Carville to GOP: You have a disaster on your hands

Have no idea who is going to win the South Carolina primary but at this stage in the race, it doesn't matter as Obama and his people have their opposition research people in a slap happy mood.  Many who have done ops research in the past would be doing an Irish jig at the thoughts of who the Republicans were about to nominate in the coming months -- a northeastern liberal who ran as a liberal Republican in 2002 to win the Massachusetts Governor's race or former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich:

The House voted overwhelmingly yesterday (1/21/97) to reprimand House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and order him to pay an unprecedented $300,000 penalty, the first time in the House's 208-year history it has disciplined a speaker for ethical wrongdoing. 

Then he carried on an six year affair with a Congressional aide before finally leaving the House in 1998 and  getting a divorce in 1999 all during Monicagate when he was talking about President Clinton's lack of morals.  How ironic as Gingrich was one who filed an ethics complaint against the Democrat Jim Wright of Texas who had to resign as Speaker in 1989.

Carville to GOP: You have a disaster on your hands
By James Carville, CNN Contributor
updated 2:41 PM EST, Sat January 21, 2012 

Editor's note: James Carville is a Democratic strategist who serves as a political contributor for CNN, appearing frequently on CNN's "The Situation Room" as well as other programs on all CNN networks. Carville remains active in Democratic politics and is a party fundraiser. 

(CNN) -- Memo to Republican Establishment: 

I would send this memo to each of you individually, but I'm not sure exactly who you are. I've been told that you exist and that people like my colleagues Bill Bennett, Karl Rove, and Bill Kristol are charter members of it. 

I am assuming you are out there and I assume there are more than three of you. At any rate, I thought I'd take a moment to catch up with you and make some observations on how things are going for your party.

Let me break it to you gently -- you've got a first-class disaster on your hands. I know you boys thought this thing would work out and you would be able to whip the Republicans in line to fall in behind Mitt (I assume you are all males but if there is a female in the establishment, I apologize.) 

Not going too good, is it fellows? 

It's been a terrible time to be a Republican. There have been many moments during this process that have caused me great joy. Certainly the events of Thursday, ending with the CNN debate, and even the Fox debate Monday night, have helped ease the pain of my beloved Tigers' and Saints' recent defeats. 

I mean, most people thought it was kind of a watermark when your Tea Party gang booed the golden rule. You know, I've spent some time in Philly and they have always thought they were pretty radical because they actually booed Santa Claus and Willie Mays. Philly, I've got news for you -- you ain't got nothing on South Carolina Republicans. They just aren't buying any of that do-unto-others garbage. 

I actually thought my favorite moment of this delightful process was when one of your eight front-runners, Herm Cain, (as Sarah Palin calls him) actually ran an ad with his campaign manager endorsing him. (Rove, why didn't you think of that in 2000? Imagine the headline: "Rove endorses Bush.") 

The climax of that delicious ad is when he actually takes a drag on a cigarette. But my favorite thing about Herm's campaign manager is that he is the only person in the history of the world that was actually barred from political consulting. Let me tell you, I've been in this business for quite a while and I've never known of anyone other than Mark Block to be suspended from practicing this profession. 

At any rate, let's talk a minute about Mitt. He was your guy -- he was methodical, meticulous, married once. He has completely blown himself up over an issue that everyone knew was coming. Have you had a chance to look at John McCain's research operation on Mitt? Wow. And let me assure you, that thing has been supplemented, expanded, and annotated. God only knows about the Obama people -- they've got a billion dollars! And how about my friends over at American Bridge (the Democrat-leaning political action committee)? Clearly Mitt is merely in the beginning of this tax-return, financial-disclosure, Cayman Island (and God only knows what else) fiasco. 

Your new front-runner is one of your old front runners, Newt Gingrich. I would like to take a moment to revel: I cannot personally tell you how pleased I am to see old Newt rise to the top after listening to all of your nauseating, sickening lectures on the evils of government and the importance of family values. 

Now, you guys have to deal with a $1.6 million Freddie Mac consultant (who says he wasn't a lobbyist) who has been married three times. Hope you, at least, enjoy the Super Bowl. It could be your last hurrah for a while. 

PS -- As my former boss once said, I feel your pain. That's why I didn't mention Rick Perry.

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordered a widespread power outage to save energy.

This first morning of Daylight Savings Time (UGH) we wake up to a 3rd nuclear reactor plant under duress with a chance for explosion. The Japanese Prime Minister has now ordered widespread power outages with the warning this is the worst disaster since WWII. As casualties continue to mount, nuclear power plants exploding, and uncalculated numbers of people homeless, the Prime Minister asked the United States for help immediately. Much of the Pacific fleet is headed to Japan to assist. Our resources are second to none and will be used to the fullest in Japan.

Reporters around the world are flocking to Japan, but not sure that is helping because they will be clogging up roads and facilities needed by the residents of Japan. Having someone like CNN who is already in Japan  is one thing but for crews from all over the World to be descending on them seems wrong.

Even though they have had some explosions at nuclear power plants, the second video explains why this will not be a Chenobyl since they immediately shut down the plants unlike in Russia where the plant was still operating.

The pictures from Japan after the tsunami hit look more like a sci-fi movie with the debris moving across the countryside as the water carried along everything in its path including fires burning. It had the feel of being computer generated as cars rushed to avoid the oncoming debris path. It wasn't sci-fi but reality happening at that moment in time and you just sat there in shock as you watched the path across the Countryside.

Hearts and prayers go out to the people of Japan as they start to recover from this disaster of one of the largest earthquakes in history along with the giant tsunami which hit Japan.




Workers scramble to cool reactors; official says 2nd blast possible
By the CNN Wire Staff
March 13, 2011 10:21 a.m. EDT




(CNN) -- Workers continued efforts to cool down fuel rods inside two nuclear reactors Sunday as a Japanese government official warned that a second explosion could occur at the plant.

The aftermath of the devastating earthquake -- from the scores of casualties to the nuclear concerns at the plant in Fukushima prefecture -- marks the "toughest and most difficult crisis for Japan" since the end of World War II, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Sunday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said an explosion could take place in the building housing the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeastern Japan.

"There is a possibility that the third reactor may have hydrogen gas that is accumulating in the reactor (that) may potentially cause an explosion," he said.

An explosion caused by hydrogen buildup Saturday blew the roof off a concrete building housing the plant's No. 1 reactor, but the reactor and its containment system were not damaged in the explosion.

Edano said the No. 3 reactor would also likely withstand a similar blast, noting that workers had already released gas from the building to try to prevent an explosion.

Preventing a nuclear disaster in Japan Meanwhile, the prime minister ordered a Tokyo power company to conduct a widespread power outage in an effort to preserve energy as workers try to repair power plants damaged in the earthquake, including nuclear facilities.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company has been instructed to conduct three-hour rolling blackouts as the country faces a 10 million kilowatt shortage, officials said.

At the nuclear plant, workers have been scrambling to cool off fuel rods at both reactors after a massive earthquake and tsunami disabled their cooling systems. Japanese authorities have said there is a "possibility" that a meltdown has occurred in the reactors.

A meltdown is a catastrophic failure of the reactor core, with a potential for widespread radiation release.

But Japanese officials stressed that there were no indications of dangerously high radiation levels in the atmosphere around the two reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan. They said they were unable to confirm whether a meltdown had occurred because they cannot get close enough to the reactors' cores.

"We are continuing to monitor the radiation, but it is under control," Edano told reporters.

Excerpt: Read More at CNN

Whose side are they on?

This article by Frank Gaffney should make every American stop and ask the same question about the Obama Administration -- Whose side are they on? We would be hard pressed to give an answer because it sure doesn't seem like the Obama Administration has the best interest of the United States at heart when Obama personally goes around the world apologizing for America.

We thought his apology tour and bowing was bad but none hold a candle to what is going on right in our own Country. Islamic Army Major Husan, who by all accounts was unfit to be in the US Army because of his extremist political views favoring Islamist Jihadist, is now being tried for murder not terrorism according to reports. If there ever was an act of terrorism this was it but Obama refuses to acknowledge. Why?

Then we have the mastermind of 9/11 and his co-horts coming to NYC to be tried in Federal Court instead of a military tribunal. Today Germany balked at providing any evidence to the trial of KSM if the death penalty is on the table. Can the case be made without German evidence admitted? Time will tell but we think this is too big of risk to endanger the conviction of KSM and cohorts by moving it to Federal Court. Makes no sense unless you want the terrorist to escape the death penalty or even be set free.

Whose side are they on?
Center for Security Policy Nov 23, 2009
By Frank Gaffney, Jr.

An unsettling question has begun to nag as Team Obama's conduct of security policy becomes ever more inconsistent with common sense - and, at least in some cases, manifestly at odds with our national interests: Whose side are they on?
Consider the following illustrative examples of such troubling behavior:

The Obama administration has done everything possible to obscure the true nature of the jihadist attack perpetrated at Fort Hood, Texas earlier this month. Unfortunately, it may not be merely complicating the prosecution of the alleged perpetrator, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. For instance, terrorism expert Steve Emerson has warned that, by charging Hasan only with murder rather than terrorist acts, the Justice Department is denying investigators tools available to law enforcement under the counter-terrorism Patriot Act.

Worse yet, by denying the role played in this attack by Hasan's adherence to the seditious, jihadist program authoritative Islam calls "Shariah," the administration can only compound the problem that has been illuminated by the investigation to date: The collective refusal of the Army, the intelligence services, the FBI and the U.S. government more generally to act against an individual with such proclivities.

This refusal goes beyond "political correctness." It reflects more than an understandable reluctance to risk the retribution to careers and livelihoods associated with being labeled "racists," "bigots" and "Islamophobes." It amounts, as a practical matter, to submission to the dictates of Shariah. And Americans are understandably horrified by the extent to which this practice has been -and is - affecting the capacities of those responsible for keeping us safe.

Then, there is the decision by Attorney General Eric Holder, putatively taken without input from President Obama, to subject New York City to a trial in civilian court of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and four other Gitmo detainees believed to be responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Holder's truly pathetic - to say nothing of unpersuasive - appearance before Senate Judiciary Committee last week made clear that this trial has no real upsides for the United States, and plenty of downsides.
The latter include: the prospect of new terrorist attacks in Manhattan (Sen. Chuck Schumer says he wants the feds to provide an additional $75 million to protect the city); the certainty that the defendants will use the "platform" they would be afforded as a vehicle for waging political warfare against this country; and the distinct possibility that the constitutional rights they will undeservedly obtain in such a trial will prompt a federal judge to let them off the hook, or at least seriously compromise sensitive intelligence sources, methods and data.

The President is signaling by his indecision (and by the leaks coming out of his administration regarding his interminable deliberations) that he is now more interested in figuring out how to get out of Afghanistan than how to win the struggle there. Our enemies have understood the sea-change that has occurred in this erstwhile "necessary war" and are redoubling their efforts to defeat us. Meanwhile, ordinary Afghans are, quite sensibly, anticipating a Taliban victory and hoping to obtain a tolerable separate peace.

At the same time, al Qaeda is striving to reassert itself in Iraq, exploiting the vacuums of power created by the precipitous withdrawal of American forces from cities and the reopening of smuggling routes from Syria. President Obama's studied indifference towards the situation there and his determination, come what may, to pull all U.S. forces out is setting the stage for a portentous American rout.

Excerpt: Read More at Center for Security Policy

David Cameron must fill the leadership vacuum left by Barack Obama

Once again the UK papers understand what is happening with this Administration which means most of our media is MIA once again as they continue to carry Obama's water. This is so wrong that we have a President that would rather apologize for the US, diss our long time allies, and play up to our enemies. The UK Telegraph paper is right, we do have a leadership vacuum now with the Obama as President.

Who is behind Obama because it is getting more obvious by the day that someone other then Obama is calling the shots as he hasn't a clue how to govern? He couldn't even give a 5-minute talk at the IOC without his teleprompter. Why all the radicals in his Administration as CZARS? Did someone or some group buy themselves a President? Could it be George Soros who is famous for sinking economies of countries?

Obama becomes more of an embarrassment with his narsistic ways and always wanting to be on TV to say little of nothing. Who could have confidence in someone who always uses a teleprompter and without it has trouble answering questions without beating around the bush?

Is that what people wanted when they voted for Hope and Change? By the sinking poll numbers especially of independents and conservative Democrats that originally supported him, we would say that are shocked at what they are witnessing not only of the Obama Administration but out of the liberal Democrat Congress.

David Cameron must fill the leadership vacuum left by Barack Obama
David Cameron must reject the folly of the Obama doctrine and follow the example of Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, writes Nile Gardiner.

Published: 5:14PM BST 07 Oct 2009

With every major poll pointing to a Conservative victory at the next election, it is highly likely that David Cameron, and not Gordon Brown, will represent British interests on the world stage in eight months’ time. However, as Cameron prepares for power he would do well to look across the Atlantic for a lesson in how not to lead in international affairs.

The Tory leader, like the mayor of London, is unashamedly an admirer of Barack Obama, whom he has described as “incredibly impressive”. It is natural that the relatively youthful and charismatic Cameron seeks to emulate Obama’s electoral success and winning message of “change”. But he must not let his personal enthusiasm for the US president blind him to his considerable failures as a world leader since taking office in January.

Barack Obama’s central failing in foreign policy has been his striking hesitation to project American global power and leadership, which in the eyes of America’s enemies and competitors translates as weakness and vulnerability. He has sacrificed US strength and influence on the altar of international popularity, as though the world were an extension of the stage of American Idol, and not a hugely dangerous place where the United States remains hated and reviled by those who seek its demise.

President Obama has gone out of his way to apologise for his country’s past at almost every opportunity on foreign soil, from Cairo to Prague to Strasbourg. The result has been the humiliation of the United States, and the growing perception of the president as an extremely naïve commander in chief who appears to be sacrificing the national interest to appease international opinion. Obama’s spectacularly awful address last month to the United Nations was rightly met with widespread derision in the US, and was embarrassingly followed by Libyan tyrant Muammar Gaddafi’s admiring call for Obama “to stay forever as the president.”

Barack Obama has also shown a marked willingness to undermine US national sovereignty, with clear signs that he supports an array of supranational UN treaties and conventions, ranging from Law of the Sea to the Treaty of Rome, the statute that established the International Criminal Court. His administration cares little for British sovereignty either, enthusiastically backing further political, military and economic integration in Europe.

In every area, the Obama strategy is undermining American power. The White House’s hugely controversial strategy of engagement with rogue regimes has backfired spectacularly, with Iran and North Korea responding with even greater threats and aggression. Even the French now think Obama is weak in the face of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the menacing Mullahs of Tehran.

(Excerpt) See UK Telegraph for Full Article