More evidence that all this attacking of US policies is just playing destructive, divisive politics, Nancy Pelosi agreed to waterboarding in 2002. But now it's a political wedge issue, so she's working for all she's worth. Waterboarding was a safe, effective interrogation technique in 2002, and that won't ever change.
Intelligence agencies breaking with Bush on Iran. Then fire them. The agencies do not set policy, the president does. That's why we elect a president. The agencies have one job - carry out the policies of the president. If they disagree, bureaucrats should resign. If they don't do that, and they've undermined the Bush administration since before we invaded Iraq, they should be fired. This is just more evidence of just how unAmerican our bureaucracies are. Our bureaucracies are an obstacle to the will of the people expressed by our election of representatives. They think they run the country, not the people through our representatives. This is why we have to dismantle all of them and replace them with small, responsive, effective organizations that are either of limited life-span or which reinvent themselves from the ground up every 20 years or so.
More scary commentary on our government. Contrary to this article, this isn't Bush's fault. And this isn't a partisan issue. It's dangerous for everybody in America when government undermines the will of the people by undermining the policies of our elected representatives. This has been the progression, sometimes faster and sometimes slower, since these bureaucracies were created:
The intelligence community — and particularly the CIA, which was conceived as an exclusive tool for the president's use in making and executing his most difficult decisions — has today made itself a separate agency of government, answerable essentially to itself. This NIE makes clear that for better or worse, spy agencies today make the finished product of policy rather than providing the raw materials.
Author calls the NIE a propaganda victory for Iran. No doubt.
This is an exercise in the power of a few top-level bureaucrats to shape the meaning of the work of hundreds of others, simply by re-writing the headlines. We should be used to this from the global warming reports periodically issued by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change--reports whose body, which is prepared by scientists, is always far less alarmist than the "summary for policymakers" tacked on to it by politicians and diplomats and then amplified in the press.
The Wall Street Journal and a few other sources have speculated that some of the NIE's authors, who have a reputation as "hyper-partisan anti-Bush officials," deliberately set out to sabotage the administration. Whatever the case, the authors certainly knew that their lines about Iran allegedly suspending its weapons program and not "rushing" to produce a weapon would be picked up by the media. And they must have realized that this would eclipse the rest of the substance of the report.
Congratulations to the judge who tossed this lawsuit aiming to block Arizona's new law restricting employers from hiring illegal immigrants. We need more judges who recognize this is a public policy issue that must be addressed by our representatives.
Iranian defectors from their nuclear program provided info for the 2007 NIE on Iran.
Oil rich nations are using American and free world wealth we're transferring to them to grow their economies and suck up more oil for themselves, making supplies tighter on the rest of us. How's that blocking of drilling, blocking of coal and nuclear power, and blocking of refineries working out for us?
Video surveillance for the Olympics and New York.
The Episcopal church splits over gay rights.
NBC reverses decision and decides to run ad from conservatives. MoveOn.org will be very upset.
Will Oprah help Obama, hurt herself, or both? Celebrities often lose a lot of audience when they inject themselves into politics, especially on the left. Chelsea will obviously help Hillary. They're both tugging all the heartstrings they can instead of focusing on policy. It's ridiculous that Americans fall for this crap.
Andrew Young jokes Bill Clinton has probably gone with more black women than Barack Obama. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
George Will says Congress will reauthorize the No Child Left Behind boondoggle. They'll probably spend more money on it, further harming our children. The right solution is to abolish the Dept. of Education and to return responsibility for educating children to parents.
Transcript of debate addressing whether aid to Africa does more harm than good. That aid is nothing but welfare, and welfare is always damaging to both provider and recipient. We should revamp our Africa policy to check Chinese expansion by empowering Africans, not holding them down with welfare.
Lost vote may be the beginning of the end for Chavez. 5 years is a long time for a guy who is already basically a dictator. I wouldn't count that wannabe tyrant out yet.
Hillary isn't doing to well with professional women. Duh.
Republicans shouldn't compromise on spending and Iraq war funding. Democrats have no choice but to fund the Iraq war or get decimated by voters. I love the idea of just passing a continuing resolution because it means no new spending. I'd rather cut government, but holding the budget flat is an impressive feat in Washington. I bet flat is wrong word, though. I bet programs have built in growth mechanisms that continue with a continuing resolution. Still, it's better than passing new spending.
Lamenting political debates and wishing for the Lincoln-Douglas style.
John Stossel explains the tragedy of the commons and how private property rights, free markets and free trade solve the problem. This explains the failure of communism and the success of the US. Unfortunately voters always vote for the authoritarian solutions of the 2 parties instead of voting for free people to solve their own problems and against government involvement. Stossel uses the endangered elephants as his example, but our vanishing fisheries have far more devastating consequences.
Canadians are not allowed to call censors, censors. It's considered hate speech. Mark Steyn is in a legal battle in Canada because his book America Alone has been accused of hate speech. So much for Canada being free.
The mall shooter was a copycat killer. The solution to this problem is never identify the killer. As bad as news organizations are, this might be the very worst thing they do.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali wonders why there aren't more moderate Muslims and why they remain so silent.
James Pinkerton explains that if Iraq and Iran aren't issues next year, it could hurt Republicans. I agree. Democrats thought the Iraq war issue would work for them, but they've been wrong about that. But with Iraq becoming less important by next year, and some people believing that Iran isn't developing nuclear weapons (why would anybody believe that?) we hawks may not be well received.
Book explaining how Britain and the US came to dominate the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment