Press on Parade

In the alternate reality TV show that the old media have made of this failed Democrat presidency, truth and the media narrative have long ago gone their separate ways. Recently a dose of reality was sprinkled on the heads of various left wing luminaries when the Media Research Center held their annual awards show.

Topping the list, and well deservedly I must say, was 'Worst Reporter in the History of Man' winner Katie Couric. And sheesh, did they ever bring the goods. You've got to check out the video clips they put together over at the source CNS article.

Yes, that is an impressive record.

Most of the award winners were selected by a twelve judge panel, that included Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin. Another interesting competition was for the Obamagasm Award. As yoou might have guessed, this had to go to Chris Matthews, and here is the pull quote used to support his selection:

The Obamagasm Award for drooling over Democrats went to MSNBC's Chris Matthews for saying of President Barack Obama on the July 17, 2012 edition of "Hardball:" "This guy's done everything right. He's raised his family right. He's fought his way all the way to the top of the Harvard Law Review, in a blind test becomes head of the Review, the top editor there. Everything he's done is clean as a whistle. He's never not only broken any law, he's never done anything wrong. He's the perfect father, the perfect husband, the perfect American. And all they do is trash the guy."

Yep, we love Chris Matthews around here. Hard hitting, no nonsense journalist. Do they have a "Pissing in the Wind." catagory?

Wealth Redistribution Going Backward, not Forward

He's been quiet about it, but the president is a big believer in redistribution, with himself as the one to seize wealth and redistribute it "more equitably". Thank our lucky stars he is the man that can see where equity lies, and of course in his view it lies with his cronies at Solyndra and union thug supporters of the SEIU, with a few crumbs to the poor among us, and all done for just minor carrying charges. Yes, that is why he tells us "You didn't build that", and confides to Joe the Plumber "I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody." So he takes your money, whatever 'wealth' you might have, and spreads it around. Great.

Thomas Sowell has written a fine piece on the pitfalls of leftist ideas of confiscation and redistribution:

Those who talk glibly about redistribution often act as if people are just inert objects that can be placed here and there, like pieces on a chess board, to carry out some grand design. But if human beings have their own responses to government policies, then we cannot blithely assume that government policies will have the effect intended.

The history of the 20th century is full of examples of countries that set out to redistribute wealth and ended up redistributing poverty. The communist nations were a classic example, but by no means the only example.

Excellent. Read the whole thing here.

Krauthammer on Obama's Cairo Doctrine Failure

Was it not hubis itself that made the man-who-would-be-king believe that by just him talking he could set the world to rights? He was as likely to affect the tides, or stop the rise of the oceans as he preferred the dream to be framed. Charles Krauthmmer apprises where we stand in all the hope and change:

It’s now three years since the Cairo speech. Look around. The Islamic world is convulsed with an explosion of anti-Americanism. From Tunisia to Lebanon, American schools, businesses and diplomatic facilities set ablaze. A U.S. ambassador and three others murdered in Benghazi. The black flag of Salafism, of which al-Qaeda is a prominent element, raised over our embassies in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Sudan.

The administration, staggered and confused, blames it all on a 14-minute trailer for a film no one has seen and may not even exist.

What else can it say? Admit that its doctrinal premises were supremely naive and its policies deeply corrosive to American influence?

Religious provocations are endless. (Ask Salman Rushdie.) Resentment about the five-century decline of the Islamic world is a constant. What’s new — the crucial variable — is the unmistakable sound of a superpower in retreat. Ever since Henry Kissinger flipped Egypt from the Soviet to the American camp in the early 1970s, the United States had dominated the region. No longer.

“It’s time,” declared Obama to wild applause of his convention, “to do some nation-building right here at home.” He’d already announced a strategic pivot from the Middle East to the Pacific. Made possible because “the tide of war is receding.”

Nonsense. From the massacres in Nigeria to the charnel house that is Syria, violence has, if anything, increased. What is receding is Obama’s America.

On the money. Read the whole thing here.

This guy...

At the UN:

It has been less than two years since a vendor in Tunsia set himself on fire to protest the oppresive corruption in his country, and sparked what became known as the Arab Spring. Since then the world has been captiviated by the transformation that has taken place. The United States has supported the forces of change. We were inspired by the Tunsian protests that toppled a dictator because we recognize our own beliefs in the aspiration of men and women who took to the streets. We insisted on change in Egypt, because our support for democracy ultimately put us on the side of the people.

No, Mr. President, I do not recognize my own beliefs in the people protesting in Libya or Egypt. Do you?

“I’ve seen Joe up close”

Taking a turn from her husband's curious knack for awkward phrasing, the wife of the Vice President had a little fun relating her impressions of "big Joe" in a manner that most probably would prefer not to hear.

“I’ve seen Joe up close.” she asserted, arms outstretched. It wasn't clear if she was speaking here of big Joe, or "little Joey".

Shrugging off decorum, and egged on by her grinning husband, the Second Lady described her husband's 'big, strong heart' in a manner that begged innuendo.

At first pleading innocence, she soon warmed to her task, adding a pregnant pause in her prepared remarks on how she had "heard the urgency in his voice when he comes ... and talks to people".

Awkward, yes. Crass, certainly... but it was mother's milk to the assembled Democrat nit wits. Of course just the previous day her husband had told an assembly of high school student-athletes how impressed he was with what cheerleaders could "do", so in jumping into the mud pit with such relish she seems to have sanctioned the awkward comments her husband had made to the teens.

Less than ideal.

How Does He Come Up With This Stuff?!!

Vice President Joe Biden stopped off at Newport High School in Newport, N.H., to talk to a group of assembled student-athletes who waited, in uniform, for the Vice President's comments:

He cradled a football under his arm as he spoke and began by asking which teams were represented — football, soccer, lacrosse and cross-country.

"Any others?" He asked.

‘Cheerleaders!’ a group of girls shouted.

“Guess what, the cheerleaders in college are the best athletes in college,” Biden said.
“You think I’m joking? They’re almost all gymnasts. The stuff they do on hard wood, it blows my mind.”

Hubba, hubba, Mr. V.P.

Obama Flag: Peddling the Plutocracy

As if lying to the American public over the recent embassy attacks wasn't enough, this creep in chief is now hocking "Obama Gear" to raise funds for his imperiled candidacy. Yep, 35 bucks will get you a flag with no stars, no stripes, just the Obama symbol and red streaks across a field of white.

And here's the tweet this guy used to announce it:

A poster to say there are no red states or blue states, only the United States: OFA.BO/gfHgXM

Looks more like the "O" is taking the place of all the states.  What is that, exactly?  Why does he have a symbol?  What kind of man would think his symbol should replace the symbol of the stars that always resided in a field of blue, each one symbolizing one of our individual states?

He wasn't thinking of this when he came up with the "O" flag, was he?

U.S. consulate, Benghazi, Libya

Damn.

Oh, yeah, and now that he has completed his evolving, the Obama store is replete with LGBT gear, proclaiming the wearer's undying (well, in view of Ambassador Stevens, let us say unwavering) unwavering support of El Supremo!

With a hat tip to Darrell.

No Time For Netanyahu

Plenty of time for Letterman.

Plenty of time for the Vegas fund raiser.

Plenty of time for Jay-Z.

But no time for his security briefings.

Forward

Kevin Crutchfield of ANR.

Layoffs have been slated for a major US coal producer, as reported Asbury Parks Press:

Coal producer Alpha Natural Resources said Tuesday it was cutting production by 16 million tons and eliminating 1,200 jobs companywide, laying off 400 workers immediately by closing mines in Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

That's a lot of layoffs.

The mine shutdowns start Tuesday, while the rest of the layoffs will be completed by the end of the first quarter after Alpha fulfills current sales obligations.

Support positions will also be cut proportionally as Alpha reduces its operating regions from four to two.

Not good.

Crutchfield said the shutdowns and layoffs are a necessary part of ensuring Alpha survives in what has become a difficult U.S. market, where coal companies face a dual challenge: Power plants are shifting to cheap, abundant natural gas, while companies like his face "a regulatory environment that's aggressively aimed at constraining the use of coal."

A regualtory environment that's aggressively aimed at constraining the use of coal? Who would want to do that?!

Well, wait a minute. We rely on that coal production for coal powered electrical generation. That is the primary means of electrical generation for the eastern seaboard.

One question, Mr. Obama: How are we going to replace all that energy?

Jonas Clarifies Left Leaning Thought

In considering the Middle East, Time magazine pundit Fareed Zakaria claims it is high time we have a national discussion on the Middle East, before the US stumbles into another Middle East war, a war entered into without much consideration, fought on auto-pilot as Zakaria says. To this George Jonas responds:

It wasn't until last year that we did something in the Middle East that could be described as going to war on auto-pilot. This was in 2011 when, mesmerized by what we dubbed the "Arab Spring," we lent NATO's air force to an assortment of dubious, indeed downright unsavory, characters in Libya without as much as asking their addresses. This week some of them murdered the U.S. ambassador, along with three other Americans in Benghazi, as a way of saying thanks, I suppose, for helping them to get rid of their tyrant, Muammar Gadaffi.

However, Libya wasn't what Zakaria had in mind. Libya was Barack Obama's war, and what our pundit was critical about were the Bush-wars, Iraq One and Iraq Two, plus Afghanistan. This is interesting. Wise or unwise as the First (1991) or Second (2003) Gulf War against Saddam may have been, neither was fought on anything like automatic pilot. As for describing the younger Bush's 2001 decision to topple the Taliban in Afghanistan that sheltered al-Qaeda as "autopilot," amounts to a failure to comprehend the meaning of the phrase. Since it's unlikely that Zakaria-class pundits don't know the meaning of common expressions, or the history of recent events, if they write gibberish like "let's not get involved in another Middle East war on auto-pilot" they must have something else on their minds.

It seems to me the chorus of public policy bards, Zakaria and colleagues, supporters of the Obama presidency, think of non-proliferation itself as the First World's arrogant attempt to lock in the status quo.

It's a good argument. Read the whole thing here.

Again With The Baloney...

President Barack Obama, throwing out BS at the people of Ohio as fast as ever he can, said that in working with Republicans to reduce the deficit, he was willing to “show more love” to get the job done.

"If they want me to walk the dog or wash their car, I’m happy to do it."

That's great.

"You know, I genuinely believe that most Americans, Democrats or Republicans, they just want us to solve problems.”

No, most Republicans want you defeated, and in a very big way. They know it's the only way to even begin to solve the problems we face. Most Democrats, on the other hand, want you to win, and they don't care what problems are solved or not solved.

So get it straight, and cut the BS, or chores will be all you're good for.

“I’m ready and willing to work. But I refuse to ask middle-class families to pay over $2,000 more so that millionaires and billionaires can pay less.”

Yeah, okay, here's the baggy for when he goes poop. When you get done with that the bucket and mitt are in the garage, and the hose is around back.

For Cathy...

That cat does not look happy!

Just something fun.

Nails It

'Bummer 'bout the ambassador.'

I have been attempting to express my incredulity at this president and the situation we find ourselves in. Then there is this by Mark Steyn:

When it comes to a flailing, blundering superpower, I am generally wary of ascribing to malevolence what is more often sheer stupidity and incompetence. For example, we're told that, because the consulate in Benghazi was designated as an "interim facility," it did not warrant the level of security and protection that, say, an embassy in Scandinavia would have. This seems all too plausible – that security decisions are made not by individual human judgment but according to whichever rule-book sub-clause at the Federal Agency of Bureaucratic Facilities Regulation it happens to fall under. However, the very next day the embassy in Yemen, which is a permanent facility, was also overrun, as was the embassy in Tunisia the day after. Look, these are tough crowds, as the president might say at Caesar's Palace. But we spend more money on these joints than anybody else, and they're as easy to overrun as the Belgian Consulate.

As I say, I'm inclined to be generous, and put some of this down to the natural torpor and ineptitude of government. But Hillary Clinton and Gen. Martin Dempsey are guilty of something worse, in the Secretary of State's weirdly obsessive remarks about an obscure film supposedly disrespectful of Mohammed and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs' telephone call to a private citizen, asking him if he could please ease up on the old Islamophobia.

Forget the free-speech arguments. In this case, as Secretary Clinton and Gen. Dempsey well know, the film has even less to do with anything than did the Danish cartoons or the schoolteacher's teddy bear or any of the other innumerable grievances of Islam. The 400-strong assault force in Benghazi showed up with RPGs and mortars: that's not a spontaneous movie protest; that's an act of war, and better planned and executed than the dying superpower's response to it. Secretary Clinton and Gen. Dempsey are, to put it mildly, misleading the American people when they suggest otherwise.

Steyn nails the demented spinning of wheels that make up this administration and its response to world threats.  Read the whole thing.

White House Proud of Foreign Policy Record

'Time to fool 'em with a little double talk.'

As US embassies world wide are threatened and come under attack, the White House remains very pleased with itself:

“We’re very proud of the president’s record on foreign policy and are happy to make the case at the appropriate time.”

Well, you may be , Jay, and Barry certainly may be, but I am not.

"We also need to understand that this is a fairly volatile situation and it is in response not to United States policy, and not to, obviously, the administration, or the American people, but it is in response to a video... "

Really? Sure seemed like they were being very clear in their condemnation of the United States and, if I may say so, President Barack Obama.

The protests which began earlier this week have expanded rapidly across the Middle East on Friday. Protesters attacked the U.S. Embassies in Tunis and Sudan; Tunisian protesters smashed windows and lit fires inside the embassy compound, while gunfire could be heard. Images of a dark column of smoke over the Tunisian site have circulated on the Internet Friday.

Quoting the State Department’s website:

“Because an embassy represents a sovereign state, any attack on an embassy is considered an attack on the country it represents.”

That is why if a nation wants to have dialogue with other nations of the world, that nation must respect the other nation's embassy, and protect the embassy and its personnel. A nation that refuses to do that is not a friend, and it doesn't matter what the reason is for the attack.

According to the UK's The Independent:

American officials believe the attack was planned, but Chris Stevens had been back in the country only a short while and the details of his visit to Benghazi, where he and his staff died, were meant to be confidential.

The US administration is now facing a crisis in Libya. Sensitive documents have gone missing from the consulate in Benghazi and the supposedly secret location of the "safe house" in the city, where the staff had retreated, came under sustained mortar attack. Other such refuges across the country are no longer deemed "safe".

Some of the missing papers from the consulate are said to list names of Libyans who are working with Americans, putting them potentially at risk from extremist groups.

That's not good.

'Hey, hey, hey ... I am El Supremo!'

According to senior diplomatic sources, the US State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and "lockdown", under which movement is severely restricted.

Nice going there, Mr. President.

"Now how about a sweet deal I can get you on some sweat shirts..."

Mitt Calls It Straight

With all the effort on the part of the media to generate a narrative, let us go straight to the source and see what Mr. Romney had to say. Here are his comments:

Americans woke up this morning with -- with tragic news and felt heavy hearts as they considered that individuals who have served in our diplomatic corps were brutally murdered across the world.

This attack on American individuals and embassies is outrageous, it’s disgusting, it -- it breaks the hearts of all of us who think of these people who have served during their lives the cause of freedom and justice and honor.

We -- we mourn their loss and join together in prayer that the spirit of the Almighty might comfort the families of those who have been so brutally slain.

Four diplomats lost their life, including the U.S. ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, in the attack on our embassy at Benghazi, Libya. And of course with these words I extend my condolences to the grieving loved ones who have left behind, as a result of these who have lost their lives in the service of our nation.

And I know that the people across America are grateful for their service. And we mourn their sacrifice.

America will not tolerate attacks against our citizens and against our embassies. We’ll defend also our constitutional rights of speech and assembly and religion.

We have confidence in our cause in America. We respect our Constitution. We stand for the principles our Constitution protects. We encourage other nations to understand and respect the principles of our Constitution, because we recognize that these principles are the ultimate source of freedom for individuals around the world.

I also believe the administration was wrong to stand by a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in Egypt, instead of condemning their actions. It’s never too early for the United States government to condemn attacks on Americans and to defend our values.

The White House distanced itself last night from the statement, saying it wasn’t cleared by Washington. That reflects the mixed signals they’re sending to the world.

The attacks in Libya and Egypt underscore that the world remains a dangerous place and that American leadership is still sorely needed. In the face of this violence, American cannot shrink from the responsibility to lead. American leadership is necessary to ensure that events in the region don’t spin out of control. We cannot hesitate to use our influence in the region to support those who share our values and our interests.

Over the last several years, we’ve stood witness to an Arab spring that presents an opportunity for a more peaceful and prosperous, but also poses the potential for peril if the forces of extremism and violence are allowed to control the course of events. We must strive to ensure that the Arab spring does not become an Arab winter.

Right on the money. Well said, Governor.

I've Got Plenty of ...

Well, that was really nuanced. We've seen El Supremo on the world wide apology tour, followed by efforts to flatter the Islamic world and denigrate Western Democracies, and we can see now where that got us. A general increase in tensions and hostility toward the US, decreased influence world wide and instability.

I suppose some will be quick to say this is all the fault of somebody else. It isn't. No, it was Barry Obama, the man that promised us a new age, a new tomorrow.

Well, tomorrow is here, and now we know what he was serving up with all that hope and change...

Once More to the Breach...

Ever ready to puncture the hot-air-filled arguments of the left, blog fav Mark Steyn managed a double by pointing out the flippancy of Democrat National Convention speaker Sandra Fluck, and the lack of seriousness on the part of the DNC in general:

It was weird to see her up there among the governors and senators – as weird as Bavarians thought it was when King Ludwig decided to make his principal adviser Lola Montez, the Irish-born "Spanish dancer" and legendary grande horizontale. I hasten to add I'm not saying Miss Fluke is King Barack's courtesan. For one thing, it's a striking feature of the Age of Perfected Liberalism that modern liberals talk about sex 24/7 while simultaneously giving off the persistent whiff that the whole thing's a bit of a chore. Hence, the need for government subsidy. And, in fairness to Miss Montez, she used sex to argue for liberalized government, whereas Miss Fluke uses liberalism to argue for sexualized government.

But those distinctions aside, like Miss Fluke, Miss Montez briefly wielded an influence entirely disproportionate to her talents. Like Miss Fluke, she was a passionate liberal activist who sought to diminish what she regarded as the malign influence of the Catholic Church. Taking up with Lola cost King Ludwig his throne in the revolutions of 1848. We'll see in a couple of months whether taking up with Sandra works out for King Barack. But what's strange is that so many people don't find it strange at all – that at a critical moment in the affairs of the republic the ruling party should assemble to listen to a complacent 31-year-old child of privilege peddling the lazy cobwebbed assumptions of myopic narcissism. Lola Montez was what botanists would call a "sport" – morphologically distinct from the rest of the societal shrub. The tragedy for America is that Sandra Fluke is all too typical.

It is not Miss Fluke herself that is so objectionable, though she certainly is worthy of criticism. No, the main point is the refusal of those on the left, and some of us on the right, to completely ignore the major issues that imperil our future. For a major political party to behave in this manner when we are facing the end of our way of life is utterly irresponsible.

Nicely done, Mr. Steyn.

'Three Coins in the Fountain' at Movie Club

Now playing:!

Empty Chair Day - Pink Slip Edition

"When somebody does not do the job, we gotta let 'em go.”



For a rare photograph of iconic communist Karl Marx standing next to our dear president, check 'View the rest' below!

To our president...

Did he not hear their national anthem playing?
When everyone in uniform saluted, do you think that registered at all?
Wasn't that a tip off to him that he was missing something?

Two Thumbs Up... Way Up

I loved Clint Eastwood at the Republican National Convention. And I loved the fact that Roger Ebert didn't love it. Hey Rog, what did you think? This was a movie you thought you could review? What, we can't laugh at the guy that told us, with a straight face, that he was going to lower the level of the oceans? Seriously?! Meanwhile Eastwood is out producing, what, eight movies in the past five years? Sorry, Rog, your opinion means nada on this one. Eastwood was great, and if you didn't get it, that may say a lot about you. It doesn't say anything about Clint, or his performance at the Republican National Convention.