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Rep. Hank Johnson: Guam could tip over and capsize!


This will be an instant YouTube classic. Lauren Katlin is probably jumping for joy right now because someone else is about to take her place. That admiral deserves major credit for not busting out laughing. I know I could not have kept a straight face.

To be fair to Hank Johnson it should be known that Hepatitis C has ravaged his mind and body. Perhaps that is also why he joined the Raaaaacism Industrial Complex during the Joe Wilson dust up. Given how the disease might be affecting him, how come no one has asked if Johnson is truly capable of representing his constituents?  I think it is time to start asking folks.


UPDATE: Welcome Maggie's Notebook readers! 

Via: Hot Air

The embrace of Christ

"The Church is a human reality in which can be found unworthy people, rude people of little worth, sometimes violent, fragile, and presumptuous men, inadequate parents and rebellious children. But the Church does not stay on the other side, that is to say that of the Pharisees and of those without sin."

These words by Don Gius, spoken in April 2000 and published in the National Catholic Register, which, strangely enough, given the present circumstances we face, is a publication owned by the Legionaries of Christ, which came to me via my dear friend Sharon, over at Quaerere Deum, state very well the reality of the Church, which we all too easily lose sight of during trying times. Such observations are nothing new. St. Augustine's preaching is rife with such insights.

It bears repeating, that "[i]f the Church, with all its limitations, had not [the embrace of Christ] to offer to the world, even to the victims of those barbarities, then we would be lost. Because the evil would still be there, but it would be impossible to overcome it."

As I was typing this post I received an e-mail with the Holy Father's blessing for all the CL communities leading public Ways of the Cross on Good Friday attached. The Holy Father "prays that as the faithful silently accompany the Savior along the path of His redemptive suffering, they will enter more deeply into the inexhaustible mystery of the Cross and acknowledge it as the definitive sign of God's boundless mercy and reconciling love."

Meum cum sim pulvis et cinis

Obama embraces Drill Baby Drill


I call this a welcome surprise; the Obama administration is opening up vast areas of the coast for offshore drilling. 
The New York Times: The Obama administration will approve significant oil and gas exploration off America’s coasts, including a possible sale two years from now of leases off Virginia’s coast, administration officials said Wednesday.
The move, which President Obama will announce Wednesday morning with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at Andrews Air Force Base, ends a long-standing moratorium on oil and gas drilling along much of the East Coast, from Delaware to central Florida.
The new strategy, an administration official said, calls for also developing oil and gas exploration in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, more than 125 miles from Florida’s coast; and in large areas in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas in the Arctic Ocean, north of Alaska, after the government conducts detailed studies. …
The administration’s decision to open up large swaths of the Outer Continental Shelf, even as it keeps some key preserves off-limits, is likely to anger environmentalists and several key lawmakers who had pressed Obama to keep the moratorium in place. But oil and gas companies are sure to welcome the proposal.
This is good news.  America should have been drilling offshore decades ago. Not drilling off America’s shores to please environmentalist was always a foolish policy. With so many nations drilling oil for us (and less responsibly too) we were only deluding ourselves into thinking we were saving the planet.

The environmentalists are going to want Obama’s hide for this.  As such I will not be surprised if he has some gift of appeasement coming down the pike for the enviro-wienies. You will notice from the graphic, that the drilling is not going to happen anywhere near the bluest of blue states.  Perhaps that is the first gift of appeasement.

Given Obama’s dig at Mitt Romney by comparing ObamaCare to RomneyCare, I have to wonder if this offshore drilling has anything to do with taking some of the wind out of Sarah Palin’s sails. Energy independence is Palin’s strongest suit, with Obama and Palin now on the same page, is she neutralized on this issue?

Finally, given the successful resurrection of ObamaCare, I am somewhat leery that this might be a way to revive Cap and Trade. God help us if it is, Cap and Trade will for sure polish us off economically.


UPDATE: The Old Rope A Dope


As several of you have pointed out, there is a give with one hand and take away with the other game going on with Obama's plan. As we see, Obama's plan turns out to be a back door two year extension on the drilling ban. 
From Gateway Pundit: 
Obama Moratorium: The Obama Administration plan would discard the 2010-2015 Outer Continental Shelf lease plan that had been set in motion by the previous Administration and delay the implementation of their new plan until 2012. This new two-year “Obama Moratorium” (2010-2012) would almost certainly delay any new exploration in areas previously under moratoria until after the president’s entire term. The president’s plan would then keep several areas off limits, including the Pacific coast from Mexico to Canada, the Atlantic coast north of Delaware, parts of Alaska, and the most promising areas of the Gulf of Mexico.Against the will of the American people and Congress, the Administration is essentially unilaterally reinstating the drilling ban for an additional two years, signaling to markets that supply will not expand, thus raising prices. Earlier this month, Natural Resources Ranking Member Doc Hastings (R-WA) and 87 other House Republicans sent a letter to Interior Secretary Salazar urging the Administration to implement the 2010-2015 leasing plan. The letter also outlined the cost of inaction-these years of delay will leave Americans unemployed, lose billions of dollars in revenues and create a greater dependence on unstable foreign sources of oil and gas that puts U.S. national security at risk.
Stalling and blockading of new energy production endangers tens of thousands of existing jobs and prevents the creation of new jobs that would help lower the unemployment rate. Opening new areas to drilling would be a no-cost stimulus for the U.S. economy.
New Gas Tax: Making matters worse, the Democrat Congress is unfathomably considering a new gas tax. Press reports suggest that the Kerry-Lieberman-Graham climate bill under construction in the Senate may impose a “carbon tax” on motor fuels such as gasoline. This gas tax would target all consumers (especially rural Americans who travel further for work) and result in an increase in air travel, cargo costs, and significantly impact fuel-dependent industries such as trucking.
Further reading at Michelle Malkin.

Barack Obama recebeu Nicolas Sarkozy na Casa Branca: EUA e França de acordo na pressão ao Irão

Dagestan: 2 new suicide attacks in Russia

With the Moscow subway attacks still fresh in everyone’s mind, Russia is again rocked by two more suicide bombers. This time the attacks took place inside Russia’s Dagestan region. 
The New York Times: MAKHACHKALA, Russia (Reuters) - Two blasts, one set off by a suicide bomber, rocked Kizlyar in Russia's Dagestan region on Wednesday, killing at least 11 people just two days after twin bombs hit Moscow, officials told Reuters.
Investigators said a suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform set off the second of the blasts in Dagestan, which followed the two bombings in Moscow that killed 39 people and which authorities blamed on female suicide attackers with links to insurgents in the turbulent North Caucasus.
In Kizlyar, a police official said a car parked near a school in the center of town blew up as a traffic police patrol was driving by, killing two police officers.
He said the second bomb was set off shortly after police and onlookers gathered at the scene.
The provincial police spokesman said Kizlyar police chief Vitaly Vedernikov was among the dead. At least six other police officers, an investigator and a civilian were killed, Russian news agencies cited police as saying.
Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim province adjacent to war-scarred Chechnya along Russia's southern border, is plagued by frequent attacks targeting police and government officials.
Below is a clip from Russia Today on the attacks.


More coverage at CNN and the BBC.

Via: CNN
Via: BBC

Political Suicide: A Democrat tells why he voted for ObamaCare

Before the passage of ObamaCare, poll after poll showed that it was a stinker with the electorate. Even today, Gallop shows us that ObamaCare is still stinking up the joint. So why would a Democrat vote for such a bill?  Howard Fineman from Newsweek gives us an answer. 
Newsweek: A Democratic senator I can't name, who reluctantly voted for the health-care bill out of loyalty to his party and his admiration for Barack Obama, privately complained to me that the measure was political folly, in part because of the way it goes into effect: some taxes first, most benefits later, and rate hikes by insurance companies in between.
Besides that, this Democrat said, people who already have coverage will feel threatened and resentful about helping to cover the uninsured—an emotion they will sanitize for the polltakers into a concern about federal spending and debt.
On the day the president signed into law the "fix-it" addendum to the massive health-care measure, two new polls show just how fearful and skeptical Americans are about the entire enterprise.  If the numbers stay where they are—and it's not clear why they will change much between now and November—then the Democrats really are in danger of colossal losses at the polls.
I say this even though I was one of those who always said that Obama would get a bill passed—and that, politically, he personally had no choice but to get it done if he wanted to have a successful presidency. But his reputation as a can-do guy was purchased at a very high political cost.
Ah, so there it is. Notice no consideration for the people this bill will be imposed upon, just the party and Obama.

I myself always thought too many Democrats’ self-preservation would kick in and ObamaCare would have crashed and burned. Sure, there are those true believers in progressive ideology that would have happily sacrificed their political futures for ObamaCare. Obama and Nancy Pelosi immediately come to mind.

I also imagined that there were those Democrats of the self-serving nature. They would vote for anything if the price were right. Mary Landrieu and Ben Nelson immediately come to mind. Harry Reid too would probably fit in this category as well. Look for this scoundrel to get a quid pro quo somewhere down the road.

What I would like to know now is if any Democrats are regretting their vote or are they resigned to losing and will just vote the party line because they have nothing to lose.

UPDATED: Sarah Palin’s Fox News Special to feature L.L. Cool J?


I knew Palin was going to do specials for Fox, I also knew that she wanted to focus on everyday American stories. What I was surprised by was her guest list. Somehow, I never imagine LL Cool J going on a Palin show. 
Mediaite: This is not an April Fool’s joke. Sarah Palin will take her first stab at television hosting when she fronts a new Fox News series, Real American Stories, premiering Thursday April 1 at 10pmET.
Guests for the first show include country singerToby Keith, rapper/actor LL Cool J and Jack Welch. Get excited.
The show will “focus on a range of such stories including a Marine Medal of Honor recipient who gave his live to save his comrades.” But also there will be the celebrity guests – a very broad range of celebrity guests.
If you skip over to Hot Air to see a clip of LL Cool J, the brother sounds downright conservative.


UPDATE 1: View the promo commercial here.
UPDATE 2: Right Klik picks up on what is sure to be the big Palin "controversy" involving LL Cool J

Via: Hot Air 

The Kiss of Death: Obama says ObamaCare is just like RomneyCare

Mitt Romney was always hanging on by a thread during the entire health care debate. This is because his health care reform plan in general does resemble ObamaCare. Throughout the debate, as so many of the 2012 GOP hopefuls stepped up to bash ObamaCare, potential front-runner Mitt Romney was rather silent.

Now that ObamaCare is the law of the land and much of the nation is looking for its repeal, Mitt Romney is left in the most awkward position of having to throw stones at a plan very similar to his. Worse yet, Mitt Romney has a nagging credibility issues due to recent position changes. 
The Hill: Having Obama himself now tout ObamaCare as the twin to RomneyCare is going to make things very difficult for Mitt.
The Hill: President Obama tied his own healthcare reform law to Romneycare today, a growing theme that isn't helping the former Massachusetts Governor in his early positioning for 2012.
"I think that the Republican Party made a calculated decision, a political decision, that they would not support whatever we did," Obama told Matt Lauer in an interview. "And I think that's unfortunate because when you actually look at the bill itself, it incorporates all sorts of Republican ideas. I mean, a lot of commentators have said, you know, this is sort of similar to the bill that Mitt Romney passed in Massachusetts."


We will no doubt see this clip played over and over again by Romney’s potential GOP rivals. Question 1: Who do you think will produce the most brutal attack ad with this clip, Palin, Huckabee or Pawlenty? Question 2: Is there an effective way for Romney to overcome the RomneyCare issue?

Sarah Palin endorses Allen West


Yesterday in a new Facebook note, Sarah Palin threw her support behind three veteran candidates running for US House seats, Major Vaughn Ward, Captain Adam Kinzinger and Lieutenant Colonel Allen West. As many of you know, Lieutenant Colonel Allen West is the black conservative whose famous speech set YouTube ablaze.

Here is Palin’s endorsement for West: 
[...] The third veteran is Lieutenant Colonel Allen West, a decorated war hero who’s served with distinction in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of you may have heard of Allen from a speech he gave last year that became a viral video on YouTube with over 2 million viewers. Allen’s personal story is a testament to the commonsense conservative belief that our nation’s greatness is rooted in freedom, because with freedom comes equal opportunity, and that, coupled with hard work, leads to success. Allen is a small government fiscal conservative running against a leftwing ideologue who’s marched to the beat of Nancy Pelosi on every issue from cap-and-tax to the stimulus, TARP, and, of course, Obamacare. It’s time to send Allen to Washington in his place. Please visit Allen’s website here to donate to his campaign, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. [...] 
There are quite a few black conservatives running in 2010. Many of them would make excellent Reps. I have covered a few here at this blog (Michael Williams and Les Phillips).  I hope to have a full list of all the black conservatives running in 2010 shortly.

Os argumentos de Obama no Afeganistão

Were Stupak and crew paid off with earmarks?


The Sunlight Foundation is taking a very close look at earmark request from Bart Stupak and 10 other so-called “Pro-Life” Democrats. The Sunlight Foundation seems to think that these earmarks represent a quid pro quo for Stupak and crew’s caving on their abortion stance. 
Fox News: The 11 House Democrats led by Rep. Bart Stupak who dropped their opposition to health care reform legislation mere hours before the final vote have requested $3.4 billion in earmarks -- and one watchdog group wants to know whether the money represents business as usual or political payoffs. 
The Sunlight Foundation says it plans to track the earmark requests, which were put in one day after health care reform cleared Congress, to see whether they're approved and whether it appears lawmakers are being rewarded for their vote. 
[…] 
The individual earmarks requests from each of those lawmakers range from $20 million to $1.4 billion. Of the eight lawmakers whose 2010 requests were available for comparison, five requested more money than they did a year ago. Stupak requested $579 million. 
Here are the earmark amounts requested by the 11 House Democrats in the 2011 bill: 
Rep. Jerry Costello of Illinois.: $1,418.7 million ($256.4 million in 2010)
Rep. Solomon Ortiz of Texas: $618 million ($726.1 million in 2010)
Stupak of Michigan: $578.9 million 
Rep. Steve Driehaus of Ohio: $332.2 million 
Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio: $294 million ($305.7 million in 2010)
Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper of Pennsylvania: $236.8 million ($54 million in 2010)
Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota.: $207 million ($226 million in 2010)
Rep. Brad Ellsworth of Indiana.: $115.4 million ($82.3 million in 2010)
Rep. Charles Wilson of Ohio: $84 million ($62.3 million in 2010)
Rep. Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania.: $67.1 million 
Rep. Joseph Donnelly of Indiana: $19.8 million ($11.65 million in 2010)
The Sunlight Foundation also says it is going to look at Republican earmarks. House Republicans say they are not requesting any earmarks for the next fiscal year, but Allison said the Sunlight Foundation will watch GOP senators to see if they appear to be putting in earmark requests for their House colleagues. 
Stupak obviously denies any quid pro quo, but given the wild deal making that went on in the Senate and the absolute desperation of Obama and Pelosi, one could easily imagine that these earmarks are payoffs. I hope they are not. If Stupak and the “Pro-Life” Dems traded safeguards for the unborn for earmarks, then they are truly despicable individuals.

Left vs. Right: The tale of two protests in pictures



Zombie at Pajamas Media has links and images of two recent protests. The first is the Showdown in Searchlight Tea Party and the second is an Anti-War rally in Los Angles. The stark contrast between the images could not be more acute.

Click over to Zombie and as you go through the images of the left, keep in mind all the things people say about Tea Partiers and see if they don’t apply to the lefties.

Control Freak Alert: Climate Scientist says humans too stupid to stop climate change


This is a Class A Control Freak Alert!

James Lovelock, an environmental thinker and independent scientist who developed the Gaia theory” had this to say in the UK Guardian today: 
"I don't think we're yet evolved to the point where we're clever enough to handle a complex a situation as climate change," said Lovelock in his first in-depth interview since the theft of the UEA emails last November. "The inertia of humans is so huge that you can't really do anything meaningful." 
One of the main obstructions to meaningful action is "modern democracy", he added. "Even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while." 
Ah, thank you for your honest Mr. Lovelock. Man caused climate change has always been about control. Saving the planet from certain calamity has always been the cover story. We know from the Climategate emails and from the absolute shoddiness of the IPCC reports that the hypothesis that man’s actions are changing the climate is based on some shaky evidence. The whole idea really is about controlling people’s lives by dictating our energy use or our consumption of goods

Well Mr. Lovelock the stupid masses are on to your scheme. So you, Al Gore and the rest of the fear mongers can go right back to the drawing board, we the people are on to you.

For further discussion, read Hot Air, Sister Toldjah and Wizbang.

They ain’t your daddy’s type of Republicans


Here is a brief update on the RNC bondage-themed club story. As you know Michael Steele was not in attendance. However, we have learned who was there. 
From Red County: The O.C. connection? As the Daily Caller story in that second link shows, DMI President and Gen Next member, Erik Brown, was who picked up that tab and ended up expensing it to the RNC.
According to sources who were in attendance that night, the “official” part of the evening started with 50+ person dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel, then carried on throughout the evening, eventually ending up at Voyeur. While RNC employees, who were in town to recruit members to its “RNC Young Eagles” program, did participate throughout the entire evening and did find their way to the bondage-themed club, Michael Steele himself was “not in attendance” for any portion of the evening. Brown, by the way, is reportedly a “Young Eagle” himself, a fundraising sub-group of the RNC which targets larger donors based on age group.
Presumably, the Daily Caller (which broke this whole story on its website earlier today) is continuing to pour through RNC disclosure documents. If so, it will likely find significant sums spent by the RNC on services rendered by DMI…
You know what the good Lord says about ye who is without sin? Let’s just say I ain’t picking up any stones. The idea that all Republicans are supposed to be pure as driven snow is a leftwing meme that we all know isn’t true. I have met plenty of Republicans who know how to PARTY. So what I am about to say isn’t coming from the point of a prude.

The issue here though is what is to be gained by soliciting donations in this manner? We all know that big donors tend to get listen to over little ones. The evening described above reminds me so much of my Wall Street days. Many of the young execs ups would go out and tear up the town with their expense accounts. For the most part they were of the jerk persuasion. So do we really want young jerks having influence in the Republican Party? Perhaps this is why, the Republican Party is a little top heavy with feather headed RINOs and power hungry elitists.

Like the old saying goes, don’t mix business with pleasure.

Video: Harry Reid supporters throwing eggs at Tea Party bus

Here is the video of Andrew Breitbart among the Harry Reid supporters while they were throwing eggs at the Tea Party bus (from The Founding Bloggers).  Check out the dude who wants Breitbart to leave, such a friendly chap!  Perhaps he is the guy in charge of hospitality at the hospitality tent.


The second video is from is Andrew Breitbart talking to the police about the Reid supporters. (h/t Hot Air)


Via: Hot Air

Flavored Tea at the Showdown in Searchlight


Just in case Keith Olbermann needs to know if there were any minorities at the Showdown in Searchlight, Boom Boom Boom was kind enough to collect the photographic evidence.

Click over and check out the numerous faces of color he snapped while attending the Tea Party. He also has some pretty good shots of Sarah and Todd.

Eric Cantor receives death threats from Philly man Norman LeBoon


In an affidavit released today, total loon Norman LeBoon has been arrested for making death threats to Congressman Eric Cantor and his family. LeBoon made the threats via a video uploaded to YouTube.
Talking Points Memo: PHILADELPHIA - Today, a two-count complaint and warrant was filed charging Norman Leboon with threatening to kill United States Congressman Eric Cantor and his family, and threatening to kill Congressman Eric Cantor, who is an official of the United States, announced United States Attorney Michael L. Levy and FBI Special Agent in Charge Jan Fedarcyk. As set forth in the affidavit to the complaint and warrant, in or about late March, 2010, Leboon created and then transmitted a YouTube video to Google over the internet, in which he threatened to kill Congressman Cantor and his family. No harm came to the Congressman or his family as a result of Leboon's threats. [copy of affidavit here] 
LeBoon a 33-year-old man from Philadelphia, PA has fancies himself as some sort of messiah and has made death threats before. In the video below (h/t Michelle Malkin) we see LeBoon making threats to the folks at YouTube for taking down one of his videos.


You can view more of LeBoon nutty videos at his YouTube channel. As you can see from the video LeBoon apparently considers himself a Muslim. Will the media mention this fact the way they make note about the Christian Militia group Hutaree? Somehow I doubt it especially when it has been discoved that LeBoon gave two dontations to the Obama campaign back in 2008. Jamie Wearing Fool has the full story on the donations. The DNC said it would give any LeBoon donations it finds to charity.

LeBoon is the perfect reason why the media is play such a dangerous game hyping these stories about threats towards the Democrats. There are really crazy people out there both on the left and the right who cannot separate the politics. It is these nutcases that will act on all these stories coming out. Clearly the media’s attempt to smear the Tea Parties is not having the desired effect. Instead it seems to be stirring up the crazy farm. 

Michael Steele and RNC’s Bondage Themed Nightclub woes


The Daily Caller has a story up today about Michael Steele looking into buying a private jet for the RNC.  However, one sentence in the story has set off the blogosphere into massive discussion. 
The Daily Caller: […] The RNC explains that Steele charters jets only when commercial service is unavailable, or when his tight schedule requires it. “Anytime the chairman has taken any private travel has been a either to a route that doesn’t exist or because of connections and multiple travel to where he just wasn’t able to do so,” Heye said. Yet Steele’s office repeatedly refused to explain in specific terms the circumstances of the February charter flights.
Once on the ground, FEC filings suggest, Steele travels in style. A February RNC trip to California, for example, included a $9,099 stop at the Beverly Hills Hotel, $6,596 dropped at the nearby Four Seasons, and $1,620.71 spent [update: the amount is actually $1,946.25] at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex. […]
The way the story is written it gives the impression that it was Steele who ran up the charge at the nudie bar.  The RNC was quick to fight back this notion and claims the charge was made by a staffer.  Allahpundit at Hot Air identifies the culprit of the charge as Erik Brown. 
Hot Air: Erik Brown, who owns Dynamic Marketing Inc. and most recently charged the Steve Poizner for Governor campaign more than $10,000 for campaign literature and mailings, was reimbursed by the RNC for the almost $2,000 in charges at Voyeur West Hollywood, according to FEC filings and online reports reviewed by The Daily Caller…
The RNC has denied that Steele spent the money at Voyeur. But it appears Brown is close to the chairman. In October, Brown wrote on Twitter, “Enjoying the football game with RNC Chairman Michael Steele. (Eagles vs Redskins at FedEx Field)”.
Allahpundit asks the big question, why did the RNC allow the charge in the first place!

Although Steele is not guilty of making the charge, the story gives me pause. The outcome of the 2010 and 2012 elections are as serious as a heart attack.  Reading about how the RNC allowed such charges in the first place makes you wonder if these guys are ready to bring their A-Game to fighting Obama’s agenda.  Both Steele and the RNC seem to still be stuck with a 2008 mentality.

Michael Steele should be focusing on finding and supporting serious common sense conservatives for the midterm elections and beyond. Instead Steele seems to be spending a lot of time and money on self-promotion, with TV appearance and book promotions. Just a few weeks ago, I spied Steele on MSNBC. Does Steele think that by going on a far left station with a puny audience is the best way to spread the conservative message?  Methinks not. Get it together my brother or step aside for those who can.

Moscow Subway Explosions: Suicide bombers kill at least 35 on Moscow subway

Moscow was rocked this morning by two female suicide bombers who set off explosive belts at two subway stations. The first blast killed 23 and the second 12. 
Fox News: MOSCOW -- Two female homicide bombers blew themselves up on Moscow's subway system as it was jam-packed with rush-hour passengers Monday, killing at least 35 people and wounding 38, the city's mayor and other officials said.
Emergency Ministry spokeswoman Svetlana Chumikova said 23 people were killed in an explosion shortly before 8 a.m. at the Lubyanka station in central Moscow. The station is underneath the building that houses the main offices of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, the KGB's main successor agency.
A second explosion hit the Park Kultury station about 45 minutes later. Chumikova said at least 12 were dead there. The ministry later said 38 people were injured.
Chechen rebels are suspected after issuing a threat back in February: 
In February, Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov warned in an interview on a rebel-affiliated Website that "the zone of military operations will be extended to the territory of Russia ... the war is coming to their cities."
Umarov also claimed his fighters were responsible for the November bombing of the Nevsky Express passenger train that killed 26 people en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg. 



Perspective at Michelle Malkin.
Video at Gateway Pundit.
More coverage at The New York Times, BBC and Times of London.

Full Video: Marco Rubio Vs. Charlie Crist on Fox News Sunday



From the opening remarks, I think Rubio captures the sentiment of the nation perfectly. Crist used his opportunity to immediately attack Rubio. Even without the attack, are we really just looking for public servants or are we looking for people who yank the country back to its slightly center right position?

Notice that Rubio looks at Crist when he answers the charges against him, while Crist only looks at Chris Wallace when making the charges, very telling.

Crist’s defense of the stimulus sounds like it could have been spoken from any Democrat. It did take me aback that Crist admits that if he were a senator he would have voted for the stimulus. Is embracing the devil as winning strategy in honesty or is it a desperate man with few options?

This debate can be summed up as Compassionate Conservative [Crist] vs. Commonsense Conservative [Rubio] or in the short form Bush vs. Palin.  Given the task ahead of repealing ObamaCare, the Compassionate Conservative seems so risky. Will such Republicans actually repeal ObamaCare or will they be misguided by compassion based arguments to simply trim around the edges of ObamaCare? To me this is the choice that Florida voters must decide.

Full Video: Obama speech from his surprise visit to Afghanistan

Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan yesterday. He went there to deliver sharp criticism to President Harmid Karzai regarding corruption in the Afghan government. In addition to meeting with Karzai, Obama took time to meet with our troops. Below is the speech he delivered to them.


NOTES:
I have to give the devil his due, Obama has the right look and set the proper tone for meeting with the troops. Dare I say it was a little Bush-like?  Perhaps Palin’s taunts about Obama being a law professor at the lectern struck a nerve?

I tried to watch the video from the point of view of someone serving in Afghanistan. From this perspective, I find no faults with the speech. Obama was did what a good Commander In Chief should do and that is motivate the troops. You will note that Obama is not using the Teleprompter and instead read notes with his “homey” voice. I found this to be the perfect fit. After all he is speaking to the troops, the glossy rhetoric of Hope and Change would be most in appropriate for people who risk their lives daily.