This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
6


THE WEIRS TIMES, Thursday, January 13, 2011


CHICAGO ON THE POTOMAC


No matter


by Michelle Malkin Syndicated Columnist


WELCOME ABOARD WASHINGTON -


by Oliver North Syndicated Columnist


Congratulations, Speaker Boehner, to you and the members of your new majority in the U.S. House of Representa- tives. The gra- cious humility of your acceptance remarks was a vivid contrast to


your predecessor’s ill-mannered comments as she handed over the speaker’s gavel. She clearly does not intend to be held accountable for the disastrous performance of her party in last November’s elec- tions.


Though former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s long-winded rude- ness is an indication of the chal- lenges you and other responsible members of the 112th Congress will face in the days ahead, your arrival on Capitol Hill is already having a positive effect in Wash- ington. Shortly before you became speaker of the House, the Obama administration announced it is withdrawing its new regulation re- quiring “end-of-life counseling” for Medicare recipients. In short,


there will be no “death panels.” Then, just hours after you gaveled the new House to order, President Barack Obama’s confrontational spokesman, Robert Gibbs, an- nounced his resignation as White House press secretary. Now the hard work begins. You already have received much


advice in the month since we last spoke. Most Americans are aware you and your new 242-193 ma- jority intend to vote next week on repealing “Obamacare.” We also know Republican priorities include holding the line on tax increases, cutting federal spend- ing, decreasing the deficit, and regulatory reform to stimulate the U.S. economy. All of those are im- portant -- but none more so than protecting our nation’s people and territory. Though the president is the


commander in chief of our armed forces and the day-to-day conduct of our foreign policy is the purview of the executive branch, there is much that must be done by Con- gress to protect our homeland and our people better. Here are five national security issues in urgent need of congressional attention: See NORTH on 18


how you rear- range Presi- dent Obama’s inner circle, it still looks, smel ls and tastes like a rotten Chica- go deep-dish pizza.


Ready for the latest top-


ping on this moldy old pie? It’s a possible chief of staff slot for Wall Street banker/lawyer/wheeler- dealer William Daley, brother of outgoing Chicago mayor/machine politics mastermind Richard M. Daley (also the former boss of White House senior adviser Val- erie Jarrett and first lady Michelle Obama), whose retirement paved the way for former Obama chief of staff and Chicago mayoral candi- date Rahm Emanuel. Phew. The White House is reportedly looking to manufacture a “pro- business” aura with Bill Daley, who holds a “corporate respon- sibility” executive office at J.P. Morgan and once headed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- the lat- ter, a left-wing hate object and Obama punching bag leading up to the midterms. But the Beltway-based Cham-


ber of Commerce is too often a fair-weather statist lobbying or- ganization. It supported the TARP all-purpose bailout, the auto bailout and the bottomless, pork- filled stimulus package, all of which have forcibly redistributed money from taxpayers and small businesses to politically con- nected special interests (including Daley’s J.P. Morgan, which was most recently swept up in a mas- sive pay-to-play bond scheme in Alabama). Daley has about as much real


experience creating jobs as Da Boss now sitting at 1600 Penn- sylvania Ave -- which is to say, less than a thimble full. (It’s a New Year. I’m being generous.) In 2009, the head of Chicago’s sanitation department implicat- ed Daley in a hiring corruption scheme tied to his brother’s may- oral administration. The official was convicted; Daley shrugged off the federal probe. “Even if it hap- pened -- and I’m not saying it did -- things were different. There was nothing illegal about that stuff.” Instead of distancing himself


from the favor-trading Wall Street fat cats who have earned the ire of both anti-bailout tea party activ- ists and anti-corporate liberals, Obama remains wedded, embed- ded and indebted to the worst kind. Daley has served on the board


of government-sponsored finan- cial behemoth Fannie Mae since 1993. Like the Richard Daley machine in Chicago, Fannie Mae in Washington has served as an industrial-sized patronage factory -- sharing profits with political al- lies, spreading taxpayer funds to ethnic groups, and doling out jobs to left-wing academics, Washing- ton has-beens and back-scratch- ing buddies. Like Daley. And close Obama adviser Jim Johnson, the Fannie Mae exec who got sweet- heart loans from shady subprime lender Countrywide. While they raked in six-figure salaries, Fannie Mae and govern- ment-sponsored sibling Freddie Mac engaged in Enron-style ac- counting, plunged into debt and helped usher in the subprime housing meltdown through reck- less lending practices. Bill Clinton, the man who ap-


pointed Daley to the Fannie Mae board, also appointed Emanuel to See MALKIN on 16


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32