Obama skipping face-to-face meetings at the UN

Would Obama prefer the
 company of Whoopie...

NY Post  via Lucianne   "The world's leaders are gathering in New York, but President Barack Obama has no plans to meet privately with any of them.

"He will make time for "The View," a freewheeling TV talk show more likely to reach voters than Obama would with the diplomacy he is skipping at the United Nations.

"Just six weeks until the election, the realities and priorities of campaign politics hang prominently over Obama's final turn on the world stage before facing voters.

...or Bibi?

"Unlike his predecessors, he is skipping the face-to-face meetings with counterparts where much of the U.N. works gets done, leaving Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to pick up more of those sessions herself.

...."At the U.N., Obama will try to differentiate himself from Romney by projecting a less aggressive tone toward the world, while also defending America and not seeming like an apologist..."

This Tony Branco cartoon is a good lead-in for the post that follows it

legalinsurrection.com

Steyn on Bowing to the Mob (Flag update)

Libya

Mark Steyn  "Mark says of the new, redesigned Obama flag, ..."And where the stripes used to be are a handful of red daubs, eerily mimicking the bloody finger streaks left on the pillars of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi as its staff were dragged out by a mob of savages to be tortured and killed. What better symbol could one have of American foreign policy? Who says the slick hollow vapid marketing of the Obama campaign doesn’t occasionally intersect with reality?"
....In the Middle East, Islam had always been beyond criticism. It was only natural that, as their numbers grew in Europe, North America, and Australia, observant Muslims would seek the same protections in their new lands. But they could not have foreseen how eager Western leaders would be to serve as their enablers. . . . 
In mentioning his latest book, After America, Steyn writes: "I speculate on how future generations will look back on our time from a decade or two hence:

As the more cynical Islamic imperialists occasionally reflected, how quickly the supposed defenders of liberal, pluralist, Western values came to sound as if they were competing to be Islam’s lead prison bitch.

Related; PJ Media; an Interview: Mark Steyn on After America

"The great thing about him is that he attempted to accelerate American decline and spurred the Tea Party in response.  And that’s the one hope for America, that there are still enough Americans who say, you know, to hell with you.  We are not going to decay.  We are not going to decline.  We are not going to seize up.  But we are going to — we are going to reverse this.

"You don’t have a movement like that in Iceland.  You don’t have a movement like that in Bulgaria.  You don’t have a movement like that in Greece or Portugal.  We still have a movement like that in the United States.  And that’s the best hope for the future."

obamaisalemon.com

UPDATE: OBAMA CAMPAIGN QUIETLY DITCHES FAUX FLAG    "The Obama campaign produced a poster of an American flag, with Obama’s “O” symbol replacing the field of stars, as an item of campaign merchandise, selling for $35. The image was tasteless at best. It is hard to imagine any other politician arrogant enough to remake the flag in his own image:"...

One reason given is the reason we covered in the above post.

"JOE updates: The Obama website returns this “page not found” message when you try to buy the flag:"

Via Lucianne.

Some quick hits from today's news

Pakistani Cabinet minister offered a $100,000 reward for the death of that filmmaker

Egypt Salafi urges U.N. to criminalize contempt of Islam

For nine days, the Obama administration made a case that virtually everyone understood was untrue

Polls Show Erosion of U.S. Image Abroad Over the Past Four Years

Florida Kindergartners To Celebrate LGBT History Month…

No Joke: Obama To Condemn Mohammed Film During His U.N. Speech…

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Commander: Israel A “Cancerous Tumor”…  Hitler and Himmler would agree.

“Moderate” Muslim Indonesia Threatens To Close Catholic School For Not Teaching Islam…

Ramirez on the ObaMedia

Newt Gingrich on the Islamist Challenge

Don't you find it ironic how, for all his talk of Republicans taking us "back to the policies of the past", that Obama grovels and submits to those who would take us back to the policies of the seventh century?  TD

American Thinker  "Newt Gingrich has and excellent analysis on what we face from his book Winning the Future published in 2006:

The Islamists cannot reconcile with a secular system of laws. They cannot tolerate a West that maintains a presence in the Arabian Gulf or that would defend Israel's right to survive as a country. They cannot tolerate freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or freedom for women. In short, their demands are irreconcilable with the modern world.

...."The Islamists have been successful enough to put our leaders - President Obama and Secretary Clinton - on their knees begging dispensation from our enemies for our exercise of free speech.  Even the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is down there with them.  What would Patton think?  What would MacArthur think?  What would Grant think?  What would Eisenhower think?  The Islamists are dictating terms to us and we haven't even lost the war - yet.

"Why can't anybody in Washington say "we are going to exercise free speech in the US of A though the heavens tremble?"  The answer? They don't believe in anything enough to do it.  We've got to fire the whole crowd."

http://www.irreligion.org/2008/06/19/islamic-cartoons/

FOUAD AJAMI: Muslim Rage And Obama’s Retreat.

Hoover Institution; Muslim Rage And The Obama Retreat   "Without knowing it, he had broken a time-honored maxim of that world: Never speak ill of your own people when in the company of strangers. There was too little recognition of the malignant trilogy—anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism and anti-modernism—that had poisoned the life of Egypt and much of the region."
...."Our foreign policy has been altered, as never before, to fit one man's electoral needs. We hear from the presidential handlers only what they want us to believe about the temper of distant lands. It was only yesterday that our leader, we are told, had solved the riddle of our position in the world."
Fouad Ajami is a senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution and the author most recently of "The Syrian Rebellion"  Hat tip to Instapundit

Uh, Guys? Obama's Really Sorry! Your tax dollars at work, paying to air a message of weakness.  "If our government is going to run an ad to educate Pakistanis (or whoever) about American attitudes, wouldn't it make sense to include an explanation as to why America's leaders cannot and will not enforce the mob's standards of blasphemy? To an American, what's objectionable about this ad isn't so much the apology for the video's offense as the abject failure to defend basic American principles of freedom. That same failure makes the ad less than worthless as an educational tool."

What will it take for the American people to become disgusted with this president and his grovelling? If Hillary Clinton runs for president, Republicans should use this video to discredit her as a world leader as much as it does Obama. TD

U.S. Drops to 18th in Economic Freedom

"Lastly, “every hour spent treating a patient in America creates at least 30 minutes of paperwork, and often a whole hour. Next year the number of federally mandated categories of illness and injury for which hospitals may claim reimbursement will rise from 18,000 to 140,000. There are nine codes relating to injuries caused by parrots, and three relating to burns from flaming water-skis.”  The leviathan is waiting."

Meanwhile, the United States, once a “standard bearer” of economic liberty among industrial nations, spiralled 10 spots from the 2011 rankings to 18th place — its lowest position ever, and a huge drop from its second place spot in 2000.

BUSH TAX CUTS VS. OBAMA STIMULUS  "Obama states, "this performance is better than what we can expect to see under President Romney, who wants to return, says Obama, to “the failed policies of the past,” that is, to “the same tax cuts and deregulation agenda that helped get us into this mess in the first place.” "....
"It’s true that the private sector has added 4.6 million new jobs over the past 30 months. But during the 30 months after the Bush tax cuts went into effect in August 2003, the private sector actually added even more jobs – 5.3 million according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Survey."  

"By any metric, the Bush tax cuts were more successful than Obama’s policies have been. If anyone is pursuing “failed policies of the past,” it is Mr. Obama, stuck in the Great Society mindset, hurtling pell-mell toward the tax cliff of January 1, 2013.

 (Emphasis added)   "While President Romney would be well advised to steer clear of the Bush administration’s overspending and over-regulation, one Bush policy he would be wise to adopt is tax cuts."

Romney's 2011 tax return/ Romney's Tax Rate Equal to What Obama Paid Last Year; With a Harry Reid update!

From Drudge:
The Romney campaign is releasing Mitt and Ann Romney's 2011 tax return today. The campaign previews a few of the highlights here:

• In 2011, the Romneys paid $1,935,708 in taxes on $13,696,951 in mostly investment income.

• The Romneys’ effective tax rate for 2011 was 14.1%.

• The Romneys donated $4,020,772 to charity in 2011, amounting to nearly 30% of their income.

• The Romneys claimed a deduction for $2.25 million of those charitable contributions.

• The Romneys’ generous charitable donations in 2011 would have significantly reduced their tax obligation for the year. The Romneys thus limited their deduction of charitable contributions to conform to the Governor's statement in August, based upon the January estimate of income, that he paid at least 13% in income taxes in each of the last 10 years.

Additionally, the Romney campaign is releasing a summary of 20 years of taxes, between 1990-2009, detailing their tax expenditures during those years: 

Romney's Tax Rate Equal to What Obama Paid Last Year   "Over the entire 20-year period, the average annual effective federal tax rate was 20.20%," the Romney campaign states, based on a summary of Romney's taxes from the firm Price Waterhouse Cooper.

"President Obama's tax rate in 2011 was only marginally higher, at 20.5 percent." 

Here below is one of the very few cartoons I found on Mitt Romney's tax returns that did not trash the man. Many cartoonists here owe Mr. Romney an apology, I'd say. TD

Sodahead

Romney doubles Obama's charitable giving   "Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is releasing a brief summary of 20 years of tax returns on Friday, and his accountant says it will show he gave 13.45 percent of his adjusted gross income to charities.

"That's nearly twice the rate of President Obama, who according to his tax returns from 2000 through 2011 donated just less than 7 percent of his adjusted gross income to charities."

Romney bows to call for tax disclosure  "Mitt Romney has released details of 20 years’ worth of tax payments in an effort to rebut claims of secrecy over his personal income and steady his stuttering presidential bid after weeks of campaign mishaps.

"The Republican presidential candidate also released his full tax return for 2011, which showed that he voluntarily paid more tax than required by reducing allowable deductions for charitable contributions."

UPDATE! Nevada Republican to Harry Reid: Make our day, release your 2011 tax return

"Citing an anonymous source, Mr. Reid has repeatedly claimed in recent weeks that Mr. Romney "didn't pay taxes for 10 years."

"Mr. Romney countered that over the past ten years he never paid less than 13 percent of his taxable income and that "Harry Reid's charge is totally false." "

'OCCUPY UNMASKED' IN THEATERS TODAY

The Passion of Andrew Breitbart: 'Occupy Unmasked' in Theaters Today

"Taking down the Occupy movement was Andrew’s last true passion project. And the film shows it. 

"Just two weeks before his tragic death, Andrew took a few moments out from the Conservative Political Action Conference to confront the Occupy protesters staking out the event. “Stop raping people!” he shouted at them. “You filthy, filthy, filthy raping, murdering freaks!”  He wasn’t kidding." 

View the trailer here:

...."And more than anything else, Occupy Unmasked shows what the Occupy movement was and is, in all of its true horror. And it deserves horror. It morphed from a ridiculous camp-out movement into a dangerous political force, wielded by the Obama administration and the media as the counter-Tea Party, even as it smashed windows, burned property, and assaulted police."

Fandango can help you with info;  Or try movietickets.com

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP PROMOTE 'OCCUPY UNMASKED'
"Here’s how you can help generate buzz and box office success for the movie and its message:"  Read more...

Krauthammer; "Collapse of the Cairo Doctrine"

Charles Krauthammer  "And his policies of accommodation and concession would consolidate the gains: an outstretched hand to Iran’s mullahs, a first-time presidential admission of the U.S. role in a 1953 coup, a studied and stunning turning away from the Green Revolution; withdrawal from Iraq with no residual presence or influence; a fixed timetable for leaving Afghanistan; returning our ambassador to Damascus (with kind words for Bashar al-Assad — “a reformer,” suggested the secretary of state); deliberately creating distance between the United States and Israel.

"These measures would raise our standing in the region, restore affection and respect for the United States and elicit new cooperation from Muslim lands."....

...."A foreign policy in epic collapse. And, by the way, Vladimir Putin just expelled the U.S. Agency for International Development from Russia. Another thank you from another recipient of another grand Obama “reset.”"

America stands for freedom of speech for, well...

First Amendment of the US Constitution 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Obama’s Muslim Apology Tour Heads to Pakistan
"1. From the American diplomatic perspective the video explains everything. From the Muslim perspective, it fails to explain why the filmmaker isn’t in jail and facing blasphemy charges. The ad fails because it also fails to explain free speech to Muslims. Instead of explaining American values, it apologizes for them and fails at that too."

2. Airing a loud denial of involvement with manufacturing the video looks like a cover-up to Muslims. Dedicating the bulk of the video to such a denial looks like an admission of guilt.

3. The video makes it look like Obama and Clinton are broadcasting an apology to Pakistan. Such a show of weakness will only lead to more terrorist attacks as the protesters, rather than being pacified, will go on demanding the death penalty for everyone involved with, “The Innocence of Muslims.”  More: The Future of Freedom of Speech in America

• YouTube under threat in Russia over Prophet film
• U.N. Human Rights Council Condemns “Malicious And Deliberately Provocative” Mohammed Cartoons And Film…

Meanwhile, closer to home:
New York Art Gallery To Display “Piss Christ”…

"Rampaging Christians in 3… 2… 1… wait, wrong religion".

Weasel Zippers links to this NY Post article:

Andres Serrano's work — a “photograph of the crucifix submerged in the artist’s urine” — first ignited controversy in 1989 when D’Amato complained to the US Senate that it was an “outrage,” an “indignity” and a “piece of trash” that had been funded by taxpayers. Serrano had won a $15,000 prize for his work, backed in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Booker Rising