Rumored potential Supreme Court pick Elena Kagan has advocated for an increased presidential role in regulation, which, she conceded, would mean an extension of the president’s policy and political agenda.
Writing in the Duke University law journal on the president’s role in regulation, Vanderbilt law professor James Blustein quotes Kagan extensively regarding her views on the issue. Kagan, formerly a senior member of President Clinton’s White House domestic policy staff, argued, “Presidential control of administration, in critical respects, expanded dramatically during the Clinton years, making the regulatory activity of the executive branch agencies more and more an extension of the president’s own policy and political agenda.”
Kagan herself, writing in the Harvard Law Review in 2001, argued that an increased presidential role in regulation “both satisfies legal requirements and promotes the values of administrative accountability and effectiveness.”
Controversial Figure Helping Select Supreme Court Nominee
The White House’s controversial former communications director Anita Dunn is playing a key role in aiding the Obama administration in its selection of a Supreme Court nominee.
Dunn stepped down from her post in November amid controversy fueled when this reporter posted a video of Dunn that captured her disclosing to the Dominican government that Barack Obama’s presidential campaign focused on “making” the news media cover certain issues while rarely communicating anything to the press unless it was “controlled.”
That video was subsequently widely cited by the news media.
Fox News Channel’s Glenn Beck also aired a separate video of Dunn speaking to high school students last June, in which she lists her two “favorite political philosophers,” one of whom was Communist Chinese leader Mao Zedong, whose draconian policies are blamed for the deaths of tens of millions of people.
Beck’s report came in the wake of a public campaign against Fox News Channel, led by Dunn, slamming the top-rated network as an “arm of the Republican Party” and “opinion journalism masquerading as news.”
Hamas Receiving Help From Fatah
Members of the U.S.-backed Fatah organization were recently caught aiding Hamas in the establishment of a military wing in the strategic West Bank, according to security sources in the Palestinian Authority.
Following Israel’s evacuation of the Gaza Strip in 2005, Hamas seized the coastal territory, forcibly expelling the U.S.-trained Fatah security forces of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Now, recent occurrences indicate Hamas is attempting to set the stage for an eventual West Bank takeover as well.
PA sources told this column they recently clamped down on a number of Fatah militants involved in aiding the establishment of a Hamas infrastructure in the northern West Bank city of Shechem. The PA was particularly struck by the involvement of its own forces in working for Hamas since Shechem is a major Fatah stronghold.
The PA sources said they arrested a Palestinian doctor who admitted to smuggling about $1 million into Shechem for the purpose of procuring weapons for Hamas. The sources said a number of Fatah militants aided the doctor, knowing they were working for Hamas.
The sources also said the PA in recent months discovered millions of dollars in cash with Hamas militants in key Fatah-controlled cities, such as Ramallah and Jenin. Upon interrogation, the Hamas members admitted the funds were to be used to aid in the establishment of a military wing in the West Bank.
PA security officials previously said a recent Fatah investigation discovered Hamas attempted with some success to establish a military wing in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, another longtime Fatah stronghold, although the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad terror group also has a presence there.
Muslim Radicals Threaten ‘South Park’ Creators
The creators of the animated TV series “South Park” should be “afraid for their lives” since there is a “very real possibility” they will end up murdered like Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, the author of an extremist Muslim website told this column.
“I think it’s very clear what we are saying. Under Islam, the punishment for insulting Muhammad is death,” stated Younus Abdullah Muhammad, author of RevolutionMuslim.com.
“You saw the picture of Theo Van Gogh lying [dead] on the streets in Europe. At the end of the day there is a very real possibility that this will be the outcome for the ‘South Park’ creators,” said Muhammad, referring to the Dutch filmmaker who was murdered by an Islamic extremist in 2004 after making a film on Islam and violence against women.
Muhammad was echoing threats posted on his website Sunday targeting “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone after an episode of their Comedy Central show that aired last week depicted Islam’s prophet Muhammad disguised in a bear suit.
Abdullah Muhammad stated to this column, “We are just warning them, giving them advice that they are not playing with a system that tolerates their kind of behavior.”
Asked specifically whether Stone and Parker should fear for their lives, Muhammad replied, “Isn’t that what the post said? That there will probably be some form of retaliation.”
Aaron Klein is Jerusalem bureau chief and senior reporter for Internet giant WorldNetDaily.com. He is also host of an investigative radio program on New York’s 77-WABC Radio, the largest talk radio station in the U.S., every Sunday between 2-4 p.m.
