So, Will Holder Tell Arizona that the States Are Pre-empted from Defending Themselves from Hezbollah, Too? [Andy McCarthy]
Steve Emerson's Investigative Project on Terrorism reports that the Hezbos are at the Mexican border — and we're not talking here about those "moderate elements" of Hezbollah that Obama's counterterrorism czar is searching for; we're talking about the jihad's A-Team (i.e., the guys al Qaeda goes to for training).
As IPT relates:
Hizballah is setting up shop along the American border with Mexico, the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Seyassah reports. In an exclusive story, the Kuwaiti daily revealed that Mexican officials have arrested a Mexican national with ties to the Shiite terrorist group.
The militant, Jameel Nasr, was reportedly under police surveillance for a while, with authorities explaining he had traveled from Lebanon to countries throughout South and Central America, eventually gaining citizenship and a job as a graphic engineer in Mexico. While in Mexico, Nasr reportedly traveled frequently to Lebanon to receive information and instructions from Hizballah commanders.
The issue of border security for the United States, both to the North ad the South, is not new. We recently reported on an investigation by the House Committee on Homeland Security that confirmed the threat is only increasing. In June, Congresswoman Sue Myrick wrote to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano about this issue, asking that a task force be dedicated to the issue because, in the words of former Chief of Operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration, Michael Braun:
"Hezballah relies on the same criminal weapons smugglers, document traffickers and transportation experts as the drug cartel…They work together; they rely on the same shadow facilitators. One way or another they are all connected."
Steve goes on to explain that the "report cited Mexican authorities as saying that Nasr had been 'entrusted with forming a base in South American and the United States to carry out operations against Israeli and Western targets.'"
This is not new news (see, e.g., this 2009 Washington Times report). And let's not forget that, in 2006, FBI Director Bob Mueller testified to a House Appropriations subcommittee that Hezbollah had a smuggling ring on the Mexican border and had already succeeded in infiltrating a number of its operatives into the U.S. (It would be foolish to think the rings we know about are the only rings that exist.)
As I've indicated (see, e.g., here), I don't think the Justice Department's lawsuit against Arizona passes the laugh test. More gravely, it would be a dangerous rupture in the social contract on which our republic is based to tell a sovereign state that (a) the federal government will not act to defend it from a foreign threat such as rampant illegal immigration, and yet (b) that the state, by having joined the union, has forfeited its own natural right of self-defense — such that it must passively allow itself to be overrun (and to pay for the privilege).
But even if you bought the Obama Justice Department's ludicrous premises regarding routine Mexican illegal-immigration, would anyone seriously suggest that a sovereign state cannot protect itself from the threat of international terrorism by a jihadist organization that (1) is formally designated as a foreign terrorist organization under federal law, (2) has killed hundreds of Americans, (3) is the forward militia of Iran, an enemy whose national motto is "Death to America," and (4) is setting up shop on the southern states' doorstep?
Friday, July 9, 2010
Obama is a Smorgasbord of Arrogance & Incompetence
Some good reading on this general topic of Obama the Magnificent:
Poll: 55 Percent Believe Obama a Socialist
Kevin hits this at Exchequer, Jim at Campaign Spot.
http://article.nationalreview.com/437808/the-selective-modesty-of-barack-obama/charles-krauthammer
And this little gem:
Obama: Israelis Mistrust Me Because of My Middle Name [Kevin D. Williamson]
Apparently, his middle name is "Clueless," if this Haaretz headline is any indicator:
Obama: Israelis suspicious of me because my middle name is Hussein
A friend points out that the Israeli-Jordan peace treaty was signed by a certain King Hussein.
What did Obama study in college?
And those Russian spies:
Dr. K On the Obama administration’s alacrity in expelling the Russian agents:
Everybody treats this as a joke — Anna Chapman the Bond girl and all that. The fact is, that they were here as sleepers for ten years. And one of their charges was to recruit others.
It's true none of the ten were in the government, but who was recruited? Where were those recruits? Any of them in the government? Any information we get on them?
It is quite remarkable to kick ‘em out overnight without any interrogation. If you stick them in jail and you have a plea bargain, you might be able to get information that we don't have today. Why are we not attempting that — like we did with the Detroit bomber who got his Miranda rights in ten minutes?
So that‘s number one. The other part is this is not about justice. This is about diplomacy. It is a swap, but the odd thing is how the administration from the top, from [the] State Department and the White House, was so eager to get rid of this right away.
On June the 29th a State Department spokesman described all this as "some vestiges of old attempts to use intelligence," said nobody is shocked, nobody. In fact, his only complaint seemed to be against Justice for getting in the way of the great [Russian] "reset." He was asked about this investigation and the arrest. And he said: Oh, Justice, it’s on its own track and we are on our track. This is extremely odd. Russia spies on us. We are the victims, [yet] we are the ones who immediately dismiss it as nothing.
And the Russians, who if anything are the aggressors here, are complaining about our arrest of their agents. And we essentially say: Sorry about that, we'll get it off the table. Very odd.
Look, if you want good relations with an adversary and you give him everything and you roll over, of course the relations will remain good. It's a high price, though.
Poll: 55 Percent Believe Obama a Socialist
Kevin hits this at Exchequer, Jim at Campaign Spot.
http://article.nationalreview.com/437808/the-selective-modesty-of-barack-obama/charles-krauthammer
And this little gem:
Obama: Israelis Mistrust Me Because of My Middle Name [Kevin D. Williamson]
Apparently, his middle name is "Clueless," if this Haaretz headline is any indicator:
Obama: Israelis suspicious of me because my middle name is Hussein
A friend points out that the Israeli-Jordan peace treaty was signed by a certain King Hussein.
What did Obama study in college?
And those Russian spies:
Dr. K On the Obama administration’s alacrity in expelling the Russian agents:
Everybody treats this as a joke — Anna Chapman the Bond girl and all that. The fact is, that they were here as sleepers for ten years. And one of their charges was to recruit others.
It's true none of the ten were in the government, but who was recruited? Where were those recruits? Any of them in the government? Any information we get on them?
It is quite remarkable to kick ‘em out overnight without any interrogation. If you stick them in jail and you have a plea bargain, you might be able to get information that we don't have today. Why are we not attempting that — like we did with the Detroit bomber who got his Miranda rights in ten minutes?
So that‘s number one. The other part is this is not about justice. This is about diplomacy. It is a swap, but the odd thing is how the administration from the top, from [the] State Department and the White House, was so eager to get rid of this right away.
On June the 29th a State Department spokesman described all this as "some vestiges of old attempts to use intelligence," said nobody is shocked, nobody. In fact, his only complaint seemed to be against Justice for getting in the way of the great [Russian] "reset." He was asked about this investigation and the arrest. And he said: Oh, Justice, it’s on its own track and we are on our track. This is extremely odd. Russia spies on us. We are the victims, [yet] we are the ones who immediately dismiss it as nothing.
And the Russians, who if anything are the aggressors here, are complaining about our arrest of their agents. And we essentially say: Sorry about that, we'll get it off the table. Very odd.
Look, if you want good relations with an adversary and you give him everything and you roll over, of course the relations will remain good. It's a high price, though.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
ObamaCare & Additional Tax Burdens for Business
Now this is completely ridiculous !
A Bigger, Badder IRS: Brought to You by Obamacare [Daniel Foster]
The National Taxpayer Advocate, tasked with representing your interests within the Internal Revenue Service, says the IRS must restructure — and grow — to handle its new redistributive and enforcement responsibilities under the Affordable Care Act:
Though the IRS's main mission is to collect taxes, it has been given a key role administering health insurance premium subsidies, tax credits for small businesses, assessments on employers and the mandate that beginning in 2014 everyone obtain insurance.
"I have no doubt the IRS is capable of administering social programs, including health care," Olson said. "But Congress must provide sufficient funding and the IRS itself must recognize that the skills and training required to administer social benefit programs are very different from the skills and training that employees of an enforcement agency typically possess."
Moreover, to "reduce the under-reporting of business income," the ACA will require all businesses and tax-exempt orgs to issue 1099s to all vendors with whom they do more than $600 of business (both services and goods) in a given tax year, an onerous requirement that "may impose significant burdens on businesses, charities, and government agencies," and that "may turn out to be disproportionate as compared with any resulting improvement in tax compliance."
"For example, if a self-employed individual makes numerous small purchases from an office supply store during a calendar year that total at least $600, the individual must issue a Form 1099 to the vendor and the IRS showing the exact amount of total purchases," the IRS release said.
The advocate estimates this will affect 40 million businesses, including 26 million sole-proprietorships.
And why is this tax reporting stuff even in a health-care bill? To help fund it, that's why. To help Pelosi and Reid and Obama get the faux deficit score they needed, the measure is expected to raise $13.7 billion over ten years — though that's before administrative and discretionary costs, which will add another $115 billion or so to the bill's official price tag.
Pass the bill to find out what's in it.
A Bigger, Badder IRS: Brought to You by Obamacare [Daniel Foster]
The National Taxpayer Advocate, tasked with representing your interests within the Internal Revenue Service, says the IRS must restructure — and grow — to handle its new redistributive and enforcement responsibilities under the Affordable Care Act:
Though the IRS's main mission is to collect taxes, it has been given a key role administering health insurance premium subsidies, tax credits for small businesses, assessments on employers and the mandate that beginning in 2014 everyone obtain insurance.
"I have no doubt the IRS is capable of administering social programs, including health care," Olson said. "But Congress must provide sufficient funding and the IRS itself must recognize that the skills and training required to administer social benefit programs are very different from the skills and training that employees of an enforcement agency typically possess."
Moreover, to "reduce the under-reporting of business income," the ACA will require all businesses and tax-exempt orgs to issue 1099s to all vendors with whom they do more than $600 of business (both services and goods) in a given tax year, an onerous requirement that "may impose significant burdens on businesses, charities, and government agencies," and that "may turn out to be disproportionate as compared with any resulting improvement in tax compliance."
"For example, if a self-employed individual makes numerous small purchases from an office supply store during a calendar year that total at least $600, the individual must issue a Form 1099 to the vendor and the IRS showing the exact amount of total purchases," the IRS release said.
The advocate estimates this will affect 40 million businesses, including 26 million sole-proprietorships.
And why is this tax reporting stuff even in a health-care bill? To help fund it, that's why. To help Pelosi and Reid and Obama get the faux deficit score they needed, the measure is expected to raise $13.7 billion over ten years — though that's before administrative and discretionary costs, which will add another $115 billion or so to the bill's official price tag.
Pass the bill to find out what's in it.
Chavezistan
Chavistas and Anti-Chavistas [Jay Nordlinger]
Readers of my journal from the Oslo Freedom Forum, couple of months ago, may remember something. Hang on, let me fetch it — here:
A Venezuelan participant in this conference has woken up to the news that his farm, back home, has been confiscated. Simply stolen from him, by the Chávez government. He defied them, refusing to play along or shut up. And now they have acted.
How has your morning been, by the way?
That Venezuelan, from whom the farm was stolen, was Diego Arria, long a diplomat and a U.N. official. Also a friend of WFB, incidentally. Now Thor Halvorssen has written an article about Arria and the theft of that farm (and of more). I could quote from it at length. Better just to give a link, though: here. An excellent account of what has been done to Arria, and how he has stood up to the bullies, thugs, and thieves in charge. Venezuela is being Castro-ized. Does anyone care? Well, Venezuelans do . . .
P.S. Our president, Barack Obama, gave Chávez a soul-brother handshake and called him “mi amigo.” He is not a friend to any democrat, that’s for sure.
Readers of my journal from the Oslo Freedom Forum, couple of months ago, may remember something. Hang on, let me fetch it — here:
A Venezuelan participant in this conference has woken up to the news that his farm, back home, has been confiscated. Simply stolen from him, by the Chávez government. He defied them, refusing to play along or shut up. And now they have acted.
How has your morning been, by the way?
That Venezuelan, from whom the farm was stolen, was Diego Arria, long a diplomat and a U.N. official. Also a friend of WFB, incidentally. Now Thor Halvorssen has written an article about Arria and the theft of that farm (and of more). I could quote from it at length. Better just to give a link, though: here. An excellent account of what has been done to Arria, and how he has stood up to the bullies, thugs, and thieves in charge. Venezuela is being Castro-ized. Does anyone care? Well, Venezuelans do . . .
P.S. Our president, Barack Obama, gave Chávez a soul-brother handshake and called him “mi amigo.” He is not a friend to any democrat, that’s for sure.
Obama w/ Controversial Recess Appointment -- bypasses Senate completely
Controversial nominee; not even brought to committee; Obama admin lies about him being "blocked" by the Senate; as he had not even been brought to the Senate and the Republicans could not stop his appointment.
Its b/c this Dr. Berwick is so controversial (supporter of health care rationing) AND he has other skeletons (see Byron York below); so O bypasses completely advise and consent and spares himself yet more embarrassment.
John Podhoretz: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/dodging_health_care_fight_l0k2G0zM3ea7x5OhA1VpwM
Byron York:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/white-house-recess-appointed-berwick-after-questions-about-49m-nonprofit-group-98052904.html
White House recess-appointed Berwick after questions about $49M nonprofit group
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent07/08/10 4:00 PM EDT
There’s been much discussion to the effect that Barack Obama chose to recess-appoint Dr. Donald Berwick to run Medicare and Medicaid because the White House wanted to avoid a contentious debate over Berwick’s support for health care rationing and his championing of European government health care systems. With midterm elections less than four months away, and a large part of the American public in favor of repealing Obamacare, such a debate would not be good for Democrats.
What has received less attention is that the White House bypassed the Senate confirmation process after Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, asked Berwick for detailed information about the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a nonprofit organization Berwick founded and for which he serves as chief executive officer.
The Institute describes its work as an effort “to accelerate improvement [in health care] by building the will for change, cultivating promising concepts for improving patient care, and helping health care systems put those ideas into action.” It has about 110 employees and net assets of $49.5 million, according to its 2008 filing with the IRS. (2008 is the most recent year for which such filings are publicly available.) A 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, the Institute reported receiving $12.2 million in contributions and grants in ‘08, as well as $27.4 million in revenue from its various programs.
As CEO, Berwick received $2.3 million in compensation in 2008. That was a substantial raise from 2007, when he received $637,006 in compensation, and from 2006, when he received $585,008 in compensation.
At the time the White House decided to bypass the Senate on Berwick’s nomination, Senate sources say, Berwick had already completed the questionnaire required by the Finance Committee, as well as provided his tax returns and other documents. He had answered one round of vetting questions from senators.
Then, on June 4, Grassley asked for information about the Institute. In particular, Grassley wanted to know the sources of the millions of dollars in grants and contributions to the nonprofit organization. Who has been giving? (Nonprofits like the Institute are not required to report that information to the IRS.) Given all the money that has been flying around in the health care debate, it was an entirely reasonable question.
Grassley’s inquiry had not been answered by the time the president recess-appointed Berwick. The White House justified its action by accusing Republicans of planning to block the nomination.
According to a source close to the committee, Grassley’s questions were the result of thoroughness, not any particular suspicion. “What he asked for was not covered by the questionnaire,” the source says. “It’s not unusual for Grassley to look into this. It doesn’t mean that it’s an issue. It means he’s identified something he’d like to have more information on.”
That question is now moot. The White House acted before any hearing had been held, or even scheduled, for Berwick. He’s got the job now and doesn’t have to answer Sen. Grassley’s questions — at least until he appears before the Finance Committee in his role as head of Medicare and Medicaid.
Its b/c this Dr. Berwick is so controversial (supporter of health care rationing) AND he has other skeletons (see Byron York below); so O bypasses completely advise and consent and spares himself yet more embarrassment.
John Podhoretz: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/dodging_health_care_fight_l0k2G0zM3ea7x5OhA1VpwM
Byron York:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/white-house-recess-appointed-berwick-after-questions-about-49m-nonprofit-group-98052904.html
White House recess-appointed Berwick after questions about $49M nonprofit group
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent07/08/10 4:00 PM EDT
There’s been much discussion to the effect that Barack Obama chose to recess-appoint Dr. Donald Berwick to run Medicare and Medicaid because the White House wanted to avoid a contentious debate over Berwick’s support for health care rationing and his championing of European government health care systems. With midterm elections less than four months away, and a large part of the American public in favor of repealing Obamacare, such a debate would not be good for Democrats.
What has received less attention is that the White House bypassed the Senate confirmation process after Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, asked Berwick for detailed information about the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a nonprofit organization Berwick founded and for which he serves as chief executive officer.
The Institute describes its work as an effort “to accelerate improvement [in health care] by building the will for change, cultivating promising concepts for improving patient care, and helping health care systems put those ideas into action.” It has about 110 employees and net assets of $49.5 million, according to its 2008 filing with the IRS. (2008 is the most recent year for which such filings are publicly available.) A 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, the Institute reported receiving $12.2 million in contributions and grants in ‘08, as well as $27.4 million in revenue from its various programs.
As CEO, Berwick received $2.3 million in compensation in 2008. That was a substantial raise from 2007, when he received $637,006 in compensation, and from 2006, when he received $585,008 in compensation.
At the time the White House decided to bypass the Senate on Berwick’s nomination, Senate sources say, Berwick had already completed the questionnaire required by the Finance Committee, as well as provided his tax returns and other documents. He had answered one round of vetting questions from senators.
Then, on June 4, Grassley asked for information about the Institute. In particular, Grassley wanted to know the sources of the millions of dollars in grants and contributions to the nonprofit organization. Who has been giving? (Nonprofits like the Institute are not required to report that information to the IRS.) Given all the money that has been flying around in the health care debate, it was an entirely reasonable question.
Grassley’s inquiry had not been answered by the time the president recess-appointed Berwick. The White House justified its action by accusing Republicans of planning to block the nomination.
According to a source close to the committee, Grassley’s questions were the result of thoroughness, not any particular suspicion. “What he asked for was not covered by the questionnaire,” the source says. “It’s not unusual for Grassley to look into this. It doesn’t mean that it’s an issue. It means he’s identified something he’d like to have more information on.”
That question is now moot. The White House acted before any hearing had been held, or even scheduled, for Berwick. He’s got the job now and doesn’t have to answer Sen. Grassley’s questions — at least until he appears before the Finance Committee in his role as head of Medicare and Medicaid.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Obama Admin / Justice Dept. Sues Arizona over Immigration Law
Pathetic....
Rich Lowry is on the case w/ a good critique of Obama's latest effort in misguided pandering and hypocrisy: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_hypocrisy_of_us_arizona_sc6zDn8pg7qAWMMGU69DhI
Rich Lowry is on the case w/ a good critique of Obama's latest effort in misguided pandering and hypocrisy: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_hypocrisy_of_us_arizona_sc6zDn8pg7qAWMMGU69DhI
Yet Another Radical Obama Appointment
Obama makes recess appointment of Health Care Rationing radical Dr. Berwick http://bit.ly/bB6eBO
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