J.P. Freire

Post writer finds parallel between Twilight and Holocaust

Clearly it's just a joke, but a bad joke. Washington Post writer Monica Hesse writes of the irresistible nature of the Twilight book series about vampires written primarily for teenagers. "Twilight" came for the tweens, then for the moms of tweens, then for the co-workers who started wearing those ridiculous Team Jacob shirts, and the resisters said nothing, because they thought "Twilight" could not come for them. If that phrasing sounds familiar, it purportedly comes from Pastor Martin Niemöller, lamenting the lack of action of German intellectuals to do anything to prevent the Holocaust: First they came for the communists, and I did not speak...

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Failed states: California is overregulated, overtaxed, and just plain over

First of an occasional series In July, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called for a "Commission on the 21st Century Economy," it was hoped the group of experts could provide a way to finally resolve California's budget woes. When the commission issued its report at the end of September, however, the recommendations fell to the floor with a resounding thud. Defenders of California's status quo in the state legislature in effect said "no way." Today, California is a by-the-numbers state tragedy. Unemployment is higher than 12.2 percent as of September. Business costs are almost 23 percent higher than other states on average. Migration out of the state is at an all...

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Poll: Chris Dodd in trouble

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., is in trouble with the voters, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. Former congressional candidate Rob Simmons is beating the senator 49 percent to 38 percent. Other challengers are also leading against the senator, including Linda McMahon, the former World Wrestling Entertainment executive, who gets 43 percent to Dodd's 41 percent. Perhaps the real story is about President Obama. According to poll director Douglas Schwartz, PhD, "Barack Obama is still popular with independents, but voters say that his support of Dodd won't affect their Senate vote." While Obama's personal popularity remains high, it doesn't appear he's able to nudge...

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Pro-choice group reacts to Obama claims on health care and abortion

Seeking to quell dissatisfaction with the inclusion of the Stupak amendment in the health care bill among pro-choice Democrats in the House, President Obama told Jake Tapper of ABC News (link): "I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill," Obama said. "And we're not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions. He went on to insist that the bill must not change the status quo regarding abortion that no federal dollars will go towards abortion. This is a direct contradiction of much of the liberal ethos. For pro-choice...

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Labor fight isn't the only way feds help out UPS and FedEx

Even if UPS and FedEx are at odds over a labor dispute, they both agree that it's good to get the government behind you when you can. That's the lesson from USAToday, which notes that since 2001, $100 million in earmarks have gone to 11 small airports "where one of the two major cargo carriers has a large operation with daily flights." The report notes the vast amount of taxpayer money used to fund runway expansions specifically requested by UPS and FedEx: UPS told Capital Region International Airport in Lansing, Mich., that it wanted the main runway lengthened from 8,000 feet to 8,500 feet so the company's DC-8 jets could take off with full loads of fuel and cargo, airport...

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Media Matters scoffs at claim that insurance companies save lives

President Obama and Speaker Pelosi are undoubtedly better at providing people with the care they need than insurance companies, according to the hyperbolic headline of this Media Matters blogpost: "Worst. Talking point. Ever." There, they highlight a quote by the Cato Institute's Michael Cannon, in which he says: "Insurance companies save more lives in a single day than President Obama or Nancy Pelosi will save in their entire lifetimes." The video is below. < param name='allowscriptaccess' value='always'> What's wrong here? Cannon's point that insurance companies attempt to maximize care for the maximum amount of people possible under budgetary...

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Planned Parenthood: Women's health is being targeted as expendable

"If there's anything we learned yesterday, it's that women's health is being targeted as expendable in health care reform," writes Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America in a fundraising email. "We also saw that anti-choice forces are working round-the-clock to roll back women’s health benefits. We will each need to take action many times over the next few weeks, and we need strong and public support from the White House to help us." The email was circulated among members of the group's action alert email list, but not published on the website. The statement is entirely true: Women's health is being targeted as expendable in...

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Now that they passed it, will Dems survive 2010?

Based on the House vote on health care, which seats are possible pick-ups for Republicans? One place to look would be seats in districts where Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., received more than 50 percent of the vote in the 2008 presidential election. Thirty-one Democrats came from such districts, feeling enough pressure from constituents to vote against the bill. Sixteen Democrats, however, come from McCain districts, and still voted for the bill. They are listed below by district and last name as well as the percentage of their voters that went for McCain: WV-01 Mollohan 57 WV-03 Rahall 56 AR-02 Snyder 54 AZ-01 Kirkpatrick 54 PA-10 Carney 54 ND-AL Pomeroy...

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Rep. Cao's last-minute switch to vote for Obamacare

Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao, R-La., voted for the health care bill put forward by Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats, breaking ranks with bipartisan opposition and putting to rout claims that there would be no Republican votes for the bill. Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, had previously described Cao as "the future of the GOP." Cao's office put out this statement, highlights of which are below: “Today, I obtained a commitment from President Obama that he and I will work together to address the critical health care issues of Louisiana including the FMAP crisis and community disaster loan forgiveness, as well as issues related to Charity and Methodist Hospitals. And, I call...

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Congressional staffer denies pushing visitor UPDATED!

A heated exchange during a visit to the office of Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., led to a staffer putting his hands on Teri Christoph, executive director of Smart Girl Politics, in order to get her to put her camera down, reported Jillian Bandes of TownHall. In a phone interview with The Examiner, the staffer, press secretary George Burke, said that claims that he had "pushed" Christoph were untrue. When asked about the report in TownHall, he replied, "Is that a reporter? Some right-wing blog?" Yes to both questions, but was the claim true? "She came in and whipped out a camera. Staff people told her, 'we don't want you to use a camera in here.' I put a hand on her...

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Health care? There's an app for that

A humorous video offered by the National Republican Congressional Committee spoofs the iPhone commercials, noting the bulky approach to "reform" offered by House Democrats. The video is reminiscent of Daniel Henninger's Wall Street Journal column last week that suggested that Democrats are offering old school solutions to people used to the customized individualism provided by products like the iPhone: In a world defined by nearly 100,000 iPhone apps, a world of seemingly limitless, self-defined choice, the Democrats are pushing the biggest, fattest, one-size-fits all legislation since 1965. And they brag this will complete the dream Franklin D. Roosevelt had in...

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Boehner says NY GOP ignored warnings from NRCC

At a meeting of Washington conservatives this morning, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, expressed pride over GOP success in last night's election. But questions about NY-23 remain -- so I asked him whether there was an effort to get New York Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, the GOP nominee in that race, to endorse Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman. "There was a huge effort," he replied. When asked about rumors that the New York Republican Party picked Scozzafava because of the advice of Washington insiders who felt she would be a more electable candidate, Boehner rolled his eyes. "We told them to hold off on a decision, to work with us, but they went ahead...

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White House bails out J. Crew's fashion czar

Michelle Obama's fashion sense might be earning a lot of praise, but one other person is making quite a profit. Jenna Lyons, creative director of J. Crew, oversaw the creation of various outfits worn by the ladies of the first family. For her efforts, she got a one-time cash bonus of $1 million. But is this overcompensation? After all, the White House pay czar recently slashed compensation for executives receiving government aid, but what better government aid than a ringing fashion endorsement? Perhaps not -- J. Crew didn't receive a taxpayer-funded bailout, and yet strangely the company is expecting its sales and earnings for its third fiscal quarter to be up over earlier...

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Executive compensation makes it to the Supreme Court

Even for free-market types, there is such a thing as getting paid too much. That may be happening among mutual fund managers, which is why the Supreme Court began hearing arguments this week in Jones v. Harris. The case essentially deals with the higher rates that mutual fund advisers may charge their captive funds versus their institutional investor clients. The fund's board of trustees generally negotiates on behalf of investors to arrive at this sum. At first blush, the libertarian approach should be simple enough: Judges should not set the rates of mutual fund advisers, and instead should allow market forces to make the call. But the case has a twist. Two judges known for their...

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Poll: Blame for economy now increasingly on Obama

More Americans - 49 percent - still blame the economic situation on the recession that began during the Bush administration, but the ranks are swelling of those who say the nation's economic problems are the consequence of President Obama's policies, to 45 percent in the latest Rasmussen survey. Just last month, only 37 percent looked askance at Obama's policies. This doesn't mean that Bush is becoming more popular, but it does mean that citizens are becoming impatient with Obama. Just one month ago, 55 percent blamed Bush, while 37 percent looked askance at Obama. But even blaming Bush and Obama misses the point. The epicenter of the economic crisis was in the housing market, which was...

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Enviros to Navajos: Go green or get lost

Despite the fact that Navajo Nation president Joe Shirley Jr. won an international award for environmentalism, he's a thorn in the side for environmentalists. Why? Because, according to them, the power plant that provides energy and jobs to his people in Arizona is an environmental hazard, one that creates an unsightly haze over the Grand Canyon. The Environmental Protection Agency wants the Navajo Generating Station, which is supplied with coal from mines on Black Mesa, to install air-scrubbing equipment. A Sierra Club spokesman described the plants as "low-hanging fruit." And the journalist reporting the story cites Shirley as the only climate change skeptic, while quoting a...

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Top Obama advisor: Tax hike? Maybe.

Worth noting from Jarrett's Sunday interview is this line: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: “So he will not -- bottom line, he will not violate that commitment, is what you're saying?” VALERIE JARRETT: “What I'm saying is that he is confident that a bill that's going to be passed is going to be consistent with his parameters, yes.” What does that sentence mean? Why not just a simple "Yes"? Why is this qualified? Well, if you just heard a record scratch, that's because on Sept. 12, 2008, candidate Obama made this pledge: “I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your...

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Valerie Jarrett: NY-23 tells you "where the leadership is."

Valerie Jarrett was on with George Stephanopoulos this weekend, and it appears that Democrats have very much seized on the theme of "Poor Dede, Maligned Moderate." When one of the president's top advisers runs with the theme, especially with a response as canned as hers, it's clear the Democrats are attempting to define the middle ground while moving to the left. Most notable is her attempt to conflate party with principle, particularly in this clip. She also goes on to mention that fewer people identify as Republicans, and instead choose the term "independent." That may be true, but Jarrett's insinuation, that people are moving away from the...

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Conservatives rally as an angry majority, not an angry minority

According to Politico, GOP insiders are worried that the conservative activism found in NY-23 could result in permanent minority status: Numerous GOP officials have told POLITICO they worry that the party has been hijacked by a noisy and powerful minority that will keep the GOP in a noisy and not-so-powerful minority for a long time. It will be impossible for GOP leaders to make this case anytime soon. The trick, instead, will be to find common ground on running conservative candidates who appeal to activists but can also run campaigns not entirely predicated on the hardest edges of their conservatism. Noisy and powerful minority? Does that include the Wall Street Journal editorial...

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Foreign meddling behind Nobel Peace Prize ignored by Obama

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat notes that President Obama missed an opportunity to reject the Nobel Prize and instead put to rout the high expectations of his office. The implications of his decision to accept it, Douthat continues, will reverberate in every policy he pursues. "Now he’s the Nobel laureate who has to choose between escalating a counterinsurgency in Afghanistan or ceding ground to a theocratic mafia. He’s the Nobel laureate who’ll either have to authorize military strikes against Iran or construct an effective, cold-war-style deterrence system for the Middle East. He’s the Nobel laureate who’ll probably fail, like every U.S....

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Can a sitting president receive a Nobel Peace Prize?

There's a problem for President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize victory and it's not his inexperience. From Article I, Section 9 of "that neglected curio," the U.S. Constitution: "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." Per Wikipedia, the Nobel Prize is awarded as follows: "...the Norwegian Nobel Committee consists of five members elected by the Norwegian Storting (the Norwegian parliament).[9] In its first stage, several...

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Report: Department of Interior employees collaborate with lobbyists

Looks like the Department of Interior has a problem with a section responsible for 26 million acres of federal lands. According to an investigation conducted by the Interior inspector general regarding the department's National Landscape Conservation System (NCLS), employees and environmental advocacy organizations frequently violated federal anti-lobbying policies. A redacted report from the investigation includes this zinger: Our investigation determined that numerous activities and communication took place between NLCS officials and nongovernmental organizations (NGO), including discussions about the NLCS budget and BLM employees' editing brochures and producing fact sheets for a...

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Unions want to turn Hyatt into a roach motel

Once you check in, you can never check out. At least that's the goal of Unite Here, which is protesting Hyatt hotels nationwide in response to the company's decision to hire cheaper labor. In Boston, for instance, three Boston area hotels fired 98 staff (some of whom earned more than $15 an hour) on Aug. 31 and replaced them with $8-an-hour employees of Georgia-based Hospitality Staffing Solutions. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick went so far as to threaten a state-employee boycott of the chain in response. In Long Beach, Calif., Unite Here Local 11 is holding protests to get the hotel to sign a neutrality agreement. But such an agreement is anything but, given that the hotel...

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North Korea arming Iran is a consequence of limited foreign policy objectives

According to this report from Deutsche Welle (h/t InfidelsAreCool): … The Australian-owned cargo ship is reported to have been carrying grenade launchers, detonators, and munitions falsely listed as machine parts on its shipping manifesto.… According to news agency AFP, US experts believe North Korea has earned hundreds of millions of dollars by exporting military technology until recent sanctions. North Korean ships have previously been intercepted as they headed to Myanmar. The report describes recent relations between North Korea and the rest of the world as thawing, but that's hard to parse. In order to release two American journalists, North Korea still had to capture...

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J.P. Freire: Memorials are not occasions to air grievances

Robert Novak, legendary Washington columnist, is dead at 78. I worked for him for a mere two weeks. I was filling time between jobs, which, in this industry, can be short. Commemorating him is tricky business -- he famously said that he had no friends, merely sources and targets. His book, "The Prince of Darkness," chronicled the foibles of the Washington establishment gained through a half century of classic shoe-leather journalism. It also rankled some, as did much of Novak's other work. Such are the ways of Washington, especially in reporting. And when that rankling happens among your own side, you then realize that internecine conflict is cold, nasty, brutish and most...

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Freshman Democrats bristle at tax hikes in health care bill

According to this story in Roll Call, leaders are running "into a firewall of resistance from moderate Democrats and vulnerable freshmen grousing over the measure’s provisions to tax the wealthy and small businesses. Some Members also want more cost cutting, even if it leaves more people uninsured." House Democrats, led by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), are even going so far as to circulate a draft letter among freshmen to Pelosi "opposing the $544 billion income tax surcharge on the wealthy, arguing it would hit many small businesses and manufacturers." The interesting bit about this is that these freshmen were elected on Obama's coattails. On election night, Obama...

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New car czar is a union man

After just five months on the job, President Obama's "Car Czar," Steven Rattner, is quitting. An administration official gives Politico this terse explanation: “He determined that this was the right decision for him and his family at this time." His replacement, a six-figure official with the Steelworkers' Union named Ron Bloom, is already waiting in the wings. It sounds like a firing, but if the GM and Chrysler deals turn out poorly, Rattner will probably be happy he's already gone. Bloom's relevant experience appears to be negotiating for unions with troubled companies, and so it would be useful to know his approach. Thanks to an old Time magazine collection...

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