Unfortunately, Failure Is an Option

Weekly Standard "Barack Obama faces a choice in Afghanistan. The safe middle ground may be the most treacherous."

McChrystal Lite / How to lose a war by splitting the difference.

Weekly Standard "The biggest problem, though, is that a half-surge cannot produce a meaningful result in a timely manner; we should remember that the McChrystal plan proceeds from his assessment that the next year--several months of which have already been lost--is critical to regaining the initiative from the Taliban. "

The Vietnam moment

Financial Times "To put it another way, splitting the difference and announcing 20,000-plus new troops might look like the least risky choice. But it would satisfy neither liberal nor conservative critics of Mr Obama back home. And it may do little to convince the Taliban that America is in this fight for keeps."

White House visitor records

WhiteHouse.gov "As part of President Obama's commitment to government transparency, we are providing records of White House visitors on an ongoing basis online. "

Political Cartoons by Michael Ramirez

Townhall

Felines, Nothing More than Felines

By Mike Adams, Townhall "I’m looking for three cats that have been discarded by their owners because they were either unable to afford them or because they were just generally inconvenienced by them. It is my preference that you provide me with two white cats and one black cat. " Oh boy, here it comes...wait for it.

Obama Lifts Ban On HIV Entries To US

Sweetness & Light   "The law effectively has kept out thousands of students, tourists and refugees and has complicated the adoption of children with HIV. No major international AIDS conference has been held in the U.S. since 1993, because HIV-positive activists and researchers cannot enter the country. Obama said lifting the ban "is a step that will save lives" by encouraging people to get tested and to get treatment."

Pelosi Health Care Bill Blows a Kiss to Trial Lawyers

Big Government "Section 2531, entitled “Medical Liability Alternatives,” establishes an incentive program for states to adopt and implement alternatives to medical liability litigation. [But]…… a state is not eligible for the incentive payments if that state puts a law on the books that limits attorneys’ fees or imposes caps on damages." Emphasis added.

Tricked by UNICEF

National Review "UNICEF has been a major financier of Palestinian “summer camps” which encourage children to become suicide bombers. One such camp is named for Wafa Idris, a female suicide bomber." Hat tip to The Lid

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner: Soros, Ayers, Acorn, SEIU - White House Coup

Atlas Shrugs The White House has been barraged with requests to release the names of its visitors. Today they release the first 500 visits, all from the period of Jan 20-July 31. Some of the Names you can find on the list are Bill Ayers 2x, George Soros 4x, Michael Moore 8X, the head of the ACORN affiliated Union the SEIU Andrew Stern 20x,Jeremiah Wright, GE/NBC head Jeff Immelt 5x, Jesse Jackson 6x, John Edwards2x, Al Sharpton 2x, and of course television goddess Oprah Winfrey. And how many times have his generals been there? However...

Obama Must Listen

UK Guardian. h/t to Watching America "Ultimately, Obama's decision will shape not only the outcome of the conflict in Afghanistan, but also the moral character and strategic position of the United States, Britain and Nato. For these reasons, it is critical that Obama chooses the counter-insurgency option."

Hollywood Comrades / Why the Soviets were such lovable movie villains.

Reason.com "Recently, MGM reopened the question by announcing its intention to remake the one film everybody agrees depicted the Russians as thoroughly bad guys: John Milius’ Red Dawn (1984), in which Soviet and Latin American communists conquer the United States through force of arms."...."But against this record are countless screen depictions of the Russians as OK folks who are just stuck in a bad system. Sometimes they were lovable lugs..."