Newsweek's Award Winning Reporters Still Swilling Same Old Hooch

Newsweek, which prides itself on its award winning reporting, took the first week of September to push back against the broad based public perception that President Obama sold himself as someone he was not, and has pushed forward an agenda against the will of the American people.

The noticeable public response to this has been catalyzed in the Tea Party, all of which Newsweek manages to get wrong, and wrong in the biggest way possible. Take Jonathon Alter's lead article on "The Illustrated Man"

"President Obama is our era’s Illustrated Man. His enemies—and even some of his ostensible allies—have been busy for three years painting Obama as some kind of alien threat. His name, race, exotic upbringing, and determination to reach out to moderate Muslims have given those who would delegitimize him a fresh palette of dark colors. The caricatures are almost comical, as the president himself recognizes."

Yes, and that has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the anger and outrage this president has managed to engender against himself. Ray Bradbury's character had been the victim of a time traveling witch. Barack Obama is the victim of his own arrogant, grasping, power hungry, statist thuggish behavior. The man presented himself as an empty canvas, defining himself in only the vaguest of terms. What eighteen months of his presidency have revealed is that the man called Obama is the most liberal president this nation has ever had. He is a unparalleled disaster. This guy is the uniter? The post racial president? The bridge builder? This clown's agenda is all about taking advantage of whatever ails us, pretend it is a national disaster, whip up as much fear as possible and then use that as the impetus to push forward vast, sweeping changes that will change our nation at its core. And Alter - we didn't vote for this. We didn't vote for any of it.

Have we left the limited republic we were founded upon? Is 'a government of the people, by the people and for the people' a thing of the past, never to be seen again? If Barry has his way, the answer is yes, it's gone forever. He has something better in mind. Well guess what Newsweek? We the people are not happy. You think that's because we just are uncomfortable with a black man in the White House? We don't like the name Hussein? You're an idiot, Alter.

Snuck in before Alter's total whiff job is an equally inane Julia Baird piece, who offers that blacks are getting happy, and whites are less so. Who would write such drivel? Julia Baird is not likely to provide us insights into race relations. Her 'writing' comes off largely as a Glen Beck hit piece. And what are the reasons she offers for the supposed changes in happiness? Jules offers us three: first, blacks used to be very unhappy, and now they are less so. Second, it's something you can't measure, the erosion of prejudice. And the third reason? You'll never guess. The third reason is that whites have grown less happy.

Wow.

She has managed to write an entire piece and say ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Can you believe this? A Newsweek editor read and approved this article, seeing it as an informative piece on the culture we live in. How can that be?

To top it off here is how Newsweek chose to run their front page headline:

THE MAKING OF A
TERRORIST-CODDLING
WARMONGERING
WALL STREET LOVING
SOCIALISTIC
GODLESS
MUSLIM
PRESIDENT

*who isn't actually any of these things.

Like you would know? When have you ever done anything other than carry the guy's water? Worthless pukes. Newsweek, as a member of the vaunted fourth estate, you have a constitutionally protected job to do.

Now get off your sorry ass and get to it.

'Swingers' Open Thread

What did you think?

Religion of Peace Caught Again Looking For Another Shot At Mass Murder

U.S. authorities requested Dutch police arrest two men, Ahmed Mohammad Nasser al Soofi and traveling partner Hezem al Murisi, who had traveled from Chicago to Amsterdam in what has been termed an apparent dry run.

"Airport security screeners in Birmingham, Alabama first stopped al Soofi and referred him to additional screening because of what officials said was his "bulky clothing."

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

In addition, officials said, al Soofi was found to be carrying $7,000 in cash, and a check of his luggage found a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three cell phones taped together, several watches taped together, a box cutter and three large knives.

I wonder if it was one of those Cordoba House, Presidential Seal box cutters?




Those are the really nice ones, which you can only get through our friends at Cordoba House.


Would this all be a part of what Imam Feisal Abdul Raul calls his muslim cross-cultural dialogue?

Worrisome? Come, come. We have to be broad minded. It turns out that though the TSA found the baggage contents to be curious, it was not so much so that they felt they should detain him:

"Officials said there was no indication of explosives and he and his luggage were cleared for the flight from Birmingham to Chicago O'Hare."

Just as an aside, if the TSA finds stuff like this on a flight that I am booked on, let one of them take my seat and I'll take the next flight out.

Once in Chicago, officials say they learned al Soofi checked his luggage on a flight to Washington's Dulles airport for connections on flights to Dubai and then Yemen, even though he did not board the flight himself. Instead, al Soofi was joined by the second man, Al Murisi, and boarded the United flight from Chicago to Amsterdam.

Now that might rouse the suspisions of even our TSA screeners.

What do you think, were Ahmed Mohammad and Hezem thinking about a little of this?


When Customs and Border officials learned al Soofi was not on the flight from Dulles to Dubai, the plane was ordered to return to the gate so his luggage could be removed. Officials said additional screening found no evidence of explosives.

Well, I'm sure Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the man behind that great islamic outreach effort The Ground Zero Victory Super-Mosque (GZVSM), will find that this is just another example of rampant American intolerance and hatred against the disciples of Islam.

UPDATE 8/31/10

Newsweek has weighed in in their usual penetrating fashion:

"They were both arrested apparently because they were booked on the same flight at about the same time."

This after earlier noting:

"A statement by Dutch authorities confirmed key details, describing the suspicious items this way: “Mobile phones were found taped, one phone was taped to a plastic bottle. These phones were seized in the US [and] stayed there.” The statement said, “Luggage of the flight to Amsterdam was searched, but nothing suspicious was found.”

So, we are getting ready to say that these men were simply misunderstood. They were just travelers who had lsot there way. Listen, who doesn't travel with seven thousand dollars cash on them? And I don't know about you, but when I travel international, I often bring along four cell phones. I like to tape three of them together, to make them easier to find later. The fourth I will tape to my Peptobismal. That way, if I can't find it in my bag, I just dial that number and go to where I here the ring. Oh, and I like to bring along a few clocks, and tape them together. You can loose clocks so easily when you travel internationally!

The Newsweek crowd is a dangerous bunch to be trusting the news to.

Query

How is it possible that this guy:











...is so much more stand-up


















than this guy?

Obama, Bloomberg Discuss Economy Over Game Of Golf

President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg met to discuss the nation's economy on Saturday, while playing at the Vineyard golf course on the isle resort of Martha's vineyard.

The president's opening drive set the tone for the afternoon, a sharply struck slice that found the president deep in the woods and placed him in immediate trouble. He faired little better on the next hole. Obama hit a shocking 3-wood off the tee, straight in the air with a sharp hook that sailed over the trees and well out of bounds, off the golf club's property. This led to a triple bogey, from which he was never able to recover.

Barry needed to finish birdie-birdie to get in range of Bloomberg, who also seemed to be having trouble finding the narrow fairways of the course. To his great frustration, the president found he didn't possess a birdie club in the bag. Speed control was also a major headache for the nation's numero uno, as the president spent much of the late afternoon watching his ball rolling helplessly past the cup. Instead of closing strong, he faded on the back nine and finished a dismal 42 strokes over par, leaving him ... well back.

As to the nation's economy, it has felt the same deft touch the president displays in his golf game. Fears are growing that the country could lapse back into a recession. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke described the economic outlook as "inherently uncertain", and proclaiming guardedly that the economy "remains vulnerable to unexpected developments." Yeah.

Seems like the economy has been that way for a while. In fact, ever since President Bush left office the economy has been unexpectedly worse than advertised. Didn't we just hear that housing starts are off by record levels? Unemployemnt is also higher than expected. GDP? Unexpectedly low! Hmm. What do you say, Mr. Bloomberg?

"The stimulus bill, in the end, didn't go to do what the stimulus did back in the... after the Depression in the early 30s."

Oh yeah. Well, 1.5 trillion ain't what it used to be. So goes the Summer of Recovery.

By the way, great hats, girls!

AP Checks The Facts For Us, Can't Figure Out Nuthin!

Calvin Woodward of the AP, "who has the standing assignment of "factchecking", took a stab at trying to splash reality in the face of rubes like you and me who have no clue about what's going on in the world. Here are his results on the 100 million dollar Ground Zero Victory Super-Mosque (GZVSM) fact checking:

A look at some of the claims and how they compare with the known facts:

_"The folks who want to build this mosque — who are really radical Islamists who want to triumphally prove that they can build a mosque right next to a place where 3,000 Americans were killed by radical Islamists — those folks don't have any interest in reaching out to the community. They're trying to make a case about supremacy." — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a potential 2012 presidential candidate.
_Some of the Muslim leaders associated with the mosque "are clearly terrorist sympathizers." — Kevin Calvey, a Republican running for Congress in Oklahoma.
_"This radical is a terrible choice to be one of the faces of our country overseas." — Statement by GOP Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Peter King of New York.
_"Mr. President, ground zero is the wrong place for a mosque." — Rick Scott, Republican candidate for Florida governor.
_"Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor. There's no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center." — Gingrich.
_"Just a block or two away from 9/11." — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, another 2012 GOP presidential prospect.
THE FACTS:
No mosque is going up at ground zero. The center would be established at 45-51 Park Place, just over two blocks from the northern edge of the sprawling, 16-acre World Trade Center site. Its location is roughly half a dozen normal Lower Manhattan blocks from the site of the North Tower, the nearest of the two destroyed in the attacks.
The center's location, in a former Burlington Coat Factory store, is already used by the cleric for worship, drawing a spillover from the imam's former main place for prayers, the al-Farah mosque. That mosque, at 245 West Broadway, is about a dozen blocks north of the World Trade Center grounds.
Another, the Manhattan Mosque, stands five blocks from the northeast corner of the World Trade Center site.
To be sure, the center's association with 9/11 is intentional and its location is no geographic coincidence. The building was damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks and the center's planners say they want the center to stand as a statement against terrorism.

Thanks Cal. Now how about we look at the pertinent facts?

THE PERTINENT FACTS
The area is a business district. There is no Islamic community in the immediate region that has need of this mosque. As part of the wheel gear of one of the doomed aircraft crashed through the roof of the building, it is in fact a part of the area destroyed by the Islamic terror attack and is properly called a part of Ground Zero. The story that the building will be a part of a community outreach project is somewhat undermined by the fact that infidels cannot enter the mosque. No effort is being made on the part of the islamist backers to do anything for the Christian or Jewish communities. The name of the mosque project was the Cordoba House Mosque, a clear reference to the mosque built in Spain over the ruins of a Christian cathedral that stamped the region as being subjugated under Islam. The name you refer to was only taken as a replacement name in July. The day selected by the Islamic committee for the start of construction of the Cordoba House Mosque was September 11th, 2011.

Now the AP may view this as incidental and irrelevant. I actually hold that very same view about the AP.

"There should be no mosque near ground zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia. ... America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization." — Gingrich.
_"This religion's plan is to destroy our way of life. ... If we have to let them build it, make them build it nine stories underground, so we can walk above it as citizens and Christians." — Ron McNeil, a House GOP candidate in the Florida Panhandle, in an exchange reported by The News Herald in Panama City.

THE FACTS:
Such opinions are shared by some Americans, while others are more reluctant to paint the religion with a broad brush and more welcoming of the faith in this country. Bush himself, while criticized at the time for stirring suspicions about American Muslims, traveled to a Washington mosque less than a week after the attacks to declare that terrorism is "not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace."
In any event, the U.S. armed forces field Muslim troops and make accommodations for them. The Pentagon opened an interfaith chapel in November 2002 close to the area where hijacked American Airlines flight 77 slammed into the building, killing 184 people.
Muslims gather there for a daily prayer service Monday through Thursday and hold a weekly worship service on Fridays, drawing no complaints. Similar but separate services are provided for other faiths.

THE PERTINENT FACTS
Muslims in the US military have been the source of devastating bloodshed, from Sergeant Hasan Akbar's attack against his fellow 101st airborne comrades on March 23, 2003 which killed two and wounded fourteen, to Major Nidal Hasan's Ft. Hood Allah Akbar massacre that killed 13 and wounded 30. The fact that the US Armed Forces attempts to accommodate muslims , and even opened an interfaith chapel near where the Islamo-terrorists crashed a jet liner of innocents into the Pentagon says quite a bit about the US Armed Services leadership, and not all of that is good. As to your intended point, the chapel in the Pentagon does not inform us about the national and political fidelity of Muslims in our military.

As hard as the AP works to make the case, the more clear it is they are choosing to ignore the real experiences we have suffered. Our national attempt to treat all people equally and to assume a person's loyalty is to this nation is not necessarily a correct view when it comes to the religion Islam, which pointedly makes the claim to be first in the lives of its adherents.

It is as though Woodward purposefully avoids the reality before him, and calls it a "fact check exercise". How is that useful? Just sounds like being a dimwit to me.

'Imagine Me And You' Open Thread

What did you think?

John F. Kerry: Statesman?

You’ve gotta love the self-importance of one John F. Kerry, whose recent very valuable and important trip to Afghanistan bestows upon him the street cred to opine on the situation and hint at his insiders information about what’s about. I guess he reported to duty, and now he is reporting back, mostly to tell us what a big f”ing deal he is. What a clown. Gee, John has been there and he can report back that he was right all along – we can’t win. Yeah, well what else would he say? Didn’t he say the same when he was a Lieutenant providing occasional and unreliable driving skills to his swift boat team and managing to self inflict purple heart earning shrapnel wounds into his ass? Does he ever say anything else about our military? That’s why its so great to have him on our team.

Well, he is now reporting that we are very active in negotiating our withdrawal with the Taliban. Bully for you John! Did it ever occur to you that negotiating a withdrawal with the Taliban will result in a massive slaughter of whoever was fool enough to help our effort there, much like we did with the hmong people in Vietnam? Yeah, well that plan seemed good to you, but of course you weren’t South Vietnamese, Cambodian or hmong. The political value of the peace agreement worked out seemed to have a little less sparkle from their perspective.

You’ve gotta believe this ass clown knows the agreements are no good. Of course they aren’t any good. What difference does it make to John F. Kerry?!

The idea of brokering a deal with the terrorist organization that harbored Osama Bin Laden is obviously frought with problems. Even this fool president realizes that. Still it gives those morally superior, great intellects among us like John Kerry the answer they seek - 'peace'. Peace with our enemies. Peace with those that want to kill and destroy my family and yours. "All You Need Is Love" is the foreign policy position of Mr. Kerry. But setting the stupidity of it aside for a moment, the gallingly irritating thing about the whole story is the obvious desire to self promotion and the need to appear important.

If such negotiations are going on, as callous and short sighted as that may be, to come home and start speaking about is assininly stupid. We are still there on the ground. We still have troops in harms way who are looking to achieve their mission of protecting and strengthening the current afghan government under Hamid Karzai. If it is broadcast...B R O A D C A S T ... that we are negotiating our withdrawal, then whomever has been assisting us better bug out or switch sides to survive the bloodbath that will follow Kerry's negotiated peace. That means they will need to switch sides in a dramatic way, feed the US forces they have been working with bad information, set them up for ambush, gun them down in the back. That means that Mr. Kerry, in his desire to promote himself, is not only willing to dry up US information sources and give up the lives of US informants and their families to rape, torture and throat slitting, but he is willing to sacrifice the lives of US servicemen. It is utterly irresponsible and contemptible, and is perfectly in congruence with the manner he has conducted himself as far back as his stint in Vietnam. This is what passes for political leadership in this country today.

Utterly contemptible.

Thanks for the report, John. We all see what an important person you are. Now go back to your yacht.

With thanks to Bob Belvedere.

Sports Writer Weenies Wait With Delight For Tebow Failure

Are there any people more absolutely irrelevant in the world than sports writers? Well, if there is any question in your mind, you can read this drivel from one Les Carpenter.

"There is something hypnotic about Tim Tebow that makes otherwise sensible football people grow weak. And it lulls them into overlooking the barriers set by those who have evaluated his college game tapes; those who say his style of throwing the ball is too cumbersome to translate to the professional game and find his headfirst plunges into the chests of tacklers as a great way to get hurt rather than a heroic display of manhood."

Les wouldn't know a display of manhood if it grabbed him by his donut shaped middrif and shook him like a bowl of jello. I'm sorry, but the ready willingness to belittle the physical courage of a person doing something Mr. Carpenter can hardly imagine (seriously) is extremely distasteful to me. His sneering is the antithesis of manhood.

Tim Tebow will definitely have a challenge staying healthy in the NFL, whether he accepts and initiates contact with defensive players or just receives their attentions as part of the usual NFL defensive 'scheme'. The fact of the matter is, Tebow is ready and willing to accept the challenge, come what may. If he can't stay healthy, does that make Les Carpenter admirable in any way? Does it prove that competitiveness and physical courage, which Tim has in spades, are deserving of the ridicule that Carpenter is so ready to heap on him?

Look, Les, Tim Tebow is the third string quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Twenty-four guys were picked in front of him in the draft, including Denver's top first round selection. Don't you think you could write a story on something a little more ... newsworthy?

Kathleen Parker Ignores Islamists

In her most recent column, conservative writer Kathleen Parker claims that the Ground Zero Mosque must be built, precisely because we are a free and tolerant people.

"Ultimately, when sensitivity becomes a cudgel against lawful expressions of speech or religious belief -- or disbelief -- we all lose. "

On that point she is correct. I would hope that she would express that same idea in defense of free political expression in this country, and that she would be vocally critical of those that would limit speech. This is especially important regarding political speech. The tendency to seek to limit opinions is a problem rampant amidst the left leaning p.c. among us. Nancy Pelosi's recent call to investigate critics of the Ground Zero Victory Super-Mosque is a perfect example. The woman is a menace to a free society.

That being said, in this case the Muslim proponents for a Ground Zero Victory Super-Mosque (The GZVSM) are far from nonchalantly and inadvertently choosing to build at the sight of a horrendous massacre of US citizens. The project was selected specifically because the site is tied to jihad. After years of being blown to bits in caves, losing fire-fights to the US Marines and suffering death in the dead of night from guided munitions delivered atop roadside mischief makers, it was important to show that they did do something 'right' in the past ten years.

What is galling is the breathless energy by which the lefty pols rushed in to fast track and support the event, as though that would establish their credibility of being higher minded. They yearn to distinguish themselves from common folk, those of us who took it amiss to see commercial airliners crashed into New York skyscrapers, and who hurt inside for the loss of our fellow citizens.

It is the same kind of empty symbolism that marks most everything they do. Why did so many vote for Barack in the first place? Was it not to show they were ready and willing to vote for a person of color? What did those rank and file Dems and the masses of independents know of his intentions and philosophies? Precious little. No, many voted just because they thought it would show what a mature and open people they have become. Imagine Abraham Lincoln behaving in such a frivolous fashion. Not on your life. He was a serious person who dealt with serious events in a serious way.

The same cannot be said for our current political leadership.

'Local Hero' Open Thread

This looks like fun!

Obama Approval Reaches Rock Bottom 42%

According the most recent Gallup poll, President Barack Obama continues his nose dive in approval ratings, dropping to an all time low of 42%. Along those lines, the president's disapproval ratings continued to move up, now reaching an all time high of 49%. The upside down approval/disapproval ratings mark great dissatisfaction and a loss of trust, particularly among those individuals who consider themselves to be independents.

The Rasmussen poll showed similar numbers:

"The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -17."

Despite all the positive press. Despite party control of both houses. Minus 17.

Wow.

Maxine Waters Blames ... President Bush?!

The House Ethics committee is investigating Representative Maxine Waters for allegedly improperly using her position for personal gain. Just as a quick update, Maxine Waters' husband had 350,000 dollars worth of stock in OneUnited bank, which was on the brink of failing. Ms. Waters contacted Treasury Secretary Paulson, whose office met with her chief of staff, Mikael Moore, who is also Waters' grandson, along with representatives of OneUnited Bank. OneUnited received 12 of the 50 million dollars they requested from the government TARP bailout.

"The question at this point should not be why I called Secretary Paulson, but why I had to,"

Hmm. Would the reason why be that you had to avoid your husband taking a $350K loss, cause that's what it looks like, Maxine.

Embattled Rep. Maxine Waters on Friday blamed the Bush administration for her ethics problems -- saying she had to intervene with the Treasury Department on behalf of minority-owned banks seeking federal bailout funds -- including one tied to her husband -- because the Treasury Department wouldn't schedule its own appointments.

"The question at this point should be why a trade association representing over 100 minority banks could not get a meeting at the height of the crisis."

But the House ethics committee says in its report of charges that when the meeting was held only the officers of one bank were present. Those officers represented OneUnited.

Good grief.

What Are Little Girls Made Of?

Cassy Fiano wrote an interesting lament regarding the objectification and hyper-sexualization of young women today. The piece drew an interesting mix of reactions.

Parts of it are very troubling, but I think she had a good point. I welcome you to give it a look.


Update:

Roxeanne de Luca considers the same in her usual matter of fact, no holding back style. Pretty darn good.

Obama Takes On 'Local Issue', Throws Hat In With Islamists

US President Barack Obama staunchly defended plans to build a mosque at Ground Zero in New York City Friday at a speech given at a White House dinner celebrating Ramadan.

"Mr Obama acknowledged "sensitivities" surround the 9/11 site, but said Muslims have the same right to practice their religion "as anyone else".

Nice of him to take timeout from his Ramadan dinner to totally miss the point on the World Trade Center site. Of course they can practice their religion wherever they want. But should they build a mosque at the sight of the World Trade Center? A place where the entire nation was attacked by 19 islamists, who high jacked two jumbo passenger jets, slit the throats of the pilots and then, while shouting 'Allah Akbar!", flew them into the World Trade Center Towers, incinerating several floors and setting up a delayed structural failure that resulted in nearly three thousand innocent people dying. The written instructions to the 9/11 attackers included this bit of religious free expression:

"When the confrontation begins, strike like champions who do not want to go back to this world. Shout, 'Allahu Akbar,' because this strikes fear in the hearts of the non-believers."

And on the cockpit voice recorders found at the crash site of Flight 93, the hijackers are heard to be reciting 'Allahu Akbar' as the plane plummeted toward the ground. So, build a mosque out of the rubble of the World Trade Center? Ya think, Barry?

"Our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable," Mr Obama said.

It is unshakable. But it is not ignorant of the past, nor naive of the world we live in. The needless deaths of three thousand of our people occurred on the basis of political and religious motives. That doesn't go away just because Barack is president. What's missing in your comments, Mr. President? Where is your care and fellow feeling ... for us?

"We must all recognise and respect the sensitivities surrounding the development of lower Manhattan, Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground. But let me be clear, as a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country.

Oh yeah, good, thanks for the tell. Whenever Barry is going to 'make it clear' for us, odds on he is absolutely trying to pull one over on us.

"That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community centre on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are."

What of the people that died there, and died because of the warped, hate filled minds of the Islamists?

In voicing his support for the right to build the centre, Mr Obama joins New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had been the only prominent politician to endorse it.

If ever there was a pair of tin eared, out of touch, arrogant, grasping dopes...
Is there not anyone who can look at this issue with some feeling for those people most affected?

Former US House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich dubbed the plan an "assertion of Islamist triumphalism" and has denounced it in speeches.

Right on.

Former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin wrote that "to build a mosque at Ground Zero is a stab in the heart of the families of the innocent victims of those horrific attacks".

Exactly right.


Update

In the spirit of the president's sentiments, we have this from our friends over at American Digest:

"At Barack Hussein Obama's taxpayer-funded Ramadan dinner last night, not only did the alleged president give the assembled Muslims the tremendous gift of support for building the Ground Zero mosque, but he also gifted them with the multi-purpose "Presidential Seal Boxcutter" which will soon be available in the Cordoba House gift shop.

Now that is reaching out and embracing the faith traditions of our neighbors.

Obama Comes Clean, Gets Rid Of Pretense of Transparency

President Obama is finding his way, getting honest with the people, and has taken a first step by abolishing the position he devised dedicated to transparency. Obama transferred his so-called "ethics czar" Norm Eisen to the Czech Republic to serve as U.S. ambassador. I guess that's far enough away. Meanwhile, his ethics 'duties' were then handed over to a partisan ex-lobbyist who is not known as a big believer in the virtue of transparency in government.

White House counsel Bob Bauer will take over the dubious duties of ethics czar, but without the title. The title 'Ethics Czar' was retired with Eisen. Interestingly, the new man is openly antagonistic to the benefits and value of disclosure on the part of politicians. A lawyer, his resume reads more as partisan politico than crusader for open, forthcoming government.

As White House Counsel, Bauer worked to defend Rahm Emanuel's offer of a job to Rep. Joe Sestak (D), whom Emanuel wanted out of the Senate race for the seat of Arlen Specter.

Another Bauer client was New Jersey Sen. Robert "Torch" Torricelli back in 2001. When one Torricelli donor admitted he had reimbursed employees for their contributions to the Torch -- thus circumventing contribution limits -- Bauer explained, "All candidates ask their supporters to help raise money from friends, family members and professional associates."

Bauer's own words -- gathered by the diligent folks at the Sunlight Foundation -- show disdain for openness and far greater belief in the good intentions of those in power than of those trying to check the powerful.

Nice.

It would seem nothing Barack Hussein Obama said during his campaign to be president had any truth behind it. Nothing said was actually a core value of the man, no commitment to those high sounding ideas lay in the heart of the man that said them. All this brings to mind a lesson to us from Thomas Sowell, namely

"The most important thing about what anyone says is not the words themselves, but the credibility of the person saying them."

Well said, Dr. Sowell.

Gay 'Rights' Protesters Willing Pawns For MoveOn

The alliance for gay rights is at it again, threatening businesses and generally annoying people, this time acting as the willing pawns of George Soros and the Democrats by threatening those they have found have made financial contributions to the political campaigns of Republicans.

Protesters have been rallying outside Target Corp. or its stores almost daily since the retailer angered gay rights supporters and progressives by giving money to help a conservative Republican gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota.

Liberal groups are pushing to make an example of the company, hoping its woes will deter other businesses from putting their corporate funds into elections.

Target's contribution to MN Forward was intended to aid a pro-business agenda, and was silent on the sexual orientation, activities and proclivities of the gay, lesbian, bi and transgendered among us. Nevertheless, those folks turned out to make a fuss, claiming a moral superiority that does not exist and claiming that anyone that even supports groups that support people that do not agree with them should suffer the same annoyance of having the gay, lesbian, bi and transgendered show up and make a bunch of noise at their place of businesses and corporate offices. These people are creepy.

A national gay rights group is negotiating with Target officials, demanding that the firm balance the scale by making comparable donations to benefit candidates it favors.

We will be offended till you do as we say. Extortion is now a part of the gay agenda.

"Target is receiving criticism and frustration from their customers because they are doing something wrong, and that should serve absolutely as an example for other companies," said Ilyse Hogue, director of political advocacy for the liberal group MoveOn.org, which is pressing Target to formally renounce involvement in election campaigns.

They are doing something wrong? The MoveOn director says Target is doing something wrong? They are free to do as they please, and you sir are in no position to claim the capacity to judge whether or not something is wrong.

But conservative organizations are likely to react harshly if Target makes significant concessions to the left-leaning groups.

Really? Will conservatives be lining up outside Target stores and making a nuisance of themselves if Target makes a contribution to MoveOn or the DNC? I did't think so.

"The repair has to be consistent with the harm that was done," Sainz said.

What harm? What harm was done?

MoveOn, which had feared a heavy flow of corporate donations to groups that help conservative candidates after the Supreme Court decision, protested outside Target headquarters last week.

There you go. That is the true drive behind the bellyaching. MoveOn is not concerned about gays. They are concerned about electing Democrats, and to that end any tool is a useful tool.

On the other side, conservatives have begun to rally to support Target, but in smaller numbers. A Facebook page urging "Boycott Target Until They Cease Funding Anti-Gay Politics" has more than 54,000 fans. A page declaring "I will NOT Boycott Target for supporting a Conservative candidate" has a little more than 400 fans.

But the comments section on this article are heavily in favor of Target, and of liberty in general:

"I don't recall hearing any complaints if a donation was made to someone who supported gays and lesbians. Sexual preference is a persons right, whether anyone else agrees with it or not." -A Yahoo User

"I will be supporting Target even more. This is America." - Rick

And the Republican candidate in question?

Emmer has said he views the Target giving as an exercise in free speech and wants to keep his campaign focused on economic issues.

Damn straight. It used to be a country that honored and respected freedom. Those ideas are sadly absent from the political viewpoint of the left, and their reaction here makes the point.

Regal Obamas Show Little Regard For Cares Of The Nation They Lead

British writer Nile Gardiner of the UK Telegraph wrote a great piece about the disparity between the views of the Obama Presidency and the views of the people of this country, likening them to L’Ancien Régime as described by French political scientist and historian Alexis de Tocqueville:

"The First Lady’s ill-conceived trip to Marbella and the complete disregard for public opinion and concerns over excessive government spending is symbolic of a far wider problem with the Obama presidency – the overarching disdain for the principles of limited government, individual liberty and free enterprise that have built the United States over the course of nearly two and a half centuries into the most powerful and free nation on earth.

It is epitomised above all by the President’s relentless drive towards big government against the will of the American people, and the dramatic increases in government spending and borrowing, which threaten to leave the US hugely in debt for generations. It is also showcased by Barack Obama’s drive towards a socialised health care system, which, as I’ve noted before, is “a thinly disguised vanity project for a president who is committed to transforming the United States from the world’s most successful large-scale free enterprise economy, to a highly interventionist society with a massive role for centralized government.”

There is however a political revolution fast approaching Washington that is driven not by mob rule but by the power of ideas and principles, based upon the ideals of the Founding Fathers and the US Constitution. It is a distinctly conservative revolution that is sweeping America and is reflected in almost every poll ahead of this November’s mid-terms. It is based on a belief in individual liberty, limited government, and above all, political accountability from the ruling elites. The Obama administration’s mantra may well be “let them eat cake”, as it continues to gorge itself on taxpayers’ money, but it will be looking nervously over its shoulder as public unease mounts."

Great piece! It seems all the good writing is being done in the blogosphere or over in the UK, with little actual to be heard from our own press, the vaunted Fourth Estate. Anyway, read the rest of Gardiner's piece here.

With a major hat tip to blog fav Bob Belvedere!

Get A Grip

"Revealed: The British air hostess who is having Frasier star Kelsey Grammer's baby"



"Kayte Walsh is the mystery blonde with whom the 55-year-old former Frasier star is said to be besotted, the Daily Mail can reveal.

At 29 she is 26 years his junior – while he is two years older than her father, ex-Bristol City player Alan Walsh."





Frasier!

David Warren Views Middle East

Reading US commentaries about world issues is often a choice between one brand of salsa or the other. It is a pleasure, then, to read through the cool observations and well measured arguments of David Warren. He never sounds as though he is in the midst of the firestorm, and his experience and background abroad is far greater than most of us here in the States. His latest piece is another fine example:

"The Cold War analogy will not work in the Middle East, however, where the West has enemies who are not quite sane. In particular, while they give many signs of bazaar cunning, Iran's ayatollahs are not committed to an ideology of dull materialism. They are instead committed to an apocalyptic religious vision, which with all its heresy (in strict Islamic terms), might actually prefer to trigger international catastrophe, rather than suffer ignominious domestic collapse."

And

"Selling such an aggressive forward policy to Western electorates, who must pay for it, was never going to be easy. And George Bush essentially failed as salesman, partly through his own incoherence. With Barack Obama, the chances are zero: he would not dream of defending U.S. interests in so decisive a way. At best, for the length of his tenure, we can hope for some puzzled dithering, in which regardless of his own rhetoric he allows U.S. troops to dawdle in theatre, and their actual presence in turn provides some modest deterrent value."

Read the rest here.

JetBlu Flight Attendant Bails Out On Tarmac

The flight attendant career of Steven Slater came to a spectacular close Sunday when he lost patience with certain members of his clientele.

After requsesting an anxious passenger to remain in his seat and refrain from pulling out his overhead luggage, the passenger told him what for and then struck Mr. Slater in the head with his bag, accidentally like, as it came down from above them before the plane was properly parked. Funny, but that is exactly why they say not to do that. Returning to his crew station, Mr. Slater took advantage of his access to the plane's PA system to bid his final flight farewell.

"Authorities said Slater dropped several f-bombs on a JetBlue flight’s loud speaker Monday night, grabbed two beers, deployed the plane’s emergency slide at Kennedy Airport, and then took off."

Despite his haste to disembark, he did have the presence of mind to grab a couple of bebos before he hit the chute. I suppose you never want to be losing your composure as Mr. Slater did, but still there are times ...

Democrats Look To Split Conservative Vote

Electoral high jinks are nothing new to the Democrat Party. We are all familiar with last minute revelations, October surprises, trumped up and timed release 'scandalous' revelations, voter fraud and recounts till the 'right' candidate wins. This latest effort is just one more in a consistent pattern of attempting to subvert the electoral process. It seems the Democrats are flooding the elections with phony candidates whom they register as "Tea Party" candidates to siphon off the unsuspecting among us and split the conservative vote.

Gillman, who also authors the blog "Michigan Taxes Too Much" and is running for county commissioner, caused a stir in Michigan politics in late July after he released documents he obtained from state elections officials about the so-called Michigan Tea Party. The documents, he said, showed that of the 23 candidates under the Tea Party name, at least nine of them had affidavits notarized by a local operative for the Oakland County Democratic Party.

What the...?!

"Nobody had any idea who these people were," Gillman told FoxNews.com. "We could at least say, without question, it is the Democratic Party putting it on."

A bunch of candidates signed up to run for office, listing themselves as members of the Tea Party, and nobody knows who they are. Well, I'm sure Mr. McGuinness knows who they are.

The plot thickened after the Oakland County Democratic Party chairman, Mike McGuinness, told The Detroit News that operative Jason Bauer may have crossed the line by notarizing the affidavits."

Yeah, ya think, maybe?

He was quoted saying the activity was not "sanctioned" by the local party, but "we have to assess internally what we do next."

All just a misunderstanding, I'm sure.

"Representatives with the Oakland County and Michigan Democratic parties did not return calls seeking comment."

I'll bet.

The Cordoba Conundrum

The plans to build a mosque two blocks from the site where the World Trade Center towers were destroyed, along with the lives of nearly 3,000 American citizens, received the go ahead from New York city's Landmarks Preservation Commission. Their 9 to 0 vote against granting historic protection to the building at 45-47 Park Place in Lower Manhattan confirmed that the $100 million center would be built. The vote set off another round of national debate, with the usual suspects on the left chiding the right for lacking the broadmindedness to look past wrongs and for failing to move forward to a bright new future. Against this bilge and caterwauling a number of conservatives have responded, including Andrew McCarthy's excellent summation at National review:

Dar al-Hijra was established in 1991. Not so coincidentally, that is the same year American leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood wrote an internal memorandum to their global headquarters in Egypt, explaining that they saw their work in the United States as a “grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within.”

And David Warren has an enlightening piece:

The chief promoter of the scheme, Faisel Abdul Rauf, is himself an imam who, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, suggested that the U.S. was itself largely responsible for being hit. He will not say where the money is coming from (despite some journalistic hounding). Till otherwise proven, the assumption must be that most comes from the usual source: Saudi Arabia, a country whose religious affairs department has generously endowed Sunni Muslim infrastructure all over the world, from an immense oil revenue.

It is also, if my reader needs reminding, a country in which the practice of any religion but Islam is absolutely banned, and grievously punished. All Saudi proposals for "interfaith dialogue" should be considered in that sharp light.

My favorite is, of course, George Jonas, whose excellent post put the notion of outreach into perspective:

"Although human naïvete is boundless, the likelihood of an organization hoping to promote understanding through what others view as desecration is remote. Cordoba Initiative's organizers may not themselves think of building an Islamic centre and mosque near Ground Zero as desecration, but it can't escape their notice that many Americans do."

True enough.

- 'Lawrence of Arabia' Open Thread

What did you think?

Milwaukie Teachers Fight For Their Rights...

With the Milwuakie School District in a financial crisis and layoffs handed out to hundreds of teachers, the Milwaukee teachers union is taking a stand and are insisting to get its taxpayer-funded Viagra back as a benefit.

The school district believes its limited resources might be better spent in more productive pursuits.

"But lawyers for the school board say the drugs were excluded in 2005 to save money, and there is no discrimination because they are used primarily for recreational sex and not out of medical necessity."

Don't they have, like...hobbies? What the heck are they doing over there in Milwaukie?

The filing last month comes as the union, the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association, is also protesting hundreds of layoff notices issued to teachers for the coming school year. Citing a "financial crisis" caused by exploding benefit costs and revenue shortfalls, the district's outgoing superintendent proposed laying off 682 employees in April.

At least one lawmaker questioned why the union is fighting for Viagra while teachers are losing their jobs. A consultant for the school board has estimated that reinstating the drug benefit would cost $786,000 per year — the cost to keep perhaps a dozen first-year teachers employed.

Nearly a million a year - for viagra. Listen, don't start trying to reason with these people. You are not dealing with reasonable people.

State Rep. Jason Fields argues that the money could be better spent any number of ways — including saving jobs.
"You've got to be kidding me," said Fields, a Milwaukee Democrat. "The fact that is the point of contention is kind of frightening."

It's bad news when even the Democrats can see how outrageous the NEA can be.

(Note: photo of teachers protesting is generic for teachers protesting, and does not represent any particular teachers, in Milwaukie or elsewhere, protesting the loss of a Viagra benefit plan).

Justice Stevens Replacement Confirmed

Ahhfff!

Do you realize the nonsense that this woman has written? Her utter lack of judicial experience? She even has remarkably limited experience as a solicitor, which showed when she argued before the Supreme Court. And those problems are existant before we even start to talk about her "ideas" that were so buried in her confirmation hearings that Democratic Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, wondered aloud whether there was any way short of opposing her confirmation to get a straight answer.

"It would be my hope that we could find some place between voting no and having some sort of substantive answers," Specter said, "but I don't know that it would be useful to pursue these questions any further."

Nope.

Well, here we go.

Barack Bowls A Gutter Ball

Despite all the fawning press coverage.

Despite the ongoing media effort to portray the economy as robust.

Despite everything.

Lowest approval level... ever.

"Only 41% of those surveyed Tuesday through Sunday approved of the way Obama is handling his job, his lowest rating in the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll since he took office in January 2009."

Well deserved.

Tommy Spells It Out

Blog favorite Thomas Sowell has written many a fine column. Of late he has been watching in dismay as this nation has taken wrong turn after wrong turn, all the more frustrating because of the difficulty we now have in criticising this particular president.

Well, Dr. Sowell in no way finds himself constrained, and his most recent column points out the folly of our ways:

"One of the ideas that has proved to be almost impervious to evidence is the idea that wise and far-sighted people need to take control and plan economic and social policies so that there will be a rational and just order, rather than chaos resulting from things being allowed to take their own course."

Right on.

In light of the abject failure of the communist control economies, the blatant dysfunction of the Britain's National Health Service, and the absolute Tom Foolery of FDR's government stimulus plans, one would think a nation that selects its leaders would have to be insane to go down the path we are on. Reading the likes of ponce, SP0101 and others, I believe a case could be made. Through this murk comes our hero, Dr. Sowell:

"The education and intellects of the elites may lead them to have more sweeping presumptions, but that just makes them more dangerous to the freedom, as well as the well-being, of the people as a whole."

Damn straight.

Canadian David Warren Hears The Tea Pot Whistle

David Warren's recent comments on the Journolist debacle brought a sharp reaction, showing the depth in this, our age of discontent:

Not for the first time, I got a taste of just how angry a large and growing part of America has become, at the "liberal establishment" in the media, courts, Congress, White House, and the nearest public school. At the root of this, it seems to me, is the sense that decent, reasonable, tolerant people, who work for their livings, are losing control over their own lives to something like a "governing class"; are abused, insulted, being taxed to destruction. And, in the final aggravating clinch, the leaders who speak most articulately for them are smeared as "racists" and "rednecks."

Very true. Read the whole thing here.




Meanwhile...




...no word on this man.

New Home Found

In light of the recent confirmation of his particular qualifications, a new avenue has opened up for the perky Barrack Obama.

I must say I am well pleased to see he has found an arena so well suited to his unique talents.

Go get 'em, Barrack. Best of luck in the new gig!!


If only...


With a hat tip to The Cookie Blog.

Palin Let's It Rip

Sarah Palin called the President on the carpet Sunday, declaring that Arizona Govenor Jan Brewer has "the cojones" that President Obama lacks. At the time, she was discussing the issue of illegal immigration.

The former Alaskan govenor blasted the Obama Administration for suing Arizona to block the state from implementing their legally arrived at state laws, and drew attention to inconsistencies in his justice department's argument over Federal domain by drawing attention to the total lack of effort on the part of the administration to confront so-called "sanctuary cities", whose city ordinances prohibit local law enforcement officers from enquiring about legal residence, as reported at UPI.com:

"Jan Brewer has the cojones that our president does not have to look out for all Americans, not just Arizonans, but all Americans, in this desire of ours to secure our borders and allow legal immigration to help build this country, as was the purpose of immigration laws," Palin said.

And while she was at it:

"The former governor said the president and congressional Democrats "are all wet" on plans to allow the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire. "It's idiotic to think about increasing taxes at a time like this,"

Wow! Right on the money.

By the way, the photo shown was not taken during her appearance on Fox News Sunday, nor was she referring to Mr. Obama, Harry Reid or any of the other Democrat mighty men at the time of its taking.

With a hat tip to wizbang.

'My Favorite Year' Open Thread

What did you think?

Conrad Black Freed

Conrad Black, the former controller of media industry leader Hollinger International, has been released from prison. Prior to the government forcing Mr. Black out of its leadership, Hollinger International, Inc had been the world's third largest media entity, publishing through its various affiliates some of the world's major newspapers, including The Daily Telegraph (UK), Chicago Sun Times (USA), Jerusalem Post (Israel), National Post (Canada), and hundreds of community newspapers in North America.

The United States Supreme Court had been asked to review the vague and broad definition of "honest services" fraud statutes under which Mr. Black had been convicted. Their decision, released on June 24th, 2010, ordered the Illinois appeal court to review the three fraud convictions in light of the Supreme Court's clarification of the definition "honest services" fraud. On July 19th, 2010, Mr. Black was granted bail pending a decision by the court on whether to retry his 2008 criminal fraud conviction. He was released on July 21, 2010, on a $2 million bond signed by Roger Hertog. On August 16th his bail hearing will resume, Mr. Black's lawyers and the prosecution having been ordered by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to submit written arguments for the court's review of his case.

Mr. Black's entire trial and conviction was a testament to how far this country has gone in the distortion of our judicial system, and brought to mind the misuse of the law and bullying by former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and former North Carolina Duke Lacrosse prosecutor Mike Nifong. All the sordid parts of nefarious prosecutions were there, including an ambitious government lawyer, a supposedly privileged preferred target, and the use of the extensive powers of the government to wear down and intimidate the defendant and his associates.

Throughout his Quixotic struggle, Mr. Black has remained upbeat and optimistic, ever hopeful that right would win out. After his conviction came down, he remained an inspiration of courage, determination and energy, writing articles for National Review from his prison cell and initiating a course in Literature for his fellow inmates. I have the greatest respect and admiration for Conrad Black. He is a remarkably principled and courageous man.

Congratulations Mr. Black. Welcome back!




"Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."