Things I read on a Tuesday morning

There is so much wonderful stuff out there on the web, but I have to admit that I have a finite number of websites I routinely visit every morning.  Get up, brush teeth, read specific websites.  At those websites, the following piqued by interest:

John Pitney gives many painful examples of the Democrats’ overwhelming dominance in all areas of politics, putting the lie to their pathetic whine that the Republicans are bullying them.

In a most amazingly elegant and thoughtful column Fouad Ajami looks at Obama’s personality, both viewed on its merits and in comparison to other presidents, most notably Reagan’s wonderfully sunny personality.  This is more important than one might think, since Obama, unlike any president before him, was elected on personality alone.

A federal appellate court granted asylum to an Indonesian family to protect its younger daughter from genital mutilation, a procedure forced on their older daughter.  Given the Muslim war on women, I have to agree with this decision.  There’s no way, though, that we can protect every woman in the world who is on the receiving end of female genital mutilation, and we certainly can’t grant asylum to all of them, so this is just a drop in the bucket and one lucky girl.

Rebecca Hagelin warns us that we can no longer rely on the Disney brand as a way to protect our children’s innocence.  Disney has gone as skanky as everyone else.  This is hard for me, as a parent, because I was optimistic that there was at least one media brand on my side.

The CIA has made some big mistakes in the past, but it’s also done some very, very good things:  most notably, protecting America from another terrorist attack in the eight years since 9/11.  That the Holder/Obama justice department is now turning on those people in the CIA who are willing to protect the nation by doing its dirty work is a gross travesty — and this is especially true considering the fact that it was only in April 2009 that Obama promised to protect CIA operatives from any repercussions from their being forced by their own nation to live in an ethical gray area.  IBD agrees with me.  I’ll add something that IBD didn’t say:  Obama is a lying schmuck.

When it comes to the attack on the CIA, Jonah Goldberg recognizes a political witch hunt when he sees one, but believes the American people will be more sanguine.  After all, they’ve cheerfully watched their favorite Hollywood heroes torture bad guys for years.  Americans still like people who have to do bad things for good reasons.

And finally on the subject of the CIA, Bret Stephens explains that liberals once again have the shoe on the other foot when it comes to the CIA.  Covert operatives were the celebrities du jour when it involved the Plamegate scandal.  That is, back then, it was a mortal sin to reveal their identities.  Now, it’s a sure thing.

Elliott Abrams explains in straightforward, organized language precisely why the “oh so compassionate and wonderful” Obama administration is a human rights disaster.  I’m not surprised.  This is an authoritarian guy who loves other authoritarian guys, recognizing them as kindred spirits.

Cal Thomas spells out precisely how Obama’s economic policies which, in terms of spending amounts, are the same as but infinitely greater than previous administrations’, will destroy America.  The next president should run on an “I will spend nothing” platform.

Jay Nordlinger’s opening impromptu addresses the fact that the Left allows Bible-waving only when the Left’s members are pretty sure the Bible-waver doesn’t believe in the good book.

Dennis Prager has always understood the difference between compassion and justice, something seldom demonstrated more strongly than with Scotland’s decision to release the Lockerbie bomber:  “[U]nlike justice, compassion cannot be given to everyone. If you show compassion to person X or group X, you cannot show it to person Y or group Y. Justice, by definition, is universal. Compassion, by definition, is selective.  [Para.]  That is why, generally speaking, governments should be in the business of dispensing justice, not compassion. Individuals can, and often ought to, dispense compassion, not societies.”

One of the points I’ve hammered relentlessly since Obama announced his candidacy is the fact that he is an out-and-out liar.  Liberals ignored it, but they’re finally catching on to that irrefutable fact.  Lorie Byrd believes Obama’s tenuous relationship to truth is going to be the kryptonite to his “super” presidency.