Suitably Flip

Dissent Is the Highest Form of Patriotism Abetting Terrorists

It wasn't true during the Bush years, when slagging off the administration's policies was all the rage, that Thomas Jefferson (or anyone of consequence) ever uttered or penned the widely misattributed sentiment about deigning to dissent.  But we were nonetheless admonished to embrace the spirit of the phantom quote.  Dissenting with those courageous and patriotic dissenters, on the other hand, was tantamount to censorship and violation of civil rights.

What a difference a year makes.

WH: Some Critics 'Serving the Goals of al Qaeda'*

In an oped in USA Today, John Brennan -- Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism -- responds to critics of the Obama administration's counterterrorism policies by saying "Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda."

For more, see Brennan's defiant op-ed, humbly entitled "We Need No Lectures."

We're All Top 5 Percenters Now

Read my teleprompter...

While the administration is focusing its proposal on eliminating tax breaks for individuals who earn $250,000 a year or more, middle-class families will face a slew of these backdoor increases.

The targeted tax provisions were enacted under the Bush administration's Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. Among other things, the law lowered individual tax rates, slashed taxes on capital gains and dividends, and steadily scaled back the estate tax to zero in 2010.

If the provisions are allowed to expire on December 31, the top-tier personal income tax rate will rise to 39.6 percent from 35 percent. But lower-income families will pay more as well: the 25 percent tax bracket will revert back to 28 percent; the 28 percent bracket will increase to 31 percent; and the 33 percent bracket will increase to 36 percent. The special 10 percent bracket is eliminated.

Investors will pay more on their earnings next year as well, with the tax on dividends jumping to 39.6 percent from 15 percent and the capital-gains tax increasing to 20 percent from 15 percent.

(HT: Ace)

Was Sicko Not Released In Canada?

Doesn't Williams know our market-driven healthcare system is the worst in the world?

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -- Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams will undergo heart surgery later this week in the United States.

Deputy premier Kathy Dunderdale confirmed the treatment at a news conference Tuesday, but would not reveal the location of the operation or how it would be paid for.

"He has gone to a renowned expert in the procedure that he needs to have done," said Ms. Dunderdale, who will become acting premier while Mr. Williams is away for three to 12 weeks.

"In consultation with his own doctors, he's decided to go that route."

Mr. Williams' decision to leave Canada for the surgery has raised eyebrows over his apparent shunning of Canada's health-care system.

"It was never an option offered to him to have this procedure done in this province," said Ms. Dunderdale, refusing to answer whether the procedure could be done elsewhere in Canada.

The Nuclear Bluff

During his State of the Union, Barack Obama appeared to have become the first Democrat in years to wake up to the idea that safe, clean, cheap, abundant nuclear energy just might be worth considering as a more viable alternative to breeze, hemp, and rainbows as we grapple with the ostensible extinction-level threat of a world run on petroleum-based energy.

Sadly, the President's newly released budget gives the lie to those pretty, teleprompted words.

There's a certain sick poetry to the fact that the U.S. now joins Iran on the list of nations that pretend to pursue nuclear power generation.

Barry's Frugality Afterthought

From the Corner:

Obamanomics in Six Words

The president is proposing to freeze one-seventh of the budget while letting the other six-sevenths grow. The proposal sounds like what an unsuccessful dieter would order at McDonald’s:

Big Mac, large fries, Diet Coke.

Obama Sees Inevitable (If Stimulus-Delayed) Recovery Coming, Re-Wields Magic Keynesian Wand To Claim a Hand In It

In related news, I have the power to turn traffic lights red by wiggling my ears when they turn yellow.

Hitler On Brown's Victory

Gold.

(HT: JWF)

WH Slides Embarrassing News Under Door On Busy News Day

Hey, Scott Brown won.  Everyone look at Massachusetts for a second...

*cough*

Brown a 3-1 Favorite

From Nate Silver:

The FiveThirtyEight Senate Forecasting Model, which correctly predicted the outcome of all 35 Senate races in 2008, now regards Republican Scott Brown as a 74 percent favorite to win the Senate seat in Massachusetts on the basis of new polling from ARG, Research 2000 and InsiderAdvantage which show worsening numbers for Brown's opponent, Martha Coakley.
...
Coakley's odds are substantially worse than they appeared to be 24 hours ago, when there were fewer credible polls to evaluate and there appeared to be some chance that her numbers were bottoming out and perhaps reversing. However, the ARG and Research 2000 polls both show clear and recent trends against her. Indeed the model, which was optimized for regular rather than special elections, may be too slow to incorporate new information and may understate the magnitude of the trend toward Brown.

The action at Intrade seems to agree.

(HT: NRO)

Membership Has Its Privileges

Barry hasn't forgotten who brung him to this dance.

"We've Got a Problem... a Serious Problem."

Sorry, Charlie.

Health care negotiators are facing “a serious problem” in resolving their differences and are not likely to have a final bill until February, according to key House Democrats involved in ongoing talks.

“We’ve got a problem on both sides of the Capitol. A serious problem,” Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday evening.

The difficulty in hashing out an agreement between the two chambers is largely due to there being so many different factions with a stake in the matter, Rangel said. “Normally you’re just dealing with the Senate and they talk about 60 votes and you listen to them and cave in, but this is entirely different,” he said. “I’m telling you that never has 218 been so important to me in the House.”

Another senior House Democrat familiar with negotiations on the bill said no progress has been made this week on any of the key sticking points in the House and Senate bills, despite steady meetings with union leaders and the White House.

“There’s no agreement. No deal on anything. Nothing,” the lawmaker said.

Bloomberg To "Cajole" Salt Out Of Our Mouths

Table salt, welcome to the roster of controlled substances.

Mayor Bloomberg, the mayor who declared war on tobacco, sugary drinks and trans fats, has identified a new public enemy -- now he wants to protect New Yorkers from salt.

Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley launches a campaign today to cut New Yorkers' sodium intake by one-fifth over five years.

"If we achieve our goal, we would talk about saving tens of thousands of lives," Farley said, predicting that deaths from strokes and heart attacks will dramatically fall.

The City Health Department is spearheading the National Salt Reduction Initiative, which will cajole food manufacturers to voluntarily cut sodium content 20 to 25 percent by 2014.

With trans fats licked and juice and soda already on the mayoral blacklist, it was only a matter of time before our nutritionist-in-chief got around to decreeing acceptable salt intake.

By Bloomberg's 4th term in office, his ever-blossoming nanny superpowers will surely enrich and protect us in countless new and exciting ways.  Mandatory mittens on chilly days, citations for stepping on the yellow safety line on subway platforms, BMI checkpoints at all inbound river crossings...

(HT: JWF)

Red Invades Blue As Brown Rakes In Green

Dare to dream that Scott Brown could really be Mr. 41?

Redemption: Shamed Obama Backpeddles, Perfunctorily and Partially Fulfilling the Octopromise

Per the Drudge Siren, which reads (with no linked story):

WHITE HOUSE HAS ALLOWED ONLY 'ONE HOUR' OF HEALTHCARE COVERAGE

Previously: Obama Breaks the Octopromise

Update: There's the link.

Obama Breaks the Octopromise

"Transparency."

He keeps using that word.  I don't think it means what he thinks it means.

Time To Retire the Concept?

Open secrets.  Jumbo shrimp.  Reformed terrorists.

Initial reports said that the attack, which killed seven CIA officers, was carried out by a member of the Afghan National Army.

According to Western intelligence officials, the perpetrator was Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, 36, an al-Qaida sympathizer from Zarqa, which is also the hometown of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant Islamist believed responsible for several devastating attacks in Iraq.
...
The Jordanians believed that al-Balawi had been successfully reformed and brought over to the American and Jordanian side. They set him up as an agent and sent him to Afghanistan and Pakistan to infiltrate al-Qaida.

The poor beleaguered souls at Gitmo, on the other hand, are assuredly more genuinely remorseful, having had some time to cool off and think about what they've done.

(HT: Hot Air)

Happy New Decade

Enjoy the malaise.

Homeland Security Chief: Who Needs Defense When You Have Luck?

Turns out "the system worked."

The system, apparently, is not designed to keep explosives and the watch-listed terrorists toting them off of commercial airliners.  The system is a coincidence generator, to be credited for seating sufficiently bold and quick-witted civilian passengers in the vicinity of trouble makers, able to intervene within seconds of any fuselage walls igniting in flame.

The Hero Of Northwest Flight 253

Jasper Schuringa takes the War on Terror Man-Made Disasters quite literally into his own hands.

The passenger who tackled a suspected terrorist on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 said Saturday that he’s “happy” to be alive.

Jasper Schuringa, a video director and producer from Amsterdam, told CNN how he helped the cabin crew to subdue Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old who reportedly ignited a small explosive device on board the plane Friday as it prepared to land in Detroit.

Schuringa said he heard a sound that reminded him of a firecracker and someone yelling, “Fire! Fire!”

But  he was only certain something was wrong when he saw smoke. He saw Abdulmutallab's pants open and he was holding a burning object between his legs.

"I pulled the object from him and tried to extinguish the fire with my hands and threw it away," Schuringa said.

He said he then screamed for water and pulled Abdulmutallab out of his seat and dragged him to the front of the plane.

Schuringa told CNN that Abdulmutallab seemed out of it and "was staring into nothing."

To ensure the suspect did not have other explosives on his body, Schuringa stripped off Abdulmutallab's clothes. He then handcuffed the alleged attacker with the help of a crew member.

Schuringa said the other passengers applauded as he returned to his seat and that he sustained minor injuries during the take down.

"My hands are pretty burned. I am fine," he said. "I am shaken up. I am happy to be here."

(HT: Brutally Honest)

Senators Go On Record Over "Cash For Cloture"

Jim DeMint's referendum on the practice of bribing Senators to vote for bills they otherwise oppose yielded some interesting results - most notably, the fact that only 53 of 60 Democrats were willing to rule it fair play.

(Funny.  If us regular folks tried to sell our votes, we'd wind up in prison.)

The ban on trading pork for votes thus failed 53-46, but a bunch of 2010 (and 2012 and 2014) campaign ads just wrote themselves.