tax-cutting legacy of his brother, the president, he’s going to come back from the dead and beat you severely over the head with a yachting cap.) But you’ve got a career now. In fact, I’d like to make you an offer. You may not have noticed, but your party doesn’t have much of what the sportswriters call a bench around these parts. I would like to make you the permanent Republican candidate for US senator. Seriously, you’re good at the job of being a candidate, and it’s going to be hard enough for your party to groom another state legislator every six years. Think about it. It beats working for a living.

Charles P. Pierce

This is the attitude around here. Isn’t it special? Just imagine, for the rest of his life, Charles P. Pierce will be known as the guy that wrote that. Should we publish it once a year? What do you think?

- Aggie

Did the MSM maliciously report a break-in and attempt to wiretap Senator Landrieu’s office?

Do you recall the guy who dressed like a pimp and, with a young woman who was dressed like a whore, waltzed into the offices of ACORN across our fair land? They asked and they received. Wanna know how to bring in underage prostitutes from South America? Ask ACORN! How about tax evasion? We’re here to help.

It was with a little sadness that I read that the young man who pulled off the brilliant piece of investigative journalism had apparently crossed the line into illegal activity. I wanted him to keep on entertaining us by unmasking the evil deeds of the nutty left. It was not to be, I thought.

Once again, we seem to have underestimated the ability of the media to misrepresent the facts.

The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu’s office. Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.

As an investigative journalist, my goal is to expose corruption and lack of concern for citizens by government and other institutions, as I did last year when our investigations revealed the massive corruption and fraud perpetrated by ACORN. For decades, investigative journalists have used a variety of tactics to try to dig out and reveal the truth.

I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu’s constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didn’t want her taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the healthcare bill. When asked about this, Senator Landrieu’s explanation was that, “Our lines have been jammed for weeks.” I decided to investigate why a representative of the people would be out of touch with her constituents for “weeks” because her phones were broken. In investigating this matter, we decided to visit Senator Landrieu’s district office – the people’s office – to ask the staff if their phones were working.

On reflection, I could have used a different approach to this investigation, particularly given the sensitivities that people understandably have about security in a federal building. The sole intent of our investigation was to determine whether or not Senator Landrieu was purposely trying to avoid constituents who were calling to register their views to her as their Senator. We video taped the entire visit, the government has those tapes, and I’m eager for them to be released because they refute the false claims being repeated by much of the mainstream media.

It has been amazing to witness the journalistic malpractice committed by many of the organizations covering this story. MSNBC falsely claimed that I violated a non-existent “gag order.” The Associated Press incorrectly reported that I “broke in” to an office which is open to the public. The Washington Post has now had to print corrections in two stories on me. And these are just a few examples of inaccurate and false reporting. The public will judge whether reporters who can’t get their facts straight have the credibility to question my integrity as a journalist.

Jeez. This is truly unexpected. Not.

- Aggie

They are trying to get people to harass COSTCO because COSTCO carries Israeli products.

BUYcott Israel Alert: Support Costco

Please support Costco’s ongoing sale of Israeli goods. Costco stores in the United States have been targeted for anti-Israel action. Please visit your local Costco and - if available - purchase Israeli products, such as Israeli clementines and Ahava beauty products. Please consider contacting Costco to express your support for purchasing products from Israel.

Together we can make a difference!

Let’s go shopping, guys!

- Aggie

Mayor of Malmo equates anti-Semitism with Zionism

News flash to all concerned: Zionism is the Human Liberation Movement of the Jewish People. When you think Zionism, think Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. The early Zionists and founders of the State of Israel, and the modern Zionists today, represent the hope of the Jewish people to live together, in peace and dignity, in our homeland.

Anyone who believes that Zionism is a dirty word is at best misguided, but if they are over twenty years old, more likely a hater.

On to the Swedes:

Swedish Jews are upset about comments made this week by the mayor of Malmo, who said anti-Semitism and Zionism were both forms of “unacceptable extremism,” and urged local Jews to disassociate themselves from Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip.

“These statements and other events in Malmo are making the Jewish community feel very uncomfortable and some people, especially the young, are leaving the city,” George Braun, the president of the Jewish community in Gothenburg, about 250 kilometers from Malmo, told Haaretz. Ilmar Reepalu, mayor of Malmo, Sweden’s third largest city, spoke in an interview published in a Swedish newspaper on Wednesday, International Holocaust Remembrance Day. “We accept neither Zionism nor anti-Semitism,” Reepalu said. “They are extremes who put themselves above other groups, seeing others as something lesser.”

He said it was “terrible” that Jews felt so insecure in Malmo that they felt compelled to leave, but that a recent city-center demonstration in solidarity with Israel by local Jews stirred up feelings against them

“I wish the Jewish Community would distance itself from Israel’s violations of the rights of the civilian population in Gaza,” he said. I wish that representatives of Muslims in Malmo would clearly say that the Jews in Malmo shouldn’t be mixed up in the Israel-Palestine conflict.”

Malmo’s Jewish community has complained about harassment by extreme left-wing and right-wing activists, but mostly by radical elements from the city’s Muslims, who make up about 15 percent of the population of 250,000.

Malmo drew international attention last March when the city council barred spectators from a Davis Cup tennis match in which Israelis were competing, citing public order concerns because of planned anti-Israel protests.

The problem isn’t with the Jews; it is with the haters who deny us freedom of speech or assembly outside of Israel, and who create propaganda about what Israel is. Israel is a normal nation surrounded by abnormal amounts of hatred and hostility. This hatred, sadly, has plagued the Jewish people for centuries.

The Swedes should be ashamed that only the Jewish population is uncomfortable with the Mayor’s remarks. They should all be upset.

- Aggie

Quick, who said that?

Richard Nixon.

I’ll take the responsibility, but not the blame And who is fixin’ to say that tonight?

You guessed it. Our own Barry.

Aides said President Obama would accept responsibility, though not necessarily blame, in his State of the Union address on Wednesday night.

That is from the front page of the NY Times website. We used to have Tricky Dicky, now we have Scary Barry.

For all the questions circulating in Democratic quarters as President Obama tries to weather the worst storm of his administration, perhaps none is as succinct as this: Are the missteps at the White House rooted in message or substance?

The Republican victory in Massachusetts last week touched off a domino effect of political setbacks for Democrats — most notably the fate of the health care agenda — that has prompted deep introspection in the Oval Office and across the administration.

When Mr. Obama presents his first State of the Union address on Wednesday evening, aides said he would accept responsibility, though not necessarily blame, for failing to deliver swiftly on some of the changes he promised a year ago. But he will not, aides said, accede to criticism that his priorities are out of step with the nation’s.

As Mr. Obama navigates a crossroads of his presidency, a moment when he signals what lessons he has drawn from his first year in office, the public posture of the White House is that any shortcomings are the result of failing to explain effectively what they were doing — and why. He will acknowledge making mistakes in pursuit of his agenda, aides said, but will not toss the agenda overboard in search of a more popular one.

Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who is close to Mr. Obama and many of his advisers, said the notion of the president accepting responsibility would probably be well received by the American people. But with growing strains of populism coming from Washington, he warned against making too drastic of a course correction.

“The American people want to see that you’re going to make a change, but for the president it’s important that he not shift radically because of one election,” Mr. Richardson said in an interview. “He needs to stay the course and not all of the sudden become something that he isn’t. The country was very inspired by Barack Obama — all kinds of voters. He needs to reconnect on that basis.”

Well, I can’t read any more of this nonsense. But to Mr. Richardson’s point that the country was inspired, etc., I say: The country was duped.

- Aggie