"To what purpose are powers limited, and to what purpose is that limitation committed to writing,
if these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be restrained?"
-- Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

So much for his hidden terrorist agenda.

Al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader lashed out at President-elect Barack Obama in a new audio message Tuesday, accusing him of not doing anything to stop Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip, according to an intelligence monitoring center.

The recording purportedly by Ayman al-Zawahiri was al-Qaida’s first comments on the Gaza crisis since Israel launched its offensive against the Islamic militants of Hamas on Dec. 27.

In the comments, which were posted on a militant Web site and obtained by the SITE Monitoring Service, al-Zawahiri described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “crusade against Islam and Muslims” and called it “Obama’s gift to Israel” before he takes office later this month.

“This is Obama whom the American machine of lies tried to portray as the rescuer who will change the policy of America,” al-Zawahiri said, according to SITE. “He kills your brothers and sisters in Gaza mercilessly and without affection.”

I guess this means Obama will have to give back his secret Muslim membership card…

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

You could say this guy died with his Hush Puppies on.

A soldier from Fort Bragg died this morning in Denver from injuries suffered from a bar fight in Steamboat Springs on Friday night over a Jimmy Buffett song.

Richard Lopez, 37, of Fayetteville, N.C., was pronounced dead at 4:16 a.m. today at Denver Health Medical Center. An autopsy by the Arapahoe County Coroner’s office is scheduled for Tuesday.

“This is a very sad and serious case,” said Capt. Joel Rae with Steamboat Springs police.

So far, no suspects have been arrested, although police have talked to two individuals involved in the fight.

“We know where they are and they have been interviewed,” said Rae.

The case is being investigated as a homicide.

The incident occurred before 12:15 a.m. Friday when police were called to a fight between five people outside the Tap House.

“The initial disagreement was about music being played on the jukebox,” said Rae, adding that it was a Jimmy Buffet song.

“Richard Lopez and two other individuals put on the song, but two other individuals did not agree with it.”

It was not known which Jimmy Buffett song was being played at the time, but the fight was taken outside the bar.

At least he’ll get a cheeseburger in paradise. You really have to press somebody’s fool button to be willing to fight to the death over Jimmy Buffett.

So much for Obama’s betrayal of the gay community:

Obama tapped Bradley J. Kiley to become director of the office of management and administration, where he will oversee White House operations, including travel. Kiley is operations director for the transition team and served a similar role during the Clinton administration as deputy assistant to the president for management and administration.

If nothing else, Obama seems to be interested in creating a truly diverse administration. The way his party seems intent on being the Keystone Congress, he’s going to need all the competence he can get.

It was only a matter of time until the Leftist blog of record—HuffPo—gave a platform to failed terrorist, Obama anchor and Chavez hugger Bill Ayers.  It’s been a while since I fisked an overeducated moron.  Time to stretch the muscles.  Ayers it a turd but his little essay represents everything wrong with Departments of Education nationwide.

Interesting:

President-elect Barack Obama has offered the job of surgeon general to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the neurosurgeon and correspondent for CNN and CBS, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.

...

Gupta, who hosts “House Call” on CNN, has discussed the job offer with his bosses at CBS and CNN to make sure he could be released from his contractual obligations, the sources said.

His role as journalist and physician have sometimes overlapped. During the 2003 Iraq invasion, Gupta was embedded with a Navy unit called Devil Docs and, while covering its mission, performed brain surgery five times, the first of which was on a 2-year-old Iraqi boy.

Gupta’s only hesitation in taking the post is said to involve the financial impact on his pregnant wife and two children if he gives up his lucrative medical and journalistic careers. But he is expected to accept the position within days.

Personally, I would be fine if the office of Surgeon General disappeared.  But if there has to be someone in it, Gupta’s not a bad choice at all.  Aside from his heroism in Iraq, he became a hero to us over at Moorewatch for directly challenging Michael Moore on his bullshit (see here, here and here).  The man has a nose for science and accuracy, something keenly missing in our last Administration.

The office may be somewhat meaningless but the choice is dynamite.  I like.

More are coming out in defense of Leon Panetta as CIA chief. First, Robert Baer.

Leading Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee Jay Rockefeller and Dianne Feinstein have already criticized the choice of Panetta, claiming the CIA needs to be led by an experienced intelligence professional. But right now political clout, and the ability to be a strong advocate for the CIA, far outweighs the virtues of being a professional spy, someone who knows the difference between a “live drop” and a “dead drop.” A professional from the ranks would be eaten up by Hillary Clinton at State or Bob Gates at Defense. Or end up like Bill Clinton’s CIA Director Jim Woolsey, shut out of the White House, ignored and irrelevant.

It may indeed be pandering-but then again, it might be the kind of out-of-the box pick that could bring real reform to the CIA.

You know those Democrats who are interested in open debate and fairness?  Um, no:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to re-write House rules today to ensure that the Republican minority is unable to have any influence on legislation. Pelosi’s proposals are so draconian, and will so polarize the Capitol, that any thought President-elect Obama has of bipartisan cooperation will be rendered impossible before he even takes office.

Pelosi’s rule changes—which may be voted on today—will reverse the fairness rules that were written around Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America.”

...

After decades of Democrat control of the House of Representatives, gross abuses to the legislative process and several high-profile scandals contributed to an overwhelming Republican House Congressional landslide victory in 1994. Reforms to the House Rules as part of the Contract with America were designed to open up to public scrutiny what had become under this decades-long Democrat majority a dangerously secretive House legislative process. The Republican reform of the way the House did business included opening committee meetings to the public and media, making Congress actually subject to federal law, term limits for committee chairmen ending decades-long committee fiefdoms, truth in budgeting, elimination of the committee proxy vote, authorization of a House audit, specific requirements for blanket rules waivers, and guarantees to the then-Democrat minority party to offer amendments to pieces of legislation.

Pelosi’s proposed repeal of decades-long House accountability reforms exposes a tyrannical Democrat leadership poised to assemble legislation in secret, then goose-step it through Congress by the elimination of debate and amendment procedures as part of America’s governing legislative process.

Human Events’ reaction is a bit hysterical here.  According to this website, the Democrats are merely trying to remove the term limits for committee chairs (caveat: they’re being a bit secretive about it).  But that itself was a critical reform whose impact is often underestimated.  It’s been 14 years since the Contract and few of us really remember how truly vile the ensconced committee chairs used to be.

Methinks the Democrats are heading for another Rostenkowski-esque scandal.  It took Republicans six years to be corrupted by power.  Looks like it won’t take the Democrats much more than six days.

It seems Diane Feinstein is peeved that Obama dared to ignore her:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who this week begins her tenure as the first female chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said today that she was not consulted on the choice and indicated she might oppose it.

“I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA director,” Feinstein said. “My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”

The choice of Panetta was seen as a sign that Obama considered it more important to have a steady political hand and astute manager at the helm of the agency, rather than someone with deep operational experience.

In picking Panetta, Obama risks raising anew questions about the politicization of the CIA, a concern cited by leading congressional officials.

Meanwhile, others like the choice:

I always liked Panetta. He served in the Army and is openly proud of it. He seems to be a good lawyer (oxymoronic though it may seem). He’s a good manager. And he’s going to watch Obama’s back at a place that’s full of stilettos and a track record for attempted presidential assassination second to none. But Italians know all about political assassination; you may remember Julius Caesar. Or Aldo Moro. The self-proclaimed cognoscenti will deride his lack of “spycraft,” and he’s never worked in the intel bureaucracy or, for that matter, in foreign policy or national security. But he’s been chief of staff, which involved all that stuff. I think it’s a smart move...

So he sounds competent, if not from the agency’s ranks. It might do some good to have a guy who’s not an entrenched insider running the agency. It also signals a move away from the abuses of the Bush years, which is quite frankly something the CIA needs to do. As far as Feinstein is concerned, she is just another example of how the rest of the party has turned shooting itself in the foot into an art form.

Monday, January 05, 2009

It must be the week for people to snap.

A BART police officer struggling to handcuff a 22-year-old man, stood up over the facedown Hayward resident and fired a single shot into his back while a handful of officers watched, a video taken by a train passenger apparently shows.

The attorney for the family of Oscar Grant III, fatally shot by an unidentified BART officer early New Year’s Day, said Sunday he plans to file a $25 million lawsuit against the department and asked prosecutors to consider filing murder charges against the officer.

The shooting occurred shortly before 2 a.m. Thursday after five officers responded to the Fruitvale station to reports of a fight on a train, officials said, though they have not confirmed whether Grant was involved in the fight.

The new video, obtained by television station KTVU, shows two officers restraining a struggling suspect. While the man is lying face down on the ground, one officer appears to be seen pulling out a gun and firing a single shot into his back.

Civil rights attorney John Burris, known for his work in several high-profile cases involving police abuse and corruption, said at a Sunday news conference that the shooting was “the most unconscionable shooting” he has ever seen. He said that the Alameda County district attorney should consider filing charges of second degree murder or manslaughter against the officer.

“I’ve drafted a notice of claim against BART for $25 million I plan to submit officially,” Burris said, adding that the officer had violated Grant’s civil rights and caused his wrongful death.

The video can be seen here. Obviously we don’t know the whole story about the struggle, but it does look pretty damning. The suspect’s family-not to mention the community-deserve answers.

Update by Lee:Here’s the meat and potatoes.

To me this looks like, at a minimum, manslaughter.  The subject looks subdued, at least from this snippet of video.  At the very least this officer should have to defend his actions in court.

Holy fucking shit.

A former Forest City man and decorated Iraq war veteran was arrested last week in Oklahoma City on complaints of manufacturing explosives with the intent to sell them.

The Oklahoma City Oklahoman reported that Steven A. Jordal, 24, was taken into custody on Dec. 22.

… An infantry tank specialist who served two tours in Iraq, Jordal received the Army’s Good Conduct medal, along with several other medals, badges and ribbons.

According to the Oklahoman, Oklahoma City police began investigating Jordal when they received a tip he was selling improvised explosive devices to gang members.

In the probable cause affidavit filed by police, police said Jordal was making the same kinds of weapons he saw used against his fellow soldiers in Iraq.

A police informant told investigators that he had seen Jordal testing explosives and that Jordal had custom made a device for someone who wanted to damage the vehicle of someone who owed money in a drug deal.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?  Or is this kid just an asshole who figured out how to make a quick buck?  You be the judge.

Sometimes, our memories are way too short:

Trucks and sport utility vehicles will outsell cars for the first time since February, according to a December report by Edmunds.com, which tracks industry statistics.

“Despite all the public discussion of fuel efficiency, SUVs and trucks are the industry’s biggest sellers right now as a remarkable number of buyers seem to be compelled by three factors: great deals, low gas prices and winter weather,” said Michelle Krebs of AutoObserver.com, a division of Edmunds.com, in a prepared statement.

“It was this summer that customers were concerned about the gas mileage. It hasn’t been a topic of conversation lately,” said Dave Lawson, the general sales manager at Pomoco Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Newport News. The majority of Pomoco’s inventory is SUVs, and its best-selling models are minivans.

The slash of SUV prices is a factor here.  I’m not sure why the winter weather plays a roll since SUVs are notoriously poor-handling in snowy conditions.  My experience in traction-control sedans has been far better.  But whatever.  The big factor here is gas prices.

Are people mental?  Do they really think the gas price surge is over?  Did I miss the sudden discovery of hundreds of billions of barrels?  This is a respite, nothing more.  It’s crap like this that makes me think that a carbon tax to prop up gas prices wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Oh, this is rich. The RNC has suddenly discovered Ron Paul.

For much of the 2008 campaign, Texas lawmaker and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul and his supporters served as a thorn in the side—or a punching bag—for the mainstream GOP establishment.

Yet today, the six men vying to run the Republican National Committee praised the grassroots enthusiasm Paul tapped into during his campaign—and discussed how they would like to capture that enthusiasm to expand the party’s appeal.

“Ron Paul certainly brought a whole new generation of voters and I think it’s important going forward that we recognize the strengths and the attributes of these individuals who are out there actively building the party and building a movement, a consensus if you will, on certain issues. We can’t look that in the eye and say ‘No, we don’t want that,’” said former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, adding that the RNC needs to find “creative ways” to work with candidates supported by Paul and his followers, and to work with Paul directly to that end.

“I think, at this stage at this party, everyone who can help us should be brought into the room to help us,” Steele said.

Isn’t this the same party that practically called Ron Paul a traitor for being against the war in Iraq? This is on a par with them suddenly discovering that Bush wasn’t the Second Coming. I didn’t agree with everything Paul said, and in many ways he was a de facto third party candidate. But I hope he tells these guys to go screw themselves.

It’s funny how an election can reverse people’s opinions on the issues.  Here we have John Yoo and John Bolton arguing for restraint on treaty power:

THE Constitution’s Treaty Clause has long been seen, rightly, as a bulwark against presidential inclinations to lock the United States into unwise foreign commitments. The clause will likely be tested by Barack Obama’s administration, as the new president and Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton, led by the legal academics in whose circles they have long traveled, contemplate binding down American power and interests in a dense web of treaties and international bureaucracies.

Like past presidents, Mr. Obama will likely be tempted to avoid the requirement that treaties must be approved by two-thirds of the Senate. The usual methods around this constitutional constraint are executive agreements or a majority vote in the House and Senate to pass a treaty as a simple law (known as a Congressional-executive agreement).

Executive agreements have an acknowledged but limited place in our foreign affairs. Congressional-executive agreements are far more troubling. They have evoked scathing attacks by constitutional experts and have been strongly resisted in the Senate, at least so far.

Of course, “scathing attacks by constitutional experts” are perfectly acceptable if you are, for example, abrogating agreements against torture.  But now that they fear Obama will sign Kyoto or Rome, they want the Senate to be a bulwark against the President.

Not that Democrats are any more consistent.  Harry Reid is pronouncing David Petraeus a genius.  Take it away, Allahpundit:

The bit that’s getting attention is his squirming over having merrily pronounced the surge a failure and the war lost in two years ago. When asked if he still feels that way, his defense is to hide behind Petraeus: All he meant is that the war wasn’t winnable with military power alone, which is no different really from anything Petraeus has said, and Petraeus of course is a “genius” so how about getting off Reid’s back already? The follow-ups Gregory didn’t ask: If Petraeus is such a genius, why did Reid vow not to believe him if he reported progress at his 2007 Senate hearing? Why did he allegedly call Petraeus incompetent a few months later? Why was he one of only 25 Senators to vote against the resolution condemning MoveOn for the “Betray Us” ad? Why was he still declaring the surge a failure as late as December 2007, and even to this day insists that Iraq is in a state of civil war? The answer to all these questions is that, for Reid, the facts on the ground are always determined by political expedience. That’s why he was able to insist four months ago, with Obama pushing hard on the stump for a renewed commitment to Afghanistan, that the country is in “pretty good shape” when everyone but everyone on both sides knows better.

Note too how he tries to take credit for the surge at the beginning by emphasizing the Democrats’ role in forcing a change of direction in Iraq policy. Not the first time we’ve heard that argument advanced. The left demanded that Bush withdraw; Bush responded by doubling down instead and ordering the surge. Voila — a change of direction in policy. Thanks, Harry!

It’s going to be fun to watch all the “Iraq is a disaster!” opinion pieces morph into “Iraq is a success!” opinion pieces (and vice versa) while little changes on the ground.

Probably the most fun will be watching the principled conservatives like Chris Buckley, Bruce Bartlett and Andrew Sullivan (and us, I guess) welcomed back into the fold as we launch the same criticisms of Obama that we launched at Bush.  What was once a betrayal of the party will now be bedrock conservative principle.

If you were wondering where he learned his pyramid scheme, here you go.

This can’t be right, can it?

Governors of five U.S. states urged the federal government to provide $1 trillion in aid to the country’s 50 states to help pay for education, welfare and infrastructure as states struggle with steep budget deficits amid a deepening recession.

The governors of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and Wisconsin—all Democrats—said the initiative for the two-year aid package was backed by other governors and follows a meeting in December where governors called on President-elect Barack Obama to help them maintain services in the face of slumping revenues.

Gov. David Paterson of New York said 43 states now have budget deficits totaling some $100 billion as tax revenues plunge.

“It’s clear that the federal government needs to step in and jump-start the economy,” said Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts.

The latest package calls for $350 billion to create jobs by building or repairing roads, bridges and other public works; $250 billion to maintain education; and another $250 billion in “counter-cyclical” spending such as extending unemployment benefits and food stamps, which are typically a responsibility of the states.

The remainder would be used to fund middle-class tax cuts, stimulate the embattled housing market, and stem the tide of home foreclosures through a loan-modification program.

For that amount of money, the feds could just buy the state governments, sack their reckless irresponsible governors and legislature and run the whole shebang themselves.  It’s funny—the supposed bad economy that’s causing these deficits in the state budgets hasn’t affected states like Texas, that budgeted responsibly.

We have yet to see a stimulus bill emerge but I’m already growing sick of this non-stop Keynsian bullshit.  Even the supposed “tax cuts” have a Keynsian lilt to them.  We all—well, those who paid attention—saw how well the “we’re all Keynsians now” economic policies of Nixon and Carter worked.  Hope will not Change the basic fundamental principle that you don’t stimulate the economy by racking up massive debts.

Look, I don’t like the recession any more than the next guy—I’ve got a house on the market and bills to pay.  But an orgy of spending is not going to save us.  At best, it will do nothing.  At worst, it will plunge us into an even worse situation.