Harry's Last Hurrah 

If you've heard about the omnibus spending agreement reached in the last few days between Speaker John Boehner and Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid, I'm sure you're shaking your head, too. This last-minute spending bill is Exhibit A for everything that is wrong in Washington. 

If the system were working properly, these appropriations bills would have been passed months ago rather than in the closing days of the year. But as you know, everything the House tried to pass, Reid killed in the Senate. Reid and his liberal allies have control of the Senate until January, and the continuing resolution/omnibus funding bill/"cromnibus," as some are calling it, reflects that reality. 

So with the deadline for another government shutdown just hours away, Washington is once again in crisis management mode, attempting to cobble together something -- anything -- just to get it done. The bill is 1,600 pages long. It authorizes $1.1 trillion of spending. That's about $690 million per page! As you can imagine, there is plenty for the right and the left to hate. 

The left is furious because it rolls back certain Dodd-Frank restrictions on the financial industry, which some argue are hampering economic growth. The left is also upset because funding for Obama's executive amnesty is limited through February. 

And that's one reason why conservatives don't like it -- the bill doesn't even attempt to stop Obama's executive amnesty. In fact, there is at least $2 billion to "Accommodate Illegal Immigrants and Refugees." And I am particularly furious that a provision intended to prevent churches from being forced to pay for abortion coverage in their health insurance policies was dropped. 

There are some things to applaud. Thanks to efforts by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MA), attempts to legalize marijuana in Washington, D.C., may be stopped. Trust me -- the last thing D.C. needs is more stoned people. There is a provision blocking Obamacare's taxpayer-funded bailout of the insurance industry. 

The budget for the IRS has been cut by $350 million and the EPA's budget is being cut by $60 million. The Wall Street Journal reports that EPA's budget "is 21% below 2010 levels" and that the rogue agency "will soon have as many employees as it did in 1989."  

Yet even though I realize Harry Reid still controls the Senate, I'm having a hard time excusing the GOP's lack of fight over Obama's abuse of power. The editors of National Review summed it up well today, writing:
 

"Republican members ought to vote against the cromnibus, and many of them surely will. If Democrats defect over their displeasure with some other elements of the bill, the measure could fail. The alternative then may be a short-term funding bill into the next year, which would be better than the current plan. In any case, it's important that the nascent GOP majority's first act not be surrender."

Cheney Chimes In 

The blowback against Senator Dianne Feinstein's report on the use of enhanced interrogation techniques continues. Former Vice President Dick Cheney chimed in yesterday, characteristically as blunt as ever. 

During an interview on Fox News, Cheney defended the CIA saying the agency was asked to "catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. And that's exactly what they did."

Referring to 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Cheney added: "What are we supposed to do, kiss him on both cheeks and say, 'Please, please tell us what you know?' Of course not. We did exactly what needed to be done."

And what of the report's conclusion that the interrogation methods were ineffective? "The report's full of crap," Cheney said.

Even President Obama's current intelligence chief agrees with Cheney. CIA Director John Brennan released a statement which read in part:
 

"Our review indicates that interrogations of detainees on whom [enhanced interrogation techniques] were used did produce intelligence that helped thwart attack plans, capture terrorists, and save lives. The intelligence gained from the program was critical to our understanding of al-Qa’ida and continues to inform our counterterrorism efforts to this day."

A new Rasmussen poll finds that voters have not been swayed by the so-called "torture report." Only 33% of likely voters oppose the use of "waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques" on suspected terrorists, while 47% support their use. 

By the way, if you need a reminder of the evil we are confronting, ISIS -- in what it claims is an act of mercy -- is offering to sell the body of beheaded journalist James Foley to his parents for $1 million. Those who think we can afford to leave the Middle East to the tender mercies of radical Islam had better think again. 

Chaplain Chastised For Sharing Faith 

Joseph Lawhorn, an Army Chaplain based at Fort Benning, Georgia, was recently reprimanded by the base commander for sharing his faith during a suicide prevention session. Chaplain Lawhorn explained how his Christian values had helped him to overcome his own struggles with depression. 

During the session, Lawhorn also provided information with approved Army resources for fighting depression as well as a biblical approach to handling depression. According to the commander's letter, Lawhorn's presentation left some with the "perception" that he was "advocating one system of beliefs over another."

Well, he is a chaplain after all. I wouldn't go to a rabbi expecting to be taught lessons from the Koran. Nor would I go to a professional psychologist and demand teachings from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. 

This is just one more sorry example of how the left's religious intolerance has perverted freedom of religion into freedom from religion. 

The U.S. military has not suddenly been overrun by atheists. But after six years of left-wing political correctness, which has undermined our military culture in insidious ways, it's not surprising that morale is dangerously low. Beyond cancelled weapons systems and troop cuts, this kind of anti-religious bias seems to have a lot to do with declining morale.