Obama Administration: We Remember and Honor

Today on NRO

CHARLES C. W. COOKE: For the sake of the smelt, California farmland lies fallow. Green Drought.

JOHN FUND: Not building the Keystone pipeline is harming the environment, but the zealots don't care. Obama's Keystone Dithering.

QUIN HILLYER: Condensing the primaries tramples the grassroots and ups the risk of picking a flash in the pan. Republicans May Rue Reince's Rules.

KEVIN D. WILLIAMSON: Bearded Sikhs have been fighting America's enemies since World War I. A Soldier in the Great War.

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: The American dream isn't in as bad shape as we think, but there's work to be done. Saving the American Dream.

JEB BUSH: The best solution to our nation's failing educational system is empowering parents. We Need School Choice Now.

SLIDESHOW: Grammy Awards Red Carpet.

Morning Jolt
. . . with Jim Geraghty

January 27, 2014

Obama Administration: We Remember and Honor – Except When We Don't

The Obama administration announced this year's State of the Union human props:

President Obama's guests at the State of the Union will include survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing, the fire chief of an Oklahoma town ravaged by a tornado, a prominent gay athlete, a young entrepreneur, and a teacher of the year.

The White House said Monday that these and other Americans will sit in the presidential box with first lady Michelle Obama and other officials as the president delivers his annual State of the Union Address on Tuesday night.

The guests include Carlos Arredondo and Jeff Bauman, survivors of the Boston Marathon Bombing; Gary Bird, the fire chief of Moore, Oklahoma; Jason Collins, the 12-year NBA basketball player who announced last year he is gay; Joey Hudy, an Intel intern from Arizona; and Kathy Hollowell-Makle, the teacher of the year from Washington, D.C.

It's fantastic to see the administration remembering the victims and heroes of the Boston bombing. In fact, it's great to see the administration remembering the Boston bombing at all.

"The fact that we have not had a successful attack on our homeland since 9/11 should not be diminished." — National Security Adviser Susan Rice, December 22, 2013.

Hey, it's not like Susan Rice has ever run around telling the rest of us to never forget terrorism.

Another Great Moment from the 'Smartest Guy Ever to Become President'

Remember that time President Obama discussed the Holocaust in a speech and referred to "Polish death camps"? Javier Manjarres reveals the backstory, and it offers another fascinating chapter

In an exclusive audio file furnished by Shark Tank reporter, Special K, the President's $75K a year speechwriter, Kyle O'Connor, who wrote the speech in question, discussed how this gaffe really came about during a talk he had with a group of college kids in Washington, D.C.

O'Connor stated that he was concerned about the pronunciation of the name of the death camp, so he opted to remove the name from the speech, and replace it with "Polish death camp."

According to O'Connor, all of Obama's "Wizards of Smart" didn't catch the gaffe, and signed off on it, but after the political excrement hit the fan, O'Connor was told that it was not a big deal, that, " no one could have caught it."

So the gaffe was driven by the fear that the "smartest guy to ever become president" — historian Michael Bechloss' words — couldn't pronounce a Polish word?

The word, it appears, was "Belzec."

Come on, it's not like it was the word "corpsman."

Meet Earl Ray Tomblin, the Worst Governor You've Never Heard Of

On Howard Kurtz's MediaBuzz this weekend, we discussed the disparate levels of coverage for the controversies and scandals involving New Jersey governor Chris Christie, Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, New York governor Andrew Cuomo, and Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis.

Ana Marie Cox — less reliably liberal than some on the Right think -- pointed out there was another governor embroiled in a supremely consequential crisis recently who's gotten almost no national coverage: West Virginia's governor Earl Ray Tomblin, a Democrat.

In case you've forgotten, Freedom Industries Inc. accidentally spilled thousands of gallons of a chemical used to clean coal into the Elk River. "Roughly 300,000 people across nine counties near Charleston, the state capital, had to live with a "do not use" tap water ban for five days, give or take — meaning they could not drink, cook, wash or bathe that whole time, even after boiling the water. At times, the water coming out of the taps was flammable."

No matter how much you disdain the Environmental Protection Agency, it seems pretty clear that this corner of West Virginia could use some more actual, you know, environmental protection:

Even before last week's chemical spill fouled tap water in nine counties in West Virginia, where more than 200,000 people still cannot use their water after seven long days, it was not unusual to find black water running from kitchen faucets in homes outside Charleston.

Or to see children with chronic skin rashes. Or bathtub enamel eaten away, leaving locals to wonder what the same water was doing to their teeth.

"Welcome to our world," says Vivian Stockman, 52, a longtime resident of rural Roane County, north of Charleston, the state capital, and an activist with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.

(Maybe keeping an eye on this was one of the duties of that EPA employee who managed to take years off from work by claiming to secretly be working for the CIA.)

Tomblin's office would insist that he's not responsible for the spill. But the governor, has been in office since 2010, and was president of the State Senate before that for seventeen years. He's been one of the most powerful men in the state for two decades, and he's had ample opportunity to shape the state's environmental laws and as governor, how they're enforced.

Apparently they're not enforced so well. And in an approach reminiscent of the gun-control debate, Tomblin seems to be suggesting the problem is a lack of laws:

Last Monday, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin stood behind a podium in the West Virginia Capitol and announced his plan for a new program to prevent chemical spills from what he called "unregulated" above-ground storage tanks.

Tomblin said his proposal would give the state Department of Environmental Protection "the tools necessary" to prevent another chemical leak like the one from the Freedom Industries tank farm, which contaminated the Elk River and the drinking water supply for 300,000 West Virginians.

"It was not regulated, and this bill will address that," the governor said later to a small group of reporters…

However, in several interviews with the Sunday Gazette-Mail, [Secretary Randy] Huffman and other DEP officials have made it clear — as Huffman did in his appearance with the governor — that Freedom Industries was absolutely not unregulated.

"I don't think of them as being unregulated, but as being under-regulated," Huffman said in one discussion.

As debates over future actions move through the Statehouse, the distinction is important. Environmental groups and regulatory experts say that no matter what rules govern Freedom Industries or any other company, those rules mean little unless the DEP becomes more aggressive with inspections and enforcement actions.

But even the best law in the world won't do you much good if you have crappy enforcement:

In the days immediately after the Elk River leak, DEP officials said an initial review showed that they had not inspected the Elk River tank farm since at least 1991, when it was owned by a different company and was used for a different purpose.

After a more comprehensive review of their records, DEP officials have revealed a series of site visits by inspectors from the agency's Division of Air Quality. Air inspectors were responding to odor complaints from residents — some of whom reported the now-familiar black-licorice smell of Crude MCHM — and examined if the site needed a state air-pollution permit. So far, DEP records indicate the agency concluded that the odor complaints were unfounded, and that no new permits were necessary.

This is spurring a bit of Democrat vs. Democrat criticism:

A West Virginia Senate leader thinks the governor's proposal to prevent chemical spills caters to industry interests.

Senate Majority Leader John Unger says Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's bill doesn't do enough to register and inspect above-ground storage tanks.

Unger took issue with Tomblin's bill on Tuesday because it regulates just above-ground tanks deemed too close to a water supply. It also would only regulate sites holding chemicals above a certain risk level.

Unger is proposing regulation of all above-ground tanks.

And, of course: "Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin says he was unaware he received campaign checks from top executives at the company at the center of West Virginia's chemical spill."

NRSC: Hey, Our Offices Are Open for Any GOP Candidate's Fundraiser

National Review loves Nebraska Senate candidate Ben Sasse; surely you've seen and read John J. Miller's cover profile of Sasse — a profile the candidate is already citing in his advertising:

Erick Erickson of RedState noticed that another aspiring senator, former state treasurer Shane Osborn, "would be raising money at the NRSC's offices. Washington lobbyists with McConnell ties, including McConnell's old Chief of Staff, are in it to win it with Sasse's opponent. I have a copy of the invitation." Later in that post, Erickson declares, "we find McConnell's former Chief of Staff, his lobbying friends, and the NRSC helping Ben Sasse's opponent."

Bill Murphy at the National Republican Senatorial Committee recently reached out to a group of conservative bloggers to clear the air:

To clarify the record for everyone on the Nebraska Senate race: the NRSC is completely neutral.

We are in touch with a number of candidates in the state. We have met with a number of them and their staff. They all receive routine updates and information on issues from our team. Several candidates in Nebraska have used the NRSC building as a venue for their own private events – an opportunity that has been made available to any candidate in that race. In addition, several have attended campaign trainings that we have held and met with our political and communications staff. We've met with Ben Sasse several times. There are several strong candidates in the race in Nebraska, and our belief is that the best will become the next United States Senator. Our only role in this race is to be a resource for ALL of the candidates.

ADDENDA: I think Daft Punk, the robot twins who never perform without their masks, were lip-synching at last night's Grammy Awards.

The good news is, shortly after the Grammy Awards concluded last night, the Galactic Empire captured them and arrested them for producing a "Criminally Overplayed" product.

I guess they're not going to get lucky.

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