You Don’t Want Him in a Foxhole with You

Jennifer Rubin  "Obama was comfortable when running for office, when he could get by on rhetoric and as a legislator — where no one is really responsible for anything. What he’s ill-equipped to do is govern and lead. Plenty of people are hired for jobs beyond their abilities and outside their areas of competence. Unfortunately, the damage done by placing someone of that ilk in the White House is grievous and in some cases irreversible."  Emphasis added.

How Obama’s Policy Ensures More Flotillas

Commentary   "The Obama administration plans to use Israel’s botched raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla to force Jerusalem to end or at least drastically ease its blockade on Gaza, because “we need to remove the impulse for the flotillas,” a senior administration official told the New York Times. That single statement encapsulates everything that is wrong with Obama’s Mideast policy — and indeed, that of the entire West: willful blindness to facts that inevitably produces counterproductive policies." Evelyn Gordon

Iran Threatens War in the Mediterranean "...the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps said its naval forces “are fully prepared to escort the peace and freedom convoys to Gaza with all their powers and capabilities.” Never mind the cynical use of the words “freedom” and “peace” from a repressive regime that steals votes and cracks heads. Breaking a blockade by force is a declaration of war and could, in this case, easily and instantly spark a region-wide conflagration."  They know Obama isn't George Bush.

Britain's National Health Service 'preparing to cut millions of operations'

UK Daily Mail   "Millions of patients face losing NHS care as bosses prepare to axe treatments to make £20billion of savings by 2014, a top doctor has warned. Among procedures being targeted by health trusts are hernias, joint replacements, ear and nose procedures, varicose veins and cataract surgery. Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee, warned NHS bosses wanted 'wholesale reductions in budgets'." Coming soon to a nation near you.

The most terrifying thing you will read today

Bloomberg "President Barack Obama is poised to increase the U.S. debt to a level that exceeds the value of the nation’s annual economic output, a step toward what Bill Gross called a “debt super cycle.” "

The Obama agenda and the Europeanization of America.

WSJ    "Why are citizens rioting and striking in Greece? Despite the worst economic crisis in decades, labor unions and state functionaries demand that others pay for the early retirements, lifetime benefits and state pensions to which they feel entitled. In America, however, the tea partiers demonstrate not to get more from others, but rather against government growth, public debt, bailouts and a budget-busting government overhaul of the health-care industry. In other words, the tea partiers are protesting against exactly what the Greeks are demanding. It is an example of American exceptionalism if there ever was one."    Arthur C. Brooks is president of the American Enterprise Institute.  Emphasis added

Tell Hillary Iran Already Pulled A Stunt

Legal Insurrection "Hint, Hillary. Iran just pulled a stunt. It was called the "Freedom Flotilla," financed and supported by Iran's new friend, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and an Islamist "charity." Do you think that the Mavi Marmara was loaded with Islamists itching for a fight for no reason? Another hint, it worked, just like it has been working for over a year despite all the deadlines the Obama administration has set. You only get to bluff once, and Iran called our bluff long ago."

Duh! Helen Thomas praised on Hamas website

Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades "Peace process will be successful, only when Israel get out of Arab Areas ,Golan and occupied Palestine, then we can say that peace is happily achieved, other wise, and as long Israel occupies Palestine and some Arab lands, peace will never be achieved and more headache will be brought to the world by state of terror-Israel."

The Hamas Poster Girl  "So what’s the White House going to do: show it has as much sense as local school administrators, or allow Hamas and other Jew-haters the thrill of seeing their gal treated with respect in the White House briefing room? I’m sure this is another difficult question for the White House, which finds it oh-so-hard to make moral distinctions and come down against those who launch repugnant attacks on the Jewish state."

Key Primary Races This Week

Political Wire "Tomorrow is a big primary day with voters in 11 states heading to the polls to pick their candidates for the November general election. Here are the top races we'll be watching:"...

Cook Political Report  Election maps and how states are thought to lean politically.

Congressional Races More election maps by state from OpenSecrets.org

Morning Must Reads -- Freaky primaries ahead "And in many of the primaries, the stroke of the Tea Party and the revulsion to the national Republican Party will be tested as establishment candidates and outsiders continue to clash."

Omaha

Blackfive "The beach is still there, at the foot of the bluffs, seen here looking WNW towards Pointe-du-Hoc. Then, only patrols walked the beach and the area was thick with anti-landing obstacles. Along the bluffs were a network of fortifications: trenches, mortar pits, machine gun emplacements, and -- as seen above, the embrasures for larger guns. "

[Israeli Ambassador] Oren on Carter: “Morally corrupt and distorted”

Stand for Israel  The Carter Center "issued a statement condemning “the unprovoked and illegal Israeli assault on the humanitarian Gaza aid flotilla in international waters” and saying that ”The frequent use of indiscriminate and disproportionate force against civilian targets, with impunity, must end for peace with justice to prevail in the Middle East” (note that they’re talking about Israel here, without mentioning continued Arab terrorist violence against Israelis)."

Charles Krauthammer on the president's Israeli response  "Look, ten years ago next month, Israel offered the most generous peace settlement in the history of the Middle East – a Palestinian state, half of Jerusalem, a swap of territories, everything that the Palestinians had asked. And what did it get? Not just a refusal, but it got war in response. That’s all you have to know."

Helen Thomas’ agency dumps her as client

Hot Air "Senior White House Press Corps member Helen Thomas may have apologized for her recent on-camera remarks calling on Jews to “get the hell out of Palestine” and go home to Europe, but her reputation seems beyond repair amid the abounding calls for her resignation. In the wake of the incident, Thomas’ agent Nine Speaker Inc. announced that it would no longer represent her."

Why Shouldn’t Helen Thomas Be Expelled from the White House Press Corps?  "It’s hard to believe that a company like Hearst would want to have it’s [sic] most visible public association be with a vile bigot, let alone a “reporter” so ignorant of history and the fact of unbroken Jewish inhabitance in Israel going back to before the birth of Jesus."

Some D-Day sites for you history buffs (Links added 1/20/2011)

American Experience ; D Day
D Day on the WEB   "On this site you will find historical essays, images, personal accounts and other sites pertaining to D-Day, evaluated and sorted for your convenience."
The following link is now broken and a web search has failed to find the article. We do regret that.  Oberst Ernst Goth Commander GR.916/352ID "On June 6th 1944 Oberst (Colonel) Ernst Goth found himself the commander of the German sector now known to history as "Omaha Beach"! This website is dedicated to my grandfather Oberst Ernst Goth Commander GR.916/352ID and his men that fought gallantly against all odds. As an officer he always felt guilty for every man he lost in the battles from Omaha-Beach to St. Lo where the 352 ID was decomissioned." Some text in German.
Here are others on Colonel Goth: 
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/ww2/germandef.html
http://news.webshots.com/album/572232875fZkgCR Goth's grave.
http://www.grenadier352nd.com/html_pages/unit_history/unithistory2.html#  More unit history.
http://www.normandy1944.info/index.html   Written by Goth's grandson.
Omaha Beach and the Rangers at Pointe du Hoc   "This travelogue covers several key sites that were must-sees in this sector: Pointe du Hoc, site of the German clifftop defensive stronghold that was peppered prior to the invasion; Omaha Beach itself; and the Normandy American Cemetary(sic) near Colleville-sur-Mer."
Omaha-Beach-Defences   German units at Omaha-Beach
Saving Private Ryan site
Band of Brothers: a critique  "DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU WISH TO KNOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENED, AS OPPOSED TO TAKING THE SERIES AT FACE VALUE. IF YOU FEEL THAT LEARNING SOME ELEMENTS OF THE SERIES WERE UNTRUE, INACCURATE, OR JUST PLAIN DIFFERENT FROM REALITY WOULD DIMINISH YOUR ENJOYMENT OF THE SERIES, I'D ADVISE YOU TO SKIP THIS PAGE OF THE WEBSITE." The Author