In pictures: Washington conservative rally; from the BBC

BBC "Mr Beck, who once described President Barack Obama as a racist who hated white people, told the crowd America had "wandered in darkness" too long but was now beginning to "turn back to God"."

And So It Starts: ‘Tens Of Thousands’ . . . ‘Predominantly White Crowd’  "How do they figure only ‘tens of thousands’ attend?" Via Weasel Zippers
ABC Takes Palin’s Quote Out Of Context

Honor And American Pride Come To DC . . . UPDATED I, II, III, IV "CNN – “I have just gotten word from the media that there are over 1,000 people here today,” Beck said sarcastically.
“We are humbled that you are here,” he said. “The reflecting pool holds about 200,000 people. This field back here holds about 250- to 300,000 people. They are not only full here, they’re full in that field, they’re full behind me, and they are now across the street approaching the Washington Monument.”"
More screen shots of the crowd included.

Beck, Palin tell thousands to 'restore America' "A sea of people rallied at the hallowed site of the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday as conservative commentator Glenn Beck and other heroes of the "tea party" movement honored Americans serving in the military and delivered impassioned calls to turn the nation back to God and to protect the traditional values that they said make the country exceptional. "....
"King's niece Alveda King, an anti-abortion activist, addressed Beck's rally with a plea for prayer "in the public squares of America and in our schools." Referencing her "Uncle Martin," King called for national unity by repeatedly declaring "I have a dream." "I have a dream that America will pray and God will forgive us our sins and revive us our land," King said. "On that day, we will all be able to lift every voice and sing of the love and honor that God desires of all his children."
"The crowd was not visibly angry. Rather, people said they had come to express their fear that the country is at a perilous moment. "....
"The Sharpton rally was primarily African American." WaPo

Massive crowd for Restore Honor Rally  "Scott Wong of Politico, also generally no cheerleader for conservatives, writes:

Tens of thousands? Certainly. One hundred thousand? Perhaps. Half a million? No one can really say for sure."  Thomas Lifson, American Thinker

CROWD ROARS at Restoring Honor Rally as MLK’s Niece Alveda King Declares: “I Too Have a Dream!” (Video) "Alveda Celeste King, a pro-life activist and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, gave a powerful and moving speech to the 500,000+ patriots gathered in Washington DC today at the Restoring Honor Rally. Today was the 47th anniversary of her uncle’s speech at the Lincoln Memorial. Like her uncle before her, she also had a message."....
"But, according to Al Sharpton and his leftist cohorts, she’s a racist."

Al Sharpton’s Counter-Freedom Rally Attracts Only 3,000 Supporters "Jaime Contreras, local SEIU president added this:"

“Shame on them. We still have a dream. We are here to let those folks on the Mall know that they don’t represent the dream. They sure as hell don’t represent me. They represent hate-mongering and angry white people. The happy white people are here today. We will not let them stand in the way of the change we voted for!“

More Government to Protect Us from Ourselves

Big Government  "Putting more and more wolves in charge of guarding the henhouse might characterize the big problems we’ve now created for ourselves.
"Government is growing. The private economy is shrinking. Those wielding political power see fewer and fewer problems they believe private citizens can solve on our own. Soon, each one of us will have our own personal guardian bureaucrat." ....
"It’s good that our politicians are getting our financial affairs in order for us.
"Proof that we can rely on them is that our government debt is now almost 60% of our GDP and projected to reach 100% by 2020. Standard & Poor’s has just indicated that the AAA rating of US government bonds may have to be reduced, showing that the United States is now a credit risk."   Star Parker

Why They Can’t Condemn Hamas

Andy McCarthy "Hamas is a shibboleth. If you want to know whether an ostensible Muslim “moderate” is really moderate, ask him if Hamas is a terrorist organization."

shib·bo·leth  –noun  Dictionary.com
1. a peculiarity of pronunciation, behavior, mode of dress, etc., that distinguishes a particular class or set of persons.
2. a slogan; catchword.
3. a common saying or belief with little current meaning or truth.

Is Hamas a terrorist organization? "The occasion of McCarthy's column was his appearance on David Asman's Fox Business Channel show debating Imam Dawoud Kringle of the New York State prison system, a supporter of the Ground Zero Mosque. McCarthy commented on his close encounter with Mr. Kringle: "Kringle...reeled off the usual talking points about how Islam forbids terrorism and, therefore, if someone commits an act of terrorism that act is, by definition, un-Islamic."
"That's beautiful. But when Asman then posed the question whether Hamas is a terrorist organization, Kringle froze up and looked like his life flashed before his eyes. "  Includes video and sound.

The Sources of American Anger

Victor Davis Hanson "Behind the anger over the Arizona immigration mess, the Ground Zero mosque, the economy, and the new directions in foreign policy are some recurring general themes that reverberate in each particular new controversy. In sum, they explain everything from the tea parties to the wholly negative perception of Congress to the slide in presidential popularity."....

"In other words, with the race/class/gender critique of the Obamians comes very little appreciation of the bounty, freedom, and affluence that they so eagerly embrace. Surely someone in the past — perhaps even white males — must have been doing something right for America to evolve into a place that our present-day critics apparently enjoy."

Republicans: Boehner's Pro-Growth Message

Larry Kudlow  "Well, Mr. Boehner’s speech was a very promising beginning to all this. Near the top he said, “Right now, America’s employers are afraid to invest in an economy stalled by ‘stimulus’ spending and hamstrung by uncertainty. The prospect of higher taxes, stricter rules, and more regulations has employers sitting on their hands.”
"His first proposal to break that uncertainty? Boehner said, “President Obama should announce he will not carry out his plan to impose job-killing tax hikes on families and small businesses.” In other words, extend all the Bush tax cuts. To this end, Boehner quoted former President John F. Kennedy: “An economy constrained by high tax rates will never produce enough revenue to balance the budget, just as it will never create enough jobs.”

"And Boehner was just getting started."....
One of many points Boehner made: "He slammed Obamacare in general, noting the creation of more than 160 boards, bureaucracies, programs, and commissions, and the 3,833 pages of new regulations already in place."

Cartoon: Eric Allie, Townhall. Article via Townhall.

Freedom’s Just Another Word For Not Regulated Yet

Institute For Justice (I know; the name sounds Jesse-Jacksonish, but don't let that stop you from going there. Trust me) "...the FPPC never demonstrate how its boogeyman of anonymous Internet speech has led to ruin. The only thing the report does show is that the FPPC seems to think that it should regulate the Internet simply because it can. In a land where freedom of speech is the rule, not the exception, a regulator’s “I wanna” is simply not enough."

Healthcare issues

How Obamacare Empowers the Medicare Bureaucracy: What Seniors and Their Doctors Should Know "Notwithstanding official Washington’s promise that nothing would change in the doctor–patient relationship, the PPACA will affect the private practice of medicine and surgery and impact Medicare patients enrolled in traditional fee-for-service Medicare. Millions of Americans have already expressed their misgivings about the new health care law. When the Medicare bureaucracy ramps up its issuance of regulations, they will learn, in detail, that its consequences for them are not quite what its congressional champions have advertised."

Deregulating Health Insurance and Health Care Providers in North Carolina  "Mandates lock in current medical practices and payment methods.36 They limit competition among medical providers and strengthen the position of dominant insurers. As insurers and providers seek assistance from lawmakers, they focus more on political gains than on the market."  Quite lengthy and deals with the relationship of state insurance regulations and the new Obamacare laws.

Government Greed, Not Human Need, Drives the Growth of Medicaid  "Since President Obama took office, Medicaid has been accelerating in the wrong direction, a trend the American people have good reason to resist. The political class is exploiting the economic downturn to increase its control of our health dollars by making more people dependent on Medicaid, which sentences millions to inadequate care."

Via Heritage Insider. Illustration from The People's Cube

Another Presidential Rescue Mission in North Korea

Heritage Insider (August 25, 2010) "North Korea may interpret Carter’s visit as an indication that the Obama Administration wants to move beyond the Cheonan incident. Similarly, South Korea may question the resolve of its U.S. ally. Senior South Korean officials commented privately that Washington advocated a softer response than Seoul during last month’s bilateral military exercises, which were meant as a strong signal to Pyongyang. Carter’s visit may appear to be an extension of this perceived softness."