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JUNE 5,  2011

ANOTHER BRILLIANT IDEA – AT 11:46 P.M. ET:  Why didn't I think of this?  I can kick myself.  It's just what we need – higher transportation costs:

BONN, Germany, June 5 (Reuters) - The World Bank will suggest a global levy on jet and shipping fuel in recommendations to G20 governments later this year on raising climate finance, a senior official said on Sunday.

Developed countries have already written off chances of agreement on a new binding deal at a U.N. conference in Durban this year, placing a new focus on piecemeal efforts including fund-raising.

Binding targets under the Kyoto Protocol cap the greenhouse gas emissions of nearly 40 industrialised countries but expire in 2012 and now look unlikely to be extended in time.

The World Bank is focusing on a levy on shipping and jet fuels in a report to G20 finance minister in October, among other efforts to keep climate action on track.

"We are looking at carbon emissions-based sources ... including bunker (shipping) fuels and aviation fuels, that would be internationally coordinated albeit nationally collected," said Andrew Steer, World Bank special envoy for climate change.

COMMENT:  Do these worthies understand the meaning of the term "global depression"?  Or even "global disaster"?  There may well be some climate change, but until we nail down the science, if there is any, one of the worst things we can do is threaten the fragile, weakening, international economy.  Who do you think will be hurt most by this?  Of course, it's the poor and the marginal. 

And someone will make a lot of money on this gimmick.  It always happens.

Terrible idea.

June 5, 2011       Permalink

Y'SEE, THE CALCULATOR RAN OUT OF BATTERIES – AT 11:58 A.M. ET:  Stories like this require various medications to keep us calm after reading.  From London's Daily Mail:

The U.S. is providing hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign aid to some of the world's richest countries - while at the same time borrowing billions back, according to report seen by Congress.

The Congressional Research Service released the report last month which shows that in 2010 the U.S. handed out a total of $1.4bn to 16 foreign countries that held at least $10bn in Treasury securities.

Four countries in the world's top 10 richest received foreign aid last year with China receiving $27.2m, India $126.6m, Brazil $25m, and Russia $71.5m.

Mexico also received $316.7m and Egypt $255.7m.

And yet despite the massive outgoings in foreign aid, the receiving countries hold trillions of dollars in U.S. Treasury bonds.

China is the largest holder with $1.1trillion as of March, according to the Treasury Department.
Brazil held $193.5bn, Russia $127.8bn, India $39.8bn, Mexico $28.1bn and Egypt had $15.3bn.

COMMENT:  But who cares, right?  The people who got us into this mess don't consider that the people's money.  They consider it the government's money.  That is their mentality, which is why they do the things they do. 

This requires a Congressional investigation.  It also requires some serious press coverage, with detailed cases examined.  We hope for the former.  I have no hope for the latter.

June 5, 2011       Permalink

SARAH SNAPS BACK – AT 11:11 A.M. ET:  One thing about Sarah Palin, she's learned how to snap back at the media, and we mightily applaud her.

You may have seen, in the last few days, a media tsunami against Sarah, launched by a column in the Washington Post, tut tutting her about a "mistake" she allegedly made in describing the role of Paul Revere in the American revolution.  Smug journalists laughed when Sarah said that Revere had warned the British about events to come.  Why, every American schoolkid knows that she warned the colonists. Didn't he?  Uh...  From The Politico:

After a week on the road visiting national monuments and historical sites, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin repeated her claim Sunday that Revolutionary War hero Paul Revere had warned the British that they weren’t going to take firearms away from Americans.

“I didn’t mess up about Paul Revere,” Palin told “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace when asked about her gaffe made last week while her “One Nation” bus tour stopped in Boston.

Note, please, that The Politico casually repeats the "fact" that she committed a gaffe. 

“He warned the Americans that the British were coming, the British were coming, that we‘ve got to make sure we were protecting ourselves and shoring up all of our ammunitions and firearms so that they couldn’t take it,” Palin said.

“But remember, the British had already been there for seven years in that area, and part of Paul Revere’s ride – and it wasn’t just one ride, he was a courier, he was a messenger – was to warn the British who were already there, that you’re not going to succeed, you’re not going to take American arms, you’re not going to be your own well-armed person’s private militia that we are going to have. He did warn the British.

“In a shout-out, gotcha type of question that was asked of me, I answered candidly and I know my American history,” she added.

COMMENT:  It may be an uncommon take on the Revolution, but Sarah is fundamentally correct, and the press is fundamentally wrong.

But don't expect any corrections.  The media loves to correct minor mistakes.  If it gets someone's middle initial wrong, it rushes to correct it, the better to show integrity, conscience, goodness and godliness.  But if it gets something seriously wrong, like the reporting of the Vietnam War, the media "stands by our story."  It adopts its "narrative" and protects it.  Careers are involved.  Prizes are involved.  The truth is what we make it.

Look, I don't think Sarah Palin is a great expert on American history.  But the double standard by which she's judged is a media scandal.   Barack Obama can make one mistake after another, and the press never calls him out.  He can commit gaffes – like saying that they speak Austrian in Austria, when in fact they speak German.  No one cares.  Why?  Because he's Barack, and he's so smart, and he went to the right schools. 

Our press is far more embarrassing than anything Sarah Palin ever said.

June 5, 2011       Permalink

WHERE OBAMA STANDS – AT 10:47 A.M. ET:  He stands pretty well in the polls, far better than many on our side imagine.

While the "bin Laden bounce" may be gone from Mr. Obama's poll ratings, he still retains the gains he's made since the November election, in which his party got trounced.  In fact, Obama is moving into the kind of territory from which successful reelection bids are launched.  Hate to bring you the bad news.

Scott Rasmussen today reports the following:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 25% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Thirty-five percent (35%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -10.

Looks bad for Obama...until we realize that scores of -16 or so were common just months ago.

Overall, 50% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty percent (50%) at least somewhat disapprove.

Again, looks like the president is struggling...until we realize that it was routine, just months ago, to have the president losing that matchup by about five points.

The latest Rasmussen survey was taken before the full impact of this last week's economic announcements was felt.  His current second honeymoon may not last.  But it's foolish to deny the obvious, that Mr. Obama has been making steady progress in the polls despite the onslaught from GOP candidates and spokesmen. 

We have work to do.

June 5, 2011     Permalink

JUNE 4,  2011

MAJOR CHANGE IN YEMEN – AT 11:37 P.M. ET:  Yemen is critical because it is home to one of the most important, and deadly, Al Qaeda groups.  The dictatorial leader of Yemen, a so-so friend of the U.S., was apparently wounded in a rebel attack, and has now left the country:

CAIRO — Embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh transferred authority to his deputy Saturday and flew to Saudi Arabia, raising the prospect that a key U.S. ally in the fight against al-Qaeda had lost his grip on power and left behind a nation tumbling into chaos.

Saleh’s decision to leave the country, apparently to seek medical treatment for injuries suffered in a rocket attack on his palace Friday, makes it unlikely that he will return, several analysts said. His sudden departure leaves behind a nation on the verge of civil war and economic collapse, with a violent power struggle among rival tribesmen underway and no clear plan for a transition of power if Saleh were to permanently surrender office.

For months, Saleh had resisted intense pressure from within Yemen, the Middle East’s poorest nation, and from neighboring countries and the United States to step down. With an active al-Qaeda branch in Yemen, ambitious enough to claim the mantle of Osama bin Laden in the near future, Saleh’s departure could pose one of the most significant policy challenges for the Obama administration in the months ahead.

COMMENT:  As either Laurel or Hardy (I can't recall which) used to say, "A fine mess."   We will be affected by the outcome, with the strong possibility that Al Qaeda will gain an even more secure base in Yemen from which to plan attacks on the United States.

June 4, 2011       Permalink

SYRIA ON THE BRINK – AT 11:37 A.M. ET:  The violence in the so-called "Arab Spring" isn't very springlike.  It's getting worse in Yemen and Syria.  Syria is one of the most important of the Arab countries, and Iran's major ally in the Arab world.  The brutality in Syria is unspeakable, yet our government only administers wrist slaps.  From Reuters:

Syrian forces killed at least 63 civilians in attacks to crush pro-democracy demonstrations on Friday, the Syrian human rights organization Sawasiah said on Saturday.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets after noon prayers on Friday in defiance of security forces determined to crush a revolt against President Bashar Assad's 11-year rule...

...It was one of the bloodiest days since the revolt broke out 11 weeks ago.

Security forces and snipers fired at tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in the city of Hama, where 29 years ago President Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, crushed an armed Islamist revolt by killing up to 30,000 people and razing parts of the city to the ground.

COMMENT:  Great place Syria, ay?  Please note the deep concern of "human rights activists" in the West.  While Assad murders his own people, leftists from the U.S. and Europe are planning another flotilla to Gaza, where a second large shopping mall has just opened and the stores are stocked with food.

Hillary Clinton, in a weird statement, said that Bashar Assad has "almost" lost legitimacy.  Really?  I thought he'd lost it a long time ago. 

The chaos in Syria is increasing, as it is in Yemen.  We seem powerless to do anything in the Middle East, despite the fact that we have a president who assured us that, with his ascension to the throne, all would be well.  We are facing a critical time in a region of great importance to us.  You'd never know it from the relaxed attitudes in the White House.

You'd think that, by this time, Mr. Obama would have addressed the nation on the convulsions in the Mideast, but he apparently hasn't the patience to discuss things with the peasantry.

June 4, 2011      Permalink

A DATE TO REMEMBER – AT 10:38 A.M. ET:  On this date in 1944, Allied troops liberated Rome, the first of the Axis capitals to fall. 

The liberation of Rome is often forgotten because, only two days later, D-Day, Allied troops landed in Normandy, overshadowing Rome.  But the Italian campaign was one of the most bitter of World War II.  Ernie Pyle, the great war correspondent, who was closer to the troops than perhaps any other reporter, wrote some of his best copy during the Italian fighting.  His dispatch, "The Death of Captain Waskow," should be read by every American schoolkid for what it tells us about the bond of men in battle, about leadership, and about the ultimate cost of war:

AT THE FRONT LINES IN ITALY, January 10, 1944 - In this war I have known a lot of officers who were loved and respected by the soldiers under them. But never have I crossed the trail of any man as beloved as Capt. Henry T. Waskow of Belton, Texas.

Capt. Waskow was a company commander in the 36th Division. He had led his company since long before it left the States. He was very young, only in his middle twenties, but he carried in him a sincerity and gentleness that made people want to be guided by him.

"After my own father, he came next," a sergeant told me.

"He always looked after us," a soldier said. "He'd go to bat for us every time."

"I've never knowed him to do anything unfair," another one said.

I was at the foot of the mule trail the night they brought Capt. Waskow's body down. The moon was nearly full at the time, and you could see far up the trail, and even part way across the valley below. Soldiers made shadows in the moonlight as they walked.

Read the rest.  It's here.  You won't regret it. 

There are, undoubtedly, many other Captain Waskows today, but we don't know them, do we?  Today our military is a separate class, kept distant from the elites and chatterers who define our popular culture.  But the Waskows are out there, taking care of their men, and women.  And we will find a way to thank them.

I wish we had another Ernie Pyle today as well, but we don't. 

June 4, 2011       Permalink

SMART – AT 10:24 A.M. ET:  Elections are about winning.  In politics there is no prize for second place.  You don't get to be first runner up, ready to take over should the winner not be able to serve. 

So I was glad to see some leading, and respected, Republicans give some sound advice yesterday on the need to avoid ideological purity tests for presidential candidates.  From Fox:

Leading Republican politicians warned fiscally conservative and religiously devout voters Friday not to impose "purity" tests on candidates seeking the party's 2012 presidential nomination.

"In politics, purity is the enemy of victory," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told an audience of approximately 400 attendees at the first annual Faith and Freedom Coalition conference at the Renaissance Downtown Hotel in Washington. "We can't expect our [presidential] candidate to be pure. Winning is about unity, not purity."

Barbour's friendly but stern admonition carries weight because even though he opted, after much deliberation, not to run for the presidency, he is still widely regarded as one of the party's savviest strategists and most prodigious fundraisers. He spoke as the GOP presidential field continues to settle, with aspirants each week announcing either their intention to join the contest to unseat President Obama, or to watch it from the sidelines or seek lower office.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, obliquely addressing the Tea Party voters who have sometimes exalted their own candidates over those selected by the GOP establishment, echoed Barbour's call to unity. "The Republican Party is not in competition with the conservative movement," Priebus said with an almost plaintive tone. "The Republican Party is part of the conservative movement."

COMMENT:  That is good advice.  Each party has its share of rigid ideologues who'd rather see the other side win than concede one minor point of their precious ideology.  Hubert Humphrey and the Democrats lost the presidency in 1968 because leftist ideologues within their party stayed home on election day, rather than vote for Humphrey, who'd served as vice president under Lyndon Johnson, whom they loathed.  A good lesson there.

Obviously, avoiding ideological purity tests doesn't mean abandoning ideals or strongly held positions.  It just means that reasonable flexibility is necessary to hold a political party together.  In politics it's much better to have 75% of something, than 100% of nothing.  Right now, in the presidency, Republicans have 100% of nothing.

We hope the lessons of Barbour and Priebus are taken to heart.

June 4, 2011     Permalink