Obama administration: Get ready for nuke attack

“We have to get past the mental block that says it’s too terrible to think about,” W. Craig Fugate, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said in an interview, according to the New York Times. “We have to be ready to deal with it.”

What's he talking about? Why, a major U.S. city being hit by a nuke, of course.

Along with gropedowns and naked photo scanners at U.S. airports, the Obama administration is boosting our security by not-so-subtly getting the word out about surviving a nuclear blast.

Apparently, the government's big plan to save us all is to have us hunker down in our cars and basements, because according to new studies, that will work if happen to find ourselves near a nuke blast.

If this all sounds a little familiar, you're probably flashing back to the "duck and cover" drills of the 1950s. That's rather appropriate now that Obama's START treaty would resurrect the Cold War by returning us to a policy of Mutually Assured Destruction with Russia.

Ah, yes. Some days, you can just inhale all that hope and change in the air.

How about we just tax Democrats?

When President Obama agreed to keep the Bush tax rates, my wife had to slap me, hard.

I was about this far from saying something nice about the man from Kenya finally doing something right.

The impulse soon passed.

While the tax rates don't represent a cut anywhere except inside the Beltway, they need to be extended just to keep taxes from going up and crashing the economy a second time. For this reason, Obama's agreement seemed like a momentary but welcome flash of reason from an increasingly irrational administration.

But like any bill involving Democrats, the main reason for the agreement became buried under tons of pork before the Senate Democrats could bring themselves to vote for it earlier today.

And not even the threat of losing unemployment extensions can keep the House Democrats from trying to drain the blood of the dead by raising the so-called estate tax, proving once again it's not about the little guy, it's about Nancy Pelosi's continued use of Air Force planes as her personal taxis.

Lost in the shuffle are the long-term unemployed, who still can't find jobs and who are about to lose their benefits in a lovely Christmas present wrapped in a federal bow if the House doesn't act.

Unlike many conservatives, I have no problem with extending such benefits. If we don't, those same folks will just end up on welfare and we'll still be paying for them.

But the way the game is played, whenever someone starts talking about cuts to the federal budget, politicians present the public with the choice of cutting Social Security or welfare, unemployment or Medicare. But those are false choices.

There are literally trillions of dollars being wasted by our government that could be eliminated without touching our social nets, or even our military preparedness. Start with cutting congressional salaries and benefits, then proceed to shut the many worthless and largely unconstitutional agencies we pay for, such as the EPA or Department of Education (which just sucks up money from local schools across the land).

And while we're at it, a little justice should be served up against the Barney Franks, Chuck Schumers and other Democrats whose committees set up banks, along with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to fail, plunging us into this economic mess.

Now that would be a Christmas present I'd like to open.

Soldier's Gay Agenda Exposes U.S. Secrets

Just in time for the Pentagon to begin leaking preliminary positive findings of its study on the planned "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal comes the revelation of yet more classified documents given to Wikileaks by a young, gay private. That the Obama administration has allowed Wikileaks to continue over the past several months is an oddity and an embarrassment, but the obvious hurry to pass the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" during the lame duck session is irresponsible and potentially dangerous. The arrest of Pfc. Bradley Manning last summer pointed out what damage could be done by someone in a position of handling sensitive information who places himself before his country. This is the real question that should be asked about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." By repealing the policy, are we encouraging schismatic political activism in the ranks of the military, which must run on strict discipline? After all, the military exists for national defense, not to serve as a dating service. And it's not just about gays that the question should be asked. Army Maj. Nidal Hassan killed 13 of his coworkers at Fort Hood while shouting "Allahu akbar," the cry of Muslim terrorists the world round. There were plenty of signs Hassan was going to flip, but they were ignored by the Army because of political correctness, which probably also played a role in why Bradley was put in a position to get away with stealing thousands of documents. If Congress is going to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," it needs to make sure the military has the legal backing to ask the questions it must to protect its personnel and its mission. Anyone who puts his personal agenda ahead of his country should not be allowed to wear a military uniform.

Administration Cracks Down on Internet, but Can't Stop Wikileaks

Ever since before he was voted into office, Barack Obama had repeatedly expressed his desire to censor Fox News, right-wing talk shows and conservative bloggers. Since the election, probably encouraged by the Prez's blase attitude toward the First Amendment, numerous members of Congress and the administration have expressed their own desires to eliminate any communication outlet that doesn't toe the line. Most recently, Sen. Rockefeller expressed his wish to have the FCC shut down Fox and MSNBC. In this atmosphere of contempt for free speech, the Homeland Security Department's ICE division began last week seizing websites engaged in selling knockoffs or otherwise infringing on copyright. Protecting copyright sounds good, right? Except that the websites were all seized without warning, without any chance to correct any problems, and apparently without any avenue for appeal. Guilty until proven innocent? Just to compound the dastardliness of the move, the legislation that would actually authorize ICE to do this is still in congressional committee, awaiting passage. Perhaps, emboldened by the Slaughter Rule invented during the health care debate, the administration does not feel constrained by procedure or the written law? Then there's the FCC, which is considering putting "Net Neutrality" on its December agenda for adoption. Net Neutrality means the FCC would give itself the authority to regulate the Internet, specifically whether Internet providers can give faster download speeds to people willing to pay more. At the very least, "evening out" the speeds and bandwidths offered to all customers would result in information blockages for those who need faster speeds, not to mention lost jobs and probably closed businesses. Plus, the biggest problem is it would give the FCC a foothold on the Internet, from which it would be free to monitor and eventually control non-business communications and probably the content of websites. Now consider the problem of Wikileaks, the website that has released reams of classified information intended to damage the United States and expose many of its intelligence operatives. This website has caused actual damage, yet the administration dawdles. The founder of Wikileaks is in Australia, so we are led to believe that is a major diplomatic problem. But the Australians are allies, and Navy SEALs are practiced at getting into other countries and removing troublemakers. How hard really would it be to shut down Wikileaks in a matter of minutes? And yet, it remains open. (As an aside, the lack of furor over the exposure of real undercover intelligence agents casts the whole Valerie Plame affair in a different light. Plame was the "undercover" agent whose name was listed in Who's-Who yet caused a years-long stir over her alleged "exposure" by columnist Robert Novak.) It raises a question, which we ask at the risk of having it dismissed as yet another sign of the paranoia the Left prefers to paint us conservatives with: Who is protecting Wikileaks? And is the administration possibly allowing the site to stay online for its own purposes?

'Mystery Contrail' or Chinese Warning?

Raise your hand if you bought into the Obama administration's dismissal of a peculiar column of smoke over the ocean west of Los Angeles earlier this month as an optical illusion caused by an airplane contrail.

OK, all you saps in the media put your hands down.

The rest of America probably figured something was up, even if they couldn't figure what.

Now comes confirmation. The G2 Bulletin, a newsletter that follows U.S. intelligence information, has reported that two government military experts on missiles have concluded that the smoke trail was most likely from a Chinese missile launched from a submarine lurking off the coast of Los Angeles.

It's not a big surprise. Images of the "contrail" show it plainly was anything but.

Contrails are vapor trails caused by airplanes plowing through the high atmosphere. As such, they appear as thin, wispy lines of cloud. Usually, there are two of them, as they tend to form at airplanes' wing tips.

Images recorded by KCBS, however, clearly show large, billowing puffs of smoke typical of a missile's exhaust.

What is more surprising is the administration's non-response. At the time, Obama was on his tour of China and other Asian countries.

Retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Jim Cash believes the order to downplay the warning shot came from the president himself.

"There is absolutely no doubt that what was captured on video off the coast of California was a missile launch, was clearly observed by NORAD, assessed by a four-star general in minutes, and passed to the president immediately," he said in WorldNet Daily.

Most alarming is that our defenses apparently were incapable of detecting the launch.

Journalist Wayne Madsen, a former naval officer, said in WND that Pentagon officials are working "overtime with the media and on the Internet to cover up the latest debacle. However, even some reporters who cover the Pentagon full-time are beginning to question the Pentagon's version of events ... over the skies west of Los Angeles."

Feds' Plead, 'Let Us Invade Your Privacy'

John Pistole, the administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, is making the rounds today to stave off an anticipated Thanksgiving travel disaster. Not a terrorist attack, just the loss of his job. Former FBI Deputy Director Pistole, the fall guy for Janet Napolitano's "Grope 'N' Go" policy at U.S. airports is begging the American people not to join in an Internet movement to refuse the body scans during holiday travel. The scans, which only take a few seconds, are much faster (not to mention easier to store in a computer for later perusal by bored TSA agents) than the full-body patdowns, which take at least a few minutes to be really satisfying. Airport officials are keeping a close eye on the TSA's performance this week because it only takes a couple of people to really screw things up during the busiest travel time of the year. To anyone brave enough to risk the airports this weekend, I say go for it. Refuse to be microwaved and photographed naked by the scanners, then protest the patdown. Don't do anything illegal, just exercise your First Amendment right to protest--the louder the better. Remember just a few years ago, when the liberals were perpetually screaming about President Bush allegedly invading privacy and taking away people's rights because of things like wire tapping terrorist cell phones? Well, America, here we have a real wanna-be tyrant in President Obama and his henchmen, Napolitano and Pistole, and they are actually violating our rights. This is REAL. Our ancestors rebelled against a tyrant king who raised taxes, took our property and denied us representation. We are now facing a tyrant king, elected by our own vote, who is every minute chipping away at individuals' right to be unmolested by government without just cause. The government, of course, sells this gross attack on our privacy and right to travel as being for our "safety." Some people, sadly, fall for this line of doublespeak. More than 200 years ago, Benjamin Franklin said, "Those willing to sacrifice their basic rights in the name of security deserve neither rights nor security." Why would Americans stand by while women and children are publicly raped by a rogue agency deliberately trying to force people into the scanner, where they are photographed naked? Anyone who does so is nothing more than a sheep, which is what Obama really wants--a nation full of docile, weak sheep who can be led to accept anything, no matter how outrageous or repugnant. So, are you a sheep or an American?

Liberal Terrorism: Bristol Palin Target of White Powder Scare

The story of Bristol Palin's success on "Dancing With the Stars" has everything American audiences used to cheer. A young single mother working as a secretary gets tapped by a major television show to enter a dance competition against professional entertainers. Despite the odds, no dance experience and the hurtful jibes of her detractors and some of her competitors, she remains dignified and classy, and makes it to the finals. But to the Left, it's a different story. It's the tale of the hated, talentless daughter of a despised foe backed by an evil conspiracy to take the coveted trophy from someone more deserving. At least, that's what the Left and all its hordes of commentators are saying. But there is yet another story about the Left and Bristol Palin, and it's full of truths the Left can't admit because it would reveal the utter moral and emotional bankruptcy of America's "progressives." That's the story in which assorted liberal celebretards like Margaret Cho and Brandi feel they can phone it in and still have a chance at winning because they're entitled, but then drip bile when America votes them out. It's the story in which "Dancing With the Stars" producers thought they'd poke some fun at the Palin family (such as by cutting to Sarah Palin while the audience booed the scores for one dancing couple), only to be stunned that a bright, humble, hard-working, conservative young woman could win the hearts of Americans in this age of cynicism. It's also the story where Left-wing bloggers make up lies about Bristol and her family, feed them to the idiot children of the media such as TMZ and hope they get picked up by major news outlets. In this story, young Bristol is the embodiment of everything the Left hates: a young, hard-working woman who decided to give her baby a chance at life rather than go to the abortion mill; who speaks against the Left's obsession with sexually objectifying teens and offers a hard-learned and passionate message about abstinence; who learns from her mistakes; who respects and loves her family; who believes in real American values like patriotism and faith. In this story, America's love affair with Bristol Palin drives the Left so insane that one man felt compelled to shoot his television before threatening his wife and standing off against SWAT. (Good thing those anti-gun laws worked, huh?) This is the story where the Left feels so driven to stop Bristol Palin that at least one home-grown terrorist tried to scare her out of the competition by sending her an envelope of white powder at the studio where the show is taped. (Thankfully, it was only talcum powder.) And this is the tale of how the Left-wing media, probably embarrassed at its con-freres' actions, cover up that the scare package delivered to CBS was addressed to Bristol Palin. (MSNBC only mentioned Bristol was the target at the very end of its story, and the Associated Press didn't say she was the target at all, even though the fact was announced by the studio.) Yes, this story is shaping up to have everything I've come to love about the Left: petulance, whininess, narcissism, and of course, bullying and the threat of violence against anyone not on their Facebook friend list.