S

o “our ideals give us the moral high ground” to fight conniving, ruthless, bloodthirsty jihadists.  The POTUS said so himself when he signed the executive order today ending the CIA’s use of secret overseas prisons, banning “coercive” interrogation methods and closing the Guantánamo Bay detention camp within a year.

Details to come in six months; today’s event was for grandstanding purposes only.  Please  note the Dem affirmative action in action:  13 old white guys and one black guy.

But you know, that Gitmo thing has had me really worried. I mean, where are we supposed to put those guys if not in Fidel’s back yard? Then it struck me! There’s a simple and elegant answer.

The West Wing is very, very secure. Barry and Michelle, why not put all the Muhammeds and Abdulahs up as your house guests until you can find a better place for them?

After all, it was your bright idea to close the only good place in the world to keep those thugs.

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T

he NY Times just can’t bring itself to journalistically slug Caroline Kennedy smack-dab in the kisser, as she so rightly deserves.  Here’s the paper’s afternoon lead on the story of Kennedy’s last 24  hours (a.k.a., “I’m out … No, I’m in … No, I’m out):

ALBANY — Problems involving taxes and a household employee surfaced during the vetting of Caroline Kennedy and derailed her candidacy for the Senate, a person close to Gov. David A. Paterson said on Thursday, in an account at odds with Ms. Kennedy’s own description of her reasons for withdrawing.

That one reference to problems with taxes and hired help is pretty much it; the NYT just can’t seem to find a satisfactory source of info into what’s going on in the shoddy and run-down community of Camelot. The NY Post seems to have no such problems, though:

In a stunning revelation, a source close to Gov. David Paterson insisted this afternoon that the governor “had no intention” of picking Caroline Kennedy for New York’s vacant senate seat – because she was “mired” in an issue over taxes, her nanny and possibly her marriage.

Kennedy was “mired in some potentially embarrassing personal issues,” the source said, citing tax liabilities and worker compensation liabilities connected to the employment of a nanny.

The source also said the state of her marriage may have presented a problem as well.

“She has a tax problem that came up in the vetting and a potential nanny issue,” the source said. “And reporters are starting to look at her marriage more closely,” the source continued, refusing to provide any specifics.

So Kennedy, like Geithner, is a tax-dodger – not paying properly either her income or her employee’s worker’s comp taxes. What is it with these fabulously wealthy Dems who want to fling tax money at every poor puke and every big government problem, but can’t bring themselves to actually contribute honestly to the cause? What a bunch of pathetic hypocrites.

And arrogance?  This shows you arrogance!  Kennedy had to know what was going on in her life, yet she blithely assumed that as a World Class Liberal she would skate through without a problem.  It reminds Allahpundit of a similar Dem glitterati a while back:

This reminds me of Edwards running for the Democratic nomination knowing that the Rielle Hunter time bomb would eventually go off. What if he had won? Where would that have left the party? Same with Caroline. Assuming she knew about the nanny, was she planning to keep mum until Paterson announced her as the pick so that he was stuck with her?

Folks, we are entering a season of scandal.  There have been five significant Dem ethical melt-downs since Barack Obama was elected, and we haven’t even fully passed the food we ate on inauguration night yet.

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Michelle Malkin dug up something both she and I missed a couple weeks back:  Clintonista finance-man Robert Reich’s Congressional testimony and subsequent blog post on the ideal use of recovery plan largesse, a.k.a., your money and mine.

First, from the testimony, in which Reich shares his nightmare about what might go wrong with the current federal bailout programs:

REICH: …”I am concerned, as I’m sure many of you are, that these jobs not simply go to high-skilled people who are already professionals or to white male construction workers…I have nothing against white male construction workers, I’m just saying there are other people who have needs as well.”

Affirmative action and reverse discrimination are alive and well! Who really cares whether those white construction workers might be uniquely skilled for the job, or even the lowest bidders – there’s social justice to be done!

Reich did not explain why we still need social justice in a country that just elected a black president. He did, however, expound on his blog about his ideas for Obama’s new economic plan (which C-SM readers already know will be called The Big Deal):

It’s a two-fer: lots of new jobs, and investments in the nation’s future productivity.

But if there aren’t enough skilled professionals to do the jobs involving new technologies, the stimulus will just increase the wages of the professionals who already have the right skills rather than generate many new jobs in these fields. And if construction jobs go mainly to white males who already dominate the construction trades, many people who need jobs the most — women, minorities, and the poor and long-term unemployed — will be shut out.

What to do? There’s no easy solution to either dilemma…

People can be trained relatively quickly for these sorts of jobs, as well as many infrastructure j0bs generated by the stimulus — installing new pipes for water and sewage systems, repairing and upgrading equipment, basic construction — but contractors have to be nudged both to provide the training and to do the hiring.

I’d suggest that all contracts entered into with stimulus funds require contractors to provide at least 20 percent of jobs to the long-term unemployed and to people with incomes at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. And at least 2 percent of project funds should be allocated to such training. In addition, advantage should be taken of buildings trades apprenticeships — wich must be fully available to women and minorities.

The big hand of big brother (bruttha?) will reach down into every business, mandating who works, how much to pay, and demanding that work crews get dumbed down and lazied down in the name of equality … again, in a country that just elected a black president, has a black AG and a black woman EPA chief, women at sec of state and sec of homeland security, an Asian energy secretary and would have had an Hispanic Sec. of Commerce if he hadn’t been doing the pay for play crookedness.

hat-tip: Jim

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Having cleared the Senate Finance Committee on a — vote, Timothy Geithner is just one quick step away from becoming the first Secretary of the Treasury and de facto major domo for the IRS to be an acknowledged tax cheat.

Even though he’s not even sworn in yet, he’s already made his first move as the main money man in the U.S. – and it was a disaster. From CNBC:

Here was the interaction between Geithner and Sen. Chuck Grassley:

Sen. Grassley: Did you use software to prepare your 2001 and 2002 tax returns?

Geithner: I did

Sen. Grassley: You Didn’t?

Geithner: No, I did

Sen.Grassley: Which brand did you use?

Geithner: I’ll answer that question, but I will say these are my responsibilities, not the tax software’s responsibilities, but I used TurboTax to prepare my returns.

The chamber crowd laughed out loud to Geithner’s response, but it was no laughing matter for Intuit.

Intuit shares fell 3.3 percent. Welcome to power, Geithner. Now shut up.

Hot Air expounds:

I use [Intuit's TurboTax] and pay self-employment tax and have never had a problem, but then I have an incentive to be extra careful: Unlike Geithner, I might face consequences if I make a mistake. Exit question: Should the GOP take Newt’s advice and vote against him? They can’t block him, obviously, so the gesture would be purely symbolic. Do they gain more by standing up for the taxpayer than they lose from appearing obstructionist in the midst of an economic crisis with Obama surfing a wave of Hopenchange goodwill?

Yes, of course they should. Because they’d better get used to standing up to Obama with great regularity and they have to start somewhere, and standing for not cheating on taxes is as good a place to start as any.

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M

ilk, nominated for best picture. Sean Penn, nominated for best actor in Milk. Josh Broslin for best supporting actor in Milk. Milk – also nominated for best original screenplay, best costume design, best director, best editing, best original score.

Hollywood, land of the freaks and home of the gays, bestowed on Milk eight Oscar nominations. The movie about the murder of Harvey Milk, the first politician out of the closet, might have gotten more were it not for the fact that it wasn’t really in the running for best actress or best supporting actress.  I’m sure it’s well written and well acted, but I don’t know because I haven’t seen it yet.  I might still, like I finally saw Fahrenheit 9/11.

But that’s neither here nor there.  I’m not arguing that Milk didn’t deserve recognition; I’m arguing about what wasn’t nominated, not what was.  I’m writing about something else, which the LA Times handily dismissed with this:

Clint Eastwood fans who had been hoping the veteran would get an Oscar nomination for lead actor for “Gran Torino,” which is shaping up to be the 78-year-old icon’s biggest box office hit, were undoubtedly disappointed.

That’s like saying fans of Sean Penn would have been disappointed if Milk had gotten skunked the way Gran Torino did.  Milk’s nominations had little to do with how well Penn acted and everything to do with the passage of Prop 8 and a groundswell of pro-gay rights, anti-straight sentiment in Hollywood.  Hollywood is still seething over the passage of 8 and the disestablishment of gay marriage in California, and is still hateful of anyone who supported it, no matter how mildly, as evidenced by the recent kerfuffle over Rick Warren’s invocation at the Obama nomination – and more significantly, the numerous hate crimes and ubiquitous hate speech that’s come from the No on 8 bunch ever since Nov. 5.

Consequently, like I knew they would, the members of the Academy fell all over themselves (saying “You look ravishing!” as they did) to vote for Milk and its story of a murdered gay San Francisco supervisor and his crazed, straight killer. Every vote for Milk carried with it an artistic appreciation of film, I’m sure, but undeniably, it also carried a political anger that needed venting.

The failure of Gran Torino to win a single nomination is no less about Eastwood than Milk’s best film best screenplay, best score, best supporting actor votes, etc., nominations are about Penn.  I’m hardly a Clint Eastwood fan, although I appreciate his many good works.  I would have been pleased with a nomination of Eastwood for best actor, but that’s not the point; the point is that his film wasn’t nominated for best screenplay.

It wasn’t nominated for that award – or any other awards – because the gay activists and gay sympathizers that are the Academy did not want to honor a character who did, in fact, stand up for the rights of others, but in a ramrod straight, gun-toting, ethnic smear-muttering, flag-waving way. Eastwood’s Walt Kowalski didn’t just stand up for rights – he sacrificially stood up for other people’s rights, people who needed someone to stand up for them.  It wasn’t about him at all, unlike Milk, who stood up as much for his own freedoms as for the freedoms of other gays. Every step Milk took forward benefited Milk. Every step Eastwood took forward alienated him from his entire past; everything but his honor, and honor was, at the core, what Kowalski was made of.

The Gran Torino screenplay deals with issues that are central in today’s America:  immigration, assimilation, multiculturalism, political correctness, bigotry, gang violence, the transformation of established neighborhoods, the aging of the Baby Boomer’s parents.  The Milk screenplay, as near as I can tell from what I’ve read, is about gay rights and bigotry. Eight to two in favor of Gran Torino.

The skunking of Gran Torino was Hollywood’s rejection of one of its own because he dared to ignore political correctness and tell a realistic story of America as it is: diverse, suspicious, dangerous, but ultimately righteous, God-fearing, honorable and self-sacrificing for the betterment of others.  Anyone who has lost a loved one in Iraq or Afghanistan will stir with pride as Kowalski puts his life on the line to confront evil head-on, ready to give his all for a principle worth fighting for.

I doubt very much if they’d be so stirred by Milk.  That’s a compelling argument for most of us, but members of the Academy won’t be influenced much by it.

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H

ow obliging of Ted Kennedy to collapse in full view of the entire nation yesterday, giving his niece Caroline a fine and fitting excuse for ducking, covering, and getting the heck out of her bid to be the new Hillary.

The official excuse for her not yet official withdrawal from consideration, as reported straight man-like by the NYT, stinks:

On Wednesday she called Gov. David A. Paterson, who will choose a successor to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Her concerns about Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s deteriorating health (he was hospitalized after suffering a seizure during President Obama’s inaugural lunch on Tuesday ) prompted her decision to withdraw, [the NYT's anonymous source] said.

We didn’t see Caroline drop everything and rush to Teddy’s side when he was first diagnosed, did we?

We all saw  him at the Dem Convention and it was obvious to all he was not a well man, but Caroline was not on his arm. There clearly was no miraculous healing going on between then and now, yet she was comfortable going for a position that would make her all but unable to care for him.

And speaking of caring for him, Kennedy’s got a wife, Victoria Kennedy, and three kids from his first marriage, Kara Anne, in her late 40s, Edward Jr., in his mid-40s, and Patrick, in his early 40s. Plus, he very publicly took on surrogate dad duties for his brother Robert’s 13 children. That’s up to 17 potential caregivers ahead of Caroline in line. (I think a couple of the Robert progeny may have passed away, though.)

Kennedy has hit a storm of criticism, all of it very legit, especially the dynasty/entitlement meme. Polls quoted in the NYT article show the somewhat less dynastic Andrew Cuomo as the people’s choice. And, probably, since she whimsically tossed her designer hat into the ring, she’s had the opportunity to work with political operatives and play the dirty political games.

My bet: Once it became apparent that the job wouldn’t be as much fun as she thought it would be, she decided to remain in her fairytale life. I was thinking for a while she had visions of being the first woman president, a fantasy worth fantasizing given her epical Kennedy roots, so we lost tonight what might have been quite a story to follow a presidential cycle or two from now.

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The turn-out for yesterday’s inauguration ceremony was tremendous, record breaking, and really pretty darn exciting.

Politics aside, it was impossible not to revel in the celebration of the change that has swept over America since Rev. Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech on the mall 45 years earlier.  A lot of things have gone downhill in America, but on race relations, the country is a showcase for the good things that can happen when a good people put their good hearts and minds in the right place.

All well and good, but remember the gushing, near-orgasmic early estimates of turn-out for the Obama inauguration? Four million … no fiive million people! Enough Port-o-potty rentals to single-handedly lift us out of the recession! Well …

WaPo put the crowd at 1 million.

I’m not sniping.  (C-SM snipe!?) I’m just saying that as we are now in YOO 1 (Year of Obama 1), it is officially important to separate the wild expectations from the day-to-day reality so we can judge the man as a president and nothing more.

(By the way, the Wash Times did a very nice inauguration supplement which you can download here.)

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I

gnore the Stars of David and this is a very funny piece of Photoshop art – politicians laughing their butts off that the American public would go for the idea that change would ever really happen in Washington.

But the Stars of David on Lieberman’s and Obama’s ties and Obama’s lapel pin make it just more pro-Palestinian, pro-terror, anti-democracy in the Middle East, anti-Israel leftist spittle.  David Dees does some quite fantastic political satire illustrations, but he is oh, so wrong on Israel.

Too bad, because it is one heck of a fine piece of Photoshopping.

hat-tip: Incredible Daughter #1

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“I

’d call [Maureen] Dowd an ass,” writes the Watcher of Weasels in the intro for the first Watcher’s Council competition of the Obama era, “but I am short on compliments today.”

Dowd, as you can well imagine, was reveling in the last thrills of Bush Derangement Syndrome – but I say, “Mr. President, now that you’re back in Texas, relax, have a sweet tea, and enjoy some fine reading … including this, from The Watcher:”

As I wrote yesterday in my Do You Feel Different? piece, there is plenty of Bush Derangement Syndrome to go around. The world is full of media types and political pundits that feel the nee to cajole and take pot shots at the former administration at least one last time. Which leads me to believe there is going to be a big void left in their already empty lives until the reality of President Barack Obama catches up with the myth that they have created.

Yes, you say, but what about this week’s entries? Glad you asked:

Council Submissions

• Joshuapundit - Israel Capitulates
• Rhymes With Right - And Where Does He Get His Life Back?
• The Glittering Eye - Fallacy of Composition
• Bookworm Room - Seeds of Destruction
• Mere Rhetoric - I’m Going To Miss Westminster Abbey – Britain Hands Itself Over To Radical Islam, Blames Israel
• The Colossus of Rhodey - The entertainment of moral ambiguity
• Bookworm Room - The Inspirational President
• Soccer Dad - Teaching Thomas
• Cheat-Seeking Missiles - U.N. Complicity Behind Shelling of its Compound
• Right Truth - Obama, he’s only human
• The Provocateur - The Insider Story of ACORN

Non-Council Submissions

• Submitted By: Joshuapundit – Robert Avrech/Big Hollywood - The Real Battle Of Algiers, Part 2
• Submitted By: Soccer Dad – Daled Amos/strong> - Did Monty Python Negotiate Israel’s Ceasefire?
• Submitted By: Rhymes With Right – NewsBusters - AP Describes Black Minister’s Mockery of Whites as Not Right As ‘Note of Racial Caution’
• Submitted By: The Glittering Eye – Pajamas Media - We Have Overcome Today
• Submitted By: Bookworm Room – Badger Blogger - A call to action for Wisconsin conservatives
• Submitted By: Mere Rhetoric – Middle East Forum - Syria Can’t Be Flipped
• Submitted By: The Colossus of Rhodey – BookForum.com - Onward and Downward
• Submitted By: Bookworm Room – Jeff Jacoby’s Pundicity - Questions for Obama’s science guy
• Submitted By: Cheat-Seeking Missiles – Armed and Dangerous - Gramscian Damage
• Submitted By: Right Truth – African Crisis - Zimbabwe: Mugabe accuses the Whites of trying to Foment unrest – Campaign to Intimidate & arrest the last few Whites
• Submitted By: The Provocateur – Washington Post - Voting Rights Anachronism

As usual, Council members will submit their votes Thursday evening and the Watcher will post the results Friday morning.

Thanks, Watcher.  You beware of aliens now, you hear?

Art: Riding the Fence by Jerry McElroy

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The writers at Saturday Night Live must be slack-jaw in wonder at the gift they received today … the inaugural poem scratched quickly on a napkin composed by Elizabeth Alexander.  But the joy may be short-lived, as they realize that even if they put their very best skit-writers to work on it, they won’t be able to top Alexendar – no one could blow an opportunity, miss a mark, or lampoon an event more than she.

Here, for posterity, is her whatever work in its entirety:

Praise song for the day.

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others’ eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, “Take out your pencils. Begin.”

We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, “I need to see what’s on the other side; I know there’s something better down the road.”

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by “Love thy neighbor as thy self.”

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp — praise song for walking forward in that light.

Proving that the media will buy anything, the Baltimore Sun provided readers today with this:

But her words were equally inspiring, invoking images worthy of a Rockwell painting.

That would be as “equally inspiring” as Obama’s grade-B speech. Even so, an abundance of praise, methinks.

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