Pres. Obama Bashes Bush Overseas at NATO Summit

Bully Pulpit  " Obama: “The message I want to send is that after a period in which relations between the United States and Europe were severely strained, that strain no longer exists… in terms of a broad vision of how we achieve transatlantic security the alliance has never been stronger”…"   (Irony follows...)

Jindal: Obama told us not to criticize him on TV   "Bobby Jindal said that at a meeting with the President during the gulf oil spill, that he and the President of Plaquemines Parish were told specifically by Obama not to go on TV and criticize him."

Obama in Portugal; meets with EU, NATO partners "Obama's two-day Portugal trip comes days after a sometimes disappointing 10-day swing through Asia, the longest foreign trip of his presidency. Though he failed to ink a free-trade deal with South Korea and couldn't rally wide-ranging support for his opposition to China's currency manipulation, he did make clear that fast-growing Asia is central to U.S. foreign policy.
"It's a reality not lost in Europe, where some leaders worry that Obama views the continent as a secondary player in his foreign policy agenda. "

Pat Oliphant, WaPo

Palestinian Authority Information Minister: The Jews have no Claim on Wailing Wall

ShawarmaMayor "In the past, PA leaders and officials have also denied Jewish rights to the Wall, insisting that the Temple Mount never stood in the area.
"The new document claims that the Western Wall, or Al- Buraq Wall, as it is known to Muslims, constitutes Waqf property owned by an Algerian- Moroccan Muslim family.
"It claims there isn’t one stone in the wall that belongs to the era of King Solomon."

Ground Zero mosque applies for $5 million grant from 9/11 redevelopment fund

Hot Air  "Exit question: If the developers are willing to restart the debate by doing something like this that’s bound to get attention, why not go the whole nine yards and publicly call upon their prominent defenders to help them fundraise? Make the site a true lefty cause celebre by imploring Bloomberg, Moore, and so on to strike a blow for tolerance by ponying up some dough towards its completion."
Chutzpah writ large, but why not? Muslims used American planes to destroy American buildings; why not use American money to build their triumphal mosque?

All the News That Is Unfit to Print

Victor Davis Hanson  "...10) Obama and Race. We read of occasional slips from Obama and his associates, but never of the effect of lots of slips in the aggregate. Think for a minute. In only three years we have heard the following: Rev. Wright’s visceral hatred, Father Pfleger, the “clingers” speech, “typical” white person, Eric Holder’s cowards, the Van Jones racial rants, the “stupidly” acting police, Ms. Sotomayor’s “wise Latina,” the back of the car for Republicans, the “enemies” of Latinos, the tribal appeals for minorities to vote en masse and thereby disappoint Republicans who don’t want them to, the Black Panther/Department of Justice mess, the black farmers/Department of Agriculture wildly escalating payout schemes, the Michellisms from downright mean country and never been proud slurs to our uniformed lives and raise the bar whines, the Arizonans who hunt down ice-cream goers, those who in fear lash out at innocents like the Ground Zero mosque backers, and on and on. If this is healing, what is polarization? At some point, we should say to Barack Obama: “Cut it out. Get over the racial thing, and call off the racialists. This is becoming obsessive: We got your drift already.”"  Click the link above to read the other nine items.

Why Sarah Palin Shouldn't Run

Mona Charen "The Republican nominee should be someone with vast and impressive experience in government and the private sector -- and a proven record. Voters chose a novice with plenty of star power in 2008 and will be inclined to swing strongly in the other direction in 2012. Americans will be looking for sober competence, managerial skill, and maturity, not sizzle and flash.
"After the 2008 campaign revealed her weaknesses on substance, Palin was advised by those who admire her natural gifts to bone up on policy and devote herself to governing Alaska successfully. Instead, she quit her job as governor after two and a half years, published a book (another is due next week), and seemed to chase money and empty celebrity."

TSA Takes Nail Clippers From Armed Soldier

Bob Gorrell cartoon,Newsbusters

The Patriot Post  "The soldier said, "It's probably important to mention that we were ALL carrying weapons. Everyone was carrying an M4 Carbine (rifle) and some, like me, were also carrying an M9 pistol. Oh, and our gunners had M-240B machine guns. Of course, the weapons weren't loaded. And we had been cleared of all ammo well before we even got to customs at Baghram, then AGAIN at customs.""

Geert Wilders, Close to Exoneration

Daniel Pipes"There has always been one reason to expect that the criminal case would fail against Geert Wilders, the influential Dutch politician accused of "hate speech" due to his negative views on Islam. That's because the prosecutors tasked with bringing charges against him never wanted to do so."

The Tide Turns for Geert Wilders? "To that end, it is no accident that American jurisprudence and scholarship on the subject speaks to the elevated importance of political speech. So important is open public debate that the US Constitution gives members of Congress absolute protection for statements delivered on the floor of either House. Hate speech laws run counter to laws and traditions that support healthy, open debate. The trial of Wilders should be a wake up call to the Dutch to jettison the concept of legally enforced political correctness embodied in "hate speech" laws."  legal-project.org

Above posts from Middle East Forum

Media Ignores Pro-Obama Merchandise in Hamas-controlled Gaza

Culture and Media Institute  "At the Chairman Arafat gift shop, mugs depicting Obama in a Palestinian headscarf are decorated with the phrase: “Abu Hussain, Palestine Loves You” – Abu Hussain being a poorly-spelled reference to Obama’s middle name. The store also sells Obama dolls festooned with vests, swords, grenades and guns.

"Amidst the Obama merchandise are replicas of the headbands worn by Palestinian suicide bombers, posters of Saddam Hussein and dancing Osama bin Laden toys."

Photo from Nice Deb

We can’t call him Hussein, but the same rule doesn’t apply to his Hamas fan club members. 

"That the most radical Palestinian faction has declared its love for the president may be bad news for the stalled Middle East peace talks, which Obama has promised to help restart before the end of the year".

Clarice's Pieces: God Bless Barack Obama

Clarice Feldman  "As Americans had an opportunity to see beyond his smoke and mirrors Hope and Change fantasy to what , with the aid of his Congressional cohorts, he was really about , we dug in hard and fast and the midterms should have been to any rational person a sign to change course.

"But it doesn't seem to be the case.

"As Americans grow outraged at the fast theft of their rights on everything from light bulbs to medical care, the Administration simply escalates the outrages."

Homeland Security Children’s Book: ‘My First Cavity Search’

Hollywoodland

The Forgotten Anniversary

Bruce S. Thornton  "The full import of this event even now is not clear to many. The failure to respond forcefully and quickly to this affront to our citizens and property damaged our prestige and emboldened our enemies, as a German newspaper at the time prophesied: “[A] Lilliputian is binding a giant. Such an example invites followers.” Within a month the Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan, part of a geopolitical rampage throughout the Third World sparked by our display of fear and weakness.
"The attack on the embassy followed the abandonment of the shah, a geostrategically important Cold War ally. The failure to support the shah came four years after Congress threw South Vietnam to the communist wolves, and confirmed the impression among our enemies and allies alike that we were in global retreat and hence an unreliable partner."
And Obama's yoke fellows on the left like it just fine that way. Pacificism will get you killed.

Foreign-policy setbacks deepen Obama's election wounds

Washington Post  "From failing to secure a free-trade agreement in South Korea to struggling to win Senate ratification of an arms-control treaty with Russia, Obama has bumped up against the boundaries of his power at a defining moment of his presidency.
"He is halfway through his term and politically weaker after midterm voters punished his party. But ahead are a host of unresolved foreign policy issues, from drawing down troops in Afghanistan to advancing Middle East peace prospects and economic relations with China, that will require a firm base of domestic support and could help determine whether he is reelected."