Better Living through Lawyers

Better Living through Lawyers

Trial Lawyers Sue McDonald’s over Monopoly Game

December 20, 2011

Here’s the latest episode in the series “Why People Hate Lawyers”. It is also yet more evidence of why the United States legal system is in drastic need of reform.

We don’t know about you, but we enjoy the McDonald’s Monopoly game. For those who haven’t played, here’s how it works. You buy a Big Mac, large fries, smoothie, Egg McMuffin or Chicken McNuggets and you get a game card. Scratch off the game card and you might win something. It might be a free Big Mac, medium fries, smoothie, or other non-food prizes like gift cards or cash. And the great thing is — we were going to buy that Big Mac anyway. The freebie is fun and makes it even better. Easy right?

Well, not for the attorneys in the plaintiffs’ bar. It seems that a bunch of class action attorneys figured that the McDonald’s contest, which millions of people enjoy, might be an easy way for the lawyers to make some big money.

So they sued, claiming that the Monopoly game violates something called the “Illinois Prizes and Gifts Act.”

They dusted off this obscure Illinois law, no doubt intended to protect consumers from unscrupulous contest scammers and rip-off artists, and decided they could use the statute to extort McDonald’s.

The lawyers allege that the little McDonald’s game pieces with the cute Monopoly man lack nine disclosures required in any “written promotional prize offer” under Illinois law. So, their argument goes, without that fine-print, the plaintiffs suffered a loss and are entitled to money damages.

Let’s get this right. The lawsuit argues that because McDonald’s didn’t squeeze all 9 random disclosure items onto that little card, the plaintiffs were harmed and are entitled to big bucks.

Just what kind of harm are we talking about? Indigestion? Would that McDonald’s customer not have ordered that Big Mac had he been given all 9 legal disclosure items on that little Monopoly game card? Does anyone even read that language?

And what is the societal wrong that this lawsuit is aiming to fix? Absolutely none. It is a lawyer shakedown, designed to extract a rich settlement from deep-pocketed McDonald’s.

And who will benefit? The attorneys of course. The lawyers will make millions in legal fees while each “suffering” plaintiff will receive literally pennies.

And 100% of the cost of the settlement will be passed on to — you guessed it – McDonald’s customers.

So, the plaintiffs will each make about twelve cents, the class action attorneys will make millions, and McDonald’s customers will pay for it all in higher prices. The public will lose again when companies like McDonald’s, afraid of lawsuits, stop running these fun promotions.

Better living through attorneys.

Now more than ever the United States legal system needs to be overhauled. Adopt the English system where the loser pays (a version of the English rule was recently adopted in Texas). Make the loser pay the winner’s legal fees and court costs, and the bulk of these frivolous lawsuits will disappear overnight.

Obama on Jobs: It’s Tech’s Fault

It's all Tech's Fault

Obama Blames Technology

December 19, 2011

At his recent speaking event in Osawatomie, Kansas (as always, his campaign trip funded by you, the taxpayer), President Obama once again cast blame for the nation’s woes on someone other than himself. This time it’s technology’s fault.

Here is what the-buck-stops-anywhere-but-here President had to say about his administration’s inability to create jobs:

“Layoffs too often became permanent, not part of the business cycle. And these changes didn’t just affect blue collar workers. If you were a bank teller or a phone operator or a travel agent, you saw many in your profession replaced by ATMs and the Internet.”

So, three years into his hope and change Presidency, Mr. Obama is blaming technology and innovation for the continued joblessness. Rather than tout entrepreneurship, innovation and American exceptionalism which has brought us such recent tech-related job creators as Google, Facebook, and Twitter, the Downer-in-Chief blames ATMs and the Internet for his administration’s failure to create jobs.

Last month’s jobs report indicated that the unemployment rate had dropped to 8.6% for the month of November. However, with only 125,000 new jobs reported in the private sector, most of the statistical improvement in the unemployment percentage was due to a 315,000 increase in the number of discouraged Americans no longer looking for work. Since the denominator in the unemployment rate calculation is reduced by this number of Americans theoretically dropping out of the workforce, the resulting fraction shows a statistical reduction in the overall unemployment rate.

Indeed, if you add back to the denominator the number of Americans who have stopped looking for work since Mr. Obama took office, the current unemployment rate would be at 11%.

This might be the key to Mr. Obama’s reelection strategy: rather than reverse course and abandon the big government, increased regulation, and higher tax policies that have so devastated the U.S. economy, President Obama will continue to create a labor situation so dire that more and more Americans lose hope and give up looking for work. The resulting reduction in the unemployment calculation denominator as increasing numbers of discouraged Americans leave the work force will make the unemployment percentage look statistically better.

The Obama administration and its media cheerleaders will boast that the President’s policies are working, even as outrageous numbers of American workers continue to suffer.

Incredibly disingenuous strategy to assure four more devastating years in office, but not beyond the capacity of what has been an incredibly disingenuous administration.

Latest Polling Data Show Challenges for President Obama

Conservative Blogs

Latest Poll Data suggests 24/7 Campaigning is not Working

October 26, 2011

CBS News is at it again.  The polling experts at the Columbia Broadcasting Network continue to cheer lead President Obama in his 24/7 campaign to inflict his administration on our country for another four years.

Were the President to pull this election out, we can only imagine the further, permanent damage he would inflict on our economy, social fabric and identity as Americans.  We’re already hearing the Obama apologists who claim that sub-3% growth, high-single digit unemployment, a devalued dollar and high energy prices are the new norm.  How much more would such defeatism, once anathema to the  American spirit, become further fixed, perhaps unalterably, during a second Obama term?

Well, CBS continues to release polling data which is at odds with the polling results issued by every other legitimate polling service.  This time around, CBS coordinates its polling with that other non-biased, non-agenda-driven distributor of the news – the New York Times.  “All the News that’s Fit to Print”, with the fitness determined not by the journalism standards once followed by this formerly-great publication, but rather by whether or not the news helps their guy and hurts the other.

Despite weeks of campaigning at taxpayer expense, the President has done little to improve his poll numbers.  He continues to hand out bread and circuses, trying to rally college student support with some de minimis modifications to the student loan program; the hard left with a withdrawal of all troops from Iraq (rejecting the recommendations of his military advisers,  jeopardizing our troops’ hard-fought achievements to date, and rewarding Iran for their most recent plot to murder the Saudi ambassador (and anyone else standing nearby) on US soil) and a draw-down in Afghanistan at the height of the fighting season (but conveniently right before the 2012 election); unions with his cynically-named “American Jobs Act” (words such as “stimulus” and “shovel-ready jobs” have been poll-tested out of this administration’s vocabulary); and proponents of big government everywhere with his revival of the already failed mortgage modification program (why should we think that the mess caused by government intervention in the housing market can be fixed by more government intervention in the housing market?).

The latest polling data suggests that despite the hand-outs, demagoguery, and non-stop campaigning, the public is on to this administration and its agenda.

Here is today’s polling data from RealClearPolitics:

Polling Data

Poll Date Sample Approve Disapprove Spread
RCP Average 10/13 – 10/25 – 43.8 51.0 -7.2
Gallup 10/23 – 10/25 1500 A 42 50 -8
Rasmussen Reports 10/23 – 10/25 1500 LV 43 55 -12
CBS News/NY Times 10/19 – 10/24 1650 A 46 46 Tie
Democracy Corps (D) 10/15 – 10/18 1000 LV 40 53 -13
Associated Press/GfK 10/13 – 10/17 1000 A 46 52 -6
CNN/Opinion Research 10/14 – 10/16 1007 A 46 50 -4

See All President Obama Job Approval Polling Data

 

President Obama’s Sinking Poll Numbers

Obama's Poll NumbersPresident Obama’s Poll Numbers Continue to Sink – but not at CBS

October 6, 2011

There is a scene in the charming 1942 film “I Married a Witch” where to prove her witchly powers to skeptical politician Fredric March, lovestruck Veronica Lake magically changes the ballot results to votes for Mr. March. It seems that some members of the similarly lovestruck Obama media feel compelled to resort to similar chicanery to make things looks not quite so bad for their candidate.

Here are today’s job approval results for President Obama as reported by RealClearPolitics:

Poll Date Sample Approve Disapprove Spread
RCP Average 9/23 – 10/5 – 42.4 52.0 -9.6
Gallup 10/3 – 10/5 1500 A 40 52 -12
Rasmussen Reports 10/3 – 10/5 1500 LV 42 56 -14
Quinnipiac 9/27 – 10/3 2118 RV 41 55 -14
ABC News/Wash Post 9/29 – 10/2 1002 A 42 54 -12
CBS News 9/28 – 10/2 1012 A 44 44 Tie
FOX News 9/25 – 9/27 925 RV 43 51 -8
CNN/Opinion Research 9/23 – 9/25 1010 A 45 52 -7

See All President Obama Job Approval Polling Data

One set of polling results seems anomalous, possibly reflecting more the pollsters’ wishful thinking than proper statistical methods.

The polling data show a lot of red, as far greater percentages of respondents disapprove than approve of Mr. Obama’s job performance. The one exception is CBS, which reflects an equal percentage of voters approving as disapproving of Mr. Obama’s job performance. In fact, looking further into the RealClearPolitics results, we find an unbroken sting of red poll results since July 11 — each and every poll reflecting negative numbers for the President.  Unbroken red but for the CBS tie. That’s a long stretch of bad numbers for Mr. Obama.

CBS may want to look into its poll-taking methodology, which seems to have skewed the results to make things look not so bleak for Mr. Obama. Then again, CBS’s voter sampling may have been disproportionately Democrat, or possibly was limited to only respondents in CBS’s own newsroom.

S&P Downgrades, Obama Speaks, Markets Plummet

The President Speaks and the Stock Market Plummets

Obama Speaks, Market PlummetsAugust 8, 2011

S&P downgraded U.S. long-term debt from AAA to AA+ late Friday night, the first such downgrade in our nation’s history. The ratings downgrade was yet another condemnation of the out-of-control spending by this administration, which has tripled the deficit in only two and one-half years.

The President was oddly silent about the S&P action over the weekend, not even mentioning the downgrade in his Saturday morning radio address. Instead, the administration sent its propagandists to the Sunday news shows, carrying the message that the S&P downgrade was caused not by the spend-like-a-drunken sailor administration which has run up the public debt to a mind-boggling 72% of the gross domestic product, but instead was caused by … get this … the Tea Party. How stupid do they think we are?

The market reacted predictably to the downgrade, plummeting over 200 points in the morning trading session. With no fundraisers on his schedule until later this evening (when two are on tap), Mr. Obama determined to take firm and decisive action. He would make another speech.

For an administration whose profligate spending is driving our nation into insolvency, these frequent teleprompter reads by Mr. Obama are being met with increasing skepticism by the financial community.

The President began today’s statement by pronouncing that the S&P downgrade was “not so much because they doubt our ability to pay our debt if we make good decisions, but because after witnessing a month of wrangling over raising the debt ceiling, they doubted our political system’s ability to act.” Who could doubt the administration’s stalwart handling of the economy? Clearly, the downgrade must be the fault of those who dared to question the President’s ability to spend us into oblivion. Yes, the Tea Party is to blame. Say it enough times, say it with conviction, say it with professorial certainty and a gullible public will believe it.

The President continued, “We didn’t need a rating agency to tell us that the gridlock in Washington over the last several months has not been constructive, to say the least.” Yes, while the Democrats had overwhelming majorities in the Senate and the House, plus the Presidency, we got such “constructive” things as Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, and an $800 billion failed stimulus. How are these working out? If not for the voters saying “enough is enough” and electing a majority of Republicans in the House – unfortunately only half of one branch of government – who knows what additional “constructive” things the economic whiz kids in the White House would have done.

And lest you think that the administration’s out-of-control spending is at all to blame for our fiscal crisis, and just in case you missed him the first time, the President continued to cast blame on those who would seek to deny him a carte blanche with taxpayer’s money. “We knew from the outset that a prolonged debate over the debt ceiling — a debate where the threat of default was used as a bargaining chip — could do enormous damage to our economy and the world’s.” So, let’s get this right. It is the threat of default, rather than the cause of default, that does enormous damage to the economy? And these are the people we should trust to run our economy? Again, how stupid do they think we are?

And always quick to pass the buck and blame the nation’s economic woes on anything but this administration’s own inept stewardship of the economy, the President went on to attribute the recent market collapse and nation’s anemic growth to the “threat [of default -- caused by the Tea Party, of course], coming after a string of economic disruptions in Europe, Japan and the Middle East, has now roiled the markets and dampened consumer confidence and slowed the pace of recovery.” This buck-stops-there administration never takes responsibility. Never.

And making it clear that he’s no ideologue, the President distinguished himself from those who are too stubborn to compromise: “it’s not a lack of plans or policies that’s the problem here. It’s a lack of political will in Washington. It’s the insistence on drawing lines in the sand, a refusal to put what’s best for the country ahead of self-interest or party or ideology. And that’s what we need to change.” This from a President who during the discussion of possible spending cuts (to which he was dragged kicking and screaming), declared off-limits the $1 trillion health-care reform, $128 billion in unspent stimulus funds, $53 billion in high-speed rail funding, student loans, and “green” jobs among other ideological pet projects. Again, no ideology on the part of this President.

The President went on to use some filler from his previous empty jobs speeches, renewing his push for another payroll tax cut (we did one back in December and we’re still at a 9.1% unemployment rate) and for extending unemployment benefits. The President added this whopper: “In fact, if Congress fails to extend the payroll tax cut and the unemployment insurance benefits that I’ve called for, it could mean 1 million fewer jobs and half a percent less growth.” Huh? The speechwriters outdid themselves with the crafty wording on this one. Let’s see. Mr. Obama is not promising 1 million more jobs or a half percent rise in GDP. But if Congress does not extend the payroll tax cut and continue unemployment benefits, they, and not the President or his policies, will be to blame if the economy loses another 1 million jobs and the GDP drops another half a percent. Such a sentence can only be read by one with contempt for the intelligence of his audience.

Oh yes. The President went on to re-propose that old chestnut of further investment in infrastructure (some of those phantom shovel-ready jobs missed by the 2009 stimulus no doubt) as the final piece of his fix-the-economy solution.

In other words, this administration doesn’t have a clue how to fix the economy, and is proposing more of the same from its initial, profoundly destructive, two and one-half years in office.

But CNN was apparently impressed. They reported: “President Barack Obama presented a reassuring assessment of the U.S. economic situation Monday, calling the country’s problems “‘imminently solvable’.”

The markets were less impressed, plummeting with each platitude pouring from the President’s mouth. The Dow closed down 635 points on the day, while the Nasdaq lost an even more whopping 175 points. The S&P 500 is now down about 16% since July 22, as the markets have lost all confidence in the ability of this administration to control its spendthrift ways.

Please, please, Mr. President. No more reassuring assessments. Please stop doing to our 401Ks what you have already done to the nation’s economy.

Obama’s Plummeting Poll Numbers

July 25, 2011

Obama Poll Numbers Plummet

Obama Poll NumbersWith the nation in the throes of a debt ceiling crisis which has all but put a fork in President Obama’s disastrous tenure as United States chief executive, Mr. Obama’s poll numbers continue to plummet. The short-lived upward spike in the President’s approval numbers in the wake of the Osama bin Laden killing and Mr. Obama’s subsequent victory lap has now flattened, and Rasmussen, Gallup et al. again reflect a nation deeply dissatisfied with Mr. Obama’s job performance.

Today’s RealClearPolitics poll summary reflects a whole lot of red, a color appropriate for an administration which has brought us, among other things, annual deficits of $1.5 trillion, a 9.2% unemployment rate, 0.4% and 1.3% quarterly GDP, a $787 billion failed stimulus, Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, and a general regulatory assault on American prosperity.

Here are today’s RealClearPolitics numbers:

Poll Date Sample Approve Disapprove Spread
RCP Average     7/14 – 7/25       –     45.4     49.4     -4.0
Gallup     7/22 – 7/24     1500 A     45     48     -3
Rasmussen Reports     7/23 – 7/25     1500 LV     44     55     -11
Pew Research     7/20 – 7/24     1501 A     44     48     -4
CNN/Opinion Research     7/18 – 7/20     1009 A     45     54     -9
FOX News     7/17 – 7/19     904 RV     45     46     -1
USA Today/Gallup     7/15 – 7/17     1016 A     45     50     -5
NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl     7/14 – 7/17     1000 A     47     48     -1
ABC News/Wash Post     7/14 – 7/17     1001 A     47     48     -1

Note that even CNN has a -9% approval rating for the President. In fact, CNN was so embarrassed by its own polling numbers that it felt compelled to issue an email blast explaining the results. Rather than simply reporting the facts or suggesting that the poll results might indicate general dissatisfaction with the President’s job performance, CNN rationalized that Mr. Obama’s poor numbers reflect liberal discontent that the most liberal president in our nation’s history is just not liberal enough. CNN’s release reads: “President Obama’s approval rating falls to 45%, driven in part by dissatisfaction from the left with Obama’s track record, a new CNN/ORC International poll released today suggests. The new poll shows that 38% disapprove of Obama because he has been too liberal, but 13% percent say he has not been liberal enough, nearly double those who felt that way in May. His approval rating among liberals is at 71%, an all-time low for his presidency.”

CNN adds begrudgingly, “Overall, those who disapprove of Obama is at 54%, tying an all-time low hit just before November’s midterm elections.” Clearly not good news for the President.

But, to CNN and the rest of the liberal media, the Obama presidency glass is always half-full. Seeking equivalency to balance out the President’s demonstrably bad news (and it’s not too easy with numbers like these), CNN cites the public’s rising dissatisfaction with the Republican party. Always fair and balanced when it comes to trying to negate bad news about its champion, CNN reports: “Poll respondents’ negative opinions weren’t reserved just for the president, though — 55% of all Americans have an unfavorable view of the Republican Party, a 7-point increase since March. And only 37% feel the GOP’s policies would move the country in the right direction, a 9-point drop since the start of the year.”

Not quite the equivalent of -9% approval deficit for the President, but you have to appreciate CNN’s effort to put a smiley face on the dire-for-Dems report.

But how about the public’s views of the Democrat party and whether poll respondents feel that the Democrats’ policies are moving the country in the right direction? The CNN email blast does not mention these results. When you look at the raw polling data, however, you find a 43% right direction/53% wrong direction split for the Democrats — a little better than the Republican numbers (very little when you factor in the margin of error), but still no great shakes.

Further morsels lay buried in the CNN poll results, information that CNN did not choose to highlight in its email. The results show a 43% approval to 32% disapproval for Speaker of the House John Boehner, who has been squaring off against the President in the debt ceiling negotiations (a +11 compared to the President’s -9, for a whopping 20 point differential). And, of course, CNN makes no mention of the numbers for Democrat House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (35% favorable to 52% unfavorable) or Democrat Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (29% favorable to 37% unfavorable). It seems that these abysmal numbers for the spendthrift triumvirate of Obama, Pelosi and Reid are inconsistent with the media’s speaking points that the Democrat leadership has steered the American people to its side of the debt ceiling debate.

The CNN poll indicates that the results are based on telephone interviews with a sample of 1,009 adult Americans, although there is no breakdown of the proportion of those interviewed who identify themselves as Democrat, Republican or Independent. It is difficult to speculate given the limited sample information in the poll results, but based on the tendency of prior polls to sample more Democrats than Republicans (in the case of the New York Times and Washington Post, they seem to poll only respondents working in their respective newsrooms), it seems likely that the CNN poll population leans Democrat.

All the more reason for the President and his political handlers to be worried.

Weiner Announces Resignation

Conservative Blog - Weiner Announces ResignationJune 16, 2011

Weiner Announces Resignation from House

Twitter enthusiast Anthony Weiner announced today that he will resign his House seat. Mr. Weiner’s announcement comes on the heals of his request for a leave of absence to seek therapy for his unusual tweeting behavior. While back home, we, the people who actually elect these characters to office, are left asking such questions as “Are these the people we want to run our healthcare?”

Mr. Weiner’s creepy interactions with porn stars, Las Vegas blackjack dealers, 17 year-olds and any attractive woman who would say “hello” to him had registered hardly a stir among his fellow Democrats. Neither had his serial lying-tour where the Congressman blamed his troubles on hackers, conservative bloggers, Photoshop manipulators, and even “pie-throwers” trying to distract Mr. Weiner from serious affairs of state. It was only when the Democrat leadership calculated that the Weiner car wreck was distracting the public from the Democrats’ plan to save America (which consists entirely of terrifying voters into believing that Paul Ryan and his fellow Republicans want to throw grandma off the cliff), that the Democrats said “enough is enough.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Representative Steve Israel all issued statements on Saturday urged Representative Weiner to resign. On Tuesday, President Obama agreed, stating (with that masterful grasp of grammar befitting a former college professor and acknowledged super-intellect), “If I was him I would resign.”

It was that pressure from his fellow Democrats that finally compelled Mr. Weiner to announce his resignation. “I had hoped to be able to continue the work that the citizens of my district elected me to do,” he said. “Unfortunately, the distraction that I have created has made that impossible.”

Indeed, Republicans embroiled in sex-related scandals have resigned almost immediately after disclosure of their misdeeds (there are a few exceptions, but a quick exit has been the general rule). Most recently, upstate New York Congressman Chris Lee resigned within hours of revelations that he had posted a weird shirtless photo on craigslist, apparently to try to get dates. Mr. Lee’s scandal now seems almost quaint next to Congressman’s Weiner’s antics.

The fact is that Mr. Weiner had resisted resigning for the simple reason that there is nothing else he can do. Like many of his fellow politicians who are adept at grand-standing and little else, Representative Weiner has never had a real job.

Upon graduating from college in 1985, Mr. Weiner began his professional career as a staffer for then Congressman Chuck Schumer. He worked for Mr. Schumer’s office from 1985 to 1991, when he successfully ran for New York City council, a position he held until 1998. In 1998, Councilman Weiner was elected to the United States House of Representatives from the heavily Democratic 9th District of New York. That’s his entire resume. Notice the lack of any employment outside of politics fairyland. He has no law or business degree to fall back on. He has no professional experience. And as far as we know, there are very few help-wanted ads reading “Wanted. Arrogant, narcissist. Experience in grand-standing, prevaricating and displaying his private parts.”

Very few employers will be willing to touch Weiner, who even before the scandal, had alienated even his fellow demagogues in Congress. Obviously, any company which requires truth-telling as a prerequisite to employment will not consider hiring Mr. Weiner. That leaves only a job as a host with MSNBC.

There’s not much else. CNN may arguably have some potential since, in an effort to boost its moribund ratings, it gave disgraced former New York governor Eliot Spitzer a prime-time show. But Mr Spitzer, with an impressive resume including gigs as a litigator at a top New York City law firm, attorney general and governor, had much more to offer. Possibly the two can do a show together; the Weiner-Spitzer show might target the Food Network crowd. But that would give top billing to the far less qualified Mr. Weiner.

Congressman Weiner’s disgrace illustrates in multi-pixels what we already know about our representatives in Washington. They are highly flawed individuals who choose to run for political office because everyone else has something better to do.

Think of the kid in high school who ran for student counsel. Is this the guy you want telling you how to run your business? Whom do you trust more to manage your healthcare — your doctor or the Congressman giving personal anatomy lesson to strangers on the Internet? To think that such professional politicians are somehow magically equipped to make decisions with profound effects on our everyday lives is a ridiculous conceit perpetuated by the politicians themselves in concert with their media acolytes.

Just what was Anthony Weiner thinking? Who would engage in this kind of behavior, let alone a member of Congress who was exposing his leadership position to potential compromise and extortion?

Mr. Weiner’s fall from grace provides abundant material for psychoanalysis, but it is clear to anyone who has observed the various rantings and ravings of the New York Congressman that he had begun to believe his press-clippings. Here was a guy of ordinary talent suddenly elevated to national prominence, adored by the liberal media, toasted by the beltway left wing intelligentsia, and courted by special interest glad-handers. Here was a guy who probably never had a date in his life, suddenly dating beautiful women. All of the adulation seems to have fed Weiner’s enormous ego, leading to his frequent House floor theatrics and, ultimately, to the Congressman’s transmittal of gross sex-laced dialogue and naked photos to his Twitter followers. With the same hubris with which Weiner thought that random online acquaintances would want to see his naked body, Weiner strutted before the media, arrogantly denying that the disgusting tweets were his.

Mr. Weiner’s personal destruction reminds us yet again of the importance of limited government. To believe that these flawed individuals should be entrusted with the most important decisions affecting our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness is to ensure our own personal destruction.

(more…)

Osama Bin Laden is Dead

Conservative BlogMay 2, 2011

Osama Bin Laden is Dead

Osama bin Laden is dead, exterminated by a team of Navy SEALS as the al Qaeda leader hid in a fortified compound some 31 miles north of Pakistani capital Islamabad. As the details emerge, it is clear that the mission was executed brilliantly, with the tactical precision and extraordinary heroism which characterizes operations conducted by our wonderful military personnel. Swiftly, surgically and without loss of American life, the special ops forces disposed of bin Laden with a shot to the head as the terrorist leader, with characteristic cowardice, cowered in an upstairs bedroom, reportedly using a woman as a human shield. The last image seen by the mass murderer was the barrel of a U.S. gun. It was a great day for America.

The heroic members of SEAL Team Six who conducted the nearly flawless mission deserve the unmitigated praise of the American people. And President Obama should be commended for authorizing the daring raid.

Because Mr. Obama is the current occupant of the White House, he will derive political credit as the President in office at the time that Osama bin Laden was killed. And certainly, once intelligence personnel had determined that the high profile occupant of the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan was, in fact, bin Laden, Mr. Obama could have taken what is being characterized as “the safe approach” by authorizing a drone strike or B2 bombing of the compound. But such a remote attack had its downside.

Bombing the compound was likely to leave only a big crater, with no immediate verifiable proof that bin Laden had been killed. It might be months or even years before online chatter and other evidence would confirm that the terrorist leader had, in fact, been eliminated, and even then the evidence would be open to doubt.

Additionally, a bombing run might potentially kill dozens or even hundreds of Pakistani civilians living in the neighboring residential area, inspiring international outrage that the United States had conducted a bombing raid in a sovereign nation that resulted in the deaths of women and children (and might not have even killed bin Laden), inflaming anti-American passions in the Muslim world, and disrupting even further our fragile relationship with nuclear power Pakistan.

Finally, a remote bombing raid would not have provided the huge political capital that a bold, successful strike force mission would have on the President’s re-election prospects. To an administration which weaves the political into each of the President’s words and actions, the potential to re-brand Mr. Obama as … a “Commander-in-Chief” was too much to let pass. Certainly, the commando raid might fail, leaving the President with a Desert One level fiasco and further supporting the “Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter – separated at birth?” narrative. At the worst, the President might suffer a Mogadishu-level disaster. But Bill Clinton has recovered politically from the Somalia Black Hawk Down incident, and so could Mr. Obama. So, after several high-level meetings debating the means of taking out bin Laden, the White House made the decision to authorize the commando attack.

And, with typical narcissism, President Obama made it seem in his remarks late Sunday night as though Mr. Obama, rather than the brave members of the Navy SEAL strike team, had conducted the raid that killed bin Laden (“I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda”; “I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden”; “I met repeatedly with my national security team”; “I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice”; “Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan”).

The mission for which the President is taking credit owes its success to the interrogation methods and intelligence techniques developed during the Bush administration. While President Obama embellished his own role in the success of the operation during last night’s statement to the American people, and certainly the President made a gutsy call in authorizing the mission, it would have been gracious for Mr. Obama to have at least acknowledged the significant role played by the Bush administration in ultimately getting bin Laden.

Indeed, the trail to bin Laden began with the discovery of an unnamed courier in 2003, whose existence was ascertained through those same enhanced interrogation techniques that Mr. Obama has denounced throughout his Presidency. The courier’s actual identity was not discovered until 2007, when new intelligence collected from detainees at Guantanamo (which fortunately was still open at that time despite the left’s (and Mr. Obama’s) protests) revealed the courier’s name. By 2009, U.S. intelligence discovered that the courier was operating north of Islamabad. In August of 2010, U.S. intelligence pin-pointed the courier’s homebase as the fortified compound which also housed a likely top-level al Queda leader. By 2011, information from detainees at Guantanamo Bay, CIA operatives, the CIA interrogation program (since closed down by President Obama), and other intelligence sources, suggested strongly that the compound, two miles from Pakistan’s version of West Point, housed bin Laden. Finally, in July of this year, Pakistani agents spotted the courier driving into the compound.

So, the killing of bin Laden, an act of justice for which all Americans are grateful and for which President Obama now takes credit, was made possible by the enhanced interrogation techniques, CIA interrogation program and Guantanamo facility put in place by President Bush and condemned, and in some cases dismantled, by President Obama.

The monumental significance of the killing of bin Laden — for its wielding of U.S military might against those who would do us wrong, for its bringing some element of closure to families who lost loved ones on 9/11, for its exacting of vengeance against a monster, for its triumph of good over evil – is evident to all.

We now hear the steady swooning refrain from Obama’s loyal left, exalting it seems that Obama, otherwise inept in all that he touches, has finally done something right. We hear language like “the killing of Osama bin Laden is the defining moment of the Obama Presidency” and “People will remember for their lifetimes where they were the night they announced that Bin Laden was dead.” The President’s captive media exalts as they claim that the killing of bin Laden renders Mr. Obama all but unbeatable in 2012. “Pity the poor fool who will go up against President Obama,” they tell us.

Sometimes you’re in the right place at the right time. And just as candidate Obama happened to find himself running against the incumbent’s party when the economy collapsed in 2008, so President Obama happened to be occupying the White House at the time Osama bin Laden was finally tracked down and killed.

Certainly the President’s poll numbers will tick upwards, and the administration will try to milk the killing of bin Laden to embarrassing extremes. Already the White House has announced that Mr. Obama will be traveling to the World Trade Center site on Thursday to do a photo-op with some 9/11 families. Look for the administration to drag out releasing details of the attack, possibly dripping out photos and videotape over time, in order to prolong the story with a public which will soon refocus on the damage caused by this administration’s policies.

The White House will be brazen in its exploitation of the daring raid. As they continue the makeover of the President as a strong leader, look for the “Vote for Obama — He killed Osama” bumper stickers.

Obama Releases Birth Certificate

Obama Releases Birth CertificateApril 27, 2011

President Obama has released his long-form birth certificate. That one who pledged to run the most transparent administration in history should wait until now to produce the document is troubling.

Clearly the President and his handlers thought it was politically expedient to perpetuate the rumors that Mr. Obama was not born in the United States — speculation that Mr. Obama could have easily dispelled years ago simply by authorizing the release of his birth certificate.

Today, the President declared sanctimoniously, “”We’re not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by side shows and carnival barkers”. But it is the President himself who allowed the circus act to continue. The President’s inner circle which, despite all evidence to the contrary, still considers themselves to be the smartest guys in the room, calculated that the continued swirl about Mr. Obama’s place of birth would provide a convenient distraction from the policies of an incompetent and overmatched administration, earn the sympathy of independents, and allow the President’s personal PR service (otherwise known as the mainstream media) to paint the President’s detractors as deranged conspiracy-theorists, yahoos and racists.

The President’s failure to release the document and settle, once and for all, the place-of-birth controversy is reflective of the contempt that this administration holds for those who would challenge it. Mr. Obama has shown himself to be shockingly thin-skinned for one holding public office, as evidenced most recently by his testy exchange with a Dallas reporter who dared to cut off the President’s bloviating (“Let me finish my answers the next time we do an interview, all right?”). So, for those who will not give Mr. Obama the adulation with which he has been accustomed — who would question the veracity of the teleprompter-guided words spewing from the President’s mouth — Mr. Obama would not give the courtesy of an answer.

In a rare confessional as to the administration’s thinking, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer described the debate as “really bad for the Republican Party” and as “good politics” but “bad for the country” (I guess he’s conceding that what’s bad for the Republican party must be bad for the country). So why wait until now to release the document? The answer is Donald Trump. To a media feverishly willing to goad him on, Mr. Trump asked loudly and often why the President had not released his birth certificate. The administration’s refusal to meet what seemed to be a reasonable request made the President seem stubborn, petty, and with something to hide. The clincher was last week’s CBS – New York Times poll to the effect that nearly 25% of respondents now believed that the President was not born in the United States. Finally, the White House acted, putting to rest the question initially raised by the Hilary Clinton campaign, and finally resolving this latest chapter in what has been the Obama Presidency comedy show.

The President said in this morning’s statement announcing the release of the birth certificate: “Normally I would not comment on something like this, because obviously there’s a lot of stuff swirling in the press on any given day and, you know, I’ve got other things to do.” He said that the controversy kept him from attending to more important matters. “We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We got better stuff to do.” The President then hurried off following his statement so he could dedicate his time to his “better stuff to do.” Here is Mr. Obama’s agenda for April 27, 2011, taken verbatim from the official White House web site:

9:45 am
The President delivers a statement
Brady Press Briefing Room
Open Press

10:05 am
The President departs the White House en route Andrews Air Force Base
South Lawn
Open Press
Gather Time 9:45AM– North Doors of the Palm Room

10:20 am
The President departs Andrews Air Force Base en route Chicago, Illinois
Andrews Air Force Base
Travel Pool Coverage
Out-of-Town Travel Pool Coverage (Call Time 9:00AM – Virginia Gate, Andrews Air Force Base)

12:10 pm
The President arrives in Chicago, Illinois
Local Event Time:
11:10 AM CDT
Chicago O’Hare International Airport
Open Press

1:15 pm
The President and the First Lady tape an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show
Local Event Time:
12:15 PM CDT
Harpo Studios
Pool Spray
Stills Only Pool Spray

5:10 pm
The President arrives in New York, New York
John F. Kennedy International Airport
Open Press

6:00 pm
The President delivers remarks at a DNC event
Private Residence
Print Pool

9:25 pm
The President delivers remarks at a DNC event
Waldorf Astoria
Travel Pool Coverage

10:15 pm
The President delivers remarks at a DNC event
The Town Hall
Pooled TV, Open to Correspondents

11:30 pm
The President departs New York, New York
John F. Kennedy International Airport
Open Press.

For a President who declared that he “will not rest until every American who is able and ready and willing to work can find a job”, a work day consisting of taking Air Force One to Chicago to appear on Oprah, and then traveling to New York for three Democrat fund raisers, must be “better stuff to do.”

U.S. Criticizes Devastated Japan

March 17, 2011

U.S. Criticizes Devastated Japan

Conservative Blog - Obama administration criticizes devastated JapanAs the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear facilities continue to smolder, and the nation of Japan frantically scrambles to devise technological means to cool the six stricken reactors before the crisis deteriorates into nuclear catastrophe, the United States has chosen this moment to pick a fight with yet another crucial ally during Japan’s time of need.

The 9.0 earthquake and resultant tsunami has left still-uncounted thousands dead and hundreds of thousands more without shelter, fuel and sustenance. Entire towns have been eradicated. Families who have lost loved ones do not know whether the missing have been washed out to sea, or remain buried under the mountains of rubble. And somehow it may get even worse, as Japan teeters on the brink of nuclear catastrophe.

Amidst the horror, Japanese crews subject themselves to lethal doses of radiation as they desperately use water cannons to cool the flaming fuel rods in reactor number 4, risking their own lives to save their fellow countrymen. Sources report that the heroic plant workers have successfully equipped an alternative power source, which would allow the redeployment of the cooling system that had been knocked out by the thirty foot tidal wave.

Updates from Tokyo Electric Power and the Japanese government have been sporadic at best, which is understandable given the fluid nature of events on the ground, the destruction of local communications infrastructure, and the difficulty of accessing the nuclear reactor site.

And for reasons that are difficult to understand, the Obama administration has piled on with suggestions that the Japanese government has been less than forthcoming in disclosing the seriousness of the nuclear crisis. The New York Times reports that the chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (“NRC”) “gave a far bleaker appraisal on Wednesday of the threat posed by Japan’s nuclear crisis than the Japanese government had offered”, and said that American officials believe that the damage to at least one crippled reactor “was much more serious than Tokyo had acknowledged”.

Chairman Gregory Jaczko went on to challenge the Japanese assessment of the danger, stating, “We would recommend an evacuation to a much larger radius than has currently been provided by Japan.” Even the Times suggested that “[t]hat assessment seems bound to embarrass, if not anger, Japanese officials, suggesting they have miscalculated the danger or deliberately played down the risks.”

Why the Obama administration would choose to challenge or contradict the onsite assessment by the Japanese authorities, who certainly have an interest in protecting their own people and homeland, is difficult to understand. It would seem that the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power, with personnel on the scene, are in the best position to ascertain the seriousness of the crisis. Certainly, little is gained by the United States’ suggesting that Japan has minimized the disaster or that the Japan government’s evacuation plans are inadequate. And there is some hypocrisy in the Obama administration, which itself promised transparency but has been among the most opaque Presidencies in memory, now claiming that Japan has withheld information about the crisis.

The answer may lie in the agenda driven policies of this administration and its appointees. NRC Commissioner Jaczko, a longtime critic of nuclear power, was appointed to the post by President Obama in 2009. Jaczko, who had previously served as current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s appropriations director and science policy advisor, was originally appointed to the NRC by George W. Bush as part of a broader compromise with Democrats who had opposed numerous Bush nominations. Because Jaczko had already been confirmed by the Senate when he was appointed to the five person NRC board in 2005, Senate confirmation was not required when he was appointed by President Obama to head the Commission in 2009.

Like many other confirmed and unconfirmed Obama appointees, Jaczko seems to have allowed his left-leaning prejudices to influence the execution of his functions as member of the Obama administration. Critics of nuclear power, hoping to sour a national mood that had been swinging toward acceptance of atomic energy as a viable, and green, alternative to fossil fuels, have painted a particularly dire picture of Japan’s nuclear crisis. Not wishing to let a crisis go to waste, these opponents of nuclear power have painted Fukushima as proof that nuclear power is far too dangerous to consider as an alternative energy source.

So, when the Japanese authorities suggest that the events unfolding at Fukushima are anything short of the apocalypse, the Obama administration and its liberal acolytes recoil — accusing Japan of being less than truthful. If the United States throws yet another ally under the bus, even during it times of heart-wrenching national crisis, c’est la guerre.

We marvel at the grace and dignity of the Japanese people as they fight through the unimaginable tragedy that has stricken this great nation. Our thoughts and prayers are with them during their time of need, support and understanding.

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