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News/Politics 9-13-13

What’s interesting out there today?

First up…..  Retreat?

From TheWaPo  “Sometimes a president does not have a communications problem. Sometimes a president has a reality problem.

President Obama’s speech to the nation on Syria was premised on the denial of reality. He claimed that the Russian/Syrian initiative resulted from the “credible threat of U.S. military action.” In fact, it filled a vacuum of presidential credibility. Obama had been isolated within the G-20 and abandoned by our closest ally, Britain. Americans overwhelmingly disapproved of a military strike for which the president clearly had no stomach. Obama was on the verge of the most devastating congressional foreign policy repudiation since the Senate voted 49-35 against entering the League of Nations in 1920.

Vladimir Putin offered Obama an escape, which he gratefully took. But there are implicit costs. A U.S. military strike — something Putin thought inevitable just a few weeks ago — is off. Russia’s Syrian client, Bashar al-Assad, stays in power. The Syrian opposition is effectively hung out to dry. Russia gains a position of influence in the Middle East it has not held since Anwar Sadat threw the Soviets out of Egypt. This allows Moscow to supply proxies such as Syria and Iran with weapons while positioning itself as the defender of international law and peace. Iran sees that the United States is a reluctant power, with a timid and polarized legislature, that can easily be deflected from action by transparent maneuvers.

Other than this, ’twas a famous victory.”

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Assad has gotten a little bolder now.

From YahooNews  “”When we see the United States really wants stability in our region and stops threatening, striving to attack, and also ceases arms deliveries to terrorists, then we will believe that the necessary processes can be finalized,” he was quoted as saying in an interview with Russian state television.”

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I think he means these guys.

From TheDailyCaller  “Jonathan Spyer says the moderate rebels in Syria the Obama administration has  been touting are really Muslim Brotherhood-types who adhere to an Islamist  ideology.

Spyer should know. An academic who lives  in Israel and studies the Middle East, he has traveled to and through Syrian  rebel-controlled territory, reporting on what he saw for various publications.  Asked by The Daily Caller to respond to a much-cited Wall Street Journal article  by Elizabeth O’Bagy, which claimed “[m]oderate opposition forces … continue to  lead the fight against the Syrian regime,” Spyer said, “I can only speak  regarding my own experiences and my own knowledge.”

“Undoubtedly outside of Syria, and in the Syrian opposition structures, there  are civilian political activists and leaders who are opposed to al-Qaida and opposed to Islamism,” Spyer explained to TheDC in an  email interview. “There are also civilian activists and structures within the  country which are opposed to al-Qaida and Islamism. But when one looks at the  armed rebel groups, one finds an obvious vast majority there who are adherents  of Islamism of one kind or another — stretching from Muslim Brotherhood-type  formations all the way across to groups openly aligned with al-Qaida central and  with al-Zawahiri.””

And we are arming them.

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The Jersey shore is still trying to recover from the devastation of Sandy. A section of Seaside Heights’ boardwalk was just rebuilt after Sandy, but now it has been destroyed by fire. 😦

From ABCNews  “Firefighters dug a trench under a Jersey Shore boardwalk in an effort to prevent a furious, wind-whipped blaze from spreading to a section just rebuilt after being destroyed by Superstorm Sandy.

This evening, the blaze reached 10 alarms, according to ABC News New York station WABC. It had already destroyed a long stretch of boardwalk, according to officials, containing perhaps 30 businesses in Seaside Park, N.J., near the same stretch of sand where a rollercoaster landed upright in the ocean after Sandy hit the coastline in October 2012.”

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Storms are responsible for severe flooding and a few deaths in Colorado. 😦

From YahooNews  “Flash flooding in northern Colorado has left two people dead, and the widespread high waters are keeping search and rescue teams from reaching stranded residents and motorists in Boulder and nearby mountain communities as heavy rains hammered the area Thursday.

The National Weather Service warned of an “extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation” throughout the region as the flooding forced people from their homes, canceled classes and led to mudslides and rockslides in some areas.

“Move to higher ground now. Act quickly to protect your life,” the Weather Service warned in numerous bulletins that went out throughout the morning.”

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Newly released e-mails show that Lois Lerner did in fact specifically target Tea Party and conservative groups. But we already knew that. 🙄

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Newly released emails show that Lois G.  Lerner, the woman at the   center of the IRS scandal over special scrutiny of conservative groups’   applications for  tax-exempt status, specifically targeted tea party   applications and directed  they be held up in 2011 in order to come up   with an agency policy.

The email, released by a House  committee  investigating the IRS,  seems to counter Democrats’  arguments that tea  party groups weren’t  specifically targeted.”

““Tea Party Matter  very dangerous,” Ms.  Lerner said in the 2011  email, saying that those  applications could end up  being the “vehicle  to go to court” to get more  clarity on a 2010 Supreme  Court ruling on  campaign finance rules.”

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One of the Colorado Democrats recalled this week is crying voter suppression. But reality says otherwise. But to admit that would mean to admit defeat of her/Dems anti-gun agenda. No way she does that.

From HotAir  “Via the Corner. Tuesday night, expecting a close race, I couldn’t believe that she lost by 12 points. Now, after watching her for the first time, I can’t believe she lost by only 12 points.

She’s got one argument here — “voter suppression,” ripped straight from the DNC’s talking points memo, which is completely destroyed by her own now-famous admission a few weeks ago that if Bloomberg and his anti-gun group couldn’t buy her a victory in this race, “they might as well fold it up.” They did their best for her; as Erika noted earlier, gun-grabbers outspent gun-rights supporters overwhelmingly. If that kind of money can’t get gun-control fans to drive to the polls, in a state where there was a horrendous mass shooting barely more than a year ago, maybe the votes simply aren’t there.

Sean Trende considers, then largely dismisses, the idea that the lack of mail-in ballots doomed the Democrats.”

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Chuck Todd says the recalls will make Dems “gun-shy.” 😯

What? Oh c’mon, it was too easy. I had too. 🙂

Also from HotAir  “Plenty of Democrats apparently still feel inclined to believe that this week’s successful Colorado recall election was the result of a teeny, tiny but vociferously vocal minority that only managed to pull out a victory because of 1) the egregious gobs of cash funneled their way by the NRA, the Koch Brothers, and other such seedy groups, and 2) the “tactical reasons why Democrats didn’t have a chance here,” i.e. the far-fetched and baseless claims of “voter suppression” à la Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The truth of the matter, of course, tells rather a different story: In fact, a Public Policy Poll that they, ahem, declined to release showed a large margin of support for the pro-recall side; and what’s more, liberal groups outspent the pro-Second Amendment crowd by a 7-to-1 margin. The MSNBC crowd, too, seems happy to gloss over these key pieces of information, but Chuck Todd does point out that this was not, as DWS called determinedly titled it, a “hollow victory.” In a lot of areas, gun control is simply not a winning issue for Democrats, and one of the biggest takeaways here is that Democrats are likely to actively eschew any offering of “help” from the contaminating effects of the well-monied and rabidly anti-gun Bloomberg group — and if he persists in providing it, it’s the Democrats who’ll suffer.”

And that’s a good thing. 🙂

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20 thoughts on “News/Politics 9-13-13”

  1. The steady regression of the US is both sad and funny. We’ve lost the ability to send people into space. We’ve lost the ability to build dams and new lakes to provide water for our cities. California has lost the ability to have separate restrooms for boys and girls. Now, our athletes have lost the ability to carry the ball across the goal line while sprinting for a touchdown.

    http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/texas-tech-deandre-washington-pulls-danny-trevathan-drops-040058957–ncaaf.html

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  3. I see in todays Times-News that Rev. Mark Harris, pastor of FBC Charlotte is going to run for the Senate against Kay Hagan.
    Hagan needs to go. She voted for Obomacare.
    But I have this feeling that if God calls a man to preach, that’s what he should be doing. Nothing is more important that obeying your call.
    Yes, I thought about Mike Huckabee. I stand by my statement.

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  7. On “the speech” and its aftermath from power line:

    ” … The media, I assume, will not harp on Syria, but neither will they avert their eyes completely. And the late night comedians will continue to enjoy a target rich environment when it comes to Syria.

    “Is the Obama presidency ‘collapsing’ — ‘dissolv[ing] before our eyes’ — as Pete Wehner argues? I’m not prepared to say that.

    “But Obama’s credibility seems to be eroding, at last, in the public’s mind. And he may finally be starting to look small, and even a bit ridiculous, to many who have never viewed him that way.”

    http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/09/president-obama-syria-and-the-limits-of-bs.php

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  10. Bob, we may be only passing through, but we need to be careful of the trail we leave.
    It’s important to make a difference in our corner of the world.
    Even a snail leaves more trail than some people.

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  12. From yesterday;
    AJ — I read the living wage article. The Washington proposal if I read it properly is full of holes and doesn’t make sense. The living wage proposal here is limited to any company that wants a contract with the city. If you don’t want to pay a living wage, then no contracts but you can continue to do business. I would’ve voted for the Washington proposal but would also vote for changes. The Washington mayor voiced the same concerns I have but is clearly not a socialist or progressive when he vetoed it.

    Ricky — simply put, the minimum wage doesn’t affect employment. And at this time as corporate America sits on its cash afraid to invest; a raise is a perfect way to get money moving without gov’t spending. If the product or service your workers produce isn’t higher than the wage you pay, then raise the cost of the product or service. And this doesn’t have to be much. Costco with higher wages and better benefits has demonstrated that the Walmart model is not necessary. You can offer higher wages and keep prices low.

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  13. Britain didn’t “abandon” the US. The Conservative gov’t is in a minority situation and couldn’t get their Liberal Democrat partners to cooperate. The LD were seeking an issue to differ them from the Cons as they are jointly responsible for a domestic policy of austerity. Hence, they failed to cooperate on the war vote and even then it was a weak resolution — the gov’t must wait until the UN gives their report so all they did was kick it down the road.

    To call this the greatest foreign policy repudiation since the League of Nations vote misses one essential detail, there’s been no vote yet. And if the writer is referring to the British vote, that’s just bizarre. And one doesn’t have to go that far back for a Congress vote against the foreign policy of a president. I believe Congress voted against the funding of the Contras despite Reagan’s support.

    And for the article to suggest Russia has gained greater power in the Middle East is pure hyperbole. Russia’s sole ally remains Syria. The latest action by Putin was all to protect their only asset not to gain more. They are on the defensive here. Obama’s push on Syria is a continuation of Bush’s policy —- eliminate other influences in the Middle East. As for Iran, its a far more independent player than Syria. Furthermore, it has closer ties to China than Russia, whom for historical reasons they view as a rival and threat. Iran views the US as an aggressor in the Middle East and I doubt this small episode will change their views. In fact, Obama’s threats may be interpreted as aggressive.

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  17. I have decided to copy and paste from yesterday. Today I heard on the radio that both houses of the California legislature passed a bill that raises the minimum wage here in CA to $10 an hour. Governor Brown will sign the bill.

    HRW

    I am now on a fixed income. If wages (and therefore prices) go up I can buy less. I have no way to get more income, it is fixed.

    Does this mean that my property taxes will go up too?

    How about all that hard earned money we saved in those Teacher’s Annuities? Will the money buy more or less?

    Why would I want the minimum wage raised? How will it do me any good?

    You’re a teacher like I was. Think of your future!

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  18. Prices almost always go up, but wages and prices do not go up together — its a right wing myth that higher min wage causes inflation. Ontario raised its min wage from 8 to 10.25 in less than two years. There was no extra bump to inflation and no increase in unemployment (an other right wing myth)

    Why should your property taxes go up?? Taxes and wages do not go up together either. If anything, the state should be receiving more income and sales taxes due to increased wages and spending make property tax hikes unnecessary.

    As for my pension ….. its indexed to inflation. I will retire in 11 years on 65% of my salary and every year I will get a raise equal to inflation. My future is quite secure. I will only be 56 years old so I will probably do some part time work — bookkeeping, taxes, a little more sedate than middle school. And without the expense of going to work — clothes, lunch, gas, insurance etc. I figure I will be doing the same if not better by not working.

    Min. wage may or may not affect you — probably not, but indirectly your society will be better off. Lowering income inequality is better for society in general — lower crime, better health, etc.

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  19. Oh I forgot to mention — right now I put 11% of my wages towards my pension, When I retire I obviously would not deduct that amount nor will I have to deduct Employment Insurance or Canada Pension Plan or Long Term Disability Insurance. I will probably purchase extended health coverage (dentist and drugs) but my gross will be fairly close to my net which is not the case now.

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