Saturday's Web

The contents of these articles are based on Fact and Truth.  Challenges are invited. 

The day’s top political news:

Guantanamo prison may have to stay open until 2011

President Barack Obama's commitment to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by next month may be delayed until 2011 because it will take months for the government to buy an Illinois prison and upgrade it to hold suspected terrorists.

Lawmakers in both parties have been wary of bringing detainees to the United States. Attorney General Eric Holder already has decided that self-declared 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others will be tried in federal court in New York City.

In the Senate, a spokesman for Republican leader Mitch McConnell promised that the GOP would use delaying tactics to prevent funding the Illinois facility and added that he expected support from Democrats.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091224/D9CPJJK80.html

Furor Erupts Over Atheist Display At State Capitol

A conservative activist and Illinois comptroller candidate was escorted from the Illinois State Capitol building Wednesday when he tried to remove a sign put up by an atheist group.

Comptroller Candidate William J. Kelly announced Tuesday that he planned to take down the sign put up by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, and on Wednesday, he tried to make good on his plan.

Kelly calls the sign "hate speech," and says he does not believe it is appropriate for a sign that "mocks" religion to be placed next to a Christmas tree and also near a nativity scene.

http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/capitol.atheist.display.2.1387754.html

Sen John Kerry Floats Plan to Visit Tehran

Visiting US enemies has been a Kerry policy since he met with Vietnamese Communists during that war as well.  Many see such meetings as treasonous.

The Obama White House says it will not object to Kerry’s going to Iran

Kerry has suggested becoming the first high-level U.S. emissary to make a public visit to Tehran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126161465189603571.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird

Opinion:
When the Holly and Cedar are cleared away, it will be time for serious political action

It can be expected that Democrats will not be rushing to hold town meetings now they are at home in the wake of passage of their health care scheme.  Why would any group of politicians put themselves at further risk?

When they finally return, toward the waning days of January, the election campaign of 2010 will be cranking up.  From indications signaled by Democrats in Washington, they have no idea of their growing unpopularity at home.

Democrats are falling apart.  A trickle of retirements threatens to become a river, and there are early signs of outright defections.  The first being freshman Democrat Congressman Parker Griffith last week.

Griffith is now an avowed Republican, but the folks he represents are not embracing his conversion.  As Republican blogger Hugh McInnish – a former Republican candidate for the office, himself, intones:

 “According to the local press Griffith has some $800,000 in his war chest. The same report also says what was already widely known: Much of the money comes from Paul Hubbert & Co., Alabama's most infamous liberal lobbyist. And here is the stark, awful meaning of that: If the imposter Griffith is allowed into our primary he will bring with him nearly $1,000,000 of ultra-liberal dollars which he will use to combat proven, legitimate conservatives. Need I remind you that, in addition to all else, this man is the Vice-Chairman of the Alabama Democrat Party?

Just think of it! THE MONEY OF OUR ARCH-ENEMY, THE VICE CHAIR OF THE PARTY WHICH SUPPORTS SO MUCH OF THAT WE ABHOR, BEING USED AGAINST US IN OUR OWN PRIMARY! Surely, surely we are not such wimps as can accept this! “

McInnish is not alone in his response to the party switch.  There was already at least one Republican planning to run in that very primary.  There will be a lot of sorting out of this situation.  Meanwhile, other Democrats are said to be considering a party switch.

Given the current political circumstances, Republicans don’t have to embrace these one  time opponents, and they may be providing serious opposition to them if there are viable candidates who are also real Republicans. 

McInnish adds:

“In a remarkable dash of chutzpah and hypocrisy Griffith says he ''will return'' a contribution to any donor who may ask for it. And how many might that be? One percent? -- oh well, one and one-half percent, then.

"Should Griffith have a sudden attack of sincerity, there is something that he can do. He can return all of his money, every penny of it, to Mr. Hubbert and his liberal gang without being asked."

McInnish concludes: "To my surprise some of my conservative friends have been citing Griffith's hypocritical offer in argument that we should admit him to our primary. Alas! How deep can the political naiveté go even among our educated republicans? Our very own people falling for such a transparent ploy? It's a little embarrassing.”

Republicans will begin this campaign period in a far better environment than the last one.  They need not act timidly as they craft their strategy.  The current atmosphere also suggests “moderate” Republican incumbents must also take care.  As the Senate race in Florida shows – with incumbent governor Charles Crist seemingly beginning to fade as conservative Marco Rubio’s poll figures climb --  moderates must understand they may be at risk as well.

Democrats seem unable to grasp the political meaning of the Tea Party Protest movement.  Republicans need to make sure they read those signs accurately as well.

Buddy

The day’s top blogs:

1.

http://www.politico.com/livepulse/1209/Dems_not_worried_about_postvote_backlash_at_home.html?showall

Dems not worried about post-vote backlash at home

Democrats today have repeatedly expressed a confidence that they won't face a backlash for their votes when they return home for the holidays, which would stand in marked contrast to the August recess.

"This is a happy day. (Senate Republican Leader) Mitch McConnell said on the floor that we're going to go home and hear our constituents rail against this bill. I don't believe that. I believe that the negativity that Leader McConnell and others have continually displayed on the floor has peaked, and now when people learn what's actually in the bill—and all the good it does—it is going to become more and more popular because it is good for America, good for the American people, and a true symbol of what we can do if we all pull together," said Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer.

On the floor before the vote, Majority Leader Harry Reid said, "We're going to hear an earful, but it's going to be an earful of wonderment and happiness that people waited for for a long time."

With Meredith Shiner

Investors.com - 2009: The Year Of Living Fecklessly
Charles Krajuthammer,  FOX

If the US government allows Kalifornia to bankrupt the poop is going to hit the fan. I don't know if our fed has the ability to stop the cascade in the financial markets that will be world wide. We are talking about a million people who will be without income and who soon will be without food. There is an additional 2 million who will have funds but may or may not be able to buy food.

The state will be ruined, wrecked beyond repair in it's present form. There will be about a 72 hour window to stabilize the situation after that it will take military force to restore order. Our gubinator is telling everyone who cares to listen how bad things really are. People need to pay attention. Ca will have a 20 Billion dollar + shortfall this year. It will soon after begin to default on bond payments. Obama was elected because he was black. He will fail because he was and is unqualified for the job.

The free and independent Republic Of Texas might be a good place to be. It looks like Kalifornia is headed for bankruptcy. This could be a very interesting year, the year that the first black president led us to the point of devolving into several smaller independent nations.

Well, they all said they wanted change.... I wonder at what point the socialists in the major cities are going to realize that they can not produce the food, water, fuel, or power necessary to sedate and placate the minority welfare masses in their midst.
 
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=516288

Copenhagen a disappointment to savor and celebrate
George Will

It was serendipitous to have almost simultaneous climaxes in Copenhagen and Congress.

It would have been unprecedented had the president not described the outcome of the Copenhagen climate change summit as “unprecedented,” that being the most overworked word in his hardworking vocabulary of self-celebration. Actually, the mountain beneath the summit — a mountain of manufactured hysteria, predictable cupidity, antic demagoguery and dubious science — labored mightily and gave birth to a mouselet, a 12-paragraph document committing the signatories to make a list. A list of the goals they have no serious intention of trying to meet.

The document even dropped the words “as soon as possible” from its call for a binding agreement on emissions.

The 1992 Rio climate summit begat Kyoto. It, like Copenhagen, which Kyoto begat, was “saved,” as Copenhagen was, by a last-minute American intervention (Vice President Al Gore’s) that midwifed an agreement that most signatories evaded for 12 years. The Clinton-Gore administration never submitted Kyoto’s accomplishment for ratification, the Senate having denounced its terms 95-0.

Copenhagen will beget Mexico City next November. Before then, Congress will give “the international community” other reasons to pout. Congress will refuse to burden the economy with cap-and-trade requirements, and will spurn calls for sending billions in “climate reparations” to China and other countries. Representatives of those nations, when they did not have their hands out in Copenhagen grasping for America’s wealth, clapped their hands in ovations for Hugo Chavez and other kleptocrats who denounced capitalism while clamoring for its fruits.

At least the president got a health care bill through the Senate. But what problem does it “solve” (Obama’s word)? Not that of the uninsured, 23 million of whom will remain in 2019. Not that of rising health care spending. This will rise faster over the next decade.

The legislation does solve the Democrats’ “problem” of figuring out how to worsen the dependency culture and the entitlement mentality that grows with it. By 2016, families with annual incomes of $96,000 will get subsidized health insurance premiums.

Nebraska’s Ben Nelson voted for the Senate bill after opposing both the Medicare cuts and taxes on high-value insurance plans — the heart of the bill’s financing. Arkansas’ Blanche Lincoln, Indiana’s Evan Bayh and Virginia’s Jim Webb voted against one or the other.

Yet they support the bill. They will need mental health care to cure their intellectual whiplash.

Before equating Harry Reid to Henry Clay, understand that buying 60 Senate votes is a process more protracted than difficult. Reid was buying the votes of senators whose understanding of the duties of representation does not rise above looting the nation for local benefits. And Reid had two advantages — the spending, taxing and borrowing powers of the federal leviathan, and an almost gorgeous absence of scruples or principles.

Principles are general rules, such as: Nebraska should not be exempt from burdens imposed on the other 49 states. Principles have not, however, been entirely absent: Nebraska’s Republican Gov. Dave Heineman and Republican Sen. Mike Johanns have denounced the state’s exemption from expanded Medicaid costs.

The exemption was one payment for Nelson’s vote to impose the legislation on Nebraskans, 67 percent of whom oppose it.

The House voted for Rep. Bart Stupak’s provision preserving the ban on public funding of abortions.

 Nelson, an untalented negotiator, unnecessarily settled for much less. The House also supports a surtax on affluent Americans, and opposes the steep tax on some high-value health insurance. So to get the bill to the president’s desk, the House, in conference with the Senate, may have to shrug and say: Oh, never mind.

Comments

[Ohiojeans]

by scrapthiscrap.blogspot.com

Has Kerry gone completely insane.Instead of lending support to the people in Iran begging for democracy he will go for a photo op with axhmedinijad. What good can come out from such a meeting? How will the world be a better place?