The Hollywood Liberal

Obama’s Afghan Trap

Have we learned nothing from the Iraq war? The Obama regime is gunning for more fighting in Afghanistan at a time when the U.S. should be seeking more talk.

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Ahmadinejad to U.S.: Let’s Talk (Maybe)

On Tuesday, the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in his country, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad extended a tentative offer to open a dialogue between the U.S. and Iran—provided that the Obama administration makes good on its “change” slogan.

The Christian Science Monitor:

Speaking as Iranians marked the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution, Mr. Ahmadinejad declared Iran to be “officially … a real and genuine superpower,” and that the “shadow of threat has been removed forever” from the Islamic Republic.

“From now on, which power in the world can be found that has the courage to threaten the Iranian nation?” Ahmadinejad asked to cheers.

Facing tens of thousands of flag-waving Iranians at Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) Square, Ahmadinejad offered his first response to President Barack Obama’s comments Monday that he was “looking for openings” with Iran.

“It is quite clear that real change [from the US] must be fundamental and not tactical. It is clear the Iranian nation welcomes real changes,” he said. “The Iranian nation is ready to hold talks but talks in a fair atmosphere with mutual respect.”

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Patrick Fitzgerald Will Retain Job In Obama Administration
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Chavez Revolution Threatened By Plunging Oil Prices
The drive by Venezuela’s autocratic president, Hugo Chavez, to export his brand of socialism across Latin America and remain in power indefinitely is being jeopardised…

Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer Gets Police Escort To Bathroom
SNELLVILLE, Ga. — Snellville politics have reached a low point. Jerry Oberholtzer, the mayor of the Atlanta suburb, has been asking for police escorts to…

Congress Turns Toy Story into Nightmare for Small Business
In a mad rush to “do something” last fall about the lead paint scare involving children’s toys, Congress hastily passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Today that law goes into effect, and its unintended – but entirely foreseeable – consequences have begun to threaten our already fragile economy. CPSIA was meant to protect children from careless or unscrupulous Chinese toy manufacturers, but its ultimate function may be to stifle competition in the domestic market for children’s goods. The legislation requires expensive tests – for lead and other toxins – be conducted on all products marketed to children under the age of 12, and imposes cumbersome rules to be followed. Big companies with large legal teams and regulatory compliance staffs – foreign and domestic – can afford such tests and follow these rules without much difficulty.

De-Programming Students
Letters from parents often complain of a sense of futility in trying to argue with their own children, who have been fed a steady diet of the politically correct vision of the world, from elementary school to the university. Some ask for suggestions of particular books that might make a dent in the know-it-all attitude of some young people who have heard only one side of the story in classrooms all their lives.

Obama: Nationalization “Wouldn’t Make Sense”
In the wake of Tim Geithner’s speech this morning, laying out the Treasury’s plan, such as it is, for Bailout 3.0, most smart observers have concluded that the Obama administration has at least left the door open for a possible…

Thomsen Out At SEC, As New Chair Fills Out Team
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D.C. Appeals Court to Rule on CACI and L-3 Complicity in Abu Ghraib Torture
February 10, 2009, WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, attorneys for torture victims abused in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere in Iraq asked the federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to affirm a lower court ruling letting the lawsuit proceed to trial against CACI International Inc. and overturn as premature the summary judgment granted to L-3.

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Some Senators Admit Tax Errors, Many Refuse to Answer
Last week, Politico “asked the offices of all 99 sitting senators to say who prepares their taxes, whether they or the Internal Revenue Service has ever discovered an error on returns they’ve filed, and whether they’ve ever had to pay back taxes.”

Of the 56 senators who have responded to the survey, eight said that mistakes have been made on their tax returns, and six said they have paid back taxes. Thirty senators said that no mistakes have been discovered on their returns and that they’ve never paid back taxes — at least to the best of their recollection. Two senators said they would not respond and 42 others failed to respond at all.

10 Myths and Truths About Atheists
Noted atheist Sam Harris penned a notorious op-ed on the same subject, which spent a lot of time dissing religion. Here’s a different take.

Only in America Could Misery Be Turned Into a Commodity
Stress, depression and loneliness permeate daily life in America. Yet psychiatrists try to sell us on the idea that the pain is ours alone.

Geithner’s Folly: The Bank Rescue Plan Is a Disaster in the Making
The new Treasury secretary’s bailout could waste hundreds of billions of dollars and still not fix the financial sector.

What Geithner Needs to Do
The tab may be close to $2 trillion. But what, exactly is the plan? We still don’t know.Geithner has to raise confidence among two groups: (1) the public, enough to allow the administration to use the second $350 billion Congress…

Do the Math: Three Scenarios
Do the math, given these results (more or less): 1. To get the president’s mandate to form the next government, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has fewer seats than Tzipi Livni, will need to lock-down a majority of Knesset members, which means…

Recession Reality: John McCain and Jon Kyl?s Arizona.
Arizona Sens. Jon Kyl (R) and John McCain (R) have vehemently opposed President Obama’s recovery package, both voting against the legislation today. McCain called the bill “generational theft, and in a Senate GOP press conference today, Kyl claimed that there are “a lot of earmarks and a lot of wasteful Washington spending in this bill.” […]

Arizona Sens. Jon Kyl (R) and John McCain (R) have vehemently opposed President Obama’s recovery package, both voting against the legislation today. McCain called the bill “generational theft, and in a Senate GOP press conference today, Kyl claimed that there are “a lot of earmarks and a lot of wasteful Washington spending in this bill.” As two of the most vocal opponents of the bill, Kyl and McCain need to better understand the “recession reality” facing their constituents. Watch it:

As the video above portrays, Arizona is plagued by an all-time high unemployment rate. “I’m just optimistic…that I’ll get something” from the stimulus, said job-seeker Eduardo Vivanco. Roughly 74,000 jobs could be created or preserved by the recovery package. Furthermore, the state legislature’s budget director says that the recovery plan’s “health and education money…could help close the state’s budget shortfalls.”

Palin backs out of CPAC.
Washington Whispers reports that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) will no longer be speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the end of February. Palin told event organizers that the “duties of governing” now prevent her from attending: “We’re obviously disappointed,” said a CPAC official. A spokesman for the three-day confab, organized by the American […]

Washington Whispers reports that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) will no longer be speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the end of February. Palin told event organizers that the “duties of governing” now prevent her from attending:

“We’re obviously disappointed,” said a CPAC official. A spokesman for the three-day confab, organized by the American Conservative Union Foundation and others, said that Palin, the popular former vice presidential nominee, had indicated she would be able to attend but cited “duties of governing” in bowing out. Instead, she will send in a taped message.

Dr. Geithner Readies the Electrodes
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was under a great deal of stress.

Raided Firms Have Murtha Ties
Two separate federal raids at the Virginia offices of a lobbying powerhouse and at the Pennsylvania headquarters of a defense contractor have one thing in common: Both businesses have made millions from federal earmark projects arranged by Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.).

Biden Is Surprised At Criticism Of Plan
Vice President Biden voiced surprise at the criticism some House liberals have voiced about the administration’s economic stimulus plan and said yesterday that he is holding out hope that the final version of the measure will attract support from “more than a handful of Senate Republicans and more…