Tuesday, September 10, 2013

ROBERT HALL 09/10/2013 CONSERVATIVE DIGEST

Breaking: Titled of Obama's historic speech leaked - "Is your foreign policy better than a fifth graders?" -- Obama's speech will be him waving the Kerry Compromise agreement and saying, "I have met with Herr Assad... and secured peace in our times!"
Bob’s Grape-Nut Pie
A few readers asked for this after I mentioned baking grape pies for church. ~Bob
Good Article: A carbon tax would make no sense. By Richard Rahm
Excerpt: A carbon tax has real costs to the American economy. Energy prices and food prices would be higher, and virtually everything else that people consume would cost more. The results of higher prices are a lower standard of living, less economic opportunity, lower real wages and fewer jobs. All for what?
Obama’s net worth
Economic Growth and Right-to-Work Laws
Excerpt: States with right-to-work laws had higher economic growth rates than they otherwise would have based on the results of a statistical model. Specifically, the average right-to-work state had annual growth rates that were 0.8 percentage points higher for real personal income and 0.5 percentage points higher for population growth. Right-to-work laws boosted average annual employment growth rates by 0.8 percentage points measured from 1970 through 2011. (Unions are all about jobs—the one percent jobs of the fat cat union bosses. ~Bob.)

The Bucks Start Here. By Christopher DeMuth
Excerpt: The growth of executive government and the growth of government debt are both highly worrisome to many people. They are, however, usually thought of as separate problems, arising from separate government functions. On the one hand, the executive branch operates mainly through regulation: agencies issue rules to private parties, telling them how to design their products, keep their books, set their prices, withhold their crops from market, recruit women for their sports teams, manage their trash. Government borrowing, on the other hand, is a method of public finance: treasury departments market bonds to raise funds for spending in excess of tax revenues—because the government is making a long-term investment, because it is facing an emergency, or just because it has overpromised and wants to keep the spigots open.
Jordanian MP opens fire in parliament
Excerpt: No injuries reported after member of parliament fires automatic weapon following a dispute over a budget matter. (We need this guy in Congress. ~Bob.)
The Government Episode 1
Satire with a lot of truth. ~Bob
The U.S. Military’s Pivot to Africa. By Nick Turse
Excerpt: To hear AFRICOM tell it, US military involvement on the continent ranges from the miniscule to the microscopic.
The Mexican Version of Obamanomics Won’t Work any Better than the American Version. By Daniel J. Mitchell 
Excerpt: But some people never learn. The President of Mexico has unveiled a new scheme to increase taxes to finance bigger government.
Excerpt: No laughs for Obama these days; the times are far too dreary for humor. Instead, America seems to have finally recognized that they made a huge mistake in re-electing a man-child without a smidgeon of leadership talent. Instead they find the man child shedding responsibility or blame faster than a wolf-hound in summer. Perhaps worse, America has tuned out Barack Obama. His Rose Garden speeches and his Great American College Tours have lost their luster. The only ones still listening to Obama is his adoring mainstream liberal media and even they are showing signs of jumping ship.
Obama boasts of ‘decimated’ al Qaeda undermined by intel briefings
Excerpt: As President Obama ran to election victory last fall with claims that al Qaeda was “decimated” and “on the run,” his intelligence team was privately offering a different assessment that the terrorist movement was shifting resources and capabilities to emerging spinoff groups in Africa that posed fresh threats to American security.
All play fast and loose when talking about race. By Cathy Young
Excerpt: Acknowledging inconvenient facts and listening to the other side may not give us the solutions to the thorny issues of race and crime. But it would be a good start.
Father of 13-year-old Egyptian boy married off to 10-year-old girl: "You're never too young for marriage"
Excerpt: Few things are more abundantly attested in Islamic law than the permissibility of child marriage. Islamic tradition records that Muhammad’s favorite wife, Aisha, was six when Muhammad wedded her and nine when he consummated the marriage
Dentist struck off for offering to perform female genital mutilation on girls as young as 10 in Birmingham
Excerpt: Somali-born Omar Addow is the first practitioner to be struck off by the General Dental Council for offering the illegal procedure in more than a decade. The 56-year-old was allegedly recorded saying he would carry out the crime, which carries a 14-year prison sentence, in a Birmingham dental practice last year.
Considerate Racial Predators. By Colin Flaherty 
Excerpt: Before he bashed the 62-year-old Jeffrey Babbitt in the face this week in a New York park, leaving him with permanent brain damage, LaShawn Marten proclaimed: “I hate white people.” He saved us the trouble of wondering if the attack was “racially motivated.
Jeffrey Babbitt, victim of "I Hate White People" rampage, dies.
Excerpt: Police were investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.
Good Column: The Worst Part Of Obamacare. By Mark Hendrickson 
Excerpt: Because Obamacare has been one gigantic distraction that has kept us from addressing the most crucial economic issue of all—the ticking fiscal time bomb that is Medicare and Medicaid. Federal spending on health care is projected to more than double from approximately $771 billion this year to $1.59 trillion in 2023—a mere ten years away.
Benghazi Whistleblower: "I've been punished for speaking out" By Guy Benson
Excerpt: Gregory Hicks is no stranger to regular readers. The State Department official, who was second-in-command to murdered Amb. Chris Stevens in Libya, was one of the star witnesses during the House Oversight Committee's Benghazi hearings this past spring. Visibly frustrated by the lack of accountability over last year's deadly attacks, Hicks appeared on ABC News to share his story. 
U.S. Air Force Cracking Down on Christians. By Todd Starnes
Excerpt: The accusations against Monk are a court-martial offense in the Air Force – and it’s quite possible that the 19-year veteran with a spotless record could be booted out of the military because of his Christian beliefs. And he’s not the only Christian at Lackland Air Force Base facing persecution for opposing gay marriage, according to Monk’s pastor.
West Maryland? Citizens call for secession. By Cortney O'Brien
Excerpt: Marylanders sick of Annapolis’s liberal agenda are hoping to follow in West Virginia’s footsteps and secede from the state they begrudgingly belong to.
From the Washington Post: {...} A 49-year-old information technology consultant wants to apply the knife to Maryland’s five western counties. “The people are the sovereign,” says Scott Strzelczyk, leader of the fledgling Western Maryland Initiative, and the western sovereigns are fed up with Annapolis’s liberal majority, elected by the state’s other sovereigns.
The Times poses a question only Christianity can answer. By Mr Alexander Boot via Archbiship Cranmer 
Excerpt: The triad ‘God, king and country’ encapsulates neatly the essence of British conservatism, both its transcendent inspiration and political expression. The starting point of deliberation for any Christian thinker is that the key institutions of Christendom, which is to say of the West, must somehow reflect the teaching of Christ and, on a deeper level, his person. The essence of Christ, as accepted by all apostolic denominations, is that he is both fully divine and fully human, uniting within himself the transcendent and the transient, the timeless and the temporal, the physical and the metaphysical.
Australia has ditched an incompetent Anglican for a Roman Catholic of promise. By Archbishop Cranmer
Excerpt: [Tony Abbott's] politics are informed by his theology; his theology is informed by Roman Catholic social doctrine - suffused with more than a hint of Thatcherite notions of individual responsibility and duty to family and community. As the Great Lady said: 'Reading recently, I came across the starkly simple phrase: "Christianity is about spiritual redemption, not social reform". Sometimes the debate on these matters has become too polarised and given the impression that the two are quite separate.'
Global warming cleverly hides itself with 1 million more square miles of Arctic ice. By Jazz Shaw
Excerpt: 'Only six years ago, the BBC reported that the Arctic would be ice-free in summer by 2013, citing a scientist in the US who claimed this was a ‘conservative’ forecast. Perhaps it was their confidence that led more than 20 yachts to try to sail the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific this summer. As of last week, all these vessels were stuck in the ice, some at the eastern end of the passage in Prince Regent Inlet, others further west at Cape Bathurst.'
The Ice is Cracking...Er. By Steven Hayward
Excerpt: The climateers and their media cheerleaders keep ignoring the new First Law of Environmental Doomsaying: Always—always—long-date your predictions, so that you won’t be around to be held accountable when they fail. The trouble with the climate campaign is that they are so desperate for immediate action that they have to grab onto any and every weather “irregularity” (a nonsense term, yes, but roll with it) to Keep Hope Alive.
Arctic Ice Melt IS a Problem because Right-Wing Newspapers Smell, Explains Guardian Climate Expert. By James Delingpole
Excerpt: At the weekend my old mucker David Rose reported in the Mail On Sundaythe shocking news that there is 60 per cent more sea ice at the Arctic than there was this time last year. So too did Hayley Dixon in the Telegraph. The implication of both pieces was that perhaps this global warming thing we've been hearing about ad nauseam this last couple of decades isn't quite the deadly threat the 'scientists' have been telling us it was; that indeed, maybe the more pressing worry ought to be global cooling.
Leaked UN report confirms Global Warming is non-existent, planet actually cooling.
Excerpt: The jig is up, Al. Via Beltway Confidential: Global warming alarmists, Al Gore, we need to talk.
Bundle Up: Global Warming is Over.
Excerpt: Years of screeching from liberals that the planet is doomed because of global warming have been a good indication of cold weather ahead. Sure enough: 'A cold Arctic summer has led to a record increase in the ice cap, leading experts to predict a period of global cooling. There has been a 60 per cent increase in the amount of ocean covered with ice compared to this time last year, the equivalent of almost a million square miles.'
Global Warming put on ice. By John Hayward
Excerpt: A gang of unfortunate dupes who fell for the global warming scam actually tried to sail their yachts through the Northwest Passage this summer, doubtless with little plastic Al Gore bobbleheads affixed to their helms. Twenty of them are still stuck in the ice at the time of this writing, awaiting rescue from Canadian icebreakers, according to the UK Daily Mail. That’s because the Arctic ice has grown by a remarkable 60 percent – 920,000 square miles – over the past year:
Excerpt: Better late than never, I suppose: Paul Krugman now says that the five years of the Obama administration have been “years of tragic waste,” and that the nation’s economic policies during that time have been “an astonishing, horrifying failure.” One wonders: what took Krugman so long to figure that out?
Illinois Charges 13 Democrats Including Jeremiah Wright's Daughter, Niece of Dem Rep. Danny Davis With Embezzling $13 Million From Taxpayer-Funded Grants. Another was chief of staff to Obamas longtime friend Eric E. Whitaker when Whitaker was Illinois public health chief.
Excerpt: From the city that brought us Barack Obama. Via Chicago Sun-Times: The U.S. attorney’s office in Springfield has been busy the past few years investigating a variety of fraud schemes involving state grants. Thirteen people have been charged so far, six who have pleaded guilty.
The new test for grads that could get them a job. By Beth Braverman
Excerpt: More than 200 schools, including some in the Texas and California state systems, have signed on to offer students the new voluntary Collegiate Learning Assessment Plus (CLA+) test, designed to give employers an objective way to measure entry-level candidates. 
RFK, Jr. slammed Jackson, Sharpton in leaked diary entries. By Patrick Howley
Excerpt: “Al Sharpton has done more damage to the black cause than George Wallace. He has suffocated the decent black leaders in New York. His transparent venal blackmail and extortion schemes taint all black leadership,” Kennedy wrote in his diary in 2001, adding that Sharpton is a “buffoon” who gives Kennedy “the creeps.”
2 Million Biker Ride Set for D.C. By Robbie Cooper
Excerpt: So you say you haven’t heard about the 2 Million Biker Ride to D.C. in your local or national news? I can’t imagine why…oh, wait…I can. It’s because they’re a bunch of bed-wetting Liberals who hate Conservatives and American-loving patriots. You know if Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were planning a 10-man march on D.C. it’d be on every news program and front page of the NY Times.
'2 Million Bikers' Cruising Through DC on 9/11 Despite Permit Denial. By Steven Nelson.
Excerpt: "We find this regretful for the residents and businesses of that great city, and humbly offer our apologies," organizers of the ride said Friday on Facebook. "What could have been a one or two hour ride through will now likely be an all day event." It's legal for motorcycles to drive through D.C. and participants plan to cross into the capital undeterred after 11 a.m.
Allen West Starts Social Media Campaign Against Obama on Benghazi. By Kevin Derby
Excerpt: Wednesday marks the one-year anniversary of the attack on the American embassy in Benghazi and former U.S. Rep. Allen West, who has opened the door to a political comeback in 2016, is launching an effort to mobilize voters angry with President Barack Obama’s reaction to it. West posted on Facebook late on Sundayasking supporters to “melt down” Obama’s social media accounts on Benghazi.
UK: Another Vicious Third-World Criminal Granted Permanent Asylum by Euroweenies.
Excerpt: Only moonbats could reduce the concept of human rights to something twisted and wrong. From occupied Britain: 'A judge has ruled a Zimbabwean national who was jailed for five and a half years after he scarred a woman for life cannot be deported because it would breach his human rights. Drug dealer Valentine Harverye burned his 34-year-old victim with a melted cider bottle and scalded her with boiling water.'
VIDEO: Tricking the Girls into Buying the Pink Stuff: Little Girl Brainwashed Into Reciting Absurd Liberal Dogma.
Excerpt: Despite his liberal bona fides Larry Summers was reckless enough to say things like this: 'I think, while I would prefer to believe otherwise, I guess my experience with my two and a half year old twin daughters who were not given dolls and who were given trucks, and found themselves saying to each other, look, daddy truck is carrying the baby truck, tells me something.' What it should have told him is to shut up about his daughters’ playtime habits. As a result of pronouncements deemed inconsistent with liberal theory on the nonexistence of male/female differences, Summers was drummed out of his position as President of Harvard.
Excerpt: Have you heard about the “wonderful” employment numbers that were just released? Last month, the unemployment rate declined to 7.3 percent. Somehow this happened even though the percentage of working age Americans with a job actually declined and the number of private sector workers fell by 278,000. So how did the federal government magically produce a drop in the unemployment rate even though less people have jobs? Well, they did it by pretending that more than half a million Americans “dropped out of the labor force” last month. (We used to ask of Richard Nixon "would you buy a used car from this man?" Would you buy a used car ffom Obama? I prefer Nixon's car lot to tell the truth, and that is not saying much. Zero is by far the crookedest, er, excuse the expression, presi... prezi.. sorry, can't manage to say it... White House resident that we have ever had. --Don Hank)
105 Years in Jail for Posting a Link? By Kevin Drum
Excerpt: ....“The YouTube video was a mistake, a big one,” said Gregg Housh, a friend of Mr. Brown’s who first introduced him to the activities of Anonymous [hacker collective]. “But it is important to remember that the majority of the 105 years he faces are the result of linking to a file. He did not and has not hacked anything, and the link he posted has been posted by many, many other news organizations.”
Excerpt: Top health care officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs apologized for a recent string of preventable patient deaths, but not for the big performance bonuses paid out afterwards, during a congressional field hearing in Pittsburgh Monday.
The Louisiana GOP gains a convert: Elbert Lee Guillory, Cajun noir. By Michael Warren
Excerpt: On May 31, Guillory became the first black Louisianan to serve at the state or federal level as a Republican since Reconstruction. In truth, he was a Republican before running for the statehouse in 2007, serving on the party’s St. Landry Parish committee and the state committee. But when he decided to run for office in his majority black, majority Democratic district, having an “R” by his name would have done him no favors.
Syria
Good Columns: Syria and Obama. By Thomas Sowell 
Excerpt: I cannot see why even a single American, a single Israeli or a single Syrian civilian should be killed as a result of a token U.S. military action, undertaken simply to spare Barack Obama the embarrassment of doing nothing, after his ill-advised public ultimatum to the Syrian government to not use chemical weapons was ignored. … Since so little real history is taught in even our prestigious colleges and universities, it may be worth noting how World War II -- the most catastrophic war in human history -- began.
Syria and Obama: Part II. By Thomas Sowell 
Excerpt: Chickens are coming home to roost for Barack Obama, both at home and overseas. When he first entered the White house, to worldwide acclaim, and backed by huge majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, he could do whatever he wanted -- and could do no wrong, in the eyes of the mainstream media.
Excerpt: President Obama on Monday called a Russian proposal for Syria to turn over control of its chemical weapons to international monitors in order to avoid a military strike a “potentially positive development,” that could represent a “significant breakthrough,” but he said he remains skeptical the Syrian government would follow through on its obligations based on its recent track record. (Alternative headline: Obama sees potential escape hatch from the box he put himself in. ~Bob)
Excerpt: Now Putin announces that the Russian deal on Syrian chemical weapons only works if there are no consequences for not honoring it:
Putin didn't save Obama, he beat him: With the Russion proposal on Syrian chemical weapons, the United States is being escorted out of the Middle East. By Lee Smith
Excerpt: By helping Obama out of a jam with Syria, Putin has made himself the senior partner to whom the White House is now beholden. Accordingly, when Putin proposes the same sort of deal with Iran, with Russia having established its bona fides as an interlocutor for Syria, Obama is almost certain to jump at it. What’s unclear is whether Obama understands that his foreign policy legacy will be to have ruined the American position in the Middle East, our patrimony of the last seven decades.
Remarks As Prepared for Delivery by National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice
But now Russia will help us. Right. ~Bob. Excerpt: Three times we negotiated for weeks over the most watered-down language imaginable. And three times, Russia and China doubled vetoed almost meaningless resolutions. Similarly, in the past two months, Russia has blocked two resolutions condemning the use of chemical weapons that did not even ascribe blame to any party. Russia opposed two mere press statements expressing concern about their use. A week after the August 21 gas attack, the United Kingdom presented a resolution that included a referral of war crimes in Syria to the International Criminal Court, but again the Russians opposed it, as they have every form of accountability in Syria.
Syria says yes to Russia-inspired chemical weapons deal
Excerpt: Syria on Tuesday said the government would take the deal proposed by Russia to turn over its chemical weapons cache to international control, the nation’s foreign minister said. (They should get three weeks out of this to hide their military stuff in civilian areas to protect against a strike. ~Bob.)
BREAKING: Harry Reid Cancels Senate Vote On Syrian Military Authorization. http://weaselzippers.us/2013/09/09/breaking-harry-reid-cancels-senate-vote-on-syrian-military-authorization/
Excerpt: McRINO devastated: Via NBC News: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is delaying a Senate test vote to authorize the use of force against the Syrian regime. Reid said Monday evening that he would not take a procedural step on the measure that would have officially begun the Senate’s debate, setting up a test vote on Wednesday.
Obama’s Farce: He sold his plan for bombing Syria on flawed political assumptions. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: I wish it were not true, but there is scant evidence that the world, led by the U.S., went to war in the past over the use of weapons of mass destruction — whether by Gamel Nasser in Yemen or by Saddam Hussein against the Kurds and the Iranians. Understandably, the current West’s reaction, including Obama’s, to possible Syrian WMD use is calibrated mostly on the dangers of intervention, not the use of WMD per se. 
The Amateur’s War. By Daniel Greenfield 
Excerpt: Syria would be Obama’s fourth war, but it might as well be his first war. The amateur has an impressive war machine that can level entire countries, but not the understanding of how to use it.
John Kerry stumbles on Syria sale. By Chris Cillizza
Excerpt: It’s been a rough past few days for Secretary of State John Kerry. Like, really rough.
Kerry promises ‘unbelievably small’ strike on Syria
Excerpt: That’s contrary to other reports from the Pentagon, where officers are reportedly planning a two or three-day campaign, complete with hundreds of strikes from ships and long-range bombers. (The General says we had :light casualties.” The 18-year-old kid with the sucking chest wound begs to differ. ~Bob. Today Kerry said a war with Syria will be "unbelievably small". Years ago when confronted with a similar situation, Bush said, "It will be shock and awe!"..............those too are different values and tactics. Nick)
Excerpt: France will float a resolution in the U.N. Security Council aimed at forcing Syria to make public its chemical weapons program, place it under international control and dismantle it, the French foreign minister said Tuesday. The French initiative comes a day after Russia, a fellow permanent member of the council that has been a key ally of Assad’s regime, expressed support for a proposal for Syria’s chemical weapons arsenals to be placed under international control and destroyed.
For Obama, Syria requires more than words. By Walter Pincus, Washington Post
Excerpt: If there is one common complaint about President Obama and the White House staff in their dealing with the Syrian crisis, it is the lack of preparation. International coalitions can’t be pulled together at the last minute. Getting foreign leaders to speak out on a common cause is hard. (You mean, on foreign affairs, he doesn’t get a trophy just for showing up? That’s racist! ~Bob.)
Opposition to Syria airstrikes rises as Republicans shift sharply against action
Excerpt: As President Obama launches a media blitz to build public support for a military strike against the Syrian government, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds Americans moving in the reverse direction, with Republicans leading a growing legion in opposition. (The Iraq boot is on the other foot. ~Bob.)
Belgian prisoner claims rebels used gas in Syria
It turns out this reporter was a supporter of the "democracy" movement ostensibly motivating the Free Syrian Army! Ideologically, he had every reason to support their cause and no reason to say that they were behind the nerve gas attack in Damascus. He was originally bitterly opposed to Assad. Yet he heard conversations, while in the company of the rebels, clearly indicating that the rebels themselves were behind the attacks, clearing Assad of the blame. Because he and his companions were prisoners at the time, he said they were extremely frustrated that they had information that could avert a possible war and could not get away to tell the world the truth. (Imagine his frustration when the world hears the truth but the power elites ignore it as usual). Please read the subtitles. –Don Hank (No blood sausages for the Belgians, the shirkers! [From Le Boudin, the March of the French Foreign Legion.] ~Bob)
New Obama Syria plan: all the domestic political trauma of a major war; all the geostrategic impact of bombing an aspirin factory
Excerpt: AsiaNews sources report anti-Christian violence and persecution in the village where people still speak Aramaic. Islamist insurgents have broken into homes and seized at least six young Greek-Catholics. Dead bodies are lying in the streets as a warning to the inhabitants. In Damascus, the local Church tries to help the refugees, but "many families have been stranded in their homes. Nothing is known about them."
Syria can shoot back, Mr. President 
Excerpt: As a Chinese warship joins Russian ships in the Mediterranean, we should remember a cruise missile attack on an Israeli warship. President Obama should understand that Syria and Hezbollah have missiles, too. As the Obama administration continues to deploy its comical weapons, with Secretary of State John Kerry promising America any attack on Syria will be "unbelievably small," a Chinese warship deploys off the Syrian coast, joining its Russian counterparts in what used to be an "American lake," the Mediterranean Sea.
Isolationists, Isolationists Everywhere. By Matt Purple
Excerpt: Large majorities of the American people are opposed to intervening in Syria. Screaming “Isolationist!” is meant to relegate someone to the fringe; it can’t be applied to more than 60 percent of the public.
Obama Concedes Defeat: Admits He Failed to Persuade Public to Support Attack on Syria, Says Getting Congressional Approval Will Take "A Couple Weeks"
Excerpt: Tingles blames racism for Obama’s humiliating defeat in 3… 2… 1.
Via Free Beacon: CHRIS WALLACE: But it’s going to take a couple of weeks?PRESIDENT OBAMA: I do believe it’s going to take some time. Chris, you guys have polls, you do head counts.
Good Column: Why Obama is Floundering. By Thomas Lifson
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/09/why_obama_is_floundering.html#!#ixzz2eR7srQor 
Excerpt: The sheer ineptitude of President Obama's handling of his Syria red line has made jaws drop all across the political spectrum. The man who garnered so much admiration for his oratorical brilliance, personal charm, and political genius has managed to make matters worse with every step he has taken. This dramatic and historic collapse demands explanation.
VIDEOS: Plight of Syrian Christians gets worse: Islamists seize control of beautiful and historic Christian town of Maaloula. By Madison Ruppert
Excerpt: Some fear that Maaloula might become a safe haven for rebels since the village is on a UNESCO list of tentative heritage sites and both the US and the Syrian government will not bomb it. It is home to Mar Sarkis and Mar Talka, two of the oldest surviving monasteries in Syria. (Obama’s moderate allies. ~Bob.)
Shorter Putin: "I just castrated Obama." RT @AFP BREAKING: Chemical weapons checks in Syria can go ahead if US renounces use of force: Putin
Connecticut’s Himes’ and Blumenthal’s Townhall on Syria Turned On Its Head By Mysterious “Agitator”
http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=202356
Excerpt: Just as Blumenthal was giving the crowd notice that he was going to leave, a mystery man in the back of the room yelled that they should poll the room to see if it would comport with their contention that they were not going against the grain in order to prop up an increasingly bizarre foreign policy being supplied by Barack Obama. A bit taken aback, Blumenthal and Himes hesitated before finally agreeing to do the poll. The room was 90% in favor of staying out of Syria’s civil war.
Compare and contrast: George W. Bush vs. Barack Obama on Syria
Excerpt: It is hard to imagine a sharper contrast between Obama’s approach on Syria and the one George W. Bush outlined in a signing statement a decade ago, when he signed the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003 on Dec. 12. Bush repeatedly used signing statements as levers to enhance his executive authority, and the Syria Accountability Act provides a vivid illustration of how closely he guarded the right to set U.S. foreign policy on his own terms.
Flailing Obama slumps to lowest ratings of his presidency. By Nile Gardiner
Excerpt: Obama’s disapproval stands at 54 percent, the highest negative rating he has received since taking office. There is no doubt that Obama’s handling of the Syria crisis, and his handling of foreign policy in general, is helping drive the president’s unpopularity. According to the Fox poll, 68 percent of likely voters believe the US “should not be more involved in Syria,” with just 26 percent in favour of greater involvement.
Obama hands the world to Putin. By Janet Daley
Excerpt: When I wrote in my last but one column that the only winner in the shambles that the West was making over its response to Syria would be Vladimir Putin, I had no idea how prescient that snide comment would turn out to be. So incompetent has the Obama White House been in its on-again, off-again action against the criminal despot Assad, and so eager is Barack Obama himself to find an exit from his own impasse, that Russia is being absurdly elevated to world saviour in a crisis which it has helped to create. Thanks to an ironic aside from John Kerry (obviously uttered with little thought that it could be taken seriously) to the effect that in the wildly unlikely event that Assad should hand over all his chemical weapons Syria could escape American attack, the US president has jumped gleefully off the hook. (Putin took Obama’s flexibility promise at face value, and has tied him in knots over Syria. ~Bob)
Syria Resolution is No Sure Thing in the Senate. Here's why. By Aaron Blake and Sean Sullivan
Excerpt: Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) on Monday became the sixth Senate Democrat to announce her opposition to the resolution. And by the end of the day, the number of senators opposed to or leaning against military action in Syria hit 33 — with 25 senators in favor. (See our handy-dandy whip count here.) So what are the prospects from here?
Wow: Senior Senate aide says Obama was short of 50 votes for Syria strike.
Excerpt: How bad has it gotten for The One? Quote: “In their private moments, Mr. Obama’s allies said even the argument that his presidency would for all intents and purposes be over did not sway some unsympathetic Democrats, frustrated over how few victories there have been to hang on to in Mr. Obama’s fifth year in office.”
Russia Does That Thing That Everyone Except the White House Brain Trust Knew They Were Going to Do
Excerpt: Obama has already secured the agreement of all American media figures to call the airing of the episode "bold" and "visionary."

No comments:

Post a Comment