Week in Review 01/02/09

America’s Best Hope – Fifty Sovereign States

There is a saying that all politics is local. But as the federal government expands its role in our lives, there is no longer much distinction between national and local. Every person, every home, every Quickie Mart, every church, every school, doctor, bank, and every car dealer, is directly affected as a paternal federal government becomes ever more invasive. The balance between federal, state and local government established by our founders is all but erased. And in the realm where checks and balances prevent unilateral domination, the states may be our last best hope for restoring our birthrights. Read more.

System ‘did not’ work – Napolitano revises comments

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano reversed course Monday and admitted the U.S. air travel security system failed after a Nigerian man attempted to blow up a plane on Christmas Day.

On the “Today” show, Napolitano said her comment over the weekend that “the system worked” was “taken out of context.” She said her words referred to the U.S. air travel security’s reaction — notifying law enforcement, airports and carriers — 60 to 90 minutes after the suspect tried to bring down the jetliner. Read more.

Democracy Under Attack

A Letter from a Concerned US Citizen Posted on WakeUpAmerica.Com’s Web Form

As we celebrate Christmas with friends and family, we also need to be mindful that our freedoms and way of life are being erased by a government which cannot be trusted.

This year, the holiday has an entirely different meaning. Our President has declared war on democracy. President Obama is swiftly removing our freedoms and replacing our successful economy with socialism. Unfortunately, we have elected our first Muslim President. He has been on the attack since taking office on January 20. His campaign promises of openness and ensuring the public would have an opportunity to read any and all of his legislative proposals on the internet were false. Most of his other campaign promises were equally false. Read more.

Dems’ Turn to Unravel

It is one of the immutable laws of American politics that whichever major party is riding high today will be dusting itself off tomorrow.

A year ago, the Democrats thought they had achieved nirvana. Barack Obama was waiting in the wings to replace George W. Bush; Kay Hagan was about to take Elizabeth Dole’s Senate seat; Larry Kissell had won Rep. Robin Hayes’ House seat; and Bev Perdue’s election was about to extend the Democratic hold on the governor’s mansion to 20 years – the longest Democratic run east of the Mississippi River.

But a funny thing happened on the road to the Democratic Shangri-La. Read more.

Handling problems the Obama way

HONOLULU — There is a sense of déjà vu in the Obama administration’s response to the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day. A by-now familiar pattern has been established for dealing with unexpected problems.

First, White House aides downplay the notion that something may have gone wrong on their part. While staying out of the spotlight, the president conveys his efforts to address the situation and his feelings about it through administration officials. After a few days, the White House concedes on the issue, and perhaps Barack Obama even steps out to address it.

That same scenario unfolded over the summer, when Obama said Sgt. James Crowley, a white Cambridge, Mass., police officer, “acted stupidly” when he arrested Henry Louis Gates Jr., a black Harvard professor, in his own home. It happened in March when the public was outraged over AIG dishing out hefty bonuses. More recently the public witnessed the dynamic after a security breach at President Barack Obama’s first state dinner. Read more.

New cybersecurity Czar faces huge hurdles

President Barack Obama has reached into the private sector and named Howard A. Schmidt as the new coordinator for cybersecurity in the administration – a new “Cybersecurity Czar,” if you will. Mr. Schmidt has his work cut out for him; balancing the many and often divergent – even parochial – interests of the many federal agencies concerned with the security of their computer systems and information. Schmidt also will have to consider the security of the government’s cyber systems as they relate to the business sector and to other governments – state, local and foreign.

The approach Schmidt takes, and the perspective he decides to bring to his new job will in large part determine whether this administration will succeed in protecting vital national security and economic data from domestic and foreign threats. Read more.

‘09: Year of Dem Scandals

RALEIGH — Two governors — one leaving office, the other beginning — probably couldn’t imagine the troubles that they would see as 2009 began.

For the newcomer to the job, Beverly Perdue, the difficulties began as dark clouds over the state’s finances.

For the old hand headed out of the Governor’s Mansion, Mike Easley, the woes started as questions over his personal finances.

The scandal churning around Easley and the multibillion dollar financial hole for state government dominated the political news in 2009. The year also saw an historic smoking ban become law and legislators wrestle to ensure the solvency of state-backed insurance programs. Read more.

Holliman to face tougher election

GOP, interest groups gear up to beat him after he backed higher taxes, smoking ban

State Rep. Hugh Holliman, a Democrat from Lexington, is one of the most powerful members of the General Assembly — but in the conservative-leaning district he represents, that can be both a blessing and a curse.

As the N.C. House majority leader, Holliman has his fingerprints on every major piece of legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly. This year, in addition to helping write a state budget amid a massive shortfall, Holliman championed a statewide smoking ban at businesses. It will take effect on Jan. 2. Read more.

Alarm over Treasury aid Fannie/Freddie cap probed

Lawmakers are calling for an investigation of the Treasury Department’s decision to lift the cap on government cash for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a move that essentially gives unlimited aid to the mortgage giants for the rest of President Barack Obama’s term.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said Wednesday that his subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee will launch a probe. Separately, Reps. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) and Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) requested that the Financial Services Committee hold a hearing on the matter. Read more.

Government Moves Toward New Aid for Auto Finance Firm GMAC, Source Says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government was moving ahead Wednesday on a fresh multibillion dollar cash infusion to stabilize auto financing company GMAC Financial Services, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

GMAC, based in Detroit, is instrumental to the operations of automakers General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC. It has already received $12.5 billion in taxpayer money and is 35 percent owned by the federal government.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because discussions weren’t complete, says the new infusion would be in the range of another $3 billion. That would fall short of the roughly $6 billion the government had earlier thought GMAC would need to stabilize the company. Read more.

GOP lawmakers stay vocal during break

On the Sunday before Christmas, 40 conservative House Republicans jumped on a conference call to talk about political strategy going into the holiday break.

The message from Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price: This is no time for a vacation.

While the Capitol is quiet for the winter recess, GOP lawmakers have been anything but silent. Building on noisy recesses past — the gas-price protest of the summer of 2008, the town halls from the summer of 2009 — Republicans are determined to win the winter break, flooding the airwaves with cable TV and radio appearances, beating up their Democratic colleagues on health care, attacking President Barack Obama over the Christmas Day terrorism plot and generally refusing to give in to a traditionally slow news cycle. Read more.

Do the liberal elite care that they are harming America?

[The liberal elite] know that the people simply cannot be trusted; that they are incapable of just and fair self-government; that left to their own devices, their society will be racist, sexist, homophobic, and inequitable – and the liberal elite know how to fix things. They are going to help us live the good and just life even if they have to lie to us and force us to do it. And they detest those who stand in their way. – Les Adams (The 2nd Amendment Primer)

People have asked me, “Don’t Congress and the President know that their policies are harmful to America?”

I think the answer to that question is evident. The liberal elite don’t think that their policies will harm America; they think that they are making it a better place for everyone, even if they are doing it against the will of the American people. The elitists’ leftist ideology is so ingrained that they no longer listen to their constituents. Read more.

Democrats’ worst nightmare: Terrorism on their watch

From the time he launched his campaign for president three years ago, Barack Obama had to consider how he would react to the first serious act of terrorism during the campaign, or if he won, on his watch. His fellow Democrats had been thinking about the moment even longer – since the September day in 2001 when attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon defined George W. Bush’s presidency and gave Republicans a decisive advantage on a defining political issue.

And yet the White House’s response to last week’s attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit could rank as one of the low points of the new president’s first year. Over the course of five days, Obama’s Obama’ reaction ranged from low-keyed to reassuring to, finally, a vow to find out what went wrong. The episode was a baffling, unforced error in presidential symbolism, hardly a small part of the presidency, and the moment at which yet another of the old political maxims that Obama had sought to transcend – the Democrats’ vulnerability on national security – reasserted itself. Read More.