In a message that appeared Wednesday on Islamist web sites, al Qaeda’s second-in-command warns President-elect Barack Obama about the “heavy legacy of failure and crimes that await him.” He also urged Muslims to keep up the attacks on the U.S. Perhaps in an attempt to anger and insult America’s next president, the terrorist leader, Al Zawahiri, also called Obama, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, the “direct opposite of honorable black Americans” like Malcolm X. Zawahiri even went as far as to call them “house slaves” or the racial slur of “house Negroes.” The buzz is surrounding Obama’s current picks for several key members of his cabinet. Sources tell CNN that Sen. Tom Daschle is being considered for the Secretary of Health and Human Services job. Daschle, the former Senate Majority Leader, is expected to take the position if offered. And for the Attorney General job, Eric Holder, who was Clinton’s Deputy Attorney General, is the top choice for Obama. Holder, who co-chaired Obama’s vice president selection process, is also expected to accept the position. History could be made again because “if confirmed, Holder would be the first African-American to lead the Justice Department.” And Bill Clinton is trying to help his wife get the Secretary of State position in Obama’s cabinet. Clinton has offered to allow ethical reviews of his philanthropic and business work to ensure there isn’t a conflict of interest. Unlike Holder and Daschle, Clinton is reportedly unsure whether she will take the position. She will have to choose between remaining in the Senate or accepting the new position. “The question is where she can be of best service,” said a Clinton adviser. More dismal news on the economic front. The U.S. cost of living fell by the most since the records began in 1947. The fewest number of homes (known as housing starts) were constructed last month. And the consumer price index (CPI) has slide backwards, which means deflation. Yes, this recession is the worst once for at least a quarter of a century. And Xbox 360 gamers may be rejoicing worldwide. On Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled a revamped Xbox gaming console. The new internet-connected setup includes an updated dashboard, the ability to purchase movies and games from Xbox.com and streaming HD Netflix movies with membership. The “New Xbox Experience” (NXE) is available to Xbox Live members.
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Right Wing Response: Pirates, Terrorists, and Terrible Appointments
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
Should we take these Somali Jack Sparrows seriously? John Hawkins at Right Wing News finds the recent prevalence of pirates in the news almost laughable and argues the U.S. shouldn’t get involved (but not without first taking a few jabs at President-elect Barack Obama’s policy of talking to the enemy without preconditions). Mark Steyn, blogging for National Review, has a more serious take on the rise of piracy.
Eric Holder is the worst possible pick for Attorney General right now, according to the editors at National Review. He’d be softer on terrorists, and he helped push through several questionable pardons and commutations of sentence on behalf of former president Bill Clinton. Moreover, the editors write, he massages statistics to portray police as racial profilers, supports affirmative action, wants to stop the detention of enemy combatants at Gitmo, and “favors income redistribution to address the supposed root causes of crime.”
The Right is finding new hope in…Hillary Clinton? Noemie Emery, writing for The Weekly Standard, calls Clinton “The Great Right Hope” and traces how campaign 2008 transformed the former first lady into a social conservative champion of middle-America. Meanwhile, Right Wing News blogger John Hawkins simply can’t see how Obama supporters could be happy with a White House reprise for the Clinton clan.
Obama and Clinton have smeared Reaganomics; it’s time to get real about taxes. So argues Peter Ferrara in The American Spectator. Data from the IRS and the Congressional Budget Office actually show that the bottom 40 percent of income earners pay negative 3.8 percent of taxes, in fact drawing money out of income tax revenues, he writes. The real middle class, only have to pay 4.7 percent of all federal income taxes…and the whole system a result of Reagan’s Republican supply-side economics.
McCain seeks a fifth term in the U.S. Senate, and that’s not good for Republicans. McCain’s term is up in 2010. News of his intent was leaked and hasn’t been publicly confirmed, but already bloggers are reacting. Right Wing News’ John Hawkins calls McCain “uniquely destructive to conservatism and the Republican Party” and goes on the record saying he’d rather have a Democrat. So much for the Maverick.