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Napolitano-DHS Terror Report Is No Way to Treat Veterans
Tweet Share on Facebook April 16, 2009 Comment (28)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
In February, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testified before Congress, and according to news accounts at the time, she purposely did not use the word "terrorism" at all, especially regarding any attacks against the United States by militant Islamic extremists. At the time, the Associated Press reported that she was the first chief of Homeland Security to drop the word "terror" from remarks to Congress.
So it was a surprise yesterday when the Huffington Post published an unclassified report that Napolitano sent to local law enforcement officials around the United States, warning them that "the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks." Other parts of the report mention veterans as potential recruits to terrorist cells as well. This is the thanks they get from a grateful nation? Apparently not.
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Tea Party Day Is Good News for the Future of Conservatives, Republicans
Tweet Share on Facebook April 15, 2009 Comment (57)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
It's Tea Party Day in all 50 states, and 300 to 500 protests against out-of-control government spending are planned worldwide. Today's Wall Street Journal explains that these protests are not the result of organizers at the Republican National Committee, or any political action committee, or even some think tank: it's all been done by regular folks using Internet, E-mail, text messages, Facebook, and chat rooms. The Tea Party movement has completely organized itself without any outside help.
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Condoleezza Rice, the First Member of the All-Male Augusta National Golf Club?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 14, 2009 Comment (6)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Today my golf partner and I were scheduled to place dead last—our usual finish—at our local Ladies' Opening Day tournament, but we were rained out. I took up golf for the first time two years ago, and so I read with interest fellow new golfer Condoleezza Rice's firsthand account of being in the crowd at the Masters:
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Obama Sends Wrong Message to Osama bin Laden With Slow Action on Pirates
Tweet Share on Facebook April 13, 2009 Comment (12)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
President Obama was very lucky that the Navy Seals were able to rescue Capt. Richard Phillips from the pirates. The Obama administration's lack of decisive action was sending a dangerous signal to our enemies, but then, just in time, the Seals ended the hostage situation successfully. I've been reading this morning how pleased the White House is with the president's lack of saber-rattling, but I was very concerned with the message American inaction was sending—especially to Osama bin Laden.
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Paula Deen Recipes Send Wrong Message to an Obese America
Tweet Share on Facebook April 10, 2009 Comment (58)Our national struggle with obesity is all over the news. Hardly a day goes by without a headline, including the one this week that 1 in 5 American 4-year-olds is now obese. In Washington, D.C., alone, there are 60,000 obese children, according to the Centers for Disease Control. I'm sure there will be calls for government programs and federal intervention to fight this epidemic, and while those might be helpful, if you ask me, what's really needed is a cultural shift.
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Barney Frank, Asked About Economic Crisis, Blames Everyone Else, Including Questioner
Tweet Share on Facebook April 9, 2009 Comment (10)Earlier this week, Democrat Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts gave a speech at the Kennedy School at Harvard University, and took questions afterward. What ensued is the talk of the talkers—both online and on television—and I thought my readers might like to take a look and see for themselves.
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Obama Channels Pelosi in Polarizing the Country
Tweet Share on Facebook April 8, 2009 Comment (23)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Most folks I know like Barack Obama. Seems like a great guy. They want him to succeed. But more and more I'm hearing how they are very, very worried about the level of spending—and the resulting debt—he's proposing. Michael Boskin, former head of the Council of Economic Advisors and an economist at Stanford, ran the numbers and wrote in the Wall Street Journal last week that Obama's spending would cost middle-class families well below the president's threshold for tax hikes upwards of $200,000 in higher taxes over the next 10 years. That's without a tax hike. Just service on the debt alone. No wonder people are concerned. That's a second mortgage for most people.
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Michael Steele, Newt Gingrich and Republicans at a Crossroads
Tweet Share on Facebook April 7, 2009 Comment (15)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The Republican Party is at a crossroads. In one direction: a well-marked road to retrenchment and a return to the glory days of our parents' era of the Republican Party. In the other direction: an unmarked trail through the woods toward reform and rebuilding in the difficult and dangerous 21st century.
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Islam Is a Religion of Peace? Fine, but Let's See Some Proof
Tweet Share on Facebook April 6, 2009 Comment (47)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
This week, President Obama is reaching out to the Muslim world. He's trying to change Muslims' perceptions of the United States, but it's just as important for Muslims to change Americans' perceptions of them. Mainstream Muslims who seek peace were drowned out a long time ago by radical clerics who support jihad. The time has come for reasonable, peace-loving Muslims to step forward. And it's time for the rest of us to listen to them.
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Steroid-free Albert Pujols Returns Baseball to Its Wholesome Origins
Tweet Share on Facebook April 3, 2009 Comment (25)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Sunday is baseball's Opening Day. With the steroid scandal continuing to unfold—the commissioner and the owners seem to be blind to the massive cost of the scandal to the future of the game—I thought it might be an opportunity to talk to our daughters about steroids and their effects on baseball, from the records with an asterisk in the Hall of Fame to individual players' health.
