op ed review 10/18

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

Democratic members of the House of Representatives now represent most of the nation's wealthiest people, a sharp turnaround from the long-standing dominance that Republicans have held over affluent districts.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-10-13-House-wealth-gap-Democrats-richest-districts_N.htm

The federal deficit for 2009 is now $1.42 trillion. The previous year's deficit was $459 billion. “What is $1.42 trillion? It's more than the total national debt for the first 200 years of the Republic, more than the entire economy of India, almost as much as Canada's, and more than $4,700 for every man, woman and child in the United States.” “it could be the seeds of another economic crisis.”

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091017/D9BCHP5O0.html

New Rasmussen poll: GOP 2012 presidential preference: : Huckabee 29% Romney 24% Palin 18%

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2012/gop_2012_huckabee_29_romney_24_palin_18

The Obama administration has loosened export controls on technology that will benefit Chinese missile development.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=509357

RINO watch: Conservative Republicans have begun sending bags of salt to Olympia Snowe's Maine office as part of a protest at her decision to break ranks and vote for a compromise version of Obama's health-care scheme. Salt is used on US roads to melt snow.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/republicans-use-icy-attack-on-renegade-20091015-gz97.html

According to most conservatives in South Carolina, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has officially gone over to the dark side. Under the guise of 'bipartisanship,' Graham has signed on to one of the left's most ambitious plans to impose a socialist agenda in America - government control of the formerly free market through implementation of cap-and trade.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/the_seduction_of_lindsey_graha_1.html

The AFL-CIO in a newspaper ad this week told the president and congressional Dems: If health care legislation doesn't include a public option, they won't support it. And if it does include a tax on their “gold-plated plans”, they'll oppose it.

http://townhall.com/columnists/LindaChavez/2009/10/16/unions_calling_in_their_chits?page=full

Sarah Palin fans can expect to see a new Palin political organization surface as her memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” hits the shelves next month.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/10/14/palin-plans-new-political-group/

The most popular headline at the Real Clear Politics website the other day was: “Is Obama Becoming A Joke?” With brilliant comedic timing, the very next morning the Norwegians gave him the Nobel Peace Prize. Up next: His stunning victory in this year’s Miss World contest.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Mjg1YWFkM2RiZWU2NzllMjZkMGJjNTY2NjkzZTMxYTg

This just in from the Pulitzer Committee. “Barack Obama will be awarded the prestigious prize for his writing in "The Audacity of Hope."

http://townhall.com/blog/g/f712ef05-9cf9-4c60-9261-6b407ab67e86

“Obama Wins Heisman Trophy!”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-09/obama-wins-heisman-trophy/full/

“In the rose garden last Friday, Barack Obama, with a deep sense of humility and in the name of all mankind, reluctantly accepted the Nobel Peace Prize committee's decision proclaiming him president of planet Earth. He will be sworn in at a glittering ceremony in Oslo in December. In the meantime, Obama has decided to retain the title and the powers of president of the United States,”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/217096

Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops, including those fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an analysis.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/15/troop-funds-diverted-to-pet-projects/

Fewer than one-third of Pennsylvania voters believe Senator Arlen Specter should be elected to another term...

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/10/14/New-poll-bad-news-for-Sen-Specter/UPI-89571255546351/

Nevadans say they're ready to replace Sen. Harry Reid with a Republican.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/two-could-beat-reid-poll-finds-63955312.html

At an apartment in Albany Oregon, residents were told they can't fly American flags. The reason: “..the flags could be offensive because they live in a diverse community.”

http://www.katu.com/news/local/64059697.html

Rush Limbaugh, who saw his bid to co-own a National Football League team sacked partly because of quotes he purportedly made regarding slavery, could have grounds for a libel suit, legal experts told Foxnews.com.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,566983,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a16:g2:r5:c0.070391:b28329240:z0

The plot thickens on the media’s character-lynching of Rush Limbaugh. Of the four stories ran on ESPN.com about Limbaugh’s bid for the Rams none of them mention that NFL Players Association Executive Director served as council to Attorney General Eric Holder and member of Barack Obama’s transition team.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/10/limbaugh_targeted_by_obama_off.html

Rush explains what happened:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704322004574477021697942920.html

Thousands of homosexual and lesbian activists marched through Washington after President Obama pledged to end the ban on gays serving openly in the US military. He also said he would work to undo America’s Defense of Marriage Act that allows states to refuse to recognise gay marriages from other states. “The president said he believed a gay relationship was ‘just as admirable as a relationship between a man and a woman'.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1219629/Obama-promises-cheering-crowd-Lady-GaGa-end-ban-gays-serving-openly-military.html

Great moments in socialized medicine: Ambulance paramedics in the UK battling to save a nine-year-old car crash victim were told the nearest back-up crew could not help as they were on their lunchbreak.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1220341/Ambulance-crew-barred-helping-girl-9-fractured-skull-having-lunch.html

A grandfather who beat cancer was wrongly told the disease had returned and left to die at a hospice which pioneered a controversial 'death pathway'. His family says he was denied food, water and medication except painkillers. He died within two weeks. But tests after his death found that his cancer was gone.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1219853/My-husband-beaten-cancer-doctors-wrongly-told-returned-let-die.html

Zero intelligence policies: Six-year-old Zachary Christie was so excited to become a Cub Scout that he brought his camping utensil to school. The tool serves as a spoon, a fork and a knife, and Zachary wanted to use it at lunch. What Zachary didn't know was that the gizmo violated his school's zero-tolerance policy on weapons.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,564605,00.html

And a 17-year-old Eagle Scout in upstate New York has been barred from stepping foot on school grounds for 20 days — for keeping a 2-inch pocketknife locked in a survival kit in his car.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,565520,00.html

A farmer in the UK has been fined £150 for 'failing to meet the psychological and ethological needs' of a cow. “ Ronald Norcliffe's offence was to keep his cattle in a barn without electric light.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/columnists/article-1220775/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-How-long-crime-Buttercup-dark-Richard-Norcliffe.html

A radical Muslim group has launched a massive campaign to impose Sharia law on Britain. The group is demanding a complete upheaval of the British legal system, its officials and legislation. Members have urged Muslims from all over Britain to converge on the capital.

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/134080

Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s eldest daughter Liz will launch a new group aimed at rallying opposition to the “radical” foreign policy of the Obama administration which it says has succeeded only in undermining the nation’s security.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28212.html

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Europe’s Bid to Re-Colonize America

Dick Morris 10/13

Whether it was rewarding Jimmy Carter for criticizing the Iraq War or supporting Al Gore in his crusade against global warming, the Norwegian Parliament — which chooses the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize — has sought to use the award as a political tool to influence American politics. Its prestige and moral power make the prize a potent weapon with which to help steer the direction of the colossus beyond the seas that controls a quarter of the world’s economy and most of its military power.

Now, the Norwegians have weighed in to support Barack Obama in his bid to reshape America so it looks more like, well, Norway — or at least like Europe.

European socialism cannot succeed without conquering the United States. If the European Union has high taxes and the U.S. keeps its levies low, business and brains will flow to America. If the EU’s labor standards require long vacations and high benefits and proscribe layoffs, and ours do not, employers will migrate across the ocean to do their business in the States. If the Old World curbs ambition by taxation, regulation and social opprobrium, the ambitious will flock to the New World, as they have done for four hundred years.

So, Vladimir Lenin was right. Socialism cannot exist in just one country — or one continent. It must dominate worldwide, or wealth and power will flow to those who remain committed to the free market. Europe realizes this reality, and it makes Obama’s election as president of the United States all the more welcome.

The Nobel Prize is really Obama’s payback for disciplining the unruly United States and taming it to be a member of the European family of nations. Europe wants to reverse the American Revolution and re-colonize us, and it sees in Obama a kindred spirit willing to do its bidding.

Does the United States let its entrepreneurs run wild, coming up with fanciful new ideas and making billions from them? Obama will regulate and subdue business just like they do in Europe. Do U.S. businesses compete by slashing prices, aggressively pursuing markets and jockeying for market share? Obama will make them behave themselves and stay in line, just like European companies do. Do Americans work hard and push aggressively to make as much money as they can? Obama will raise taxes, emphasize community values and narcotize their ambition by offering government largesse.

And does the United States still believe in a sloppy, contrarian democracy in which ordinary people can directly affect their government, states have powers and courts can reel in executive authority? Obama will use his rubber stamp majority in Congress to pass new laws regardless of public opinion and make us obey.

In foreign policy, is the United States still willing to stand up, alone if necessary, to protect human rights in Bosnia, in Iraq and in Afghanistan? Obama will curb this unruly independence and mold it within the fabric of appeasement that has dominated Europe for the past half a century.

All this heavy lifting, this conversion of America into a European state, deserves a reward. And what is a more fitting one to give Obama than the Nobel Peace Prize? He obviously doesn’t deserve the award for economics or, given his health care ideas, for medicine. But the Peace Prize expresses Europe’s longing: to take back the nation its overly ambitious and uppity children founded.

Edited from a longer column, read it here:

http://frontpagemag.com/2009/10/13/europes-bid-to-re-colonize-america-by-dick-morris/

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

“As we've said before, the Baucus bill will lead, inevitably, to higher taxes, lower-quality care, rationing and the intrusion of government into the most sensitive decisions we make. ... There are lines in the sand for both parties, and this bill should be one. A person can't support Baucus and still say he or she's for small, or limited, government. This is Leviathan writ large. ... The GOP must be wondering: With members like [Snowe], who needs Democrats?"

-Investor's Business Daily

"The best thing government can do for us is to get out of the way and let us care for ourselves. These [deficit] numbers are unsustainable. They are outrageous. And they will become a reality unless enough Americans rise up and say they are not going to take it anymore. It's our money, not theirs. They are now stealing it before we make it. Let's hear some outrage about this."

-Cal Thomas

"I'm not all for Americans winning international prizes, especially the Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, I'm vigorously against it. The transnational progressives who pass out these accolades believe America is the problem in the world, the main threat to peace, the impediment to 'progress,' etc. The award is a symbolic statement of opposition to American exceptionalism, American might, American capitalism, American self-determinism, and American pursuit of America's interests in the world."

-Andy McCarthy

"The Peace Prize judges won't see it this way, but America has gone to Europe twice in the past century to fight for peace. This is an old concept, and has to do with killing killers so they can't kill anymore. It cost America a lot to do this, and we kept no territory, as they say, beyond the graves where our soldiers lie. America then taxed itself and gave its wealth not only to its allies but to its former adversaries, to help them rebuild. We didn't actually have to do this. We did it to make the world better. We did it to foster peace. (They should give us a prize.)"

-Peggy Noonan

"Wherever there is a jackboot stomping on a human face there will be a well-heeled Western liberal to explain that the face does, after all, enjoy free health care and 100 percent literacy."

-John Derbyshire

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GLOBALONEY

The climate change correspondent of BBC News has admitted that global warming stopped in 1998 – and he reports that leading scientists believe that the earth’s cooling-off may last for decades. Whatever happened to global warming?” is the title of an article by Paul Hudson that represents a clear departure from the BBC’s fanatical espousal of climate change orthodoxy.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100013173/the-bbcs-amazing-u-turn-on-climate-change/

In the freezing foothills of Montana, the temperature has shattered a 36-year record. Further into the heartlands of America, the city of Billings registered -12C on Sunday, breaking the 1959 barrier of -5C.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1220052/Austria-sees-earliest-snow-history-America-sees-lowest-temperatures-50-years-So-did-global-warming-go.html?ITO=1490#

Record-low temperatures in southwestern Idaho are threatening to destroy at least a portion of this season's crop of seed potatoes.

http://www.missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_c1c13d5e-b6a4-11de-a09c-001cc4c002e0.html

Long-standing records were shattered as temperatures plummeted around North Central Washington.

http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2009/oct/12/record-cold-hits-region-snow-on-the-way/

Austria’s provincial capitals are expected to see their earliest snowfalls in history as Arctic air sweeps the country.

http://austriantimes.at/news/General_News/2009-10-12/17147/Early_snow_records_set_to_be_broken

How do you reconcile the early snow in Minneapolis, ski resorts already opening in Nevada, and that August chill in North Dakota with expert warnings about a warming climate? You don’t. Why? The Earth isn’t warming right now, is why.“The depth of the cold of the coming winters will change the social and political climate in ways that only nature can orchestrate,”

http://features.csmonitor.com/discoveries/2009/10/10/biggest-news-youve-never-heard-earth-isnt-warming/

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BOOKS

Lots of climate change skeptics have written books:

“Blue Planet in Green Shackles” by Vaclav Klaus "The largest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy, and prosperity at the end of the 20th and at the beginning of the 21st century is no longer socialism," writes Klaus. "It is, instead, the ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous ideology of environmentalism."

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Green-Shackles-Vaclav-Klaus/dp/B001A3W3BK

“Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies that Hurt the Poor” by Roy Spencer “….distinguished climatologist Dr. Roy Spencer observes that our obsession with global warming has only clouded the issue. Forsaking blindingly technical statistics and doomsday scenarios, Dr. Spencer explains in simple terms how the climate system really works, why man's role in global warming is more myth than science, and how the global warming hype has corrupted Washington and the scientific community”

http://www.amazon.com/Climate-Confusion-Pandering-Politicians-Misguided/dp/1594032106/ref=pd_sim_b_2

“The Really Inconvenient Truths: Seven Environmental Catastrophes Liberals Don't Want You to Know About--Because They Helped Cause Them” by Iain Murray “…Murray's rollicking expose reveals how environmental blowhards waste more energy, endanger more species, and actually kill more people than the environmental villains they finger.”

http://www.amazon.com/Really-Inconvenient-Truths-Environmental-About-Because/dp/1596980540/ref=pd_sim_b_1

“Global Warming False Alarm: The Bad Science Behind the United Nations' Assertion that Man-made CO2 Causes Global Warming” by Ralph B. Alexander “Years ago, he was inclined to believe the "general wisdom" about the problem. His diametrically opposite conclusions are a result of his long research of the problem. And his pride of a scientist has been hurt. Climatology has become an ugly example of a scientific discipline that has largely ceased to be scientific.”

http://www.amazon.com/Global-Warming-False-Alarm-Assertion/dp/0984098909/ref=pd_sim_b_5

“Air Con: The Seriously Inconvenient Truth About Global Warming” by Ian Wishart. “Wishart's book demonstrates that there is not the slightest scientific reason for the new, quasi-religious belief that The Planet needs Saving. The new religion is merely an excuse for world government. World government will not, repeat not, be democratic government. The 'global warming' debate is not really a debate about climatology - it is a debate about freedom. It is the aim of the growing world-government faction among the international classe politique to take away our hard-won freedom and democracy forever.”

http://www.amazon.com/Air-Con-Seriously-Inconvenient-Warming/dp/0958240140/ref=pd_sim_b_1

“Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Control Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them” by Steven Milloy. The environmental movement has cultivated a warm and fuzzy public image, but behind the smiley-face rhetoric of "sustainability" and "conservation" lies a dark agenda. The Greens aim to regulate your behavior, downsize your lifestyle, and invade the most intimate aspects of your personal life. In this stunning exposé, Steve Milloy unveils the authoritarian impulse underlying the Green crusade. Whether they're demanding that you turn down your thermostat, stop driving your car, or engage in some other senseless act of self-denial, the Greens are envisioning a grim future for you marked by endless privation.

http://www.amazon.com/Green-Hell-Environmentalists-Plan-Control/dp/1596985852/ref=pd_sim_b_4

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LEFTIST WATCH

The rogue’s gallery: The following thumbnails describe a very small sampling of the locust horde of Leftist bureaucrats President Barack Hussein Obama has deliberately chosen to help him grasp the helm of America's ship of state, strip it from the American people, and steer it hard to port.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/ship_of_fools_obamas_intimates.html

MSNBC’s loathsome Keith Olbermann said Michelle Malkin looks like a “big mashed up bag of meat with lipstick” and railed about her “fascistic hatred.” Liberal viewers responded by sending her vulgar hate mail. (Foul language warning)

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/10/14/this-is-what-a-big-mashed-up-bag-of-meat-with-lipstick-looks-like/

Rep. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, to comment, “I think we’re seeing a common DNA run through the Obama (judicial) nominees, and that’s the ACLU chromosome.”

http://townhall.com/columnists/JillianBandes/2009/10/16/aclu_pipeline_for_obama_judges?page=full

Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize Friday shocked the world. But a peek at the backgrounds of the five people who made the selection gives a clue why the prize panel would be so favorably disposed to Obama – three of them would be considered hard-left liberals in American politics. One of those belongs to Norway’s Socialist Left party.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28138.html

ACORN or not, the 2010 census will be an organizing tool for the American Left. Here is a partial list of other census partners, according to the Census website. Among them: AFL-CIO, National Council of La Raza, SEIU, NEA, The Teamster’s Union...etc.

http://biggovernment.com/2009/10/10/2010-census-still-a-boondoggle-for-the-left/

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ARTICLES

Some mistakenly think a Senate panel vote means health reform will soon become law. Is it really that easy to take $26,000 a year away from the average American family?

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=508832

Top democrat lets the cat out of the bag: "We're going to have to, if you're very old, we're not going to give you all that technology and all those drugs for the last couple of years of your life to keep you maybe going for another couple of months. It's too expensive...so we're going to let you die." In fact it came from the very liberal former Labor Secretary Robert Reich who is now an economics adviser for Barack Obama.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2009/10/13/robert-reich-reveals-brutal-health-care-truths-msm-snores

“I have been a faithful Rush Limbaugh radio show listener for almost 20 years. I have never heard Rush make one racist comment. As a matter of fact, I am a black man who has been inspired and encouraged by Rush on numerous occasions. I am highly offended watching the liberal media's all out assault on this great American…..”

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/if_rush_limbaugh_is_a_racist_a.html

While the energy of the anti-tax and anti-big government Tea Party movement may yet haunt Democrats in 2010, the first order of business appears to be remaking the Republican Party. Tea Party forces are confronting the Republican establishment by backing insurgent conservatives and generating their own candidates….

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28157.html

The Nobel committee may have chosen President Obama as the Peace Prize winner because of its hopes for his impact on the world -- but his top achievement so far has come at home. Indeed, Obama has been on a roll. In nine months, he has breathed life into the Republican Party, boosted pro-lifers, tarnished the reputation of regulation, bolstered traditional values, increased the public's desire for immigration restriction and shifted

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/why_the_gop_should_give_prize_4POGGHqMOW0OLzsXz7Cf9K

Is President Obama in trouble with his late-night comedy base? It’s likely he hasn’t noticed or doesn’t care. The bits about him are getting harsher. They are no longer just gentle gibes about Bo the dog, big ears, bad bowling and beer summits.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/weekinreview/11leibovich.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

Andy Thomas the painter: “The Grand Ol’ Gang”

http://www.andythomas.com/images/design/2008Grand%20Ol%20Gang.jpg

The best painting of The Gipper you’ll ever see:

http://www.andythomas.com/detail.aspx?ID=49

The Republican National Committee debuted its newly redesigned online portal this week.

http://gop.com/

The Canada Free Press: “Espousing Conservative viewpoints, cornerstone of which contain love of God, love of family, love of country, CFP maintains a loyal and growing readership.”

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/About-us/

Target Corp. had to apologize after coming under fire for selling an "illegal alien" Halloween costume on its website. The $39.99 costume comes with a space alien mask, an orange jail suit with "illegal alien" stamped on the chest and a large "green card."

http://www.target.com/gp/search/191-0630813-4254004?field-keywords=illegal+alien&url=index%3Dtarget%26search-alias%3Dtgt-index&ref=sr_bx_1_1&x=259&y=18

Top ten Obama quotes:

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/10/top-quotes-from-this-years-nobel-peace.html

Tracing the “History of political correctness”

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8630135369495797236&ei=kJDWSvKsJ4ewwgOnheH_Cg&q=history+of+political+correctness&hl=en

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WISE WORDS

"The essential characteristic of Western civilization that distinguishes it from the arrested and petrified civilizations of the East was and is its concern for freedom from the state."

-Ludwig von Mises

"After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd."

-Alexis de Tocqueville