–”The White House stopped providing guests to ‘Fox News Sunday’ after Wallace fact-checked controversial assertions made by Tammy Duckworth, assistant secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, in August. Dunn said fact-checking an administration official was ’something I’ve never seen a Sunday show do.’”–FoxNews.com

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There’s certainly a lot of hand-wringing these days on both the left and right over the war in Afghanistan. Among Americans, support for the fight is slipping, almost eight years after U.S. forces entered the country.On the surface, it’s understandable: There’s little good news in spite of the blood, sweat and tears of our brave troops and others, including U.S. diplomats and civilians, who are often on the front lines, too.

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     When did Americans become completely unable to distinguish between public and private speech?  Was it when feminists adopted the mantra that the personal is the political?  Was it when a student at the University of Pennsylvania was prosecuted on campus for violating racial harrassment policy by shouting at some noisy black students “shut up you water buffalo?”  Was it when we made words themselves so dangerous that a certain word would henceforth be known as the “n” word - as if writing it out held the same power as a lynching?  As an American Jew who detests anti-semites, I have no problem with an individual feeling the same way about me.  If Nazis were allowed to march through a Jewish neighborhood in Skokie as a tribute to how much we value freedom of speech, why shouldn’t Ronan Tynan have the right to make a nasty jibe about Jews in his lobby?  In Tynan’s case, the remark was a private one, addressed to one Jewish doctor in the presence of a real estate broker who was showing her apartments in Tynan’s building.  Tynan subsequently called to apologize to the doctor to her apparent satisfaction.  But this was not enough to teach him a lesson about there being no such thing as the right to voice the wrong sentiment.  The tenor was barred from singing God Bless America at Yankee Stadium for the rest of the season and until further notice.

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At Resurgent Republic, I analyze the CA governor’s race. Short form: Dems have a big edge, but the GOP still has at least a chance of winning. Although the state is deep blue, Republicans have won six of the past eight gubernatorial elections (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 2003 recall, and 2006). Gray Davis won in 1998 and 2002, but the first election took place in a highly favorable national climate for Democrats (the backlash against the Clinton impeachment). In the second, Davis came close to losing, even though he had a huge financial advantage and the Republican candidate had made serious mistakes. The likely Democratic nominee this time is Jerry Brown, who served as governor decades ago. The quirky young man has become a cranky old man, hardly an avatar of hope and change.

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I just saw Michael Moore’s new movie (I know, I know. But I value keeping an open-mind). Moore’s creativity and humor have decreased roughly in proportion to his ever-increasing dogmatism. A good comedian, after all, needs the capacity to step back and lighten up; genuine stridency and urgency to force a perspective is at odds with comedy.

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Video: “Obama Stole My Nobel!” (Warning: just a couple of bad words; it’s Bill Clinton, after all.)

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Ilan Berman’s new book,“Winning the Long War, Retaking the Offensive Against Radical Islam,” (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2009) catalogues American successes and failures to defeat radical Islam post-9/11. In its quiet, detailed, meticulously researched way, it is a powerful call to action in the war against radical Islam—especially the war of ideas.

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And they seem to be giving the raspberry to President Obama as well, since it was only a short while ago that the president canceled plans to build a missile defense shield in Europe — a move some saw “as a concession to Russia in hopes of persuading it to put more pressure on Iran to open its nuclear program for inspection,” according to the story.

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Barack Obama campaigned as George Washington, calming and unifying. Elected, he governs like George McGovern. Tens of millions of Americans feel deceived. They should, since they were.

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Hillary Clinton trip to Russia has been a disaster. She came to office calling for the use of the new academic concept which replaced “soft power,” “smart power:”

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After President Obama unilaterally gave away the Eastern European missile defense shield to appease Russia, the Russians are now telling him to go fly a kite.

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However, looking over the widely circulated message by the Israeli agent upon whom the movie “Munich” was reportedly based, it seems to contain enough logical information to be worth noting.

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We want to congratulate our Dear Leader for winning the Nobel Peace Prize. We hear he is also being considered for the American League MVP, the Heisman Trophy, and an Oscar. We wish Dear Leader the best of luck in all his great accomplishments.

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“So, after having expelled the Jews from your dominions, your Highness, in the same month of January, ordered me to proceed with a sufficient armament, to the said regions of India. “

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The Jimmy Carter Presidential Museum reopened recently after a major renovation that shifted emphasis to his post-presidency, since those were the years when he accomplished the most. After he dies there will be another renovation, to highlight how much more good he’ll be accomplishing than when he was alive.

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Candidate Barack Obama correctly argued that strategically Afghanistan cannot be severed from Pakistan. At first President Barack Obama acted as if he meant it. He put General Stanley McCrystal in charge, asked to devise a strategy for victory and in the meantime increased the number of troops available to the new man. His envoy went to Pakistan to convince the Bhutto government to move against the Taliban on the Pakistani side of the border. Improved Pakistani cooperation led to the elimination of a number of Taliban commander. Ramadan was a peaceful month in Pakistan. The American/Pakistani cooperation seemed to be bearing fruit but not in Afghanistan.

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     According to the Sunday Times, raping children, which is euphemistically labeled “sex with the young” is more frowned upon today than in the seventies.  “Manners, mores and law enforcement have become far less forgiving of sex crimes involving minors in the 31 years since Mr. Polanski was charged with both rape and sodomy involving drugs.” (Michael Cieply NYT 10/11).  This is news to me since I can still remember the explosive reaction to Lolita in print and in film four  years later.  The library bans and the struggle to get the movie past censors were indicators of just how taboo this subject was.  Though it may be true that the law and sentencing guidelines are stiffer now, it’s not because our attitudes towards those crimes have gotten harsher.  It’s simply because the revelation of widespread pedophilia in the church, in fatherless families, in crack houses and in the growth industry of child pornography has forced the courts to up the ante of punishment in the hope of deterrence.  We were never tolerant of adult sex with minors - it was always called statutory rape - but until the culture of talk shows, recovered memories and memoirs took hold, we were a more reticent society, one in which victims were too ashamed to reveal what had happened to them and therefore less likely to testify in court or in public.

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Channel surfing I came upon this exchange between Greta Van Sustern and Rice history professor Douglas Brinkley:

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As happens after every major national calamity, conspiracy theorists have concocted alternate theories of causality for the Great Meltdown of 2008.

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The debate soon will espouse the dividing lines between domestic and foreign policy issues and, in a few weeks, will die out under the awe of new unfolding events. What will remain are future policy debates that will refer to one of the world’s most prestigious awards as a fact in international relations.

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     The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (aka The House Ethics Committee) is comprised of ten members, split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.  For more than a year, they have been dovening over whether Charlie Rangel committed any ethical breach when he filed inaccurate tax forms, occupied four rent-controlled apartments in New York City, neglected to mention the income derived from renting his villa in the Dominican Republic (obtained with an interest-free mortgage) and improperly used his clout as Chairman of the Ways & Means Committee to solicit funds for the Charles Rangel Center at City College.  If you asked a bright seventh grader to evaluate whether there was cause for removal of such a person from heading a committee that deals with taxation, you’d get a quick laugh and a nervous glance to see if this was a trick question.  But after reviewing 12,000 pages of documents, interviewing 34 witnesses and issuing 150 subpoenas, our ten congresspersons have finally concluded -  that they need to broaden their inquiry.  It would probably be more cost efficient to attach a Rangel questionnaire to the census form and ask everyone in the United States for any information they have on the suspect.  Even the New York Times admits that it’s time for Rangel to be removed from his chairmanship but because Nancy Pelosi won’t do her job, we taxpayers will spend another undisclosed pile of money before the members of the Ethics Committee can state the obvious.

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The Nobel Committee took a turn into a crackhouse when they announced this morning that they were bestowing the coveted Peace Prize on President Obama. For what, you ask? Good question. For “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

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Weird thing happened this morning.  I had signed up to receive e-mail alerts from the Nobel Committee.  I got the big announcement, of course. But it seems I got an early draft.  See below.

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President Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

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Never fight unless you have to. Never fight alone. Never fight for long.

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This afternoon, the president took time out from his busy schedule of dithering on Afghanistan, failing to display presidential leadership (on anything), wrecking the economy, presiding over falling troop morale, dissing our allies, giving away the store to our enemies, hitting the links, and smoking…

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In the book, The Walrus and the Carpenter, the walrus eating the oysters says, “I weep for you. I deeply sympathize.” It is hard not to sympathize with New York State’s 55th Governor.

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As you can see, Iranians refuse to shut up. They continue their protest day and night and it is not limited to Tehran. As Stalinist show trials in which protesters, such as Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani, confessed their sins, failed to do the trick. and encouraged by such signals as the Obama administration’s decision to cut off funding for Iranian Human-Rights Documentation, Ahmadinejad and company are making yet another effort to scare Iranians into compliance - a death sentence.

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I was reading a friend’s October issue of Newsmax Magazine, and came across yet another apparently paid-for PR spread for Bill Clinton. Some excerpts from “Bill Clinton Gets His Groove Back”:

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I was recently asked by a Facebook friend to help him evaluate a YouTube video Putting Faith in Its Place   This movie is essentially a rebuttal to the Judeo/Christian view of natural law, common sense, traditional morality and the knowability of God. The movie uses the analogy of a closed cube as an example of how we cannot know what is inside the unknowable.  Here are a couple of excerpts from my comments to my friend that you might also find helpful.

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     New York City has just spent 15 million dollars for a run-off election in which fewer than 8% of registered democrats showed up to vote.  As a result,the winning candidates for comptroller and public advocate achieved their respective slots with the votes of less than 2% of the total population - not a shining  example of democracy in action.  Let’s hope that the Iraqis don’t follow in these abysmal footsteps.

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Goldstone must be pleased. He strengthened Iran’s terrorist proxy, Hamas and weakened PA. Not wishing to hand Hamas a victory and hoping to use the delay as a valuable card in his negotiations with Israel, Abbas sought to delay consideration of the Goldstone report. Hamas accused it of betrayal and the Palestinian street took it’s side. Abbas gave in. Now the ball is in the American court. Will it exercise its veto power at the Security Council? At what price?

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Vanessa Redgrave: Kosovo makes me happy (from the New Kosova Report):

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After the Barack Obama Olympic junket collapsed in a heap of failure, I wondered how long it would take for his defenders to attempt a reputation-saving head fake, scattering blame in other directions.

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