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	<title>If Bush Did It &#187; Statesman</title>
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		<title>Weird Week in the Hawkeye State</title>
		<link>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/12/30/weird-week-in-the-hawkeye-state/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/12/30/weird-week-in-the-hawkeye-state/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:10:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>old dog</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[DAVENPORT, Iowa -- Strange things keep happening in the final days leading up to the Jan. 3 Iowa precinct caucuses. Protesters from the Occupy Wall Street movement are being arrested at the offices of Republican presidential candidates. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann says her former campaign manager was bribed to endorse Texas Rep. Ron Paul. And, perhaps strangest of all, Texas Gov. Rick Perry just released an ad attacking former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. The ad slamming Santorum for using so-called "earmarks" for spending projects during his tenure in Congress is, in some sense, par for the course. Attack ads have flooded the TV and radio airwaves here in the Hawkeye State in the past month, and no GOP candidate has spent more on advertising in Iowa than Perry. What was strange and ironic about this latest ad is that, until this week, none of Santorum's Republican rivals had thought his campaign important enough to bother attacking. Less than three months ago, Perry was leading the Real Clear Politics average of Iowa polls with 24.7 percent, whereas Santorum was sixth with 4.3 percent. Now, Perry has slipped to fifth place in the RCP Iowa average, behind Santorum, whom two recent polls now show in third place. And so Perry's campaign is spending money to target a candidate once dismissed as irrelevant. "Rick Santorum voted for the Bridge to Nowhere and a highway bill full of pork," says the Perry radio ad , which also says that Santorum "personally demanded more than one billion dollars of earmarks in his 16 years in Congress." The target of that ad smiled when asked about it after an event at a senior citizens center here Thursday night. "It's been sort of difficult to go through this race and not get punched," Santorum told reporters. "Every race I've ever run, I've been beaten, bloodied, bruised. So I've been waiting.… I've said the whole time, I don't have a perfect record, but I've got a pretty darned good one." And then he counter-punched, saying that "Rick Perry hired people to earmark funds for Texas." That was apparently a reference to a report by Jason Embry of the Austin Statesman-American Thursday: " In a July 2006 strategic plan, the Texas Office of State-Federal Relations bragged that it and the Texas Department of Transportation 'worked closely together to secure over $669 million in highway earmarks for the state, $78 million in bus and bus facility earmarks, and $505 million in New Starts transit earmarks in the five-year surface transportation bill.'" A sudden verbal punching match between a former front-runner and a surging underdog was just one unexpected highlight of the final -- and increasingly weird -- week before next Tuesday's vote. Activists with the left-wing "Occupy" movement held their own "People's Caucus" Tuesday in Des Moines, and have since rolled out an annoying publicity-stunt parody of civil disobedience protests. Occupiers have gotten themselves arrested during demonstrations at the Iowa campaign headquarters of Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, as well as at the offices of the state Democratic Party. Liberals were amused so long as the protesters were targeting Republicans, but the tone changed when the Occupiers showed up and barricaded doors at Democratic Party HQ, where the state party's executive director accused the demonstrators of " threatening behavior ." Some Republicans have expressed concerned that the protesters may disrupt the caucuses next Tuesday, but it's unlikely the Occupiers will have much impact on the process. There are nearly 800 precinct locations across Iowa, most of them in small towns or rural areas without any real left-wing activist constituency, and the core group of Occupiers in Des Moines appears to number barely more than 100. Furthermore, by announcing their intentions in advance, the Occupiers alerted Republicans to take measures to protect the caucus locations. "All of our sheriff's departments and police departments are aware of our caucus sites, and we are prepared," said Judy Davidson, chairwoman of the Scott County GOP. Being prepared for trouble seems necessary in Iowa this week. Just ask Michele Bachmann, who saw her former campaign manager, state Sen. Kent Sorenson, defect to the Ron Paul camp Wednesday. That public betrayal came just hours after Sorenson had attended a Bachmann rally, and was followed immediately by a strange sequel: When Bachmann accused Sorenson of selling out -- endorsing Paul in return for unspecified payments -- the political director of Bachmann's campaign publicly defended Sorenson and was immediately fired for doing so. Even the weather has been strange in Iowa this week: The high temperature Thursday in Davenport was 56 degrees, although the forecast suggests the possibility of snow Friday night. Sudden changes and unpredictable events have become so routine during this bizarre political season in the Hawkeye State that even expert analysts like Nate Silver of the New York Times are allowing vast leeway in their predictions. If Iowans experience plagues of locusts and rivers turned to blood between now and Tuesday, they'll probably shrug it off as just another campaign publicity stunt.]]></description>
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		<title>Obama Supporters and the &#8216;Sunken Costs&#8217; Theory</title>
		<link>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/12/08/obama-supporters-and-the-sunken-costs-theory/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/12/08/obama-supporters-and-the-sunken-costs-theory/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:23:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>stuartbramhall</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ A couple of days ago in the Jolt , I wrote: Part of me marvels that so many still find [President Obama] so likeable, and I can&#8217;t help but get the feeling that a lot of people are wedded to the notion that the first African-American president of the United States would be a healing, wise, visionary statesman, like the second coming of Martin Luther King, Jr., instead of an over-promising, under-delivering, self-pitying narcissist. Keep reading this post . . . ]]></description>
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		<title>Successes Overseas Are Unlikely to Help Obama at Home</title>
		<link>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/10/23/successes-overseas-are-unlikely-to-help-obama-at-home/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/10/23/successes-overseas-are-unlikely-to-help-obama-at-home/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 23 Oct 2011 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JuanGetalty</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Not only will there be little gain politically, but we could be witnessing a weakening strategic situation in the Middle East. Lots of instability across the region combined with a declining U.S. presence. This is a major transformation in international politics, but the concerns are at home, and Obama needs some successes on that front. See NYT : WASHINGTON — President Obama’s announcement that the last American soldiers will leave Iraq by the end of this year capped a momentous week in which he could also take credit for helping dispatch one of the world’s great villains, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. Conventional wisdom holds that none of this will matter to Mr. Obama’s frayed political fortunes, which will be determined by the economy rather than the notches he is piling up on his statesman’s belt. Yet Mr. Obama’s withdrawal from Iraq — a campaign pledge kept — and the successful NATO air campaign in Libya — with no American casualties, and at a tiny fraction of the cost of Iraq — allowed him to thread a political needle: reaffirming his credentials as a wartime leader while reassuring his Democratic base that he is making good on the promises that got him elected. This one-two punch may also strengthen the president’s hand against his eventual Republican opponent, according to Mr. Obama’s supporters, by depriving Republicans of a cudgel typically used on Democratic presidents, that they are weak on national security. The swift and fierce criticism of his Iraq decision by the Republican candidates shows how reluctant they are to cede this advantage to him. “There is an aggregate effect to all the president’s foreign policy successes,” said Bill Burton, a former White House aide who is a senior strategist at Priorities USA Action, a political action committee backing the Obama campaign. “The notion of who is a stronger leader will be deeply influenced by the promises the president kept.” ]]></description>
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		<title>Iranian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani faces execution for refusing to renounce Christianity: Where are the Hollyweirdos and Euroweenies now?; Update: White&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/09/29/iranian-pastor-yousef-nadarkhani-faces-execution-for-refusing-to-renounce-christianity-where-are-the-hollyweirdos-and-euroweenies-now-update-white/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/09/29/iranian-pastor-yousef-nadarkhani-faces-execution-for-refusing-to-renounce-christianity-where-are-the-hollyweirdos-and-euroweenies-now-update-white/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:30:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>stuartbramhall</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/09/29/iranian-pastor-yousef-nadarkhani-faces-execution-for-refusing-to-renounce-christianity-where-are-the-hollyweirdos-and-euroweenies-now-update-white/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ Over the years, I&#8217;ve highlighted the plight of Muslim apostates around the world. See here , here , and here , for example. One of the early blog campaigns I was involved in focused on Abdul Rahman , the Christian convert who fled Afghanistan in 2006 and found safety in Italy after Muslim mobs demanded he be killed for abandoning Islam. See: Many more Abdul Rahmans Abdul Rahman update Abdul Rahman has landed Abdul Rahman: Safe for now Abdul Rahman &#8220;vanishes&#8221; Abdul Rahman seeks asylum Abdul Rahman to be released Steyn on Rahman and Islam What are you praying for? The religion of pieces Condi Rice calls Karzai Free Abdul Rahman Canada supports Abdul Rahman Rally for Abdul Rahman Bush: &#8220;Deeply troubled&#8221; Video: &#8220;I am not an apostate&#8221; Who will save Abdul Rahman? &#8220;We will cut him into little pieces&#8221; Save Abdul Rahman A Christian on trial To oppose the Koranic mandate of death for apostasy is to take on the entire sharia-enforcing Muslim world. Which is why you never hear purported anti-death penalty bleeding-heart celebrities say a peep about it. It takes no guts or brains for Hollywood liberals (hello, Alec Baldwin ) and America-bashing Brit journalists (hello, U.K. Guardian editors ) to bemoan the execution of a convicted Death Row cop-killer who was able to pursue every last legal avenue for more than two decades. It tells you everything about their selective outrage that they have nothing to say about the latest impending execution in Iran of a Christian pastor: Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, the head of a network of Christian house churches in Iran, could be executed as soon as midnight Wednesday in Tehran for refusing to recant his religious beliefs and convert to Islam, said the chair of a commission that monitors religious freedom around the world. A statement by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent advisory group appointed by the president and Congress, &#8220;expressed deep concern&#8221; for the man&#8217;s fate. After four days of an appeals trial for apostasy, Nadarkhani refused to recant his beliefs. Leonard Leo, chair of the commission, said the pastor &#8220;is being asked to recant a faith he has always had. Once again, the Iranian regime has demonstrated that it practices hypocritical barbarian practices.&#8221; Leo said that while the trial is closed to the press, the commission collects information from sources in Iran and around the world. A release by the group says their responsibility is to &#8220;review the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom internationally.&#8221; &#8220;I would be disappointed if at the end of this whole maelstrom, there was no statement by our government on this situation,&#8221; Leo said. &#8220;At some point the United States has to stand up for the right of this pastor and for human rights more broadly and call countries to account for what they are doing.&#8221; The commission&#8217;s statement also called the trial a sham and said Iran is violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party. Take action here . ACLJ has been helping with Pastor Nadarkhani&#8217;s defense. Support them here . *** Alec Baldwin&#8217;s first reaction when I sent out a reader&#8217;s tweet wondering why he didn&#8217;t seem to care about the case. He mocked : Minutes later&#8230; It&#8217;s progress. Anything to spread word of the story helps. *** More: * Facing Execution for the &#8216;Crime&#8217; of Being a Christian In Iran: In 2010, the Iranian regime carried out 546 executions, more than at any other time during the preceding decade, and representing an increase of around 25 per cent on the previous year. Increasingly, execution is becoming Tehran&#8217;s favored method for dealing with anyone it deems an opponent &#8212; like Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, an Iranian pastor who has refused to recant his Christian faith. Pastor Nadarkhani&#8217;s case is another grim illustration of the volatile situation faced by religious minorities living under Iran&#8217;s Islamist clerics. Even though the state formally recognizes the existence of Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, these minorities are under no illusions about their subordinate status. Since 2009, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole Iran&#8217;s election to claim a further term as the country&#8217;s president, the crime of &#8220;moharebeh&#8221; &#8212; waging war against God &#8212; has frequently been invoked against those who question the Islamic legal codes which underpin the state. * To Hang an Apostate: Yousef Nadarkhani sentenced to die for changing his religion. Yesterday it was reported that Yousef Nadarkhani faced the death penalty in Iran unless, on the fourth and final opportunity, he recanted his Christianity. This seemed too incredible to be true. However, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) speedily provided original judgments and unofficial English translations. And, on the basis of the translations, it was clear: a man was actually sentenced to hang just for converting from one religion to another. CSW now report that Nadarkhani refused to recant on the fourth and final opportunity. If CSW and the source they are relying on are correct, this means that Nadarkhani can now be hanged unless the Court decides otherwise. *In Algeria, distributing CDs about Christianity will get you five years in jail. * Jordan Sekulow, ACLJ: Evangelical conservatives are fighting for freedom and basic human rights around the world. Our main adversaries are often theocratic governments. Christians, like Youcef Nadarkhani, a pastor in Iran sentenced to death by the Islamic Republic for his faith, are on the front line of the global fight for religious freedom. On September 25, a court in Iran is set to decide whether he is a convert from Islam to Christianity. If the court finds that Youcef is an apostate, he can be executed. Pastor Nadarkhani’s Iranian lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, a Muslim, has been sentenced to 9 years in prison and banned from practicing law by the Iranian government, essentially for representing individuals such as Pastor Nadarkhani. The ACLJ is working with Mr. Dadkhah, a well-known human rights attorney who founded the Defenders of Human Rights Center along with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi. A conservative Christian legal organization and a Muslim human rights attorney are battling theocracy together. This isn’t new for the ACLJ. In Pakistan, our office works with brave attorneys, some of whom are Muslim, willing to defend persecuted Christians. *** Flashback: Texas executes Mexican citizen despite pleas from Obama, UN *** This morning, I asked Press Secretary Jay Carney if the White House would weigh in. At 2pm Eastern, this statement was released from the press secretary&#8217;s office: The United States condemns the conviction of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani. Pastor Nadarkhani has done nothing more than maintain his devout faith, which is a universal right for all people. That the Iranian authorities would try to force him to renounce that faith violates the religious values they claim to defend, crosses all bounds of decency, and breaches Iran’s own international obligations. A decision to impose the death penalty would further demonstrate the Iranian authorities&#8217; utter disregard for religious freedom, and highlight Iran&#8217;s continuing violation of the universal rights of its citizens. We call upon the Iranian authorities to release Pastor Nadarkhani, and demonstrate a commitment to basic, universal human rights, including freedom of religion. Good for the White House. May every other civilized country&#8217;s officials raise their voices and do the same. *** More on White House reax. ]]></description>
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		<title>FOX News/Google GOP 2012 debate: The “Obama lite” label and venture socialism; Updated: Wrap-up, winners, losers</title>
		<link>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/09/22/fox-newsgoogle-gop-2012-debate-the-%e2%80%9cobama-lite%e2%80%9d-label-and-venture-socialism-updated-wrap-up-winners-losers/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/09/22/fox-newsgoogle-gop-2012-debate-the-%e2%80%9cobama-lite%e2%80%9d-label-and-venture-socialism-updated-wrap-up-winners-losers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 23 Sep 2011 04:31:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JuanGetalty</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ Graphic via FoxNews.com The latest GOP 2012 debate starts at 9pm Eastern tonight on Fox news. GOP Rep. Thad McCotter dropped his quixotic, redundant bid today (really, how many pro-bailout, pro-health care entitlement expansion Republicans do we need in the race), so he&#8217;s off the schedule. Taking his place: Libertarian Gary Johnson. Yep, another quixotic, redundant bid. Because, you know, there aren&#8217;t enough open-borders , foreign policy ostriches in the current field. I will be watching to see if crony capitalism/venture socialism takes center stage tonight. With Obama&#8217;s Solyndra and LightSquared scandals breaking out all over, which of the current candidates is best equipped to provide a clear, credible alternative on this central fiscal/integrity issue? It&#8217;s GOP Gov. Rick Perry himself who said the other night: “ We don’t need to nominate Obama lite . We don’t need to nominate someone who is going to blur the lines between President Obama and our nominee,” Perry said in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity.” And yet, as I noted last month, Perry has exercised a disturbing habit of overriding the deliberative process, exercising unilateral executive authority, and benefiting donors and cronies with pay-for-play rackets galore. Some remedial reading in preparation for tonight: It is no surprise &#8212; given the Merck ties &#8212; that Perry is a consummate practitioner of corporate welfare &#8220;public-private partnerships.&#8221; Tim Carney, who wrote the book on Obama&#8217;s crony capitalism , dissects Perry&#8217;s big government-big business collusion in the Examiner today. As with the Gardasil mandate, Perry exercised his habit of overriding the deliberative process, exercising unilateral executive authority, and benefiting donors and cronies: Corporate welfare king Boeing provided a formative experience for Perry. Weeks after Perry took over the governorship in 2001, the jet maker announced it was moving its corporate headquarters out of Seattle and was considering Chicago, Denver and Dallas. Undoubtedly, Texas provided the best business environment: lower taxes, less regulation, better weather, less traffic. But Chicago won because Mayor Richard Daley and Gov. George Ryan offered Boeing $63 million in &#8220;incentives,&#8221; including a $1 million buyout to a tenant who was occupying Boeing&#8217;s preferred office space. One problem: Texas&#8217; slower legislative process prevented the state from making a counteroffer. Perry was determined to fix this inefficiency so he would never be out-corporate-welfared again. In his next State of the State address, Perry pushed the Legislature to create the Texas Enterprise Fund, giving the governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker the power to hand out multimillion-dollar grants to businesses seeking to relocate to or expand within the state. Two years later, Perry and the Legislature created another subsidy bank, called the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, using taxpayer money to invest in high-tech companies. Perry made government a venture capital fund. Muckrakers at the Los Angeles Times and the Austin American Statesman have shown a strong correlation between Perry&#8217;s biggest campaign contributors and the money handled by these funds and Perry&#8217;s other public-private partnership. Almost half of Perry&#8217;s &#8220;mega-donors,&#8221; according to the Times, have received profitable favors from the Texas government. Poultry magnate Joe Sanderson, for instance, gave Perry&#8217;s campaign $165,000 and received $500,000 from the Texas Enterprise Fund to open a facility in Waco, the Times reports. The Austin paper documents the unsavory case of $80,000 Perry donor David Nance winning a $4.5 million grant from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. A regional board had denied the grant to Nance&#8217;s Convergen LifeSciences, but Perry intervened and ushered the grant through. The Wall Street Journal earlier scrutinized Perry&#8217;s crony capitalism here . Then there&#8217;s Perry&#8217;s troubling erosion of private property rights via the Trans Texas Corridor. It is all of a piece. The American Thinker has an excellent piece on &#8220;Perry&#8217;s Solyndra?&#8221; that delves into the aforementioned Convergen deal. Brian Carter writes: Taxpayers continue to pay the bill for cronyism as the debt balloons, the dollar collapses, and our credit rating falls. From the 2008 financial meltdown, the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac debacle, and multiple pork-laden stimulus bills to auto bailouts, TARP, and easy federal loans for speculative projects, the costs mount. With such a clear pattern of corruption and special deals for contributors and insiders, how could Republicans possibly fail to capitalize on Obama&#8217;s reckless waste of taxpayer money in rewarding his biggest fundraisers? Republicans can easily throw away the advantage by nominating a candidate with a record of rewarding friends and donors with the spoils of government power. In Texas, bio-tech firm Convergen LifeSciences looks a lot like Governor Rick Perry&#8217;s Solyndra. Governor Perry manages the Emerging Technology Fund (ETF), providing financial support to companies developing new technology in the hope of creating high-tech jobs. First created in 2005, ETF is made up of regional panels that screen proposals for a statewide advisory panel (all appointed by Perry). ETF dispersed $342 million through August 2010. Like Solyndra, Convergen&#8217;s project to develop a lung cancer treatment was easily identified as a speculative endeavor. Convegen&#8217;s proposal was rejected at the regional review board, part of the normal ETF evaluation process designed to insulate the program from politics. Solyndra had George Kaiser, mega-fund-raiser for Obama. Convergen had David Nance, mega-donor for Perry. Nance is the founder of Convergen. Despite several business and personal bankruptcies &#8212; including previously failed companies partially funded by the state &#8212; Nance managed to donate $335,000 to Perry&#8217;s campaigns, association fundraisers, and foundation. As in the case of Solyndra, Convergen received help in circumventing the normal process. This part is very murky. Somehow, the proposal that failed the regional review was presented at the closed-door session of the state advisory panel (which previously included Nance), where it was approved. While the governor&#8217;s office claimed that an appeal was filed, there is no appeals process in ETF&#8217;s charter. The process by which Convergen received $4.5 million &#8212; the highest amount ever awarded &#8212; was &#8220;extraordinary.&#8221; Where Solyndra received a below-inflation interest rate, Convergen gave Texas an 8% annual interest promissory note with no due date. Just like Solyndra, the principal investors unloaded risks on taxpayers. According to the previously secret state grant application, Convergen founders put up only $1,000 each, while Texas taxpayers put up $4.5 million. They were entering phase II clinical trials in late 2010, but only 33% of successful phase II drugs make it to market, and the success rate for cancer drugs is only 4.7%. The big difference between Solyndra and Convergen is that Convergen hasn&#8217;t failed. Not yet, at least. The odds of success might be better than a roulette wheel, but this is taxpayer money. Convergen is not an isolated case, either. In fact, Nance previously received state money &#8220;at the direction of the Governor&#8217;s budget office&#8221; for a now-bankrupt company which still owes Texas $50,000. Max Talbott served on Perry&#8217;s ETF panel and simultaneously was a paid consultant for several firms that sought and received money from the ETF. While he claims that he recused himself for some conflicts (in closed-door sessions), conflict of interest questions remain for other clients; $16 million of ETF funds went to the firms of major Perry donors, and $27 million of ETF funds went to firms of former ETF advisory board members. There are also questions about unusual access by lobbyists who went to work for Perry and then returned to lobbying for firms doing business with the state. Still more questions exist about major donors influencing decisions, approvals, and the reorganization of state agencies. Much of this will almost certainly be revealed in the course of the campaign. So far, the response from Team Perry has been to lump all critics of these deals in with George Soros and complain about the left-wing smear machine while failing to address the actual substance of the concerns. The fact that Perry shares some of the same lefty critics as George W. Bush does nothing to answer the actual stench, appearance, and reality of pay-for-play under the Perry administration. I was one of the critics on the RIGHT assailing W.&#8217;s corporate welfare deals in 1999 and his statist bailout deals during his last year in office that pre-socialized the economy for Barack Obama. I agree with Perry on this: &#8220;We don’t need to nominate Obama lite. We don’t need to nominate someone who is going to blur the lines between President Obama and our nominee.&#8221; Will Perry&#8217;s challengers put him to his own test? God knows the MSM will if he makes it to the general. And God knows the White House would welcome a GOP candidate who has to fight Obama&#8217;s culture of corruption with his own crippling baggage on the issue. *** Update: Here&#8217;s my quick and dirty debate summary. Herman Cain&#8217;s passion and personality really stood out. Still wish he hadn&#8217;t taken the Beltway GOP line on TARP, but his personal story, business experience, humor, and faith in the American dream really do add a grass-roots Tea Party flavor to an otherwise bland establishment field. Rick Santorum came off well, I thought, on foreign policy and parental responsibility issues. Michele Bachmann stayed strongest on economic issues; she refused to take responsibility for overreaching in her Gardasil critique of Perry. Perry dug in on his Gardasil demagoguery, repeating his &#8220;erring on the side of life line&#8221; and invoking the Heather Burcham story as a defense. Mitt Romney and Rick Perry played Punch and Judy throughout the night. Perry lost big in his continued defense of DREAM Act illegal alien student preferences. Frank Luntz&#8217;s focus group on Sean Hannity&#8217;s show after the debate unanimously panned Perry on immigration and especially took umbrage at his condescending line about critics not having a &#8220;heart.&#8221; Which follows on his similarly-toned line from the last debate about how Republicans should care about students no matter what their last names sound like. (Reminder: Texas Tea Party activists to Perry: Hey, what about our borders? ) He blundered through what should have been an easy attack on Romney&#8217;s flip-flopping, leading Charles Krauthammer to note his fizzled-out answers. He &#8220;dissipated.&#8221; And Gary Johnson delivered a recycled Rush Limbaugh joke about his neighbor&#8217;s dogs creating more shovel-ready jobs than Obama. Winners: Rush, Cain. Loser: Perry. Also losers: Grass-roots conservatives looking for a more sustained discussion of how these candidates would distinguish themselves from Obama on the issue I highlighted pre-debate. Believe it or not, there was a single question about Obama&#8217;s spending corruption scandals. And it was wasted on Jon &#8220;MUTE BUTTON!&#8221; Huntsman. Maybe next time&#8230; *** One more entry for the losers&#8217; column: The morons in the audience who booed the gay soldier. Shame on you. More cringe : &#8220;HPV Vaccine Fact Check: Perry Misstated Relationship With Dying Woman.&#8221; ]]></description>
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		<title>Feds go after Idaho man who shot grizzly bear to protect his family</title>
		<link>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/08/31/feds-go-after-idaho-man-who-shot-grizzly-bear-to-protect-his-family/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 31 Aug 2011 09:30:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>starsh1p</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ Maybe it&#8217;s time to start a Jackboot Watch feature. We&#8217;ve got DOJ lawyers going after Gibson guitars . There&#8217;s the ongoing Fast and Furious debacle. Add the eco-nitwit rogues at the Interior Department. Then there&#8217;s the War on Lemonade Stands. And now, we&#8217;ve got the U.S. Attorney in Idaho filing federal charges against Jeremy Hill , a father who shot a grizzly bear on his property to protect his wife and kids &#8212; even though state officials who investigated the case thoroughly took no action against the man. He now faces up to a year in prison and a $50,000 fine. He pleaded not guilty last week and faces trial in October: A Boundary County man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to unlawfully killing a female grizzly bear in his yard. So many friends and family members showed up to support Jeremy M. Hill at his arraignment that the hearing was forced to move into a larger room at the U.S. Courthouse in Coeur d’Alene. Hill, 33, faces one charge of killing a grizzly – a federally protected species. Supporters said that Hill, a father of six, acted responsibly in shooting the female grizzly on May 8, which appeared with two cubs in the yard of his home near Porthill, Idaho, while his children were playing outside. “It seems unjust to me that someone would be charged when they were protecting their family,” state Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, said after the hearing. “I’m at a loss to understand why the U.S. government is pursuing this in the manner they are.” After shooting the grizzly with a bolt-action rifle, Hill contacted the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. “Jeremy did the right thing, he called Fish and Game,” Keough said. “I think that prosecuting this case really sets back the grizzly bear recovery effort. … People are saying, ‘Boy, if that happened to me, there’s no way that I’d report it.’ That’s a human reaction.” Hill’s wife and six children – the oldest is 14 and the youngest is an infant – attended the arraignment. The family declined to comment. Gun rights blogger Dave Workman in Seattle notes the festering anti-rural bigotry (and anti-gun stupidity) rearing its head in the wake of the case. Having lived in bear country for three years now, I can say with certitude that I&#8217;d do the exact same thing if faced with the situation Hill found himself in. Absolute certitude. Idaho GOP Gov. Butch Otter has appealed to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to intervene on Hill&#8217;s behalf. Not likely that Obama&#8217;s Loathsome Cowboy Salazar will do anything to help, but Otter&#8217;s letter will at least bring needed attention to this injustice. Here&#8217;s the letter (h/t Cam Edwards ): Salazar Jeremy Hill 23Aug11-1 Other Idaho public officials weighed in on Hill&#8217;s side: Idaho’s U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, who serves on the committee that oversees the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which filed the charges, also expressed his view Friday. “I have deep concerns about this incident and the decision of the government to prosecute Mr. Hill, who did what any parent would do in this situation,” Crapo said. “Clearly, Mr. Hill thought that his family was in danger and was protecting them from harm.” Idaho U.S. Sen. Jim Risch also had to weigh in, suggesting maybe the Endangered Species Act needs to be changed, a long held position of most Idahoans. “What Mr. Hill did was not a criminal act in the court of common sense,” Risch, a former prosecutor himself said. “My hope is that common sense prevails in this case.” Finally, Idaho U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador raised questions about whether the law needs changes. But He also had an opinion on the shooting. &#8220;Only Jeremy knows the threat this bear posed to his family and property,&#8221; Labrador said. &#8220;No one from D.C. or Boise was present to know the circumstances surrounding his actions, but the Endangered Species Act shouldn’t force us to second-guess these types of life or death decisions. &#8220;If the facts that have appeared in the media accounts are true and accurate, then the judgment call Jeremy made to protect his family and property appears to be justified,&#8221; he said. You can put pressure on the Interior Department here or on Twitter here . ]]></description>
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		<title>Robert Gibbs Cracks Rick Perry Birther Joke on MSNBC</title>
		<link>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/08/16/robert-gibbs-cracks-rick-perry-birther-joke-on-msnbc/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/08/16/robert-gibbs-cracks-rick-perry-birther-joke-on-msnbc/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:44:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/08/16/robert-gibbs-cracks-rick-perry-birther-joke-on-msnbc/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Former Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs surfaced Tuesday morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" and may have tipped the Democrats' strategy regarding how they plan to attack newly-announced GOP candidate Rick Perry: label him a flip-flopper and try to paint him as a crazed Tea Partier and, yes, even a birther. Responding to a question from Mark Halperin regarding Gibbs's thoughts on some of Perry's comments in Iowa, Gibbs questioned Perry's commitment to America for raising the issue of Texas seceding from the Union in 2009. But that was only the beginning. He then turned to the birther accusation. “Any day now, Rick Perry will ask to see the president's birth certificate,” Gibbs said . “But, look, these are the kind of crazy arguments that you have and the kind of crazy things that you're going to see much, much more of, as each of the three candidates seeks to outdo each other to pledge allegiance to the tea party to pick this nominee:" The birther accusation isn't even worth discussing, so what about all the talk of secession? Did Perry really want to pull Texas from the Union? Not really. The Austin American-Statesman covered the controversy back in 2009 when the story was big. According to its report, Perry never advocated secession, but only defended Texas's right to do so (being married to a Texan myself, I can tell you Texas's right to seceed is frequently a boasting point). In fact, the second paragraph of the story says, "The idea of secession — which Perry did not endorse — surfaced suddenly Wednesday after Perry appeared at an anti-tax "tea party" at Austin City Hall, where some in his U.S. flag-waving audience shouted, 'Secede!'" That's pretty clear. But it goes on: According to The Associated Press, Perry suggested in response to a reporter's question that Texans might at some point get so fed up with Democratic-led actions in Washington that they would want to secede. "There's a lot of different scenarios," Perry said. "We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that? But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot." On Thursday, Perry called potential secession a "side issue of Texas history. ... We are very proud of our Texas history; people discuss and debate the issues of can we break ourselves into five states, can we secede, a lot of interesting things that I'm sure Oklahoma and Pennsylvania would love to be able to say about their states, but the fact is, they can't because they're not Texas." A Perry spokeswoman said Perry believes Texas could secede if it wanted. As the Statesman points out, defending a right to do something and advocating for it are two very different things. The comments by Gibbs were in response to Perry allegedly questioning Obama's patriotism. Perry said on Monday that Americans want a “president who is passionate about America." When asked later if President Obama loves America, Perry told a reporter to “go ask him." He wasn't done, though. Later he questioned the president's fitness to be commander-in-chief: “I think the military men and women respect the commander in chief regardless of who it is. I think they really like to see a person who’s worn the uniform in that office and, you know, I think that’s just a true statement and I wouldn’t back up off of it an inch,” Perry told a group of reporters trailing him on Monday. “Go ask your veterans if they’d rather see somebody who’s never served as the commander in chief.” Welcome to campaign season. ]]></description>
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		<title>Rick Perry to Kick Off Campaign Saturday</title>
		<link>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/08/13/rick-perry-to-kick-off-campaign-saturday/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/08/13/rick-perry-to-kick-off-campaign-saturday/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Aug 2011 06:21:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>stuartbramhall</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/08/13/rick-perry-to-kick-off-campaign-saturday/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ **Written by Doug Powers It&#8217;s no secret that Texas Governor Rick Perry intends to run for president, but now it looks like Perry will kick off his 2012 campaign tomorrow in South Carolina. He&#8217;ll then travel to New Hampshire followed by a few days in Iowa, at least according to the Associated Press : Months behind other GOP candidates, Rick Perry has something most of them don&#8217;t: Buzz. The Texas governor will enter the race Saturday with splashy appearances in South Carolina and New Hampshire. At the same time, he is putting together what looks a lot like a traditional presidential campaign. The path he hopes will lead to the Republican nomination starts here, in the leadoff caucus state of Iowa, with a message of jobs and values as he tries to set himself apart from GOP front-runner Mitt Romney. &#8220;We cannot and must not endure four more years of rising unemployment, rising taxes, rising debt and rising energy dependence on nations that intend us harm,&#8221; Perry is to say Saturday in Charleston, S.C., according to remarks prepared for delivery. Notice I didn&#8217;t say Perry will formally announce his candidacy, because I don&#8217;t quite know what&#8217;s going on with the formals and informals. Though Perry will by most accounts enter the race this weekend, a &#8220;formal&#8221; announcement could be coming next week in Houston &#8212; or maybe not : Politico, the New York Times and the Statesman of Austin, Texas reported that Perry would make his plans to seek the nomination known on Saturday, though they suggested he would likely stop short of a formal announcement. Statesman reporter Jason Embry Tweeted late Monday, &#8220;I&#8217;m hearing from several GOP sources there will be a formal announcement of Perry&#8217;s campaign next Wednesday in Houston.&#8221; A Perry advisor, however, told CBS News: &#8220;We won&#8217;t be making much news in Houston next week.&#8221; To-may-toe, to-mah-toe. Bottom line: Perry&#8217;s running, and the dynamic of the GOP race will immediately change a great deal : With Texas Gov. Rick Perry widely expected to announce his plans for a presidential bid this weekend, he&#8217;s still sitting pretty near the top of the GOP pack, according to a new CNN/ORC International poll released today. The poll finds 15% of Republicans and right-leaning independents picked Perry as their top choice for the nomination &#8212; just two points behind frontrunner Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor&#8217;s slim lead is within the survey&#8217;s two-point margin of error. Perry was in an almost identical polling position just last month, when he trailed Romney 14% to 16% in another CNN/ORC survey. By the way, for Perry, the phrase &#8220;laser-like focus&#8221; takes on a whole new meaning . If you&#8217;re not very familiar with Rick Perry, here&#8217;s a terrific speech he delivered at CPAC earlier this year: ***** Check back in tomorrow and we&#8217;ll catch up on the Perry announcement, Iowa straw poll results and more. **Written by Doug Powers Twitter @ThePowersThatBe ]]></description>
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		<title>Imprudent Oslo mayor rejects security improvements following massacre</title>
		<link>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/08/02/imprudent-oslo-mayor-rejects-security-improvements-following-massacre/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/08/02/imprudent-oslo-mayor-rejects-security-improvements-following-massacre/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Aug 2011 08:26:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/08/02/imprudent-oslo-mayor-rejects-security-improvements-following-massacre/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ With at least 95 innocent people dead from the grizzly Norway attacks, the world has been presented with a puzzling case study. How should Norway, a traditionally peaceful nation with strict gun laws, prepare for future terrorist attacks? We have the facts of Norway’s recent tragedy: an armed man with multiple automatic weapons opened fire on scores of youths at a summer camp located on the island of Utøya. Tragically, it took the police  almost 90 minutes to respond to frantic phone calls for help. Over an hour? According to one of the would-be victims, they attempted to call an emergency hotline but it did not work. They instead had to call the nearest police station in Hønefoss located about 15.5 miles away from the dock directly across from Utøya. Why did the hotline not work? Why did it take police officers well over an hour to travel less than 20 miles on country roads? According to police officials, one of the reasons it took them so long to get to the island was because there were no boats available. Surely, these facts alone would give one reason to reevaluate the state’s current security practices. But when asked if the massacre would prompt Norwegian politicians to consider stronger security measures to ensure against these types of tragedies, Oslo’s mayor Fabian Stang responded, "I don't think security can solve problems. We need to teach greater respect." Just take a minute to reflect on his comment. The mayor says that the appropriate response to youths being gunned down is to teach "greater respect?" How do you teach “greater respect” to an unhinged maniac with a bag full of assault rifles? Who is crazier: the lunatic or the "sane" man who thinks he can reason with him? To say that it was a lack of “respect” that led to the Norwegian shooting spree is tantamount to saying that it was a lack of emphasis on the food pyramid (excuse me, "food plate" ) that led Jeffery Dahmer to cannibalize 17 victims. Why not simply call evil by its name? To respond to evil by saying that society needs to “embrace tolerance” or to call for more “openness,” and to not at least consider taking steps to guard against it, is naïve, unproductive and dangerous. And what does he mean by "greater respect"? As defined by who? How does he plan on implementing "greater respect"? Does he actually have a solid plan, or is this one of those meaningless phrases that politicians love to throw around? For the mayor to reject the notion of reevaluating security methods--ones that don’t involve the police taking well over an hour to travel 15.5 miles--and to instead claim that people need be “nicer” to each other is not only insulting but it also speaks to a darker problem in modern thought. The mayor’s response shows that he lacks one of the supreme virtues: prudence. His answer reveals that he is unwilling to exercise caution or circumspection in regards to real dangers or risks and that he fails to exhibit good judgment. To be prudent is not just to know what the right thing is but also  to act on it . Therefore, in order to be or act prudently one must know the “good,” and to act upon it in accord with the situation. However, because prudence is an intellectual virtue, and is heavily based in experience, knowing the right thing to do in a situation, and doing it, involves a level of moral reasoning. This is where we encounter the problem. We have lost our deeper understanding and appreciation for the “moral.” Essentially, our modern moral language has been informed by Sesame Street. As a society, we no longer talk about "good" versus "evil," of morality and immorality, but instead we are taught that man’s highest calling is to be “nice to each other” and to not be “mean.” Without a proper understanding of what morality is, and with a lack of prudential formation, it only stands to reason that the mayor's response would betray an amount of naivety, that is, a deficiency in worldly wisdom or informed judgment. Responding to mass murder with calls for ambiguous ideals will not deter madmen. Good judgment, informed by prudence, and necessary precaution does. But at least the mayor is not being “mean.” And back to the original question regarding Norway and future precautions: as there is no apparent public desire to introduce a concealed carry permit, easing of guns laws might not be the best answer. Furthermore, one would probably be wrong to suggest that, after several years of relatively successful gun control, Norway should suddenly throw open its doors and encourage every citizen to purchase one. However, what should be acknowledged, and this is where the mayor is wrong, is that a new variable has been introduced into the Norwegian social equation. Crazy people with guns  do exist and they do want to cause harm. What this means is that a wise person, informed by experience, must now reevaluate what he once thought a solid formula. Therefore, instead of copping out with a feel good answer like "greater respect," a truly prudent statesman would have responded to the security question by saying, “Perhaps.”]]></description>
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		<title>Obama mourns &#8216;soldier-statesman&#8217; Shalikashvili 
    (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/07/23/obama-mourns-soldier-statesman-shalikashvili-ap/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ifbushdidit.com/2011/07/23/obama-mourns-soldier-statesman-shalikashvili-ap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 24 Jul 2011 02:16:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>old dog</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[barack obama]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[AP - President Barack Obama says the United States has lost a "genuine soldier-statesman" with the death of Army Gen. John Shalikashvili.]]></description>
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