Daily Roundup

(An unpopular yet continuing feature)

First up, Obama's interview:

OBAMA: Well, I think there are a whole host of areas where Republicans in some cases may have a better idea.

WALLACE: Such as?

OBAMA: Well, on issues of regulation. I think that back in the '60s and '70s a lot of the way we regulated industry was top-down command and control, we're going to tell businesses exactly how to do things.

And you know, I think that the Republican Party and people who thought about the markets came up with the notion that, "You know what? If you simply set some guidelines, some rules and incentives, for businesses — let them figure out how they're going to, for example, reduce pollution," and a cap and trade system, for example is a smarter way of doing it, controlling pollution, than dictating every single rule that a company has to abide by, which creates a lot of bureaucracy and red tape and oftentimes is less efficient.


I think that on issues of education, I've been very clear about the fact — and sometimes I've gotten in trouble with the teachers' union on this — that we should be experimenting with charter schools. We should be experimenting with different ways of compensating teachers that...

Wow. Markets work and we should be rewarding teachers by ability. Hmmm....is he triangulating because he knows Fox's audience or is he for real? I guess we'll find out one way or the other.

I've said nothing about Jose Calderon largely because he's not been in the news and I really know nothing of the man. I wasn't a fan of Vicente Fox but he wasn't all bad. It seems Calderon is doing much that needs to be done and at great cost.

Some 2,500 soldiers and federal police swept into Ciudad Juarez over the U.S. border from El Paso, Texas last month with heavy weaponry and helicopters to quell a surge in drug murders as gangs fight over smuggling routes into the United States.

Soldiers have taken over many security tasks from the often corrupt city police, making dozens of arrests and seizing arms and narcotics but the fight against common crime has apparently suffered.

Sounds familiar doesn't it? (In Iraq the IP's are unreliable but the Iraqi Army is not.) Kudos to Senor Calderon, I hope he succeeds.

The anti-war crowd frequently brays that there is no way that Al Qaeda would be in bed with Saddam as he was unislamic and that would make them natural enemies. Likewise they would never collaborate with Hezbollah or Hamas as they are Shia. Yet now we're getting word that Al Qaeda is teaming up with Mookie Sadr to fight the U.S. "But..but..but....how can that beeeeeeee?" I hear them sputter. "They hate each other." Yes but the old axiom of the enemy of my enemy is my friend always applies. People hold grudges and old hatreds do die hard but frequently interests, goals, objectives (call them what you will) usually trump those hatreds. I guarantee that if I offered you enough money you'd make peace with your enemies. This is, of course a losing deal for everybody. Despite Leftist crowing to the contrary, neither Sadr nor AQ is going to win this one. They aren't even going to be able to hold out much longer. Last time Sadr showed his hand he and his boys where crying Uncle inside a day and a half and he fled to Iran with his tail between his legs. The best part of this for us is that it unites the two opposing forces into one front. When we get inside their decision curve it will be on one front. When they have turncoats they will have a much more information to give. They may have the fervor of the righteous but they don't have the doctrine. Or the brains. Or the equipment.

The "Support Our Troops/Bring Them Home" crowd masks their anti-war stance as some sort of concern for the safety and well being of our troops. This one will test that theory. Many moons ago when my brother was stationed at Bragg he was giving me a tour of the base. He wryly pointed out that his office was in a building that had been condemned (due to structural concerns) and due to be demolished and replaced. When the requisite funding dried up the building was "uncondemned" and the structural deficiencies magically vanished. As an officer he was never required to live on post (aside from a short stay in BOQ while looking for a house). Yesterday I read this and today I saw this video:



I'll hold my breath while the anti-war crowd raises their voices in unison to right this wrong. That would be supporting the troops.

Changing the subject to sports...I read this story today which I really like to see. I've talked about sportsmanship before and how I think it's a benchmark to judge people. Stories like this are not seen on a professional level and to a degree I understand but even seeing this on a collegiate level is a welcome thing. More please.

Back to politics...

"Louis said 20 years ago that Zionism, not Judaism, was a gutter religion. He was talking about the same thing United Nations resolutions say, the same thing now that President Carter's being vilified for and Bishop Tutu's being vilified for. And everybody wants to paint me as if I'm anti-Semitic because of what Louis Farrakhan said 20 years ago. He is one of the most important voices in the 20th and 21st century; that's what I think about him. . . . Louis Farrakhan is not my enemy. He did not put me in chains, he did not put me in slavery, and he didn't make me this color." - Jeremiah Wright

Nota Bene:

1. You were never in chains
2. You were never in slavery
3. The melanin in your skin made you that color

What makes this statement so reprehensible is the implication that because Farrakhan is black he is not the enemy. Inversely that must mean that anyone who is white;

1. Put black people in chains or bears responsibility for same
2. Enslaved or is responsible for enslaving black people
3. Is somehow responsible for skin color

My family didn't get here until long after slavery ended. Before that they were in Europe scraping out an meager existence and in no position to employ anyone let alone enslave them. Wright's comments and frankly, ideas are disgusting. They are unAmerican, unChristian and deplorable. Obama was right to disavow him but it will not explain his close, personal relationship with him for over 20 years.