(Updated) ABC Skips Life March, But Highlights Attacks on Chick-fil-A By Gay Groups

Updated, Wed, Feb 2: A Christian Business in the Left's Crosshairs  "Over the weekend, New York Times reporter Kim Severson gave the Chick-fil-A bashers a coveted Sunday A-section megaphone -- repeatedly parroting the "Chick-fil-A is anti-gay" slur and raising fears of "evangelical Christianity's muscle flexing" with only the thinnest veneer of journalistic objectivity. Severson, you see, is an openly gay advocate of same-sex marriage equality herself and the former vice-president of the identity politics-mongering National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association."  Michelle Malkin  Hat tip to Jon Hodges, Richardson, TX.

Newsbusters  "After ABC’s World News ignored the March for Life pro-life event last week, the January 30 World News Sunday did find time to run a report highlighting complaints by gay rights activists over Chick-fil-A -- a family-owned restaurant chain known for its Christian-based social advocacy -- supplying food to a socially conservative group in Pennsylvania that promoted a ban on same-sex marriage in the state that was enacted in 1996."

South Bend Homosexual Organization Targets Chick-Fil-A For Protest  "Members of the Campus Ally Network, which promotes acceptance and support for the university's homosexual community protested because the restaurant's Pennsylvania franchise donated food to an anti-homosexual organization's event."

Chick Fil A Denies Anti-Gay Agenda "“Chick Fil A serves all people and values all people. Providing food to these events or any event is not an endorsement of the mission, political stance or motives of this or any other organization. Any suggestion otherwise is just inaccurate.”
"The 65-year-old privately-held Chick Fil A describes its business as operating according to Biblical principles. That’s one reason its stores do not open on Sundays."

Chick-Fil-A Says It's Dropping Its Support For Anti-Gay Marriage Groups  "“Chick-Fil-A's Corporate Purpose is 'To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us, and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-Fil-A.' As a result, we will not champion any political agendas on marriage and family. This decision has been made, and we understand the importance of it.” But Cathy added that the company would “continue to offer resources to strengthen marriages and families.” “To do anything different would be inconsistent with our purpose and belief in Biblical principles,” he said."

Chick-fil-A lends its support to tea party protesters. The founders of Chick-fil-A, the Cathy family, “have been outspoken in their support of Republican social conservatives. Chick-fil-A has won praise from religious conservative for keeping its doors shut on Sundays.”  From the liberal blog thinkprogress

The Situation in Egypt is Obama's Opportunity to Shape a New Middle East, says FPI Director William Kristol

Photo: jaxobserver

The Foreign Policy Initiative  "This is the 3 a.m. phone call. Will President Obama rise to the occasion?
"He could, and he should. His initial diagnosis two years ago of the Middle East proved wrong. His administration’s initial response to the crisis in Egypt has been halting. His normal supporters are befuddled."

Obama and the Ripple Effect  "But an American president, when wading into such turbulent and unpredictable waters, ought to know at least all the ramifications of his own strategy -- something Obama doesn't seem to have thought through.
"Watching Obama, Hamas must be licking its chops, while the Saudis and Abbas must be wondering how constant, reliable and predictable a Mideast player the U.S. really is with Obama in the White House."

Egypt: Please, Not ElBaradei

Claudia Rosett  "...in the U.S. effort to corral Iran’s nuclear program, ElBaradei was not part of the answer, but part of the problem. Glick also describes ElBaradei’s cozy relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood — progenitor of al-Qaeda and Hamas — quoting him as giving a recent interview to Der Spiegel in which he claimed the Muslim Brotherhood has “not committed any acts of violence in five decades.”"

The pragmatic fantasy "THE TRUTHS exposed by the convulsive events of the past month make it abundantly clear that Israel lives in a horrible neighborhood. It is a neighborhood where popular democracy means war against Israel."

Fear the Muslim Brotherhood

Andrew C. McCarthy "The Obama administration has courted Egyptian Islamists from the start. It invited the Muslim Brotherhood to the president’s 2009 Cairo speech, even though the organization is officially banned in Egypt. It has rolled out the red carpet to the Brotherhood’s Islamist infrastructure in the U.S. — CAIR, the Muslim American Society, the Islamic Society of North America, the Ground Zero mosque activists — even though many of them have a documented history of Hamas support."

 Alfred E. Neuman in the driver’s seat 

To this day, the Brotherhood’s motto remains, “Allah is our objective, the Prophet is our leader, the Koran is our law, Jihad is our way, and dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope. Allahu akbar!”

"That seems pretty straightforward to me. I admire the candor and forthrightness. The Muslim Brotherhood believes in waging jihad, i.e. holy war, and they embrace death as their highest goal. At least we know where we stand."

[Middle-East expert and] Ex-President Carter: Political unrest in Egypt 'earth-shaking', Mubarak likely must step down  ""In the last four or five years when I go to Egypt, I don't go to talk to Mubarak, who talks like a politician," Carter said. "If I want to know what is going on in the Middle East, I talk to Suleiman. And as far as I know, he has always told me the truth.""

The New American Fans of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt  "Only one thing is clear: Let us avoid counsel from those who urge us to accept the radical Islamists who appear in sheep’s clothing. Listening to the Richard Falks of our own day and age will assure the triumph of the worst possible outcome."  Ron Radosh

Egypt

Bringing Freedom and Stability to Egypt  "The surest path to a stable and free political system lies in a gradual evolutionary process, but the Mubarak regime has squandered that opportunity despite years of American economic aid, support for civil society groups, and diplomatic cajoling. Egyptians are now confronted with the need for much more rapid and drastic reforms in a tense and overheated atmosphere that favors the ascendancy of radical groups over moderate reformers."


Egyptian police reappear alongside army "The police, who are widely detested here, have been blamed for triggering an almost complete breakdown of law and order in recent days across Egypt, a strategically vital nation at the heart of the Arab world. But with a measure of calm returning to the city Monday, many residents appeared pleased to have officers back on the job." Also this from GlobalSecurity.org

Obama: Egypt Needs Orderly Transition  "There was no indication from the White House late Sunday of the extent to which President Obama's calls with world leaders included discussion of the role of Egyptian opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei."

Egypt and the Failure of the Obama Doctrine "The Obama Administration has been slow to embrace calls for liberty in Egypt is completely consistent with the Obama Doctrine as applied in the Middle East. When the Iranian people rose against the regime in Tehran in the wake of a disputed national election, Obama offered virtually no support for the cries for freedom. He was too committed to his engagement strategy with the Iranian regime, believing his “charm offensive” would be enough to deter them from pursuing nuclear weapons. Those efforts have completely failed."

Elliott Abrams:  Egypt protests show George W. Bush was right about freedom in the Arab world
""Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe - because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty," Bush said. "As long as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place of stagnation, resentment and violence ready for export." "

Sources in Egypt and West: US secretly backed protest "If this is true, the Western observers who have concluded that the protesters have no leaders and are propelled into the streets purely by rage against the regime may not have the full story. The movement does have a leader whose identity is known to Washington and the demonstrations' ringleaders – but not to Mubarak or his security services." DEBKAfile

http://www.gorrellart.com/

William Kristol: Beyond Mubarak: ‘Twere Well It Were Done Quickly  "The Obama administration has gradually been adjusting to reality. On Friday evening, President Obama was still exhorting President Mubarak: “I told him he has a responsibility to give meaning to those words, to take concrete steps and actions that deliver on that promise.” By this morning, Secretary Clinton had basically abandoned Mubarak. She was talking to Chris Wallace about the need for “a transition to democracy,” “an orderly transition to a democratic government,” “an orderly transition” with a “a well thought-out plan that will bring about a democratic, participatory government.”"

Politics by the Numbers: Good Omens for the GOP in 2012

Michael Barone  "Numbers can tell a story. Looking back on Barack Obama's second State of the Union message, and looking forward to the congressional session and the 2012 elections, they tell a story that should leave Democrats uneasy."
But remember the demagogue factor.