Ivory Insider Kagan

Obama's "moderate" Supreme Court nominee will clear the Senate as it confirmed her as Solicitor General last year 61-31 and frankly, given her utter lack of judicial experience, I have no idea how any member could question her enough to warrant a legitimate "no" vote. This will likely disappoint her, as in a 1995 law review article, Ms. Kagan congratulated the Senate for its boisterousness in Robert Bork's confirmation hearing by saying it was "the essential rightness—the legitimacy and the desirability—of exploring a Supreme Court nominee's set of constitutional views and commitments." Too bad we have nothing to explore here. Honestly, I am sure she is a capable law school dean, but to appoint someone with zero judicial experience to the highest court in the country who has barely seen the inside of a courtroom (as she only worked for a firm for five years and as Solicitor General, has only argued a handful of cases like the one here:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/05/10/kagan_botches_oral_argument_in_supreme_court_appearance_at_citizens_united_lawsuit.html)

is hugely irresponsible and proves that those on the inside of Obama's elite circle are rewarded handsomely whether they deserve it or not.

The Amateurishness of Al-Qaeda

It's only been a few days and already we hear more about the gulf oil spill than of Faisal Shahzad’s attempt to inflict mass casualties in Times Square. And if newscasters mention it, they do so mockingly, echoing silly politicians who deemed his attempt at mass murder as "amateurish," simply because it did not succeed. I, like many others, think this is a grave mistake. We mock instead of taking time to examine why not only poor, uneducated, cave-dwelling Muslim youth, but also wealthy, well-educated, "Westernized" Muslim men who could be productive members of any society, choose to foresake their lives and commit, or attempt to commit, the murder of Americans.

To attempt to prevent further Times Square scenarios, we have to understand why their Islamic identity trumps all esle and do everything we can to change the mentality. And as Steyn suggests, the idea that their anger is due in any part to American Islamophobia is laughable since we have done nothing to curtail Muslim immigration and as he points out, "America is so un-Islamophobic that at Ground Zero they’re building a 13-story mosque — on the site of an old Burlington Coat Factory damaged by airplane debris that Tuesday morning. So, in the ruins of a building reduced to rubble in the name of Islam, a temple to Islam will arise." Pretty ironic and un-Islamophobic.

Speaking more specifically, instead of demonizing Shahzad, the media built in a reason for his anger - he was behind on his mortgage payments, just like millions of Americans. As Steyn says, "one way of falling behind with your house payments is to take half a year off to go to Pakistan and train in a terrorist camp. Perhaps Congress could pass some sort of jihadist housing credit?" I wish they would stop. It is nothing we have "done," to Shahzad, but hopefully it's a mentality that we can prevent from taking over the minds of the next Muslim generation.

I can never convey Steyn's articles with the honesty, grit and biting humor they deserve, so click on the article title link and read this one. It's one of my favorites.

Waxman Gets Waxed

Remember when Henry Waxman ordered AT&T, Verizon, Deere and Caterpillar to submit any and all interal company documentation to Congress regarding health care because someone caught wind of a memo about the bill's effect on retirement drug benefits?  Well, the companies submitted their documentation and instead of hailing them into Washington for hearings, Waxman ended up quietly dismissing the matter as the documentation showed that many large companies were weighing the option of dumping their employees' health care coverage in exchange for paying penalty fees to the government. Specifically,

AT&T produced a slide entitled "Medical Cost Versus No Coverage Penalty." A document prepared for Verizon by consulting firm Hewitt Resources stated, "Even though the proposed assessments [on companies that do not provide health care] are material, they are modest when compared to the average cost of health care," and that to avoid costs and regulations, "employers may consider exiting the health care market and send employees to the Exchanges."

A Deere labor relations officer sent in an email stating that the company should consider alternatives to providing health benefits, which "would amount to denying coverage and just paying the penalty." Caterpillar felt it would have to give "serious consideration" to the penalty option also. Their documentation also predicted certain increases as a direct result of the bill which made the penalty option even more attractive. Deere said, "We do expect double digit health care increases as most Americans will now have insurance and providers try to absorb the 15% uninsured into a practice." Both Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500) and Verizon stated that allowing dependents to remain on their parents' policies until age 26 would add expenses of $20 million a year.

Thirty-two African-Americans Running in '08 Republican Primaries

Throughout history, African-Americans have overwhelmingly voted for Democrats. However, with the backdrop of the Obama win, and wider support from the Republican party base, 32 African-Americans are running in the 2009 Republican primaries. This is significant as the House has not had a black Republican since 2003, when J. C. Watts of Oklahoma retired.

It is still unclear how well the candidates will fare in their individual races, but it is nonetheless encouraging for the party. Perhaps if the candidates are likeable and stick to a small government platform, they'll stand a chance in some districts despite the fact that in 1994 and 2000, there were 24 black G.O.P. nominees who did not prove very sucessful overall.

BP Coffers

It seems Obama and the Dems can no longer claim that Republicans are the primary recipients of  "big oil money." Just as we discovered that the Democrats and their leader received almost 70% of Wall Street contributions in the last presidential election compared to the Republicans, we now learn that the Dems take a chunk of change from big oil, too. In 2000, British Petroleum gave almost 39% more to Republicans, but by 2008, the company was giving equally to the parties.

Interestingly, Obama received a total of $77,051 from the company and is "the top recipient of BP Political Action Committee and individual money over the past 20 years, according to financial disclosure records." Of course, Obama denied taking "big oil money" as his representative stated that he "didn’t accept a dime from corporate PACs or federal lobbyists during his presidential campaign," "rolled back tax breaks and giveaways for the oil and gas industry, spearheaded a G20 agreement to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, and made the largest investment in American history in clean energy incentives.”

He can huff and puff as much as he wants, but financial disclosure records don't lie. After this oil spill and the administration's response, the green peacers and environmentalists of the world aren't buying his kabuki dance.

Independent Crist Takes the Lead

A Rasmussen poll shows that Crist could win the Florida Senate race if he can retain the bounce after switching from the Republican ticket. He now commands 38% support to Republican Marco Rubio’s 34% and Democrat Kendrick Meek’s 17%. (11% are undecided.) This erases a 7 point lead for Rubio and has the Dems, who dislike their candidate, thinking about offering Crist a deal if he promises to caucus with the Democrats.

If Crist pulls this off, it will signal to the GOP that it cannot promote true Tea Party candidates, as despite their real platform, they are viewed as too conservative by many. However, all of this remains to be seen as Crist's lead may be temporary, especially if he makes a deal with the Dems.

What Inflation?

Inflation is up 2% at March's end according to the Commerce Department's personal consumption expenditures index published on Monday, which is the maximum the central bank considers sustainable. Of course, if the Commerce Department hadn't deleted certain indicators from the equation, that number would prove higher.  Even so, energy and food costs rose 18.7%, up almost four percentage points compared with February.