PrairiePundit

Robert Samuelson: ... It was once believed that the crisis of "subprime" mortgages -- loans to weaker borrowers -- would be limited, because these loans represent only 12 percent of all home mortgages. Even better, they were widely held, diluting losses to individual banks and investors. Wrong. Subprime mortgage losses (20 percent are delinquent) triggered a full-blown financial crisis. Confidence evaporated, because subprime loans were embedded in complex securities whose values and ownership were hard to determine. Similar doubts afflicted other bonds. Demand for all these securities shriveled. Lenders hoarded cash and favored safe U.S. Treasuries. Because investment banks and others relied on short-term debt (a.k.a. "leverage"), a loss of confidence and credit threatened failure. Lehman Brothers failed. The financial system had overborrowed and underestimated risk. It was once believed that American consumers could borrow and spend more, because higher home v...

Rich Lowry: ... Warren supports partnership benefits for gay couples, but not marriage. According to a recent Newsweek poll, he's among two-thirds of Americans against gay marriage: About a third of Americans favor gay marriage, a third favor civil unions but not marriage, and a third favor no legal recognition. Even Barack Obama - the liberal paladin whose inauguration allegedly will be besmirched by Warren's presence - says he opposes gay marriage, although apparently few of his supporters believe him (for good reason). Warren is a particular provocation to the left after the passage of Proposition 8 in California. The ballot initiative - supported by Warren - amended the California Constitution to define marriage as a union between man and woman. The vote was necessary only because the California Supreme Court had imposed gay marriage on the state earlier this year. As in so many other culture-war battles, the traditionalists were the ones in a fundamentally defensive p...

From the Houston Chronicle: Plane with only Texas girl aboard crashes, but child is OK Grand dad started the plane but was not on board.

Ralph Peters: ... What have been Israel's "crimes?" Not "stealing Palestinian land," but making that land productive, while exposing the incompetence and sloth of Arab culture. Israel's crime isn't striking back at terror, but demonstrating, year after year, that a country in the Middle East can be governed without resort to terror. Israel's crime hasn't been denying Arab rights, but insisting on human rights for women and minorities. Israel's crime has been making democracy work where tyranny prevailed for 5,000 years. Israel's crime has been survival against overwhelming odds, while legions of Arab nationalists, Islamist extremists and Western leftists want every Jew dead. But Israel's greatest crime was to expose the global cult of victimhood, to prove that hard work, fortitude and courage could overcome even history's grimmest disaster. Was it a crime to hand Gaza back to Palestinian authorities, to give peace a chan...

NY Times: Somalia ’s Islamist militants, long a bane of the country’s weakening government, are now officially fighting one another. On Sunday, a powerful, newly militarized Islamist group declared a “holy war” against other Islamist factions, and it seems to have the muscle to back up its intentions. Over the weekend, the group, the Ahlu-Sunna Wal-Jama, killed more than 10 fighters from the Shabab , a rival Islamist faction known as one of Somalia’s toughest. The group issued a statement calling on its followers to “prepare themselves for jihad against these heretic groups,” referring to some of the other, more hard-line Islamist factions, and “to restore stability and harmony in Somalia and achieve a genuine government of national unity.” Many Somalia analysts had been predicting that this would happen: that as Somalia’s transitional government headed toward collapse — it now controls just a few city blocks in a country almost as big as Texas — the Islamist insurgents of varying age...

Jerusalem Post: Conflicting reports emerged Sunday regarding the fate of top Hamas military commander Ahmed Ja'abri, who may have been killed in one of the hundreds of Israeli air strikes against Hamas infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Since Operation Cast Lead began on Saturday, the air force has flown over 300 sorties over the Strip, bombing close to 280 different targets. Palestinian and Israeli sources said that Ja'abri, the overall commander of Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin Kassam, may have been killed in an air strike on a mosque which he frequented. Sources close to Hamas in the Gaza Strip said they could neither confirm nor deny the report. They said that the bodies of many of the victims had yet to be identified and that several bodies were still under the rubbles of demolished buildings. Defense officials said that at least 50 percent of Hamas's underground rocket launchers had been bom...

Israel National News: President Shimon Peres said in a statement released to the media Sunday that it is time for the world to understand that Israel has been more than patient in waiting for the people of Gaza to come to their senses. Detailing all the agony and subsequent fallout of the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza, Peres said, "The story is simple. Israel has left Gaza completely… The passages were open. Money was sent to Gaza. We suggested aid in many ways – economically, medically and otherwise… Still I have not heard until now a single person who could explain to us reasonably: why are they firing rockets against Israel?" He added that in planning the current Operation Cast Lead, the IDF had been "true to its principles: namely, to be precise in its targets and careful not to hit civilian life." He noted that this was a complex problem, because many of the bombs were stored in private houses. "We have contacted the owners of the houses, the people that d...

Sara Carter: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen walked through the streets of Samarra toward the Golden Mosque, where the sounds of prayer have replaced those of explosions and shooting. The admiral, recruited by the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1964 to play basketball, towered over a crowd of young children in ragged clothing who followed him. Forty years after beginning his military career, he is now charged with overseeing 2.2 million troops and two very different theaters of war. "We need to know how to look through the eyes of the people," he told The Washington Times later aboard Air Force II during one of several interviews on a recent a nine-day trip to Germany, Iraq, Afghanistan , Kosovo and Pakistan. "I don't think any plan is to succeed in Iraq or Afghanistan unless we engage with the people, unless we understand who they are and what they need." In Iraq, that understanding has come late. A U.S. decision to invade in 20...

Times: Violent confrontations broke out at the Israeli Embassy in London today as up to 1,500 protesters against Israel's Gaza campaign gathered in a vociferous demonstration. Campaign supporters, Palestinians and British Muslims stood on the pavement of High Street Kensington, west London, and chanted in unison: “Five, six, seven, eight - Israel is a terror state.” Riot police were brought in to control the crowd, some of whom turned violent. Witnesses said some protestors were forcibly removed and others were seen with bloodied faces as violence erupted. One campaigner was seen throwing a bag and what appeared to be a book over some gates towards the embassy and another was seen throwing red liquid. Officers retreated from the immediate scene as the crowds swelled, and some appeared to be trying to break through barriers to access the embassy. The protesters waved Palestinian flags and held up placards, including some which read: “Holocaust in Gaza” and “no peace, no justice....

Telegraph: Members of the Israeli tank corps were ordered to report to barracks as the army built up ground forces along the Gaza Strip's perimeter. It came as warplanes pounded the region for the second day and the death toll approached 300 with more than 700 injured. The Israeli government refused to heed international calls for restraint and vowed to continue until Palestinian militants stopped firing rockets into Israel. Aircraft attempted to isolate the Gaza Strip by bombing the area where dozens of smuggler tunnels have been dug under the border into Egypt. But as the Palestinian death toll in Operation Cast Lead rose, there were no signs militants were stopping their rocket attacks on Israel. One missile reached as far as the centre of the port city of Ashdod – increasing the number Israelis living in range of rocket strike by tens of thousands. Calls from the United Nations Security Council, the European Union and the Pope all went un...

Canadian Press: Venezuela will seize several gold mining concessions that previous governments granted private operators, in a bid to supplement falling oil prices with proceeds from state-controlled gold, President Hugo Chavez said Saturday. Chavez named no specific contracts or companies to be affected, but his mining minister has vowed to next year take over the country's largest mine, Las Cristinas, which is operated by Canadian mining company Crystallex International Corp. "We are taking back some concessions that former governments have given, and whose permits are still held by some rich people," in order to reduce public reliance on oil, Chavez said. Venezuela relies on oil for 94 per cent of exports and roughly half its federal budget, making it unlikely that its largely undeveloped gold reserves could compete. But Chavez said Venezuela must "increase the country's income through non-oil exports," including its world-famous cacao and products from r...

AFP: Israel warned on Sunday it could send ground troops into Gaza as its warplanes again pounded Hamas targets in the enclave where more than 280 Palestinians have been killed in less than two days. Hamas responded by firing rockets the deepest yet into Israel, with one hitting without causing casualties not far from Ashdod, home to Israel's second-largest port some 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Gaza, medics said. In the latest plea for the violence to end, Pope Benedict XVI implored the international community to do "all it can to help the Israelis and Palestinians on this dead-end road... and not to give in to the perverse logic of confrontation and violence but to favour the path of dialogue and negotiations." But Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak vowed to expand the mammoth bombing campaign, unleashed in retaliation for ongoing militant rocket fire. ...

Israel National News: Hizbullah terrorists have vowed to open a second front against Israel in the north in retaliation for the IDF military operation against Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Terrorist chief Hassan Nasrallah issued a statement on Hizbullah's Al-Manar television station Sunday, vowing that "northern Israel will burn as Gaza is burning." Nasrallah rarely appears in person; he speaks via a video hook-up from his hideout due to fears of assassination by Israeli agents, following the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Hizbullah officials were quoted in a number of Arabic-language publications on Saturday warning that they would not permit Israel to attack Gaza without retaliating. Last week seven Katyusha rockets were discovered primed and ready for launching in southern Lebanon, located near the northern border of Israel. All seven were aimed at targets in the Jewish State. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert -- anticipating such a reaction -- warned Hizbullah Saturday night in his s...

Jerusalem Post: Palestinian security officials and area residents say Israeli air strikes are targeting smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border. The tunnels are a major lifeline for Gaza's Hamas rulers. Israel's military declined comment. ... This is the equivalent of destroying Hamas's main supply lines. Other reports said the destruction took about four minutes. Haaretz reports attempts to Palestinians to breach the border with Egypt following the bombing of the tunnels. The Egyptians are gushing more troops to the area to stop the Palestinians from entering.

MNFI: Gen. Ray Odierno, Multi-National Force-Iraq commanding general, awards commander's coins and shares holiday wishes with 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division Soldiers at a Joint Security Station in Ur, Iraq, Dec. 25, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Kimberly Millett. Gen. Odierno has help give America a gift few though possible a year ago--victory in Iraq. We all owe him a debt of gratitude as well as our troops who made it possible.

Mark Steyn: I was at the mall two days before Christmas, and it was strangely quiet. So quiet that, sadly, I was able to hear every word of Kelly Clarkson bellowing over the sound system "My Grown-Up Christmas List." Don't get me wrong – I love seasonal songs. "Winter Wonderland" – I dig it. "Rudolph" – man, he's cool, albeit not as literally as Frosty. But "Grown-Up Christmas List" is one of those overwrought ballads of melismatic bombast made for the "American Idol" crowd. It's all about how the singer now eschews asking Santa for materialist goodies – beribboned trinkets and gaudy novelties – in favor of selfless grown-up stuff like world peace. Which is an odd sentiment to hear at a shopping mall. But it seems to have done the trick. "Retail Sales Plummet," read the Christmas headline in The Wall Street Journal. "Sales plunged across most categories on shrinking consumer spending." Hey, that's gre...

George Will: In 1966, the price of eggs rose to a level that President Lyndon Johnson judged, God knows how, was too high. There were two culprits -- supply and demand -- and Johnson's agriculture secretary told him there was not much that could be done. LBJ, however, was a can-do fellow who directed the U.S. surgeon general to dampen demand by warning the nation about the hazards of cholesterol in eggs. Johnson, the last president with a direct political connection to Franklin Roosevelt, was picked by FDR in 1935 to be Texas director of the New Deal's National Youth Administration. Two years later, Johnson came to Congress, a rung on the ladder that led to glory as Egg Czar. Today, with Washington experiencing a Roosevelt revival, Johnson's spirit, too, goes marching on as the federal government permeates the economy with politics. Or not. In an interview with Business Week, Rep. Barney Frank, the effervescent Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the Financial Services Co...

Thomas Friedman: How many times do we have to see this play before we admit that it always ends the same way? Which play? The one where gasoline prices go up, pressure rises for more fuel-efficient cars, then gasoline prices fall and the pressure for low-mileage vehicles vanishes, consumers stop buying those cars, the oil producers celebrate, we remain addicted to oil and prices gradually go up again, petro-dictators get rich, we lose. I’ve already seen this play three times in my life. Trust me: It always ends the same way — badly. So I could only cringe when reading this article from CNNMoney.com on Dec. 22: “After nearly a year of flagging sales, low gas prices and fat incentives are reigniting America’s taste for big vehicles. Trucks and S.U.V.’s will outsell cars in December ... something that hasn’t happened since February. Meanwhile, the forecast finds that sales of hybrid vehicles are expected to be way down.” Have a nice day. It’s morning again — in Saudi Arabia. Of cours...

NY Times: Israeli airstrikes against Hamas facilities in Gaza continued for a second day on Sunday and the death toll rose to more than 280 as Israel retaliated for rocket fire from the area with its most severe campaign against Palestinian militants in decades. The Palestinian groups again launched barrages of rockets and mortars into Israel on Sunday, extending their reach further than ever before, and the Israeli government approved the emergency call up of thousands of army reservists in preparation for a possible ground operation. Speaking before the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the army “will deepen and broaden its actions as needed” and “will continue to act in Gaza.” Among the 30 or more targets hit Saturday night and early Sunday was the main security compound and prison in Gaza City known as the Saraya; metal workshops throughout Gaza; Hamas military posts; and the house of a chemistry professor from Gaza’s Islamic Universi...

Ynet: "Operation Cast Lead" in Gaza has entered its second day as IDF fighter jets struck some 20 targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to Palestinian sources. Hamas reported that Israeli jets bombarded a mosque in Gaza City and the al-Jazeera television network said that for people were killed in the strike. The offices of Hamas' television station were also hit. The IDF said in a statement that "the army will continue to strike any target that is used as a base for terror against Israeli civilians. Those who launch terrorist attacks against the residents of Israel's southern communities will not find shelter anywhere." ... This is an early report of attacks and it may grow as the day goes on. Those who make the bogus claim that the Israelis are targeting civilians really need to pay attention. If the Israelis wanted to target civilians, the Palestinian casualties would be in the thousands instead of a couple of hundred. When you consid...