On the other hand, there is a Judge who will rule correctly:

A New Year’s Day CIA strike in northern Pakistan killed two top al-Qaeda members long sought by the United States, including the man believed to be behind September’s deadly suicide bombing at a Marriott hotel in the Pakistani capital, U.S. counterterrorism officials confirmed yesterday.

Agency officials ascertained this week that Usama al-Kini, a Kenyan national who was described as al-Qaeda’s chief of operations in Pakistan, was killed in the Jan. 1 missile strike, along with his lieutenant, identified as Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, the sources said. Both men were associated with a string of suicide attacks in Pakistan in recent months and also allegedly helped plan the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa.

One hopes that Obama, in office, will realize the great strides made under President Bush in intelligence gathering and the ability to project American power swiftly and with precision around the world. We do have enemies who hate us, and its not like Obama has to make pro-Bush statements: he just has to maintain what we’re already doing.

A wise question, indeed, and one we really must ask ourselves as we set about trying to help our nation recover from the current economic downturn. Yes, I choose those words on purpose – “economic downturn”. One of the first things we can do to build a better country for our children is to knock it off with the overheated rhetoric and scare tactics designed to secure partisan advantage. This is not the worst crisis our nation has ever faced – in fact, if you take the Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War One, Great Depression, World War Two, Cold War and Vietnam you’ll swiftly realize that this isn’t even in the top five. And, also, right now the economy isn’t nearly as bad as it was under Carter. So, take a breath and stop listening to those who are implying that unless we do something right now, we’re all going to be miserable.

Things, though, need to be done – but not just any, old things. We need to carefully review where we are and where we wish to be in a year, two years, five years, ten years. As President-elect Obama will have a large role in what will happen, we can do no better, for the moment, than review his plan. So:

Now, the very fact that this crisis is largely of our own making means that it is not beyond our ability to solve. Our problems are rooted in past mistakes, not our capacity for future greatness. It will take time, perhaps many years, but we can rebuild that lost trust and confidence. We can restore opportunity and prosperity. We should never forget that our workers are still more productive than any on Earth. Our universities are still the envy of the world. We are still home to the most brilliant minds, the most creative entrepreneurs, and the most advanced technology and innovation that history has ever known. And we are still the nation that has overcome great fears and improbable odds. If we act with the urgency and seriousness that this moment requires, I know that we can do it again.

Excellent, Mr. Obama – I wouldn’t add or subtract a word from that. I am in 100% agreement. Next:

It is true that we cannot depend on government alone to create jobs or long-term growth, but at this particular moment, only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe. Only government can break the vicious cycles that are crippling our economy – where a lack of spending leads to lost jobs which leads to even less spending; where an inability to lend and borrow stops growth and leads to even less credit.

Actually, we can’t rely on government at all – government doesn’t create jobs. It can put people to work on the public dime, but that dime is taken from the public which then doesn’t have that dime to spend. The net effect is zero. Every dollar spent by government is a dollar which cannot be spent by workers, investors and small business owners. Only those who are juiced-in to government contracts will benefit…those who lack a political patron or who simply don’t want to get involved in the nauseating game of kickbacks and backscratching will be on the outside looking in. Onward:

That’s why we’ll invest in priorities like energy and education; health care and a new infrastructure that are necessary to keep us strong and competitive in the 21st century. That’s why the overwhelming majority of the jobs created will be in the private sector, while our plan will save the public sector jobs of teachers, cops, firefighters and others who provide vital services.

All well and good, but none of it provides the immediate boost you say (and I agree) we need right now in order to jump start the economy. It seems to me that we need to keep people working who have jobs and re-hire people who have recently lost their jobs. Training for the jobs of the future is wonderful. Building a better education system is dandy. Reforming our health care system is stupendous. But none of these things helps us today, on January 9th, 2009, when we need it. They might start helping in 2010 or 2011, but we might have 12% unemployment by then, and our problem will thus be more difficult. We press on:

Finally, this recovery and reinvestment plan will provide immediate relief to states, workers, and families who are bearing the brunt of this recession. To get people spending again, 95% of working families will receive a $1,000 tax cut – the first stage of a middle-class tax cut that I promised during the campaign and will include in our next budget. To help Americans who have lost their jobs and can’t find new ones, we’ll continue the bipartisan extensions of unemployment insurance and health care coverage to help them through this crisis. Government at every level will have to tighten its belt, but we’ll help struggling states avoid harmful budget cuts, as long as they take responsibility and use the money to maintain essential services like police, fire, education, and health care.

If I am to ask what is best for my children (full disclosure: step children, but no matter), then the last thing I need is a $1,000.00 check from Uncle Sam. I’ll be ill serving my fellow Americans – better for us to cut the business tax and capital gains tax and provide strong tax and regulatory incentives for business start ups and expansions. These things will go to “the rich” as our liberals say, but if we are really going to set aside our differences and work from a “what is best for America” paradigm, then another thing we have to do is cease this battle against our own. Rich Americans (as defined by liberals, who never seem to include Ted Kennedy) are Americans, too – let commit to no longer demonizing our fellow Americans but, instead, call upon them to act in the best interests of the nation and trust that God and their consciences will lead them to the correct decisions. Meanwhile, lightening the tax burden will get new investments rolling and thus jump start the economy. One more into the breech:

No longer can we allow Wall Street wrongdoers to slip through regulatory cracks. No longer can we allow special interests to put their thumbs on the economic scales. No longer can we allow the unscrupulous lending and borrowing that leads only to destructive cycles of bubble and bust.

Which is all excellent, but only tackles half the problem. When government strictly regulates an industry – as you wish to do even more so, now – that industry gains a vested interest in keeping Congress happy. This means that bags of regulated industry money will flow to Congressmen who can make or break a business – such as those loans set up for House and Senate members who were allegedly overseeing the financial industry which managed to meltdown in spite of all the oversight. If we are to get into further regulation, then we have to get the politics out of it. We have to ensure that regulations are written and enforced in the interests of the people, not for the benefit of the well-connected few. How to do this is a thorny issue, but the fact that Mr. Obama fails to mention it raises very large questions about how informed he is of the true state of affairs. And now lets take it on home:

It is time to set a new course for this economy, and that change must begin now. We should have an open and honest discussion about this recovery plan in the days ahead, but I urge Congress to move as quickly as possible on behalf of the American people.

This is a stark contradiction – we can’t have an open and honest discussion and speed. We have to carefully weigh each proposal and determine how it effects the whole. This is a process of months, not days or weeks. If we go rushing in then we will be fools – if we don’t know precisely what we’re doing with a trillion or more dollars, then it will wind up a trillion dollars wasted. It is correct to state that things will likely get worse before they get better – but they won’t get better at all if we don’t have a care about what we’re doing.

Point blank, Obama’s plan is highly questionable and very short on the details necessary to render a judgment. Lacking such details, we can only go with what we know, and that is that when government spends a lot of money, we never get what we paid for. In summation, to support the Obama plan right now is to go with the triumph of hope over experience – I realize that Mr. Obama ran on a platform of hope, but I’m not going to sign on to hope for hope’s sake, certainly not hope in what people do, given what we know about people.

A sad day for America and Christianity, a day of glory for Fr. Neuhaus:

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, the famous convert to Catholicism and editor of the journal First Things passed away this morning in New York at 9:30 a.m. EST.

CNA was informed of Fr. Neuhaus’ death through an announcement from George Weigel who stated, “Father Richard John Neuhaus was called home to the house of the Father at about 09:30 EST today. May God grant him the reward of his labors, and give consolation and peace to those who loved him and who will carry on his work.”

It has long been known that PA-12 Democrat Congressman Jack Murtha has been living high off the hog with regard to earmarks that have been given to his military contracting buddies. As a matter of fact, he’s making such good money from his beneficiaries that he wants to streamline the earmark process: He plans to bypass advice by members of the military altogether:

The House’s top defense appropriator has pledged to help strengthen the role of the Pentagon’s comptroller in an effort to curb lobbying by the military services for their controversial programs.

Why should he listen to the military, as the military itself doesn’t provide Jack with campaign contributions.

As I’ve stated before, Jack Murtha does nothing without there being something in it for Jack Murtha. To Jack Murtha, the military is merely a tool he uses to keep his fat backside in power, or to advance his political career, a/la his slanderous declaration of guilt toward the Haditha Marines.

I don’t know; perhaps I’m a bit too cynical. I’m absolutely positive that there is no lobbying going on when Concurrent Technologies receives a taxpayer-funded porkbarrel contract to the tune of $200 million dollars… or is there?

Yet, the Murtha situation is very troubling when you look at CTC’s Form 990. With the exception of three individuals listed on the schedule of officers and directors, all have contributed to Murtha’s congressional campaigns since 2002.

[SNIP]

The Times also notes that CTC has paid somewhere around $500,000 to a lobbying firm. The lobbying firm’s executives and clients have contributed over $1.2 million to Murtha in campaign contributions (the Times refers to these as donations) since 1999, according to the Times.

So we have a congressman who was a driving force behind the creation of this tax-exempt entity. That same congressman is earmarking significant amounts of money to that organization. Those who are in control of the organization (several of whom receive significant salaries from CTC) contribute large amounts of money to the congressman’s campaign. We can only wonder how the entity distributes the federal grant money within the local community.

I mean, with sweetheart deals like that, why should Murtha even bother to take the time listen to those pesky military folks who actually know what they need?

I mean, there’s gold in them there earmarks, right, Jihad Jack?

(Cross-posted at Murtha Must Go!!)

The One has advised us that we’re to have trillion dollar deficits for at least some years. Only one thing wrong with that – we don’t have that much money, and as the rest of the world slides into recession, there will be no one to loan us that much money Additionally, there are practical difficulties of getting Obama’s plan passed:

The forecast Wednesday of a jaw-dropping $1.2 trillion one-year federal budget deficit will make it harder for President-elect Barack Obama to win broad support for a massive stimulus package that would add even more to the red ink.

With his party controlling both the House of Representatives and the Senate, Obama’s still likely to get the OK for spending and tax cuts that cost $1 trillion or more over two years and are designed to jump-start the economy and create or save 3 million jobs.

However, while many economists, business groups and politicians agree on the need for something dramatic, Obama now concedes that he’ll have to wait until February to get a bill to sign. He’ll probably find conservative “blue dog” Democrats as well as Republicans balking at the idea of borrowing another $1 trillion on top of this new annual deficit.

They could deny Obama the kind of broad, bipartisan approval that he hopes will signal not only that he’s changed the political culture of a divided Washington but also that he’s put forward a plan that’s widely popular. Such approval is crucial as he moves to rebuild trust in the government and the economy.

We conservatives will find it endlessly amusing that the liberal Democrat plan to allow people who can’t afford a home to get loans is what triggered the de-facto national bankruptcy which will, in turn, defeat the liberals’ plans to remake America now that they’ve regained full power. Bankruptcy? Yeah – I understand that the total liability of the federal government – including unfunded mandates like Social Security (which you liberals prevented us from fixing and which will now add to our amusement as you stare in slack-jawed disbelief at the result of your own purblind idiocy) – exceeds the total wealth of the American people. Part of this imbalance is caused by the collapse in home values, but the inflated home values were probably just masking reality for a while. Essentially – and make no mistake about it, President Bush and plenty of Republicans share blame on this, including yours, truly who didn’t fight hard enough against spending – we’ve spent ourselves into oblivion. And Obama wants to spend an extra trillion or so per year to fix America!

It is now time for retrenchment and reform – we need to drastically cut spending and completely overhaul the way we do government business. Curiously enough, if Obama would put himself at the head of such a reform movement, he’d probably be able to carry it off – and secure for himself not only re-election in 2012, but a high place in American history, alongside the likes of Lincoln and Reagan. The problem is that Obama has just created the post of “chief performance officer“, as if adding one more bureaucrat to the mix will suddenly get our government working efficiently for the good of the American people. I mean, I do admire the spirit there, Barry, but I’m sorry that I’m suppressing convulsions of laughter…its like someone is writing a comedy script to satirize the Obama Administration…but this is for real. We need bold, new initiatives – we’re getting window dressing. What’s next? Bureau of Hope within the Department of Change?

We can’t tax more money, we can’t borrow more money – we can print money, and I’ll bet that Obama will try a bit of that, thus bringing us into a replay of the 1970’s “stagflation” (for you youngsters, this is the “impossible” situation where you have both a stagnant economy and high inflation). If only the blinders would come off – and I pray they do. After all, FDR ran as a tax-cutting, budget balancer and wound up the big spender…perhaps Obama’s run as a big spender will wind up as a tax-cutting, budget balancing Administration?

We can hope – and that would, indeed, be a change.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Harry Reid is the worst Senate Majority Leader the United States has ever had – and here’s a toast to his defeat in 2010:

The Roland Burris circus took a ludicrous turn today as Harry Reid and Senate Democrats threw the fate of the former Illinois attorney general, who was appointed by disgraced Governor Rod Blagojevich to fill the unexpired term of President-elect Barack Obama last week, back to Illinois and the office of Secretary of State Jesse White.

It was White who refused to sign off on Burris, rejecting the paperwork on the appointment while making it clear he would not certify any candidate appointed by a governor who tried to to sell the Senate seat to the highest bidder…

…when Mr. Burris dramatically tried to take his seat in the Senate, he was rebuffed by Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erikson, who told him that his paperwork was out of order, lacking as it did both White’s signature and the Great Seal of Illinois. This set up the dramatic meeting today between Burris and Reid to try and find a way out of this political quagmire, which was making the Democrats look ridiculous for having made a big show of denying Burris his seat only to retreat when the legal and political winds began to blow against them.

Reid, citing a 120-year-old Senate rule that required the signatures of both the governor and secretary of state on any appointment, lobbed the ball back into Jesse White’s court — a play that made the wizened old pol (and one of the most powerful Democrats in Illinois) get his back up and charge “Foul!”

“What the senate did to Roland Burris yesterday…they played a little bit of a game with him,” he [White] said.

The host asked him if he thought Reid had made him a “fall guy.”

“You’re absolutely correct,” he said. “It’s ugly.”

“I think the world of Roland Burris,” he said. “We’re the best of friends.”

“Roland Burris is going to be seated,” he predicted, saying he hopes Burris becomes the next senator from Illinois.

In effect, White is saying “No, thank you” to Harry Reid and telling him to fix his own darn messes.

What are we to make of this? Well, when one considers how Democrats act it must be kept in mind that the sole motivator for Democratic leaders is power – gaining and retaining it. Democrats are already looking at an almost sure loss of the Illinois governorship in 2010 and by extension a loss of Obama’s Senate seat. Blago has dragged the Democrat brand in Illinois down and while it might appear here and there that the Democrats of Illinois are still healthy, the lesson of what happened to the GOP in Ohio – where a corrupt GOP governor hung on like used chewing gum to the bottom of a desk – when a party is saddled with an unpopular governor. It works like acid – and it just makes everything fall apart in slow motion. Having Blago’s pick in Obama’s seat makes it very hard for Democrats to see a way to victory – and a loss of power is something Democrats just can’t abide.

And so when the Blago mess first arose, Democrats moved to break all ties with the governor – including making bold statements about not seating anyone Blago picked for Senator. Problem is, the case against Blago looks anything but airtight (sure, I think he’s guilty – I’ve been watching him for a while – but having a guilty politician and convicting a guilty politician are two different things), there is no legal basis for denying Blago’s appointment his seat and – worst of all, for Democrats – is that by appointing a well-regarded black man, Blago expertly played the race card and now Reid and the rest of the Democrats are squirming. Desperate to get off the hook, they are now trying to toss the matter back to the Illinois SecState, hoping that he’ll allow them to dodge the bullet by affixing his signature to Burris’ appointment, thus giving Reid the ability to say that he had no choice in the matter.

The best thing about this – for GOPers, that is – is the fact that there is no way out of this for the Democrats. Any way they turn, it all works out against them. Accept Burris, reject Burris and the GOP gains the advantage – and we gain this advantage for the simple reason that Democrats have so badly screwed up our politics by their politics of personal destruction that they are now hoist upon their own moist, incredibly disgusting petard. It is Democrats who invented the race card; it is Democrats who first started dealing that card from the bottom of the deck; it is Democrats who used guilt by association to go after GOPers; it is Democrats who set the standard that the mere appearance of impropriety is grounds for punishment.

For a long time, Democrats have gotten away with directing this only at GOPers – with the willing and enthusiastic help of the MSM, we’ve been playing a double game where GOPers have to be saints while Democrats could get away with being sinners. But now the game has changed – Democrats won the whole ball of wax. A scandal in the GOP just won’t carry much weight any more – who cares if some obscure, GOP backbencher gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar? People will care, however, if a Democrat governor is trying to sell a Senate seat – and they’ll especially care if The One, our great hope-n-change, is involved.

It still is a long, hard road back to power for us – but the Democrats are doing all they can to help us out.

For the gentle spirit and loving devotion to truth known as Father Richard John Neuhaus:

Some of you may have heard that Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor-in-chief of First Things, was diagnosed at Thanksgiving with a serious form of cancer (he has fought cancer once before). Over the Christmas holiday, he was hospitalized with complications:

Unfortunately, over Christmas, he was taken dangerously ill with what seems to be a systemic infection that has left him very weak. Entering the hospital the day after Christmas, he was sedated to lower an elevated heart rate and treatment was begun for the infection. Over the last few days, he has shown some signs of improvement, and there is a reasonable expectation that he will recover from this present illness—sufficiently, we hope, that he will be able to begin the chemotherapy for the cancer.

Fr. Neuhaus is not able at the moment to receive visitors or speak on the telephone or answer his mail, and he has requested that no flowers, candy, or other get-well presents be sent—just your prayers for his quick recovery.

Our prayers go out for Father Neuhaus, who has done such great work for the Church. May he be given the healing and strength to continue it.

UPDATE: The latest news is significantly more grim; Kathryn Lopez at the Corner reports that Father has deteriorated rapidly:

“His friends and family are keeping vigil and he was administered last rites shortly after midnight. Fr. George Rutler, who gave him the Catholic Sacrament, says that “he is not expected to live long” and suggests “that it is appropriate that prayers be offered for a holy death.”

For those of you unfamiliar with Father Neuhaus, go to First Things and just look around. This is a man who has devoted his life to Our Lord and his message and, in decades of reading his works, I don’t think I’ve ever come across an impatient word, let alone anything which could be construed as other than a loving admonishment when not a benediction. The world will lose a great soul and a great intellect, Our Lord will gain yet another devoted servant.

Well, Democrats, you went and ignored the massive illegal fundraising in the Obama effort, and look where its getting you:

President-elect Barack Obama took big money from a man at the center of a federal probe that has forced one of Obama’s top Cabinet picks to withdraw.

Financial records show the Obama campaign got more than $30,000 from California financier David Rubin, the target of an investigation into donations and possible “pay-to-play” deals involving New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Obama’s pick for commerce secretary.

Now, we can figure that Rubin was doing “pay for play” with Richardson, but only giving money to Obama because Obama is just a swell hope-n-change kinda guy, or we can presume that Rubin was figuring on cashing in during the Obama Administration. Which do you think it is?

Ah, what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive.

Had you liberals been a little more interested in, you know?, the safety and well being of the United States, you might have paid some mind to the fact that The One was awash in a sea of illegal campaign money…that, in fact, his storied fame as the recipient of the little guy donations was just so much BS, much as the whole Obama narrative would qualify as a fairytale, if it were a bit more believable. Rubin was just chucking some money into the Obama kitty – buying a seat at the table, as were so many other fat cats out there.

This is the key to the future of our nation – that you liberals start holding your side accountable. We conservatives have done it with our side. Our tainted members are out – and if any more arise we’ll give them the boot, too. But yours are in, and staying in…and there’s no reason for people like Rubin to think other than “business as usual” because you liberals have shown, again and again, that the only thing you care about is that the guy with a “D” after his name wins. You need to wake up from your liberal stupor and start realizing that the good of your nation requires you to hammer harder on your own than you do on the other side.

Or, you can just smugly assume that everything is fine…and we’ll see you in 2010. Your choice.

More at Democrat Corruption… The Obama File… The Richardson File…

We’ve just seen how Democrats in power have turned a legitimate Republican victory for Norm Coleman into a stolen election for Al Franken… so this ought to be a warning to the Republican Party that they have to do a lot more to fight the Democrats attempts to steal elections across the country.

The highly publicized vote recount in the Minnesota Senate race between Democrat Al Franken and Republican Norm Coleman is shining a light on Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, the state’s chief election officer.

Ritchie is chairman of the Minnesota Canvassing Board, which on Monday certified that Franken received 225 more votes than Coleman did.

Ritchie gave partial credit for his 2006 election to a liberal 527 group, the Secretary of State Project, which says its goal is to “ensure fair, clean elections” by replacing conservative secretaries of state with liberal Democrats.

 “I want to thank the Secretary of State Project and its thousands of grassroots donors for helping to push my campaign over the top,” Ritchie said in a posting on the project’s Web site. “Your wonderful support–both directly to my campaign and through generous expenditures by the strategic fund–helped me get our election reform message to Minnesota voters.”

 The SoS Project says it spent a total of $500,000 in seven swing states in 2006 trying to get Democrats elected as secretaries of state. They achieved victories in all but two of those states–Michigan and Colorado–but helped fund Democratic wins in Ohio, Nevada, Minnesota, Iowa and New Mexico.

This blatant attempt to steal elections must be stopped.

As usual:

France and Egypt announced an initiative to stop the fighting in Gaza late Tuesday, hours after Israeli mortar shells exploded near a U.N. school sheltering hundreds of people displaced by the onslaught on Hamas militants. At least 30 Palestinians died, staining streets with blood.

The Egyptian and French presidents didn’t release details of their proposal, saying only that it involved an immediate cease-fire to permit humanitarian aid into Gaza and talks to settle the differences between Israel and the Islamic militants of Hamas who rule the small coastal territory.

They said they were awaiting a response from Israel.

Hopefully they’ll get a response by, oh, April or so. What everyone needs to do is step back, ignore Hamas propaganda and understand that Hamas has inserted itself deeply into the civilian community in Gaza for the purpose of having Israeli reprisals result in civilian casualties. Additionally: We don’t know if it was an Israeli shell that caused the deaths – could have been a Hamas rocket or mortar falling short or, indeed, a deliberate massacre by Hamas in order to have a pile of dead people to show to the media (remember, we’re dealing with inhuman savages in Hamas – they glory in killing the innocent in order to advance their sick ideology – you can’t put anything past them). To cause Israeli to stop short of the destruction of Hamas in Gaza because Hamas says that the Israelis bombed a school is the worst sort of asinine thing to do – even if one wishes to suppose the worst of Israel, all stopping Israel does at this point is ensure that more people will die at a later date at the hands of Hamas and then at the hands of the IDF in response.

This is a battle – fight it out to the end.