RedState Morning Briefing For November 16, 2009

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1. One of These Things is Not Like the Others

2. Does This Mean Newsweek Stands in For the Nazis?*

3. The Criminal Justice System Is Not The Proper Place To Determine Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s Fate

4. The Party of Death In Full Tilt

5. Independents more unhappy with Congress than Republicans.

6. Health care NOT the Government’s responsibility, says America

7. Defeating Bennett

1. One of These Things is Not Like the Others

Over 90,000 Americans were killed in the Pacific during World War II defending the United States and the world from Japanese aggression. Thank God many of the survivors passed on before they had to witness the President of the United States bowing low to the Emperor of Japan.Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Does This Mean Newsweek Stands in For the Nazis?*

Newsweek is declaring war on Sarah Palin. The magazine that has given up all pretense of objective news coverage and now caters to an ever shrinking Upper West Side Elite is making Palin the cover of Newsweek (PDF) with the title “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Sarah?” with the subheading “she’s bad news for the GOP — and everyone else too.”There’s just one problem.The title comes from “The Sound of Music” and the song “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?”Maria, you see, was the hero and protagonist of the musical and, later, the movie.And Maria was pursued by the Nazis.Hmmmm . . . so if Palin is Maria and Newsweek is out to get her, perhaps Newsweeks’s red, black, and white masthead is appropriate.*Sure, it was the nuns who sang the song, but the Nazis who were out to destroy her. And besides, we can’t really see Jon “God Supports Gay Marriage” Meacham as a nun.Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. The Criminal Justice System Is Not The Proper Place To Determine Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s Fate

Editor’s Note from Erick: This post is written by James Galyean, a former federal prosecutor and former counsel on the US Senate Judiciary Committee. He helped draft both the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which dealt with the detention, interrogation, and trial of Guantanamo Bay terrorist detainees. He is currently running for Congress in the 3rd Congressional District of South Carolina. The administration’s decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in federal criminal court in New York shows that President Obama is not serious about our national security.KSM conceived, planned, and launched the attacks that killed thousands of American citizens in a war that he and other terrorists declared. He is an avowed enemy of the United States. The criminal justice system is not the proper place to determine his fate. Our criminal courts provide protections to our citizens that should not be provided to a terrorist, and may actually damage national security.Just think about the discovery requirements that could be placed on prosecutors. For instance, in the trial of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers, prosecutors were required to turn over to defense lawyers a large amount of intelligence information. Documents from that discovery production, which were never supposed to be provided to anyone outside the defense team, were later found in an al-Qaeda hideout. Let me say that again, confidential documents from a trial in New York were later found in the hands of al-Qaeda. ??Now consider that KSM was captured in a lightening raid in Pakistan. The intelligence that led to that capture has been the subject of a number of reports. However, al-Qaeda would love to know for sure where that information came from and how it was obtained. In addition to that, they may be able to learn a number of other things from discovery in this trial.Consider for a moment the constitutional strictures regarding coerced confessions. Think a liberal judge might want to explore whether waterboarding is too coercive? Or being held in one of the CIA’s black prisons? ?Even if the prosecutors have developed their case without relying on any information derived from those waterboarding sessions, the defense lawyers will still have a field day with the issue.Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. The Party of Death In Full Tilt

[The House vote for Obamacare] was the culmination of six straight months – and many would argue years or decades – of negotiations, maneuvers, and secret deals. Keep in mind, dear reader, that we are talking about a dream come true for most Democrats, and all liberal Democrats. The House of Representatives actually passed fundamental and even transformational reform of the American healthcare system. Never mind that H.R. 3962 creates at least 111 new federal boards, commissions, and bureaucracies, or that it raises taxes by $766 billion over 10 years, or represents a federal government takeover of 1/6th of the American economy – these are all considered good things by the Democrat leadership and most rank-and-file Democrat members. Even better news for liberals, House passage of this bill comes at a time when Democrats fully control the U.S. Senate and have a White House unalterably committed to the same goal. One would expect House Democrats and liberal sympathizers to be jubilant on their accomplishment. What could possibly stop them from signing healthcare reform into law in mere weeks?A radical, foaming-at-the-mouth, hell-bent commitment on the part of the most liberal members in their party to the expansion of abortion and abortion funding at all costs – that’s what. Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. Independents more unhappy with Congress than Republicans.

Short version: both Democratic and Republican voters are happier with Congress these days, and Independents are not. The uptick for the first two is easy enough to explain: both side’s partisans are happy that their respective sides are slugging it out. The question is, which side are the folks in the middle supporting?Well…Please click here for the rest of the post.

6. Health care NOT the Government’s responsibility, says America

Ever since Barack Obama began his crusade for health care socialization, the meme in the media has been that “Americans want health care reform.” Do a Google search for that phrase and you’ll find story after story that trumpets that line, usually with no evidence to support it.This past week, Gallup published a rather astonishing survey that blows holes in the theory that “because Americans want health care reform, the Government should provide it”. The Gallup survey found that for the first time in almost ten years, Americans now say that health care is not the government’s responsibility.Please click here for the rest of the post.

7. Defeating Bennett

While we’re all focusing on picking Charlie Crist off in the Florida Senate Primary, I think if conservatives really want to send the GOP establishment a message, a high priority should actually be Bob Bennett of Utah. Bennett is perhaps the pettiest, vainest, and most out of touch of all Republican Senators. He, an appropriator, has never met an earmark he did not like. He is quicker than either Lindsey Graham or Olympia Snowe to cut deals with the Democrats that cut the throats of his Republican colleagues.Bennett and several Democrats are floating a healthcare alternative that explicitly pays for abortions and is considered by the Heritage Foundation to be to the left of what the Democrats are considering right now.In short, I have said for a while now that where the right can win, the GOP should go right. The right can win in Utah. And the way to do that is to purge Bob Bennett.Please click here for the rest of the post.