McCain opposes Syria strike resolution

Sen. John McCain, President Obama's biggest cheerleader on Capitol Hill for a strike in Syria, said Wednesday that he would not support a Senate panel's draft resolution authorizing the use of force. 

"There are a number of people who are unhappy," McCain told reporters on Capitol Hill. Asked if he supported the measure, McCain said, "In its current form, I do not." 

The decision is a setback for the administration's effort to win swift support from Congress for an attack. McCain's opposition is likely a negotiating tactic to win more aggressive language in the resolution. But it's unclear how far the rest of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will go, with some members worried the resolution goes too far. A vote on the committee level was expected as early as Wednesday

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Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., though, said the committee might delay the vote on the heel's of McCain's comments. 

McCain, who has long favored stepped-up U.S. involvement in the Syrian civil war, said he opposes the resolution crafted by fellow Sens. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Bob Corker of Tennessee. The resolution puts a 90-day limit on action and says no American troops can be sent to Syria. The draft language also calls on the administration to submit to Congress its strategy for "achieving a political settlement" in Syria. 

Via: Fox News

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The Democrats’ Major Messaging Mistake

California Democratic leaders are upbeat, and talking about all they’ve accomplished. At a human level, and by conventional political standards, that’s totally understandable.  After so many years of bad news and bad budgets in California, Gov. Brown and legislative leaders want to tout their progress – on the budget and in other areas. Brown’s progress has been touted nationally. The notion that California is back is frequently repeated. The end of the legislative session will certainly produce new bills that could be touted.

So what’s the problem, particularly if things are looking up?

The problem has three components. The upbeat message doesn’t match a fragile reality that could be quickly undermined, mostly by forces outside the control of politicians. The upbeat message misinforms the public about the nature of the challenges they face. And the upbeat message will make it harder for Democrats to gain the power they need to make those changes.

Let’s look at each of these three components.

1. The fragile reality. California’s globally oriented economy has made some gains, and those gains, in combination with continued budget austerity, have made the budget look balanced for now. But what if the Chinese economy tanks? Or Mexico, the state’s largest trading partner, runs into trouble? Or if the stock market swoons, ramping up the amount California governments must pay to cover pensions? Any of those shocks could make the “we’ve fixed the budget” happy talk look foolish. And it’s likely that one of these changes, or something else we can’t anticipate, will hit.
2. Public misinformation. The budget may be balanced, but the state’s fiscal challenges remain dire. Pension obligations and retirement benefits get huge attention. But the infrastructure deficit is huge too – and poisonous to the economy. The state is under-investing in public education, compared to other states and economic competitors. The damage of the budget crisis remains largely unrepaired. Again, happy talk could leave the public with the impression that things have been fixed. They haven’t been. And that will make it harder to get the changes necessary to fix them.
3. The difficulty of gaining power. The Democrats are emphasizing their power and their 2/3 control; politicians like to talk about their own power, and the things they are doing with it. The trouble is: the Democrats (and indeed, elected officials of both parties in California) are badly constrained in what they can do, by a broken governing system and by a very narrow public conversation about what’s possible in California.

To gain more power, Democrats should be talking about those constraints on their power – and how those constraints make it hard to repair the damage from the public crisis and address the state’s biggest challenges with the necessary force. The case they need to make is that they need more power to do bigger things.

That message is fundamentally different than the happier one they are currently offering the public. And if Democrats won’t even make the case for taking on the broken system and bigger challenges, there’s no chance that voters are going to give them that power.

This is a form of surrender. And it’s surprisingly short-sighted, not to mention weird, for the party that is winning virtually all of the state’s significant elections to not seek to convert those wins into power, and into change.

Via: CA Poltical Review

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The Last Stand: The Fight of State Attorneys General to Preserve Federalism

On Thursday, September 12, the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation is hosting four state attorneys general—Scott Pruitt (Oklahoma), Derek Schmidt (Kansas), Luther Strange (Alabama), and Alan Wilson (South Carolina)—in the first of a seven-event Preserve the Constitution series.

The moderator will be Fred Barnes, executive editor of the Weekly Standard, who in a recent article profiled many of the principled state AGs who are fighting to reinvigorate the federalism that forms the basis of our constitutional republic and protects our liberty and freedom.

As Barnes outlined:

They’re committed to limiting Washington to powers prescribed in the Constitution. They oppose overreaching by Congress, regulatory agencies, federal bureaucrats, and the executive branch…and are eager to rejuvenate the Tenth Amendment as a check on the scope of federal power.

The Framers of the Constitution designed a federal republic in which a central government with strictly limited powers was balanced by state governments with plenary powers. The past 100 years have seen an exponential growth in the size and power of the central government—often at the expense of state sovereignty. This growth has accelerated under the current Administration, imposing massive, uncompensated costs on states. Some question whether the national government can be brought back within constitutional bounds.

Via: The Foundry

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Obama's GDP Magic

Magic is the art of illusion.  The same can be said of the Obama administration's recently revised second-quarter GDP figures.  There's a lot less there than meets the eye.

On Thursday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis issued a report that revised second-quarter GDP numbers up from 1.7% to a more robust 2.5%.  Not exactly a colossal number, but respectable -- that is, until you look up the magician's sleeve.

In reality, much of the upward revision resulted from improving balance of trade numbers, which are factored into GDP.  It wasn't that more Americans were working, producing more, or earning more -- it was that they were importing less and exporting more.  As a result, second-quarter GDP shot upward, making it look like the economy has turned around.  It has not.

The BEA report itself made it clear that the Obama economy continues to limp along.  Key elements of GDP related to wage growth remain anemic, including real personal consumption expenditures, nondurable goods, and spending on services.  All of these declined in the second quarter.

No wonder personal consumption declined.  More than 80% of jobs created year to date are part-time, low-paying jobs.  No wonder fast-food workers are striking.  Not that striking will do them much good -- they should be marching on the White House.

An unprecedented number of Americans are still laboring at minimum wage, and in most cases part-time, and the reason is Obama's hostility toward business.  Increased regulation, higher taxes on small business owners, and ObamaCare have stalled economic growth in the U.S.  Given the number of Americans who are still looking for employment, the idea of $15 an hour for fry cooks is laughable.  A vote for Obama was a vote for $7.25 an hour.  Get used to it.   

Via: American Thinker

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Welcome to the ‘United States of al-Qaeda’

Big question on Syria should not be why America is going into Syria, but who America is sending into Syria

Look out Free World: Here Comes the USA—the newly minted ‘United States of al-Qaeda’.

The ‘United States of al-Qaeda’ is the first hard evidence of President Barack Obama’s Fundamental Transformation of America, which in effect throws all U.S. citizens in with the terrorists known as al-AQaeda; a new kind of military of which no one can be proud.

It was in 2008 when running for the presidency, that Barack Obama declared he would someday soon lead a civilian army of his very own: “We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we set.  We gotta’ have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” (Barack Obama, July 2, 2008).

To a majority of the American population, it may no longer be “our military” but Obama’s ‘United States of al-Qaeda’.

Back when Obama was talking about having his own army,  no one in the mainstream media took him at his word.  Whipped up during a campaign where people actually fainted at the sight of him, voters sent the man who vowed to lead his own army to the Oval office in a landslide election that was to change America forever.

Surrealism not withstanding, it somehow fits the script that the senator who ran against him for the presidency is now Obama’s biggest booster for war on Syria when he’s not playing iPhone poker during senate hearings.

Via: Canada Free Press

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EIGHT KILLED, MORE THAN 25 SHOT IN CHICAGO HOLIDAY WEEKEND BLOODBATH

THE SLAUGHTER CONTINUES AND NOT A WORD FROM THE LEFT!!

At least eight people are dead and more than 25 others were wounded in shootings over Labor Day weekend in Rahm Emanuel's Chicago. The shootings were widespread, from the far south and west sides of the city and spanning north into neighborhoods that see far fewer shooting incidents normally. 

At lease one shooting occurred in one of the city’s newly created “Safe Passage” routes, designated to provide a gun-free zone for Chicago students to get to school.

In the midst of Chicago’s bloody holiday, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy continued to tout the city’s overall decline in murders from 2012 and push for “stronger gun laws.”

“While there have been significantly fewer shootings and murders this year, one victim is one too many and there's clearly more work to be done,” said McCarthy. “We will continue our close partnership with the community and continue implementing our comprehensive policing strategy, but to address gun violence we need stronger laws that keep illegal guns out of our streets in the first place."

While statistics do prove murders and crime overall is lower than last year, when compared to 2011, the murder rate for 2013 is virtually unchanged, with 270 murders to 2011’s 273. As a result, after 2012’s outrageous spike in crime and murder, McCarthy and Mayor Rahm Emanuel have continued to make claims of “progress."

Via: Breitbart

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Taking the war pitch international

OBAMA GOES GLOBAL WITH WAR PITCH - President Obama appears in a joint press conference this morning in Stockholm with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, marking the first time Obama has faced questions since submitting to Congress his request for authorization to attack Syria. While there’s some irony for a president whose most famous previous trip to Scandinavia was to collect a Nobel Peace Prize, he will surely find friends as he meets with Nordic leaders who have joined in U.S. calls for U.N. action against Syria.

Putin unpleasant on purpose - It’s tomorrow when things will get really testy as Obama arrives in St. Petersburg, Russia for a meeting of the G20, ostensibly on economic issues. The summit is taking place on the soil of Syria’s most powerful protector. It also takes place as traditional U.S. allies, like Britain and Germany, are spurning Obama’s pleas for an attack. In an interview with the Associated Press, Russian President Vladimir Putin embraced his role as Obama’s chief international rival. “President Obama hasn't been elected by the American people with the purpose of being pleasant to Russia,” Putin said. “And your humble servant hasn't been elected by the people of Russia to be pleasant to anyone.”

The takeaway - Obama’s Swedish stopover is designed to show the president on the side of liberal humanitarians with his Syria strike plan. Putin will be trying to cast the proposed strike on Russia’s traditional Middle East ally as a re-emergence of Cold War-era proxy conflicts.

Via: Fox News Politics

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You Cost America a Great Deal This Past Week, Mr. President By Charlie Daniels

In my soon-to-be 77 years as a citizen of the United States of America, having lived through Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, the dark days of WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Watergate, 9/11 and all the other serious and profound events our beloved nation has been involved in over the last three quarters of a century, I have to say with all sincerity that I have never seen a president as confused, befuddled, impotent, insincere and as out of his depth as Barack Obama has become in dealing with the Syrian issue.

When you're the leader of the free world, you don't make statements you can't back up, and you don't draw lines in the sand, watch your enemies cross them with impunity and go off and play a round of golf.

Obama painted himself and the nation into a corner with his “red line” statement, and I truly believe he thought he would have unilateral, international and domestic support only to find himself standing alone in the spotlight with egg on his face and a ticking political time bomb in his hand.

I don't believe he ever had any intention of going through Congress and only decided to do so when he was left without the support of traditional allies and the disdain of a war weary American public who have begun to feel that America cannot be the international police force who has to bear the brunt of every catastrophe.

I think Obama is taking the vote for military authorization to Congress to bail himself out, to buy some time, somebody to share the blame if all goes wrong. Obama had already positioned war ships. All that was left to do was give the order to fire the missiles and at the 11th hour, after being rejected by the British parliament and put off by the French, he started having second thoughts and reached for the life preserver.

Via: CNS News

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Israeli sources on Obama's Syria approach: 'Not how a superpower acts'

Senior Israeli Official On Obama: “He’s A Disastrous Weak Leader”…

While leading Israeli officials have publicly struck a tone of muted support for President Obama's decision to seek congressional authorization for strikes on Syria's chemical weapons delivery systems, in private, senior Israeli officials and foreign policy analysts are expressing grave disappointment with the conduct of their ally in Washington.

Well-placed Israeli sources told Fox News they "get it" as to why the president felt the need to cloak his planned military strikes in congressional legitimacy. But they regard the way he went about his decision-making in this instance as erratic, unnerving to them, and a bad omen for what the Israelis regard as the sine qua non of their foreign policy: the looming showdown with Iran over its nuclear program.

"The feeling is that something was wrong here, that this was not the way this should have gone down, that this is not the way a superpower should act," said one former Israeli diplomat who has spent considerable time in the United States and enjoys close ties to the Netanyahu government. "We look at Syria, and we think Iran. ... What conclusions should be drawn about how America will act in other circumstances? Here was a clear red line. It was breached a few times. This looks like a clever move; but America's willingness to 'walk the walk' now is very questionable."

Another senior official, presently in the Israeli government, told Fox News the president was right, in terms of domestic U.S. politics, to "look for cover," and thereby force American lawmakers who would have criticized him for undertaking unauthorized action to "own it, too." But this official said the Israelis, from their vantage point, see the Obama administration as detached from the Mideast and the president, in particular, as ill-equipped to shape events there.

Via: Fox News

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Gingrich Urges 'No' Vote on Syria

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich urged Congress Tuesday to "vote no" on a military strike against Syria and instead begin debate on what he described as even bigger strategic challenges for the United States and the world. 

"The most powerful nation in the world does not need a three- or four-week debate about a limited, symbolic, tactical use of power," the Georgia Republican wrote Tuesday in an opinion piece for CNN, as he urged Congress to "vote no on a meaningless public relations use of military force against [Syrian President Bashar Assad]. 

Urgent: Should U.S. Strike Syria? Vote Here 

"What we do need are three debates about very large strategic challenges," he added, referring to Iran's nuclear program, the spread of radical Islamism, and the vulnerabilities in the U.S. military being created by "budgetary drawdowns."

"Each of these challenges is massively bigger and vastly more important to our survival than the symbolic Syrian attack," Gingrich said. 

The former 2012 GOP presidential candidate, now a co-host of CNN's "Crossfire," said that "launching a few missiles at Syria" as a tactical action "will not change history." But he insisted that refusing to address the three challenges he laid out would have much larger repercussions. 

Citing what he said were 12 years of doing nothing to address Iran's nuclear development efforts under both Presidents Obama and Republican George W. Bush, Gingrich said the time has finally come for "a national debate about stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons."

"We did nothing decisive for seven years under President George W. Bush even after he described Iran as part of the axis of evil (along with Saddam Hussein's Iraq and the North Korean dictatorship). In the first five years of Obama's administration, we have continued to do nothing decisive. Meanwhile, day by day the Iranian dictatorship works at acquiring nuclear weapons," he said. 

Via: Newsmax

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[CARTOON] BUY

Via: California Political Review

Krauthammer on Sending a Message to the Assad Regime Through Military Force: 'Send a Text: It's Less Expensive'

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer appeared on The O'Reilly Factor to discuss the possible repercussions of heeding President Obama's call for action in Syria, and the repercussions of not getting involved at all:





Via Fox News

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Mayor takes offense at Menino's 'blow up' Detroit comment

DETROIT (AP) -- Detroit Mayor Dave Bing accused his Boston counterpart of insensitivity Tuesday after Thomas Menino told a magazine that if he ever visited the Motor City, he'd "blow up the place and start all over."

In a New York Times Magazine article that first appeared online last week, Menino said Detroit is a place he'd like to visit, then added the rest when asked what he'd do there.

"It is extremely regrettable that Boston Mayor Thomas Menino used such an unfortunate choice of words to describe what he would do if he came to Detroit," said Bing, who is not running for re-election after one term as mayor. "I would think the mayor of a city that recently experienced a deadly bombing attack would be more sensitive and not use the phrase 'blow up."'

A spokeswoman for the Boston mayor said Menino "feels strongly about cities," cares about Detroit's problems and "would like to help in any way he can."

"The mayor is sorry that people have taken offense," Dot Joyce told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "It was never his intention."

She said that Menino's proposal to "blow up the place" meant to overhaul the broken systems that have helped bring down Detroit.

Three people were killed and more than 260 injured in April when pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails, ball bearings and metal shards detonated near the finish line of the popular Boston Marathon.

One of the suspects was killed three days later in a gun battle with police. His brother was captured and has pleaded not guilty to using a weapon of mass destruction charges.

Via: Lowell Sun

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