1. Democrats May Live To Regret Instituting Witch-Hunting “Truth Commissions” To Follow Elections

Hey, Remember How Much Fun The Independent Counsel Was For The Clinton Administration?

2. Obama Budget Saves $1.6 Trillion by Not Extending Surge to 2019

Obama’s ‘Honest Budget’ is a Sham of a Farce of a Charade

3. Obama tries to kill charities

No matter what the motivation to give, this will inevitably impact charities by reducing that motivation.

4. Remarkable news from Iraq

This is a result–unimaginable in the days of Aziz’ master–of which they should all be proud.

5. With friends like these…

It is unfortunate to see how Republicans, and in particular his supposed friend Mitch McConnell, are treating Jim Bunning as he heads into an election cycle.

1. Democrats May Live To Regret Instituting Witch-Hunting “Truth Commissions” To Follow Elections

Hey, Remember How Much Fun The Independent Counsel Was For The Clinton Administration?

According to the Legal Times, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has been discussing the idea of a Commission for a few weeks and stated in a speech to Georgetown University that he would like to see a commission investigate the Bush Administration detainee and interrogation policies to the war in Iraq and even the firing of U.S. Attorneys. The panel would be bipartisan, yet who would appoint the Republicans to the panel? Also, the Commission would have subpoena power and the power to grant immunity from prosecution. This would allow for Bush Administration officials to testify, under oath, to discuss other Bush Administration officials for the purposes of prosecuting them. Does this sound like a Witch Hunt to you — It does to me.

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The partisan nature of the enterprise is obvious: proponents are calling for a commission whose mandate is expressly limited to investigating Republicans, and control over which will presumably remain with the Democratic majority in Congress. (Not that a commission witch-hunting national security professionals in Democratic Administrations would be a good thing either, unless your goal is to drive good people from the field and make the ones who remain too timid to take action when the nation’s security is at risk).

Thomas Jefferson, the first Democratic president and the first president to take office after a change in partisan control, did not bring up John Adams on charges for having passed the Alien and Sedition Acts; Jefferson simply removed the offending policy and cleared those who had been wrongly convicted. Our history, and our tradition of peaceful transfers of power, might have been very different if Jefferson had handed Adams over to Napoleon on the grounds that Adams had abused civil liberties in the Quasi War with France.

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2. Obama Budget Saves $1.6 Trillion by Not Extending Surge to 2019

Obama’s ‘Honest Budget’ is a Sham of a Farce of a Charade

Obama and the Democrats are patting themselves proudly on the back over how the president proposed an ‘honest’ budget, which eschewed the gimmicks of the past. The farce on display here is enough to shred that promise. Nearly all of Obama’s ‘budget cuts’ consist of ending the Iraq war on more or less the timetable it would already have ended, and in raising taxes. Add to that a $634 billion downpayment on national health care, and vastly exaggerated economic growth estimates, and we see that Obama has delivered a budget that is $9 trillion in the red over 10 years, and still masks the true cost with smoke and mirrors.

The disingenuousness of this budget is an embarrassment. It ought to be completely rejected, and Orszag in particular should be concerned about the ruin it will do to his former reputation for candor.

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William W. Beach says the Obama deficits in this year’s proposed budget will cost an additional $1.6 trillion on the national debt over 10 years. If we go back to the second analogy, that represents 50,701 years.

That’s just what Obama added to this year’s deficit for the so-called stimulus and other programs.

According to North Carolina Republican Senator, Richard Burr, the interest on the Obama deficit for spending in coming years is a whopping $4 trillion over the next 10 years - more than $1 billion in interest payments every day. Again using the second analogy, that represents 126,752 years.

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3. Obama tries to kill charities

No matter what the motivation to give, this will inevitably impact charities by reducing that motivation.

Hidden in Obama’s budget proposal is another plan to raise taxes - but this time it’s being done on the backs of those who are trying to help the needy and unfortunate: charities. His budget proposal calls for reducing the deductibility of charitable contributions for high-income taxpayers (> $250K/yr). The deduction would be limited to 28% instead of the 35% in place today.

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4. Remarkable news from Iraq

This is a result–unimaginable in the days of Aziz’ master–of which they should all be proud.

You remember those brutal Iraqis who hung Saddam Hussein by the neck until he was dead and then flashed his postmortem picture from cell phone to cell phone? Those barbaric ghouls who were incapable of understanding, let alone implementing, the rule of law?

Well, it seems the ghouls have taken a holiday and the legal system in Iraq is picking up steam. Saddam’s foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, has been acquitted of one of the (many) charges against him. Aziz is an interesting case–he was generally the lead in contacts between Iraq and the west and while he was complicit in the regime’s crimes, he does not appear to have been a lead actor. The Iraqi court, rather than being moved by a justifiable desire for vengeance, heard this case on its merits and acted in a level-headed, even merciful manner.

The results of this trial are the fruit of long, hard work on the part of the Iraqis and the Americans who have worked with them for the last six years to rebuild the rule of law in Iraq.

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5. With friends like these…

It is unfortunate to see how Republicans, and in particular his supposed friend Mitch McConnell, are treating Jim Bunning as he heads into an election cycle.

Republican Senators (through their rhetoric and the NRSC) BLINDLY supported (now-Democrat) Lincoln Chafee, the basically useless Mike DeWine and countless other weak, miserable candidates who constantly knifed the Party in the back. They did so regardless of their true viability or dedication to principle.

And, Senator Bunning held his fire last year regarding the misguided TARP bill when his “friend” Mitch McConnell (who voted for it) was on the chopping block, fighting for his life in a tough election.

So, why is it that the conservative Jim Bunning gets tossed under the bus? Doesn’t he deserve the benefit of the doubt? Doesn’t a man who has served his nation well and by all accounts honorably, generally supported his fellow Kentucky Senator and other colleagues, and voted consistently in favor of basic conservative principles (with some exceptions, as all have) deserve the support of his fellow Republican Senators?

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