Stay Out of Syria; A response to Clifford D. May

Andrew C. McCarthy  "The Butch & Sundance team of John McCain and Lindsey Graham are not just cheering on their team...the senators want to arm thepredominantly Islamist, demonstrably murderous Syrian “opposition” — to strengthen America’s enemies with training and weaponry that America would either coordinate or provide directly."

...."The Butch and Sundance team of John McCain and Lindsey Graham are not just cheering on their team, the way Chávez and I were pulling for Johan; the senators want to arm the predominantly Islamist, demonstrably murderous Syrian “opposition” — to strengthen America’s enemies with training and weaponry that America would either coordinate or provide directly.
...."In any event, if you really want to weaken Iran, then stay out of Syria and let it play out. Let the mullahs try to prop up the reeling Assad while the alliances with Sunni supremacists that they have spent two decades building disintegrate. It is in our interests that not only Iran but all of our enemies be weakened. What Cliff’s NRO essay labels the “Battle of Syria” is doing just that. The best thing we can do for American national security is: stay out of it and let them have at each other."

“The Amateur” by Ed Klein – Chapters 10 -11

Independent Sentinel  "This book has 22 chapters filled with quotes and interviews by people with insider information on Barack Obama. While the left has put down the author, they have not been able to dispute the quotes in the book.

"Ed Klein offers a good deal of opinion based on interviews. It is an intense character analysis."

Chapter 10;  Valerie V. Rahm  "Emanuel and Jarrett were not friends and Emanuel did try to block her appointment to the WH staff. She didn’t like his style of one-hand-washes-the-other. Emanuel is a realist and wanted to cut deals on the economy. Jarrett thwarted him at every turn. Axelrod and Jarrett kept Obama on his big-spending, big-government path."

Chapter 11; The Wrath of Michelle

"Michelle hides her co-presidency with her husband and their shared worldview is what is bringing us closer to European-style socialism.
"She is even further left than her husband. She pushed the healthcare initiative when most advisers were saying not to. She has a strong sense of social justice."

The President's Oval Office desk

The President's Desk

"Many presidents have used the Resolute desk in the Oval Office or ...their study in the Residence. It was made from the timbers of HMS Resolute, an abandoned British ship discovered by an American vessel and returned to the Queen of England as a token of friendship and goodwill. When the ship was retired, Queen Victoria commissioned the desk from William Evenden, Royal Naval Dockyard at Chatham, England, and presented to President Rutherford Hayes in 1880.

"The desk has twice been modified. Franklin Roosevelt requested that the kneehole be fitted with a modesty panel carved with the presidential seal (he preferred people not see his leg braces and often placed a waste basket in front of his desks), but he did not live to see it installed. However, President Truman liked the eagle motif and had it installed when he came into office in 1945. Since this was prior to Truman's decision to turn the head of the eagle in the presidential seal to face the olive branch of peace, the eagle in the Resolute's modesty panel faces the arrows of war.

"Every president since Hayes—except Presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Ford—has used the Resolute desk, although some chose to use it in their private study in the Residence. The desk was made famous in part by a photograph of John Kennedy at work while his son, John Jr., peeked out the front through the kneehole panel."

President Truman's desk plaque below:

"What the president has on his desk is often symbolic of his style and experience."

Truth or Fiction has a photo of President Bush with his feet on this desk.  And Snopes shows Gerald Ford doing the same.

TW looked for a picture of Bill Clinton using the desk, but our sexual content filter blocked it.

David Gregory: Maybe it’s time Obama started blaming Bush for stuff

Michelle Malkin  "In the coming weeks as the campaign heats up, I’m also expecting David Gregory to suggest that it might be a good idea for Obama to start having some fundraisers and try unwinding by taking up golf." 

Presidential priorities

HopeNChangeCartoons

"But odds are that you didn't hear who paid for Air Force One (at $181,000 an hour) and many of the other ancillary expenses for the event: you did.
"And how did Obama pull off this neat little trick? By arranging an "official" trip which just happened to be near his fundraising event. In this case, visiting the construction site at Ground Zero and asking the workers "howzit going?" before signing an autograph or two and hurriedly getting back in his limousine to speed off to the celebrities, champagne, and campaign dollars.
"That's right: Barack Hussein Obama whored out the site of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks as a dodge to jam Americans with the bills for his fundraising."
(Emphasis in the original).

Failures of progressive-ism

Bruce Thornton:  Obama’s Presidency and the Pathologies of Progressivism  "Failed economic theory, illiberal racial policies, elitist snobbery, political freedom reduced to selfish license, and intolerance of disagreement and dissent — these are some of the pathologies of progressivism that have been illustrated every day of Obama’s presidency. It will take November’s election to show whether a critical mass of Americans has finally had their fill of this rancid progressive wine, or whether it returns once again in a new bottle."


Victor Davis Hanson says the left is imploding   We posted this a few days ago, but it is a good companion article for the one above.
"Yet the hard-Left takeover of the Democratic Party has meant that there is no longer a credible balance in our system, as almost all the tenets of contemporary left-wing ideology are blowing up, imploding super nova style — unsustainable ideas that are contrary to human nature and demand coercion for their implementation, given that they are increasingly anti-democratic and have to be implemented from high by an elite technocracy whether in Brussels, Sacramento, or Washington."

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

Lurita Doan: Barack Obama the Shape Shifter   "And so, our shape-shifting president hopes to disguise his antipathy towards business, entrepreneurs and small business leaders, as he moves skillfully around the country in one staged photo-op after another. Each carefully orchestrated to mask the economic destruction caused by his policies."

From an Israeli comedy group: Tell on Me; The Ballad of US foreign agents

From Caroline Glick, who lives in Jerusalem and has a most interesting resume':

Comment to this post from "ripalinsky" :

You gave a wonderful, inspiring speech. American Jews may well be beginning to feel very uncomfortable. They are most comfortable with the Democrat party, afraid of the Republican party, but more and more are unable to avoid that the Democrat party has become very dangerous for Israel. Obama has speeded up the process of socialization to Socialism, and it would be hard for the party to go backwards. I hope Israelis will realize "If it is to be it's up to us", probably without help from Jews in most other parts of the world, and without the anti-Israel Jews living in Israel. I'm optimistic because it's basically a spiritual battle, and the forces of evil will lose. Unfortunately, there may be a lot of suffering before that happens, as in Hitler's Germany.

 The Joke is on Obama in Israel  "It’s still unclear how the majority of the Israeli public and government feel about the leaks, if they attribute them to the Obama White House like this well-known satirical group, although it’s telling that the U.S. president’s integrity (or the lack thereof) has moved into the realm of public mockery. President Obama’s approval ratings were already scraping the bottom of the barrel in Israel; thus the repercussions of these alleged leaks may be difficult to gauge. Only time will tell if Israeli leaders and the public have any more faith left in the Obama administration. We’ll find out just how much remains the next time Israel is in possession of sensitive information or plans.


Obama Still Not Fooling Anyone on Israel  "And never has an American president treated an Israeli prime minister with such shabbiness as Obama has treated Netanyahu. Indeed one gets the impression that of all the world’s leaders, Obama most detests the prime minister of Israel.”
From Commentary Magazine

Obama as an economist; here's an entire reading list on the subject

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Bloomberg; GOP on health care: Repeal quickly, replace slowly   "Once the Supreme Court issues a ruling, "the goal is to repeal anything that is left standing," said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., a member of the party's leadership. 
"Beyond that, "we ought to go step by step to lower the cost" of health care, he added, a formula repeated by numerous other Republicans interviewed in recent days."

Forbes; President Obama: The Biggest Government Spender In World History  "...regarding the President’s rhetorical strategy that I’ve have been calling Calculated Deception.  The latter is deliberately using a misleading argument to paint a false picture.  That has been a central Obama practice not only throughout his entire presidency, but also as the foundation of his 2008 campaign strategy, and actually throughout his whole career."
Also at Forbes from Dec, 2011; Obama Channels Hugo Chavez, Shows Why He Can't Lead On The Economy

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/06/15/100250

Boortz: Want to start a business? Move.   "Investor’s Business Daily is reporting that as of now it is easier to start a business in Slovenia, Estonia or Hungary than it is in the United States.  Why?  Because of new banking regulations in the U.S.  Put Canada on that list as well.  It now takes fewer steps to start a business in Canada than it does in any other developed nation.
And regulations such as this.

Obsession with income redistribution is destroying U.S. productivity  "When the young and the productive are saddled with the greatest burdens, the country’s potential for growth is limited. The obsession with transferring wealth needs to end so entrepreneurs can focus on creating it. That’s the only way America will return to the days of across-the-board, ever-increasing incomes for all."


Obama Can't Keep His Jobs Story Straight   "Just how inept is the White House these days? On Friday, President Obama was demanding that Congress put "teachers, cops and firefighters" back to work. But his own website says he's already accomplished that. Via Hot Air.

The Private Sector Was Really Fine Under Reagan/ And we didn't have an insufferable whiner-in chief.  
"President Barack Obama’s 53-minute “major address” on Thursday was so bad that even some of his knee-jerk cheerleaders in the establishment press couldn’t stand it. A desperate Associated Press photographer thought that fitting Obama for a new halo might distract from the disaster. Nice try, buddy. No sale."
...."Unlike now, the private sector was really fine under Ronald Reagan. Additionally, once inaugurated, the Gipper almost never complained about the insufferable mess predecessor Jimmy Carter had left or moaned about the high interest rates the Fed had to impose to tame inflation.

"Evidence is growing that the American people have had more than their fill of our current ineffective whiner- and regulator-in-chief ...."