I’ve watched with a certain amount of amusement the left’s reaction to the deal Obama cut with the Republicans concerning the Bush tax cuts. The left has gone mad even though Obama got the better end of the deal. Meanwhile, Obama himself can’t even bring himself to say anything nice about the deal, going on the attack against everyone in his presser last week. He attacked the GOP as a bunch of hostage takers while attacking the left as a bunch of sanctimonious purists. Obama got the better end of the deal though, which makes the left’s attacks so absurd. The GOP got to keep the Bush tax cuts but had to give up what amounts to extended welfare for the chronically unemployed. The cost is nearly a trillion dollars, two thirds of which are spending. Which of course means the real cost is over $600 billion, since taxes aren’t monies being paid out by the government. I’m not so sure avoiding a tax increase is worth that sort of dough. The right has been largely silent, much to my chagrin. But the left is enraged over this deal. The left is so in love with the idea of taking money away from the rich that they can’t see past keeping tax rates the same for a paltry two years. In their rage, the left is behaving as only the radical left used to behave. For a century the left has been willing to go along with incremental change. They’ve been willing to compromise because they know in the long run they’ll end up getting everything they want. It’s only been the extreme left, the Communists and other such leftists, who have demanded absolute purity and called left-wingers like FDR and LBJ traitors, phonies and most amusingly “right-wing.” Now they’re calling Obama a corporatist, a centrist and a sell-out but it isn’t just the extremists in the left-wing doing it. It’s rank and file left-wing Democrats who are the loudest complainers. There is no plausible explanation for why Obama is being held to a higher standard by the rank and file than other liberal Presidents. That is unless I care to turn the race card on the left, which I’m not willing to do. Obama cut himself a great deal, a liberal deal and it’s the liberals who are the most outraged. No wonder the moderates didn’t vote for these people last month.
WashPo: Swindle of the Year (Charles Krauthammer)
WSJ: From Audacity to Animosity (Peggy Noonan)
I’m not a Glenn Beck fan. I find his radio show irritating and I see through his bogus sales technique. While I find the left’s hatred of him amusing, it’s not compelling enough for me to pay a ton of attention to him. I did notice last week that the left was enraged because Beck accused 10% of Muslims of being terrorists. One of his assistants wrote a blog post defending Beck and I’ll have to say he makes a compelling argument. A terrorist is defined as someone who ‘uses or advocates terrorism.’ Which means that anyone who supports terrorism is in fact a terrorist. There was a poll done in 2009 by a respected polling company (ie: the study wasn’t paid for by Beck) which sought to discover the feelings of Muslims living overseas. The results suggest that Beck is mostly correct and the findings suggest that Islam is extremely dangerous. When asked whether they support attacks on US citizens 4% of people in Azerbaijan support terrorist attacks on the low end of the poll. On the high end 24% of Palestinians support such attacks. Some people in these countries had mixed feelings about terrorist attacks, so they’re at least somewhat sympathetic. 15% of Palestinians have mixed feelings, meaning nearly 40% either support or somewhat support terrorist attacks against the US. The range goes from 10% in Egypt to 40% of Palestinians. Asked whether they support al Qaeda’s attacks on the US the range is from 9% in Azerbaijan to 21% in Egypt. Those approving of attacks on US citizens working in Islamic countries, the range is from 7% in Azerbaijan to 30% in the Palestinian territories. Like it or not a good number of Muslims support terrorism, it’s likely in the 10% range. This is a religion with 1.5 billion people, which means 150 million of them are terrorists. If only 1% of those people would actually carry out a terrorist attack, we’re still looking at 1.5 million people willing to go forward with a terrorist act. Islam is a religion of war and conversion by the sword, it has been from its very beginning. Until we take this wicked religion and it’s true beliefs seriously, we stand no chance in the War on Terror. Beck is unfortunately right.
Stu Blog: Dear Media: Glenn was right. You were wrong. Apologize.
The food police are at it again. Mrs. Obama’s childhood nutrition bill was passed by Congress last week. The bill continues the cradle to grave welfare that the left loves so much. Now taxpayers are not only going to foot the bill for breakfast and lunch for low income students, we’re going to buy them dinner as well. Next we’ll be buying them a suit of clothes, a car and a puppy dog. Mrs. Obama’s bill isn’t just about welfare, it’s about the nanny state as well. Her bill bans (I kid you not, it bans) pizza parties in school and bake sales that do not sell food the government declares as healthy. So much for the local control Democrats like to lobby for when it suits them. In any event, Mrs. Obama takes matters two steps further than all of this. First, Mrs. Obama claims we can’t just leave nutrition up to parents. Apparently parents aren’t capable of deciding what’s best for the children, the government needs to step in and make the decisions for them. We can’t just leave it up to those parents, parents are idiots after all. Government has to step in to stop these idiot parents. I find this sort of arrogance vile. Mrs. Obama also declared childhood obesity a ‘national security threat.’ If the term ‘national security threat’ hasn’t jumped the shark already it certainly has now. Fat children are as much a national security threat as the grandma’s the TSA has been groping for the past month. Mrs. Obama’s assertion is ridiculous on its face, as is her nutrition bill. For all the whining the left is doing about Obama, his administration has done more for the nanny state the left loves so much in two years than has been done since LBJ. School children are being fed by the government, the government is dictating what can be eaten in schools, parents are declared incapable and their job is taken over by the state, what’s not to love about this bill if you’re a leftist? If you love freedom, if you believe parents are more than capable of making decisions for their children, if you’re tired of cradle to grave welfare then this bill makes you sick to your stomach.
Breitbart Video: Michelle Obama on Nutrition: ‘We Can’t Just Leave it Up to the Parents’
Politico: Michelle Obama has new warning on obesity
