The Cloward-Piven Strategy

Imagine a strategy that "seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a list of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse." One was developed in 1966 and bears a strong resemblance to recent events in the United States. Read more about the strategy here. Need an antidote for what you just read? Try this one. My thanks to Moonbattery for the link.

William F. Buckley Jr.

Today is the first anniversary of the death of William F. Buckley Jr., founder of National Review magazine and the modern conservative movement. Whatever your politics, you have to admire this extraordinarily gifted man. Ramesh Ponnuru reflects on the subject in this NR Online post.

Policy Termination With Prejudice

Seems there will be certain change now that Charles Freeman is chairing the National Intelligence Council. As for the radical shift - read that 180 degrees - the appointment brings, I'm not so sure. Read more:

from Cigar Mike at Babalu Blog

John Hinderaker at Powerline

Paul Mirengoff at Powerline

Mark Steyn at NRO's The Corner

William Katz at Urgent Agenda - "A Sickening Choice"

About 77% of Jewish voters supported Obama. How are they reacting to this choice? Do they not care about Israel? About human rights?

Good Bye, Rocky

Today's edition of the Rocky Mountain News will be its last. I'm sorry to see it go. My colleagues from the Mountain West brought the paper to my attention several years ago. Many of those years, I read it over the Internet and always made a point of getting the print edition in hand when I was in the Denver area. The Rocky had a good news staff and a refreshing approach to its content, especially the features. Got to be tough to end a run of 150 years.

Hot and Windy with Occasional Incoming

Fox News is reporting that President Obama has announced to leaders in Congress that he will end combat operations in Iraq on August 31, 2010. I think that's a great day for the last plane out of Baghdad because skies will be clear with 10 mph winds out of the northwest and a high temperature of 108 degrees.

Wow. The need to soothe the agony of the anti-war left in Obama's camp must be critical. I guess the lefties think all those computer simulations and models popped out "08312010" in response to the question, "When can we stop fighting?" Such an announcement really has no meaning, but it does bring the Islamofascists closer to reality. I can see them inside their caves in the Hindu Kush typing the information and other notes onto their calendar page under the heading, "Things to Do." They may have reason for concern as our combat forces in Afghanistan may be 140,000 soldiers stronger than it is today. Six from one, half dozen to another. On the other hand, those forces could be returning to American soil. But don't worry, American combat soldiers won't be fighting in Iraq.

One thing I learned from my political science professors was that war, by definition, is seldom a unilateral experience; historically, it has required an opposing force. I would like to think that military history and experience, rather than strong ideology, will drive our decision making. However, we already know President Obama has little training in history, military or otherwise, and limited executive experience in the real world. Thus, he announces the end of our combat operations to the world "08312010." That is eighteen months from now and a signal to our opponents to work overtime to embarrass the United States and weaken our foreign policy. His advisers should know better.

I wonder what the weather will be on "11022010?" I predict that it will be Tuesday.

Cloaking Devices and Dirty White Suits

In his speech before Congress yesterday, President Obama proved again that he is a masterful speaker. No matter that some of the statements of fact were wrong - those Germans invented the automobile - and the style - the Biden shout out - could use a bit of buffing. No question that the man knows how to move an audience. As several pundits have noted, he is extending his campaign style into his presidency. That style surely got him into the White House and has the power to whip his supporters into the higher realms of expectation. And with such lofty oratory comes the possibility that some of those expectations may be unrealized.

One absolutely unrealized expectation yesterday was the Republican response delivered by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Frankly, I've never thought much of opposition responses. They remind me of the white-suited man, shovel in hand, following the elephant in the circus parade. The guy may have an important job, but everybody remembers the elephant. If Jindal wants to stay clean and build his resume, he simply must improve that shoveling technique or find another job in the circus. Republicans should take all of this as a serious warning that their message for 2010 must be selected carefully, wrapped beautifully, and delivered appropriately. If not, they will be following an ass - the donkey variety - for a very long time.

[Apologies to my Democrat friends - just couldn't help myself.]

Gift Wrapping for Success

Mona Charen has a valuable history lesson on political perception and reality in her post at National Review Online.

















Toto figured it out.