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Obama’s recent visit to Notre Dame certainly stirred up emotions on the issue of abortion.  I agree with many that it is fine to honor the office of the President of the United States and have Obama come speak at any university.  The bestowal of an honorary doctorate however, seems out of place.  I think ASU said it best when they opted to not award an honorary degree.

The university decided against awarding Obama the degree because it is customarily awarded for “lifetime achievement,” ASU spokeswoman Sharon Keeler told POLITICO.

“It’s normally awarded to someone who has been in their field for some time,” she said. “Considering that the president is at the beginning of his presidency, his body of work is just beginning.”

People will always disagree on different political issues, but abortion is something that steps beyond the plain old arguments of what the government ought to do with tax dollars.  Instead, it involves the most profound and fundamental actions we take with regard to the moral and ethical issue of life.  For Notre Dame to award a doctorate to someone that “talks out of both sides of his mouth” on the issue just doesn’t make sense.

While news of this report circulated, many on the right were flabbergasted that this administration’s Department of Homeland Security would release such a report. There seemed to be an overall knee jerk reaction to it from many republicans.  However, I think that when one considers it as a report dealing primarily with white supremacist groups and the like, it seems plausible, but still in line with the juvenile mistakes Obama’s administration has been making since day one.  Some of the language is ambiguous at best, identifying extremists as advocating fundamental conservative issues such as states rights and abortion.

Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

Can you imagine a report during Bush’s administration that said to “be on the lookout for left wing extremists that advocate an anti-war opinion and favor impeachment of the President?” And on top of that, states for all to see that there is no evidence of anything bad being planned.

Overall, the report lacks a solid foundation when it comes to details and facts.  Jonah Goldberg seems to capture my feelings in his article at the National Review.

The problem with it is that it makes little effort to document or demonstrate its contention that “extremist” groups are resurgent, that they are right-wing, or that they may be formed from the ranks of “disgruntled military veterans.” Worse, it’s very sloppy about what qualifies someone as “extremist” in the first place. Basically, it’s fancy bureaucratese for: We’re guessing bad people will do bad things because the economy is bad and the president is black. But we have no real evidence.

Charles Krauthammer has some of the most outstanding articles on current political discourse and happenings.  Wouldn’t it be great if he wrote more than once a week?

In this one, he talks about Obama’s budget claims and what not.  One of the best parts is where Obama is identifying huge savings down the road.

The boast that he had “identified $2 trillion in deficit reductions over the next decade.” It takes audacity to repeat this after it had been so widely exposed as transparently phony. Most of this $2 trillion is conjured up by refraining from spending $180 billion a year for 10 more years of surges in Iraq. Hell, why not make the “deficit reductions” $10 trillion — the extra $8 trillion coming from refraining from repeating the $787 billion stimulus package annually through 2019.

Larry King recently interviewed Meghan McCain, who has been in the press recently.  Inspired by this post at all-encompassingly.com, I’ve pulled a few gems out to share.

On whether Obama is becoming overexposed with too much media attention?

Meghan McCain: I think he is on the verge of it. I do think you have to be careful. But it is a different generation. [My] generation … we like our celebrities. And I think that he realizes that because he is very much a Generation Y president. However, he is on the risk of alienating his older followers.

???

On social issues:

Meghan McCain: I believe in gay marriage. … I personally am pro-life, but I’m not going to judge someone that’s pro-choice. It is not my place to judge other people and what they do with their body.

Maybe a fuller explanation would indicate I’m wrong with my assumption about her position, but isn’t being pro-life mean that you do judge and want to limit what others do with their bodies?  Pro-choice being exactly the opposite, advocating a woman’s right to choose.

On the “war of words” with Laura Ingraham:

McCain: I had never heard of her before until this happened.

Enough said.

Campbell Brown, like other journalists, is starting the inevitable (re)discovery of the man, Barack Obama. Let alone the United States Congress.

Never thought I’d enjoy seeing David Gregory lay the smack down so much.

Obama is trumpeting the news that 60 jobs (you read it right, 60 jobs) have been created to help resurface a road in Montgomery County, Maryland, the county I grew up in.  While I find it comical to mention this number as an accomplishment, obviously he is pointing to the speed with which this stimulus bill is having effect.  To me it seems like more of a miracle that legislation passed so recently actually made it through the red tape to getting spent already.  I suppose the bill was written with that goal, but goodness knows that we’ll be hearing horror stories about how some of the money was spent in this frenzied fashion.

If the government can’t account for millions during a “non-crisis” time, who knows what will happen when we’ve got hundreds of billions burning a hole in our pocket.

But Obama doesn’t disappoint, he goes on to talk about deaths on roads and somehow accounts 14,000 to poorly maintained roads.  Really Mr. President?  This stimulus bill is going to save lives on roads because there won’t be pot holes?  Or maybe the lines weren’t painted well and during a rainstorm someone drove off the side of the road?

Thank goodness Obama and crew are here to save us from ourselves!

The new Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan (of school beating fame), has had a brilliantly original liberal idea:

Education Chief Favors Longer School Year

Problem as he sees it: US Students aren’t performing as well as they could.
Solution as he sees it: Keep students in school longer.

It is unrefreshing to see someone come to Washington and think that the problem with schools is that students aren’t there long enough.  Liberals are so stupid as to actually address problems in this manner.  Instead of actually identifying the real problems of incompetent teachers, horrible educational bureaucracies and teacher unions, liberals just want to throw more money at a problem.

 Duncan said he feels “a real sense of urgency” to implement national education reform.

“Our children in this country have one chance at education. One chance. We can’t wait. We can’t wait seven or eight years. We’ll lose a generation of kids,” Duncan said. “And so we have to get better; we have to get better now.”

Hey! Since we’re in a recession and tax revenues will be low, this is THE opportunity to expand the Department of Education’s budget and oversight.  Along with other federal government priorities such as volcano monitoring…

I will never understand people, like Christopher Walker, that join the military and then publicly announce their desertion.  What a shameful thing to do, breaking one’s word and abandoning one’s unit.

“…and I figured if I were to go back to Iraq and do something again that’s contrary to my belief structure, I wouldn’t be really able to live with myself.”

Really Christopher?  You know what would keep me up at night?  Wondering what was happening to my fellow unit members that I deserted despite my commitment to a term of service at a time of war.

The Obama/Biden show is still only beginning.  From Obama’s tax deficient nominees to the vacant senate seat, we’re in for one heck of a ride.

In his first major speech since being confirmed, the nation’s first black attorney general told an overflow crowd celebrating Black History Month at the Justice Department the nation remains “voluntarily socially segregated.”

“Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards,” Holder declared.

Lets stop talking about race and actually just live together.  It seems everything is fine until these “racial crusaders” start talking about it.  Booker T. Washington dedicated much of his life to “putting your head down and going to work.”  Seems that a century later, many still want to talk and legislate “equality” as they see it, into the culture.

I look forward to the day when men are judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.  I believe that day has arrived for many, and eludes others still stuck in the past.