After the vacation comes REDEMPTION!

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

Obama's jobs (plan? no. outline? no.) "ideas"  "We’ve all been waiting with pregnant anticipation for Dear Ruler to return from his vacation and explain to us his grand jobs plan … right?  Oh yeah!  We’re saved!  Barack Obama, the smartest man ever to become president, has a plan!"....

....

Now we are all saddened to learn that it isn’t actually going to be a plan any more.  Drat!  Not a plan?  Now we’ve learned that suddenly it became an outline.....

....

Uh oh .. hold on. Now we’re hearing that perhaps an outline became too much for us to expect of Dear Ruler. Now, according to deputy spokesman Josh Earnest, we can anticipate “some reasonable ideas that can have a tangible impact,” Left in the lurch again. Now we’ve been downgraded to some “reasonable ideas.” Well, I’m sure that with all of his experience in business and finance, and considering his understanding of the dynamics of private sector business growth and hiring, Obama will come roaring in the game with “reasonable ideas” that are sure to empty the unemployment lines in no time flat. Neal Boortz

The Flash Mob Method of Scientific Inquiry

Ann Coulter  "Just a year later, at a 2008 Republican presidential candidates' debate, Matthews asked for a show of hands of who believed in evolution. No discussion permitted! That might allow scientific facts, rather than schoolyard taunts, to escape into the world.

Evolution is the only subject that is discussed exclusively as a "Do you believe?" question with yes-or-no answers. How about conservative journalists start putting mikes in front of liberal candidates and demanding, "Do you believe in the Bible -- yes or no?" "Is an unborn baby human -- yes or no?" and "Do you believe teenagers should have sex -- yes or no?" (Emphasis added.)

This is the flash mob method of scientific inquiry. Liberals quickly surround and humiliate anyone who disagrees with them.

....

"In fact, however, it has not been advances in Christianity (which is pretty much settled), but in science that have completely discredited Darwin's theory of evolution.

This week, we will consider one small slice of the mountain of scientific evidence disproving this mystery religion from the Victorian age."....

Pat Condell holds forth on the British rioters and rioters in general

Video  Hat tip to John Paul Curnutt, an old schoolmate.

Pat Condell's site:  

Lets go off on a tangent: The atheist Condell on the Ground Zero mosque: "Pat Condell ably articulates everything that's wrong about the  mosque at Ground Zero" 

A Muslim perspective, but keep in mind: Taqiyya and kitman: Role of Deception in Islamic terrorism .   (How did we get from the London rioters to this?) 

Getting back to Mr. Condell, atheist vs. jihadi's; still no contest for me.

More by Mr. Condell here.  I warn you, this will be a love-hate relationship.

Your choice!

Nearly All Regulations Survive Obama 'Reforms'

Investors.com  "An IBD report last week noted that the Obama administration has imposed 75 major rules in its first 26 months. The Federal Register, the official record of rules and regulations, reports 4,200 regulations are in the pipeline. That excludes massive rules to come from the financial reform law and ObamaCare.

"Under Obama, employment at federal regulatory agencies has swelled 13% to over 281,000. Private jobs have shrunk by 5.6%."

One of the nastier regulations: the fairness doctrine.  So the next time you hear some Democrat whine about how Republicans want to take away your rights, remember which party actually spent decades trying to shackle the country's most basic right to free speech.

http://www.newsday.com/opinion/walt-handelsman-1.812005

Thoughts on the Obama presidency you won't hear on NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN

Letterman writer: Obama 'too competent' to make jokes about

What if Obama isn't so smart?  "In 2008, Obama was hailed as a genius, a "first rate intellect," the smartest man to ever be president, and we know now the first part is true. He is the political genius who shed 30 points in his first years in office.

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

"He's the political genius who blew up his coalition in his first months in office, who led his party to annihilation in the 2010 midterms (while showing utter indifference to the fate of congressional Democrats), and gave the Republicans -- who were on the floor, in a coma -- more than they needed to come roaring back from the dead.

"He is the policy genius who "leads from behind," whose engagement ideas have gone nowhere, whose stimulus stimulated only the deficit, whose health care "success" helped kill off his recovery, and whose efforts to create jobs all fell flat."

Why Obama Can't Lead   "While in reality President Obama is the most powerful man in the world, his Chicago-forged sense of identity as a black political leader restricts him to complaining about why he can't effect meaningful change because of others, the excuse-du-jour now being the GOP House."

Stay on Vacation; spare us another stimulus.  "Here’s a different idea. More than two centuries ago, Adam Smith wrote that “little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice.”

"President Obama could try that approach — and he wouldn’t even have to come back from vacation."  Michael Tanner

From August 18:  You're no Lincoln; Obama’s presidential passion play  "There is, however, this difference: Americans were wrong about Lincoln because they were wrong about themselves 150 years ago. And as they passed through fire and blood, they came to see a greatness in Lincoln not unlike the greatness children see in their parents once they put away adolescent things. In our current national agony, exactly the opposite process has taken place. We have come to see a littleness, not a greatness, in Barack Obama. And it is not for him that we feel sorry, but for ourselves."

Reprised; Charles Krauthammer: Bad luck? Bad faith?  "For weeks, these calumnies have been Obama staples. Calumnies, because they give not an iota of credit to the opposition for trying to promote the public good, as presumably Obama does, but from different premises and principles. Calumnies, because they deny legitimacy to those on the other side of the great national debate about the size and scope and reach of government."

The Five Most Catastrophic Hidden Costs of the Obama Presidency  "In President Obama’s very first meeting with then-minority Republican congressional leaders, efforts at real bipartisanship were met by Obama’s gleeful assertion, “I won.”

"And Obama’s thrill of victory has become America’s agony of defeat. Can anyone anywhere put a dollar figure on this mountainous hidden cost? I would love to see someone try. In fact, I’m quite certain that you readers can think of vast uncounted costs I haven’t even thought of.

"Now, what does our Community Organizer in Chief do to quell the roiling flood waters? He pouts and goes out to play golf at the Vineyard. Have we actually seen the moment when the real sea of debt began to stop its threatening rise? In a word, No. In two, hell no.

"Obama lied; hope died."

"You just can’t put a price tag on so many opportunities lost."....

"I’m closing this piece with the very best Obama-debt analysis I’ve seen to date.  This video comes from the down-to-earth Political Math genius who explains astronomical numbers to math-challenged people like me.  Don’t deny yourself the opportunity of seeing this National Debt Road Trip in full.  It’s worth your gas – pun fully intended."  Below:

 

Syrian Activists Form Opposition Coalition; Don't blow this one, Obama!

GlobalSecurity.org  "Opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have formed a "national council" that they say will coordinate efforts to oust the embattled leader.

"Activists meeting in Turkey announced the group's formation on Tuesday, but they provided few details on the group's make-up."  Also here.

Syrian dissidents opposed to Bashar al-Assad give a press conference in Istanbul

Syria opposition tries to unite, divisions remain  "Syria's fragmented opposition took steps toward forming a national council Tuesday, but serious divisions and mistrust among the members prevented them from presenting a unified front against President Bashar Assad's regime more than five months into the country's uprising, participants said."

Michael Ledeen:  Lessons of Libya (and Syria, and, Some Day, Iran)  ...."Fourth, dithering makes things worse, and we dithered over Libya and Syria, and at best — at best — we are still dithering over Iran. .... Remember that the fear of mass slaughter there was what produced the Obama Doctrine: Lead With the Behind."

DEBKAfile:  Mass executions in Hama's main square as Syrian resistance mounts (Aug 5th)

Council on Foreign Relations:  Obama's Options in Damascus: "It is time for Obama to exercise leadership and press the United States' preferences for the region on Ankara. As Iran evidently explained to Turkey, the Turks must make a choice. The United States, for its part, does not owe Assad a soft landing."  ....

"Only a great power could do so and balance the complex agendas of the Middle East's several regional players. Turkey is not a great power. That role remains the United States' alone."  I'm afraid that is not Mr. Obama's position, meaning while he is in office the world is without that stabilizing force.

http://www.mideasttruth.com/cartoons.html

Post Quake, West Coast Teases East On Social Networks; Photo of devastation!

KCBS5 San Francisco  "“If you watch any type of national news, you would think that Washington, DC was a rubble of buildings,” she said.

"“Really all this excitement over a 5.8 quake??? Come on East Coast, we have those for breakfast out here!!!!” wrote Dennis Miller, 50, a lifelong California resident whose house in Pleasanton sits on an earthquake fault line."   Via Lucianne 

D.C. Earthquake Devastation

Obamanomics

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Heritage:  Obama’s “Green Jobs” Pipe Dream  "As President Obama stays the course, pursuing a well-worn path toward government-subsidized green jobs failures, it's important to point out that there is another way toward real job growth that doesn't require taxpayer subsidies. As Heritage lays out in its "Saving the American Dream" plan, by reversing the growth of the federal government, eliminating unnecessary regulations, and repealing Obamacare, Congress can set America on a better course. It's one that preserves the reality of the American dream, rather than chasing the fiction of a green pipe dream."

Cowboys and Aliens

http://www.comicallyincorrect.com/comicallyincorrect_002.htm

Libya's WMD in hands of Iran's allies; Should we give Obama a break on his vacation time?

Rick Moran  "Except criticism of Obama going on vacation is not limited to the right - it is universal. Many on the left have taken the president to task, not only for vacationing while the rest of America is hurting, but also for his choice of vacation spot - the estate of a rich crony.

"This is hardly a "partisan" criticism and Frum would know this if he wasn't always so blessedly eager to tear at conservatives who don't think very much of him.

"I would also point out that criticism of Obama going on vacation predates the rebel march into Tripoli by several days. To suggest that the criticism is pushback against some imagined Obama triumph ignores that reality as well."

Also by Rick Moran: Have we fallen for rebel propaganda in Libya?

Libya Rebels Have Sold Gaddafi’s Chemical Weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah  "The United States’ credibility has been hurt worldwide by this military muddle. The unintended consequence of this ill-conceived action is, the world is a much more dangerous place for having meddled in what may have come and gone as a mild civil skirmish among Muslims. Why were we there? Why did we spend a billion dollars only to endanger Israel?"

US and Israeli intelligence agencies have tracked the WMD consignments from eastern Libya as far as Sudan in convoys secured by Iranian agents and Hizballah and Hamas guards. They are not believed to have reached their destinations in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, apparently waiting for an opportunity to get their deadly freights through without the US or Israel attacking and destroying them.

Libyan rebels sold Hizballah and Hamas chemical shells  "

"It is also not clear whether the shells and gases were assembled upon delivery or were travelling in separate containers. Our sources report that some of the poison gas may be intended not only for artillery use but also for drones which Hizballah recently acquired from Iran."

Still think Israel is the oppressor of the Arabs?

Israeli-Arab Crisis Approaching

STRATFOR  "The U.N. decision raises the stakes in this debate within the Palestinian nation that could lead to intense conflict. As vicious as the battle between Hamas and Fatah has been, an uneasy truce has existed over recent years. Now, there could emerge an internationally legitimized state, and control of that state will matter more than ever before. Whoever controls the state defines what the Palestinians are, and it becomes increasingly difficult to suspend the argument for a temporary truce. Rather than settling anything, or putting Israel on the defensive, the vote will compel a Palestinian crisis."
Israeli-Arab Crisis Approaching is republished with permission of STRATFOR.

Related, and becoming more important: Modernize FISA, But Don't Hobble American Intelligence Operations:  "Congress should make the Protect America Act permanent and enhance its provisions to provide retroactive and permanent liability protection to American businesses that cooperate with reasonable intelligence requests. The House of Representatives should not impose unconstitutional restrictions on the ability of the executive branch to carry out one of its primary, constitutionally mandated functions: protecting Americans from acts of war by foreign enemies."

http://fawstin.blogspot.com/

From Atlas Shrugs: Perry's Pandering: "Much is being of Rick Perry's support of Israel, which is essential. Loving Israel is great but off topic.Bush loved Israel too, but ultimately did it harm in his concessions to Islamic supremacists.

"Anytime Muslims and Jews conflict, Jews get thrown under the bus. You cannot appease the annihilationists while supporting their target.

"We are vetting our candidate now. This is the process. We must voice our concerns now."

Caroline Glick: The Israeli Left's Faustian bargain 

"Arafat ended all pretence of good faith in the summer of 2000 when he rejected then prime minister Ehud Barak's offer of Palestinian statehood and instigated the Palestinian terror war. Ever since Arafat chose terror war over peace, his followers' willingness to admit they reject Israel's right to exists(sic) has grown."

Good grief; I can imagine the American left's fecklessness, but how can Israel's left be so obtuse? The rockets are falling on them! TD

Cartoon: Jerusalem Post

From Debbie Schlussel: HUH? Israel Apologizes; This is What “Peace” w/ Palestinian Muslims Looks Like  "And what will the apology get the Israelis?  Nothin’ (other than snickers).  In fact, the Egyptians won’t be nicer and are already saying the apology is “not enough.”  Egypt won’t stop more HAMAS and Fatah and Al-Qaeda terrorists from attacking Israel from the Sinai and entering Gaza from the Rafah gate. Nothing will get better.  It will only get worse.  And it has gotten worse.  HAMAS has been sending rockets over Israel non-stop, and after murdering people, has a temporary “cease-fire” . . . or as they call it in Islam, “relock and reload.” "

Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’”  Ezekiel 37:1-14, NIV