Did Obama Administration Drop The Ball? 

After a briefing yesterday on the Boston Marathon bombings for members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the committee's ranking member, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), said:

Chambliss may well be right. The Boston Globe is reporting, "Russian authorities alerted the US government not once but 'multiple' times over their concerns about Tamerlan Tsarnaev." Reuters tells us that Tamerlan's name was included on the government's "highly classified central database of people it views as potential terrorists." The last five years seem to have taken us back to a pre-9/11 mindset in which agencies do not share information. 

Meanwhile we are learning a bit more about the bombers and their motivation. They hated America so much they wanted to kill as many innocent Bostonians as possible, and they were also collecting state welfare benefits! The cover of today's Boston Herald reads: "What Nerve -- Mastermind of Boston Terror Hated us…But Took Our Money." Of course they took our money. Why not use the infidel taxpayer to subsidize your jihad? 

And while some in America are struggling to comprehend the jihadists' motivation, their mother's comments to CNN are quite revealing: 
 

All week she has denied her sons could ever do what they are charged with. Now her own Islamist bile is on display.

By the way, we have been warning for a long time that the problem with radical Islam is more widespread than some people will admit. There are big problems right here in the Washington, D.C. area. Several years ago, a local Islamic school valedictorian was arrested and convicted of plotting to assassinate former President George W. Bush. 

Now police in Fairfax County, Virginia are investigating an individual spouting radical Islamic rants who has been trolling a website called the Fairfax Underground making what police have called "disturbing statements." Last week he threatened a massacre at Paul VI Catholic high school and closed the threat with "Allahu Akbar!" 

Boston & Immigration Reform 

Liberal politicians in Congress are working hard to make sure that their immigration reform bill doesn't get dragged down by the Boston bombings. But one of their own, Bob Beckel, evidently didn't get the memo.

Beckel is a veteran Democrat operative. He worked on Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign, worked in the Carter Administration and managed Walter Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign. He raised eyebrows this week when he said on a Fox News show:
 

The roof has not caved in on Beckel, presumably because he is a liberal Democrat, the way it would have if Rush Limbaugh had made that comment. But I suspect most Americans would not see bigotry, but perhaps common sense precaution in Beckel's remarks. 

I also suspect most Americans would be surprised to learn that since 9/11 there has been a 500% increase in the number of Saudis studying in America. And the same government that could not keep tabs on Tamerlan Tsarnaev recently added Saudi Arabia to its "trusted traveler program." 

If we are bringing so many young Saudis to U.S. universities to study here because we believe that doing so makes them more inclined to like the United States, it would help that goal if the professors teaching them did not despise America themselves. 

Unfortunately, the evidence is overwhelming that most left-wing professors may not particularly like America. College textbooks often teach anti-American history. And the culture on most college campuses is unlikely to instill patriotism or a love of America. 

"Academic Cesspools" 

As a former Under Secretary of Education during the Reagan Administration, there is little that boils my blood more than the anti-American bias at our so-called "institutions of higher learning." I commend to everyone reading this report a column by Walter Williams entitled "Academic Cesspools." 

Williams writes about a report commissioned by Thomas Klingenstein examining the intellectual and political "diversity" of Bowdoin College. It is a disturbing representation of the radical leftist culture at one of America's elite institutions -- a culture that is all too common throughout the country. Consider these excerpts: 
 

I urge parents with high school seniors to carefully examine the schools your college-bound children will be attending and the courses they will be taking. 

If you are donor to any alumni programs, learn from Mr. Klingenstein's example and find out exactly what your money is funding at your alma mater. You may be stunned and disgusted. I strongly encourage you to redirect your resources to organizations that defend, rather than denigrate, your values and our country. 

House Report Blasts Hillary On Benghazi 

House Republicans released a preliminary report on the terrorist attacks against our consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The report is a conglomeration of findings from five House committees that have been investigating the attacks. The report has three main conclusions: Hillary misled Congress, there was a cover-up and the Obama White House misled the American people. You can read more here. 

The report is a good start. But at this stage I believe it makes more sense to combine and continue the work of the five committees into a single Watergate-style select committee on Benghazi. 

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) has introduced a resolution calling for the creation of such a committee specifically empowered to thoroughly investigate the Benghazi attacks. One hundred-twenty House members have co-sponsored his resolution, and the idea is also supported by hundreds of retired Special Operations officers.