Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review cheer two GOP senators for trying to stop lawmakers, staffers and administration officials from getting special treatment on Obamacare. They also cringe as Washington bids to host the 2024 Olympics. And they wonder why administration officials are so willing to reveal every conceivable detail about impending military strikes on Syria.
Three Martini Lunch 8/26/13
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are pleased to see Sen. Bob Corker pushing loudly for more congressional probing of the NSA. They also slam President Obama for saying there is no deficit crisis and any attempt to say there is is just Republicans trying to deny people health care. And they discuss the latest basic cable raunch, officially known as the MTV Video Music Awards.
March Like an Egyptian
For the past two years, Egypt has been witness to much political turmoil. From the ouster of Hosni Mubarak to the military coup against the Muslim Brotherhood, major change has come quite rapidly. And now, Mubarak has been released from prison. In honor of that news, the Capitol Steps bring back their 2011 parody, “March Like an Egyptian.” Our guest is Steps impressionist Mark Eaton.
In the Midst of Persecution
Christians in Egypt are under the worst persecution by Islamic radicals in recent memory, Syrian believers are displaced in massive numbers and the effort to assist them in both countries goes on despite tremendous upheaval in both nations.
Most of the recent attention has been focused on Egypt. Christians have been in the Muslim Brotherhood’s cross hairs since the 2011 Arab Spring, but the persecution has greatly intensified in the weeks following the July 3 coup that removed Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood from power. The violence is a result of radical leaders blaming the coup on Christians. It’s a palpably false claim but it carries great resonance with those loyal to Morsi.
“Right now these militants are lashing out for any reason. What you’re going to find is that people use the political climate as an expedient excuse. People in Egypt just want to worship in freedom. They’re not pushing a political agenda,” said Dr. David Curry, the new president and CEO of Open Doors USA, one of the most prominent organizations ministering to the persecuted church.
“They are a minority. There are people, when they have political problems, will lash out at any minority they perceive to be part of that, but the church is not an organized faction in this political situation. They’re just the victims in this circumstance,” he said.
Curry admits the religious freedom for Coptic Christians and other believers has never been ideal in Egypt but he sees the current conditions as a “new low” and says no one is sure where this crisis is headed next. In the meantime, Curry says Christian businesses, churches and individuals are in very serious danger. He says the decision by the Coptic pope to cancel services for the first time since the fifth century was a smart one.
“I think what the pope of the Coptic Church was doing was just using wisdom because right now to be on the street in Egypt, even just wandering around doing your daily business, is a very dangerous proposition for believers of the Coptic stripe or any sort of Christian stripe,” said Curry. “So when you have services that are scheduled and people know where to attack, it could be very dangerous. We’ve had almost 50 churches burned to the ground or attacked in some way in Egypt, just in the last few days.”
Despite a justified fear for their lives and safety, Egyptian Christians are still shining brightly in the darkness surrounding them. Curry says one account typifies the depth of faith of those under fire.
“We had one believer who was really trying to exemplify the message of Jesus, that is to love your enemies, to be a servant. So he was trying to give bottled water and care and love to people who were protesting in the street, even though he knew some of those people were militants who might someday attack his business and his home and his church. And indeed some did, but he was trying to be a loving example and caring for people,” said Curry. “You see, these are people of real spiritual depth and faith on the ground and we’re hoping that America and the American people are going to rally behind them and support them in their freedom to worship.”
Curry says U.S. support needs to take multiple forms.
“Prayer is our first weapon. It’s a supernatural weapon, but we believe wholeheartedly in it. The second thing we’re asking people to do is to support the work that’s happening on the ground. Open Doors has teams on the ground in every major city of Egypt that are helping to support believers, that are trying to keep everybody safe and do anything we can do. That’s the kind of work we’re doing and we believe it’s going to pay big dividends in the years to come,” said Curry.
Open Doors USA also has a significant presence in Syria, where a civil war has been raging for two years between the Iran-backed regime of Bashar al-Assad and a patchwork of rebel groups ranging from respected military leaders to Al Qaeda-dominated Islamist factions. It’s another crisis for Christians, many of whom fled to Syria when the new government in Iraq began persecuting Christians. It’s a situation further complicated by this week’s government attacks that rebels allege were chemical weapons.
“What we’re concentrating on is trying to help and serve the millions of people who are now refugees. A great many of them are Christians who have been forced out by the forces that would be against them. We’re providing packages on the ground for food, for general supplies that they’re going to need,” said Curry, who also noted the possible use of weapons of mass destruction.
“Those things have been suspected and talked about in the past. This is a very clear example of the danger that is evident to these folks who are refugees, who are displaced and might be in a position to be persecuted for their faith,” said Curry, who struggles to see any end to the Syrian conflict in the near future.
“The government here in the United States is going to have to find ways to try to bring this to a more peaceful and swift resolution,” said Curry. “Otherwise you’re going to see millions more not just displaced internally within the country as is the case now but also added to the refugee numbers. It will be a major – maybe the major – humanitarian crisis, although it’s competing with Egypt right now.”
Three Martini Lunch 8/22/13
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review like the reports that San Diego Mayor Bob Filner will resign, but they’re not sure why a “settlement” was needed to force the issue. They also groan as more companies announce they will not cover many spouses once Obamacare kicks in. And they discuss Bradley Manning now claiming to be a woman and he wants taxpayers to pay for his gender transition.
Delays and Deceptions
President Obama may stall a decision on approving an expansion of the Keystone XL Pipeline beyond the end of his administration and his argument against the project’s job creation potential contradicts his own jobs agenda, according to an ardent Keystone supporter in Congress.
Nebraska Rep. Lee Terry is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He says the project remains “in limbo” since President Obama refuses to allow the pipeline to cross the border and the Senate has not approved legislation designed to deem the project approved. A growing bipartisan majority in both chambers of Congress back the extension, but Obama has refused to sign off on it because of environmental concerns.
TransCanada owns the pipeline and wants to build a six-billion-dollar extension from Alberta to the Nebraska-Kansas border. The State Department has studied the proposal since 2008. Terry believes Obama is content to wait as long as possible.
“This is what I fear. When he talks about the life-cycle CO2 climate change, I’m wondering if he’s going to say, ‘We need a new study because I don’t like the criteria that was used’, even though that’s from the EPA that mandated the criteria of the study. So I’m thinking what he’s going to try to do is just delay it another three-and-a-half years,” said Terry, who believes the House and Senate might force the issue against Obama’s wishes.
“If the president’s going to delay this or wants to delay this for another three-and-a-half years, that we’ll get enough senators to vote yes on deeming it and we can actually just go ahead and get it done. Boxing the president in this way might actually be the best thing for him, because then he can blame Congress for doing it and he can keep his street cred with the extreme environmental groups,” said Terry.
TransCanada strongly prefers to build the pipeline to the U.S. but has indicated that U.S. refusal or extended delays could trigger Plan B, which would mean a pipeline extension to the west coast of Canada and shipping the oil to China.
President Obama has also indicated that he doesn’t see much economic value in the project. At a rally for his economic plan earlier this summer, Obama said, “They keep talking about an oil pipeline coming down from Canada that’s estimated to create about 50 permanent jobs. That’s not a jobs plan.”
Terry says the president’s comments are badly misleading and undermine the very heart of the administration’s own plan to create more jobs.
“It’s a six-billion-dollar infrastructure job, six billion private dollars coming into the United States to build this infrastructure project. It’ll have 20,000 direct construction jobs, another 20,000 that’ll be incidental and support manufacturing jobs and the refineries. Even the State Department says 42,000 jobs directly and indirectly created by this pipeline,” said Terry.
“The president is right. The same study at the State Department says 50-100 permanent jobs. Keep in mind this is a construction infrastructure job. So when the construction is done…there will be minimal permanent employees. But go on a bridge and tell me how many permanent employees are on that bridge that was finished right now,” he said.
“The president, in his own stimulus package, was advocating for these type of projects to create jobs, but now when it’s the pipeline, he uses it to criticize,” said Terry.
Obama has given his blessing to an extension of the existing pipeline from Oklahoma to the Texas coast. Terry says that supposedly fair-minded position was meaningless.
“Frankly it was just silly. The only thing the president has to do with this pipeline is to permit it to cross the Canadian border. Otherwise, all the states have the power in this respect. So the pipeline had already been approved by Oklahoma and Texas. Therefore, the president had nothing to do with whether that was going to be built,” said Terry.
The congressman also refutes a common argument for rejecting the pipeline extension. Critics allege the pipeline will bring great amounts of oil to refineries along the Gulf Coast but the U.S. will only be keeping a fraction of it while much of it is exported to other countries.
“The parties that have contracted for that oil are refineries, not shipping entities. So the oil comes from the oil sands in Canada directly to about half a dozen U.S. refineries that are expanding right now to accept that oil,” said Terry, who adds that Keystone will reduce costs for energy and energy byproducts in the U.S..
“For most of us that are worried about the price at the pump and our energy security so we can get in the car and get to work and get the kids to school, that’s going to add to that level of security,” he said.
Three Martini Lunch 8/21/13
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are encouraged that the RNC is in much better financial shape than the debt-ridden DNC. They also wince over new poll numbers showing Terry McAuliffe six points ahead of Ken Cuccinelli in the Virginia governor’s race. And they discuss reports that the Syrians used chemical weapons in the ongoing civil war.
Three Martini Lunch 8/20/13
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are pleased to see Pennsylvania Democrats battling each other over fracking. They also slam President Obama’s incoherent position on aid to Egypt. And they react to the clamor over the birth certificate of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Three Martini Lunch 8/19/13
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are encouraged by a new poll showing Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu with high negatives and already trailing her likely opponent. They also examine why Huma Abedin was allowed to work for private companies while still serving as a top aide to Hillary Clinton. And they wonder why Time.com’s Michael Grunwald spent part of his weekend getting excited about defending a hypothetical drone strike to kill Julian Assange.
Secret Service Man
As the president’s U.S. Secret Service detail enjoys a week at Martha’s Vineyard, the Capitol Steps reflect back on the group’s most embarrassing moment. Our guest is Steps impressionist Mark Eaton.