Fluff Warfare

It has been a strange week in Washington. Senator Diane Feinstein, from the pacifist state of California, was caught on camera Thursday expressing outrage at the actions of activist progressives. President Obama was virtually speechless with anger after a quick press appearance earlier in the week. So angered was the president that he frowned and walked away rather than answer impromptu questions from the White House reporters pool on the topic of the damage done by WikiLeaks. Instead of talking, the president sent out Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton was obviously madder than hell over the embarrassment caused by the colossal breach of security.

With the Obama foreign policy initiatives in Afghanistan and Iraq practically indistinguishable from those of George W. Bush, there is a certain amount of poetic justice associated with the latest attack on the White House policies by Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. Assange is the poster board hero of the progressive movement, the movement that engineered the Obama victory. At mid-week another progressive hero, MIT Professor Noam Chomsky was singing the praises of the document thefts pulled off by Assange in a television interview. When one mixes in the realization that closing Guantanamo was easier for Obama and Clinton to demagogue about than it was to actually do, observers can add a big plate of irony to the current events buffet.

Of course the irony in these paradoxes is the intimations about Bush foreign policy incompetency from candidates Obama and Clinton during the zeal of the 2008 election tours. Their charges went far beyond accusations of incompetency. An unwillingness to “talk” to the dictators in North Korea and Iran were cited as reprehensible attitudes on the part of the Bushies. We were promised rather solemnly that America’s tarnished image would be lifted around the world once more sensitive and nuance appreciating intellectuals were returned to a position of authority in this country.
Of course much of the absurd dialogues ponied up by Obama and Clinton for 2008 voter consumption were done at the behest of………you guessed it……..the same movement that has since chosen to hack into government computers and embarrass Obama and Clinton.

But there is good news for the White House and the State Department as the week ends. The beleaguered and WikiLeaks battered Obama administration should take heart. Tough guy - Attorney General, Eric Holder is on the case. We can’t help but think that it is too bad this burgeoning battle with the progressive movement isn’t a pillow fight. Holder is an expert in “fluff warfare.”

Fluff Warfare

Progressives Hero Assange - Under Siege

Julian Assange

From the Washington Times - LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks struggled to stay online Friday as corporations and governments moved to cut its access to the Internet, a potentially crippling blow for an organization dedicated to releasing secret information via the web. Legal pressure increased on the site's founder, Julian Assange, after Swedish authorities cleared an obstacle to his arrest by adding information to a European arrest warrant in response to procedural questions from British officials, who had put his possible arrest on hold for more than a day. Assange's lawyer said that he is in the U.K. but she hadn't received a warrant by Friday afternoon. Assange said that his arrest would do nothing to halt the flow of American diplomatic cables being released by his group and newspapers in several countries. Hundreds have been published in redacted form this week and Assange said that all of the cables had already been distributed in a heavily encrypted form to tens of thousands of people. Read full story here:

Progressives Hero Assange - Under Siege

Unemployment Jumped to 9.8% in November

From the Washington Times - The nation's unemployment rate crept back up toward double-digit levels last month, rising to 9.8 percent after being stuck around 9.6 percent for much of the year, the Labor Department reported Friday morning. The worsening of joblessness reflected a sharp slowdown in new jobs created by businesses during the month. Only 36,000 jobs were added to payrolls after a 172,000 surge in new jobs in October. That was less than half the average 86,000 new jobs created each month in the last year, the department said. At the beginning of the important Christmas selling season, retailers actually shed 28,000 jobs rather than adding to their staff, contributing to the depressed job outlook. Manufacturing employment also declined by 13,000 after having posted gains earlier in the year. Read full story here:

Unemployment Jumped to 9.8% in November

Molitor: The Iron Lady of Santa Fe?

Thomas Molitor

From NMPolitics.net - I just finished a new biography on Margaret Thatcher called, “There is no Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters.” When Thatcher entered 10 Downing Street as prime minister in 1979, Britain was considered “the sick man of Europe.” Thatcher’s advisor, John Hoskyns, after analyzing all of the problems of the country, told the new prime minister: “If you change anything you have to change everything.” He went on to add, “you will become brutally unpopular if you do these changes. You will create enemies; it will be painful; consensus politics is not an option.” Read full column here:

Molitor: The Iron Lady of Santa Fe?

Goldberg: "Never Mind" Energy Policy

Jonah Goldberg

From Townhall.com - "Never mind." That, in a nutshell, is the White House's new position on domestic oil exploration. In March, President Obama announced that he would allow -- or at least entertain -- some new oil development off the Atlantic Coast and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. This week he reversed himself, saying such exploration is now off the table for at least five years. Only the most black-hearted cynics among us would even contemplate the notion that Obama had his re-election prospects in, say, Florida in mind when he made his decision. Then again, some believed that Obama's initial decision to consider expanded oil exploration was a political pander, too. So let's assume sincerity all the way down the decision tree. The real problem with the White House's attitude toward oil, and energy generally, is how deeply ideological it is. Few presidents have talked a bigger game about pragmatism while pursuing a dogmatic agenda. Read full column here:

Goldberg: "Never Mind" Energy Policy

Glick: WikiLeaks Operation is an "Act of War"

From Townhall.com - by Caroline Glick - Make no mistake about it, the ongoing WikiLeaks operation against the US is an act of war. It is not merely a criminal offense to publish hundreds of thousands of classified US government documents with malice aforethought. It is an act of sabotage. Like acts of kinetic warfare on military battlefields, WikiLeaks' information warfare against the US aims to weaken the US. By exposing US government secrets, it seeks to embarrass and discredit America in a manner that makes it well neigh impossible for the US to carry out either routine diplomacy or build battlefield coalitions to defeat its enemies. Read full column here:

Glick: WikiLeaks Operation is an "Act of War"

Taxpayer Dollars at Work - Shock Art and Social Dignity

From Townhall.com - by Brent Bozzell The curator elites at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery were happily abusing the trust of the American taxpayer, with radical gay activists pushing a gay agenda, replete with the religiously bigoted, sadomasochistic and homoerotic fare, all under the auspices of "art." Then something happened. The public complained. Now these radicals are shocked -- shocked! -- that the "censors" are out to destroy their "artistic freedom." It's like a bad rendition of "Groundhog Day." How many times must we relive this foolishness? The sponsors tell us that "Hide/Seek" is "the first major exhibition to examine the influence of gay and lesbian artists in creating modern American portraiture," and how these gay and lesbian artists have made "essential contributions to both the art of portraiture and to the creation of modern American culture." But that isn't enough. Theirs is a political message as part of a political agenda. To quote from their program, they want to strike a blow for "the struggle for justice, so that people and groups can claim their full inheritance in America's promise of equality, inclusion, and social dignity." Read full column here:

Taxpayer Dollars at Work - Shock Art and Social Dignity

Chavez: Scandalous Suggestion from Debt Commission



Linda Chavez

 From Townhall.com - As if the collapse in the housing market had not done enough damage to the U.S. economy, the president's debt commission is now proposing changes that could take the industry off life support. Among the recommendations in the commission's 65-page report is one to eliminate the tax deduction for mortgage interest on homes over $500,000 (the current limit is $1 million) and restrict it to primary residence only. The recommendation would also eliminate interest deductibility for home equity loans (which are currently capped at $100,000). The effect of these changes would be to immediately reduce the value of all homes by as much as 15 percent. Here's why. Homeowners currently are allowed to take an itemized deduction for the interest they pay on their home mortgages. With conventional loans, most of the payments in early years go to pay interest on the loan, with only a tiny fraction going to principal. Although most home purchasers may not think of it this way, when they buy the house under our current tax system, they've invested not only in a place to live but also in buying an asset. The value of that asset will be determined by its future appreciation -- or in recent years, its depreciation -- but also in the value of the tax deduction they receive on the mortgage interest. Read full column here:

Chavez: Scandalous Suggestion from Debt Commission