Iran and Obama

Thomas Sowell  "If you were an Israeli, how willing would you be to risk your national survival on Obama's promise to stand by your country? If you were a leader of Iran, what would you make of what Obama said, except that an election year might not be the best time to attack Israel?"
....

Jerusalem Post

"At the end of the Second World War, Winston Churchill said, "There never was in all history a war easier to prevent by timely action than the one which has just desolated such great areas of the globe." It might even have been prevented "without the firing of a single shot," Churchill said.

"Early in Hitler's career as dictator of Germany, the Western powers -- indeed, France alone -- had such overwhelming military superiority that an ultimatum to Hitler to stop rearming would have left him little choice but to comply. But the price of stopping him went up as time went by and he kept on rearming.

"When Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland in 1936, in defiance of two international treaties, he knew that Germany at that point had nothing that would stop the French army if it moved in. But France was too cautious to act -- and caution can be carried to the point where it becomes dangerous, as France discovered when a stronger Germany conquered it in 1940."

Obama asks Bibi not to attack Iran until after election  "Meanwhile, the gap between the US and Israel grows over the definitions of the Iranian threat. Obama won't allow Iran to possess a bomb. Israel won't allow Iran to have the capability to build one. The differences between the two sides are that if Israel agrees to the American formulation, it will be too late to stop Iran from actually constructing a bomb.

"That is unacceptable to Netanyahu, while Israel's red line is unacceptable to Washington. There appears to be little Obama can do to deter the Israelis from attacking while Israel can do nothing to satisfy Washington.

"The standoff will continue as long as Obama is president"

The Jerusalem Post: Charles Krauthammer; Obama vs. Israel: Priority No. 1? Stop Israel  "the Obama administration has acquiesced to yet another round of talks with the Iranian mullahs."

Via Israel Matzav:  15 Seconds in Sderot  What Islamists have done to Israeli life. God be with them if they go to war with Iran, and I do believe He will.

Hat tip to SHAWARMA MAYOR
The Legality of Attacking Iran  "The main point is that no one serious still thinks it was wrong for Israel to destroy the Osirak reactor. But for the destruction of that reactor, Saddam Hussein would be sitting on top of a nuclear weapon right now, having annexed Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia would have had little choice but to become either a satellite of Baghdad, a permanent U.S. occupation zone, maybe with a nuclear weapon of its own. That’s why Israel’s similar attack on a Syrian facility in 2007 hardly drew a whimper of protest from the international community."

More on the Fluke Flack

How many times have I heard Rush quote Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals: "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."
"Limbaugh is likely to make this controversy work for him. For years, he's been tweaking the media and using its pushback to generate interesting/funny/pithy material. This pushback may be a lot more than he wanted from that particular tweak, but if he's the master of radio that he purports to be, he'll get it working for him."


Obama Fares Worse Among Women after Month-Long Contraception Mandate Battle  "Then, from March 7 to 10--a week into the national media firestorm surrounding Rush Limbaugh's degrading remarks about Georgetown Law student and liberal activist Sandra Fluke--Washington Post/ABC conducted another poll. It found Obama's approval rating at 46 percent, down four points from February, and his disapproval rating at 50 percent, up four points from February."


From Noisy Room.  Hey, I like this guy:

American Thinker: Gloria Allred Inserts Self into Fluke Controversy  "One must, at some point, question whether leftists like Allred -- who have lived so long in the plastic bubble of chic leftism, without accountability to anyone or to anything -- can grasp even the tiniest slivers of decency and integrity.  Forget that this zealous quasi-advocate for (radical leftist) women has never demanded that David Letterman in calling for the statutory rape of Sarah Palin's daughter -- and Letterman, unlike Rush, never apologized for his remarks -- or Ed Shultz in calling Laura Ingraham a "slut" should be investigation by prosecutors.  The savaging of brave conservative women, or just girls who happen to be children of those women, does not seem to trouble Allred at all."


Charles Krauthammer Schools Nina Totenberg on Romney Not Denouncing Limbaugh
"NPR's Nina Totenberg got a much-needed education Friday on the hypocrisy of the media's treatment of conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh's comments about Georgetown University law student and women's rights activist Sandra Fluke."

Video: Congressman Joe Walsh Unleashed: Obama is Destroying What Makes This Country Great!

Nice Deb  "“The America that our founders started that we lived under for over 100 years – where it was your life,  it was your money,  it was your freedom – government’s up there, somewhere, and every once in a while we have to deal with it –that America is long gone.”

"He says the fight is with the Nancy Pelosi Democrats:

“They truly want everyone in this country to be dependent on government. They truly want government to run everyone’s health care . They truly don’t believe in the first words of the First Amendment that give you a right to practice your faith.”

"He also had some things to say about the Republican primary candidates. If they don’t get us fired up, TOUGH, he said.

"Walsh said said he would run through a wall to get whoever the nominee is elected; “I know every day that this gentleman is in the White House – Folks! He is destroying what makes this country great. Don’t demand perfection from our nominee – say PRAYERS for him.” "

"I agree with all of that except his sympathy for the people who didn’t vote in 2008 because they were dissatisfied with McCain. We DID know enough about Obama in 2008 to have been just as motivated to get to the polls as we are this time around. Republicans who sat on their hands, or worse – voted for Obama – have a lot to answer for."

The Fluke Charade

Mark Steyn  "As I understand it, Sandra Fluke is a young coed who attends Georgetown Law, and recently testified before Congress.

"Oh, wait, no. Update: It wasn’t a congressional hearing; the Democrats just got it up to look like one, like summer stock, with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid doing the show right here in the barn, and providing a cardboard set for the world premiere ofMiss Fluke Goes to Washington, with full supporting cast led by Chuck Schumer strolling in through the French windows in tennis whites and drawling, “Anyone for bull****?”

"Oh, and the “young coed” turns out to be 30, which is what less evolved cultures refer to as early middle age."... 

....

"“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom,” wrote Benjamin Franklin in 1784. In the absence of religious virtue, sexual virtue, and fiscal virtue, one might trust to the people’s sense of sheer preposterousness to reject the official narrative of the Fluke charade. Yet even that is not to be permitted. Full disclosure: I will be guest-hosting for Rush Limbaugh this Monday, so it would not be appropriate for me to comment here on Rush’s intervention. But let me say this. Almost every matter of the moment boils down to the same story: The Left’s urge to narrow the bounds of public discourse and insist that “conventional wisdom” unknown to the world the day before yesterday is now as unquestionable as the laws of physics. Nothing that Rush said is as weird or as degrading as what Sandra Fluke and the Obama administration are demanding. And any freeborn citizen should reserve the right to point that out as loudly and as often as possible."

http://conservativedailynews.com/2012/03/war-on-women/

Campus President Rebukes Limbaugh-Supporting Professor/  U. of Rochester intimidates a professor and allows students to disrupt his class.

"At least 17 students even barged into Landsburg’s class and formed a line blocking him off from his students. (Landsburg continued to lecture.) And UR president Joel Seligman sent out a memo blasting Landsburg’s blog entries, saying that he was “outraged that any professor would demean a student in this fashion.”

"Thankfully for free speech, however, Seligman also said:

Professor Landsburg has the right to express his views under our university’s deep commitment to academic freedom.

"Landsburg responded to Seligman in a fourth blog entry."

Gender-Specific Writer / Apple is politically correct at the expense of the English language.

Mona Charen  Apple Pages "has traits that are not immediately apparent, however. While it’s a sturdy little word processor, its true personality is not revealed until you use the proofreader — or Proofreadress, as I now think of her. Yes, she’s female all right. Seems to have been designed and programmed by the women’s-studies department of the Cupertino community college.

"In a column about Rick Santorum, I had used the word “spokesman.” The proofreader flagged it: “Gender specific expression. Consider replacing with ‘speaker,’ ‘representative,’ or ‘advocate.’” Hmm. How would that work? The sentence read, “A spokesman said ‘there is little daylight between Ryan and Gingrich on Medicare.’” None of the suggested words would accurately convey who was talking. Every one would have changed the meaning and confused the reader."

....

"I ran Lincoln’s second inaugural past Proofie for fun. She was busy from the first sentence. “Countrymen” was a gender-specific expression. “In regard to” was deemed “wordy.”

Apple’s language sentinel has been schooled in political correctness at the expense of English. In another column I mentioned that the collapse of marriage was “aggravating” inequality in America. Consider “irritating” or “exasperating” instead, Proofreadress advised.

"No, those are words I reserve for her."

Condé Nast

Apple’s covert war on gender-specific expressions

Why do feminists perceive it as a threat to gender equality to acknowledge that men and women are, in fact, different? Why are they unable to see that what is uniquely female — yes, I’m talking, among other things, about childbearing and mothering — has a value all its own? By denying the value of the uniquely female, they essentially say women are unequal to men, that what women alone can contribute to society is of less value than what men alone can contribute.

Words matter. If we obliterate all linguistic evidence of gender difference, we’ll have no vocabulary left with which to think of it — and our understanding of the reality of our very selves will be impoverished, too.

Derrick Bell and the media shrug

Thomas Lifson  "The brilliant graphic artist Big Fur Hat has summed up the stunning double standard of our friends in the media with the following cartoon strip. I can't stop smiling. See what you think."

BELL, VIA KAGAN, ON CRITICAL RACE THEORY: THE CONSTITUTION IS THE PROBLEM  "In November 1985, the Harvard Law Review published an article by Derrick Bell that was a "classic" in the development of Critical Race Theory."

 [Prof. Derrick Bell's] "article makes clear that Critical Race Theory sees the U.S. Constitution as a form of "original sin"--a view later embraced by Obama as a state legislator, and reflected in his actions and appointments."

O'Brien

WHAT IS CRITICAL RACE THEORY?  "Last week, Breitbart.com released video demonstrating Barack Obama’s close relationship with Derrick Bell, the father of Critical Race Theory (CRT). And we’ve seen Soledad O’Brien  try to twist the definition of critical race theory in order to protect Obama by grabbing a quick definition from Wikipedia. But just what is CRT? Why is it so dangerous? And what role does it play in President Obama’s thinking?

"Let’s begin from the beginning."....
...."And then there’s Eric Holder, the Attorney General, who said we were a “nation of cowards” on race, and who has used the Department of Justice to target racial groups unequally (see, for example, the famed New Black Panther case).

"The CRT theme runs deep in the Obama psyche. And it continues to impact us each and every day. That’s why Derrick Bell is relevant. And that’s why we will continue to vet the president – and a media that covers for him by pretending that CRT is mainstream rather than extremist and destructive."

‘GCB’ - Desperately Un-Christian Housewives

Media Research Center  30 Separate attacks on Christianity in new ABC show.  
"In just over 40 minutes ABC managed to degrade Christianity 30 times in its sex-and-sin filled pilot episode of “GCB,” which is anything but Christian. The episode also included an agenda of mocking Texans and conservatives."
" “GCB” has absolutely no shame in mocking prayer and all things sacred to Christianity. This show is a testament to the left’s continued war on faith, and they would like viewers to believe that all Christians behave in this absurd and insulting manner." 


GCB: Good Christian hypocrites  "It’s the rare TV series that jumps the shark in the first episode. But ABC’s season premiere of its new show about mean girls who become desperate housewives in the Bible Belt did exactly that with “GBC”:“Good Christian Bitches.” "

UK Mail: Philadelphia cream cheese pulls their advertising from ABC show Good Christian B****** after just one week  "The Chicago-based cream cheese titan says it made the decision after customer complaints began to pile up".

Fox News: Critics Slam ABC Pilot 'Good Christian Bitches' for 'Inappropriate,' 'Damaging' Title  " “In the past, we’ve raised concerns about changing language standards for television," Henson said. "Once a particular profanity or obscenity has been embraced by a particular show, it quickly becomes mainstream.” "

Hot Air Poll: What was the Obamateurism of the Week?

Hot Air  "Every week about this time, votes start spiking up for the Obamateurism of the Week!  That’s no coincidence, of course — by this time of the week, Obama has our confidence in tatters.  Just remember that we have your back on whatever you choose, even if you’re one of those eeeeeevil corporate jet owners that’s to blame for the deficit, thanks to tax breaks that Obama’s tax guru lobbies to extend.

Previous weekly “winners” in 2012:

• Apology to Karzai “calmed things down“
• Uses Boeing plant in SC to cheer manufacturing after his NLRB tried to shut it down
• Emphasizes graduation rates in SOTU, cuts DC voucher program that nearly doubled grad rates
• “Well, it turns out our Founders designed a system that makes it more difficult to bring about change that I would like sometimes.”
• Finds claim of unemployment “interesting” because he is getting “the word” that woman’s husband should have no trouble finding work
• Hails Roe as essential to allow “our daughters … to fulfill their dreams“
• Shuts down DisneyWorld in order to promote tourism
• “He didn’t want to take pictures with any more soldiers; he was complaining about it[.]
• Famous opponent of signing statements issues one covering 17 provisions of bill he signed

Previous Obamateurisms of the Year:

• Giving 2 minutes of “shout-outs” before getting to the Fort Hood shooting (2009)
• Obama leaves Clinton at press conference podium on tax deal to attend Christmas party (2010)
• “I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president— with the possible exceptions of Johnson, F.D.R., and Lincoln.” (2011)

Obama vs. Israel

Charles Krauthammer  "These negotiations don’t just gain time for a nuclear program about whose military intent the International Atomic Energy Agency is issuing alarming warnings. They make it extremely difficult for Israel to do anything about it (while it still can), lest Israel be universally condemned for having aborted a diplomatic solution."
...."So what is Obama’s real objective? “We’re trying to make the decision to attack as hard as possible for Israel,” an administration official told The Post in the most revealing White House admission since “leading from behind.” "
...."For Israel, however, the stakes are somewhat higher: the very existence of a vibrant nation and its 6 million Jews. The asymmetry is stark. A fair-minded observer might judge that Israel’s desire to not go gently into the darkness carries higher moral urgency than the political future of one man, even if he is president of the United States."  ( Emphasis added.)


ISRAEL UNDER ISLAMIC ATTACK  "UPDATE:  Here are how the enemies of freedom report the Gaza air strikes"

BBC:
---"The Israeli military said" dozens of rockets had been fired into Israel (!???!)

---The first air strike came a few hours after two mortar shells fired from Gaza "landed" in Israel
"without causing injury". (better are "exploded") 
CNN :
---A series of Israeli airstrikes targeted "suspected militants" across Gaza overnight

---"Israel  said"
etc ,etc.

"Just like Nazi Germany. The world sanctions this evil. Tens of thousands of rockets have been fired into Israel over the past seven years, after Israel gave away Gaza. For what? These ongoing rockets attacks were ratcheted up last night. Expect the world to howl and scream bloody murder when the Jews defend themselves."

Victor Davis Hanson

Victor Davis Hanson  "The State of the Union could have been written by a computer program. All the now familiar Obama furniture was in the room: the mock outrage at “them,” the psychodramatic first-person boasting (as in, “I will oppose..,” “I will not work with…,” “I will decline…,” “I will not stand by …,” I will not cede…,” “I will not walk away…,” “I will not back down…,” “I will not go back…”); the now customary rear-view-mirror jab at his fading predecessor; the monotonous promising that something is so bad that we must have a new program for it (each year the same threat, the same solution, the same failure); and the silence about the Obama legacy of stimulus, debt, and ObamaCare.
"But the people are tired and simply by now shut their ears. Here are five things in the current age that exhaust us."
...."Wall Street crooks were only one third of the equation. Another third were equally dishonest and greedy insiders at Freddie and Fannie, such as Clinton hacks like Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick, or James A. Johnson, who made millions for themselves without much banking expertise, and were egged on by congressionals like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who hid their own conflicts of interest with high talk about helping the poor. That the three chiefs of staffs in the Obama White House were all Wall Streeters who made millions, in part from the housing bubble, is proof enough of the revolving-door, get-rich schemes.


Letter to the Editor, seMissourian.com:  Wealth envy and Obama

Why do people have such a problem with rich people? My boss is a multimillionaire, and I'm proud he is and so are hundreds of others who work for him nationwide. He is the largest employer in Washington County, Mo.I'm sure he has a large group of tax experts on the payroll to find every loophole they can. That keeps more money in his pocket for more expansion and to hire more people across the country.
These wealth-envy people need to quit their jobs and go find a homeless or poor person and apply for a job with them. It isn't going to happen. Deal with it. The problem we have is Obama and his $6 trillion in debt in over three years (more than any president in history) and out-of-control government spending, entitlements and vote-buying schemes. Bernie Madoff will die in prison for the same thing that is Social Security.
We need to throw all the progressive politicians out on their butts and elect constitutional conservatives to office and hold them accountable. We don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. Wake up, America. Time is very short.
TODD BEUSSINK, Jackson

Return to Makin Island

Youtube  "True story of the recovery of 19 US Marines Killed in Action on Makin Island in WWII and their return home to Arlington National Cemetery 58 years later." 

Carlson's Raiders on Makin Island, 1942  "Carlson himself later noted that he had reached "a spiritual low" on the night of the 17th. And again on the evening of the 18th, the battalion commander contemplated remaining on the island to organize the natives for resistance, while others supervised the withdrawal of his unit. Those who criticized him thought he had lost his aggressiveness and ability to think clearly when the chips were down. But he and his raiders would have another crack at the enemy in the not too distant future."

Makin Island raid  17–18 August 1942 "was an attack by the United States Marine Corps on Japanese military forces on Makin Island (now known as Butaritari Island) in the Pacific Ocean. The aim was to destroy Japanese installations, take prisoners, gain intelligence on the Gilbert Islands area, and divert Japanese attention and reinforcements from the Allied landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi."


Battle of Makin  20 November to 24 November 1943  "The complete occupation of Makin took four days and actually cost more in naval casualties than in ground troops. Despite its great superiority in men and weapons, the 27th Division had considerable difficulty subduing the island's small defensive force. One Japanese Ha-Go tank was destroyed in combat, and two tanks placed in revetments were abandoned without being used in combat.

"As compared to an estimated 395 Japanese killed in action during the operation,^[8] American ground casualties numbered 218 (66 killed and 152 wounded). Losses to U.S. Navy personnel were significantly higher: 644 deaths on the Liscome Bay, 43 killed in a turret fire aboard the battleship USS Mississippi, and 10 killed in action among naval shore party and aviators, totalling 697 naval deaths in the battle. Thus, the overall total of 763 American dead nearly equalled the number of men in the entire Japanese garrison.^[9]"

Hat tip  to John Paul Curnutt

The left’s respect for women: a look back (Updated)

The Daily Caller  "Since the most important story in the world right now is a popular radio host referring to someone by a rude name because he disagreed with her, I thought it might be a helpful exercise to look back at some of the glowing compliments paid to women throughout the years by our good friends on the left. How did they earn their absolute moral authority, anyway? Let’s take a look!

(WARNING: The following contains language that is offensive to women. And also men. At least the ones who aren’t already consumed with hate.)

"Let’s start with a warm-up, somebody who’s not well-known and for good reason. Back in June 2009, a Playboy.com writer named Guy Cimbalo wrote a piece called “So Right It’s Wrong.” It was all about… well, look for yourself."

Back to April 2009.* Remember Carrie Prejean? At the Miss USA pageant, she gave this answer to a question presented by blogger and aquatic mammal Perez Hilton:

Hilton’s response was as measured and well-reasoned as you’d expect:

P.P.S. If only Limbaugh could be as civil as President Obama and his supporters:

"Louis CK is hosting this year’s Radio and TV Congressional Correspondents’ Dinner. Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where it’s become a tradition for comedians to tell Obama’s enemies to die already, or to otherwise humiliate them, and he sits there laughing at it. "But Obama is expected to be at this one too. So, as much as I like Louis CK, it seems fair to include his tweets about Sarah Palin."
Update: Louis C.K. has abruptly pulled out of the annual Washington dinner of the Radio & Television Correspondents’ Association
 "But by dropping out, he may have sidestepped a fledgling controversy over his gig. Fox News host  Greta Van Susteren blogged Thursday that she would urge journalists to boycott the dinner because of C.K.’s ‘filthy language about women,’ and Sarah Palin in particular.” "