† Dispatch From Bizzaroland: The Washington Post asks: "Why was President Obama last to speak up on Libya?" after “Moammar Gaddafi, whose regime has staged spectacular terrorist attacks against Americans in addition to brutalizing its own people … vowed to fight to ‘the last drop of blood’”:

Governments around the world have been condemning this appalling stance and the terrible slaughter it has caused. …

Late Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Obama finally appeared at a White House podium. He said "we strongly condemn the use of violence in Libya," but he did not mention Mr. Gaddafi or call for his removal. He said the administration was preparing a "full range of options" to respond but didn't say what those might be; he made no mention of the no-fly zone that Libya's delegation at the United Nations has called for. …

Mr. Obama appeared eager to make the point that the United States was not taking the lead in opposing Mr. Gaddafi's crimes. "It is imperative that the nations and the peoples of the world speak with one voice," he said. "That has been our focus." Shouldn't the president of the United States be first to oppose the depravities of a tyrant such as Mr. Gaddafi? Apparently this one doesn't think so.

Columnist Fareed Zakaria answers The WaPo:

Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama deserve some credit for what has happened [throughout the Middle East]. Bush put the problem of the Middle East's politics at the center of American foreign policy. His articulation of a "freedom agenda" for the Middle East was a powerful and essential shift in American foreign policy (as I wrote at the time). But because so many of Bush's policies were unpopular in the region, and seen by many Arabs as "anti-Arab," it became easy to discredit democracy as an imperial plot. In 2005, Hosni Mubarak effectively silenced a vigorous pro-democracy movement by linking it to Bush.

Obama has had a quieter approach, supporting freedom but insisting that the United States did not intend to impose it on anyone.

In other words, this is another example of Obama leading by not leading.

† IRS Likes To Squeeze Blood From A Stone: Ombudsman: To help people struggling to pay delinquent tax bills, the Internal Revenue Service will back off its practice of slapping property liens on them, and will make it easier for small businesses to pay their back taxes off in installment payments, reports The Associated Press:

The steps announced Thursday will double the amount of back taxes a person can owe before facing a possible lien. Previously, taxpayers who owed at least $5,000 and ignored numerous IRS notices would get an automatic lien placed on their property. Under the new policy, the threshold is increased to $10,000.

The change will make it easier for people to have liens withdrawn once tax bills are paid or they start paying under certain installment plans. More taxpayers can settle their tax debt for less than they owe, if they meet certain income and debt requirements.

Small businesses with larger delinquent tax bills will be eligible for 24-month payment plans. Previously, the tax bill had to be less than $10,000; now it's up to $25,000.

In her annual report to Congress last month, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson, criticized the IRS for relying too much on liens and other "hard-core enforcement tools, " because even after a tax bill is squared away and the lien is removed it continues to show up on credit reports for years, adversely affecting the ability of a taxpayer to get a loan or a job.

† Updates To Previous Posts (ninth item, Mortgage Loan Modification Less Than Advertised: The House Financial Services Committee is working on a bill to pull the plug on the Home Affordable Modification Program, one of President Barack Hussein Obama’s signature economic stimulus programs, reports The Associated Press:

The Treasury Department has acknowledged the program won't meet its original goal of preventing 3 million to 4 million foreclosures, and last month a federal inspector general said it has been a failure.

Many bankers and real estate experts have argued that HAMP has HAMPered recovery of the housing market. The latest to do so, Joseph Mason, professor of banking at Louisiana State University, in this Wall Street Journal op-ed:

Data suggest that many delinquent borrowers have the means to afford their mortgage payments, but are so deeply "under water" on their mortgages that they are simply no longer willing to pay. Others have insufficient income to afford any reasonable mortgage payment.

Loan modification programs cannot help borrowers without means, and extending them to borrowers who can already afford their current mortgage payments will only create further incentives for "strategic" defaults by those who can afford their payments but would like to lower them. …

The unfortunate reality is that efforts to lengthen the foreclosure process will not substantially alter borrower outcomes. They will only extend a painful time for borrowers and the economy. During that time, uncertainty will prevent borrowers from moving on with their lives, including starting to pay rent and make purchases that would inject money into the economy.

For neighborhoods, every day without foreclosures means another day of deteriorating home values. …

For homebuilders, further delays in foreclosures are a signal to delay hiring and new construction. …

For banks, further delays in the foreclosure process create uncertainty in their balance sheets, potentially blocking channels of credit and undermining lending.

Not that this very costly fail will convince Obama that the invisible hand is more effective than the heavy hand.

† Updates To Previous Posts (fourth item, Philly Abortionist Charged With Murder Of Seven Newborns): Calling pro-abortion advocates’ bluff about wanting the procedure to be "safe" in addition to being legal and rare, VA Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) says he will sign a bill that requires clinics that provide first-trimester abortions to meet the same standards as hospitals, reports The Associated Press:

While abortion providers must be licensed in Virginia, the clinics resemble dentists' offices and are considered physicians offices, similar to those that provide plastic and corrective eye surgeries, colonoscopies and a host of other medical procedures.

Democrats and abortion rights supporters said the change would put an estimated 17 of the state's 21 clinics out of business. Most of the clinics also provide birth control, cancer screenings and other women's health services.

"This is not about safety for women. This is about ideology, and this is about politics," said Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia. "The women of the commonwealth are going to be the ones left to suffer."

Abortion rights supporters warned of legal challenges while supporters heralded it as a way to make the procedures safer. …

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who supported similar legislation as a state senator, said he believes the law would be constitutional.

"For over 25 years, Virginia abortion clinics have not been held to minimal health and safety standards," he said. "As a result, women who walk into these clinics are often not treated with the care and respect that any human being deserves."

† Updates To Previous Posts (fourth item, We Fight Them Over There So We Don’t Have To Fight Them Over Here?: Part XIII): Zachary A. Chesser (AKA Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee), a 21-year-old Muslim convert from VA, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty last year to supporting the al-Shabab terrorist group in Somalia and posting online threats against the "South Park" creators for an episode that he perceived as insulting to the prophet Muhammad, reports The Associated Press:

Chesser apologized in court for his conduct and in a written statement to the court said he is "ashamed and bewildered. ... I know that I will spend many years trying to understand why I followed the path that has led me here."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg said that even if Chesser is truly sorry for his actions, it cannot undo the damage. He said those who were threatened, like the "South Park" creators, will continually have to worry if someone might act on Chesser's exhortations. Kromberg also said Chesser struck a chord in the international jihadist community - each of the last four issues of the al-Qaida-affiliated Inspire magazine have included calls for Chesser's release. …

"The natural consequence of his actions is that people fear speaking out, even in jest, lest they be labeled as enemies of Islam," Kromberg said.

† Updates To Previous Posts (eleventh item, Multiculturalism: Jihad By Other Means): TN state Sen. Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) and state Rep. Judd Matheny (R-Tullahoma) introduced SB 1028/HB 1353, a bill outlawing the practice of Sharia in the state, defined in part as:

[A] political doctrine [that] requires all its adherents to actively support the establishment of a political society based upon sharia as foundational or supreme law and the replacement of any political entity not governed by sharia with a sharia political order;

[T]he set of rules, precepts, instructions, or edicts which are said to emanate directly or indirectly from the god of Allah or the prophet Mohammed and which include directly or indirectly the encouragement of any person to support the abrogation, destruction, or violation of the United States or Tennessee Constitutions, or the destruction of the national existence of the United States or the sovereignty of this state, and which includes among other methods to achieve these ends, the likely use of imminent violence.

The  proposed legislation would make following Sharia law a felony, punishable by 15 years in jail, The Tennessean reports:

It is unclear whether the bill will go before lawmakers in its current form. The measure was filed Thursday to beat the deadline to introduce bills for the current session, Matheny said. It has not been assigned to a committee.

Matheny, the House speaker pro tempore, said he is concerned that aspects of Shariah law might conflict with the U.S. Constitution, but he does not intend to criminalize practices such as the preparations for prayer or dietary rules. He said he would consider amending the bill before asking the legislature to consider it.

"I'm still researching it," he said. "My intent is to educate and to look at it."

Most anti-Shariah bills in other states would ban courts from citing Shariah law. Oklahoma voters approved a referendum in November that banned state courts from using Shariah law in their rulings. A federal judge blocked the Oklahoma law from being implemented, pending a federal lawsuit claiming it is unconstitutional.

† Updates To Previous Posts (tenth item, There’s No Such Thing As Free Healthcare): Once and perhaps future presidential hopeful Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) offers his former and perhaps future rival Gov. Mitt Romney some advice on finessing the major fail that RomneyCare turned out to be:

Huckabee … said Romney can address the health overhaul he oversaw as Massachusetts governor by admitting it was a bad idea. Huckabee says Romney should just say his health plan made things worse. …

Should Romney run, Huckabee says the health plan will be Romney's "800-pound elephant in the room."

Cutting your losses and moving on may be sound advice for other pols, but not for Romney, for whom disavowing RommeyCare will be one more in a very long string of opportunistic flip-flops on what should be core principles, and will serve to remind Repubs, conservatives and independents why they can't stand or trust him. So Romney is damned if he do, and damned if he don't. 

† Updates To Previous Posts (fourth item, When Environmental Values Collide): During a speech at the USDA’s annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, former President Bill Clinton told farmers and Agriculture Department employees that producing corn-based ethanol and other biofuels is important to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, but that farmers should avoid using so much corn for ethanol that it raises food prices and causes riots in third-world countries, reports The Associated Press.