Daily Briefing 03/08/10

California and Greece present similar tales of political and economic dysfunction. Common thread: The destruction of state budgets caused by public sector unions. Conditions coming soon to Canada and all other welfare states with their bloated and inefficient government bureaucracies. Via Instapundit.

The Left and the media had a great deal of fun and opportunity for self-righteousness when the Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at President Bush. That event, as they saw it, was due to the negative way that foreigners viewed the United States because of Bush, an image that was sure to undergo a 180 degree turn for the better once Barack Obama was elected. It will be interesting to see how those same folks will react to this.

This is an unbelievable story. The son of one of the founders of the Hamas terrorist gang found peace in an Israeli prison. He converted to Christianity and also became an agent for the Shin Bet Israeli internal security service. When asked whether he considers his father to be a fanatic, his response is telling, if very controversial. Sounding like Mark Steyn in what can be seen as a call for an internal Islamic “Reformation,” he explains, “It doesn’t matter if he’s a terrorist or a traditional Muslim. At the end of the day a traditional Muslim is doing the will of a fanatic, fundamentalist, terrorist God. I know this is harsh to say. Most governments avoid this subject. They don’t want to admit this is an ideological war.” “The problem is not in Muslims,” he continues. “The problem is with their God. They need to be liberated from their God. He is their biggest enemy. It has been 1,400 years they have been lied to.” These are not sentiments to endear him to people for whom apostasy is a capital offense.

Wall Street donations support Democrats over Republicans—by a lot. Recently, the same firms have given somewhat less to the Democrats, though they still give more to the Democrats than to the Republicans. Which the media reports as “Wall Street Shifting Political Contributions to Republicans.”

An interesting immigration case. Judge grants asylum to German family. Germany criminalizes home schooling. The German authorities have threatened to take away the family’s children, so the family has sought the help of an American home schooling network in Tennessee.