That payroll tax standoff and its outcome so far

House GOP agrees to Senate’s two-month payroll-tax bill; Update: Does Boehner have the votes?

"Now it looks like even more of a capitulation than it is. Merry Christmas from the GOP, champ. Exit quotation from Philip Klein: “So instead of story being ‘Obama caves on Keystone’ it’ll be ‘GOP caves on middle class tax cut’ Great work!” "....
"The House Republican conference call on the bill is set for 5 p.m. Serious question: If he can’t muster enough GOP votes to pass this thing despite overwhelming support from Democrats, is he done as Speaker?"
More at RealClearPolitics:  GOP Goes Into Damage-Control Mode
Below are posts from early on Dec 22nd:

Video: Gleeful Sen. Schumer appears on Fox News Special Report

Republicans in the House are standing on principle just as we elected them to do; Democrats are standing on politics and, unfortunately that is what is making them look good to the masses.
How Does the Payroll Tax Cut Standoff End?"Jon Karl: "My prediction: House Republicans will eventually cave in and accept the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut passed last week by the Senate. I base this on conversations with House Republicans who know they are losing the public relations battle and losing it badly. They know they are taking the blame for a stand-off that threatens to raise taxes on 160 million Americans. And they cannot let that happen.""

I cannot bear to hear what the Demagogue-in-chief has to say about this.  Oh, by the way...

Obama's First Hawaiian Vacation Dilemma   "Unreported by the Hill is that this is not the first Hawaiian vacation dilemma Obama has faced or the most difficult. Nor, as shall be seen, is it the first vacation dilemma he will have dissembled his way through.
"In late December 1999, while on vacation in Hawaii, Illinois State Senator Obama missed a critical vote on a gun control measure. He had missed votes before -- many of them -- but now he was challenging former Black Panther Bobby Rush for his congressional seat."

All three caricatures by donkeyhotey

Kim Jong Il and Jimmy Carter; two headliners in the same North Korean circus

Jimmy Carter Sends Condolences To Kim Jong-Dead’s Son, Wishes New Brutal Dictator “Every Success”    "North Korea is routinely labeled as one of the world’s most oppressive governments under an eccentric personality cult surrounding the Kim family. Harrowing reports from defectors describe North Korea as a dirt-poor nation filled with concentration camps and Communist propaganda. Kim Jong-il ran the reclusive country according to a “military first” policy since the mid-1990s, after a famine that may have killed as many as 2 million people."....
The former U.S. president also downplayed a 2010 North Korean attack on a South Korean island and disclosure of a uranium enrichment facility, saying the acts were merely “designed to remind the world that they deserve respect in negotiations that will shape their future.”   Also here:  ‘The View’ Takes On North Korea: US Should Get Out Of ‘Their Face,’ It’s Bush’s Fault    From Pat Dollard

townhall.com

What happens next in North Korea?   "So you can forget the effects of the Korean War. The disaster in the North was entirely self inflicted; it was a catastrophe written and directed in Pyongyang by the Kim family."  Richard Fernandez

The Power of Brainwashing Displayed in North Korea  "With media and social control, mind control can follow, so that people sincerely mourn monsters.
"It is a sobering lesson for political realists who live in a media environment aligned with a "god-like" leader seeking additional sway over the fate of the nation." Um, this is North Korea we're talking about here isn't it?  Wait! he goes on to say: 
 "Fortunately, nothing bad happens to Americans who refuse the cult of personality around Obama. We are nothing remotely like a totalitarian state. But we do have political and media factions who have studied and learned from the techniques of mind control practiced in Communist states. When they control a situation, as they do at many universities, political correctness is used to control discourse. And race card is frequently played to demonize critics of Obama, and now Eric Holder."  Now that analogy is just right-wing propaganda and is untrue because, um...well,...
 Anyway, back to the Kims...

North Korea's coming power struggle and the Mid-East nuclear race   "Some Western agencies have recently come to believe that China has a bigger stake in those Middle East countries than realized and much of the military technology transferred by North Korea to Iran is actually of Chinese origin.
"A power struggle in Pyongyang, which could be drawn out for as long as a couple of years, could go in many unpredictable directions including stepped-up contribution to the Middle East nuclear race."

Canadian Prime Minister Harper to Obama: I’ve got plenty of buyers for our oil

Hot Air  "Stephen Harper sent a none-too-subtle shot across the bow of  our American friends and allies Monday when he indicated he’s dead keen on selling Canadian oil to buyers in Asia. He didn’t put it in so many words, but  he was telling Washington this: “You don’t want our oil, no problem. We’ve got lots of markets across the Pacific where we don’t have to beg to get a sale.” "
More here:
Canada Warns Obama on Keystone XL  "The Obama administration has spent three years reviewing the Keystone XL pipeline, and the Canadian government is understandably frustrated that the decision has been kicked further down the road."

Unnecessary Keystone XL Pipeline Delay Obstructs Energy, Jobs  "The State Department has thoroughly studied potential environmental impacts of the Keystone pipeline, and found minimal risk to soil, water, air, and animal life. Still, environmentalists oppose construction of the pipeline in force. Congress should reject unrealistic claims and authorize construction of the pipeline." Heritage.

The Detroit News: The Chinese are close to winning yet another energy match against our great nation.  "First, they flooded our renewable energy sector with low-cost solar panels. Now, they are looking to buy up the vast deposits of Canadian oil sands thanks to our president's inability to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. The time has come for President Barack Obama to make pro-American decisions that will stimulate our economy and bring us one-step closer to real energy security."

Default position of the Obama administration: Racist!

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2011/12/21/94792

Thomas Sowell: Gingrich vs. Obama

RealClearPolitics  "But how much weight should we give to [Gingrich's baggage] when we are talking about the future of a nation?   (It wouldn't matter at all if Gingrich were a Democrat-even if he had been accused of rape or having sex in the Oval Office. TD)
"This is not just another election and Barack Obama is not just another president whose policies we may not like. With all of President Obama's broken promises, glib demagoguery and cynical political moves, one promise he has kept all too well. That was his boast on the eve of the 2008 election: "We are going to change the United States of America." "
Many Americans are already saying that they can hardly recognize the country they grew up in. We have already started down the path that has led Western European nations to the brink of financial disaster.  (Emphasis added. TD)
....
"Those who want to concentrate on the baggage in Newt Gingrich's past, rather than on the nation's future, should remember what Winston Churchill said: "If the past sits in judgment on the present, the future will be lost." If that means a second term for Barack Obama, then it means lost big time."

http://www.worldmag.com/editorialcartoons/

Obama's Collateral Damage

Comically Incorrect

Senators, Do Your Job and Get to Work

The Foundry  "On the front page of the White House’s website, a clock slowly ticks away, second by second, counting down to the day, hour, minute, and second that the nation’s payroll tax “holiday” expires and the American people get socked right where it counts — in the pocket book. And just next to that clock is a message laying the blame squarely on the House of Representatives. But today the real culprit in this debacle is the U.S. Senate which, right now, is home for the holidays already, celebrating with family while Washington sits in a stalemate." ....
"As you might not be surprised to learn, there is, of course, more to the story than the President lets on. Here’s what you need to know about the latest standstill in Washington that, unfortunately, follows much of the same order of business that America has witnessed for the past year."

Political Wire:  Why House Republicans Won't Win   "With the Wall Street Journal editorial page already calling on House Republicans to surrender in their fight over a payroll tax cut extension, First Read gives three reasons why the House GOP is unlikely to win this fight:"...

Republicans have also achieved the small miracle of letting Mr. Obama position himself as an election-year tax cutter, although he's spent most of his Presidency promoting tax increases and he would hit the economy with one of the largest tax increases ever in 2013. This should be impossible

The House Republicans want a full year tax holiday, Obama and Reid want only a two month extension, which is poor governing.  The Republicans- rightly -say that it will not promote hiring and the economy.
God bless the House Republicans; they are standing on principle, not politics. But the politics of it is what will kill them. To wit:

By blocking the payroll tax cut, the Republicans have given the president a chance to redeem his promise   "This is the moment he and his presidency promised to deliver. The fight over the payroll tax cut extension gives Obama a chance — perhaps one, final chance — to elevate the more pinched, listing and frequently uninspired policy agenda he prosecuted from the White House these past three years toward his lofty rhetoric of 2008."  Don't you hate it when a demagogue gets the upper hand?

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/garyvarvel/2011/12/20/94751

Dept. of Irony: Obama White House lectures Iraqis on reaching out to political opponents

Investors.com  "The politicians in Baghdad have in their own way been working hard at this democracy business, especially hard now that most U.S. troops are gone. ....
"Iraq's leaders have no doubt been monitoring CNN International in recent days as the needless payroll tax extension fight in that exotic place called Washington was settled, fell apart and now both houses of Congress have packed up without any agreement.
""We have more important things to worry about now than politics," said Obama, who cares so much about working constructively with opponents that he didn't chat with the Senate GOP leader for nearly two years because he didn't need to and that would take leadership.
"Now, Obama is so interested in getting an extension deal done that he hasn't even bothered to try mediation with a bipartisan political summit because, frankly, dividing everybody everywhere is really the only hope his endangered reelection effort has of winning, given the country's awful economic and morale mess."

Missing Bush

Weekly Standard

From Bad Rachel : Thank You, O Masters of the Obamic Universe
"5,000 Syrians have been massacred by Bashar Assad since March, including 300 children. How are those sanctions workin’ out, Mr. Obama?"

U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree Pays Homage to Obama—But Not Jesus

CNSNews  "The 63-foot Sierra White Fir lighted at the U.S. Capitol Grounds on Dec. 6 as the official 2011 Capitol Christmas Tree includes a prominently displayed ornament paying homage to President Barack Obama, but includes no ornament readily visible to a person standing near the tree's base that uses the word “Christmas,” or includes an image of the Nativity, or bears the name or image of Jesus Christ.

Mousey Dung

"On the north side of the tree--at a height of about 4 feet and easily visible to people standing near it---there is an ornament that says: “I ♥ President Obama.” "

Hedda Lettuce

EXCLUSIVE: Transvestites, Mao And Obama Ornaments Decorate White House Christmas Tree  (In the Blue Room)  "Why let a holiday season come between the White House and making some political statements? The White House pegged controversial designer Simon Doonan to oversee the Christmas decorations for the White House. Mr. Doonan, who is creative director of Barney’s New York has often caused a stir with his design choices. Like his naughty yuletide window display of Margaret Thatcher as a dowdy dominatrix and Dan Quayle as a ventriloquist’s dummy. For this year’s White House, he didn’t disappoint."....

These photos of ornaments on the White House Christmas tree in the Blue Room were taken just days ago. "Of course, Mao has his place in the White House. And, of course, it wouldn’t be Christmas without an ornament of legendary transvestite Hedda Lettuce"
This was Obama's to approve or disapprove. They wanted this as part of the fundamental change of America they desired.

Fearful, passive tolerance of religious extremism has let Islamic extremism grow unchallenged

Up Pompeii  ...."Passive tolerance has been forced upon the British public largely by government funded agencies that have inflicted political correctness upon the population of these islands. This has led to the persecution of those who dared to show that they followed the values of Christianity, this has happened many many times.
"The English people are a recognized race as are the Scots and the Welsh, the English are also a recognized ethnic people, this is confirmed by all the World powers such as the U.N and to deny the basic building block of the English, Scot or Welsh is to deny them as a race of people."
"Many will say I do not believe, that is their prerogative, but the fact remains, even if you do not believe in the religion, all of what this country is based on is the values and moral code of Christianity."....  (Emphasis added)

America's purging of all her building blocks of culture, morals and economics is without excuse and likely deliberate. We see all these things taking place before our eyes in Europe and the UK, yet our left still drags us toward this same abyss. We are shamed into silence by cries of "intolerance!" and "diversity now!"

Netanyahu Dares to Say It: Merry Christmas!  "I say not surprising because, of course, it took a Jew (Jesus Christ) to found Christianity. And, as Netanyahu observes, the Jewish state is today a refuge, not only for Jews, but also for Christians, who are being persecuted and discriminated against in many Islamic states.
"Mazal Tov, Prime Minister. Happy Hanukkah -- and Merry Christmas."
There is also a video with this but, well, you know.

When Did Atheists Become Persnickety, Litigious Anti-Christmas Whiners?

Doug Giles   "My other non-believing buddies who weren’t the robust Hemingway types were usually heady stoners who were into physics, Pink Floyd and Frisbee and were completely comfortable around people of faith versus today’s reflexively irate, touchy atheists who pop a blood vein in their forehead if they accidentally hear “Silent Night” playing at Macy’s.
"For God’s sake atheists, übermensch up why don’t you?"
....
"FYI to the spindly atheists: You’ve got your work cut out for you if you want to scrub culture of its Christian influence because we have rubber stamped this planet via the arts and human expression for many, many moons. Have you ever heard of Bach, van Eyck, Vermeer, Handel, Mendelssohn, Haydn and a writer named Billy Shakespeare? What about the artists of the early Italian Renaissance or the tens of thousands of other artists, writers and composers throughout history who were either die-hard believers or at least worked within the framework of a Christian worldview? Are you going to take a belt sander to their works....?"

What will happen when these people discover what the bagpipe tune "Amazing Grace" played at government funerals is all about?

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.
....
When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.

First Red China had their cultural revolution; now America is having one inflicted upon her.