The Petty President

President Obama, the whiniest president in the history of the United States, labeled Fox News as destructive.  I suppose that criticism of a sitting president is equivalent to destructiveness in the eyes of a socialist like Obama.  The sad fact is that Obama is far closer to Hugo Chavez in his view on the role of government than he is to Thomas Jefferson.  That is an absolute tragedy for America.

Obama's full quote was:

"The golden age of an objective press was a pretty narrow span of time in our history. Before that, you had folks like Hearst who used their newspapers very intentionally to promote their viewpoints. I think Fox is part of that tradition. It is part of the tradition that has a very clear, undeniable point of view. It's a point of view that I disagree with. It's a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world. But as an economic enterprise, it's been wildly successful. And I suspect that if you ask Mr. Murdoch what his number-one concern is, it's that Fox is very successful."

If only the President had such harsh criticism for Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Al Qaida.  If only the President was a critical of his own advisers implementing truly destructive policies to American families businesses.

Obama is also frustrated with his base who sees as being apathetic in the upcoming elections.  Obama may want to consider that everything he's done has added red tape, costs, uncertainty, and greater burdens to business and individuals.  If the economy is to improve Obama must reduce the costs of doing business and engaging in commerce. This can only be done with a smaller government.  However, in a transformed America, the new norm may be 10% unemployment to ensure the nanny state infects all aspects of society.

Next up, the two minute hate...brought to you by the Federal Communications Commission.

Saturday Psalm

Psalm 66

Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise!
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
All the earth worships you
and sings praises to you;
they sing praises to your name.” Selah

Come and see what God has done:
he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
He turned the sea into dry land;
they passed through the river on foot.
There did we rejoice in him,
who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

Bless our God, O peoples;
let the sound of his praise be heard,
who has kept our soul among the living
and has not let our feet slip.

For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
you let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I will perform my vows to you,
that which my lips uttered
and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,
with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah

Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
I cried to him with my mouth,
and high praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me!

Steyn on Koran Burnings and Capitulation of the West

The west has taken many steps towards capitulating to radical Islam and/or Sharia.  This is seen by the abandonment of western values that have been the foundation of civilization since the Magna Carta so as to not offend the tender sensibilities of Muslims who do not share the same values of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, individual rights, the concept of the separation of church (mosque) and state, and women's rights.

 

Steyn, with his usual brilliance that I've missed reading this summer, writes:

 

When someone destroys a bible, US government officials don't line up to attack him. President Obama bowed lower than a fawning maitre d' before the King of Saudi Arabia, a man whose regime destroys bibles as a matter of state policy, and a man whose depraved religious police forces schoolgirls fleeing from a burning building back into the flames to die because they'd committed the sin of trying to escape without wearing their head scarves. If you show a representation of Mohammed, European commissioners and foreign ministers line up to denounce you. If you show a representation of Jesus Christ immersed in your own urine, you get a government grant for producing a widely admired work of art. Likewise, if you write a play about Jesus having gay sex with Judas Iscariot.

 

It's amazing to see the left suddenly become ardent supporters of religious rights once Islamic radicals get involved.  Had Jerry Falwell supporters voiced such anger or enthusiasm over anything tinged with moral absolutes or family values, the NY Times and Keith Olbermann would be ready to call for public lynchings.  But such is the nature of capitulation.  Succumbing to fear so often involves forgetting what your values are and replacing those "convictions" with anything that reassures one's desire for self-preservation.

 

Eventually the left-wing press will be forced to surrender or push back against radical Islam. Although there has been a gradual slide towards capitulation, there will come a moment when the tipping point is viewed by the bleeding heart socialist left who realize that the crazy jihadists don't share their tender sympathies regarding gay rights, artistic license, or whether one can choose to be an atheist.

 

It is a basic rule of life that if you reward bad behavior, you get more of it. Every time Muslims either commit violence or threaten it, we reward them by capitulating. Indeed, President Obama, Justice Breyer, General Petraeus, and all the rest are now telling Islam, you don't have to kill anyone, you don't even have to threaten to kill anyone. We'll be your enforcers. We'll demand that the most footling and insignificant of our own citizens submit to the universal jurisdiction of Islam. So Obama and Breyer are now the "good cop" to the crazies' "bad cop". Ooh, no, you can't say anything about Islam, because my friend here gets a little excitable, and you really don't want to get him worked up. The same people who tell us "Islam is a religion of peace" then turn around and tell us you have to be quiet, you have to shut up because otherwise these guys will go bananas and kill a bunch of people.

Friday News Update

The Russians believe that tensions on the Korean peninsula could not be higher.  The only escalation possible would be to war.

Krauthammer anticipates a Tea Party/GOP tsunami in November and the Democrats are helpless and clueless about it.

The Wall St. Journal has several articles on why Obama's ideas are stale, not new as he's like you believe, Peggy Noonan comments on how enraged and livid the public is at Washington and the corruption that infests the capital and the elite-political ruling class; Kim Strassel examines how anti-business the Obama administration has been despite it's talk of "helping" business, and the American people are pro-business and always will be for as long as America is free.  Always remember that what Obama SAYS and what he actually DOES are two very different things (usually the complete opposite).

Tasha Kheiriddin at the National Post comments on the Toronto Star's attempt to influence the Toronto mayoral election by supporting anyone but Rob Ford. 

Sarah Thomson is staying in the mayoral race as well.  While I initially supported Ms. Thomson, I no longer do so because of her virulent opposition to Rob Ford and the possibility that she might support Rocco Rossi instead.  Mr. Rob Ford, you have my complete backing to clean the filth and corruption from Toronto City Hall, I should have backed you from the start.

News reports might say that the recession in the US is over, but people and many other indicators are strongly showing that there is virtually no recovery. New US home sales are at the second lowest level EVER, and the "median price fell to the lowest level in more than six years."

Arrests for Koran Burning in Britain

Six men were arrested for burning a Koran on September 11th of this year in Gateshead, UK.  The men had their faces covered but were later arrested by Northumbria police.  "Northumbria Police said the men were not arrested for watching or distributing the video, but on suspicion of burning the Koran."

 

Is it it a crime to burn the Koran?  Is there no freedom of expression in Great Britain? If such freedom no longer exists, I'm not sure we can refer to Britain as "great" any longer.

 

While it may be wrong to burn the Koran out of respect for others, it is still a protected act under western values of freedom of expression.  After all, it seems that police have no problem with Muslim protesters lighting fires in London.

While I don't agree with burning the Koran, I do believe that a free individual has every right to do so in a free society to express their opinion.  This is the same for flag burnings the and the criticism that every religion is subject to.

 

It is essential that we stand up for the values of western culture, individualism, freedom, human rights, equality of women, and the right to defend one's self from criminal activity or government oppression.  If we don't we might as welcome in Sharia Law now.

Seize the Opportunity

This article is also available at the American Thinker.

The Tea Party has flexed its muscles in recent primaries and special elections to the delight of conservatives and Republicans across America. The GOP is getting the biggest wakeup call since Barry Goldwater realigned the Republican Party with “true” conservative values: less government, lower taxes, and an emphasis on individual responsibility in opposition the Johnson’s Great Society. Barry Goldwater’s insurgency in the GOP eventually led to the success of Ronald Reagan in 1980.


It is said that the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Republicans may be on the verge of missing a huge opportunity by getting into spitting matches over who is more conservative and more loved by Tea Party celebrities like Sarah Palin and Jim DeMint.

While I have no fondness for the unprincipled (as I see it) positions of moderate Republicans like John McCain, Lindsay Graham, and Olympia Snowe, it is essential to be a big tent party if you want to govern. A small tent equals a small caucus. Charles Krauthammer reminded conservatives and Republicans of the “Buckley Rule”, where the late William Buckley stated that conservatives should, “Support the most conservative candidate who is electable.”

Mike Castle, a liberal Republican in a very liberal state, voted against the stimulus and against Obamacare. He did vote for cap and trade, which seems to be an unpardonable offense to some conservative pundits. Obama’s cap and trade would be a disaster for industry and consumers, but if you have a 60% majority in Congress and 60 senators, Mike Castle’s vote would be irrelevant. Conservatives should remember that a few Castles and Snowes make it much easier to filibuster nominees like Kagan and get nominees like Alito confirmed. After all, in politics you cannot win every single battle; republican systems of government do not function that way, dictatorships do.

Reagan famously opined: "The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally - not a 20 percent traitor." You will never get 100% of the candidates voting with you 100% of the time. In politics, if you’re batting .800, which probably is not even possible, you’re doing fantastic. If you’re batting .650, you’re doing extraordinarily well.

Sarah Palin and Jim DeMint have every right to endorse or not endorse any candidate they want. The danger is that they risk polarizing each race they stick their nose in and risk dividing Republicans at a time where unity is essential. The goal must be winning back Congress to stop Obama’s un-American transformational presidency.

Division and disunity in the Republican Party will lead to more success for the Obama administration. More Obama successes mean more government, less freedom, higher taxes, and a weaker nation. If anything the Republicans should be focusing on issues that will divide the Democratic Party: family values, gun rights, tax cuts, and reduced government spending. Gone are the days of Reagan-Democrats, but wouldn’t it be great to have Mitch Daniels-Democrats or Newt Gingrich-Democrats? Newt-Democrats might be a stretch, but the point has been made.

If you’re debating issues in which 60-70% of the electorate is for you, you don’t have to worry about Democrat filibusters because vulnerable Blue Dog incumbents will be worried about the next election just around the corner. Of course, you’ll always have the hard left representatives and senators from the dark blue areas of the country, but they become observers of the process rather than the drivers of the process. The Tea Party’s positions on government size, the constitution, gun rights, etc. are regarded favourably, generally speaking, from coast to coast. Americans enjoy grassroots movements because the original tea party in Boston harbour was a grassroots movement.

If the debate continues to be “I’m more conservative than you are” in every primary, the GOP will be handing the Democrats a victory even if Boehner becomes speaker. A razor thin majority will leave the Republicans only slightly better off than they are now. A major fault of George W. Bush and Karl Rove’s strategy was that they did not create a long term vision of what the Republican Party stands for. Their strategy was only geared towards the next election, not the next 20 years as Reagan and Goldwater did. Reagan built an ideological foundation for a movement, Rove built a machine that only ran for a 4 year spurt and died afterwards in a heap of rust.

If one is to believe it’s better to die on principle and lose in the process, the result will be essentially paving the way to more Obama victories on immigration, cap and trade, and government expansion. If you want to stop the Obama transformation, you must be prepared to accept that you’ll have 80% allies on some issues.

Abraham Lincoln famously said, “A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have.” The Tea Party and the GOP need to realize that 80-90% of the time, every nominee will share the same enemy: the unlimited and unrestricted growth of government made possible by Democratic Party control. Any candidate nominated who doesn’t share that belief should be defeated. But the GOP can’t afford to lose a lot of 80% friends or it’ll have missed a huge opportunity to the benefit of President Obama and his socialist agenda.

Obama Bypasses Constitution

President Obama made an end run around Congress today appointing yet another czar to head up a consumer advocate post.  The Harvard professor with no business experience whatsoever, Elizabeth Warren, will head the new agency.

When you're mired in recession and high unemployment, a new government agency is just the solution to the Obama administration. Calling Warren "one of the country's fiercest advocates for the middle class," Obama said she would ensure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ends abusive practices.


The middle class is rapidly shrinking because of Obama's high tax policies that discourage business and investment.  Obama stated today, "Never again will folks be confused or misled by pages of barely understandable fine print that you find in agreements for credit cards or mortgages or student loans."

Get that?  The government is going to outsmart business.  Moreover, they're going to completely change hundreds of years of contract law developed through the common law and statute.  Wow.  First the oceans stop rising, now the government is going to be so smart consumers will never be misled.  The fact that government can't balance the books, control costs, or monitor how many agencies and employees it actually has at any given moment is irrelevant.  The central planners know best and they're here to help.

Reagan once said that the most frightening words someone can hear are, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."  If you want to see what government help looks like, visit Detroit.

So the most recent czar after the "Asian Carp Czar" (that's not a joke, there really is one and his name is John Goss) will now ride to the rescue armed with red tape and law suits to save the broken down consumer from the ravages of capitalism.  Hi-ho silver.  The budget for the new agency will be $850 million per year!

If you're wondering how man czars Obama has appointed, the answer is 40 now I think... it's hard to keep track.

The reason for the czars is obvious: control and power.  But the danger is that by appointing czars, the President is circumventing the oversight of congress.  The oversight of congress is what checks the power of the executive.  Czars are patently un-American and they dilute the spirit of the Constitution.  Bush, Clinton, and others appointed czars too, but never have there been so many.

Islamic Terrorists Arrested for Plot Against Pope

I propose building a Christian community center in Mecca to help facilitate good relations and peace between Islam and Christianity. What do you think? Somehow I doubt Obama will come out in favour of that.


I mean, which is worse,  burning the Koran or plotting to assassinate the Pope?  Just saying.

Perhaps a little proportionality is in order.  Oh, and this isn't the first time the Pope had been threatened by Islamic radicals.

"The suspects, aged 26, 27, 36, 40 and 50 were arrested by officers from Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism."


If Islam wants to be viewed as a religion of peace, it should stop being so closely connected to violence, murder, and bloodshed.  But hey, what do know?

Electing Candidates That Can Win

Notwithstanding my disdain for liberal Republicans like Mike Castle and Lindsay Graham, Krauthammer writes an excellent article on the Buckley Rule regarding nominating candidates that can win against Democrats.  It's impossible to be ideologically pure, so if you can have allies that are with you 70 or 80% of the time, you're still ahead when it comes to advance a big-tent agenda as Reagan did in the 1980's.

Krauthammer writes:
Of course Mike Castle is a liberal Republican. What do you expect from Delaware? A DeMint? Castle voted against Obamacare and the stimulus. Yes, he voted for cap-and-trade. That's batting .667. You'd rather have a Democrat who bats .000 and who might give the Democrats the 50th vote to control the Senate?

I'm concerned by the influence that Sarah Palin seems to have over the nomination process.  Considering she ran with McCain who supported the bailout and immigration amnesty, she's hardly in a place to be determining who is the best candidate in each congressional, county clerk, and state rep race around the nation.

If the GOP is going to be an inclusive, big tent party, it's going to have to accept that it may have it's own "Blue Dog" caucus of moderate conservatives who might undermine various issues like abortion, immigration, and family values issues.  However, those moderates will still be very likely to vote for  reduced government spending, fiscal responsibility, and military strength as happened with Reagan.

Mike Castle Shows What a Loser He Really Is

The Tea Party is on the march, like it or not.  It is successfully getting candidates nominated who believe in smaller government, lower taxes, secure borders, a commitment to the constitution, and strong national defense; basically, anything that frightens the jelly spined, socialist, elitist left-wingers.

Mike Castle is a 'moderate' (I prefer unprincipled) Republican who is of the likes of McCain, Lindsay Graham, and Olympia Snowe.  It's one thing to have divergent opinions with a political party, in fact it's healthy.  The problem sets in when you have members of your own party who don't reach across the aisle, but side with the members on the other side repeatedly.  McCain and Graham have done this over and over on immigration, taxes, and health care.  You want to be bi-partisan, that's fine, but don't take the side of the opposition on fundamental issues.

Mike Castle has been a career politician, in government for over 40 years.  It's about time he got a real job and started contributing to the treasury once again rather than just taking from the people.  Christine O'Donnell might have plenty of problems, but new blood in politics is healthy.  Even more, it's a requirement in any well functioning democracy or republic.

Castle wants to blame Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity now.  Maybe he should take a look at his own voting record in which he supported numerous Democrat policies.  There's no point in electing Republicans who side with Democrats on fundamental issues.  Castle has labeled Tea Party members "agitators".  That's a lot of gall for career politician, but a revealing choice of words from an elitist who thinks he's entitled to his position. Castle, and those like him, have forgotten that they serve the people.  The people do not have masters in the American republic. 

Clearly, the American government has expanded beyond the will of the governed.  A reckoning approaches.

Tories Supporting Smitherman

Pathetic.  A bunch of unprincipled former Tory MPP's are supporting George Smitherman's run for mayor of Toronto.  None of the signatories to the open letter are sitting MP's or MPP's, and perhaps that's why they're no longer representing anyone.

George Smitherman was responsible for the 1 billion dollar e-Health boondoggle as a cabinet member of Dalton McGuinty's government.  Smitherman has never held a real job.  Oh, I'm sorry, he worked for the family business (Smitty's Haulage) for a brief time before entering politics and commencing to suck from the public teat.  He's now a career politician completely out of touch with the struggles of average people.

Smitherman's answer to every problem is a government program or policy.  If that's not reason enough to support Rob Ford or Sarah Thompson, I don't know what is.

Obamacare Deadlock is Unsustainable

Today in Human Events, Newt Gingrich writes:

Politically the American people have decisively repudiated this centralized government bureaucratic approach to healthcare. According to a recent Rasmussen poll, nearly two-out-of-three Americans want the law repealed.

This is an unprecedented situation; we have never had a major reform with this much opposition after it was passed.

In a free society, the people ultimately have control over their elected leaders through the process of elections. Therefore, it is very likely that the Washington-centered, bureaucratically dominated and politician-defined healthcare law will be repealed or so decisively changed as to have the effect of repeal.

The intensity of anger between those who support the Obama plan and those who oppose it cannot be ignored. Last week, we saw just how bitter the clash of values has become when the Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius threatened to take action against private health plan companies if they continued to speak out against the new healthcare law. This only heightened Americans' views that the Washington healthcare bureaucracy has indeed become too powerful and is using that power to silence anyone who opposes them.

Obamacare may have to be repealed one plank at a time, but better that than another unaffordable entitlement program that will add trillions to the debt, expand government's size and scope, and coerce 1/6th of the American economy.

It is unAmerican to believe that there are no limits to what the government cannot regulate, control, or tax. Obama believes otherwise.

The Obama-Zone

The Obama Zone from RightChange on Vimeo.

Mitch Daniels 2012?

Governor of Indiana Mitch Daniels may be gearing up for a run for President in 2012.  I hope he does, he'd be a great President.

Obama White House Responsible for Nothing

The Obama administration takes responsibility for nothing, take ownership for nothing, avoids direct answers, and passes the buck at every opportunity.  It's embarrassing to see a President behave in such a manner.  VP Joe Biden forecasted the summer of recovery, betting that the stimulus and other government spending would enable the economy to rebound.  But, reality has intervened and the economy has not rebounded.  In fact, it has got worse. 

 

"The vice president was talking about the summer of recovery in reference to the Recovery Act, that you would see the creation of a series of infrastructure and other projects ramping up over the summer," Goolsbee said on "Fox News Sunday." "And you did see that." 

 

Are you kidding me?  Democrats should be upset about this because it is them who will suffer for Obama's mistakes on the economy.

 

Those of us with common sense understand the government is entirely incapable of creating jobs.  Moreover, the government is not capable of creating anything.  All it can do it help foster the environment in which job creation  is nurtured.  You cannot force an employer to hire, the employer must believe that it makes good business sense to hire someone because the potential to make more money exists.

 

But every single policy enacted by the Obama administration has made it less profitable to hire.  Every decision Obama has made from health care to tax cuts to the regulation of C02 has discouraged hiring, entrepreneurialism, and innovation.

 

It's very important to distinguish what Obama says from what he actually does.  Obama knows how to say the right things, but his actions are decidedly partisan, socialist in nature, and anti-business.  This explains why he has virtually no one in cabinet with private sector accomplishments, but a string of bureaucratic and academic clingers who've never had to earn a buck or meet a payroll in the "real world" (i.e. the private sector).

 

If Obama wants to create jobs, he'll have to reduce the cost of doing business in the USA, but don't expect that anytime soon.  Obama does not want to encourage capitalistic enterprise in America, and until 2012 Americans will suffer as a result.

Saudi Arabia is an Apartheid State

There has been a lot of talk about tolerance since the plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero have become a big story in the news.  The point of this post is not to depict all Muslims as intolerant racists.  Painting an entire group of people as all thinking and acting alike is bigoted in itself.  However, the beacon of Islam, Saudi Arabia, gives us an interesting picture of the intolerance, hatred, and racism that so often runs rampant in Islamic nations.

It is the job of moderate Muslims to open Islam up to criticism, weaknesses, and faults that exist.  Certainly, Christianity has been used by evil men to advance agendas of hate and violence in the past.  The same is true for Islam today.

Consider, for example, why can Israelis not travel to Saudi Arabia?  It is because Saudi Arabia sees Israelis as the enemy despite the Egypt and Jordan have made peace with Israel.  But Jews are scorned and hated throughout Islamic countries, and this is not a post-1948 phenomenon, this is a fact that has existed for centuries.  There are mosques in Israel, but there are no synagogues in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is viewed as the most repressive country to Christians in the world along with North Korea.  Saudi Arabia purposely exports hate around the world through its subsidization of literature and educational material that explicitly promotes hate towards Christians, Jews and other "infidels".  And yet, we tolerate this repulsive behavior because they have oil? 

We, in the west, allow Saudi Arabia to fund the construction of mosques and madrases that often promote hate and intolerance despite that no church or synagogue can be built in Saudi Arabia, and no non-Muslim can set foot in Mecca.  Why?

There is talk of the Vatican opening a church in Saudi Arabia, but if that happens it would be the first in the entire country. And it is still the policy of the Saudi government that Christians are explicitly forbidden from worshipping in the Kingdom.

And the spread of hate and intolerance is a defined objective of the Saudi government: "Fundamentalists have financed the construction of scores of mosques and community centres as well as handing some followers up to £225 a month. They are expected not only to grow beards but also to persuade their wives to wear the niqab, or face veil, a custom virtually unknown in the liberal Islamic tradition of the Balkans."

No where are women treated more terribly than in the Islamic countries of Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Iran.  They are treated as property lacking the same rights as men, they have diminished or no standing politically or socially and are forced to wear clothing that conceals their identities thereby dehumanizing them. Women make up only 5% of the workforce in Saudi Arabia. Honour killings are common and accepted in practice if not in law.


Saudi Arabia is an apartheid state far worse than South Africa ever was.  Muslims are given preferential treatment over all other faiths and women are openly oppressed.  Why is it that Saudi Arabia is not banned from the Olympics or other world sporting events as South Africa was during the apartheid era?  It should be, so that light is cast into this nation of oppression and violence.

And yet, the Saudis continue to export hate and extremism throughout the world.  And we let it happen.  Most of the 9-11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, and still nothing changes. 

A May 2006 study of Saudi Arabia's revised schoolbook curriculum discovered that the eighth grade books included the following statements:



“They are the people of the Sabbath, whose young people God turned into apes, and whose old people God turned into swine to punish them. As cited in Ibn Abbas: The apes are Jews, the keepers of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christian infidels of the communion of Jesus. ”


“Some of the people of the Sabbath were punished by being turned into apes and swine. Some of them were made to worship the devil, and not God, through consecration, sacrifice, prayer, appeals for help, and other types of worship. Some of the Jews worship the devil. Likewise, some members of this nation worship devil, and not God.

The west and all freedom loving nations who believe in equality and respect for individual rights should not be turning a blind eye to this hate filled, repressive nation.  There's plenty of oil around the world that provides us the ability to no longer appease the Saudis until they start respecting women's rights, treating other faiths with tolerance and civility, and reform internally.  It worked in South Africa, it can work in Saudi Arabia.  Sign the petition against religious oppression.

We Remember 9-11

Nine years on and, for many, the horror of that day is diminished, the pain has receded, the threat seems further away.  The Iraq War has been fought won, and now the withdrawal and the end has commenced.

The fight in Afghanistan rages on, for now, but will be drawing to a close a year's hence. 

And in the shadow of the World Trade Center, a mosque is planned to be constructed.  The President, the media, and others have defended the idea as the right of the builders with no thought to the appropriateness or symbolism of a mosque so close to where Islamic radicals killed almost 3,000 innocent people.







Thousands of people died at the hands of Muslim extremists.  Will it happen again?  It certainly seems as though it could happen again as we let our guard down, as we become less vigilant towards the threats that confront free nations from Islamic extremism.

And still, the towers have not been rebuilt.  Bickering and infighting has allowed the wound in southern Manhattan to remain unhealed. 

I fear that we will have more victims like Leonard Castrianno because we have gradually let our guard down and forgotten the acute danger posed by Muslim extremists and their enablers. The danger is made greater by a President who believes that America is to blame for 9/11, who wants to see America's military power and presence in the world diminished, and who apologizes for the United States rather than defend it's great values and history.

May God bless America and protect her from enemies foreign and domestic.  Never forget.

Imbecillic Burnings and Riotings

In every school yard is a bully and, likewise, in every school yard is an oversensitive child perpetually ready to have a freak out (i.e. a spaz, please don't be offended, the word just seems appropriate).  With the news of Koran burnings, riots, and Islamic cultural centers near the WTC, it seems we're bombarded with bullies and spazzes (no offense meant).  Some radical preacher from inland Florida with a tiny congregation of 50 threatens to burn a Koran and Afghanistan goes nuts and threatens to kill NATO soldiers, Pakistan goes wild, and the Islamic world is in uproar.  Really?  Is that proportional?  Does that serve the interests of your religion and god? Is it really worth letting the bully turn you into a spaz?

The crazy pastor then says that he'll think about calling off the burning if he meets with the imam who wants to build Cordoba near Ground Zero.  The financier behind the GZ mosque says he'll sell the property if he gets a better offer.  Donald Trump offers to buy it but is rejected.

The whole thing is a comedy of errors and a circus of buffoonery.  It's not unreasonable to understand why people would cringe at the idea of a mosque going up beside Ground Zero.  And it's easy to understand why Muslims would be offended by an organized Koran burning. 

So what would wise people do?  They might consider the words of Jesus: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".  But there I go injecting faith into politics and we need separation of church and state far more than Biblical wisdom in the eyes of the NY Times, Obama, and every left-wing pundit who suddenly becomes a staunch defender of the right to practice your religion (wait isn't that what I just did?).

But I digress, the crazy pastor has right to freedom of expression which includes Koran burnings and flag burnings and George W. Bush effigy burnings.  But the problem remains.  So really, what the crazy pastor and the GZ imams should be asking is: should we do it, despite the fact that the Constitution permits it?

There's a massive lack of respect on all sides and no consideration for the feelings of others, but such is the norm in the post-Cold War/MTV/YouTube/Obama world.  Just because something is legal and you CAN do it doesn't mean you SHOULD do it.  Likewise, just because you can eat 50 hot dogs in 5 minutes doesn't mean you should.  Just because you can get away with a crime without anyone knowing doesn't mean you should (it doesn't at all, it's still a crime for those who believe in moral relativity). 

In all this mess, no one has asked: what is the right thing to do?  Our world could sure use a lot more of people stopping to consider what the right thing to do is before they do it.  We could do with fewer bullies and spazzes as well.

Obamacare Will Increase Health Care Costs

Obamacare will increase the costs of health care according to Medicare's Office of the Actuary.  While the Office said the increase will be moderate, any government program projecting moderate increases in costs should be taken with a grain of salt.  The costs will most likely skyrocket as they do with almost any government program.

 

However, this report shows that Obamacare will do the exact opposite of what the President and Democrats promised: bring costs down.

 

Obamacare will not decrease the deficit, it will not provide better care, and it will not lower costs.  It will increase the deficit, make care less efficient and effective, and have a strongly negative impact on employers' willingness to hire employees because of the increase in health care benefit costs associated with Obamacare.

 

This will have a bad effect on the Democrats' hopes in November as a Repubilcan wave seems increasingly inevitable.

 

However, Obama's plan is transform America into an increasingly socialist state with massive government interventions into the free market making it decidedly less free.  If fairness is Obama's objective, then everyone will have access to a fairly bad government run system modeled after Cuba, "Two federal-state programs, Medicaid and children's health insurance, will grow dramatically under the overhaul. Enrollment will jump 34 percent between 2013 and 2014, to more than 85 million people. States will be bigger players in health care -- and face new pressures over the long run."

 

You can't have a dynamic economy when the state plays a massive role in health care, auto manufacturing, banking, finance, construction, and pension plans.  That's just reality.

Wednesday News Update

Client No. 9

Client No. 9, aka Elliot Spitzer is getting a TV show on CNN that will air at prime time Monday to Friday.  He'll have a co-anchor named Kathleen Parker, a "conservative" columnist from the Washington post.  Show will be called Parker Spitzer.  How original...

Don't expect any more people to watch this than Anderson Cooper or Larry King.  CNN has once again proved it has no shame and no ideas on how to actually get ratings.

"The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) sent a letter to Klein this summer, asking "Are you telling us that CNN could find no one better than an ex-politician who quit being New York governor after consorting with prostitutes to grace America's living rooms each night?"

Taxes

President Obama is digging his heels in on extending the Bush tax cuts.  I mean, Obama is an absolute economic genius.  During the greatest downturn since 1929, he has increased risks to business, increases costs to doing business and hiring, and now will increase taxes on 95% of small businesses and business owners.  Well done Barry.

He wants to transform America alright, only into a poverty stricken socialist utopia where high unemployment, high taxes, high deficits, a weak military, and bloated governments are the norm.  From rugged individualism to central planners galore. I wonder if Obama has a Che Guevara shirt?

Dems Preparing to Make Voter Fraud Easier

And just in time for the November election, expect record numbers of dead and ineligible voters to be able to go to the polls.  It's amazing how the deceased overwhelmingly support the Democrats, it's really an untapped voter bloc for the GOP. The Washington Times reports:

"The dead voters may be forced back into their graves. The biggest scandal emerging from the infamous New Black Panther voter- intimidation case didn't even involve the Black Panthers. Instead, it came when whistleblowing attorney J. Christian Adams told the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that top Justice Department official Julie Fernandes had openly refused to enforce laws that require states to remove ineligible names - dead people, felons, people who have moved - from voter rolls.

"We have no interest in enforcing this provision of the law," Ms. Fernandes reportedly told a roomful of employees of the department's Voting Section in November. "It has nothing to do with increasing turnout, and we are just not going to do it."  

Summery Recovery?

What recovery?

Abbas Won't Recognize Israel as Jewish State

Palestininan Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas won't recognize Israel as a Jewish state.  This statement comes as peace talks continue between Abbas and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.  Abbas states that his position is the same as Yasser Arafat's, his predecessor. 

 

Netanyahu has said that peace remains difficult and there are no guarantees that peace will be any closer by year's end.  Nevertheless, he was not completely pessimistic. He stated, "There are many obstacles, there are many doubters, there are many reasons for doubt; however, it is a necessity that we attempt to obtain peace, and we are trying, sincerely but not naively."

Netanyahu emphasized, ""The second thing, of course, is recognition of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.  We are being asked to recognize a Palestinian state and it is only proper and natural that we ask the other side to recognize the Jewish state." 

 

This seems entierly reasonable, but Palestinians are not known for placing reasonableness at the forefront of their negotiation tactics.  Despite the hopes for peace, the real threat remains to Israel of Iran with nuclear weapons.  Peace between Israel and the PA will mean little if Iran gets the bomb.  Don't hold your breath over Obama doing anything to stop that however.