Jennifer Rubin

Jennifer Rubin, an attorney specializing in labor law, is a contributing editor for Commentary and the Washington Editor with Pajamas Media, a collaboration of blogs. She is a columnist for the Washington Post. While Pajama Media is an eclectic combination of writers, its staff and interviewees tend to be on the Republican and conservative side.

Big Government: a multiparty issue

Starting from a New York Post article by Matt Welch, she commented,

the pressure to find some middle ground on cap and trade, ObamaCare, financial regulation, and an uber-consumer protection agency will become intense. But the Republicans would be foolish to provide cover for and assist Democrats in pursuit of a goal — more government — which is at odds with the wishes of a majority of Americans, including those critical independent voters. And oh yes, it’s never a good idea to vote in ways contrary to your party’s stated core message. In some sense Obama has been invaluable to libertarians and conservatives. It is one thing to rail against excessive discretionary spending but it is quite another to have the public see how ominous a force (not to mention how expensive) government can be when it seeks to regulate and control the most intimate decisions about one’s family finances and personal health. Who would have thought Obama would have created such a consensus in favor of keeping government’s mitts off private insurance companies, doctor-patient interactions, and end-of-life care?

Linkages

"Rubin said that the Islamic Society of North America is aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood closely linked with al-Qaeda and other unindicted co-conspirators. Rubin said that Senator Coburn has been on top of this - and that both the Bush and Obama White House have nevertheless tried to engage with them. Ingraham noted that "Jihad is our way" is part of their belief. Rubin said that they are virulently anti-Israel and she wonders why they are people to be engaged with. Ingraham and Rubin noted the Obama administration inviting Iranian officials to a July 4th picnic. The Islamic Society of North America have indeed received Saudi funds, and also is an original signatory to the Amman Message "which recognizes the validity of Islam’s different theological and legal schools, including Sunnism, Shiism and Sufism.” but the linkages grow tenuous from this point.

Originally Egyptian, the Muslim Brotherhood does not accept the authority of the House of Saud. Egyptian Islamic Jihad split from the Brotherhood as insufficiently radical, and it was EIJ, under Ayman al-Zawahiri, with Osama bin Laden to form al-Qaeda.

Justice Department investigation of CIA

While President Obama originally said there would be no investigations of CIA personnel for questionable interrogation tactices, Attorney General Eric Holder has used discretionary authority to do so, although Senate Republicans say the matter was settled in 2004. However, additional evidence uncovered since 2004 prompted Holder to instigate a fresh investigation.