Last Friday's attempted attack to blow up an airplane en route to Detroit from Amsterdam has bolstered what we've known for a long time: that stopping the bad guys is so far outside the worldview of the president and his staff it's downright scary.

In the hours that followed the attack, Obama foolishly called the attempt an attack by an "isolated extremist."

That's like Tiger Woods calling Rachel Uchitel an isolated incident.

We now know that the suspect had been in Yemen just days before the attack and that a regional Al Qaeda group has claimed responsibility for it.

Obama appointee Janet Napolitano, the Homeland Security chief, who earlier in the year referred to terrorist attacks as "man-caused disaster" and said that we weren't in a War on Terror, praised the system saying, "It worked."

No, it didn't.

She quickly and bizarrely tried to back-pedal the next day insisting that the events following the failed attack unfolded as they should have, but allowing the terrorist to board the plane with explosives clearly "signaled a failure of the system."

Someone should tell Napolitano that her method for measuring success is very strange.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra said it best: "Success is stopping these attacks, not responding to them."

However, rather than demand answers, Congressional Democrats are on defense while they lambaste Republicans for blocking an Obama's pick to head the Transportation Security Administration.

Forget playing politics about the head baggage screener who wouldn't have stopped the attack if he were in place. We've seen what has happened when the baggage of the Obama administration isn't adequately screened.

Most recently the foreign minister of Yemen said that there are likely 200 to 300 terrorists in Yemen plotting future attacks. Why aren't we water-boarding the Christmas Day bomber for information on who these men are? Guess we're more worried about getting him legal representation.

While our president attempts to appease those who have declared a radical jihad on U.S. and elsewhere, let the Christmas Day attack be a sign that the strategy of talking nicely isn't working.

I wonder if the President would still give himself a B+?

People are going to get killed if we don't change this pre-9/11 mentality. This isn't about politics, it's about reality -- a cold one that people want to destroy us. Let this be another wake up call to the President before the only man caused disaster we're talking about is his own naivete.

Read more here:

The next group, born between 1980 and 2001, is larger than the baby boomers - 92 million vs. 78 million.

They are the Millennial Generation, and they better hold on to something heavy.

The current recession - the most serious economic hole our country has faced since World War II - will test the millennials' mettle. They are, after all, a group that is overwhelmingly coddled, cocky and spoiled.

And they are about to be humbled.

Read more here

With other moderate Democrats vacillating on their votes as poll numbers continue to slip for support of this bill to all-time lows, can Harry Reid and Senate Democrats get this done by the arbitrary timeline of Christmas?

It’s likely something will get done, but questions about who, what, when and how still remain. Right now Senate Democrats are struggling to find the 60 votes they need to block a filibuster from Republicans who say the Democrat's proposed health care plan is too expensive and too bureaucratic--ironically, the main reasons Democrats argued we needed this plan in the first place.

What's the rush?

Senate Majority Leader Reid and his counterparts need to pass this bill because the longer they wait, the more likely its chances of dying on the vine become plausible. Plus, the American people want to see Washington focused on jobs -- not health care. The longer they spend talking about this (and it's been a while), the more disillusioned Democrats will look, and the more frustrated the voters will get (here’s the kicker) in an ELECTION year.

Moderates like Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln and Lieberman might not be Reid's only problem. In a shocking twist, liberals are hearing the pragmatic opposition make threats and some are now suddenly starting to sing off the same sheet music as Republicans in a push to scrap the entire thing. It’s looking like some liberal Democrats might defect if the bill becomes watered down and stripped of its most questionable portions.

According to Greg Sargent of The Plum Line Blog, Howard Dean, de-facto leader of the progressive movement, in an interview "said the removal of the Medicare buy-in made the bill not worth supporting, and urged Dem leaders to start over with the process of reconciliation in the interview."

For the first time, I actually agree with Dean.

In the words of Dean, himself: “Yeeeeooooow!”

If liberals like Howard Dean and Obama-replacement Illinois Senator Roland Burris are poised to bail on a bill without a public option, how can Reid herd these cats?

To their credit, Republicans are fighting back, and hard. They are smartly messaging this as Democrats wanting to do this for themselves and Obama for his own lasting legacy.

On "60 Minutes" this past Sunday, Obama noted that though many have tried to pass health reform in his party, they’ve all failed, but that he would be the one to get it done.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spelled it out perfectly on Tuesday:

“The supporters of this bill seem to think this is about them, about their legacies. This isn’t about them. This is about the American people. This is not about making history. This about doing the right thing for ever single American’s health care. And Americans have a message: Higher premiums, higher taxes, and higher health care costs are not what they signed up for. This is not what they were promised. This is not reform. Yes: Doing nothing is not an option. But making current problems worse is worse.”

Stay tuned. The standoff on health care reform is taking place right before our eyes. More and more, it’s looking like the gift that the left wants to give the American people for Christmas – the one that most of us don’t want – won’t end up under the tree. Sounds like a Merry Christmas to me.

Eulogy of Konstantinos A. Tantaros

Delivered by Andrea Kostantina Tantaros

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

December 10, 2009

*              *              *

I looked up the synonyms for the word "extraordinary" in a thesaurus, but none of them was in any way sufficient to accurately describe the true measure of Konstantinos “Harry” Tantaros, as a businessman, as a father, as a grandfather, as a husband, as a brother, as a friend to so many of you, and, finally, as the relentless force of nature, who swept into all of our lives and that has now left all of us much too soon.

I’m uncertain that I can accurately capture the full measure of our personal sense of grief and overwhelming sense of loss within the family. There are no words for that.

Nor can I do full justice to his struggles, by adequately describing the challenges and sacrifices that he made during his seven decades' journey on earth.

A description cannot convey how completely organic was his sense of identity and the larger-than-life personality that always filled and uplifted every room he ever entered.

He also projected an overwhelming assuredness about anything and everything to do with the business of getting on in life. His certitude never wavered, no matter the challenge.

When most people would have folded, he pressed on because he optimistically believed that he’d triumph through hard work.

That tendency to accept a challenge and run a risk, was enhanced by the decisive way that he made decisions – in business, and in every other sphere of life.

It was that determination and decisiveness which served him well on a stormy night in the Adriatic Sea, when his ship foundered and went down.

Harry’s born optimism and passion for life willed his 13-year-old body to swim through the long hours of darkness to finally reach shore, on a night when all the others drowned.

It was that acceptance of risk and hunger for opportunity and adventure that prompted him to, so confidently, leave behind his tiny village of Paleros, Greece at the age of 15, to serve aboard a merchant marine vessel, transporting oil to locations across the globe.

He saw much of the world during his seafaring years, but eventually, he decided upon a new home.

He arrived in the United States with only $30 in his pocket, but his spirit soared at the opportunities available here. He started at the bottom and never doubted for a day that he would eventually succeed. After all, if he could battle Poseidon and win, he believed that he could overcome anything.

His life then was long hours working in a restaurant for extended family for no pay.

But his optimism sustained him and helped him to persevere when times were so tough.

You ask, “How bad was it?”

It was this bad: He had nowhere to live. And he was so desperate to succeed, at any price that he set up shop in a cardboard box, down in a diner’s boiler room. But he wasn’t discouraged – frustrated, maybe, but not discouraged.

It was this bad. He once tried to wash his underwear in a bucket back in the kitchen, but, unfamiliar with the right ratio, he disproportionately used far more bleach than water.

After a long soak, when he finally lifted the trunks from the bucket, only the elastic waistband remained.

He looked up and exclaimed: “God, how poor can I be? I don’t even have underwear.” It didn’t matter. He had his mind made up and he knew his dream.

Despite the temporary discomforts he faced, he was always happy to be here and grateful for an opportunity to succeed in America.

We’ll never forget Harry’s decisiveness. And we’ll always know in the decades to come, know how to respond to adversity simply by asking, “What would Dad do in this situation?” Because we know intuitively exactly which road he’d take.

Well, maybe not exactly. Some of the things Harry did no one could have anticipated.

The midnight-shift cook at the Pied Piper diner, for one, didn’t expect to meet Harry after midnight.

He had been throwing out the potatoes when no one was looking, so that he wouldn’t have to peel them.

He never expected to find my father waiting for him inside the dumpster on that cold January night, when dad jumped out and caught the cook right in the act.

That story, and so many others, will keep us laughing for decades when we think of his quick wit and unique delivery.

This exceptional sense of humor, as expressed through his comments and constructive criticism—often unsolicited—made the pill of tough love easier to swallow.

Granted, given his manner of expression, his love was less likely to be delivered to you in a figurative Tiffany’s box than it was dumped in your lap with a back-hoe, but that, occasionally, rough and colorful means of transmittal certainly didn’t diminish the depth of his feelings for people.

He delighted at the chance to help someone. He always remembered the words of his father. My grandfather’s directive, was if you can do good for someone, do it.

My father always took that suggestion to heart.

His acts of generosity are too numerous to list, but I'd like to share one, in particular, with you.

When a family in the Greek community was facing foreclosure on their home, and did not have a car, Harry reached out to them.

He gave them my mom’s car, gave the dad a job in one of his restaurants, and then spent days to help train him in every aspect of the operation from dishwashing to cooking.

Eventually, he placed them in one of his fully staffed and operable restaurants, so that they could get back on their feet. That was Harry. He’s helped many more families put bread on their table.

His heart was just as big as his personality, his drive and intolerance for mediocrity, as evident as his work ethic. He would never hire anyone for a job that he could do himself, or that he could outsource to one of his children. For this, I am truly grateful.

He was fiercely loyal and pushed his kids to work as hard as he did, for he knew that if he could build our endurance, we would never go hungry.

He had the natural ability to make anyone feel comfortable, unless of course, they were trying to date my sister or me.

He reminded us how rich, full, meaningful and good one life can be by finding constant delight in the little things  . . . like professional cheerleaders.

He had strong views about everything, from what piece of land would make the best location for his next restaurant, to why earrings don’t belong on men.

After meeting my mom in a diner in New Jersey, he decided to pursue opportunity in Pennsylvania. He opened the Park Manor Diner with only $38.

He came home excited after its first day of operation. When he returned to the motel where they were staying, he couldn't contain himself because he'd multiplied his initial investment and doubled what he had been making prior.

“We’re rich!” he celebrated. But my mom was sad. She missed her family, and felt lonely with a young baby and another on the way.

My dad insisted they keep going.

And keep going he did.

Though my father worked long enough and hard enough to realize many accomplishments, his true appetite was always for the actual act of succeeding, rather than the trappings of success, which I don’t believe he gave a fig about.

And I can surely tell you that he never found fulfillment in material things, and he never pursued them in the aspirational way that some people pine for them.

His particular brand of magic didn’t depend on material possessions to generate, no; Harry’s innate personality was plenty.

He was the toughest boss I’ll ever have and one of the strongest personalities that one could ever meet and, as long as I knew him, you never got the sense that he had any wish to be anyone other than who he was. This comfort in his own skin is what underpinned all his other wonderful attributes.

Harry appreciated excellence in others, too. He always taught us to appreciate the skills and experience that professionals had earned, be they lawyers, doctors or judges.

Harry encouraged us to honor the sacrifices that others had made to pursue excellence.

Harry said "steel sharpens steel" and he encouraged us to associate ourselves with those who had earned respect.

He wasn’t afraid to tell people, even men, that he loved them, and he wasn’t afraid of dying. He just wasn’t ready to go yet, and leave his family: his soul mate in life and business – his wife, Barbara, his four children, and his two young grandsons, the apples of his eye.

When he was still a little boy, he once saw a U.S. Navy ship, docked in the bay of his town. When he first saw the stars and stripes on its flag, he thought that it was the most beautiful flag in the world, and that one day he would go there because of its promise.

As we remember him today, a flag is flying in his honor over the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC.

A fitting tribute, for a man who loved this country with a passion seldom seen by most that were born here.

You could often hear my dad exclaim with a sparkle in his eye, “What a country,” when acknowledging his many blessings.

Today we say, "Thank You" for the way he touched our lives, and made them exponentially better, even though God decided he was needed up above.

…Something tells me heaven will now be watching a lot more Fox News.

I feel privileged and humbled by my father’s example. It's both inspirational and demanding. He was the most, extraordinary man ever I have ever met - or, that I will ever meet.

I’m simply lucky to be his daughter.

Just as he used to say: "What a country" . . .   What a man . . . What a legacy.

#              #              #

For more click here.

Politicians constantly need to create the impression that they're actually getting paid to do something. President Obama is no different. Today, the White House will host a Jobs Summit featuring 100-plus business leaders, union chiefs, academics, mayors and representatives of nonprofit groups.

Obama's goal is to show he's serious about taking action on the backsliding economy and to convince the electorate that public activity means real policy action.

I'll have to crash Obama's party, because summits are giant publicity stunts where loads of taxpayer money is spent on fancy backdrops, flower arrangements and so much glad-handing and back-slapping that the participants leave with calluses and whiplash.

The timing is twofold, and painfully transparent: Hosting a high-profile gathering will allow the White House to portray an engaged Obama at a time when polls show the public believes his domestic agenda is in a hole. More importantly, the summit gives Obama a desperately needed distraction - especially during the holidays when the unemployed are acutely aware of their situation...

For more click here.

Debate on the controversial Senate health care bill has begun and almost everyone has an opinion. Well, not everyone. Ironically, the administration has yet to go public with its views on what is arguably its most controversial principle in the plan: the public option. It’s a deal breaker for many Democrats in the middle – and even some on the left – and will ignite a civil war in the Senate for the left wing, as I’ve repeatedly predicted.

For months, administration officials have perpetuated the myth that a public option may be best hope when it comes to lowering costs and spurring competition among insurers. However, they’ve declined to say that a public option is a "must-have" piece of the legislation.

Budget Director Peter Orszag held a conference call with reporters last week to discuss what he referred to as the “four pillars” of a fiscally responsible health care reform bill – but the public option wasn’t even mentioned.

Why the crickets? Because there’s a good chance that’s it’s dead (we can only hope) and President Obama doesn’t want to marry himself to a losing component of the Senate's overhaul. But if it does pass, he’ll be the first to spike the football. Despite their suspicious silence, we know which team he's really on.

He has sent Senate leaders in to do his dirty work. Amid all this talk that a public option will spark competition, the end game is a single payer system and Obama, and the far left, know it.

“There is a transition process. I can envision a decade out, or 15 years out, or 20 years out,” Obama has said, referring to the possibility of eliminating employer insurance plans entirely.

This means that when they say you can keep your insurance if you like it, you really can’t. Many small business owners will be saddled with such high costs that they’ll force their employees into the government plan.

Senators Joe Lieberman (I) and Blanche Lincoln (D) are opposed to the public option and their votes are needed for passage. Senators Mary Landrieu (D) and Olympia Snowe (R) favor a trigger option.

Keep your eyes peeled for a compromise, but hope that it doesn’t involve the public option or the trigger. Remember the thing about triggers – if they don’t shoot you now, they’ll shoot you later.

Perhaps most ironic, is that the same week that the Senate begins debate on a costly health care restructuring, Obama will also deliver a prime time address to the nation on Tuesday outlining his plan for Afghanistan -- a strategy that will likely mean spending billions more dollars. Watch the liberals howl about cost when it comes to rooting out the Taliban and preventing another attack on American soil, but adding trillions to the national credit card for a government run health care plan? Hey, it's an investment, no matter how unhealthy it is for our fiscal state. -- Oh, the irony.

What could be healthier than the safety of our nation?