There was a country that stupidly elected a new, naïve, inexperienced radical President.  He blamed all of our problems on the debt incurred under his predecessor.  But, instead on cutting spending, he borrowed even more money and spent it wildly and foolishly.  Billions were spent bailing out the richest firms in the country who had caused the problem in the first place.  Billions more were spent bailing out the unions whose bloated contracts were making it impossible for companies to compete.  He promised to lower unemployment, lower the deficit and grow the economy.  He promised hope and change.  He delivered record unemployment, a double-dip recession and an unprecedented increase in our debt.

But unlike the prodigal son, who eventually realized the errors of his ways, this President wants to double down.  He wants to take even more money away from the few people who have any left and give it to those who have proven themselves incapable of handling it the first time.  It is sort of the prodigal son in reverse.  He has learned nothing. The point of the prodigal son is one of forgiveness, but it is not one of stupidity.  It is important to read the last verse of this parable:

 Luke 15:31-32  (NIV)

   31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

 In other words, I love your brother, and I forgive him, but I’m not about to give him any more money.

 TDM

There are few things in life more enjoyable than watching a habitual liar get caught in the act.  At first the Obama administration considered SOLYNDRA to be one of the greatest ideas in the history of man.  They ignored the fact that it was the Bush administration that first considered this.  Obama shoved them aside and took all the credit for himself.  He either didn’t notice or didn’t care that the Bush administration rejected the proposal as a really bad idea.  There were speeches, photo ops, an appearance at the ground breaking, and even a joint appearance with Arnold Schwarzenegger.  This was Obama’s show piece of how investing in green energy would create jobs and move America forward into a prosperous and glorious future. 

 Unfortunately, the great idea has morphed into a financial disaster.  Instead of creating all those great new jobs, SOLYNDRA ran out of cash and had to lay off 1,100 people.  The Obama administration is stuck trying to explain why it threw away a half billion dollars on a half-baked venture, conveniently financed by a big Obama supporter.  At best, this is incredibly stupid.  At worst, it is outright fraud. 

 What’s a guy to do?

 Easy; in the deluded world of Obama, find a way to blame everything on Bush.  So, under this brilliant strategy, SOLYNDRA was transformed from an Obama show piece to a really bad idea inherited from the Bush administration.  It is sort of the “devil made me do it” defense.

 But, in their haste to dodge this bullet, they missed a few minor details.  Like those inconvenient documents proving that the Bush administration rejected the project before Bush left office.  In addition, the Bush administration analysis predicted SOLYNDRIA would run out of funds around September, 2012.  Seems pretty darn accurate to me!  No one is buying the blame-Bush argument on this one.

 SOLYNDRA is going to change everything.  SOLYNDRA is so bad, it is so obvious and there is so much direct evidence against the Obama administration that it can no longer be ignored.  In a bizarre twist, ABC News broke the story, but then ignored it.  So, Brian Ross from ABC News went on Fox News last night and gave a devastating interview:

 http://nation.foxnews.com/abc-news/2011/09/15/abc-breaks-then-ignores-own-scoop-obama-administration-and-solyndra

 He said the controversy goes right to the door of the White House.  (It is hard for Obama to pretend he never heard about SOLYNDRA when there are all these videos of him bragging about SOLYNDRA.)

 No matter how much the main stream media love(d) Obama, they love a good story more.  Don’t be surprised to see this turn into a feeding frenzy.  There is more than enough blood in the water to draw the sharks.

TDM

I am relatively sure the Washington Post views this article as a hit piece against Republicans.  Everything here is true, but as with most things written by the liberal left it gets everything exactly wrong:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-rewriting-state-election-laws-in-ways-that-could-hurt-democrat/2011/09/15/gIQApcuhVK_story.html

This is actually a pretty good explanation of the difference between people who vote for Democrats and those who vote for Republicans.  Liberals consider themselves to be intellectually and culturally superior to conservatives.  Conservatives are routinely put down as being stupid and uninformed.  It would seem that if this was true, it would be liberals who want to limit voting to better educated and more capable people.  After all, don’t all the smart people think like liberals?

Instead liberals want an extended time for early voting so they have more time to round up people who otherwise wouldn’t remember to vote.  They desperately need the coveted convicted felon support.  And they absolutely need support from people who are somehow working their way through life without any photo ID.  I am sure these are all really nice people, but I wouldn’t exactly describe them as being better educated and more capable.  Oops, that would be Republicans.

  TDM

Three things are certain.  Death, Taxes and Democrats winning elections In Districts where there is an effective Democratic machine.  Yet Turner, a Republican, just won the special election to replace Anthony Weiner in the 9^th New York congressional district.  It has probably happened before, but the last time I remember was in 1979 when Jane Bryne beat the Daly Machine candidate during the Chicago Mayor election.  There had been several major snowstorms and the citizens were less than pleased.  But, remember that Bryne was a liberal Democrat who had previously been connected with the Daly Machine herself.  In addition, she won a Democratic primary, so ultimately the Republican still lost.  A Republican actually winning an election in this type of district is rarer than the sighting of an Ivory Billed Wood Pecker. 

Obama carried this district by 11 points and this is the home turf of Charles Schumer.    Democrats poured $700,000 into this race during the last week, compared to $13,000 spent by Turner.  In addition, Weprin himself outspent Turner two to one on this race.  Democrats knew the significance of this election.  The following article describes the all-out effort by the Queens Democratic Party Machine:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63436.html

Inside its headquarters — which doubles as the Weprin campaign’s nerve center — get-out-the vote workers rushed to pick up manila folders containing block-by-block layouts of the district; others sat at the phones, methodically working through voter-contact lists. Volunteers fanned out across Queens, handing out glossy placards highlighting Weprin’s endorsement from the New York Times editorial page.

If you go outside your home, turn your head toward Washington D.C. and sniff carefully you will detect a new odor.  “Democratic flop sweat.”  It is now common in all Democratic circles but noticeable stronger on the left.  If things continue on the current course, expect the stench to increase significantly.

You will also notice the faint sound of footsteps.  That is the sound of the Jews in District 9 deserting the Democratic Party.  Expect the sound to increase and more and more people desert the sinking ship of state.  We will soon be calling it the Democ Party, because the rats are leaving the ship.

TDM

The Washington Cathedral planned to hold a major interfaith 9/11 Memorial service.  They invited Leon Panetta and Barack Obama, but did not invite George W. Bush or anyone else from the Bush administration.  They invited a Buddhist Nun and an Imam, but no evangelical Christians.  The explanation given was that since the Cathedral itself is an Episcopal church they felt their own clergy would be more than adequate to serve as the Christian representatives.

Perhaps it is just coincidence, but it appears that God was not impressed.  First there was a rare East Coast earthquake on 8/23/2011 that damaged the Cathedral.  The Cathedral ignored this warning and continued on.  Then, on Wednesday, September 7, 2011, a crane fell over at the Cathedral:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/7/crane-falls-washington-national-cathedral/

The service has to be moved to the Kennedy Center:

http://www.nationalcathedral.org/press/PR-5BC6E-LN0001.shtml

Just saying!

TDM

Sometimes a picture is worth much more than a thousand words.  This is from the Wall Street Journal today.

One President is praying to God, the other thinks he is God.

TDM

There is an old saying that “victory has a thousand fathers but defeat is an orphan.”  JFK, among others, used that quotation.  The Obama administration loaned $525 million to Solyndra, then bragged about this as the first show piece in a wave of new jobs created by investing in green energy. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-center-for-public-integrity/solyndra-investigation-ex_b_955752.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl3%7Csec3_lnk3%7C94164

It, like most other Obama ideas, was a major bust.  Solyndra has filed for bankruptcy and the FBI is investigating whether or not this was just stupidity or was it fraud.  At a minimum, it was an incredibly bad investment.  Obama personally sat in on meeting with Solyndra executives and as recently as May of 2010, visited Solyndra, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger, to brag about all those green energy jobs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYiJ-_K9NCo

Now the White House is trying to back away big time and this scandal is blowing sky high.  It is so bad that Henry Waxman and Diana DeGette took the time to write a letter to House Committee investigating this to explain why this is not there fault because they were lied to by Solyndra executives.  They threw the executives at Solyndra under teh bus faster than Obama threw his white grandmother.   When people like Waxman and DeGette start running away from things it is best to expect a really big explosion.

This stinks to high heaven and the White House is probably torn between covering up Fast and Furious or covering up Solyndragate.

TDM

It has always been difficult to understand why Europe has been so willing to allow unbridled socialism.  The following article, from CBS News, offer the best explanation so far:

 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/06/health/main20102020.shtml

 The percentage of people who are mentally ill in Europe is remarkably similar to the percentage of people who are extreme left wing liberals in the United States.  Coincidence?

 TDM

Maureen Dowd must have been off her meds when she wrote this: 

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/opinion/dowd-one-and-done.html?_r=2

This is a devastating rebuke of Obama as a leader.  If a republican or a conservative wrote this they would be facing charges of racism this morning.  Who knows?  This is so bad that Maureen Dowd may experience some of this herself.

She basically confirms the opinions of the most vocal Obama supporters:

Obama is still suffering from the Speech Illusion, the idea that he can come down from the mountain, read from a Teleprompter, cast a magic spell with his words and climb back up the mountain, while we scurry around and do what he proclaimed.

The days of spinning illusions in a Greek temple in a football stadium are done. The One is dancing on the edge of one term… 

The arc of justice is stuck at the top of a mountain. Maybe Obama was not even the person he was waiting for.

In spite of the fact that socialism has failed every time it was tried, the liberal left still believes it is the pathway to paradise.  Nothing anyone could say and no amount of evidence will ever change their mind.  But, they no longer believe that Obama is capable of leading them to the mountain top. 

TDM

The CIA has always had a reputation as a rogue agency.  Hollywood has portrayed this agency a lot of ways, mostly negative.  It is well documented that the CIA tried to assassinate Fidel Castro.  They were also involved in other activities that angered the liberal left.  After some embarrassing mistakes, the Church Committee was authorized to investigate alleged abuse by the CIA.  The liberal left was among the loudest voices demanding congressional oversight:

 http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Church_Committee_Created.htm

 There have been three Executive orders on assassinations.  The first, 11905 was issued by Gerald Ford on February 18, 1976.  The second, 12036, was issued by Jimmy Carter on January 24, 1978.  The third, 12333 was issued by Ronald Reagan on December 4, 1983.  To the best of my knowledge, this executive order remains in effect.

 The Reagan order contained the same language as the Carter order:

 “No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.… No agency of the Intelligence Community shall request or otherwise encourage, directly or indirectly, any person, organization, or government agency to undertake activities forbidden by this order or by applicable law.” [

When there is a Republican President, the liberal left expresses outrage at the very hint of an assassination.  George W. Bush was even criticized for the mission that killed Saddam Hussein’s sons during a fire fight, even though this was during a war and they were definitely shooting back.

http://www.mcgeorge.edu/documents/centers/government/TARGETING%20SADDAM-Final%20Draft.pdf

But the liberal left has been deafly silent on this subject during the Obama administration.  They said nothing when Obama ordered the “hit” on Osama bin Laden.  There was not even a pretense of taking him alive.  (I am glad he is gone, but justified or not, this was an assassination.)  Now, according to the Washington Post, Obama administration has allegedly transformed the mission of the CIA from intelligence gathering to a full time assassination squad. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-shifts-focus-to-killing-targets/2011/08/30/gIQA7MZGvJ_story.html

Bill Clinton attacked Yugoslavia without approval from congress and he made no attempt to get UN approval.  NATO said it was ok, so it was ok.  When some members of congress, including Tom Campbell and Dennis Kucinich filed a Declaratory Relief action against Bill Clinton, the majority of the liberal left and the main stream media just ignored the issue: 

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/ratner.htm

George Bush attacked Iraq with both UN approval and bi-partisan approval from congress, yet the liberal left still considers this to be an illegal war.  (They rarely, if ever, mention Yugoslavia.)  Obama attacked Libya, with no authority, and refused to even call it a war.  Yet the liberal left, and the supporting main stream media, has been noticeably silent.

If this article is correct than Obama is apparently conducting wide scale assassinations.  Bush ordered drone attacks on terrorists, in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.  But, the Bush administration at least argued that this was an exception to the rule during a time of war.  The liberal left was vocal in their criticism of Bush for doing this. 

The Obama administration has expanded this to places like Yemen and Libya, where he himself says we are not engaged in war.  He won’t even call it combat.  He has not requested authority from congress or anyone else.  In addition, Obama refuses to use the word war in describing the fight against terrorism.  Apparently the only standard for Obama is whether or not he (or the French) thinks it’s a good idea. 

The liberal left and the mainstream media still tries to portray the Bush administration as evil because of the decision to water board certain terrorists.  So far, no one seems to be concerned over Obama turning the CIA into Murder Incorporated.  I guess killing terrorists is ok, as long as we don’t water board them first.  In addition killing them eliminates the inconvenience of having to decide whether or not to use military tribunals instead of trying them in federal court.

It is my understanding that at least some of these people are U.S. citizens.  That raises some serious questions.  Do we really want the President of the United States able to order the assassination of an American citizen solely because he considers them a threat?  Sometimes the rule of law is messy and it gives undeserved protection to our worst offenders.  But there is a reason for the rule of law.   I can perhaps understand why, in an emergency a President may deliberately violate the law.  Lincoln certainly did that during the civil war when he suspended the writ of habeas corpus.  But at least Lincoln acknowledged this and explained the justification for his actions.  In addition, even during the civil war there were people who challenged Lincoln about this decision.  The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Roger B. Taney, ordered Lincoln to hand over John Merryman, an active and vocal secessionist, who was being held by the military: 

http://www.etymonline.com/cw/habeas.htm

Taney ordered Merryman brought before him on a writ of habeas corpus and commanded the military officer in charge of Merryman to show “the cause, if any, for his arrest and detention.”

Lincoln just ignored the order.  (Keep in mind that Taney was also the Supreme Court Justice who issued the Dred Scott decision.)  But the point is that at least the issue was discussed and Lincoln did explain his reason for making these decisions.  In retrospect, Lincoln is considered to be one of our greatest Presidents because he made the decisions that saved the Union.  If you want more information on how this has been viewed legal scholars following is the link:

http://millercenter.org/president/lincoln/essays/biography/9

Obama, on the other hand, has given no explanation or justification at all. 

A President has the duty to protect the country and one suspects other Presidents have authorized missions that were legally over the line.  I am relatively sure that no one is overly concerned with regard to the health and well-being of the terrorists being targeted by Obama in Yemen and Pakistan.  But, if Bush had done this there would be loud calls for his impeachment from the liberal left.  Instead all we hear now deafening roar of silence.   In addition, it appears we are sacrificing our intelligence capabilities in exchange for just eliminating specific people.  In my opinion it was the downgrading of our intelligence operations under Bill Clinton that lead to 9-11 in the first place.  At best this appears to be another convenient short term fix as a replacement for long term strategic planning.

 TDM