In Passing

There are many small things today that need attention.

1. CBS breathlessly reported today about a new initiative set up by the Pentagon and the Secretary of Defense to stop leaks of national security secrets. As most folks know, some very important secrets were leaked in the last two months to the New York Times and the Washington Post in order to try to make president Obama look good. American agents may have been compromised, but hey, it helped the re-election effort. But I digress. The Pentagon is coming out with this new effort in order to have it look like it is actually doing something to combat the leaks. So, what is this great effort? Moving forward, there will now be a special group in the Pentagon to "monitor the media" for signs of leaks. Let me translate: there will be a bunch of bureaucrats in Washington whose job will be to read the paper and watch TV looking for articles about leaks. Really? Are these people serious? Obviously not!

2. Paul Krugman is out with another of his reports from another dimension. He seems to exist in a world where nothing is as it seems. He thinks that he gets to rewrite reality in order to criticize it. The latest piece of delusional thinking is about how the "rich" think that they are better than everyone else. Krugman say that the rich "see special treatment as their birthright". He then writes about how president Obama is not attacking the rich or success and those who say he is do not know what they are talking about. This deserves two comments: First, Obama is not attacking only the rich, but they are included among all of those who are successful -- the Obama target of the moment. "You have a business? You didn't do that! Someone else did!" In other words, all those millions of folks who have struggled, sacrificed and won in our economy, they just don't deserve that success. They are not responsible for their own success. Clearly, Obama is attacking success no matter what nonsense Krugman writes. Second, Krugman thinks that the wealthy are coddled. In actual fact, the wealthy in America pay a much larger share of the tax revenues than is the case in any other country in the world. Further, in the last three and a half years, Obama has raised taxes on the wealthy more than once. Starting in 2013, the Medicare tax paid by the wealthy will rise by about 50%. Starting in 2013, the capital gains tax paid by the wealthy will also rise substantially. These are new Obama taxes, not just the expiration of the Bush tax rates. Krugman should try to discuss real facts sometime; it might be a novel experience for him.

3. David Brooks wrote in the Times about the success of the Obama foreign policy. He says that the policy towards the Iranian nuclear program has caused a delay in action which "has been useful". Really? How has it been useful. Iran is closer to getting nukes and the world has taken no definitive action to stop it. Brooks says that Obama failed in the Israeli-Palestinian issue to bring the parties closer. The truth is that Obama has managed to prevent any progress on that front through his actions. Brooks says that it was a mistake to announce a pull out date in Afghanistan at the same time the surge in forces was announced. That sent American forces on a mission that was destined to fail. Hey David! Why not say the actual truth? Obama sent American troops to fight and to die in Afghanistan for a mission that Obama himself made sure to fail. How many American men and women died because of the "little mistake"?

4. Nancy Pelosi is now calling the release of tax returns by Mitt Romney a distraction. That change came despite her press conference two days ago where she called upon Romney to release his returns as a matter of tradition, justice and propriety. What changed? Only this: yesterday, reporters asked Pelosi to release her own tax returns. Suddenly, the issue is just a distraction.