Qusair Falls - a Black Day for Obama's Middle East Non-policy

The town of Qusair has fallen to al-Assad forces. It is deserted, pocked with mortar holes and downed buildings. Al-Assad's army is bulldosing the rubble. The rebels are dead, captured or fled with the Syria Free Army. They didn't have enough ammunition to withstand Tuesday's final regime assault. The al-Assad camp is celebrating but it seems clear that they would not have retaken Qusair without the help of the Lebanese Hezbollah. And the Syria Free Army is vowing to retaliate for its defeat in Qusair against Hezbollah in Lebanon. ~~~~~ So, dear readers, as has consistently been the case in Syria, the timidity of the West and the refusal of President Obama to agree to arming the rebels, has led to more, not less, bloodshed. The Syria Free Army will pursue Hezbollah beyond Syrian borders. Extremist Islamists will strengthen their place in the rebel forces. Al-Assad will be more sure of his position and go after other rebel strongholds with full force. France and Britain have proved to their satisfaction that he is using sarin nerve gas and are ready to act. Obama wants more proof. The US Senate is ready to act. President Obama's reaction is to accept the resignation of Tom Donilon, his national security advisor, to be replaced by that bastion of Obama non-policy, UN Ambassador Susan Rice. Shuffling the deck chairs will not hide the lack of a policy or the will to form one. Listen to the world, Mr. Obama, and act now to save what is left of the Syrian people. Do not depend on Israel to hold off a sectarian Middle East war alone. Israel's job is to defend herself, to be America's ally (these roles are being well carried out) and to support US Middle East policy - but it is difficult to support what does not exist.

The Chinese Industrial Fire and the State of the Chinese Communist Party Today

The tragic fire in the Chinese chicken processing plant has made headlines worldwide. The news stories focus on the poor or non-existent safety standards in the plant - and all over China. But for me, that is not the news. The news is that there is real news coming out of China in the wake of the fire that killed more than 100 workers. We have seen a live Chinese 'news conference' where leaders in the region tried to explain what happened. We have seen live TV reports on site showing the charred building and Chinese firefighters still working to keep the smoldering ruin under control. We have had eyewitness reports of the panic when the fire broke out. Roll back 10 - even 5 - years. There would have been a carefully controlled Beijing report on the 'accident,' with no live coverage, no eyewitnesses - just a carefully orchestrated Chinese Communust Party story with only the barest of facts disclosed. ~~~~~ Dear readers, we need to think about this. The Chinese Communist Party is still in full control. The Party is the only political group allowed in China. There are still human rights abuses about which we have only the merest information - even though the Party has permitted the famous painter WeiWei to talk to the world through the internet while preventing him from attending the Venice Biennial where his works are being highlighted. All these repressive measures reflect a Communist elite in full control and able to suppress civil liberties at will. But consider the fire with news coverage opened to the world. It is another indication of the Chinese Communist Party's split personality. They must open up their society because they want to be a major world power. But they do not want social and economic freedom to spill over into politics. It is a highwire act of significant prowess. But Chinese Communist leaders surely know that they will eventually fall off the tightrope. Perhaps - and I say this with a very quiet voice - perhaps it is time to treat China as one of us. After all, diplomatic efforts to bring the Chinese Communists into compliance with world norms on currencies, personal liberties and trade fair-play can and should continue. But public chastening of their leaders probably only serves to drive otherwise freedom-searching Chinese citizens to defend their leaders out of a sense of national pride. Why not treat China as a 'normal' world player and by doing so, hasten the day when the Communist highwire snaps under the weight of TV cameras and the healing presence of western human values in the midst of the Chinese people, who are wise with the wisdom of their five thousand years of seeing all sorts of "isms" arrive, flourish and die.

President Obama, the Constitution Does Not Have an Opt-Out Clause

You may have thought that all the political skeletons were already out of the Obama closet. It isn't so. Republican Senators Rob Portman and Orrin Hatch are demanding answers about Health And Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' private fundraising to augment finances for Obamacare, saying her actions were legally and ethically wrong. In interviews with Newsmax, both Senators said that Sebelius' activities were ethically borderline and probably illegal. Since March, Sebelius has solicited donations on behalf of Enroll America, an entity which is made up of Obama campaign loyalists seeking to boost insurance exchange enrollments. Secretary Sebelius asked for donations, for example, from H&R Block and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which supports anti-obesity and other health outreach campaigns. H&R Block hasn't donated yet, but the Foundation donated a total of $14 million. Republicans say the fundraising drive violates the federal "anti-deficiency" act, which prohibits government agencies from accepting voluntary services or donations. However, HHS officials say a section of the Public Service Act allows its secretary to seek donations to support health programs. Hatch, who is the ranking Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee and two other senior GOP Senators have sent a letter to HHS Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson, seeking an investigation of Sebelius' activities, which ethics specialists have termed as being anywhere from a stretch legally to a shakedown of cash from companies the HHS oversees. “These activities call into question whether appropriations and ethics laws are being followed,” said the letter, which The Washington Times reports was also signed by Senator Lamar Alexander, ranking Republican member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee; and Senator Tom Coburn, ranking GOP member of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. Hatch told Newsmax that Sebelius’ actions were “ethically suspect” and maybe even illegal.“If the secretary of any part of our government can call individual companies that do business with that part of our government and ask for money, that’s a tremendous amount of pressure they’ve put on in an inappropriate way,” the Utah Republican said. “Those companies or foundations may feel like: ‘Well, we’ve got to give, even though we find it outrageous, or we’ll suffer the consequences - or they’ll give us a rough time in the future....That’s why we shouldn’t do things this way,” Hatch said. “It may be a total violation of laws that are extremely important here.” Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman also said that if it's proven Sebelius is raising money privately, she's breaking the law. Portman told Newsmax that the Constitution stipulates that Congress has the sole authority to determine the level of appropriations for federal programs. He argued any efforts by Sebelius to raise additional funds for Obamacare would violate one of the fundamental tenets of the Constitution. "I am very concerned about this HHS issue which is also one we need to get to the bottom of because, in essence, it is the Secretary of Health and Human Services refusing to accept the constitutional role of Congress which is the power of the purse, meaning that the federal agencies are not supposed to spend money that Congress does not appropriate," he said. "That's the way our Founding Fathers set it up and they did it on purpose. They wanted the people's house - the House of Representatives - and the Senate to be able to approve spending. So Congress chose not to allow HHS to spend money on some of the efforts related to Obamacare and she, instead, has said, okay, well, I'm going to do it privately." Portman added that if Sebelius is raising private funds for a governmental activity, and circumventing Congress to source the additional funds, she would also be violating the "anti-deficiency law." "The anti-deficiency law was put in place to avoid just this sort of thing. I am concerned about it. It hasn't gotten as much notice maybe because these other things are swirling around, the AP and Fox News issues and the Benghazi issue and the IRS issue, but it is one that we do need to get to the bottom of..." ~~~~~ So, dear readers, we can add to Obama's problems the possible HHS "fleecing" of private companies that do, or seek to do, contractual business with HHS to pay for government activities that Congress has specifically refused to fund. This may seem like small fish compared to the assassination of an abandoned US ambassador or the attempt to fetter free speech of political opponents through the harrassment of charitable organizations or journalists. But Secretary Sebelius' disregard for constitutional constraints is characteristic of President Obama's administration. Either the United States is a constitutional republic - or it is not. There is no constitutional clause that says the President and his Executive branch can opt out when the Constitution becomes inconvenient.

Turkey, Syria...and Marilyn Monroe

Dear readers, it's a Saturday with a variety of news stories to follow, so let's cover some of the day's headlibes. (1). Taksim Square in Istanbul has been left to the young protesters as police withdrew late Saturday. The protests began after the Erdogan government announced plans to eliminate the Square and build apartments, offices and other needed structures. The reaction was immediate and violent. In two days, Turkish security forces have battled the protesters with water cannons and tear gas. The protests spread today to several other Turkish cities. And now the protesters have been allowed to hold the Square, presumably while Prime Minister Erdogan evaluates his alternatives. It is certainly in the world's best interests that Taksim Square does not become the next Arab Spring insurrection, but the young people in the Square are complaining about government severity in the face of social change...a dangerous omen. And when will extremists arrive to take advantage of this Turkish inter-generational dispute? (2). The rebel defenders of Qusair have called in reinforcements from their units all over Syria to help defend the city coveted by al-Assad and his Lebanese Hezbollah supporters. Meanwhile, rebel rockets have been fired into the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in an evident widening of the Syrian civil war. It is becoming what many have predicted - a regional war between Sunnis (the Syrian rebels, the Iraqi minority and the Gulf Arabs) and Shiites (al-Assad, Hezbollah, and Iraqi and Iranian ruling classes). Not wanting to arm the rebels may soon become irrelevant as an American tactical ploy, with France and Britain banding together to support the Syrian Free Army with arms shipments. Regional war, with Israel the real Syria-Hezbollah-Iran target, is closing in on us. (3). Today would have been the 87th birthday of Marilyn Monroe. The beautiful, neurotic sex symbol has outlived her own life by becoming an icon. She was used, discarded, revived - and she herself used, discarded, retook. But her appeal was not so much her life story as it was her becoming the embodiment of the feminine mystery that defies explanation.