Sick and Tired of the Middle East

Victor Davis Hanson "Americans -- left, right, Democrats and Republicans -- are all sick of thankless nation-building in the Middle East. Yet democratization was not our first choice, but rather a last resort after prior failures." 
...."Let us review the various American policy options for the Middle East over the last few decades. Military assistance or punitive intervention without follow-up mostly failed. The verdict on far more costly nation-building is still out. Trying to help popular insurgents topple unpopular dictators does not guarantee anything better. Propping up dictators with military aid is both odious and counterproductive. Keeping clear of maniacal regimes leads to either nuclear acquisition or genocide -- or 16 acres of rubble in Manhattan.

"What have we learned? Tribalism, oil and Islamic fundamentalism are a bad mix that leave Americans sick and tired of the Middle East -- both when they get in it and when they try to stay out of it."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/03/13/97318 

Ann Coulter: The Vagina Diatribes; then on Palin and a brokered convention

Ann Coulter  " From Murphy Brown to the Jersey Girls, Cindy Sheehan, Joe Wilson and the New School's Jean Rohe, these fantasists inject themselves into a boiling-hot public debate and then claim victim status when anyone criticizes them."
...."Pursuing a typical path to liberal heroics, Fluke was an utter nobody whom the Democrats substituted in a last-minute witness-switch to testify about contraception -- as if her haircut isn't birth control enough -- at a hearing on "religious liberty."

"Despite her credentials as a heretofore unheard-of "birth control activist," the Oversight and Government Reform Committee declined to accept this 11th-hour witness on the grounds that Fluke did not have appropriate credentials for any congressional hearing, much less one on religious liberty.

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/michaelramirez/2012/03/07/97105 

"That was the Republicans' first foray into "silencing" Fluke's "voice.""

...."Thus, Fluke became a liberal hero even braver than an actress standing up for abortion rights in front of a Bill Maher audience.

"President Obama called Fluke and told her that her parents should be proud of her and to make sure she was OK. Hillary Clinton said conservatives were trying to control women. Bill Clinton called her to see if she had any plans for the weekend."

...".I don't care what liberals believe. Just please stop telling me they're courageous for saying exactly what every non-Fox media outlet in America is dying to hear, or I'll throw up harder than Rick Santorum did when he read John F. Kennedy's speech."

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

More Coulter: Beware of political celebrities in the GOP "We need to be wary, then, of people who might possibly be in it solely for themselves." 

A common-sense way to check Obama's regulation mania

Examiner Editorial "Take federal regulation. In his State of the Union address, President Obama claimed he's "approved fewer regulations in the first three years of my presidency than my Republican predecessor did in his." Obama was literally telling the truth. Since being sworn into office, Obama and his Cabinet appointees have approved 10,215 new regulations. President George W. Bush had approved 10,674 at the same point in his tenure. But there is much more to the story than the numbers. What Obama neglected to mention is that his regulations cost much more to implement." 

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/nate-beelers-toons 

 "...."during the first three years of the Obama Administration, 106 new major federal regulations added more than $46 billion per year in new costs for Americans. This is almost four times the number -- and more than five times the cost -- of the major regulations issued by George W. Bush during his first three years." Major new regulations are those having compliance costs of at least $100 million. Those with lower costs aren't included in the 106." 


Red Tape Rising: Obama-Era Regulation at the Three-Year Mark  "Hundreds more regulations are winding through the rulemaking pipeline as a consequence of the Dodd–Frank financial-regulation law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s global warming crusade, threatening to further weaken an anemic economy and job creation. Congress must increase scrutiny of regulations—existing and new. Reforms should include requiring congressional approval of major rules and mandatory sunset clauses for major regulations." 
Hat tip to the California Chronicle

An Obama 2008 video that is too good not to share

Hot Air  "As long as we’re partying like it’s November 2008, though, let’s once again take a nostalgic look at this Obama ad attacking George W. Bush on gas prices:"

"There are plenty more where that came from. Now that Obama can’t run on the economy or gas prices, what does he have left?  If it’s only Sarah Palin, Obama’s looking pretty desperate. "

Hat tip to Red State.com which posted:  "Via Hot Air comes this rather-embarrassing 2008 Obama campaign video that’s simply too good – and by ‘good’ I mean ‘humiliating to the Obama administration’ – not to share. Here you go:"....

"Hear that? When elected, Barack Obama promised to do something about those awful THREE DOLLAR AND FIFTY CENT A GALLON gas prices! Because of all those awful OIL COMPANIES! Wasn’t that nice of him?" 

Morning Bell: Obama’s New Regulations Cost Billions

Heritage "If you fly across the country, it’s easy to see signs of America’s ingenuity and productivity — skyscrapers in New York City, steel mills in Pennsylvania, factories in Chicago, farmland in the Great Plains, and the glittering technology of Silicon Valley. But what you can’t see, though it’s very real, is the invisible web of red tape crawling forth from Washington, crisscrossing the landscape, strangling job creators, tying down entrepreneurs, and tangling America’s engine of innovation in a mess of regulations. Under the Obama Administration, those endless miles of government-imposed directives has kept getting longer, as The Heritage Foundation reveals in a new study released today."
....
 "On top of the thousands of regulations the Obama Administration has already implemented — costing America billions of dollars — more are on the way, promising to continue to drag down the economy and hamper job growth. Congress can and should take action to get this regulatory burden under control so that Americans can be free to get the country’s economic engine moving at full throttle once again."

Obama still drowning business in ocean of rules 

"This runs counter to what we’ve heard from the president’s apologists. Over the past several months, they’ve been bragging about his rule-making record. As the president himself said during his most recent State of the Union address: “I’ve approved fewer regulations in the first three years of my presidency than my Republican predecessor did in his.” 

"But a new report from the Heritage Foundation, “Red Tape Rising,” shows just the opposite is true. This administration has been on a rule-making tear."

Astute Bloggers: "A VOTE AGAINST MITT NOW IS A VOTE FOR OBAMA IN THE FALL."

ASTUTE BLOGGERS  "SANTORUM CANNOT WIN THE NOMINATION." 

HE ADMITS IT.HIS ONLY HOPE IS KEEPING MITT FROM WINNING IT ON THE FIRST BALLOT.THAT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE - IT MIGHT NOT BE.IF - AFTER PRIMARY SEASON IS OVER - AND IF NOBODY HAS ENOUGH DELEGATES TO WIN THE NOMINATION ON THE FIRST BALLOT, THEN NON-SUICIDAL SUPER-DELEGATES MIGHT ANNOUNCE THEY'LL BE VOTING FOR MITT AND HAND THE NOMINATION ON THE FIRST BALLOT.SO, WHY DRAG IT OUT TO THE CONVENTION? WHO DOES THAT HELP MOST?OBAMA! 

 Hope n' Change will be the first to admit that today's cartoon isn't exactly subtle... but then, neither is the message that the American people are sending to the president.
"The president has, however, one solid accomplishment under his belt (no hand lotion joke intended), which is...(drum roll, please)...the killing of Osama bin Laden.
"Or, more accurately, the fact that he didn't have a politically expedient way of stopping Seal Team Six from killing Osama bin Laden.
"Which is why the president's new bought-and-paid-for political mockumentary, "The Road We've Traveled," pays so much attention to Osama's death...showing Barack Obama furrowing his brow in heavy thought and courageously jutting his chin while violins play emotion-stirring music and Tom Hanks (no, really!) narrates the story of the bravest decision ever made by a human being: to sit in a room thousands of miles from any danger while wearing golf clothes and mentally planning his next vacation to Martha's Vineyard."

 http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/03/11/97238

Bozell Column: Who's Really Bashing Women?

Newsbusters "If the woman is a liberal – an apparently full-blooded authentic female – then NBC and MSNBC are more likely to bend. Liberals who wanted Hillary Clinton to beat Barack Obama in 2008 actually campaigned against Chris Matthews as in need of a Sexism Watch for suggesting she was “witchy” and had a voice like “fingernails on a blackboard.” David Shuster got suspended for suggesting Hillary was “pimping out” her daughter Chelsea on the campaign trail.    

""But women like Sarah Palin don’t get a fraction of that politeness, even from other women. Former ABC reporter Jami Floyd came on MSNBC in November 2010 and said, “The governor says she’s an extraordinary asset to her party. I say she’s an extraordinary ass, frankly.” "

Michelle Obama Will Appear On Letterman Next Week? REALLY? 

"Gee…Will there be any SLUT JOKES?

Will there be any jokes about her daughters getting knocked up by baseball players?

Remember, Obama made a personal call to Sandra Fluke because he was thinking of his daughters."

David Axelrod Cancels Appearance on Bill Maher's Show "Makes you wonder if pressure from Fox News's Greta Van Susteren last week helped the Administration's decision.

"Whatever it was, the next step is for Obama to instruct his Super PAC to return Maher's $1 million donation, and for all Democrats currently holding office to refuse Real Time invitations. "Maybe then Maher will get the message that not having sponsors doesn't entitle him to say these disgusting things about women on television."

SLUT-GATE HYPOCRISY: EXPLOSIVE AUDIO OF NBC'S AL SHARPTON TRASHING 'HOMOS,' 'CHINAMEN,' AND 'CRACKERS'

Breitbart "If offensive slurs are a problem for the left, why does Al Sharpton have a primetime slot on MSNBC?

"The left has started a war against Rush Limbaugh -- a war it cannot win. Limbaugh said something for which he later apologized, and rather than accept that apology, the left and its media allies decided to exploit the situation, turning it into a crusade to take an opposing voice off the air."

"Using MSNBC's own standards, should the man who once said the following be allowed to hold a primetime MSNBC slot?

David Dinkins, you wanna be the only nigger on television, only nigger in the newspaper, only nigger that can talk. Don't cover them, don't talk to them, 'cause you got the only nigger problem. 'Cause you know if a black man stood up next to you, they would see you for the whore that you really are.

"That's MSNBC's Al Sharpton--many years ago, but just as shocking today. I can already hear the excuse -- that it's okay for him to use the N-word because he's black."
....True, Sharpton said these things long before he was on MSNBC. But his history was well known, and the lack of outrage from the left when he was elevated to primetime highlights the hypocrisy of their anti-Rush censorship crusade. MSNBC President Phil Griffin knew that Sharpton said this sort of stuff regularly--that, in fact, such bigotry and radical rhetoric was an integral part of the Sharpton persona. He hired him nonetheless. One has to wonder if Brian Williams, Matt Lauer, and Tom Brokaw are proud.

"Over to you, MSNBC!"

Shocking audio tapes of MSNBC star Sharpton surface. "One could go on and on here. This is before you even get to MSNBC's Sharpton calling the prosecutor in the Tawana Brawley case, who is Jewish, "Mr. Hitler." This is before you get to the New York Post reporting Sharpton saying "I have no problem with Khalid Muhammad." Khalid Muhammad, of course, was the one-time number two to Louis Farrakhan, well on record as saying of Jews that they were "hooked-nose, bagel-eating, lox-eating, so-called Jews" with "hairy hands" that are "pimping the world." "

A dooming, foreboding piece in the Wall Street Journal on California -- and what the Once Golden's State's liberal-progressive slide into hell means for the rest of the country:

Left Coast Rebel 

"Long a harbinger of national trends and an incubator of innovation, cash-strapped California eagerly awaits a temporary revenue surge from Facebook IPO stock options and capital gains. Meanwhile, Stockton may soon become the state's largest city to go bust. Call it the agony and ecstasy of contemporary California. California's rising standards of living and outstanding public schools and universities once attracted millions seeking upward economic mobility. But then something went radically wrong as California legislatures and governors built a welfare state on high tax rates, liberal entitlement benefits, and excessive regulation.."
 

Israel to be Barackstabbed Again?

Jessica Rubin "For many commentators it is clear that Obama's real sympathies lie with Palestine and not Israel. His entire educational background from Wright to Bell to Rashid Khalidi and his dealings with CAIR and other Islamist fronts reinforce this view.
"Now Obama is back in the campaign mode again and making the same promises he made in 2008. If he wins in 2012 there will be no need for the US Jewish vote. Then the Obama's ship of state, unhampered by the need for the Jewish vote, will fly its true colors. 

"As Stanley Kurtz writes; "This is why supporters of Israel should fear Obama's reelection. In 2013, with his political vulnerability a thing of the past, Obama's pro-Palestinian sympathies would be released from hibernation, leaving Israel without support from its indispensable American defender." "

Caroline Glick : An Obama Foreign Policy  Jun 23rd, 2011   "What Gates is effectively saying is not that economic forecasts are gloomy. US defense spending comprises less than five percent of the federal budget. If US President Barack Obama wanted to maintain that level of spending, the Republican-controlled Congress would probably pass his defense budget. What Gates is saying is that he doesn’t trust his commander in chief to allocate the resources to preserve America’s superpower status. He is saying that he believes that Obama is willing to surrender the US’s status as a superpower." 


Israeli Airstrikes Kill 6 in Gaza; Militants Fire 30 Rockets at Israel 

The Jerusalem Post  

DEBKAfile: Israel develops its own bunker buster  "The MPR-500 bridges an operational gap between the 250-pound US GBU-39 small-diameter bomb, 1,000 of which were approved for sale to Israel and the 5,000-pound GBU-28 American super-bunker buster. DEBKAfile notes: The IMI’s presentation of the MPR-500 took place at the height of Israel’s argument with the Obama administration over the need for a near-term strike on Iran’s nuclear sites – especially those Tehran is busy transferring to fortified underground bunkers."

Obama's mentors and circle of friends who shaped his outlook

Derrick Bell’s Love for New Black Panther Party Founder, and White House Counsel

"Harvard Law Professor Derrick Bell praised the anti-Semitic founder of the New Black Panther Party. Another strong supporter of Bell was eventually Obama White House counsel Cassandra Butts, the White House lawyer when the New Black Panther voter intimidation case was dismissed.

"Powerline has the story of Derrick Bell praising the venomous anti-Semite Khalid Muhammad, former head of the New Black Panther Party. The dots that Powerline connected are the dots between Derrick Bell, Khalid Muhammad and the New Black Panther Party. But White House counsel Cassandra Butts was also involved in the now-famous Harvard Law School rally for Bell. Butts helped organize the rally supporting Bell and escorted him to be introduced.

"Butts, nearly 20 years later, may have played a role in the dismissal of the New Black Panther voter intimidation case according to multiple reports."

Eric Holder Supports the Al-Qaeda Vote Well...it can kinda work out that way if you think about it.

THE VETTING: OBAMA'S FAVORITE CONGRESSMAN HANGS WITH COMMIES

Congressman Danny Davis  "At that time—just eight years ago—Congressman Danny Davis was continuing his efforts to help move then-State Senator Obama up the Chicago political food chain. And not that long ago—in fact, just two weeks—that Congressman Davis was honored by People’s World, a news website, at the Communist Party U.S.A.’s headquarters in Chicago for a lifetime of “inspiring leadership.” "

THE VETTING: CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST SAYS OBAMA'S FRIENDS 'CHOSE RACIAL IDIOCY'

Obama: Slurs Against Conservative Woman Are Fine But Not So With Liberal Women

Independent Sentinel  "What does Obama think about Letterman’s foul and insulting language towards conservatives, specifically conservative women?

We know he was repulsed by Rush Limbaugh’s language towards Sandra Fluke, the poser and activist. He even called Fluke to offer his help – poor dear.  But he has not said a word about the vile rants by Letterman and Maher.

We now have our answer. His SuperPac took and is keeping a million dollars from Bill Maher. Michelle Obama is going on Letterman’s show."...

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/03/09/97170

Team Obama’s Negative Ads Against Palin (No, this is not a 2008 article)  "The Obama campaign wishes so badly it could run against a divisive national figure like Sarah Palin that it’s decided to just pretend it actually is. Here’s Obama’s latest ad, which attacks Palin for calling him a radical (via HotAir):"

From "The View": HASSELBECK: WHY DON’T FEMINISTS ‘BURN THEIR BRAS’ WHEN CONSERVATIVE WOMEN ARE ATTACKED? (Video)

SLUT-GATE HYPOCRISY: FIRST LADY TO APPEAR ON LETTERMAN  "The same White House demanding that Rush Limbaugh be taken off the air is apparently okay with the First Lady of the United States appearing with the same David Letterman who "joked" about Sarah Palin's 14 year-old daughter getting "knocked up" by Alex Rodriguez and compared the Governor herself to a "slutty flight attendant.""