Do you think the GOP is playing politics with the terrorism issue?

P-White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan revealed Sunday that he briefed four Republican congressional leaders on Christmas night about the arrest and FBI handling of the suspect in the attempted airplane bombing. Miranda rights were not discussed, he said.

“None of those individuals raised any concerns with me, at that point,” Brennan said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “They didn’t say, ‘Is he going into military custody? Is he going to be Mirandized?’ They were very appreciative of the information. We told them we’d keep them informed. And that’s what we did.”

The revelation could undermine Republican complaints about the decision to treat the Nigerian suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, as a civilian criminal.

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How can Palin endorse Rand Paul who wants out of Iraq and Afghanistan NOW and say the below about Obama?

Three months ago, I joined a number of Americans in urging President Obama to provide the resources necessary to achieve our goals in Afghanistan. Tonight, I am glad he mostly heeded that advice.

At long last, President Obama decided to give his military commanders much of what they need to accomplish their mission in Afghanistan. In the end, he decided to endorse a “surge” for Afghanistan, applying the counterinsurgency principles of “clear, hold and build” that worked so well in Iraq. Given that he opposed the surge in Iraq, it is even more welcome that he now supports a surge in Afghanistan.

This approach means, as Senator John McCain has noted, that “We now have an opportunity to build a bipartisan consensus in support of a vital national security priority: defeating Al-Qaeda and its violent extremist allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and ensuring that these countries never again serve as bases for terrorist attacks against America and our allies.”

We should be clear, however, that fewer troops mean assuming more risk. Talk of an exit date also risks sending the wrong message. We should be in Afghanistan to win, not to set a timetable for withdrawal that signals a lack of resolve to our friends, and lets our enemies believe they can wait us out. As long as we’re in to win, and as long as troop level decisions are based on conditions on the ground and the advice of our military commanders, I support President Obama’s decision.

- Sarah Palin

Dems not looking good in 10!

HP-An unusually low turnout in Tuesday’s Illinois Democratic primary worries Democratic pollsters who fear that a strong Republican turnout — combined with continued Democratic ambivalence at the ballot box — could lead to a nightmare scenario come November.

“The Democratic drop-off was not a surprise,” said Tom Jensen, Director of Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling organization. “For Republican numbers to go up, that’s the surprise.”

Tuesday’s result “is yet another data point on the enthusiasm gap, showing that Republicans are much more excited about this year’s elections than Democrats, even in a deep blue state,” Jensen said.

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THIS IS GREAT!

Enough is enough! Do we have any adults in Washington?

HP-Sen. Richard Shelby’s (R-Ala.) decision to place a “blanket hold” on all presidential nominations until a pair of billion-dollar earmarks for his home state are fast-tracked has reignited the debate over the parliamentary tactics being deployed by the Republican Party. It also has thrust into the spotlight the clout that major defense contractors often wield on the political process.

On Thursday evening, news broke that the Alabama Republican has taken the extraordinary measure of holding up at least 70 “nominations on the Senate calendar” — essentially threatening to filibuster the confirmation processes if they came to a vote. The move has spurred a series of recriminations from Democratic officials who see it as yet another instance of over-the-top obstructionism of the president’s agenda.

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Will this help or hurt the GOP?

Politico-The widely anticipated civil war within the Republican Party is off to a decidedly dull start.

Defying predictions from last year, early evidence suggests that party leaders and even most grass-roots activists are more interested in winning elections than in ideological bloodletting.

A spate of recent developments points to two conclusions about the modern Republican Party that were in doubt as recently as a few months ago.

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Can we afford Afghanistan and Iraq?

EC-Despite deep and widespread concerns about fiscal responsibility among a growing segment of the American population, on Monday the Obama administration unveiled a second consecutive budget that will produce a deficit topping $1 trillion.

The $3.8 trillion budget proposal for the 2011 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, will result in a $1.3 trillion shortfall, which is 8.3 percent of gross domestic product.

However, the White House blamed the extraordinary actions it was forced to take in order to prevent the economy from plunging into full-blown depression, and vowed to tackle the debt over the coming decade.

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This is a very good post I read on the PP! All should read!

PP-As you may know, there is a debate taking place over the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which allows gays to serve in the military provided they keep their sexual orientation to themselves. During his State of the Union address to Congress, President Barack Obama called for the repeal of the law (it may be the only thing he said that I agreed with), which is supported by the Joint Chiefs of the armed forces and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (who was originally appointed by President George W. Bush).

It’s not a secret that I’m not a fan of Sen. Saxby Chambliss. The man is a fiscal fraud that has never met pork he didn’t like and he voted for every bloated budget during the six years the Republican Party maintained control of Congress. Unfortunately, he has chose to demagogue the issue during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Chambliss says that if “don’t ask, don’t tell” is repealed that it’ll open the door to “alcohol use, adultery, fraternization and body art” in the military. He added, “the presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would very likely create an unacceptable risk to those high standards.”

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Facts are the facts!

Politico-Republicans may have a hard time keeping up their talking point about how reading Miranda rights to the Christmas Day bomber represented a dangerous new direction under President Barack Obama.

It turns out that that back in December 2001, Richard Reid — the “shoe bomber” — was read or reminded of his Miranda rights four times in two days, beginning five minutes after being taken into custody.

Furthermore, the Bush administration specifically rejected the idea of a military tribunal — another step that Republicans have argued should have been taken in the case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to bring down Northwest Flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day and was read his rights after 50 minutes of FBI questioning.

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Not good news!

NYT-In 2006, Benjamin Koellmann bought a condominium in Miami Beach. By his calculation, it will be about the year 2025 before he can sell his modest home for what he paid. Or maybe 2040.

“People like me are beginning to feel like suckers,” Mr. Koellmann said. “Why not let it go in default and rent a better place for less?”

After three years of plunging real estate values, after the bailouts of the bankers and the revival of their million-dollar bonuses, after the Obama administration’s loan modification plan raised the expectations of many but satisfied only a few, a large group of distressed homeowners is wondering the same thing.

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Is this a problem for the GOP

HP-Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the head of the Republican Senate campaign operation, said Tuesday that the GOP is working to head off the danger of the Tea Party movement forming a third party by getting its activists involved in the primary process.

“I think it’s important that we try to channel these relative newcomers to the political process through our primaries so that they can have an impact on who’s nominated. And hopefully they’ll unite behind that nominee after the primary,” he told reporters in the Capitol.

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Should Roeder get the death penalty, if not when should we use the death penalty? ?

Is this the end of OX?

PP-Some people embody the cliche “fake it ’til you make it”, or in business vernacular, the peter principle. John Oxendine is a living caricature of both.

There have been rumors for years, even before Ox announced and cancelled a bit for Lt. Governor years ago, about the “shakedowns”. Oxendine helps those who give him tickets to Oscar parties, or $600 bottles of wine with dinner, and punishes those who don’t contribute, don’t endorse.

There is a reason that whistleblower statutes exist, and that is because those who choose to do what is just are often the recipients of blowback from powerful forces. The the price to pay for doing the right thing is too great to risk a job or a business. As an example, look at Pete’s post from earlier today regarding what happened to the folks that tried to blow the whistle on a “non-profit” hospital that distributes tens of millions to its executives while serving a relatively poor community.

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I agree!

USA-Future of quake-ravaged nation depends on keeping its most able.
It’s natural to want to help suffering Haitians by almost any means. Such generous impulses are one of the things that make America great.

But emerging proposals to bypass immigration rules and bring Haitians here by the tens of thousands are rooted in impulse, not reason. They will not help Haiti or its people in the long term. And they surely are unfair to people from other nations who have been waiting in line, some for more than a decade, to get into the USA.

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What do you think?

WP-Culpeper County public school officials have decided to stop assigning a version of Anne Frank’s diary, one of the most enduring symbols of the atrocities of the Nazi regime, after a parent complained that the book includes sexually explicit material and homosexual themes.

“The Diary of a Young Girl: the Definitive Edition,” which was published on the 50th anniversary of Frank’s death in a concentration camp, will not be used in the future, said James Allen, director of instruction for the 7,600-student system. The school system did not follow its own policy for handling complaints about instructional materials, Allen said.

The diary documents the daily life of a Jewish girl in Amsterdam during World War II. Frank started writing on her 13th birthday, shortly before her family went into hiding in an annex of an office building. The version of the diary in question includes passages previously excluded from the widely read original edition, first published in Dutch in 1947. That book was arranged by her father, the only survivor in her immediate family. Some of the extra passages detail her emerging sexual desires; others include unflattering descriptions of her mother and other people living together.

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