[image: Daily Caller]<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/158168398b8aab9769767caab8c7a8e8?pa=593209444> January 26, 2010 Your Daily Caller Profile<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/1b2b795ab2594314c36e3c6a213ad81b?pa=593209444> Star Wars and health care compared -- Did water-boarding save 1,500 American lives? -- Obama proposes spending freeze, Dems freak out -- White House admits to transparency issues -- There's a new journal of ideas in town -- Thousands of pot shops to close 1.) Obama-Wan Kenobi to rescue health care from dark side<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/5f967be37f8fbe1544adbb05b3738421?pa=593209444>-- Congressional Dems will work to pass the Senate version of the health care bill "with some changes to accommodate House Democrats," according to the AP, which calls the party's new plan its "last, best hope." Coincidentally, 'Star Wars,' the late '70s space opera by George Lucas, was subtitled "A New Hope," which is similar to the health care bill in that it places an awful lot of weight on an emotional abstraction. Passage of the bill, if it's to be done at all, will be done through reconciliation, a process that "would allow a majority of 51 senators to amend their bill to address some of the major substantive concerns raised by the House. That would circumvent the need for a 60-vote majority to hold off Republican delaying tactics." Unfortunately, there is no analogous narrative element in 'Star Wars,' but it's probably safe to say that passing health care with (or without) reconciliation is about as likely as Han Solo passing a roadside sobriety test 2.) Sheikh Osama warned you <http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/19646b09d3f9ddf09784ea2d1c6b28ae?pa=593209444>-- "On the night of August 9, 2006," writes former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen, British police launched "a series of raids in a northeast London suburb that led to the arrest of two dozen al Qaeda terrorist suspects," as well as the discovery of "a USB thumb drive in the pocket of one of the men with security details for Heathrow airport, and information on seven transatlantic flights that were scheduled to take off within hours of each other." Five of the flights were headed to U.S. cities, and had the CIA not passed on information gained in interrogation to the British police, asserts Thiessen, 1,500 passengers might have died over the Atlantic Ocean. This anecdote comes from 'Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack,' Thiessen's forthcoming book from Regnery Publishing. An exclusive excerpt can be read on our site. 3.) Pseudo-spending cuts on the horizon, White House says<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/733aef55577344b9127ba38a48824e6c?pa=593209444>-- Excitement over the news that Pres. Obama would like to institute a three-year discretionary spending freeze was sullied by the president's explanation of exactly what he'd like to see frozen. According to The Daily Caller's Gautham Nagesh, "some areas would see cuts while others, including education and investments related to job creation, would realize increases." Exempt from the freeze would be the usual biggies, like entitlement spending and debt servicing. And other stuff. But despite the fact that Obama doesn't seem to be asking for much--a double sawbuck here, a Sacajawea there--liberals are not happy. Not happy at all. “This may be the stupidest thing ever,” wrote Jed Lewison, a contributing editor at DailyKos, reports The Daily Caller's Jon Ward.<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/bb96377278dbe32d2e3ad16477580d9a?pa=593209444> 4.) Obama almost apologizes for lack of transparency <http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/320a9854eeb3c9a8d41b3eff4abc850a?pa=593209444>-- "It’s an ugly process and it looks like there are a bunch of back room deals," Pres. Obama said to ABC's Diane Sawyer in response to an interview question about transparency and health care. In other news, it "looks like" unemployment is above 10 percent, but that might not be the case at all; it's an ugly number and it's really hard to say exactly what it all means. 5.) The Daily Caller welcomes World Affairs <http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/6eb9fb8a1b1df329c6caaadd901ac2b9?pa=593209444>-- New to the online neighborhood is World Affairs, "a journal of ideas and debate" with a focus on foreign policy. Take a minute to peruse its web debut, and you'll find Martha Bayles writing on China's reaction to 'Avatar' ("The Chinese government just did what some Americans would like to do: pull the plug on Avatar and replace it with more patriotic fare. Only in China, 'patriotic' means a state-sponsored biopic of Confucius"), Andrew Bacevich on power worship ("In American politics, Mount Sinai is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, with the principal inhabitant of that address viewed as a quasi-divine figure"), and many, many other notable perspectives. 6.) LA pot dispensaries to close <http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/fb6d8da8a94570793525a163af9bc0f6?pa=593209444>-- As many as 1,000 medicinal marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles could close under a new city ordinance that would see the number of dispensaries capped at a paltry 70. While dispensaries could file an injunction, the city could also file its own injunction against the dispensaries (this is California, after all). According to the AP, which apparently has a sense of humor about these things, "the outlook for medical marijuana in Los Angeles remains hazy." <http://oascentralnx.dailycaller.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/email.dailycaller.com/59320944412645116...@right1>
Liberal progressives’ dissatisfaction with White House forces Democratic divide<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/74747c041870819ec3bd1e7e60413020?pa=593209444>-- Tension between liberal progressives and the White House ran high over the weekend when MSNBC personality Ed Schultz revealed Saturday that he had called White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs a 'piece of s***,' prompting Gibbs to curse at him in return Tea Party leaders release list of targeted races at FreedomWorks summit<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/86e62a8d446ef0f52d4549290211f93a?pa=593209444>-- More than 60 Tea Party leaders from across the country — originating from more than two dozen states — gathered over the weekend in Washington, D.C., to develop 2010 midterm plans at a leadership summit hosted by former Republican Rep. Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks UN global warming claims melt faster than Himalayan glaciers<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/1b79a488ce5a3c584227586433dce3af?pa=593209444>-- Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton in a phone interview from San Francisco Monday, told The Daily Caller: 'It would be surprising if the IPCC were not political. Every piece of the United Nations system is highly politicized,' Bolton said, adding that 'Those who have overstated on climate change have done themselves a grave disservice' T. Boone Pickens: Don’t let health care overshadow much-needed energy legislation<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/689a34e605f01176c1860112b6719630?pa=593209444>-- Since summer 2008, I have been spending a considerable amount of my time and money helping voters understand the dangers of our continuing dependence on foreign oil. When oil prices exploded to $147 per barrel, importing oil was on the lips of every candidate for every public office from city council to president of the United States S.E. Cupp’s Diary: Thanks for the directions to Easy Street, Plouffe<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/2494f888497155f5b070495d225d97aa?pa=593209444>-- While picking up some Annie’s white cheddar mac & cheese, paper towels and pomegranate juice at the grocery store, I saw a W Magazine cover with a half-naked, purring Rihanna on it. The caption read, 'The pop princess proves looking hot is the best revenge.' If this isn’t the death rattle of modern feminism I think our necrologist needs a hearing aid Jim Zumwalt: Iran makes ‘mincemeat’ out of U.S. intelligence<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/551daed30614dcea2195a46af40319f1?pa=593209444>-- It was described as 'the most successful strategic deception in the history of warfare.' During World War II’s Operation Mincemeat, the man at the center of the plot never knew he was—having died months earlier by his own hand Lenny McAllister: Working on Obama's post-game<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/82b22a6ec18bfbe86d25c8e16933663d?pa=593209444>-- In 2008, President Obama was primed to unify the nation as both post-racial and post-partisan. In 2009, neither happened. In 2010, he must re-establish what brought him to office, starting with a unifying State of the Union address Mark Judge: Calling out the media's liberal apologists<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/7d5603ca1ec986535dc1e7df50170585?pa=593209444>-- When did journalists become such pathetic cowards? Although hacks have always pushed their personal biases, it wasn’t that long ago that they would often challenge those biases when faced with facts Unsubscribe<http://go.madmimi.com/opt_out?fe=1&pact=593209444&amx=140393973>| Send Us Your Feedback<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/80c08448eed542859a425524b78bdf6f?pa=593209444>| Terms of Use<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/7b93a7a0f22407908a112c1174657104?pa=593209444>| Privacy Policy<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/54225400a3dfbef313ce6005e154d9fa?pa=593209444>| View Web Version <http://mim.io/16c02?fe=1&pact=593209444> | Forward to Friend<http://go.madmimi.com/forward/593209444?amx=140393973> ©2010 The Daily Caller | 1720 I St. NW | Suite 510 | Washington DC | 20006 To ensure that you continue receiving our emails, please add us to your address book or safe list. Powered by Mad Mimi®<http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/ac4b12a18b3fe99b568dead0f0342cbb?pa=593209444> -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
