Thursday, June 30, 2011

Glenn Beck vs. The Mob

Ann Coulter  "A liberal's idea of being a bad-ass is to say vicious things to a conservative public figure who can't afford to strike back. Getting in a stranger's face and hurling insults at him, knowing full well he has too much at risk to deck you, is like baiting a bear chained to a wall.
"They are not only exploiting our lawsuit-mad culture, they are exploiting other people's manners. I know I'll be safe because this person has better manners than I do.
"These brave-hearts know exactly what they can get away with. They assault a conservative only when it's a sucker-punch, they outnumber him, or he can't fight back for reasons of law or decorum.
"Liberals don't get that when you're outnumbering the enemy 100-1, you're not brave."

Fox News host Glenn Beck: My family was harassed during New York Bryant Park movie '39 steps'  "Beck, 47, said cinemagoers turned on him during Monday's screening of Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps." One person, he said, shouted "We hate conservatives here" and another yelled "We're in New York and we hate Republicans.""

Some give another account  Though Beck's wife did get wine spilled on her somehow.

Hot Air: Angry moviegoer harasses Glenn Beck’s wife in NYC park Update: Another moviegoer says no animosity evident, but Twitter tells different story"Hmm. Twitter also turned up tweets from friends, suggesting she “accidentally” spill something on him. Which, of course, her friend “accidentally” did."  See the screenshot below:

Afghanistan and Obama's policy

The Weekly Standard: Gen. Keane Blasts Obama's Decision to Withdraw from Afghanistan  "Keane calls the president's decision "reckless" and said that it would result in more American causalties in Afghanistan." Jun 29, 2011

Wall Street Journal: The Coming Afghan Debacle; The Taliban is jubilant at Obama's strategy. So is Iran.  "Finally, it signals that the United States, like Britain before it, is a waning power. In his speech last week, Mr. Obama waxed eloquent on the point that "what sets America apart is not solely our power—it is the principles upon which our union was founded." Very true. But a nation that abandons to the Taliban those it was once committed to protect shows that it lacks power and principle alike."

Anybody out there old enough to remember the phrase, "Peace with honor"? Think Vietnam.

Blackfive: Obama ignored military on Afghan withdrawal  "LTG Allen testified to the Senate that his decision was not among any of the plans put forth by the military."
Allen's claim, which came under oath, contradicts the line the White House had been providing reporters over the past week—that Obama simply chose one option among several presented by General David Petraeus.
Andy McCarthy; Our Sharia-Compliant Afghan War; Our policy in Afghanistan is part tragedy, part farce.  "Private Abdo may not approve of al-Qaeda. He may not want to see the Taliban retake control of Afghanistan. But that is not the point. They are Muslims. He, like the Muslims of Afghanistan, sees himself as a Muslim first. He is not going to side with us over them. It doesn’t matter that he may privately believe they are reprehensible. Since they are Muslims, he sees it as Allah’s place, not his, to condemn them. In this life, in the sharia schema of Muslims versus non-Muslims, he is with his fellow Muslims — and would risk grave peril, both here and in the afterlife, were he to cross over to the other side."

Lisa Benson on the Economy

Obama's press conference


Obama Presser: Another Interminable Exercise in Blame and Evasion   "In case you missed it, Katie offers a fairly comprehensive recap of President Obama's press conference below. As is often the case, his performance was rather frustrating to watch, and seemed interminable. A few initial reactions:"

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/garyvarvel

From American Thinker: Obama-supported tax break for private jets comes under fire - from Obama  "Obama will try and avoid debates this time around for that reason. Challenging his fact flakes on national TV while calling him out for his creation of straw men to buttress his arguments will be fairly easy pickings for a good debate opponent like Mitt Romney or Michelle Bachmann. I don't think he will debate unless he absolutely has to, and then if he debates more than once I will be surprised.
"So far, I have yet to find a mainstream media source who recognizes the irony of Obama criticizing a tax break his own stimulus maintained. This means the president is free to continue dishonestly berating Republicans for it."   Rick Moran    More here:

14 Obama Seconds Americans Will Not Forget  "Thanks to Ed Morrissey and Guy Benson for pointing this out to me. I'm sure we will be dragging this sucker out many a time before the 2012 election." (video)

The Daily Caller: President Obama’s war on facts  "In other words, by highlighting such a small issue, Obama cherry-picked an effective tool for making the debt ceiling vote a “clash of classes,” in the words of National Journal’s Ron Fournier, while wildly distorting its importance. Given the relatively tiny scale of the tax incentive, it does not force Congress to choose between it and “kids’ safety” in any meaningful way."
http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/natebeeler

Powerline: Lead? Who, Me?  "My overarching observation is that Obama’s performance exemplified his chronic inability to lead. Here’s why:"....
"President Obama has been in office for two and a half years now. If there are steps he can take “right now” that will help create jobs, why didn’t he take them a long time ago?"  John Hinderaker

National Review Online:  More Obama Soak-the-Rich  "But basically his message today was class-warfare, soak-the-rich. Somehow, Democrats are for your kids but Republicans are for your fat cats. It’s so tiresome. It will never sell.
"Obama is in political trouble and he knows it."  Larry Kudlow 

Neal Boortz: Us vs. Them  "My disgust with and contempt for Barack Obama grows every time I hear that dangerous man speak.  Obama’s press conference yesterday was little more than an exercise in class warfare, big government rhetoric."....
"Now that we have our facts straight, let’s talk about the fact that Barack Obama is standing up there at his podium telling you what you can and cannot afford. He said that taxes are “lower than they’ve been since the 1950s. And you can afford it.” That’s Obama channeling Karl Marx: “From each according to their ability. To each according to their need.”
"We have a Marxist in the White House."

The Least Serious President in the History of the Republic™ Holds a Press Conference  "Sometimes you hear hypocrisy so thick you can cut it with a knife. Think Bill Clinton telling us he did not have sex with Monica Lewinsky, John Kerry throwing someone else's medals over the White House fence (his are hanging on his senate office wall), think Joe Biden plagiarizing Neil Kinnock's campaign speech, or John Edwards... saying anything at all! This president may have set the new gold standard in hypocrisy today."
http://terrellaftermath.com/

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Reaganomics vs. Obamanomics

PETER FERRARA As read today by Rush Limbaugh.  "The Obama administration's economic policies do not include any of the four Reagan components. In fact, the stimulus plan is the greatest increase in government spending in the history of the planet. Meanwhile, the Fed is furiously reinflating, sowing more havoc down the line. Mr. Obama is still promising future increases in tax rates by letting the Bush tax cuts lapse, because for ideological reasons he thinks even current rates are too low. And instead of deregulating for more energy production, he is still promising massive increases in regulatory barriers -- through global warming cap-and-trade legislation -- to increased production from proven energy sources to serve an extreme environmentalist ideology."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/michaelramirez

Five Ways Obama Is Circumventing the Legislative Branch

Heritage Blog   "And though one of the Obama campaign’s legal advisers cautioned against a President who would “take the law into his own hands and shred it when it’s convenient,” Obama has done just that time and time again.
"The Obama Administration generally employs one of two strategies to legislate without—and often in spite of—congressional action: (1) administrative decree establishing a new federal rule, or (2) a refusal to enforce existing federal law. In five separate policy areas, the President and the federal agencies under his command have spurned congressional authority to achieve Obama’s objectives."

Eric Allie's take on the Afghan drawdown

Graph: Obama's recession vs. previous recessions

Compromise on Pledge of Allegiance in Eugene, Oregon, Has Some Seeing Red

Fox News  "“It’s a little ironic to see those who have championed the idea of tolerance be less tolerant on this question,” Clark Said. Mayor Kitty Piercy called the Pledge of Allegiance divisive. “If there’s one thing the flag stands for,” Piercy says, “it’s that people don’t have to be compelled to say the Pledge of Allegiance or anything else.” "....
Another pledge opponent, Councilwoman Betty Taylor compared saying the Pledge of Allegiance to reading from "The Communist Manifesto."

Leftists Protest Sarah Palin Appearance In Eugene, Oregon
 

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Find out who rigged military's 'study' of homosexuality in ranks

The Whistleblower  "It was that report that famously was quoted as affirming "70 percent" of the nation's military members believe the repeal of the long-standing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" practice of allowing homosexuals to serve as long as they kept their sexual lifestyle choices to themselves would have either "a neutral or positive impact on unit cohesion, readiness, effectiveness and morale."....
""Contrary to most news accounts, the 'Comprehensive Review Working Group' process was not a 'study,'" she told WND. "Its purpose was to circumvent and neutralize military opposition to repeal of the law."
"She agreed that military personnel who participated in the process in good faith "will feel betrayed and justifiably angry" by the results.
"Their time was misused for political purposes," she said. "
Hat tip to California Chronicle

DROPPING THE 'H'-BOMB: As Obama and Congress force open homosexuality on America's military, soldiers are fighting back  ""We've released this Whistleblower issue right now precisely because the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' repeal can still be reversed. Before open homosexuals can be invited into the armed forces, the law says top military leaders have to certify that the new policy won't affect troop readiness, cohesion or military recruitment and retention. Because of that provision, the new GOP-led House could – if it really wanted to – stop implementation in its tracks.""

The Democrats’ Anti-Military Problem  "The anti-war movement has devolved from smug anti-Bushism to the belief that America, its military and allies are at the root of all that ails the world. Democratic politicians must move in lock step with the fringe anti-war left or risk being savaged by the “net-roots,” whose demands for a swift withdrawal from Iraq, ironically, would provoke more war, bloodshed and possibly genocide."  Gary Bauer

Oh no, not THIS!

Bachmann/ Wallace in overdrive

What Chris Wallace’s ‘flake’ comment could do for Michele Bachmann   "Wallace, of course, has apologized, a gesture Bachmann appears to have said she won’t accept. As a result, the episode is likely to linger in the news (ahem), boosting her followers’ energy and possibly posing damage to her reputation as Wallace’s question gets repeated in the news. A risk? Certainly. But in this case, it looks like one she’s more than willing to take."

Andy McCarthy: What’s Flakey Is Chris Wallace’s Notion of Federalism  "But look, Wallace was big enough to say he was sorry, and to do so with a refreshing “I messed up” — it’s nice to hear a stand-up guy who doesn’t do the weaselly “I’m sorry if you misunderstood me” routine. If, as Katrina reports, Michele hasn’t accepted the apology, she ought to. Americans aren’t just looking to replace President Obama’s policies; his frequent lack of grace also grates. So be gracious — it’s not just good politics, it’s the right way to be."

President Obama media doubles down on doublespeak 
Bush tapping the phones of foreign terrorists with congressional authority - fascism. Obama’s continuing attempts to rein in free speech on the Internet - good public policy.
Bush on Air Force One - junkets, fund-raising for GOP fat cats. Obama on Air Force One - fact-finding missions, reassuring the American people of his tireless FDR-like commitment to them.
Two hundred-point midday drops on the Dow under Bush - ominous plummet. Same drops under Obama - the market is seeking direction.
Democrat women elected under Bush - a triumph of feminism. Republican women elected under Obama - a setback for feminism. (Brit twit Tina Brown actually said this last week to Obama worshipper George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America.”) Also here.
Different Media Standards? Barack Obama Vs George W. Bush

How the President Fared In the Press vs. Clinton and Bush
drawfortruth.wordpress.com

Obama's Afghan policy according to Mike Ramirez

Gaffe: when a politician accidentally tells the truth

Monday, June 27, 2011

Pro-Palestinian flotilla activists armed with poison chemicals for Israeli troops

DEBKAfile  "Contrary to the purportedly peaceful nature of the flotilla setting out this week to break Israel's Gaza blockade, Israeli intelligence sources reported Monday, June 27, that some of the activists aboard the boats are extremists who are perfectly willing to forcibly resist efforts to intercept them and are ready to kill Israeli servicemen coming on board."

American activist Ann Wright* is a former official of the U.S. State Department who will take part.
"We say to the people of Gaza, we are coming!" she said.
"Hundreds of people will be on board the flotilla, including journalists, politicians, writers and religious figures."

Right: US activists chant slogans as they hold placards after a news conference about an international flotilla to blockaded Gaza, in Athens, June 27, 2011


Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza Aid Flotilla   "The head of the Israeli government press office had said in a letter to journalists Sunday that the flotilla is being organized by Western and Islamic extremists, and that those taking part would be in violation of Israeli law."

*Ann Wright,an American peace activist will participate in the flotilla.

Obama and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

First Ignored, Then Attacked: 6th International Climate Change Conference

Alan Caruba  "In the words of Gandhi, “First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they fight you, then you win.”"  ....


"When, in 2009, emails exchanged between a handful of scientists who provided the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change with the most specious, deliberately duplicitous “data” to prop up the “global warming" hoax were revealed, the whole house of cards began to collapse."
Mr. Caruba blogs at Warning Signs

Next and not unrelated:
Does Ethanol Keep Our Gas Cheap? "...the growth in ethanol production reduced wholesale gasoline prices by $0.25 per gallon on average. The Midwest region experienced the biggest impact, with a $0.39/gallon reduction, while the East Coast had the smallest impact at $0.16/gallon."

Ethanol ruling aside, higher corn prices bad for everyone  "...And corn prices are likely to continue their spike if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is successful in mandating a 5 percent increase of corn-based ethanol, to 15 percent, in gasoline."  Thanks for the cheaper gasoline.

Where do we go to get our reputations back?

American Thinker "In 2008 having elected and given immense power to a person with no experience, no school records, no verifiable birth certificate, and paying lawyers millions to keep these details of his history secret. What kind of a people or country born in freedom would be so careless as to take such a risk? How do we explain these errors in judgment to our children and grand children, and the world? We have let this man and his group of revolutionaries harm this nation and the entire world in no small way. How do we make amends for letting such things happen?"

Obama vs. our generals

LA Times  "In the first two years of Obama's presidency, his top aides had grown accustomed to a process in which Obama drew out and explored the views of his full team and searched for a consensus — decision by ballot, some called it.
"Increasingly, however, that process has changed, according to a wide group of Obama's personal friends, informal advisors and top aides interviewed during the spring. In recent months, they say, the president has been relying more heavily on his own instincts and feeling less impelled to seek accord among advisors."
Tony Branco;comicallyincorrect.com/
Real-World Effects of Anti-War Activism  "Bumper sticker slogans, like War No More, aren’t serious; and they need to be examined in terms of their human consequences. In this instance, it won’t be pretty. But for many anti-war activists on the left, it won’t really matter. They will have turned their attention to new efforts to promote social justice, to inspire hope, and to free the captives, even as those they leave behind will suffer, will bleed and will die." Peter Wehner

Elders are Right: Drawdown Sends Negative Message to Afghan Civilians  "Hajji Kala Khan, a tribal elder from Maiwand: “This drawdown will embolden the morale of the Taliban, and actually it has already emboldened them. The Taliban are saying to the elders not to support Americans or you will be killed, and now they say, ‘The Americans are leaving and your lives will not be spared.’ ”"Max Boot

Obama's plan to raise taxes on small businesses in this country

Neal Boortz  "Addressing Obama’s plan for tax increases on small businesses Geithner said that the administration had “no alternative” but to raise taxes on small businesses because if you didn’t you would “have to shrink the overall size of government programs.” "
"Don’t you just love this?  Doesn’t this pretty much describe the Democrat and the Obama philosophy?  When given the choice between reducing the size of government and raising taxes, the answer is clear!  You must raise taxes?"
People of the government, by the government and for the government.

Small business owners; BOHICA!  "You see, Tim Geithner, and big-government politicians are under this false liberal assumption that all money earned in the United States belongs to the government, and it is the government that decides how much of it you get to keep."

Follow-up: In Rose Bowl, Mexico is 'home' team as U.S. soccer team is booed (updated)

bustedcoverage.com
American Thinker  "The massive river of immigrants from Mexico, legal and illegal, that the Democratic Party has been chaperoning into America for decades, in goals and desires, is not your grandparents' immigrants. The vast majority come to share space and partake of our prosperity (such as it is), not to become Americans. They are encouraged in these aims by those who welcome them for their own electoral purposes -- Democrat activists, who know that, as an unassimilated nation apart, laden with grievances and a sense of victimhood, Mexican immigrants are most likely to become dependable clients and voters of the statist party."

US Soccer Team Viciously Booed in L.A. -- Mexico was "home team" Enemedia calls it "Uniquely American"  "The US soccer team booed, its players on the receiving end of vile obscenities in LA's Rose Bowl, and the left-wing media calls this a marvelous moment for America. Yes, the LA Times is at it again (where's the Rashid Khalidi tape, traitors?)."

What’s Up With All the Presidential Gaffes, Anyway?

Michael Ledeen  "That would explain today’s embarrassment (embarrassment to us, to the nation–he speaks for us, after all–since he doesn’t seem to suffer embarrassment very often), but it doesn’t explain things like the apology for his lack of fluency in “Austrian” or his lack of knowledge that we have a Marine Corps (pronounced “core”). That comes from lousy education, from lack of basic knowledge about the world. And if I’m right about the small number of administration officials who get to see his words before they’re delivered in public, it tells us that they, too, aren’t properly educated.
....
" It’s part of the Orwellian universe that envelops many of our leaders, a universe in which they feel free to simply invent “facts” so long as they fit the emotional and ideological pattern that really matters to the elite."

Remember this? Letterman writer: Obama 'too competent' to make jokes about   "It's not because he's black and it's not because we're afraid. It's just that he's, just so far, just a little too damn competent and we ain't used to that. [multiple panelists say "yeah."]"

 Why so many presidential mistakes in so little time?
"Obama and friends even taught at these elite institutions of higher learning; why Obama himself was a perfessor or something at the University of Chicago's Law School. Again though he produced no major articles or profound insights as is customary from a university noted for its research. "

Demonic and The Underrated Ann

Coulter and her most recent book
Andrew Klavan   "I don’t expect anyone to give her the Pulitzer Prize. The Pulitzer is one of those prizes liberals give to other liberals so they can call each other “prize-winning.” It’s appalling, however, that in a country where a blithering bomb-throwing hack like Paul Krugman is given an ongoing column in a prominent former newspaper, Coulter is considered too incendiary to have a mainstream column of her own. Her weekly piece online is routinely so witty, slashing and packed with information that it makes even some of the best newspaper columns look like pretty weak sauce in comparison."....
"But she is, I’m convinced, one of the essayists of the day, possibly of the age, and some of her writing will be taught in schools long after the work of more sober and “respectable” journalists is forgotten."

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Mexico rallies for a 4-2 win over U.S. behind overwhelming support at Rose Bowl. In what other country would the visitors have home-field advantage?

LA Times   "On a balmy early Saturday summer evening, the U.S soccer team played for a prestigious championship in a U.S. stadium … and was smothered in boos.
"Its fans were vastly outnumbered. Its goalkeeper was bathed in a chanted obscenity. Even its national anthem was filled with the blowing of air horns and bouncing of beach balls.
freerepublic.com
"Most of these hostile visitors didn't live in another country. Most, in fact, were not visitors at all, many of them being U.S. residents whose lives are here but whose sporting souls remain elsewhere."  Bill Plaschke

Or when Mexico City booed Miss USA?

And Democrats desperately want to represent these people- many of whom are labor union members- and fervently seek their votes.

Vicious campaign? You ain't seen nuttin yet

Neal Boortz "That will leave the left with that one dependable tool that always gets dusted off in hard times. The “R” word. That’s right …. RACISM! As this election season progresses anyone with an audience of more than three who dares to utter a word of disagreement with the policies of Barack Obama, or who points out the abject failures of his presidency, will be called a racist. The charge will have absolutely no impact whatsoever on rational-thinking Americans .. but it will feed the rage among other leftists.
"The intensity and viciousness of the attacks on those who oppose Obama will be quite a spectacle. So get out your scorecards, pull up a comfortable chair and enjoy the show."

Saturday, June 25, 2011

What the Murder of Iraqi Jews in 1941 Tells us About the Middle East Today

Pajamas Media  "Numerous Nazis found shelter in the Middle East, especially Egypt and Syria, after the war, as well as employment in their security services and propaganda ministries. Some even converted to Islam, finding in it the fullest expression of their fascism. In this sense Nazism played a direct role in shaping the modern Middle East.
"Three elements drew Arab and Muslim leaders to the Nazis. First was Muslim theological antisemitism, which meshed well with Nazi racist antisemitism. Muslims needed no lessons regarding Jew hatred. The Koran and other Islamic sources are filled with verses reviling Jews as filthy schemers and betrayers of the prophet and calling for their mistreatment and murder. The lengthy history of pogroms against Jews in the Arab and Muslim worlds shows these theological exhortations were taken seriously. New, however, was the language of Jews as vermin and the fantasy of a single global Jewish conspiracy. Treatment of Jews in Germany also emboldened Muslim anti-Semites who were encouraged to prepare their own attacks."

The Case for a Boycott of Delta Airlines (UPDATED)  "A day ago, after a story in USA Today that has since been taken off its website, the Jewish community in the United States was enraged to evidently learn that Delta Airlines, which made Saudi Arabian Airlines one of its partner airlines, would not let Jewish passengers fly on Delta to Saudi Arabia."   Ron Radosh

Cartoons from the Arab World

"This cartoon, from the Syrian newspaper Al-Ahram (May 29, 2002), shows an anti-Semitic caricature of a Jew with a long beard and hooked nose, fuelling the “World Media” with “Zionist Media” propaganda, while in the background bombs are falling on the Moslem al-Aqsa shrine on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. This cartoon stereotypes Jews, repeats the anti-Semitic myth that the Jews control the world media, and adds the lie that the Israeli government has damaged the al-Aqsa complex on the Temple Mount."

Hamas Mickey Mouse Teaches Terror to Kids   "'Progressives' like to think: 'Islam is a great religion, too--no worse than any other...""  from the comments to this blog.

President Obama Abuses Nation’s Oil Reserves

Heritage  "In the past two years, President Obama shut down drilling in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. The EIA estimates that oil production will decline significantly in 2011 and 2012. His Administration was so negligent in issuing drilling permits that the Department of Interior was held in contempt of federal court. The Environmental Protection Agency has imposed costly regulations on refiners, and the Administration has rejected agreements with Canada to open up less expensive crude supplies.
http://www.worldmag.com/editorialcartoons/
"If President Obama simply stopped being a roadblock, the U.S. would increase its energy supply, oil prices would decrease, and taxpayers would stop losing royalty revenue. The Gulf economy would rebound, and jobs would be created (or recreated). If Obama simply got out of the way."

Obama and the strategic oil reserves

Obama about-face: Tap U.S. oil reserves   Then-Senator Obama called tapping the petroleum reserve "a short-term response to a long-term problem."
http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/michaelramirez/2011/06/24/89078
Obama was against tapping the Strategic Oil Reserve before he was for it. (FAIL from 2008!) "I do not believe that we should use the strategic oil reserves at this point. I have said and, in fact, supported a congressional resolution that said that we should suspend putting more oil into the strategic oil reserve, but the strategic oil reserve, I think, has to be reserved for a genuine emergency. You have a situation, let’s say, where there was a major oil facility in Saudi Arabia that was destroyed as a consequence of terrorist acts, and you suddenly had huge amounts of oil taken out of the world market, we wouldn’t just be seeing $4-a-gallon oil. We could see a situation where entire sectors of the country had no oil to function at all. And that’s what the strategic oil reserve has to be for."
"Today, we discovered what Barack Obama considers a genuine emergency — a drop in the polls: "...

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/lisabenson

Obama’s Bow to the Muslim World, Round II

Bruce S. Thornton  "It’s time we stopped reacting to a world we have created from our own wish-fulfilling assumptions and delusions, and start heeding the wisdom of scripture: By their fruits ye shall know them. We have rescued Muslims from murderous thugs in Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan; we have transferred billions and billions to Muslim nations, including the terrorist PLO; we have spent our blood and treasure to create for Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan the freedom and self-determination Obama’s speech proclaims we support and Muslims desire; we have done all this, yet outside Indonesia and Lebanon, not even 1 in 5 Muslims like us. "

Medal of Honor recipients; Obama unplugged

From Blackfive: President Obama's Terrible Mistake; "How does the Commander-in-Chief mix these heroes up? He put that medal around Giunta's neck and he stood with Monti's parents as they grieved. These fallen heroes leave such a great legacy, and we should know all their names. The ironic part of the speech, and this comes after the announcement of the politically pressured drawdown of troops in Afghanistan, was Obama's closing remark, "Know that your Commander-in-Chief has your back."
"It shouldn't take a teleprompter for the C-in-C to get it right."

From American Thinker:  A Clueless, Callous Commander-in-Chief  "If you are going to be the Commander-in-Chief, Barry, then as this old sergeant would have instructed one of his troops after such a disgraceful performance, "Soldier up fool and get your sh*t straight. You are talking about recipients of the highest award for valor their nation can bestow upon their warriors. You have flippantly dishonored the award itself and all those to whom it has ever been awarded. You are an embarrassment to the world, your country and most importantly to the troops you supposedly command.""

From Weasel Zippers: Obama Apologizes to Family of Fallen Medal of Honor Recipient He Mistakenly Claimed Was Still Alive… "Guess how many of the big three networks shows covered Obama confusing one living American war hero with a fallen one he posthumously awarded the MOH to in 2009? If you answered zero (and I’m sure you did), step up and claim your prize."

More links on Sgt. Guinta here.  What a shame to see men like this being honored by those who loathe the military and the government they serve.




Jared Monti
Sergeant First Class Jared Monti: Medal of Honor ; Posthumous:  "In 2006, Sergeant First Class Jared Monti died fighting in Afghanistan. The Massachusetts native was inundated with gunfire, but that didn't stop him from coming to the aid of his fellow wounded comrades."
"Years later, Sergeant Monti is receiving the highest military honor: The Congressional Medal of Honor. "

Photo: Stars and Stripes : "Even though bullets came pouring in like hail, Staff Sgt. Jared Monti made a break for it. The enemy was strong — maybe 50, to the 16 Americans. But Pvt. Brian Bradbury was Monti’s guy. He was isolated and bleeding badly on this grim mountain ridge in northeastern Afghanistan’s Nuristan province.  Monti didn’t get far."

Thursday, June 23, 2011

John Huntsman, meet Karl Rove (updated)

American Thinker  "In today's Wall Street Journal, Bush 43 advisor Karl Rove lists four reasons why President Obama is unlikely to be reelected. Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman seems focused on Rove's third reason, while foolishly ignoring Rove's equally important fourth reason."

comicallyincorrect.com
Karl Rove: Why Obama Is Likely to Lose in 2012 "Finally, Mr. Obama has made a strategic blunder. While he needs to raise money and organize, he decided to be a candidate this year rather than president. He has thus unnecessarily abandoned one of incumbency's great strengths, which is the opportunity to govern and distance himself from partisan politics until next spring. Instead, Team Obama has attacked potential GOP opponents and slandered Republican proposals with abandon. This is not what the public is looking for from the former apostle of hope and change."

Reelecting Obama

Victor Davis Hanson  "We are beginning to see the contours of the upcoming 2012 reelection campaign of Barack Obama. Whether always officially sanctioned or not, Obama’s campaign will focus on three general themes: a) the 2008 meltdown of the economy on Bush’s watch; b) conservative heartlessness in gutting cherished entitlement programs; and c) racial bias behind any criticism of Barack Obama."





Terror in the Beltway update: Would-be Pentagon bomber reportedly linked to military target shootings; Update: New arrests in Seattle…Shhhh, don’t say “Muslim;” Update: Pentagon bomb suspect’s “Allahu Akbar!” tapes

Michelle Malkin 
Forensic evidence found during the investigation links Melaku to five shootings at military targets last year, sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity told www.insidenova.com.


"Update 6/23 New arrests…breaking in Seattle…AP and Fox reporting this afternoon that two have been taken into custody in plot on Seattle military installations…
"More as details come in."

Whither Afghanistan? Defense and foreign affairs in the hands of Democrats

Obama’s Afghanistan Withdrawal  "Nation-building at home might be the President’s ideal job, but he has a responsibility abroad. As Curtis notes, the President’s decision to rapidly withdraw from Afghanistan will “further discourage Pakistan from cracking down on the Taliban leadership that finds sanctuary on its soil” and “reinforce Islamabad’s calculation that the U.S. is losing resolve in the fight in Afghanistan and thus encourage Pakistani military leaders to continue to hedge on support to the Taliban to protect their own national security interests.”"

Abandon all this?
From STRATFOR: Obama's Afghanistan Plan and the Realities of Withdrawal  "One of these will be the impact on not just situational awareness on the ground but intelligence collection and particularly exploitable relationships with local political factions. As the withdrawal becomes more and more undeniable and ISAF pulls back from key areas, the human relationships that underlie intelligence sharing will be affected and reduced. This is particularly the case in places where the Taliban are strongest, as villagers there return to a strategy of hedging their bets out of necessity and focus on the more enduring power structure, which in many areas will clearly be the Taliban."
This article reprinted with permission from STRATFOR
Afghanistan, Obama, and Revolution  "President Obama found a way to slip in, during the second half of his speech, comments pertaining “clean energy,” Libya, and support of Revolutionaries. The latter half of his speech contributed to many full e-mail inboxes."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/bobgorrell
Obama Flinches   "A front-page New York Times article reported how the Taliban had been reduced to tiny bands and how it had failed so far to regain its footing despite desperately trying to fight back. The boys in the Quetta Shura must be delighted at the opening President Obama is handing them." National Review


MICHAEL RAMIREZ,NRO
Alinsky Does Afghanistan   "Obama's radical inspiration would have loved his speech on the war."

Alinksi Does Afghanistan, Part II  "What I said 18 months ago remains true today: Obama’s plan “would be preposterous if it were actually a national-security strategy. But it’s not. It’s a political strategy.” It doesn’t need to be coherent or effective. It needs to get Obama through 2012."

Michael Yon: Afghanistan is making undeniable progress, but it could all unravel "The bottom line is that there are unmistakable signs of progress in Afghanistan, and Gen. David Petraeus is about to make a very important recommendation.
"His judgment should be trusted".

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Jon Huntsman

Jon Huntsman’s first step toward oblivion  "I wish Huntsman luck in this noble pursuit, but the high road almost always leads to political oblivion. For Huntsman to maintain his course all the way to the Republican presidential nomination would turn politics on its head. More likely, he will join other decent men — Richard Lugar, Orrin Hatch — whose presidential campaigns were quickly forgotten."  Dana Milbank

Huntsman 2012: Against Name-Calling, Anger—And For Them  "It seems to have taken Huntsman mere moments to understand that a strategy of chastising the Republican base was unwise. So in an interview with Sean Hannity, recorded right after his speech and aired last night, Huntsman praised the “anger and outrage” of the Tea Party as the proper functioning of American democracy and the pressure on lawmakers its creating as “a good outcome.”"

Levin on Jon Huntsman

How did we get here? A little reminder

Nealz Nuze  "A listener pointed me to this paper published by Darrell Issa, a Republican congressman from California.  It’s about the housing crisis and it is the best explanation that you will ever read on the subject.  Don’t be scared by the footnotes.  Don’t be scared by the length.  Read it because you need to know what got us into this crisis, so that we are not doomed to repeat the mistakes that got us here."....
"The moral of Issa’s story is that government, not Wall Street or evil banks, but government policies are what lead us to our current financial crisis, and half-assed government solutions from Barack Obama aren’t going to lead us out of it."

The article:
UNAFFORDABLE HOUSING AND POLITICAL
KICKBACKS ROCKED THE AMERICAN ECONOMY


A big slobbering thank you to the unions

Neal Boortz  "Unions did to Detroit what that tornado did to Tuscaloosa and what Hugo did to Homestead, Florida.  Homestead was rebuilt, and Tuscaloosa will be.  This because they know that there is little likelihood that these storms will return with this ferocity – and they will be rebuilt stronger. Businesses – particularly the auto industry – will not be so anxious to rebuild Detroit because these businesses know that the unions are still lurking in the shadows in Michigan ready to strike – ready to throw sand into the gears of any engine of economic recovery. "

The President's Speech

Reaction to the president’s speech  "In contrast was the bold statement of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), which read in part:
“This is a part of the world where leaders always hedge their bets. Even the slightest impression that the United States is looking to get out is devastating. It is one of the reasons why Pakistan continues to undermine our efforts to target Al Qaeda. It also discourages tribal leaders in Afghanistan from cooperating with us to defeat the Taliban, and it encourages the Taliban to keep on fighting.
“Afghanistan is not just about Afghanistan. It is about the bigger fight against Al Qaeda and radical Islamic terrorism.

Jonathan S. Tobin:  End of Surge Has to Encourage Taliban  "The withdrawal of the surge forces against the advice of our military commanders, may wind up breathing new life into the Taliban cause after the setbacks it has suffered they have suffered in the last two years. If, as a result of this decision the Taliban regains the ground it lost since the surge then we will look back at this speech as a victory for America’s enemies, not a political coup for Obama."


Full Text of President Obama's Afghanistan Speech

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/ericallie
Here are some pre-speech comments from Blackfive (an exceptional milblog):

Obama to give Re-Election speech on A-Stan tonight  "Obama has dim-wittingly reinforced every weakness that al Qaeda and the rest have properly stated about us; we don't have the will or intestinal fortitude as a nation to fight them as they do to fight us. They don't have to beat us to win; they simply have to outlast us... They have now done so for the second time in Afghanistan."

30,000 troops to be pulled out of Afghanistan
"But to the point – “listening to the generals” is apparently only something Republican Commanders in Chief should do. Obama has decided, for entirely unmilitary reasons, it is time to pull the plug on any hope of holding our gains in Afghanistan. Note, I didn’t say get out of A’stan. 30,000 troops isn’t even close to a full withdrawal (100,000 there now). However, it is a margin of difference between consolidating and keeping what we’ve driven the Taliban out of and being too thinly spread to do that. In fact, that was the whole purpose of the surge (just as in Iraq) – take and hold."