Romney tells it like it is; he'll PAY for that!

NY Times; Romney Calls 47% of Voters Dependent in Leaked Video

"In a brief and hastily called news conference Monday just after 10 p.m., Mr. Romney acknowledged having made the blunt political and cultural assessment, saying it was “not elegantly stated,” but he stood by the substance of the remarks, insisting that he had made similar observations in public without generating controversy."

iowahawk

  Remember The Life of Julia?; the video that says pretty much what Romney said, only  for the purpose of getting you to vote for Obama.  I prefer iowahawk's take on Julia.

The Democrats think Romney just self-destructed by pointing out, um, THEIR ENTIRE STRATEGY   "So [Obama] and his enablers in the media hope you’ll be distracted by Romney’s “gaffe” of criticizing the Democrats’ strategy. They hope you’ll be offended that Romney pointed out what the Dems have been telling you your whole life: that you need the government to provide for you, that you can’t go a single day without a handout. They hope you’re as credulous as the people who voted for them last time."

Romney Tells The Truth About Obama Voters   "The truth is Romney should talk more openly about the country’s current split between the takers and the makers. We will have to face it sometime. 
"And if Obama wins re-election, this will probably be the last time the tipping point is still even slightly in the favor of the makers."

And Just What Was Wrong With What Mitt Romney Said?  "As a Senatorial candidate Romney toured the VA hospital near Boston.  While touring the hospital Romney discovered that there was not enough money to buy dairy products for sick soldiers.  Romney reviewed the VA medical center’s books to see if there was any funny stuff going on.  Everything looked fine, so Romney asked the administrators what they needed.  They said they needed milk.  Romney made some remark about how he had learned how to milk a cow .. then left.  The next Friday the milkman arrived.  A truck rolled up with 7000 pints of milk.  The delivery man refused to tell the VA medical where the milk came from.  When the man who delivered the milk finally retired about two years later he told the hospital staff where the milk came from.  Mitt Romney. 
"Yeah … here’s a man who doesn’t care."  Neal Boortz.

From Legal Insurrection; About that Romney tape   "Don’t fall for pronouncements that Romney’s campaign now is over.  Such pronouncements now come weekly by a media seeking a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Whether it was the insane overreaction to Romney’s comments on Libya or the declaration that the polling showed Romney had lost, every week there will be a new meme circulated."

http://hopenchangecartoons.blogspot.com/

Bill Kristol comments in the Weekly Standard. "Indeed: Has there been a presidential race in modern times featuring two candidates who have done so little over their lifetimes for our country, and who have so little substance to say about the future of our country?" 

From the Wall Street Journal; The spectacle of reporters over the past week hounding Mitt Romney for speaking his mind does not come as a surprise.   "Mitt Romney isn't going to have an easy time defeating a president with Mr. Obama's advantages. A friendly press corps surpasses all wealth, sayeth the sages."

A free press for a free people; how's that working out for us?

 CBS Local;  Obama’s Security Breach In Libya Is Ignored By American Media
"As the liberal American press and ultra-liberal bloggers inundate the Internet and newsprints with criticisms of what Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential challenger to President Barack Obama, said about Obama during the Libyan attacks and murders, throngs of foreign press and few American outlets tell the real story involved with the White House’s role in the incidents that we now know could have been prevented."

Hamby, journalist

Thanks for clarifying that, CNN  "A CNN political reporter has taken an active role raising money for the Obama campaign."....
Imagine for a moment that a Fox News reporter had tweeted the fundraising page of Romney to followers. It would be the top story at CBSNBCABCMSNBC and the NYT. [Peter]Hamby's tweet has been out there for 5 days now."  Newsbusters has more. 

NFL Pulls Ref From Game Over 'Open Rooting,' Will Media?  "The League felt it was a clear conflict of interest and decided that the ref could not be a fair judge of a game featuring his favorite team.  
"One would hope that the Old Media would take a lesson from the NFL. Shouldn't the media bench anyone that is blatantly rooting for Obama and the Democrats?"


No Joke: Bozell Demands Letterman Cut the Schtick, Ask Prez About Ongoing Jobs Catastrophe  "This is a man who can’t make room in his busy campaign fundraising schedule for critical intelligence briefings, or his jobs council, or even a sit-down with the Prime Minister of Israel while Iran’s uranium centrifuges are whizzing away toward Armageddon. Instead he is on his way to the Ed Sullivan Theater for yet another cutesy campaign infomercial courtesy of his boosters at CBS and Worldwide Pants."
But Letterman is balanced; he mentions Obama and Sarah Palin equally.

Obama and the US; the view of Israelis

Yid With Lid; Has Obama Turned America into The Weak Horse?  

israelmatzav.blogspot.com

When people see the strong horse and the weak horse, people like the strong horse.” --Osama Bin Laden

 "This has been a particular awful week for President Obama and his foreign policy especially in the Middle East.  Early in the week there was the public split with Israel’s Netanyahu about drawing a “red line” that Iran’s nuke program must not pass, highlighted by a spat between the Israeli Prime Minister and the US Ambassador, and the President’s choice of a campaign appearance on Lettermen(sic) over an emergency meeting with Netanyahu."
....
"Hilary’s(sic) response to setting a red line, as well as the Administration’s statements regarding the embassy attacks which blame/excuse the violence on an intolerant anti-Muslim video on You Tube, has not been lost on Israel or Iran or the Islamist elements in the Middle East.  It reflects another example of this administrations, abandonment of our friends and showing weakness to our leaders.  The Obama version of America is the “weak horse” and the Muslim world is gravitating to the strong horse."

DEBKAfile; By refusing to see Netanyahu, Obama sharpens his Iran dilemma   "Obama’s refusal Tuesday Sept. 11 to see Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu because “the president’s schedule will not permit that,” left Jerusalem thunderstruck – and Washington too.

"At one stroke, round after round of delicate negotiations on Iran between the White House, Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, the US National Security Council, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta collapsed."  
Also this:

US disowns Israel over Iran strike: No weapons or military backup

"The Netanyahu government will bear full and exclusive responsibility for the consequences of attacking Iran.

"Obama, who has repeatedly pledged his commitment to Israeli security, is the first American president to cut Israeli adrift against a major threat to its security explicitly posed by Iran."

hasbro.com

Israel Today; Israel angered by Clinton's kid-glove approach to Iran  "Speaking to Israel's Arutz Sheva radio station, former Israeli ambassador to the US Zalman Shoval said it was time for Israel to realize that, "as usual, we are alone" in dealing with this new threat." Shame on us.

Also from Israel Today comes this snarky bit: The Chutzpa!: Clinton brings down the (nerf) hammer on Iran   "The first new sanction to hit the Iranians will be a prohibition on enriching uranium between the hours of 2-4 pm. Clinton said she is confident this punishing measure will be enough to bring Iran to its senses, but suggested that if that is not the case, the US is prepared to go much further with a second wave of sanctions prohibiting the enrichment of uranium between the hours of 2-4:30 pm. But Clinton sincerely hopes it will not come to that." 

Israel Matsav; Netanyahu on Meet the Press: Letting Iran have nukes sets a new standard for human stupidity

.

"Indeed. Except that it's only stupidity if you don't understand what you're doing. In Obama's case it's not stupidity. It's worse. He's doing it on purpose."

Rosh Hashanah; Days of Reflection and Rededication

Jonathan S. Tobin "Sundown [Sept 16th] marks the start of the Jewish New Year that begins with the celebration of Rosh Hashanah. The ten days from the start of this holiday until the end of Yom Kippur next week are known in Judaism as the Days of Awe. During this time, Jews are asked to reflect on their deeds in the past year and seek to account for them to their Creator as well as their fellow human beings."

The Sounds of the Shofar on Rosh HaShanah

The History of Rosh Hashanah

NY University Will No Longer Observe Jewish, Christian Holidays 
"The university decided earlier this month to no longer cancel classes for Christian and Jewish holidays in what it says is an effort to ensure that some religions aren't given special treatment."


What about Messianic Jews?  (from 2006) "With Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year's Day, coming on Sept. [16th], it's time for my semi-annual look at the continuing dialogue between Jews and Christians. Today, three observations:"....
"...Third, it's good that a scholarly book this year demolished the recent No. 1 Jewish objection to considering the claims of Christ: Nazis were Christians, weren't they? ...those who developed the Nazi religion "were decidedly anti-Christian because they saw Christianity as a Jewish phenomenon . . . in the 1920s to the 1940s to be anti-Semitic meant being anti-Christian and vice versa.""

Debbie Schlussel Rosh HaShanah: To My Readers and Friends; How American Soldiers Celebrated in World War II 
"Also, don’t miss the postcards I posted from Jewish-American soldiers serving in the U.S. Armed Forces in World War II that I posted in the past and the patriotic postcard from Jewish-Americans praying for America and victory in World War I as well as a couple of postcards of Israeli soldiers wishing a Happy New Year."

Obama’s Middle East Delusions

Victor Davis Hanson   "Just as Russia was not reset and our enemies did not become friends, so, too, the fantasy that Barack Obama’s name, race, and lineage, when coupled with leftist politics, would win over our Middle East never arrived. All that failed — failed not just for America, but for the Nobel laureate himself. In that regard, Obama’s entire four-year project has failed: $5 trillion of borrowed stimulus did not jump-start the economy; only more federal debt and bankruptcy followed “solar and wind and millions of green jobs,” as vast new finds of oil and gas on public lands were ignored, while gas hit $4 a gallon. The problem for supporters of Obamacare is not to implement, but how to junk, this boondoggle without loss of face. Government Motors and the Volt went nowhere, and appointees like Eric Holder, Kathleen Sebelius, Timothy Geithner, and Janet Napolitano proved embarrassments. Now we are left with the Federal Reserve desperately printing money before the election.

"There was human frenzy in 2008 that entranced millions, and now we will be paying for the wages of that madness for quite some time."

Remember how they savaged Bush's initial response to attacks on our nation?

Hope n Change ; "Remember how they savaged Bush's initial response to attacks on our nation? What would they have said of Bush if he'd reacted like Barack Hussein Obama did? (By the way, this is the cartoon I'm hoping people will share with their liberal friends. Although, to paraphrase Groucho Marx, "Why you've got liberal friends, I'll never know!")"

Of Mitts and Muslims

Mike Adams in Townhall   "Dear Mitt: Despite the fact that I really do not trust or respect you, I have decided to give you some free political advice. I do it for two reasons: First, I would rather have a president I do not really trust (you) than one I actually despise (Obama). Second, the advisors and spokesmen you are paying are doing a woefully inadequate job of directing your campaign. Let me give you a couple of examples."....
"The good news is that you have been handed a golden opportunity by Muslim extremists who hate us and are, in turn, hated by most Americans. ....
"Please resist the temptation to send a message saying “Mitt isn’t anti-Muslim” by doing something stupid. Don’t announce that you support the rights of gay Muslims to join the Boy Scouts. Don’t come out in favor of letting Muslim rape victims have government-funded abortions. Just follow my three-step plan that will guarantee your election in November. Here goes:"   
Read more...

Democrats and foreign policy

Sorry, Sen. Durbin; this is not the party of Harry S. Truman.

Ryan Criticizes Obama on Foreign Policy    " Rep. Paul Ryan accused President Barack Obama of emboldening Iran and those storming U.S. embassies abroad while curtailing individual freedoms at home, during a speech here to a gathering of religious conservatives."

Haaretz; Israeli Foreign Ministry: U.S. ignored Arab radicalization

"Foreign Ministry official on signs of 'radicalization' in Arab world: ‘We knew what was happening, but the Americans preferred to find excuses.’"

The Americans were constantly trying to supply explanations and excuses for events in the post-revolution Arab states, and simply ignored the problems," one senior Israeli official said, adding, "In practice the administration's ability to affect events in the Arab world has decreased immensely.

Allen West: Rice Is "Asinine, Naive, Inept, Incompetent And Borderline Ignorant"
"Because when you understand that the Egyptian government, their intelligence services, put out a letter talking about the potential threat of an attack, uprisings, about a week before this. It was even printed in the Jerusalem Post on 9/11. " 

WSJ; The Video Did It;The White House finds a root cause of anti-American violence. 
"Ms. Rice's the-video-did-it explanation is no doubt intended to shield Obama Administration policies from any domestic political blame for the attacks. But far worse is the message it sends to adversaries and even friendly governments abroad: Overrun sovereign U.S. territory, even kill U.S. diplomats, and the first reaction of the American government will be to blame Americans for somehow provoking the violence."  (Emphasis added.)

 

Leading Sunni Clerics Demand Global Ban on Insults to Islam

CNS News   "Six months after declaring that all churches in the Arabian peninsula should be destroyed, Saudi Arabia’s top cleric called at the weekend for a global ban on insults targeting all religious “prophets and messengers,” a category that, from a Muslim perspective, includes Jesus Christ."
Are these the ones Obama referred to as "clinging to their guns and religion"?  

Speaking of "The Innocence of Muslims" stirring up hatred, why did this Bill Maher attack on Islam not stir up any violence?

The latest battle in the Islamic war against the freedom of speech.   "It has become clear that the riots were orchestrated and planned long in advance, in part to get the blind sheikh, Omar Abdel Rahman, mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, freed from prison in the U.S. and returned to Egypt, and above all to frighten the West into criminalizing honest analysis of how Islamic jihadists use the texts and teachings of Islam to justify violence and supremacism. This is a global effort to intimidate the U.S. into abandoning the freedom of speech.

"Nakoula Basseley Nakoula could be the fall guy who gains the unfortunate distinction of becoming the first offender against the new federal crime of blasphemy against Islam." Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and author of the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book, Did Muhammad Exist?, is now available.

Video Purports To Show US Ambassador Dragged From Benghazi Consulate
I wonder how many of these men the ambassador has greeted and shaken hands with in previous days and had them smile back.

Breitbart TV  "Various tipsters have offered differing interpretations of what they hear and witness on this video.  The shouts of "Allauha Akbar" are clearly heard and many assume that the cry is meant as a celebration of the attack on the consulate and Amb. Stevens.  

"However, Arab-speaking readers have pointed out that they hear people saying “Lift him” and "bring him out." But they can’t discern why the crowd is cheering.

"Jenan Moussa, who identifies herself as a "Roving Reporter for Arabic Al Aan TV from Dubai" took to Twitter when the video first broke.  Moussa claims that some men in the video were saying "he's alive" and "lift him" (referring to Amb. Stevens.)  She writes that after reviewing the video she believes the crowd began cheering because the man was found alive." 

150 Years ago today: Antietam, the bloodiest single day in the American Civil War (Updated)

True, Gettysburg cost far more casualties, but was fought for three days. Antietam/ Sharpsburg was fought in 12 hours.

From the UK Mail; The lost document that changed the course of American history: How Robert E. Lee's secret Civil War battle plans were found wrapped around cigars under a locust tree - and ended up in Union hands

Animated map of the Battle of Antietam

Many Sharpsburg homes have Civil War history   "Walking through the rooms of the Piper House, Ray pointed out the bullet damage to doors and window frames. The nose of a lead bullet protrudes from a window frame and the end of another can be seen half buried in a door.
...."The Piper House drew Union fire — collateral damage, really — because the troops were aiming at Confederates in the steeple of a long-gone Lutheran church down the street, Ray said.
The Pipers fled town during the fighting. They returned to find two dead Confederate soldiers in the dining room, she said."   Video report on historic Sharpsburg homes

Confederate site, referring to the battle, naturally as the Battle of Sharpsburg
A virtual tour ,
The cornfield,  Carnage in a Cornfield 
Bloody Lane
From "Glory"; the opening scene depicting the Battle of Antietam

UPDATE: Antietam 360  Excellent virtual tour of the battlefield, Hat tip to Bill Newcomer in the Civil War Facebook page.Thank you, Bill. From Civil War Trust.

Antietam on Facebook.  Videos.

U.S. Government Supports Pussy Riot (But Not 'Innocence of Muslims')

American Thinker  "The U.S. government lectures the Russians about "freedom of expression" in defense of freaks who engage in public sex, public vandalism, and the denigration of a "great religion," the Russian Orthodox Church.

"But when Americans exercise First Amendment freedoms that Muslims dislike, the Secretary of State reproaches them, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs calls them to encourage them to cease and desist, and federal law enforcement officers haul them in for questioning.  
"Who's living in the police state now?"

Wikipedia has this to say about "Pussy Riot":  

The musical performance group was organized, in part, due to anger over what they perceived as government policies that discriminate against women, citing legislation that "placed restrictions on legal abortions". According to their co-founder, Pussy Riot is "part of the global anti-capitalist movement, which consists of anarchists, Trotskyists, feminists and autonomists."