Capt. Anonymous Strikes

From today's NYT:

NSA's intercepts exceed limits set by Congress

Several intelligence officials, as well as lawyers briefed about the matter, said the N.S.A. had been engaged in “overcollection” of domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional.The legal and operational problems surrounding the N.S.A.’s surveillance activities have come under scrutiny from the Obama administration, Congressional intelligence committees and a secret national security court, said the intelligence officials, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because N.S.A. activities are classified (emphasis mine).

Good thing classified information can be trusted in the hands of sources who obviously can't be trusted. Fortunately, the leaker's identity is safe. I was worried*.



*sarcasm alert.

Criminalization of Conservatism

A member of the RSP staff has a son who has served this country admirably as a United States Marine during his two combat tours in Iraq. I have had the pleasure of meeting this young man and was very impressed with him. As a matter of fact, I was so impressed that I made a point to introduce him to my 6 and 7 year old children because I believe that he is a patriot and a role model for all young children. The Marine graduated from one of America’s top high schools and instead of going off to some high priced private institution of higher education (like I did), he chose to selflessly serve his country in the military at a time when he know that he would be sent off to war.

However, this afternoon, I find out that, courtesy of the Department of Homeland Security, my analysis of this brave man was totally incorrect. Earlier today, DHS issued a report entitled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment”. In this report, the author warns law enforcement officials about a rise in “rightwing extremist activity”, saying that the economic recession, the election of the first black President and the return of disgruntled war veterans COULD (emphasis added) swell the ranks of white-power militias. The report continues by saying that “rightwing extremist groups will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat.”

So, now if my friend’s son is unhappy about something, he’s a rightwing extremist who endangers US national security. Or, it suggests, he does not possess the intelligence to overcome exploitation by those who are crazy. To say that this is an insult to all of our men and women in uniform is an understatement!

But this report doesn’t stop there. Nope, it also insults those who oppose abortion, those who want to stop illegal immigration and anyone who believes that we are a nation of fifty sovereign states. Evidently, based on his support of resolution in favor of the states’ rights under the 10th Amendment, Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) is a rightwing operative who needs to be under the surveillance of the federal government, much like Osama Bin Laden.

Never mind that the report acknowledges that the federal government has no specific information that domestic rightwing groups are planning acts of violence. Also, it claims that that fringe organizations are gaining recruits without offering any evidence of this increase. DHS simply is taking the word of the notorously leftwing Southern Poverty Law Center. In other words, the Obama Administration is trying to criminalize and demonize those who oppose its policies on abortion, immigration and the expansive power of the Federal Government. Seems to me that that would include many members of the House of Representatives, the United States Senate, and several former occupants of the Oval Office in the past 30 years.

The left in this country, including President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, often speak fondly of the progressive movement of the early 20th century. What they fail to tell you about this time in American history is that President Woodrow Wilson used fascist tactics against his political opponents. President Wilson often wrote how he had no use for the Constitution. Under the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918, Wilson's administration shut down newspapers and magazines that opposed his policies. President Wilson sanctioned the American Protective League. The APL operatives, which at their height numbered 250,000 members, carried government-issued badges and beat dissidents and protesters and conducted warrantless searches and interrogations. Wilson even held political prisoners.

This report is just another in a long line of actions taken by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to politicize this department. First, she ended immigration raids that seek to detain and deport illegal aliens. She has refused to refer to terrorists acts and instead calls them "man made disasters". Now, she allows the issuance of a report that tries to criminalize the political philosophy of nearly 50% of the population of this country. If the unfortunate occurs and there is another "man made disaster" caused by Islamist terrorists, every American will realize that this report is nothing more than a political stunt.

Hopefully, the issuance of this report today is not the first step toward the Obama Administration’s return to the good old days of American progressivism as taught by Professor Woodrow Wilson. If President Obama is so sure of himself and his policies, he does not need to silence his critics on the right. If he does, it will signal a return to a dark time in our past. Clearly, this is not what my friend’s son fought for as a member of the United States military.

The New Piracy

Congratulations to the Navy Seals and their skilled snipers for doing what should always be done to dangerous terrorists.

We are incredibly fortunate that the strength and courage of the American military is still a force for good in the world, even at a time when the Obama Administration is hell bent on shrinking America’s global stature.

I can’t imagine the backache Barack Hussein will have after the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Trinidad. By my count, there will be 33 heads of state before whom to bow later this week.

While I applaud Obama’s apparent zero-tolerance policy regarding brazen Somali Pirates, here at home we’re no less under siege. We have entered the age of The New Piracy We Can’t Believe In.

The traditional definition of piracy is an act committed by a non-state actor but the Somalis have made that obsolete, as no one believes they are true pirates, acting alone or without training. Here in the U.S., there are multitudes of state actors littering the looting and pillaging landscape:

Tax pirates on Capitol Hill and inside the White House.

Salary/bonus pirates on Congressional subcommittees.

Free-market pirates, most of them holed up in Larry Summers’ office at the White House.

Education pirates, a.k.a., lawmakers who’d rather stay cozy with teachers’ unions than open doors to educational opportunities in abysmal urban school systems.

First Amendment pirates, led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reed, who still think folks don’t get the twisted irony of something called “The Fairness Doctrine” that targets Conservative talk radio.

Family pirates, judges mostly, popping up in state after state, zealously targeting the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman with bench rulings that legalize gay unions. The pirates are still nursing rum hangovers in Iowa and Vermont.

Peace pirates, empowered by the President, who apparently believes that a little love sent Iran’s way will pay big diplomatic dividends down the road. Where’s the harm in a little unabashed uranium enrichment by Iranian “technicians”?

(Iran’s a small nation, like North Korea, remember? The junior Senator from Illinois said so last year when seeking the Piracy, ah, Presidency. They’re just a bunch of happy-go-lucky Johnny Depps, charming the ladies and dabbling in petty crimes).

Finally, we learned just today about the Freedom Pirates lurking inside the Department of Homeland Security. Seems they’ve issued an “assessment” that warns “rightwing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on their fears about several emergent issues.”

The report compares present trends to a climate that spawned the various anti-government military militias of the 1990s (translation: during the last reign by a liberal Democrat President). There is no mention of what if any activities these extremists were suspected of in the past decade, as if there were no hidden factions that loathed George Bush. They existed, but they would mainly fall under the heading, “leftwing extremists”, and would thus have been of little concern to the DHS and beyond the scope, as they say, of this report.

The DHS further advises that, while there are righties who are “hate-oriented” (the militia types), the feds are also keeping an eye on “those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely.” Imagine that? A failure to embrace big, smothering government control of … um … well … everything.

Let us not misunderstand the underlying message of this “assessment” (which is being discussed across the land tonight) and the intent of its publication. American citizens who are not pro-Obama are members of society who pose a “threat”. The DHS knows this because of its analysis of “rightwing extremist chatter on the Internet”. (Such as the post you are reading here).

You are not a Conservative if you oppose Obama’s radical vision, his Socialist agenda, or his apologies for America when he stands on foreign soil. You are not a Patriot if you believe in the Constitution as our enduring foundation, or if you would fight to preserve the First and Second Amendments.

What are you? You are a Rightwing Extremist Threat. It says so in the DHS “assessment”. It says “the historic election of an African American president and the prospect of policy changes” are stirring the right. It says our chatter focuses on “the perceived loss of U.S. jobs” (yes, it actually says “perceived”). It says the winds of extremism are blowing because you are “antagonistic toward the new presidential administration and its perceived stance on a range of (social) issues.”

Oh, and this. You are on the DHS radar because your “rightwing extremist views bemoan the decline of U.S. stature.” Shall we assume that a leftwing extremist bemoans the expansion of U.S. stature?

I think we know the answer. We hear it every time the White House teleprompter rolls.

Monday is Patriots’ Day. But at the DHS, every day since Jan. 20, 2009, has been Rightwing Extremist Alert Day. Get used to it.

I Love the Smell of Perverse Effects of Good Intentions in the Morning. . . .

Yes, Rightsideproject is linking to a story from The Nation. Wonders will never cease.

The short version: legislation passed in 2005 to encourage the use of alternative fuels has perversely resulted in expanding the use of traditional fuels while providing a tax subsidy to the paper industry. Paper companies realized they could get a $.50/gallon subsidy by adding diesel fuel to a byproduct of paper production that doesn't require it. Read the linked article for the gory details.

Call paper companies greedy bastards all you want, but businesses and individuals seek to minimize costs, including taxes, all day every day by any available legal means. Certainly one player by itself can choose to ignore the subsidy but as a group the industry will inevitably ferret out these goodies. If International Paper doesn't its competitor will, putting IP at a comparative disadvantage (if you plan to argue W. and the Republicans intentionally orchestrated this tax gaming, please call a therapist and avoid sharp instruments). And just like any subsidy where the benefit is concentrated and the cost is diffused, the beneficiary (particularly one with rooms full of lawyers, consultants and accountants) will scour the tax code like mad to find it and fight like hell to keep it.

I love the smell of perverse effects of good intentions in the morning. Smells like. . . .victory.

Arrrrrr, Matey. What to Do Next?

I applaud President Obama’s decision to order US Navy Seals to rescue Capt. Richard Phillips from his Somali pirate captures. After spending the first several days of Capt. Phillips’ ordeal not commenting on the situation and having his administration call it a distraction, the President should strength in allowing the military to do its job - rescue an American who was in grave and imminent danger.

The next question to ask is what will President Obama do for an encore. Hopefully, he will continue to take aggressive action against the threat that the pirates cause to international commerce. There was a time, of course, when Americans captured and killed pirates. Unfortunately, this may no longer be the case. When asked last week whether those involved in this incident would be brought to justice, Attorney General Eric Holder declined to make such a commitment. He said, “I’m not sure exactly what would happen next.” Coming from our nation’s top law enforcement office, this doesn’t exactly instill confidence.

Additionally, the military has already prepared battle plans for ending the problem of piracy off the cost of Somalia once and for all. Ambassador Robert Oakley, who was the US special envoy to Somalia in the 1990s, said that US special operations forces have drawn up detailed plans to attack the pirates, but were awaiting orders from the President to implement this plan. Oakley says that if given the order, our special operations forces “could take care of the pirates in 72 hours.” By giving the order, Mr. Obama could take eliminate the piracy scourge and help restore the perception of American strength and resolve that has been eroded in the past two and a half months.

Most view the problem of international piracy on the high seas off the coast of Somalia as a series of isolated incidents in an area of the world that is far away. Unfortunately, this is not the case. As Mark Steyn points out, a lot of the world’s lawless areas were not lawless that long ago.

Somalia was a colony of Britain and Italy. Iran, under the reign of the Shah, was a Middle Eastern country that educated its population, including women, and was not a state sponsor of terrorism. It was, in fact, an ally of the West. Now, however, Iranian surrogates run Gaza and Lebanon, in addition to funding, training and arming Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists around the world. Prior to the Korean War, what is now North Korea was not a murderous dictatorship that kidnapped Japanese citizens and exported its nuclear technology to other state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and Syria.

Most Western nations lack the ability to defend themselves. And, unfortunately, most that do have this ability lack the will to do so. The once mighty Royal Navy, which has done more over the years than anyone to rid the world of piracy on the high seas, has been advised that under the European Human rights Act, any pirate taken into custody will be entitled to claim refugee status in Her Majesty’s realm. Talk about the enemy within.

This comes just two years after the Royal Navy’s embarrassment by Iran in the Persian Gulf. At the time that of the kidnapping of the 15 British Sailors and Royal Marines, the British Navy was operating under rules of engagement called “de-escalation”. Evidently, this meant no confrontation at all. Instead, the 15 British subjects were paraded out on TV and used as pawns in an international game of chicken.

With bold, swift and decisive action, President Obama has the ability to show the world that the United States has both the ability and the will to defend herself. To put this in maritime terms, such action would be a shot across the bow of those who stand to profit from lawlessness across the globe. Let’s hope that the President makes this choice and that he strikes, literally, while the iron is hot.