Mayor uses billionaire conservative Joe Ricketts to show how political pressure is applied the Chicago Way

Chicago Tribune "Ricketts' mistake? He's not a fan of President Barack Obama. So Joe Ricketts considered putting $10 million into a political campaign tying the controversial and racially charged rhetoric of Obama's former pastor — the Rev. Jeremiah Wright — to the president seeking re-election.

"Ricketts' children own the Cubs. And now their multimillion-dollar proposal to refurbish decrepit Wrigley Field — mostly with their own money but also with revenue from the city amusement tax — is in jeopardy.

"City Hall has made that clear, putting out the word that The Rahmfather won't even return their calls in the wake of Joe Ricketts considering — but deciding not to bankroll — an ad blitz against Obama.

...."I've said before that Obama will win re-election. But the way to go after Obama isn't to tie him to old Rev. Wright or to elderly revolutionaries like Bill Ayers. The way to do it is to tie him to Chicago politics. But Republicans can't risk it.

"Democrats run the politics here. But Republicans — particularly the big-money corporate types — go along and feed the Combine beast. ....

"Republicans might have businesses here. And they might live in America.

"But they eat in Chicago."

Joe Ricketts’s Retreat From Obama Attack Campaign: Are the Chicago Cubs to Blame?  "Joe Ricketts was reported to be an architect of a major anti-Obama campaign invoking Jeremiah Wright. Within hours, he’d backed off. James Warren on why the Chicago Cubs may be to blame."


Jonathan S. Tobin: Democrats have made it very clear that they will get their revenge on anyone who dares to attack President Obama

The Enemy Within; Since the end of the Cold War, America has been on a relentless search for enemies. But the real dangers are at home.

FOREIGN POLICY   "By far, the greatest threats to the United States right now are internal ones -- like that Big Mac. They don't come from terrorists. They come from political obstructionists and know-nothings who are blocking needed economic and political reforms, whether fixing a health-care system that poses a debt threat many times greater than the immense U.S. budget deficit or tackling the growing inequality in American society or overhauling the United States' money-corrupted, dysfunctional political process.

"If America stopped searching for goblins under the bed, it might actually be able to reset its economic priorities and start investing in the things that would make the country stronger, more prosperous, and safer again, from infrastructure to energy security to better schools. What's more, Americans might find that a foreign policy that identified real risks but kept them in perspective and was more about deepening ties, finding common ground, and avoiding unnecessary conflict would work better than the tired us vs. them formulations of the recent past."

Marco Rubio: Obama Is Most “Divisive Figure In Modern American History”

Weasel Zippers

Let's visit Joe Biden's world for a bit, shall we?

Weasel Zippers   RNC rubs Biden's nose in his own words:

Bill Kristol: Why Not the Best?   "So we sincerely suggest to President Obama: Dump Joe Biden." 
...."President Obama’s Barnard speech looks like the beginning of an “evolution,” which will culminate with his dumping Joe Biden and elevating a woman who has worked hard and played by the rules—Hillary Clinton. 

"Why not the best for President Obama and the Democratic party? And how much more will victory be worth having this November when it’s a victory over the liberal dream team of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton?"  Thanks for nothing, Bill. Lock up the interns.

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Biden OK With Voting for Felon over Obama  "NBC's Carrie Dann reports another instance of buffoonish foot-in-mouth behavior by Vice President Joe Biden:"


Dr. Charles Krauthammer Comments on Joe Biden: “I have no idea what the hell he’s talking about. . . I think he needs an adjustment in his medications”

Obama: Stop Condescending to Women

You knew they would print this,
 didn't you?

NY Times, er...wait! What?  "I have always admired President Obama and I agree with him on some issues, like abortion rights. But the promise of his campaign four years ago has given way to something else — a failure to connect with tens of millions of Americans, many of them women, who feel economic opportunity is gone and are losing hope. In an effort to win them back, Mr. Obama is trying too hard. He’s employing a tone that can come across as grating and even condescending. He really ought to drop it. Most women don’t want to be patted on the head or treated as wards of the state. They simply want to be given a chance to succeed based on their talent and skills. To borrow a phrase from our president’s favorite president, Abraham Lincoln, they want “an open field and a fair chance.”

"In the second decade of the 21st century, that isn’t asking too much."

Campbell Brown is a former news anchor for CNN and NBC.

The man of Bain vs. the Bane

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

Victor Davis Hanson: Presidential Narcissism  "The logic of the narcissistic mind in matters of the war on terror works out something like this:"....
...."In other words, I worry that Vladimir Putin, the Iranian theocrats, the North Korean apparat, the Chinese central committee, the Muslim Brotherhood, and all the others who detest the United States have sized up Barack Obama. For 40 months they have acknowledged that his postracial image and his youthful charisma, as David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs rightly insisted, threw them for a loop — for a while. And that “for a while” is now ending, replaced with a new belief abroad that the more Obama talks about himself and his team, and the more emphatic he becomes with his “Make no mistake about it” and “Let me be perfectly clear” vacuities, the more he can at first safely be ignored, and then, quite soon, safely be taken advantage of.

"The problem with a narcissistic president is not just that he sees the world as all about himself, but that the world soon sees that it is not about him at all."

Eric Holder: A Political Attorney General?

The American Center for Law and Justice  "Now, there's growing criticism that Attorney General Eric Holder is playing politics, especially when it comes to determining which cases to prosecute, and which to ignore."
Charles Krauthammer calls Holder "a political hack".

"This from the Daily Caller:  "Holder has thus far failed to comply with all 22 categories of the subpoena that requires him to provide Congress with documents relating to Fast and Furious. On 13 of the categories, Holder has provided no documents. On the other nine subpoena categories, Holder is still far from compliant." "

Activists to Conduct Prayer Vigil In Support of Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani

CDN  "Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has been sentenced to death in Iran for his refusal to renounce his Christian faith and embrace Islam. He has now been in prison for 950 days.
"The event will also be carried live on the computer via ustream.tv. Members of Pastor Nadarkhani’s church will be watching in Iran via www.ustream.tv/channel/reabhloid.

"Participants will call for the free nations of the world to keep the pressure on Iran to embrace human rights and religious freedom and demand that Pastor Nadarkhani be immediately released and continue to pray for the Nadarkhani family and the church in Iran."

Youcef Nadarkhani Pens Letter to Supporters, Expresses Perseverance, Faith in God

"In the letter, Nadarkhani speaks of his current condition, his dedication and sincerity to God, his thoughts about his persecution, and shares his reaction to Florida Pastor Terry Jones's burning of Qurans in protest of his imprisonment."

Historians may like this site: Fort Moultrie

This web page was just linked to on Facebook at the American Civil War Roundtable, a site for UK citizens whose interest is in that part of American History. Unfortunately the site has been a bit, well, defiled by some of us Yanks who enjoy visiting the site and leaving our verbal droppings. I did leave an invitation some time back: that if the Brits ever care to come back and try burning Washington again, some of us Yanks will make them sandwiches and tea. One responded that they had tasted our Yankee tea and would take coffee instead.

Anyway, the site is below the background link from NPS. TD

NPS: Fort Moultrie " Between 1809 and 1860 Fort Moultrie changed little. The parapet was altered and the armament modernized, but the big improvement in Charleston's defenses during this period was the construction of Fort Sumter at the entrance of the harbor. The forts ringing Charleston Harbor - Moultrie, Sumter, Johnson, and Castle Pinckney - were meant to complement each other, but ironically received their baptism of fire as opponents."

Battlefields in Motion

"At the command “Take implements,” the chief of piece would clamber up onto the central tongue of the chassis and remove the gun’s vent-cover, distribute the dangling pouches, and level the barrel. The cannoneers would meanwhile seize their handspikes and bars, and assume positions so as to begin pushing the weapon back into its loading-position. At the command “From battery, heave,” each pair of cannoneers would insert iron bars into specially-bored holes on either side of the wheels, and slowly lever the gun backwards, up the slight barbette-carriage incline away from the wall. When the muzzle had retreated about a yard past the parapet’s top edge, an order would be given to “Halt,” and chocks would be quickly wedged on the rails in front of the rollers, so as to hold the piece in place."

Obama campaign working to counter new voter ID laws

The Washington Post  "President Obama’s reelection campaign launched a national drive Friday to counter new restrictive voter-access laws, which advisers said threaten his electoral chances in November.

"Organizers will fan out in key swing states this weekend to teach volunteers and voters how to navigate a series of laws passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures imposing stricter identification requirements, limiting early voting and making it harder to organize voter-registration drives."  Via Lucianne

Bing images

Van Jones: Yeah, we enviros took a dive for Obama during the Gulf oil spill

Hot Air  Says he:

I’m critical of myself, first, and the environmentalists. When the oil spill had happened in the spring of 2010, there was another moment to say, ‘Hold on a second, let’s relook at energy policy in America. Should we be subsidizing companies who are risking our health immediately and in the long-term?’” We didn’t do it. You’ve never seen the environmental movement more quiet during an oil spill. I guarantee you, if John McCain had been President, with that oil spill, or George Bush had been President with that oil spill, I’d have been out there with a sign protesting. I didn’t, because of who the President was. 

"Uh-huh.  The timing of this isn’t very good for Obama, but it’s not as if Jones will abandon Obama, or the rest of his enviro allies, either.  This sounds more like a mild warning shot from Jones to get Obama focused once again on hammering oil companies and traditional energy producers on behalf of so-called “green tech” subsidies.  Since the first name that gets associated with those efforts is “Solyndra,” Jones had better be prepared for even more disappointment in the future. "

Great New Romney Ad – DAY ONE

American Glob   This is a very effective and positive ad.  I can hardly wait for day two.