The President's Oval Office desk

The President's Desk

"Many presidents have used the Resolute desk in the Oval Office or ...their study in the Residence. It was made from the timbers of HMS Resolute, an abandoned British ship discovered by an American vessel and returned to the Queen of England as a token of friendship and goodwill. When the ship was retired, Queen Victoria commissioned the desk from William Evenden, Royal Naval Dockyard at Chatham, England, and presented to President Rutherford Hayes in 1880.

"The desk has twice been modified. Franklin Roosevelt requested that the kneehole be fitted with a modesty panel carved with the presidential seal (he preferred people not see his leg braces and often placed a waste basket in front of his desks), but he did not live to see it installed. However, President Truman liked the eagle motif and had it installed when he came into office in 1945. Since this was prior to Truman's decision to turn the head of the eagle in the presidential seal to face the olive branch of peace, the eagle in the Resolute's modesty panel faces the arrows of war.

"Every president since Hayes—except Presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Ford—has used the Resolute desk, although some chose to use it in their private study in the Residence. The desk was made famous in part by a photograph of John Kennedy at work while his son, John Jr., peeked out the front through the kneehole panel."

President Truman's desk plaque below:

"What the president has on his desk is often symbolic of his style and experience."

Truth or Fiction has a photo of President Bush with his feet on this desk.  And Snopes shows Gerald Ford doing the same.

TW looked for a picture of Bill Clinton using the desk, but our sexual content filter blocked it.

David Gregory: Maybe it’s time Obama started blaming Bush for stuff

Michelle Malkin  "In the coming weeks as the campaign heats up, I’m also expecting David Gregory to suggest that it might be a good idea for Obama to start having some fundraisers and try unwinding by taking up golf." 

Presidential priorities

HopeNChangeCartoons

"But odds are that you didn't hear who paid for Air Force One (at $181,000 an hour) and many of the other ancillary expenses for the event: you did.
"And how did Obama pull off this neat little trick? By arranging an "official" trip which just happened to be near his fundraising event. In this case, visiting the construction site at Ground Zero and asking the workers "howzit going?" before signing an autograph or two and hurriedly getting back in his limousine to speed off to the celebrities, champagne, and campaign dollars.
"That's right: Barack Hussein Obama whored out the site of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks as a dodge to jam Americans with the bills for his fundraising."
(Emphasis in the original).

Failures of progressive-ism

Bruce Thornton:  Obama’s Presidency and the Pathologies of Progressivism  "Failed economic theory, illiberal racial policies, elitist snobbery, political freedom reduced to selfish license, and intolerance of disagreement and dissent — these are some of the pathologies of progressivism that have been illustrated every day of Obama’s presidency. It will take November’s election to show whether a critical mass of Americans has finally had their fill of this rancid progressive wine, or whether it returns once again in a new bottle."


Victor Davis Hanson says the left is imploding   We posted this a few days ago, but it is a good companion article for the one above.
"Yet the hard-Left takeover of the Democratic Party has meant that there is no longer a credible balance in our system, as almost all the tenets of contemporary left-wing ideology are blowing up, imploding super nova style — unsustainable ideas that are contrary to human nature and demand coercion for their implementation, given that they are increasingly anti-democratic and have to be implemented from high by an elite technocracy whether in Brussels, Sacramento, or Washington."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/

Lurita Doan: Barack Obama the Shape Shifter   "And so, our shape-shifting president hopes to disguise his antipathy towards business, entrepreneurs and small business leaders, as he moves skillfully around the country in one staged photo-op after another. Each carefully orchestrated to mask the economic destruction caused by his policies."

From an Israeli comedy group: Tell on Me; The Ballad of US foreign agents

From Caroline Glick, who lives in Jerusalem and has a most interesting resume':

Comment to this post from "ripalinsky" :

You gave a wonderful, inspiring speech. American Jews may well be beginning to feel very uncomfortable. They are most comfortable with the Democrat party, afraid of the Republican party, but more and more are unable to avoid that the Democrat party has become very dangerous for Israel. Obama has speeded up the process of socialization to Socialism, and it would be hard for the party to go backwards. I hope Israelis will realize "If it is to be it's up to us", probably without help from Jews in most other parts of the world, and without the anti-Israel Jews living in Israel. I'm optimistic because it's basically a spiritual battle, and the forces of evil will lose. Unfortunately, there may be a lot of suffering before that happens, as in Hitler's Germany.

 The Joke is on Obama in Israel  "It’s still unclear how the majority of the Israeli public and government feel about the leaks, if they attribute them to the Obama White House like this well-known satirical group, although it’s telling that the U.S. president’s integrity (or the lack thereof) has moved into the realm of public mockery. President Obama’s approval ratings were already scraping the bottom of the barrel in Israel; thus the repercussions of these alleged leaks may be difficult to gauge. Only time will tell if Israeli leaders and the public have any more faith left in the Obama administration. We’ll find out just how much remains the next time Israel is in possession of sensitive information or plans.


Obama Still Not Fooling Anyone on Israel  "And never has an American president treated an Israeli prime minister with such shabbiness as Obama has treated Netanyahu. Indeed one gets the impression that of all the world’s leaders, Obama most detests the prime minister of Israel.”
From Commentary Magazine

Obama as an economist; here's an entire reading list on the subject

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Bloomberg; GOP on health care: Repeal quickly, replace slowly   "Once the Supreme Court issues a ruling, "the goal is to repeal anything that is left standing," said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., a member of the party's leadership. 
"Beyond that, "we ought to go step by step to lower the cost" of health care, he added, a formula repeated by numerous other Republicans interviewed in recent days."

Forbes; President Obama: The Biggest Government Spender In World History  "...regarding the President’s rhetorical strategy that I’ve have been calling Calculated Deception.  The latter is deliberately using a misleading argument to paint a false picture.  That has been a central Obama practice not only throughout his entire presidency, but also as the foundation of his 2008 campaign strategy, and actually throughout his whole career."
Also at Forbes from Dec, 2011; Obama Channels Hugo Chavez, Shows Why He Can't Lead On The Economy

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/06/15/100250

Boortz: Want to start a business? Move.   "Investor’s Business Daily is reporting that as of now it is easier to start a business in Slovenia, Estonia or Hungary than it is in the United States.  Why?  Because of new banking regulations in the U.S.  Put Canada on that list as well.  It now takes fewer steps to start a business in Canada than it does in any other developed nation.
And regulations such as this.

Obsession with income redistribution is destroying U.S. productivity  "When the young and the productive are saddled with the greatest burdens, the country’s potential for growth is limited. The obsession with transferring wealth needs to end so entrepreneurs can focus on creating it. That’s the only way America will return to the days of across-the-board, ever-increasing incomes for all."


Obama Can't Keep His Jobs Story Straight   "Just how inept is the White House these days? On Friday, President Obama was demanding that Congress put "teachers, cops and firefighters" back to work. But his own website says he's already accomplished that. Via Hot Air.

The Private Sector Was Really Fine Under Reagan/ And we didn't have an insufferable whiner-in chief.  
"President Barack Obama’s 53-minute “major address” on Thursday was so bad that even some of his knee-jerk cheerleaders in the establishment press couldn’t stand it. A desperate Associated Press photographer thought that fitting Obama for a new halo might distract from the disaster. Nice try, buddy. No sale."
...."Unlike now, the private sector was really fine under Ronald Reagan. Additionally, once inaugurated, the Gipper almost never complained about the insufferable mess predecessor Jimmy Carter had left or moaned about the high interest rates the Fed had to impose to tame inflation.

"Evidence is growing that the American people have had more than their fill of our current ineffective whiner- and regulator-in-chief ...."

Flashback: Axelrod called Bush ‘out of touch’ for playing golf in bad economy

Daily Caller "Video from 1994 has surfaced of David Axelrod, President Obama’s chief campaign strategist, calling former President George H.W. Bush “out of touch” for “tastelessly” playing golf while trying to convince voters that the economy is improving.

“Bush tastelessly did it, often from the ninth hole, and from the cigar boat and other places,” Axelrod said.

"Added the adviser: “The impression you got was that he was out of touch.” "

Obama Plays Golf for the 100th Time of his Presidency  "Obama’s golfing takes about five hours, including the motorcades back and forth from the fairways. If one thinks of this as taking up  much of the day – include getting ready to go and cooling off afterward – its fair to say that Obama has spent more than three months of his presidency golfing."


Thomas Lifson: Nation marks a grim milestone   "There is nothing at all wrong with golf, but it is an expensive and very time-consuming recreation. George W. Bush stopped playing it while in office out of respect for the sacrifices of our military. No such consideration seems to exist for President Obama."  (And the left ridiculed President Bush for it.)

"At least he is not suspending enforcement of any laws while on the links.

Happy Father's Day

This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here: Life of Duty: Fathers’ Day; "Joseph Collins – a man of unyielding courage and strength – has proudly served his country in more ways than one. Today, Joseph is playing perhaps the most important role of his life, the role of being a father. In this video, Joseph expounds upon the love he has for his son, as well as the influence his own father had on his life and career."


"Better Dad" by Kerby Anderson "You probably wouldn’t expect a United States ambassador to write a book about being a better dad. But in this case, Ambassador Gregory Slayton was an ideal person to write his book, Be a Better Dad Today."  Kerby links to this site: Fellowship of Fathers


'What Have I Done?' A Father's Remorse  "But to some fathers, the day is spent in anguish. It’s a day spent, not with their children, but with their memories of the children they helped abort.

"Among these men are former Aerosmith rock star Steven Tyler, now a judge on “American Idol.”  When Tyler was in his twenties, he and his 16-year-old girlfriend, Julia Holcomb, learned they were having a baby."....

From Breakpoint:  'Courageous': A Higher Standard for Films and Fathers  "At this, the turning point of the film, Mitchell offers his fellow officers and fathers an opportunity to leave behind adequacy for excellence. He presents what he calls “The Resolution,” a commitment to become a father who lives by twelve biblical standards and holds others accountable to them. Hayes doesn’t hesitate to sign on, and together with Mitchell, inspires his two fellows with an eagerness to be the hero at home each of them has always been on the job."

More resources for fathers and their families: Christian Fathers.com

Alan Caruba: Deliberately Destroying America

Warning Signs















"It has taken three and a half years into Barack Obama’s presidency for most Americans to realize that he has been deliberately destroying America by driving up the nation’s debt and deficit, reducing privately held wealth, forcing millions onto the public dole, undermining its moral structure, and weakening the nation’s reputation internationally.. 
"His latest lie is that “the private sector is doing just fine”, but the numbers tell the whole story and one can find them on an excellent blog, Economic Collapse, that offers seventy examples:"....


"We are now five months from an election to remove Obama from power and electing conservative lawmakers to office. It’s a start in restoring America to its former prosperity." 


Yes, this administration must not be just voted out of office by a thin margin, but by a landslide so it will be clear that Obama's policies are absolutely rejected by this nation. 
Pray that the election is not a repeat of the 2000 Bush-Gore contest, because Obama's base is capable of -and willing- to use violence. The man must in no sense of the word to be a martyr and a rallying point, but to be retired ignominiously. 
Pray for a fair, clean election so Obama can go back to Chicago where he can spend his years blaming America's problems on his successor. TD

Palestinian TV airs show praising the two Muslim murderers of the Israeli Fogel family

Bare Naked Islam  "The broadcast was aired as part of a weekly show on the Palestinian state-run station called “For You,” which focuses on Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israel.
"The show featured the aunt and mother of Hakim Awad, who along with his cousin Amjad was convicted of brutally stabbing to death five Fogel family members in an attack on their home in the West Bank settlement of Itamar on the night of March 11, 2011."

The next kidnapped Israeli soldier will be traded for these two murderers along with scores of others like them. And the left will support them all the way.

The story behind Obama's immigration order: He wanted to one-up Marco Rubio!

LA Times "One week earlier, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) had told reporters about his plans to propose a scaled-back version of the Dream Act -– legislation designed to provide help to young immigrants. Democrats were skeptical that Rubio could gain his own party’s support for that idea. But seated in the big conference room next to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office, the senators  pressed aides to the president to do more."
Comment to this post at Lucianne:

Does anyone else get the impression that Obama's order sounds a lot more exciting to illegals than the details show it to be? It's just a feel-good, drive-the-GOP-nuts, bunch of words that don't really accomplish much. Eight hundred people "might" be eligible? Thank you, Governor Romney, for not jumping up and down screaming as the administration hoped you would do.

Debbie Schlussel: Obama’s Nightmare “DREAM Act” Amnesty for “Kids”: Will Mitt Romney Repeal It? Don’t Hold Your Breath
"These illegal alien “kids” are already getting college scholarships, etc., and living freely here without fear of any consequences. So, this is really, again, just a formality. The only difference is that these aliens will now have legal status to work. Will they be required to register for the draft? Don’t count on it. "

Obama Blames Republicans for Blaming Him for Blaming Bush

The People's Cube   "Anyway, I gotta run, I'm off to Sarah Jessica Parker's place to have dinner with President Obama and Anna Wintour. Sarah and Anna are big celebrities but they're always so nice to me... they let me walk their dogs and sometimes even loan me a pooper scooper to pick up the mess. If I have time today when I get back, I'm going to write something about the tendency of some people, such as scumbag Nazi racist Republicans, to call other people names instead of engaging in civil conversation. 
"Some people just have NO self-awareness whatsoever."