Ha! Ernie Mannix is renaming Guantanamo.
I, like Mannix, also have a copywriting background. So I’d like to propose some alternative names for Gitmo via a poll:
UPDATE: Related: A False Move on Gitmo, at NRO.
Updates from January, 2009 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Jehuda
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Jehuda
Drudge is linking this New York Post story with much bombast, saying the President is taking on Rush Limbaugh in a new “media war”.
But when you read the story, you see Obama’s reference to Limbaugh is not quite so confrontational:
“You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done,” he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.
Really, it’s simply bad advice. If the GOP had listened to Limbaugh years ago, odds are they would still be controlling Congress; and they would have not nominated John McCain, who could hardly distinguish himself in the race from Obama in terms of policy.
UPDATE: Via Instapundit: Rush responds. I can’t disagree with his take.
Plus, an Obama misstep? Definitely, this will only give Rush an even bigger audience. I don’t know how much his audience grew during the Clinton years, but now that time-shifting of his show is possible, who knows?
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Jehuda
My friend Bruce Chang’s take on the recent verdict against Geert Wilders in a Dutch Court: Between Worlds: Criminalizing Speech in the Netherlands.
Sad case of political correctness gone amok.
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Jehuda
Yes, Obama has reversed key Bush security policies with the strike of a pen, the NYT tell us, but mostly for show (it gets better! Scroll all the way to the bottom for update):
The immediate practical impact of the orders was limited, in part because the most aggressive Bush policies were scaled back long ago. Military interrogators have been required by law to abide by the Army Field Manual since 2005, and since 2003 the C.I.A. has not used waterboarding, the near-drowning technique described as torture by Mr. Obama’s choice as attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr. Only a handful of prisoners have passed through the C.I.A.’s secret overseas detention program since 2005.
After all, the new paradigm allows for a loophole big enough for the CIA to fly a Predator drone through: (More …)
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Jehuda
Nicely Very nicely done: via Drudge, U.S. drone-fired missiles kill 7 18 in Pakistan.
Hang on: Did Obama go to the U.N. beforehand? Last time I checked, Pakistan did not attack us; and its government had nothing to do with 9/11.
Oh, I remember now. It’s ok because it’s not a Republican that’s Commander-in-Chief. Those pesky double standards!
UPDATE: And hypocrisy too! Via Instapundit: The silence of the anti-war movement is deafening.
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Jehuda
Greg Gutfeld makes a discovery: “Barackosis is exactly like Bush Derangement Syndrome – in that it offers its victims an emotional commitment to a person without having to closely examine that person’s ideas.”
No thinking required! Maybe that’s why it’s such a common illness…
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Jehuda
Talk about “change”: Media frustration with Obama as Obama becomes irritated with the press.
Related: Isn’t responsibility fun? Ha!
Without a doubt life gets harder once you can call the Oval Office your office.
The media better remain supine, though. Lest they are banished to a place where they don’t want to be.
But more moderate voices will probably emerge as well. Just you wait. The calls for “patience” and “understanding” for Dear Leader can’t be far behind. And they should come from the direction of Hollywood, if they haven’t already.
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Jehuda
Unreasonable Faith makes a broad generalization: that you can stump “anti-abortionists” by asking them one simple question. To what end? It’s not clear.
First, what would the fact of the stumping prove? Nothing relevant or substantive. And how do you define who an anti-abortionist is?
I – for one – think the recognition of a right to abortion should be left up to the states to decide; and – therefore – that the right to one should not be federally enforced or recognized.
At the same time, I believe that any woman who wants to have an abortion will probably get one regardless of whether abortion is prohibited or not by law; and that therefore prohibiting them is pointless.
And yet, I think abortion is immoral and the killing of an innocent human life. Now, am I an anti-abortionist? Odds are I’d be labelled as such. (More …)
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Jehuda
Via Drudge: Dems ready to spend nearly $1 trillion, but can’t promise a single job.
I guess that’s where “hope” comes in: Cross your fingers. Maybe job creation will occur.
Related: At Instapundit, where is the money going?
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Jehuda
THR: ‘Benjamin Button’ leads. Plus a complete list.
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Jehuda
Tom Bevan learns it the hard way.
Is it too late to coin the term “Obama-zi” ? How about” Obamist”?
Hopefully the new era of change will at least foster better spelling!
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Jehuda
Earlier tonight it was announced that Caroline Kennedy was out of the running for Hillary’s old senate seat, then that she was back in and then finally she said herself that she was out for real.
Our political culture is definitely in bad shape when so much of a fuss is raised about one of the least qualified candidates anywhere.
Say what you want about Sarah Palin, but at least she’s been in elected office and public service for years.
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Jehuda
Austin Bay at Strategypage says reports of Mexico’s imminent collapse are greatly exaggerated. Yes, the Cartel Wars are rough, but Mexico is far from a failed state. And at any rate, that’s not what the recently released JFCOM report said anyway.
That would explain why on my last visit to Mexico I didn’t see any signs of impending anarchy.
(H/T: Instapundit)
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Jehuda
Congrats to Barack Obama, as he is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. I’ve been feeling for many years that I would come to see an African-American President in my lifetime. And I’m glad to see I was right about that feeling.
I believe we should always get the best person possible for the President’s job, regardless of race or gender. But it’s nice to see it confirmed that America doesn’t have to elect to the Presidency a white man every single time.
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Jehuda
Hollywood Posers: A cheap simulation of patriotic fervor goes online, courtesy of Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher.
Isn’t it sort of creepy to hear someone pledge service to Obama? Downright Nazi-like
, even if we’re talking about Obama (who is certainly not Nazi-like). How about pledging to serve your country instead? Obama is only the President, the head of a single branch of the federal government.
Breitbart says it better (via Instapundit): “[T]hey want fast and easy absolution for having comported themselves like ill-behaved children for eight difficult and war-torn years.”
Related: the NYT reminds us we have permission to wave the flag again!
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Jehuda
Really, can government types keep scaring up economic crisis hysteria when a $170 million presidential inauguration is being bankrolled by a wealthy elite?
I’m pretty certain we’re in a recession, let me make that clear. But “the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression”? I’ll believe it when the people who say it’s a crisis behave like it’s a crisis.
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Jehuda
Bush Derangement Syndrome at its most sour: Obama isn’t even in office yet and the Bush War Crimes crowd is already angry at Obama for refusing to deliver Bush’s et al. heads on a plate.
Like I’ve said before, this joyous occasion just didn’t turn out like the Angry Left expected.
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Jehuda
Via Drudge: Bush commutes the sentences of the two Border Guards.
Well, if you can’t get a pardon this is the next best thing. They’ll be felons for the rest of their lives, but at least they won’t be in prison.
10 years for shooting a drug smuggler on the butt just isn’t right, but federally mandated sentences left the judge with no choice.
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Jehuda
Steve Mason has the figures and analysis. Paul Blart: Mall Cop looks like the top grosser this long weekend.
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Jehuda
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Jehuda
Anne Thompson is on the beat at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
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Jehuda
HA!: Iowahawk pulls the veil off what’s really behind global warming hysteria.
I knew there was something about Henry Waxman…
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Jehuda
James Robbins at NRO’s The Corner reports on Israel’s latest tactical victory and the resulting consequences.
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Jehuda
HA-ha! Funny how things turned out, but that’s the way it is: If Bush was so wrong, how come Obama seeks continuity for Bush’s most hated policies? How come he has so much respect for Dick Cheney’s advice?
(H/T: Instapundit)
UPDATE: Watch what Obama does, not what he says.
RELATED: “His advisers are considering adding a classified loophole to the rules that could allow the CIA to use some interrogation methods not specifically authorized by the Pentagon…”
Dick Cheney must be beaming with pride.
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Jehuda
John Nolte reveals where to find “War on Terror” movies with a well-defined moral center.
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Jehuda
A good argument for decriminalizing drugs at – of all places – CNBC.com!
(from a reader’s tip)
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Jehuda
At Popular Mechanics, a list of the 11 Geeked-Out 2009 Movies you won’t want to miss.
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Jehuda
Not long ago I asked if Obama would end up nixing Card Check.
The answer: it sounds like he will nix it.
Mr. Obama signaled willingness to consider other mechanisms… And he seemed in no hurry to have Congress bring it up. “If we’re losing half a million jobs a month, then there are no jobs to unionize, so my focus first is on those key economic priority items,” Mr. Obama said, declining to state whether he wanted to see the issue debated during his first year in office.
Via Instapundit
UPDATE: Mikcey Kaus says it’s not that simple, but “it sure sounds to me like the only bill Obama expects to pass soon would be a compromise”.
Stay tuned…
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Jehuda
Michael Barone had predicted that Obama would be aloof towards his own party, but he may just be aloof, period: Drudge is reporting Obama missed President Bush’s farewell speech.
I’m sure Drudge will have more as the story “develops”. I’ll update this post accordingly.
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Jehuda
Human Events: A call for close scrutiny of Holder’s record.
And why not? Mark Rich Pardon anyone? Which should be more relevant than ever given that paying taxes seems so – let’s say – optional these days.
How about his rather lenient attitude towards terrorists? Or that Elian Gonzalez raid?
Not to mention his attitude towards the Second Amendment, which has also raised concern.
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Jehuda
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Jehuda
Defiance director Ed Zwick twists his reasoning into a pretzel for the sake of political correctness.
All too common in Hollywood, but it’s no surprise. Moral relativism is king over here.
Strange that the Hollywood elite tends to support socialism and hate the Nazis, given that the Nazis were a socialist workers’ party as Jonah Goldberg so eloquently reminds us in Liberal Fascism
Or maybe they hate Nazis only part of the time. Who can forget when so many cheered for Leni Riefenstahl during the 2004 Oscars? Bizarre.
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Jehuda
Blockbuster to stream video on PC’s and other devices.
Via Lifehacker.
However, their choice of video box is disappointing.
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Jehuda
First Rangel, then Geithner, and now some staff dude at State who likes to snoop into passport files.
What do they all have in common? They are likely or practically all getting a pass.
The prosecutor in the passport case is recommending 0 to 6 months prison time and the judge will probably order none.
Like I’ve been saying, the standards to which we hold public servants have seriously eroded. If it’s not just big shot politicos and appointees anymore, it’s worse than I thought.
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Jehuda
Not from where I’m sitting.
Andrew Klavan: Why We Fight.
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Jehuda
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Jehuda
I just heard over the TV that Ricardo Montalban has passed away at the age of 88. If I come across an obit online, I’ll make sure to link to it in an update.
May he rest in peace.
UPDATE: A brief eulogy for Mr. Montalban from John Nolte.
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Jehuda
Columbia is in pre-production for a Karate Kid remake that could co-star Jackie Chan.
How about a new movie with a new concept instead of a re-make?
Not to mention that Karate is a Japanese martial art and Jackie Chan hails from China.
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Jehuda
At Instapundit: reaction to Geithner’s failure to pay taxes as a self-employed independent contractor is gathering steam.
I personally find it pretty lame that such an accomplished pro could space out like that and get a pass during Senate confirmations. But then again, I think our standards of outrage are just not what they used to be, and will probably only get worse.
I wonder how Joe Biden feels on this one. He’s pretty demanding about paying taxes, as I recall. Odds are he’s tearing his hair out in outrage. Think about it: first Charlie Rangel and now the future Treasury Secretary!
