Post-Anti-Americanism

Howard Fineman "I talked to numerous businesspeople and others in Europe who had lost the awe they had—briefly—that we had elected an African-American, and a cool global guy at that. They are aware that he has lost his popularity in the United States, and, even though he managed to enact some massive legislation—on health care, stimulus, and finance services—they increasingly view him as ineffectual. “He’s hollow,” said one leading businessman in Istanbul." The rest of the article deals with non-Obama issues, but all of it must be assessed thusly: are the opinions based on either concrete facts or simply feelings?

President’s Commission Recommends President Reconsider Drilling Ban

Heritage "Clearly the President’s Commission needs to take a hard look at the moratorium to see if it is doing more harm than good. With unemployment nationally at 9.5% and the economy of the Gulf region in trouble, this is not the time for heavy handed federal regulations that will further harm the people of the Gulf. The Commission has given the Obama Administration until August 23rd and it will be interesting to see if the Obama Administration takes the President’s Commission’s requests seriously."

http://townhall.com/cartoons/2010/08/11/13fa0bd4-fab6-4751-98f9-ec4c12bbb297

http://townhall.com/cartoons/cartoonist/LisaBenson

The Left's Special Interest Human Shields

Michelle Malkin "Left-wing radical Saul Alinsky taught his education acolytes well. Teacher organizers, he counseled, must commit to a "singleness of purpose." No, not serving children's needs, but serving the "ability to build a power base." If that isn't the dictionary definition of "special interest," what is?"

Fed Looks to Spur Growth by Buying Government Debt

Bloomberg "Federal Reserve officials decided to reinvest principal payments on mortgage holdings into long-term Treasury securities, making their first attempt to bolster growth since March 2009 to keep the slowing U.S. economy from relapsing into recession."

National Review "...the 2 or 3 percent of the population with so much money they won’t even miss a few thousand bucks. The other 97 or 98 percent will feel no pain, and we’ll be able to call ourselves deficit hawks when all those billions start rolling in.”
"On paper, this strategy may look promising. But a close look at who will pay the tab, where they live, and who represents them on Capitol Hill suggests that this approach has some major political flaws."

The latest bailout for public unions and spendthrift states. "Witness yesterday's 247-161 largely party-line House vote to approve a Senate bill shovelling another $26.1 billion out to state education and Medicaid programs. The White House has promoted the bill as emergency assistance for strained state budgets. But this unique brand of therapy drives states to spend more, not less. The "assistance" is so expensive that several governors were begging for relief even before Mr. Obama signed it into law."

The Taliban Must Be Defeated, Not Accommodated

Max Boot "Two incidents in recent days underline the evil of the Taliban and suggest why it is impossible to reach an accommodation with them. First, of course, was the murder of 10 medical workers, including six Americans, who were selflessly providing eye care to indigent Afghans."

Schools Erase America From U.S. History

Phyllis Schlafly "The state of Arizona requires students to take a course in American history in order to graduate, but Ward said the course was actually not about U.S. history at all. He said it focused solely on the history of the Aztec people, which is the group to which Mexican-American activists ascribe their lineage.
"Others who have looked at the books used in these courses say they refer to Americans as "Anglos" or "Euroamericans" rather than as "Americans." The books do not recognize the U.S. as a country, but claim Arizona is part of "Aztlan, Mexico" (even though the Aztecs never lived in what is now the U.S.)."

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/IBDEditorials.aspx

GOP considers resolution to block lame duck session

Rick Moran  Of course, there is little to no chance of the gambit succeeding. The Democrats still have their 40 seat majority and will easily beat back the resolution. But the GOP is starting to make the case that if they succeed in taking over the House, it would be a slap in the face to voters if dozens of defeated Democratic lawmakers were to vote on issues for which the voters had just soundly rejected them for supporting."

 Republicans Ask ‘What Do I Do Now?’ You know the scene. In the 1972 movie The Candidate, the Redford character, having won the election, turns to his political consultant and asks, “What do I do now?”
"Many Republicans fear they will look as clueless as Redford. They entered this campaign cycle with little hope of winning congressional majorities. Now they have a good chance to do so in the House and an outside chance in the Senate." Michael Barone

JournoList update

Thomas Lifson "The known members of JournoList, a conspiracy to manipulate media coverage to favor leftist positions, now number 151. Which means that about 2/3 of the list remain covert operatives, still functioning without public knowledge of their membership. New additions are:

Amanda Marcotte


Karen Tumulty (often seen on cable news as a commentator)

Kevin Carey

James Fallows"

Iranians digging mass graves for our troops

Blackfive "The nice thing for them is that those will work just fine for their fellas the Israelis take out, in 3...2...1"  They know this video will make the American left quake in their boots. Er, sandals, that is

Teheran defies US Adm. Mike Mullen's contingency strike plan.  The US and Israel have said military force could be used if diplomacy fails to stop what they suspect is an Iranian nuclear weapons program.Jerusalem Post