Uncle Ahma’s New Sports-Car

What would we do without crazy dictators?  Probably most of the same stuff we do now.  But, while we’re on the subject, it appears that one of our favorites, Iran’s very own Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has decided to build himself a new garage–probably to house his collection of vintage, anti-zionist sports-cars.  The New York Times is reporting that Iran will begin enriching its stockpiles of uranium as early as Tuesday.  Officials from Iran claim that the enriched uranium will be used to power a medical reactor.  Political leaders across the western front, ever skeptical of Iran’s benevolent intentions, are calling for “serious measures”.

The concern is not so much that nuclear power is a bad thing, nor that any nation should be arbitrarily denied access to modern energy, but rather–and this can be downright difficult for many to grasp–that lunatic xenophobes, such as our dear Uncle Ahma, might use weapons of mass destruction to … well … destroy in mass.  You see, like many uncles, Ahma’s mouth sometimes runs away with him.  Why, a couple Thanksgivings back, he went on his “world without zionism” rant and made the comment that “Israel must be wiped off the map” (or “vanish from the pages of time” depending on which translation you prefer).  Grandma wasn’t too pleased.  Then there’s the tyrannical subjection of his own people that has us all a little weirded out.  It can be hard to make friends with the free world when you’re opposed to … ya’know … freedom.  And of course we can’t forget his financing global thugs like Hamas and Hezbollah, just to name a few.

So, it makes sense why some might be just a little bit worried about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.  But, of course, its probably not a big deal after all.  Uncle Ahma’s probably just talking big so that he can impress his buddies at the Dictator’s Country Club.  I mean, sure they might butcher their own people and fund international terrorists, but we all know that these guys never actually DO anything worth worrying about … right?  I mean, its Uncle Ahma.  What’s not to love?

Get Rid of Napolitano

As is well-known by now, last week there was a suicide bomber attack on a plane from Amsterdam to Detroit. The attack, fortunately, failed, as the explosive device failed to go off. The alleged terrorist is suspected to be connected to at least one terrorist organization. He claimed, initially at least, to be connected to Al Qaeda.

This, obviously, is both good news and bad. First, it’s good in that nobody died, a terrorist was captured and now we know where to concentrate more efforts on the international scale. The bad news is that some people are just plain stupid, including Think Progress’ Matthew Yglesias, who wrote the other day that, “Ultimately, it does no favors to anyone to blow this sort of thing out of proportion. The United States could not, of course, be ?devastated? by anything resembling this scheme. We ought to be clear on that fact. We want to send the message around the world that this sort of vile attempt to slaughter innocent people is not, at the end of the day, anything resembling a serious challenge to American power. It?s attempted murder, it?s wrong, we should try to stop it, but it?s really not much more than that.”

Even worse, however, is the reaction from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. “The system worked,” according to Napolitano. Given that it took a failed attempt plus civilian passengers to subdue the attempted terrorist, I’d say the system failed. Plus, the guy was on a watch list, which is particularly poignant given his father reported him as a potential threat two years ago. (See the video of Napolitano’s inane comments here.)

To quote Jonah Goldberg from The Corner yesterday, “If the White House wants to assure people that it takes the war on terror seriously (a term Robert Gibbs used this morning by the way), they could start by firing this patenly unqualified hack.” Personally, I think “man-caused disasters” are a worse threat than conservatives, Secretary Napolitano. You had better figure that out soon, or your job will be gone. Unfortunately, this will probably not happen until after Americans have died as a result of your incompetence. Yes, as they said on the Real Clear Politics blog, it’s your job to reassure the American public as part of an overall security standpoint. However- and I’ll finish with a quote from the RCP blog- “…she should be smart enough to find a way of doing that without treating the American people like a bunch of morons and dupes.”

This was originally posted at THE LOBBYIST.

Update: According to The Washington Monthly blog, President Obama has been paying close attention to the Al Qaeda threat from Yemen. Kudos to President Obama for doing so.

Update II: The Heritage Foundation’s Morning Bell points out the continued failure by the Obama administration to take the proper steps to protect this country from terrorists, and offers three steps going forward.

Update III: A friend pointed out on Facebook that I misspelled Secretary Napolitano’s name- it is corrected.

Update IIII (last one, I hope): Two links from where I posted this at Race42012 showing Secretary Napolitano backtracking on her statements about the system working well. Too little, too late, I think.

TODAY Video: Napolitano: Prevention system ?failed miserably?
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/34608370#34608370

Security System Failed, Napolitano Acknowledges
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/us/29terror.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

Thank Goodness Nobody Likes Chris Matthews…

I was glancing at Hardball last night after returning from work, when Chris Matthews had the following exchange with his guest:

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let’s talk about, let?s get to something really tough.

JONATHAN MARTIN, POLITICO: Sure.

MATTHEWS: Kathleen Sebelius, very likeable, very impressive. I think of the woman who becomes the governor in Mr. Holland?s Opus, remember the one who comes back?

LOIS ROMANO, WASHINGTON POST: Right.

MATTHEWS: Who becomes the governor, the woman governor. She looks like her, in fact. Is she gonna get through the, the terrorism of the, of the anti-abortion people?

ROMANO: Yeah I think she?s gonna do that and I think they?ve got a clear shot.

MATTHEWS: I mean verbal terrorism.

ROMANO: Yeah they?re, she?ll get through that.

I DO take solace every time I look at Mr. Matthew’s pathetic ratings… placing him behind CNN’s NEWSDESK!

CNN	CNN NEWSROOM	809	227	68	194	365
MSNB	HARDBALL WITH C. MATTHEWS	740	212	71	167	352
HLN	NANCY GRACE (RPT)	683	309	73	238	408

And the media wonders why Conservatives have been slightly angered lately…

rj