OC Blog

Religion & The Left

Much is made of the influence of religious conservatives in the Republican Party. The mainstream media has been fairly obsessed with the topic for a generation.

Arthur Brooks wrote this article for National Review Online on the influence of secular Americans on the Left in general and the Democratic Party in particular. Here's an excerpt:

Secular liberals, and especially those who are explicitly nonbelievers, have become a major force on the political left. Researchers have found, for example, that delegates to the Democratic National Convention — the politically-active folks who nominate the Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency — are more than twice as likely to be completely secular as the population-at-large.

John Murtha: The Surge Is Working

Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, who this summer characterize hope for the surge's success as "delusional," is back from a visit to Iraq.

And he says the surge is working.

Of course, the Democrats already pirouetted away from their earlier "the surge won't work" line to "It doesn't matter if the surge works" -- a line they can take refuge in no matter what happens in Iraq.

But it's still heart-warming to hear the lion of the anti-war Left come back and recognize reality.

Republican Govenors Association In Town

The Republican Governors Association is having its annual conference in Orange County starting tomorrow and running through Friday at the posh St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach.

There are 22* Republican governors in the U.S.  Among the topics in their breakout sessions:

Topic 1: “Covering America: The Future of Property Casualty Insurance”

Topic 2: “Preparing America: Staying Ahead of the Next Disaster”

Topic 4: “Connecting America: The Future of Telecom/Cable”

Topic 5: “Teaching America: The Technological Revolution in Education”

* includes Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Congressional Approval Sinks To 20%

Generally speaking, I'm not one for posting polls-as-news. But my Left blogger friend Dan Chmielewski of TheLiberalOC is an inveterate poll poster, so I thought I'd present this latest Gallup poll in a gesture of imitation:

Congress’ Approval Rating at 20%; Bush’s Approval at 32%

PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup's latest poll finds only one in five Americans approving of the job Congress is doing at this time. The public's rating of Congress had shown slight improvements in recent months, but the current rating is down again and is among the lowest that Gallup has ever measured dating back to 1974. Americans' assessment of the job President George W. Bush is doing is also quite negative and has shown little change over the past two months, with about one in three Americans expressing approval of him.

Congressional Job Approval
According to the Nov. 11-14, 2007, poll, 20% of Americans approve of the way Congress is handling its job, while 69% disapprove. Congressional job approval ratings tied their historical low point -- an 18% reading in 1992 -- in August of this year. Americans' ratings of Congress showed some improvement in the following months, reaching 29% in mid-October before falling back again this month.

You can read the rest of the story here.

Rick Reiff In DC: Cox Unlikely To Ever Re-Enter Politics

OC Business Journal Executive Editor Rick Reiff penned this column for the current edition of OCBJ, containing observations from his recent trip to the nation's capital:

Finding OC In D.C.

Washington, D.C., is a political amusement park—visual, bustling, entertaining. These days it’s transitioning, from Bushland to, it is widely presumed, Hillary Adventure.

A war rages and the economy teeters, but the government is on autopilot. What Congress debates—funding for “children,” a resolution condemning Armenian genocide, a censure of Rush Limbaugh—is prelude to next year’s main event, the presidential election.

Some other observations from my recent visit to the nation’s capital:

Bobby Jindal to be the next Governor of Louisiana

This is not exactly Orange County related, but I think it is worth mentioning on this blog to highlight the ongoing effort of the GOP to recruit and promote minority candidates within our party.  This is one of the few successes:

The result just came in with 92% of ballots counted, Congressman Bobby Jindal, an Indian-American Republican is carrying 53% of the vote against 11 other candidates - enough to win outright and avoid a runoff in November.  Democrat Kathleen Blanco, the incumbent governor, opted not to run for re-election after her disastrous handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

This is certainly an impressive win for Jindal as he demonstrated his ability to attract votes from different segments of the state, instead of relying on one ethnic bloc of voters, not that Louisiana is known to have a large Indo-American community anyway.

When Congressman Jindal takes office in January, he will become America's youngest governor in office, at the age of 36.  He will also be Louisiana's first non-white governor since Reconstruction.

Update From Oakland Airport: Port of Oakland Finallly Apologizes

H/T: Michelle Malkin

The Oakland Tribune and The San Francisco Chronicle have reported that officials from Oakland International Airport have apologized for their actions in delaying the troops on the tarmac for several hours.

Earlier today Malkin talked about the incident in an interview with Fox News.

Update from Oakland Airport: Hill Top Aviation Official: "You Remember the Guy from My Lai?"

Later today, I was able to get a hold of an official at Hill Top Aviation, a tenant of Oakland Airport. He told me that his company stationed military passengers 400 yards away from the terminal at the directive of operations officials at the Oakland Airport. However, he also told me that it was his company who communicated to the Airport the inability to get a definitive answer from Airlift Command and the chartered Airline whether the personnel were properly screened per TSA regulations.  Now, it’s also important to note that he could have contacted TSA directly whether they had met these conditions, but from the conversations we had he indicated that he didn't.

He also said that earlier on that same day a smaller group of troops were able to enter a sterile area.

Update from Oakland Airport: TSA Spokesman: "Absolutely No Reasons why they couldn't enter Airport."

Update: I just got off the phone with TSA spokesman Christopher White who called to tell  me the following:

There are absolutely no reasons why those military personnel couldn't enter the Airport, as they met all of the TSA screening requirements. He also reiterated that as a former member of the military he is appalled by what happened at Oakland Airport.

He then sent me the following statement:

On Thursday, September 27, 2007 North American Airlines flight #1777 carrying soldiers and marines landed at Oakland International Airport from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) where passengers were screened by U.S. Customs upon landing from overseas.

At no time were service men and women prohibited from entering the sterile area of Oakland International Airport by TSA personnel or regulations. Airport officials, the airline and ground handling company coordinated the arrival and all services associated with this flight, including refueling, refreshing supplies on the aircraft, maintenance checks and all passenger services.

TSA personnel across the country have worked closely with airports to ensure the utmost care when handling flights involving our troops and will continue to facilitate their movement to the greatest extent possible while ensuring a high level of security for all travelers.

Christopher White

Office of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs

Transportation Security Administration

Update from Oakland Airport: TSA and Port Authority Culpable of Marine Mistreatment

According to press release issued Sunday by representatives at Oakland Airport,  the fault in the mistreatment of the Marines falls with the ground handling company, responsible for taking care of the needs of passengers. Doing some investigating of my own, I was told that this company is named Hilltop Aviation, a tenant of Oakland Airport contracted from a chartered North American Airlines Flight. I was also told that unlike other military chartered flights earlier in the day, Hilltop bungled the communication process with Airport officials and ultimately came to the determination that they didn't meet TSA screening requirements, forcing a 3-hour lay-over because the passengers had weapons on board. Like earlier flights, they allege, had military personnel been TSA screened they would be brought to a public area where they could rest and meet with friends and family.

I remain a skeptic of this story because the original email contends that the passengers on board surpassed TSA requirements when they were screened by US Customs, removed the bolts from their firearms, and were given a re-boarding pass after they were allowed to stay in JFK's terminal.

Update from Oakland Airport: Port of Oakland Response to Marine Mistreatment

H/T: Michelle Malkin

Michelle Malkin has just obtained a response from  Oakland's port authority. Instead of taking responsibility for the incident, they blame it on the lack of communication of the Airliner chartered by the military.

Thank you so much for sharing with me the information you had regarding the incident at the airport. As you know sometimes the way things appear initially regarding an incident turn out to be different after looking into the details. We checked into this once you had called me and raised your public relations concern, so again thank you. Here is the background information I have about the incident as well as the procedures and policies that affected decision-making that day.

In the case of North American Airlines Flight #1777, a military charter flight that arrived at OAK on Thursday, September 27, aircraft parking and passenger service arrangements were coordinated and approved in advance between the ground handling company and Airside Operations. The airport received information that the passengers were not TSA-screened
at their originating airport and that weapons were on-board the aircraft. Together with our security partners, the airport made a decision to park this aircraft at a remote location on the tarmac. It is the responsibility of the charter airline that its operation is compliant with TSA screening requirements.

Oakland's Disgust for the Military

Jeff Solsby's story concerning the mistreatment of US Marines at Oakland International is eye-opening. Why would TSA (Transportation Security Administration) employees go as far to not allow military personnel inside an airport terminal? What would be there motive?

I have a two part theory. The first is based on a similar event that occurred in 1999, and the second entails the politics within the TSA.

As everybody knows, the Bay Area remains one of the purest bastions of anti-war liberalism. During Vietnam ,UC Berkeley became known as one of the most active in campus protests and more recently the school's student senate has banned military recruiters.  However, a little known fact in recent history is the Bay Area residents' opposition to Operation Urban Warrior.

In 1999, US Marines conducted a series of special tactical exercises in Oakland meant to prepare their forces for urban style combat. In what was supposed to take place at San Francisco's Presidio Army Base ,but cancelled after pressure from environmental groups, then Mayor Jerry Brown finally allowed the Marines to practice in Oakland as it would bring an estimated 4.5 million dollars of much needed revenue to the city.

While urban war strategists explained that such exercises were compulsory since 70 percent of the world's population will be concentrated in cities adjacent to large bodies of water by 2025, that's not how local media and activists portrayed the story. Slingshot Magazine and Socialist Action each characterized the exercises as an invasion of Oakland and an occupation, and accused Marines of devising a strategy to suppress the world's urban poor.

 Among other things, Slingshot accused the US Marines of being the imperial arm of US foreign policy, and praised efforts at obstructing the morale of military personnel.

Oakland residents have already held one protest against the wargames, and others are planned. Some creative souls have suggested huge toddler birthday parties on the beach prior to the invasion, or topless swimming to distract the marines as they come ashore. Another idea is to assist the marines in their simulated urban warfare by creating massive traffic jams around the exercises, such as those that would surely result from any invasion. One action group plans to confront Mayor Brown at all of his public appearances and drown out his public addresses with a recording of The Marine Hymn. Other creative ideas are of course welcome during the occupation.

Oakland Airport to U.S. Marines: You're Not Worthy

This morning I received an email from the brother of a Marine in the unit referenced below.  The email speaks for itself and raises some disturbing questions.  While outside OC, it's an issue that is worth sharing.  The text below is unedited, although I have removed the name of the Marine who authored the email:

Marines and Soldiers Returning from Iraq not allowed into Oakland terminal

On September 27th 204 Marines and soldiers who were returning from Iraq were not allowed into the passenger terminal at Oakland International Airport.Instead they had to deplane about 400 yards away from the terminal where the extra baggage trailers were located.

This was the last scheduled stop for fuel and food prior to flying to Hawaii where both were based.  The trip started in Kuwait on September 26th with a rigorous search of checked and carry on baggage by US Customs. All baggage was x-rayed with a "backscatter" machine AND each bag was completely emptied and hand searched. After being searched, checked bags were marked and immediately placed in a secure container. Carry on bags were then x rayed again to ensure no contraband items were taken on the plane.  While waiting for the bus to the airport, all personnel were in quarantined in a fenced area and were not allowed to leave.

Ken Grubbs Wordsmithing For Chris Cox At SEC

Saw this item in Rick Reiff's OC Insider column in the OC Business Journal:

It's an OC reunion in DC -- Ken Grubbs, erstwhile OC Register editorial chief, has enlisted with former OC Rep. Chris Cox, now head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as his speechwriter.

Grubbs, who left the Reg in 1996, notes this is his fourth stint in Washington and "when this is up, I hope there's a place for me in south coastal OC"...

I hope so, too. It would be good to have Ken back in OC.

Loretta Sanchez Accuses Petraeus of Lying about Progress in Iraq

Hat Tip to Duane Patterson at HughHewitt.com:

Not to be outdone on the outrage scale by her South Florida colleague, Bob Wexler, Orange County, California's Sanchez, the very last person in the House of Representatives that you would expect to be invited to a gathering of Mensa, concluded the Joint House hearing with General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker.
Continue Reading at HughHewitt.com: "Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez Implies General Petraeus Is A Liar."

House Democrats To Petraeus & Crocker: We're Not Going To Believe Anything You Say

I'm watching the testimony of Gen. David Petraeus and Iraq Ambassador David Crocker.

Actually, they haven't begun testifying. They're sitting at their table listening to Representatives Ike Skelton
and Tom Lantos tell them, in effect, they have already made up their minds that the Iraq War is unwinnable and they are uninterested in anything Petraeus and Crocker have to say.

I wouldn't be surprised if Skelton and Lantos spend the rest of the hearing with their hands over their ears going "I'm not listening! I'm not listening! Wa-wa-wa-wa!"

Rep. Duncan Hunter and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen have made an admirable and effective push-back against defeatist efforts to pre-emptively discredit Petraeus and Crockerr's testimony, which includes this despicable full-page ad MoveOn.org took out in the New York Times today.

As a (unsurprisingly) un-named Democratic Senator told Politico.com last Friday:

"'No one wants to call [Petraeus] a liar on national TV,' noted one Democratic senator, who spoke on the condition on anonymity. 'The expectation is that the outside groups will do this for us.'

I'd like to know what anti-war Rep. Lroetta Sanchez has to say about MoveOn.org's ad.

UPDATE (2:17 p.m.): I called Rep. Sanchez's office seeking her comment on the MoveOn.org ad, was routed to the press secretary and left a message. We'll see what happens.

FOLLOW-UP: Is Disney Putting Path to 9/11 on the Path to Nowhere?

UPDATE: Wall Street Journal Commentary - A Real 9/11 Cover-Up, By Cyrus Nowrasteh

On the eve of the sixth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Flight 93, media is abuzz with more 9/11 controversy.

Last week the LA Times ran an article in which it interviewed respected filmmaker Cyrus Nowrasteh about last year's hit television miniseries, Path to 9/11. In that interview and numerous interviews since, Nowrasteh asserts that an unnamed executive at Disney told him, "if Hillary weren't running for president, this wouldn't be a problem."

In my own interview with Nowrasteh, he expanded on his frustration that Disney refuses to release the DVD of Path to 9/11; a movie the public deserves to see. Nowrasteh asserts, "There is no rational reason for this DVD to not be out and I hope [Disney] will release it." He continued, "For all the attacks on Fahrenheit 9/11, for all of the attacks on the Reagan miniseries, both of those were released and they are both available on DVD. It's only The Path to 9/11 that has been buried."

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Disney Mickeying Around With Distribution of Path to 9/11?

Earlier today, I spoke with Cyrus Nowrasteh, writer and producer of last year’s network television miniseries, The Path to 9/11, about the controversy surrounding the film’s DVD (non)release.

As you may recall, Mr. Nowrasteh was at the center of the political firestorm created when Bill Clinton, Sandy Berger, and others took issue with the film’s portrayal of their handling of Osama bin Laden in the mid-1990s.

In the days leading up to the film’s premier, leading Democrats called on Disney to either pull the film or edit it in a manner that cast a favorable light on the efforts of the Clinton administration. In a letter to Disney chief Robert Iger, five senators (including Red County favorites Charles Schumer and Harry Reid) cited the Communications Act of 1934 that grants ABC with a free broadcast license “predicated on the fundamental understanding to act as a trustee of the public airwaves in serving the public interest.”

Clearly the letter was a thinly veiled threat to pull ABC’s broadcast license if the network did not accommodate the former administration’s efforts to censor the project. Disney brass not only buckled to the demands of Clinton’s surrogates, but appears to have permanently sidelined the film’s distribution.

Cyrus Nowrasteh is an award winning writer, director, and producer. In addition to Path to 9/11, his credits include Into the West, La Femme Nikita, and The Day Reagan was Shot. Mr. Nowrasteh was also a speaker at this year’s OC Liberty Film Festival where he discussed the pressures that were brought to bear by powerful political allies of the previous administration, the death threats made on him and his family, and the challenges of making a film in a highly charged political environment.

Mr. Nowrasteh is adamant that his film offers a fair and accurate account of the events that led to the attacks on 9/11. Cyrus explains, “This was a very balanced miniseries. We cover 8 ½ years and unfortunately for [my critics] many of those years were during the Clinton administration. We had the ’93 attack [on the World Trade Center], the two attacks on the embassies, Kobar Towers, the USS Cole… so we deal with what happened and that obviously made members of the Clinton administration, Sandy Berger, Madeleine Albright, the ex-President himself upset. So they launched a coordinated, concerted campaign to discredit the movie and me.”

When contemplating the future of The Path to 9/11, Nowrasteh is cautiously optimistic and is considering a variety of alternatives for getting the DVD into the hands of a curious public.

Catch Nowrasteh on Hugh Hewitt’s radio program this afternoon on KRLA 870 at 5:00 p.m. and on the O’Reilly Factor on Fox News at 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. PST.

Further reading: Full text of today’s Los Angeles Times article by Martin Miller here.

Stay tuned for updates…

Just Wondering

I am sure most folks know that the GOP Presidential primary is now by congressional district rather than by state-wide vote.  So a candidate can win delegates in various CD's even if he doesn't win the entire state vote.  The Republican Party's move was designed to draw more candidates, and interest, to the state.  That, along with the earlier primary, seems to be working.  It will be a lot tougher for someone to 'win' California--meaning a clean sweep of all delegates--and much easier for candidates polling in second and third place to win delegates.

That said, it seems like the California MSM is still giving us only state-wide polling information on the candidates.  This is akin to the polling on presidential races being done nationally, rather than by state.  Basically, it is somewhat interesting for picking up trends, but pretty much useless for determining who the winner will be.  For that, you have to look at the electoral college impact of the polling--which must be done by state.  Similarly, here, it seems, the polling must be done by CD in order to give us a true picture of how candidates are doing in California.  This will be a boon, I imagine, for pollsters--but is it being done yet?  I haven't heard.

I'm wondering what people think is actually happening in various regions in the state, especially Orange County.  Giuliani is up in state wide polling, but who else would you say gets delegates from the Golden State?  And where will they come from?  How do you see the CD's in the OC breaking?  Does anyone want to make any specific CD predictions at this point? 

Just a few Friday questions for you.

Religion, Demographics and Red & Blue America

This isn't an OC-specific topic, although it applies here as much as anywhere. I read an intriguing opinion article entitled "Our Religious Destiny" in today's Wall Street Journal on a topic I've been familiar with for some time, and wanted to share at least an excerpt with readers as food for thought and discussion:

If you picked 100 adults out of the population who attended their house of worship nearly every week or more often, they would have 223 children among them, on average, according to the 2006 General Social Survey. Among 100 people who attended less than once per year or never, you would find just 158 kids. This 41% fertility gap between religious and secular people is especially meaningful because people tend to worship more or less like their parents. According to data collected in 1999 by Gallup, 60% of adults who were taken to church at least once per month as children grew up to attend at least this often; only 15% stopped attending as adults.

Rep. John Campbell One Of Few In Fight Against Earmarks

H/T to the FlashReport for pointing me to the this Bob Novak column about the frustrating eforts of House GOP reformers like Rep. John Campbell to rein in earmarks. It looks like too many GOP House members are still behaving as if the November elections didn't happen, and the new Democratic majority (with some exceptions) was all talk when it comes to earmarks.

Campbell's efforts in the House are basically a continuation of his focus on the Assembly and state Senate: reducing government spending and reining in the size and scope of government. He's smart and articulate and unafraid to make waves, which makes him well suited to the task.

Here are some more links to Rep. Campbell in action and in words on the subject -- here, here and here -- courtesy of the FlashReport.

"A War We Just Might Win"

A friend e-mailed this to me. It's an op-ed in today's New York Times by two defense scholars who have been critical of the Bush Administration's conduct of the Iraq War. It's not an OC-specific issue, but after yet another anti-war editorial today from the defeatists at the OC Register, I wanted to submit this for our readers' consideration. I hope the weak sisters and defeatists in the Congress who seem poised to press the bug-out button will also read it and perhaps re-consider their haste to run for the exit in a panicked rush.

A War We Just Might Win
By MICHAEL E. O’HANLON and KENNETH M. POLLACK

VIEWED from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal. The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility. Yet now the administration’s critics, in part as a result, seem unaware of the significant changes taking place.

House Democrats Find A Government Agency They Want To Cut

Who says Democrats only want to expand the size of government? According to this item from today's Political Diary (the best deal around for political junkies at just $3.95 a month), Congressional Democrats have found one government agency their interested in reducing (pardon the departure from OC politics):

Fox Meets Henhouse
Democrats brought the bill appropriating money for the Labor Department to the House floor Tuesday night and promptly ran into an embarrassing amendment. It seems every Labor Department enforcement agency is due for a large budget increase, save for the one small $47 million agency that oversees union anti-corruption efforts and collects reports from unions on how they spend their members' dues money.