Thomas Sowell "The proposed mosque near where the World Trade Center was attacked and destroyed, along with thousands of American lives, would be a 15-story middle finger to America."....
"...Barack Obama is not so much the cause of our decline but the culmination of it. He had many predecessors and many contemporaries who represent the same mindset and the same malaise.
"There are people for whom moral preening has become a way of life. They are out in force denouncing critics of the Ground Zero mosque."
The mosque will be built; there is no way the backers will retreat before the world. Then they will say, "Praise the warrior Atta, he has brought down the World Trade Center and erected a mosque in its place!"
The Fox News connection to Ground Zero mosque "The Saudi prince whose post-9/11 relief check was rejected by former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani has found a more willing recipient in the city for his millions: the head of the Ground Zero mosque project. The same Saudi potentate, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, owns the biggest chunk of the parent company of the Fox News Channel outside of the Murdoch family."
All Roads Lead to Ground Zero Mosque – Part 1 "Sperry’s WND.com piece goes on to unravel a tangle of connections between the Aspen Institute and the Cordoba Initiative, with the occasional link back to the George Herbert Walker Bush & chums. (See Part 2 tomorrow.)"
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
America — Behind the Mosque (Revised)
Victor Davis Hanson Children of the cognitive elite go to safe, enlightened and, for some, expensive schools, from kindergarten to the Ivy League or its liberal arts counterparts. Life is lived within safe, secure, fashionable, and enlightened neighborhoods.
"In other words, there is a cocoon around many of our culture’s most vocal critics. The elites of postmodern America, because of their education, own merit, hard work, connections, luck, or inheritance, have reached a point where they are largely exempt from worries about dangers to what I would call their good life — one that the vast majority of Americans, who otherwise do pretty well themselves, do not share."
"In other words, there is a cocoon around many of our culture’s most vocal critics. The elites of postmodern America, because of their education, own merit, hard work, connections, luck, or inheritance, have reached a point where they are largely exempt from worries about dangers to what I would call their good life — one that the vast majority of Americans, who otherwise do pretty well themselves, do not share."
THE BECK RALLY!
Boortz "Why were liberals so upset with this huge gathering in Washington? Because they know that other than the president there is not one star in the liberal firmament who could come close to gathering this many people together in this way. No chance. No way, no how. This, of course, means that the conservative who can gin up a crowd like this must be demonized.
"And speaking of demonization ... what is the principal method of demonization used by the left? Race, of course! So the liberal noise machine was in full force last week trying to make this rally a slam on Martin Luther King, Jr."
The malignant malice of Chris Matthews "Presently, the left is frantically rooting around in a political dumpster for their last grasp of discordant power. Race baiters are emerging from the farthest recesses of a refuse heap with a crumpled, stained race card firmly in hand. Racial strife is the last great hope of the likes of political pundits whose true "nightmare" is the exercise of Constitutional freedoms giving rise to the dream of which Martin Luther King spoke and the realization that that "dream" is hindered only by those like Chris Matthews, who fear its unifying power."
Ballplayer Albert Pujols 'a real-life hero' "Unlike those pathetic protesters who chose to profane local icon Stan Musial (who set the standard for community service by St. Louis athletes) by gathering at his statue, Albert Pujols and Tony La Russa have worked tirelessly to make their community and society in general a better place."
Subliminal Reduction at the Washington Post "WaPo’s article about the rally carried a time stamp of 1:38 p.m., but the photo of a near empty crowd in front of the Lincoln Memorial clearly was taken long before the tens or hundreds of thousands of rally participants arrived. The caption says “Glenn Beck Rally Draws Thousands,” but the photo is not of the rally. Subliminal deception."
"And speaking of demonization ... what is the principal method of demonization used by the left? Race, of course! So the liberal noise machine was in full force last week trying to make this rally a slam on Martin Luther King, Jr."
The malignant malice of Chris Matthews "Presently, the left is frantically rooting around in a political dumpster for their last grasp of discordant power. Race baiters are emerging from the farthest recesses of a refuse heap with a crumpled, stained race card firmly in hand. Racial strife is the last great hope of the likes of political pundits whose true "nightmare" is the exercise of Constitutional freedoms giving rise to the dream of which Martin Luther King spoke and the realization that that "dream" is hindered only by those like Chris Matthews, who fear its unifying power."
Ballplayer Albert Pujols 'a real-life hero' "Unlike those pathetic protesters who chose to profane local icon Stan Musial (who set the standard for community service by St. Louis athletes) by gathering at his statue, Albert Pujols and Tony La Russa have worked tirelessly to make their community and society in general a better place."
The Intolerance of Tolerance
Stand to Reason "Tolerance of persons must also be distinguished from tolerance of ideas. Tolerance of persons requires that each person's views get a courteous hearing, not that all views have equal worth, merit, or truth. The view that no person's ideas are any better or truer than another's is irrational and absurd. To argue that some views are false, immoral, or just plain silly does not violate any meaningful standard of tolerance."
Why Movie Stars are Liberal
Big Hollywood "This isolation from large segments of the population, relying strictly on other members of the industry for one’s social and intellectual life, might also explain why even major stars subscribe to the blathering of someone like Barack Obama, who carries on very much like a movie star."
How Mama talks to a liberal "You all know how often I complain about the way liberals debate — you offer a fact, and they come back with a personal insult. Marie Stroughter has figured out how to deal with it."
How Mama talks to a liberal "You all know how often I complain about the way liberals debate — you offer a fact, and they come back with a personal insult. Marie Stroughter has figured out how to deal with it."
Marie Stroughter is a Big, Fat, Right Wing Extremist (and She’s Dumb, Too!) "Often, on the radio show, and more frequently now in the aftermath of the NAACP Tea Party Resolution and “Sherrod-gate,” we’ve talked about the tendency of the Left to go on this vicious, ballistic, and, oh so very personal, attack on conservatives.
"Last night we interviewed Michelle Malkin. Despite her journalism credentials and extensive career “in the biz,” one glance at some of the items in her Twitter feed, and those of us who still possess a modicum of “couth” have to turn away. The epithets hurled at this woman on a day-to-day basis literally make me sick to my stomach."
Israel to blame if talks fail over settlements issue: Abbas
Breitbart "Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on television on Sunday Israel would be to blame if resumed direct talks with Israel failed over the Jewish settlements issue. "I have to say, and we told all parties including the United States before accepting renewed talks, that the Israeli government will bear sole responsibility of the risk of failure of the talks if settlement activities continue in Palestinian territories occupied in 1967," he said in a speech."
Juan Williams vs. Israel "The only good news on the horizon is that with Obama’s plummeting popularity and evident nervousness about American Jewish support (otherwise why the charm offensive?), Israel has good reason to wait him out. Go ahead, talk — every two weeks. When the Palestinians are ready to renounce violence and give up the dream of a one-state solution (200 meetings from now? a thousand?), Israel will be waiting." Jennifer Rubin.
Charles Krauthammer: Those troublesome Jews "Land for peace. Remember? Well, during the past decade, Israel gave the land -- evacuating South Lebanon in 2000 and Gaza in 2005. What did it get? An intensification of belligerency, heavy militarization of the enemy side, multiple kidnappings, cross-border attacks and, from Gaza, years of unrelenting rocket attack."....
"The world is tired of these troublesome Jews, 6 million -- that number again -- hard by the Mediterranean, refusing every invitation to national suicide. For which they are relentlessly demonized, ghettoized and constrained from defending themselves, even as the more committed anti-Zionists -- Iranian in particular -- openly prepare a more final solution." From June 4, 2010
Getting Abbas to the Table "If the fractious Palestinian polity is in no way ready for a viable deal, and if imposing a solution on Israel is politically unfeasible and strategically self-defeating, what explains the full-court press to cajole Abbas to the table? The answer appears to be this: George Mitchell (for the American administration), Tony Blair (for the Quartet), and Catherine Ashton (for the EU) are deeply invested in the notion that Abbas is prepared to deliver on a historic two-state solution, and therefore even the illusion of momentum trumps the status quo." JewishIdeasDaily.com
Face-to-Face Negotiations in September 2010: What Will They Talk About? "In accepting President Obama's summons, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Abu Mazen know they will, necessarily, be discussing the same four issues that were on the table in 2000. So, as President Obama pushes Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Abu Mazen, the questions are:
•If Yasser Arafat could not accept any compromise then, why would President Obama think Abu Mazen, whose legitimate term of office ended in January 2009 and who controls far less territory and far fewer Palestinians, can compromise?
•What will the President do if the talks fail and increased violence is again the result?"
The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Juan Williams vs. Israel "The only good news on the horizon is that with Obama’s plummeting popularity and evident nervousness about American Jewish support (otherwise why the charm offensive?), Israel has good reason to wait him out. Go ahead, talk — every two weeks. When the Palestinians are ready to renounce violence and give up the dream of a one-state solution (200 meetings from now? a thousand?), Israel will be waiting." Jennifer Rubin.
Charles Krauthammer: Those troublesome Jews "Land for peace. Remember? Well, during the past decade, Israel gave the land -- evacuating South Lebanon in 2000 and Gaza in 2005. What did it get? An intensification of belligerency, heavy militarization of the enemy side, multiple kidnappings, cross-border attacks and, from Gaza, years of unrelenting rocket attack."....
"The world is tired of these troublesome Jews, 6 million -- that number again -- hard by the Mediterranean, refusing every invitation to national suicide. For which they are relentlessly demonized, ghettoized and constrained from defending themselves, even as the more committed anti-Zionists -- Iranian in particular -- openly prepare a more final solution." From June 4, 2010
Getting Abbas to the Table "If the fractious Palestinian polity is in no way ready for a viable deal, and if imposing a solution on Israel is politically unfeasible and strategically self-defeating, what explains the full-court press to cajole Abbas to the table? The answer appears to be this: George Mitchell (for the American administration), Tony Blair (for the Quartet), and Catherine Ashton (for the EU) are deeply invested in the notion that Abbas is prepared to deliver on a historic two-state solution, and therefore even the illusion of momentum trumps the status quo." JewishIdeasDaily.com
Face-to-Face Negotiations in September 2010: What Will They Talk About? "In accepting President Obama's summons, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Abu Mazen know they will, necessarily, be discussing the same four issues that were on the table in 2000. So, as President Obama pushes Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Abu Mazen, the questions are:
•If Yasser Arafat could not accept any compromise then, why would President Obama think Abu Mazen, whose legitimate term of office ended in January 2009 and who controls far less territory and far fewer Palestinians, can compromise?
•What will the President do if the talks fail and increased violence is again the result?"
The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Policy Options Dwindle as Economic Fears Grow
NY Times "This is where the Great Recession has taken the world’s largest economy, to a Great Ambiguity over what lies ahead, and what can be done now. Economists debate the benefits of previous policy prescriptions, but in the political realm a rare consensus has emerged: The future is now so colored in red ink that running up the debt seems politically risky in the months before the Congressional elections, even in the name of creating jobs and generating economic growth. The result is that Democrats and Republicans have foresworn virtually any course that involves spending serious money. " Via Heritage
Will Solid Conservatives Run New Senate?
Brian Darling “I’ve been criticized by some of my Republican colleagues for saying I’d rather have 30 Republicans in the Senate who believe in the principles of freedom, than 60 who don’t believe in anything. Let me make myself even clearer: I'd rather have 30 Marco Rubios in the Senate than 60 Arlen Specters. But, if that were the case I wouldn’t have to settle for 30, because strong conservatives who believe in a constitutional limited government like Marco Rubio will pave the way to a new Republican majority that will keep our promises to the American people.” The words of Senator Jim DeMint Sunday, August 29, 2010
Coming? A Transaction Tax!
One percent transaction tax is proposed "President Obama's finance team is recommending a transaction tax. His plan is to sneak it in after the November election to keep it under the radar. This is a 1% tax on all transaction(sic) at any financial institution i. e. Banks, Credit Unions, extra. Any deposit you make, or move around within your account, i. e. transfer to, will have a 1% tax charged. If your pay check or your social Security or whatever is direct deposit, 1% tax charged. If you hand carry a check in to deposit, 1% tax charged, If you take cash in to deposit, 1% tax charged.This is from the man who promised that if you make under $250,000 per year, you will not see one penny of new tax." Emphasis added. Hat tip to Janie Sanford, California.
The Tainted Transaction Tax "Even if Congress could somehow “exempt” individuals with a refund, institutions would still have to pay the tax. Mutual funds, which conduct million of trades every year, will be forced to pass along these costs to investors in higher management fees or lower returns or both. This is why Dr. Litan correctly labeled the transaction tax a “direct hit on Main Street investors.” " Forbes
Lanny Davis Calls For A ‘Transaction Tax’ "One idea for raising taxes to pay down the debt is the bill introduced this February by Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.). His "Debt Free America Act" (H.R. 4646) would impose a 1 percent "transaction tax" on every financial transaction — whether paid by cash, credit card or any form of financial transfer, the only exception being transactions involving the purchase or sale of stock. Theoretically, everyone would pay one cent on the dollar for every such transaction in America every day — whether $3 million on a $300 million business acquisition, $300 on the purchase of a $30,000 car, or $5 on a $500 ATM withdrawal."
H.R. 4646: Debt Free America Act "To establish a fee on transactions which would eliminate the national debt and replace the income tax on individuals." http://www.govtrack.us/
The Tainted Transaction Tax "Even if Congress could somehow “exempt” individuals with a refund, institutions would still have to pay the tax. Mutual funds, which conduct million of trades every year, will be forced to pass along these costs to investors in higher management fees or lower returns or both. This is why Dr. Litan correctly labeled the transaction tax a “direct hit on Main Street investors.” " Forbes
Lanny Davis Calls For A ‘Transaction Tax’ "One idea for raising taxes to pay down the debt is the bill introduced this February by Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.). His "Debt Free America Act" (H.R. 4646) would impose a 1 percent "transaction tax" on every financial transaction — whether paid by cash, credit card or any form of financial transfer, the only exception being transactions involving the purchase or sale of stock. Theoretically, everyone would pay one cent on the dollar for every such transaction in America every day — whether $3 million on a $300 million business acquisition, $300 on the purchase of a $30,000 car, or $5 on a $500 ATM withdrawal."
H.R. 4646: Debt Free America Act "To establish a fee on transactions which would eliminate the national debt and replace the income tax on individuals." http://www.govtrack.us/
‘Islam Idiots’?
Victor Davis Hanson "And while Rauf the contemplative Sufi philosopher has a disturbing record of contextualizing 9/11, bin Laden, and Hamas, he has no need of nuance when it comes to America. He can be quite forthright in criticizing the United States for its perceived and apparently singular global transgressions — though he is quiet about far greater Russian and Chinese anti-Muslim violence. He claims he is for free expression, even when it so obviously offends tens of millions of Americans; but he has no problem criticizing the Danish cartoonists for their supposedly unnecessary and gratuitously offensive drawings. In a variety of ways, he has praised the Iranian Revolution, whose end result is horrific violence against women, homosexuals, democrats, and dissidents of any stripe, whether novelists abroad or reformers at home."
Top Muslims Condemn Ground Zero Mosque as a 'Zionist Conspiracy' "Westernized Muslims, on the other hand, have learned that they can get away with almost anything — so long as they slap the words "tolerance," "pluralism," "dialogue," or "bridge-building" to their endeavors, as the 9/11 mosque supporters do regularly. In short, a correlation exists between how well or how little a Muslim knows the West, and how aggressive or passive their Islamism becomes.
"Moreover, religious buildings are seen as symbols of supremacy by many Muslims; hence the reason mosques are ubiquitous to the Muslim world whereas churches are all but — and in some Muslim nations totally — banned."
Raymond Ibrahim is associate director of the Middle East Forum, author of The Al Qaeda Reader, guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College (Washington, D.C.), and deputy publisher of the Middle East Quarterly.
Top Muslims Condemn Ground Zero Mosque as a 'Zionist Conspiracy' "Westernized Muslims, on the other hand, have learned that they can get away with almost anything — so long as they slap the words "tolerance," "pluralism," "dialogue," or "bridge-building" to their endeavors, as the 9/11 mosque supporters do regularly. In short, a correlation exists between how well or how little a Muslim knows the West, and how aggressive or passive their Islamism becomes.
"Moreover, religious buildings are seen as symbols of supremacy by many Muslims; hence the reason mosques are ubiquitous to the Muslim world whereas churches are all but — and in some Muslim nations totally — banned."
Raymond Ibrahim is associate director of the Middle East Forum, author of The Al Qaeda Reader, guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College (Washington, D.C.), and deputy publisher of the Middle East Quarterly.
Travelling light, Obama-style: 20-vehicle convoy, SWAT team, Air Force One and nuclear codes accompany him on holiday
UK Daily Mail This has been typical of the security given to all recent presidents and not to just Mr. Obama. The only thing peculiar to an individual president is where he chooses to vacation and how often. And what about if the First Couple splits up, going in two different directions? TD
When Do We Get A Vacation? "Obama still is on vacation. Goodly for him.
"When do we get a vaction from the Democrats' relentless expansion of the federal government into every facet of our lives? The massive pieces of legislation passed in the past 18 months were just the opening shots. Now come the regulations and the Executive Orders, which will take place regardless of what happens in November."I don't know about you, but this August has been anything but relaxing. He's resting up, and we're on the verge of exhaustion." Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion
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