Frankly, the alliance of the communist left and radical Islam gives me nightmares. I first became aware of this frightening trend years ago when my husband and  I noticed a definite anti-Israel bias in LA Times articles on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.   Always, always, these biased articles were penned by liberals, supposedly the tolerant, peace loving defenders of human rights. What do jihadists and the left have in common? Hatred of Judeo-Christian civilization, and an agenda for power,  their prime targets being the United States and Israel, who stand as twin pillars of freedom and democracy, entrusted as protectors of mankind's inalienable rights, granted only by God.

Remember, just months before the terrorist attacks of 9-11, in May 2001, Fidel Castro told a cheering crowd of Muslim students at the University of Tehran, "Together we will bring America to its knees,"  he wasn't joking.   The war following the attacks provided a perfect opportunity for this enemy to go on the offense.  With ally Obama in the White House, their operations became overt, the so-called Arab Spring, and the rise of Muslim Brotherhood their first victory. Who carries the saber for these destructive radicals bent on war and destruction?  The left dominated and Soros funded MSM, thats who.   CNN, long dubbed the Castro News Network, can now also be called the Crescent News Network.

From Jean-Patrick Grumberg for www.Dreuz.info, via Atlas Shrugged:

Breaking News: CNN Israel fired all Jewish Journalists

The media scandal that you are about to read was revealed to us by a totally reliable source.

It is likely to provoke a wave of shock and indignation within the North American media industry, and it certainly will not calm down the controversy over the pro-palestinian CNN treatment of the conflict.

We learned today that the Israeli branch of CNN, located in Jerusalem, is downsizing to cope with reduced income from less advertising.

What goes beyond good management is that CNN has fired four Israeli Jewish journalists (out of a crew of 8), and has retained only Arab journalists. Where, until now, CNN always sent a Jewish and an Arab journalist to cover information, now there will be only an Arab journalist. The local chief editor of the News Chanel is now Arabic.

This is a conflict where information is central to public opinion, and it weighs a lot on diplomatic decisions. Furthermore, it is no secret that Arab journalists cannot freely publish what they want without risking for their own lives when traveling to Gaza, East Jerusalem, and Judea Samaria. Thus, CNN decision to fire all Jewish journalists from its Jerusalem office is of particular concern, because the general public is unaware that they will be receiving biased information.

Update at 8:30 PST: we just received the names of the four journalists that were fired:

Moshe Cohen, editor, fired on january 30, 10 years with CNN.

Izi Landberg, Producer, about 25 years with CNN, fired on January 30.

Avi Kaner cameraman fired on january 30, 10 years with CNN.

Michal Zippori desk producer, situation still unclear.

“Our Founders designed a system that makes it more difficult to bring about change than I would like sometimes.” - Obama

Obama Translation: "Our Founders" are in my way. But I'm consistently and successfully finding ways to get around them.

Founder's Translation: The Founding Fathers of this Republic deliberately wrote the U.S. Constitution to stifle a would be dictator ... knowing full-well one would be coming along sometime after they were gone.

"A republic ... if you can keep it." - Benjamin Franklin, Founder

Come on, GOP. He's writing your campaign ads for you ... and on national TV!

HT: Weasel Zippers

“You can never underestimate the ability of the Democrats to wet their finger and hold it to the wind.” - Ronald Reagan

I admire Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. The lady is a dynamo with her hands full in a southwestern state that is the main corridor for illegal immigration and the Mexican drug cartel trafficking. Brewer's state passed SB 1070 almost two years ago in order to enforce federal laws on illegal immigration to protect Arizona citizens, but is being sued by Eric Holder's DOJ. To top it off, the same AG/DOJ and the ATF used Gov. Brewer's state to run an illegal gun operation (Fast and Furious) using law abiding US gun dealers to sell countless thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels, that have resulted in countless crimes and deaths on both sides of the border.

Gov. Brewer came away "encouraged" with some of that magical Obama "hope" when she went to the White House in 2010 to convey in person to Obama her state's dangerous border problems, and to ask for federal help in securing it for the sake of Arizona's citizens, and the nation. He said he would help, and promptly did and continues to help the situation. His help has been so successful that heads are rolling in Arizona.

Since their 2010 meeting in the Oval Office, Gov. Brewer wrote a book, "Scorpions for Breakfast". It has been out for a bit but not making much progress in sales ... until the last few days. This follows a very brief meeting on an Arizona tarmac earlier in the week between Gov. Jan Brewer and Barack Obama. Brewer greeted Obama as he visited her state, a letter in hand to bring him up to speed with what has been happening with the state's economy, and inviting him to accompany her to the border for a firsthand look at the problem. However, the man campaigning for re-election for a second term decided to express his dislike of the Governor's book, that he admitted not having read outside the excerpts concerning himself, right there under the warm Arizona sun at the foot of Air Force One. And people dare call Obama a narcissist. I imagine, despite Obama's handlers trying to depict this as onesided political theater, he must not have Gov. Brewer's telephone number on file in the Oval Office so that he could have called her regarding his disagreement on the book? By the way, this is only a couple short weeks on the heels of Mrs. Obama voicing her anger at another book not going over too well within the White House walls ... when they are actually staying in the residence. I ponder how the First Couple would be handling the endless negative books, nasty movie and 'art' depictions, and assassination plays then Pres. George W. Bush had to not only suck-up during his eight years, but defend as an exercise of "free speech".

But, as you can see from the photo above, the meeting was a little tense, with Gov. Brewer and Obama having differing views on the exchange. The Obama sycophants, being the insufferable imbeciles they are, have decided to take a single finger being pointed at their ordained fail-proof and foolproof idol and label Gov. Jan Brewer as a disrespectful racist. Right now most of these outlandish claims can be heard in the usual bilge gutter of the MSM, on television and radio. But give Obama's DC comrades in the Congress a couple days and they will get the memo filled with the talking points and belly-up to a camera. In the meantime, the democrats are using the tarmac encounter to ... yep, raise money for the campaign, of course. Undoubtedly more media idiots will be making even bigger idiots of themselves over this, if that's possible.

However, the one that caught my attention today comes from MSNBC analyst Melissa Harris-Perry while appearing on one of the network's low-rated talk shows. She equates Gov. Brewer's finger pointing with a photo involving the 1957 desegregation of a Little Rock, Arkansas high school...

After watching the clip my head was flooded with images, which I had to share with Ms. Harris-Perry in an email. It is as follows (with photos and videos added in place of the links used in said email):

To MSNBC “racism” analyst Melissa Harris-Perry:

I recently viewed your comments on MSNBC and my mind flooded with images your remarks provoked.

People such as yourself and the entire crew at MSNBC, and the media in general, are some of the biggest racists in this nation. Your recent analytical contributions to MSNBC regarding Gov. Jan Brewer’s tiff on the AZ tarmac with Obama is pathetic, and easily knocked down…

The fact of the matter is Obama picked the fight upon meeting the governor. If he has a problem with her book he could have and should have picked up his telephone and called her. However, he wanted a photo-op for all the media in campaign mode for his re-election to wave about as “racist” fodder, and like a good little worker bee you took the bait.

So, Ms. Harris-Perry, I am now forced by the standard you and others have set, to view the following as racist:

With Canadian PM Steven Harper.

And these are quite disturbing and anti-Semitic. I am surprised he did not have this man dress in striped prison PJs with a yellow star before meeting with him.

Using your standard of perception in these matters, I am reminded of this:

Sure looks racist to me … especially when you take this into consideration:

There are plenty of ‘events’ where Obama has pointed a racist finger at those he does not agree with, usually "white" people, such as Rep. Paul Ryan:

And the finger pointing to others…

As I said, I am using your way of viewing things out of proper context, and through race tainted glasses.

The man cannot run for re-election on his 3-4 year record, so he has the media trying to re-run the 2008 and past three year “racism” meme … and the American people are not buying it. He is failed, and the MSM is failing horribly. The collapse of this nation is on your heads as well as his.

I am not the only citizen of this country who is extremely disappointed in those who present themselves to be enlightened, non-racist, and higher-educated than the rest of us. Shameful ...

A few months ago Matt Drudge had a bit of fun with some 'finger pointers'...

(Click to enlarge)

And here is Obama today on the campus of the University of Michigan pointing his finger at "millionares" who are somehow not doing their part to pay for the higher education of other people's kids. (Side note: ObamaCare took over student loans. I imagine this was the plan on how to fund that little measure of the 3000 page law.)

However, I suppose the media is taking Obama's lead in these matters of racially stereotyping people...

Got it? Are we clear on this "finger pointing" stuff now? Some people are allowed ...

... and some are not.

By the way, just in case Obama and his pals are having a hard time seeing it, here is "the moon".

“I remember the time I was kidnapped and they sent a piece of my finger to my father. He said he wanted more proof.” - Rodney Dangerfield

Obama took the family to Disney World the other day...

HT: Prof. William A. Jacobson

Credit for post title in comments here.

Obama has invested a lot of stimulus (taxpayer) money (and political interests) into the unproven and failed technology of "green energy". As the media tried its best to not make stories such as Solyndra important, the money-pit still pops up in the news. But to add insult to injury (on the American people), the company has been caught destroying perfectly good parts and dumping them...

Just the other day Obama rejected the no-government-stimulus-needed "shovel ready" Keystone XL oil pipeline project from our friend and ally Canada that would have produced tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs, not to mention influence the prices in the oil market just on speculation alone. House Speaker John Boehner responded:

"President Obama expedited approval of the Solyndra loan project, but won't approve a project that's been under review for over three years ... President Obama is destroying tens of thousands of American jobs and shipping American energy security to the Chinese..."

Canada is not very happy about it either, and some very interesting points are made in this video. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is looking for greener pastures (as in market/money) in China.

But Obama and the democrats are no where near finished yet:

Wth the Iran situation and people now contemplating $5/gal gas prices at the pump this summer, six House democrats want an unelected "Reasonable Profits Board" to control gas profits...

The Democrats, worried about higher gas prices, want to set up a board that would apply a "windfall profit tax" as high as 100 percent on the sale of oil and gas, according to their legislation. The bill provides no specific guidance for how the board would determine what constitutes a reasonable profit.

The Gas Price Spike Act, H.R. 3784, would apply a windfall tax on the sale of oil and gas that ranges from 50 percent to 100 percent on all surplus earnings exceeding "a reasonable profit." It would set up a Reasonable Profits Board made up of three presidential nominees that will serve three-year terms. Unlike other bills setting up advisory boards, the Reasonable Profits Board would not be made up of any nominees from Congress.

The bill would also seem to exclude industry representatives from the board, as it says members "shall have no financial interests in any of the businesses for which reasonable profits are determined by the Board."

According to the bill, a windfall tax of 50 percent would be applied when the sale of oil or gas leads to a profit of between 100 percent and 102 percent of a reasonable profit. The windfall tax would jump to 75 percent when the profit is between 102 and 105 percent of a reasonable profit, and above that, the windfall tax would be 100 percent. The bill also specifies that the oil-and-gas companies, as the seller, would have to pay this tax.

What could go wrong?

Remember what Rep. Maxine Waters (D) said about America's oil companies just a couple years ago? So much for that family vacation to Disney World. Well, at least Obama enjoyed himself there yesterday. THAT's what is really important, ya know.

And then there is the unelected Obama EPA...

New EPA regulations will force 32 coal plants to close their doors putting hundreds of Americans out of work.

The latest move by the EPA will force new regulations on 26 states. The new rules will kill thousands of jobs, cost billions of dollars and increase electricity rates for every family.

New EPA rules will force Western coal-fired power plants to install haze-reducing pollution-control equipment at a cost of $1.6 billion a year. Pictured is the Dave Johnston Power Plant in Glenrock, Wyoming. (IBD)

[...]

The Obama Administration’s new energy regulations will shut down about 8% of all U.S. generating capacity or the equivalent of wiping out all power generation for Florida and Mississippi.

America needs a high colonic in November to remove the blockage ...

UPDATE:

Obama doubles down on green energy loans, again

Nile Gardiner at The Telegraph (UK) comes to the defense of Obama's "dumb" critics. Yeah, a British journalist has to defend the American people against the Obama sycophant American media. Nile Gardiner outlines the counter points to Andrew "Who is Trig Palin's Real Mom?" Sullivan's fawning and excusing of Obama's last three years of basically channeling Hugo Chavez (my words/analogy).

In response to Sullivan’s provocative article, which has stirred up a good deal of debate in America, here are five reasons why President Obama’s conservative critics are significantly smarter in their approach and thinking than his failing Left-wing administration in Washington:

1. Obama’s critics have a far better understanding of the concerns of the American people and the mood of the country

[...]

2. Obama’s critics reject big government and the ludicrous idea that bureaucrats know best

[...]

3. Obama’s critics reject appeasement of America’s enemies, support America’s allies and don’t believe in apologising for their country

[...]

4. Obama’s critics believe that a presidency should behave with decorum, and show respect for opposing views

[...]

5. Obama’s critics know a gaffe-prone, embarrassing administration when they see one

Read the whole thing in detail here.

Self-proclaimed "conservative" Andrew "Who is Trig Palin's Real Mom?" Sullivan has written a piece for Mad Magaz-- huh? Oh, yeah, for the yet unpublished issue of Newsweek ... right. I believe it is meant to move a bit away from calling Obama's opposition and vocal critics "racists" to just simply being "dumb". Yeah, that'll work. Here is the planned cover, and an excerpt from the article (with more @ Politico):

“[I]t remains simply a fact that Obama has delivered in a way that the unhinged right and purist left have yet to understand or absorb. Their short-term outbursts have missed Obama’s long game … [T]he president begins by extending a hand to his opponents; when they respond by raising a fist, he demonstrates that they are the source of the problem; then, finally, he moves to his preferred position of moderate liberalism and fights for it without being effectively tarred as an ideologue or a divider. This kind of strategy takes time. And it means there are long stretches when Obama seems incapable of defending himself, or willing to let others to define him, or simply weak. I remember those stretches during the campaign against Hillary Clinton. I also remember whose strategy won out in the end.”

Yeah, that 2008 Obama playbook was such a success then that it can be used again in 2012 to win over all the dumbies ... even though pretty much of the "dumb" opposition/critics (some of which voted for him in 2008 but swear they will not again in 2012) have seen the playbook and don't like how the game ends. If anything the voting public is a heck of a lot wiser in 2012. Now, if only the stinkin' GOP could get their game in order...

HT and more on this from Noel Sheppard @ NewsBusters

As I mentioned in my last post there is a new book coming out by New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor covering the behind the scenes of the Obama White House. Everyday there is some nibble released to make the book sound inviting to even the mildest anti-Obama-ite. The latest is this 2009 Hollywood extraviganza Halloween party at the White House that, for some reason, never warranted reporting ... or even a mention by the MSM. The party was produced and decorated by Burton in the theme of his then about to be released version of "Alice in Wonderland". Depp attended dressed in his Mad Hatter costume, and George Lucus sent the Star Wars Wookie.

It was the tea party the Obamas just couldn’t resist.

A White House “Alice in Wonderland” costume ball — put on by Johnny Depp and Hollywood director Tim Burton — proved to be a Mad-as-a-Hatter idea that was never made public for fear of a political backlash during hard economic times, according to a new tell-all.

“The Obamas,” by New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor, tells of the first Halloween party the first couple feted at the White House in 2009. It was so over the top that “Star Wars” creator George Lucas sent the original Chewbacca to mingle with invited guests.

The book reveals how any official announcement of the glittering affair — coming at a time when Tea Party activists and voters furious over the lagging economy, 10-percent unemployment rate, bank bailouts and Obama’s health-care plan were staging protests — quickly vanished down the rabbit hole.

“White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans — or their representatives in Congress, who would soon vote on health care — that the event was not discussed publicly and Burton’s and Depp’s contributions went unacknowledged,” the book says.

However, the White House made certain that more humble Halloween festivities earlier that day — for thousands of Washington-area schoolkids — were well reported by the press corps.

However, THE story here is not the party, but the lack of story … in the news. And the fact that the White House decided it would not have the party reported on, even in the slightest, by the press/reporters/photographers that were aware of it. The fact that the press knew about this and buried the entire event is what is the main story here.

Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, was out doing his usual, you're not really seeing/hearing what you're really seeing/hearing, spin about the event to the now inquisitive press (actually to the American public) even when the WH has been caught dead to rights.

Now comes this. Actor Johnny Depp's and director Tim Burton's names are not on the White House visitor logs:

The White House is under fire for reportedly trying to downplay the role that two Hollywood stars played at a 2009 Halloween party, with press secretary Jay Carney today calling the media's reporting on the incident "irresponsible" and denying reports of an attempted cover-up. But no record of the two stars, Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, appears in the official White House visitors logs.

An administration source said that entertainers are generally not recorded in the visitors logs. "Entertainers and production crews who are working events are generally not WAVED in since they are not guests visiting the White House, they are working," the official said.

Really? So, we are supposed to believe Depp and Burton were, what, hired help for the event?

By the way, no mention if Chewbacca was on the WH visitor's log.

Makes me wonder who else's name(s) has/have been left off the White House visitor logs in the last three years...

I really don’t give a crap about the party. The Obama’s have two young daughters, and the movie was about to hit the theaters at the time. Have at it and have fun. As Obama WH parties go, THIS one, to me at least, was absolutely nothing on the scale of all the other parties the Obamas have thrown on our dime at the WH in the last 3 years of a staggering bad economy. The big fawning and pandering state dinner to China’s communist President Hu Jintao, while he was holding a Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner in his prison in China, outraged me as Obama and Jimmy Carter were there partying with him ... the dictator, that is, not the prisoner. Remember, Obama and Carter are also NPP ‘winners’.

The fact that the WH and the press are getting away with covering up something so borderline trivial so the American people don’t know about it and get upset is quite disturbing. And it really is a stupid thing to cover-up. However, the press would have had a field day with punch served in blood viles were it a Bush Halloween party. And, yes, there would have been the obvious mentions of people going through hard times during a recession while Laura and George Bush partied on the approach and pushing through of major unpopular legislation the administration, party-held Congress and the American people were greatly divided on ….

The WH and the MSM now want to paint this as a silly non-story everyone is foolishly hyperventilating over, when, in all reality, the press has once again committed the mortal sin of becoming the story…

Not to mention it is yet another example of for the first time in history the most transparent administration evah! Yes, he mentions the White House visitor logs...

HT: Weasel Zippers

In the last three years I have become completely and clearly aware that Barry Obama has never been told "No" at any time in his life. Unfortunately, we are all, unfortunately, experiencing the results of that right now ... especially the U.S. Congress.

Kudos to Sen. Marco Rubio for being one of the only members of Congress to stand up to the spoiled despot.

In a scathing letter sent to Barack Obama this morning, Senator Marco Rubio said that under the President’s first term in office, “more and more people have come to believe that America is becoming a deadbeat nation.” [...]

(Click to enlarge - pdf)

No words...

In all reality, odds are he's looking at his last year in office. God knows he and his wife are spending our money like it is. A year from now his wife will be looking around the White House to see what she can tuck inside her suitcase as MSM allowed historic souvenirs. But forget the ugly designer clothes, the WH china and artwork. In the course of this next year Obama will be looking at how many fundamental rights he can take from us on his way out.

Top on his list seems to be our Second Amendment right to own guns. If you had any doubts the ATF's/DOJ's primary goal in the gun walking "Fast and Furious" was to promote tougher gun controls over law abiding American citizens, those doubts should be fading very soon...

In the recently passed Omnibus spending bill Congress strictly warned Obama he wasn't to use any of that money to advocate or promote gun control. Now, as is his bad habit, it appears he is going to bypass the Constitutional checks and balances by doing an end-run around Congress to do what he damn well pleases.

John Lott writing for FOX News has more on this pattern: President Obama's Anti-Gun Agenda Shows No Sign of Stopping

And remember...

While the most depressing Obama ever and the delusional and over-stretched democrat leaders insist unemployment benefits "create more jobs" and "stimulate the economy", (and also, in a fog of Botox, insist these multiple benefit extensions need not be "paid for"), it is the republicans that are "extremists" for trying to hold-up the payroll-tax cut extension in hopes of expediting approval of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline that Obama has pushed to the back burner until after the 2012 elections. The Canada to USA pipeline would not only provide energy, possibly lowering energy rates, but would absolutely involve the employment of tens of thousands of workers. It IS a "shovel-ready" job program. In addition there are currently no less than 27 bipartisan House jobs bills being held-up in Harry Reid's Democrat majority Senate. It was just two months ago Obama was bemoaning...

“We used to have the best stuff. Think about it, the world used to say ‘Let’s travel to America. Let’s see the Golden Gate bridge. Let’s see the Hoover Dam. Let’s see the amazing things that America built.’ Are we gonna be the generation where we stop building?”

Bullying us, and collecting and redistributing our money will not get our economy off the pavement. Getting the hell out of the way and ALLOWING people to go back to work will. This nation's money isn't a stagnant entity that needs divvied up and pushed around here and there like some crazy government Monopoly or Pay Day board game. It is the kinetic "renewable energy source" of our economy with investors, investments, big and small businesses, and our workers.

Seriously, Obama, just because you don't want to work...

(via Prof. Jacobson)

Hope it doesn't hurt his golf swing straining his arm like that...

It is really hard to see, after the last three years, why Obama's approval with Jews is on the rise in, of all places, Israel. He has willingly supported the sham the "Arab Spring" that has removed despots in countries that were either contained or intentionally peaceful with Israel, while practicing some imbecilic version of tough love with Israel. Those now gaining power, and heading for strong leadership/rule, in Egypt (and other countries in close proximity) are announcing Sharia Law (which is as opposite of democracy as cats are of mice) while constantly voicing their not too distant future agenda as the complete annihilation and end of Israel and the Jews as pretty much their only foreign policy. The Obama administration has praised this play-acting at democracy as the people of Egypt are closer to voting themselves out of the system of government before it even takes a firm foothold in the country. With all the Arab/Muslim regimes/governments/leaders that have fallen in less than a year the Obama administration hopes to cram feathers into its cap as success in the Middle East for his re-election bid. Forget that these governments are closer to being manned by radical fundamental Islamists that fully believe they are carrying out the caliphate. And Israel, the only true democracy in the region, continues to be in their way. For the last three years Obama has continually insulted and disrespected our lifelong ally Israel. Yet, last week while pandering to American Jews at a fundraiser he had the unmitigated audacity to proclaim:

"I try not to pat myself too much on the back, but this administration has done more for the security of the state of Israel than any previous administration," Obama said. "We don't compromise when it comes to Israel's security ... and that will continue."

The president was speaking to campaign donors at the Manhattan home of Jack Rosen, chairman of the American Jewish Congress, who said "it would be remiss for me not to say there are many in the Jewish community who are concerned" about the relationship between Israel and the United States.

Rosen added, however, that "America has never been as supportive of the state of Israel as President Obama and his administration."

But Charles Krauthammer has a differing view on Obama's record with Israel:

Of course, with an all important re-election coming up in less than a year it is just as important for American leftist/liberal Jews (my Jewish friend Evan Sayet calls them JINOs) as it is for Obama to try and rewrite the Obama/Israel history of the last three years in order to collect Jewish campaign dollars, and then Jewish votes. Well, he does have less than a year to build the last pillar of his Middle East legacy ... A "peace agreement" that involves Israel making all the sacrifices to the point of impaling itself on the Middle East's sword.

So how does Obama continue to insist he has been evenhanded and understanding in his handling of the Middle East when two of his prime representatives (and a fundraiser) make such disparaging remarks about Israel, as they have most recently?

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta:

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urged Israel to try and end its increasing regional "isolation" by repairing diplomatic ties with Egypt and Turkey and renewing peace efforts with the Palestinians.

"Unfortunately, over the past year, we've seen Israel's isolation from its traditional security partners in the region grow, and the pursuit of a comprehensive Middle East peace has effectively been put on hold," he said. [...]

The US defense chief said he understood Israel's anxieties over turmoil in the Middle East but said the Arab spring offered an opportunity for the country to forge a more secure place in the region.

It was crucial for Israel to reach out and "mend fences" with countries such as Turkey, Egypt and Jordan that he said share an interest in regional stability, said Panetta, who issued similar appeals in a visit to the region in October.

He said he was "troubled" over the direction of Turkish-Israeli relations and called on both countries "to do more to put their relationship back on track."

As for Egypt, he said the United States shared Israel's concerns about security in the Sinai peninsula and over the recent attack on the Israeli embassy in Cairo.

But the best response was to step up "communication and cooperation with Egyptian authorities" instead of "stepping away from them," he said. [...]

Well, perhaps Israel isn't as easily taken in by the budding "Arab Spring" as the rest of the supposedly intelligent world is, and know what will eventually bloom from it ... as they are target number one. But I suppose Israel is just not as smart as the Obama administration, and is suffering from brain concussions from all the Hamas and Hezbollah mortors and rockets, and suicide bombers over the last twenty or so years, because Panetta adds:

"I understand the view that this is not the time to pursue peace, and that the Arab awakening further imperils the dream of a safe and secure, Jewish and democratic Israel. But I disagree with that view," Panetta said.

He said Israel needed to take risks, including by breathing new life into moribund peace talks with Palestinians. When asked by a moderator what steps Israel needed to take to pursue peace, Panetta said: "Just get to the damn table."

"The problem right now is we can't get 'em to the damn table, to at least sit down and begin to discuss their differences," Panetta said.

U.S. ambassador to Belgium (and Obama fundraiser), Howard Gutman:

“A distinction should be made between traditional anti-Semitism, which should be condemned and Muslim hatred for Jews, which stems from the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians,” Gutman reportedly said, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. “He also argued that an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty will significantly diminish Muslim anti-Semitism.”

According to the account in the Israeli paper, “The legal experts at the event were visibly stunned by Gutman’s words, and the next speaker offered a scathing rebuttal to the envoy’s remarks.”

“A distinction"???

And THIS is not only understandable, but acceptable from someone working as a representative of an administration whose political party insists there is such major a distinction between crime and hate crime.

Gutman's premise is that Israel is responsible for the Palestinian’s “hate”, therefor directly responsible for the Palestinians’ actions/behavior.

So, why then must anyone in this country be charged with ‘hate crimes’ when a ‘minority’ group has something done to them? Why isn’t it the “victim’s” own fault for generating the hate of the perpetrator?

This is the twisted mind-set of the left.

The Jews/Israel have always been more than willing to not only coexist with the Arabs/Muslims/Palestinians, but live side-by-side with them. It’s the Palestinians/Muslims that HATE the Jewish faith, and refuse to allow them, and the State of Israel, to even exist.

Sorry, but I believe I will trust Israel's instincts on this. And on Iran, as well. With friends like the Obama administration Israel doesn't need enemies.

Cross-posted @ CW

Do you remember the arguments, rather, the discounting of the warnings during the 2008 election cycle about exactly what Obama was saying in all those crowd-fainting rallies? Remember being called a right-wing racist, etc.? How about the Cuban-American community warning how they had heard all that Obama "change" talk before ... in Cuba? We weren't prescient ... just listening.

VDH does the review for us.

In 2008, the following was the general right-wing argument against Obama’s candidacy:

a) The self-professed “uniter” Obama had, in truth, little record of uniting disparate groups. From community organizing to politics, his preferred modus operandi was rather to praise moderation, but politick more as a radical, and sometimes go after opponents as unreasonable or illiberal. Thus the most partisan voting senator in the Congress, who talked grandly of “working across the aisle,” also urged supporters to “get in their faces” and “take a gun to a knife fight.” Acorn, Project Vote, and SEIU were not ecumenical organizations.

b) Obama knew very little about foreign affairs, or perhaps even raw human nature as it plays out in power politics abroad. At times, he seemed naive about the singular role of the U.S. in the world, especially his sense that problems with Iran, the Middle East, Venezuela, Russia, and others were somehow predicated on American arrogance and unilateralism (and neither predating nor postdating George Bush) — to be remedied by Obama’s post-racial, post-national diplomacy.

c) In truth, Obama, for all his rhetorical skills and soft-spoken charisma, had little experience in the private sector outside of politics, academia, foundations, and subsidized organizing. Consequently, he did not seem to understand the nature of profit and loss, payrolls, how businesses worked and planned, or much of anything in the private sector.

d) Obama at times seemed to lack common sense, and perhaps even common knowledge. He appeared confused about everything from the number of U.S. states to the idea that air pressure and “tune-ups” might substitute for new oil exploration. He seemed assured when reading a teleprompted script, and yet lost much of his eloquence when it came to repartee and question and answer.

e) Obama saw race as essential to his persona and his success, rarely incidental. Collate the writings and rantings of his triad of pastors and friends — Rev. Wright, Rev. Pfleger, and Rev. Meeks — and one sees a common theme of racism (sometimes overt), anti-Semitism, and class warfare. It was considered irrelevant to remind voters in 2008 that Michelle Obama had alleged that the U.S. was a downright mean country, or that she had confessed to never heretofore being very proud of her country until it gave consideration to her husband as a presidential candidate — though both sentiments would seem rare for a potential first lady.

Read the whole article...

Hey, the "Occupy Wall Street" gang has now garnered the support of China. This is in addition to all those other stellar folks, blokes, and notorious groups who have jumped on board the disenfranchised trust fund babies train who majored in useless courses at robber baron universities (yeah, they're in it for the big bucks too ... go figure) and now are complaining they actually have to seek employment in a craptastic economy to pay back their student loans. (Side note: Reminder, ObamaCare took over student loans deep inside the 3000 page poison pill, with the intention of considering said loans "paid in full" if graduates simply went to work for the government/service sector ... indentured servitude, basically ... for whatever number of years deemed adequate.)

Back on track here ...

Early on, Obama tickled the idea of directly and outwardly supporting the OWS movement. Yesterday, at the dedication ceremony for the new MLK Jr. monument (designed and made in China) in Washington DC, Obama spoke on behalf of MLK saying he knows the civil rights leader would have supported the OWS. Okay...

Now, as he boards the bus (made in Canada) to make a non-campaign campaign tour to push his bipartisan rejected 'jobs bill' Mr. Obama tells the 99%ers he is fighting for them:

The White House continued its embrace of the Occupy Wall Street protests on Sunday, using the strongest terms yet to identify President Barack Obama with the growing movement.

In a call previewing Obama's upcoming bus tour through North Carolina and Virginia, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama "will continue to acknowledge the frustration that he himself shares," about Washington's laggard response to the financial crisis.

Earnest added that while on the trip, Obama will make it clear that he is fighting to make certain that the "interests of 99 percent of Americans are well represented" — the first time the White House has used the term to differentiate the vast majority of Americans from the wealthy.

Read more...

Maybe Obama's just ginning up the base that got him elected in 2008, but now feels ignored because he's not fundamentally transformed the USA into the change they hoped for at breakneck speed in his first 1000 days. But not to worry. While Obama muses that he feels their pain, the heavy water for this revolución is being, and will continue to be, crafted and carried by the ever loyal MSM. However, as more and more of the voting American public wake up to exactly what is occupying this movement, I doubt it will be a wise political move for re-election. Given Obama's proclivity for self-preservation in the last three years when things/people he has aligned himself with went sour, I wonder how long, and how bad the reason, before the OWS will get thrown under that Canadian-made Obama tour bus.

Cross-posted @ CW

If his plan was to put this country back on a successfully productive track, he's failed. Hence the disdain and disillusionment from those independents, RINOs, and even moderate democrats that voted for him in 2008 (in spite of our loud warnings), and will not be doing so in 2012. If it was to kick us into the bottomless abyss that is super-sized socialism in the shortest amount of time, he failed. Hence the disdain and disillusionment from his leftist base (who really should challenge him in a primary). Do you think the fact more than half of America does NOT want him in for a second term in office might be contributing to his blue mood? But "hope" still springs eternal, as Prof. Ann Althouse points out, "The potential for a Barack Obama nostalgia movement in the next 13 months." (It's really pretty good...) And to top it off, an old Buckeye plumber acquaintance has decided he will try to make his way to Washington D.C. in order to halt all this drip-drip-drip spreading around of everybody's wealth.

Right now there are at least two major investigations going on with his administration. The solar energy loans that did not heed warnings of a bad investment. Obama said it was a gamble. The gunwalking of illegal weapons to a foreign country that has resulted in many deaths where the nation's top cop (DOJ's AG Eric Holder) was either incredibly incompetent, or is obstructing and covering-up the facts during an investigation. Whatever, Holder still has Obama by his side. By the way, your tax dollars were used in that gamble too.
Now it appears even the OWS protests quite possibly were orchestrated from within his own inner circle (yeah, shocker, I know).

Reports are Obama is a loner ... disconnected, and perhaps even depressed ... a lone wolf (insert the distant echo of a lonely wolf howl here).

The reports are not good, disturbing even. I have heard basically the same story four times in the last 10 days, and the people doing the talking are in New York and Washington and are spread across the political spectrum.

The gist is this: President Obama has become a lone wolf, a stranger to his own government. He talks mostly, and sometimes only, to friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett and to David Axelrod, his political strategist.

Everybody else, including members of his Cabinet, have little face time with him except for brief meetings that serve as photo ops. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner both have complained, according to people who have talked to them, that they are shut out of important decisions.

The president’s workdays are said to end early, often at 4 p.m. He usually has dinner in the family residence with his wife and daughters, then retreats to a private office. One person said he takes a stack of briefing books. Others aren’t sure what he does.

If the reports are accurate, and I believe they are, they paint a picture of an isolated man trapped in a collapsing presidency. While there is no indication Obama is walking the halls of the White House late at night, talking to the portraits of former presidents, as Richard Nixon did during Watergate, the reports help explain his odd public remarks.

Read more...

Nobody loves me anymore. Nobody understands because nobody is as smart as I am. Perhaps he should call George "W" Bush and see how he was able to keep his chin up and handle the mounting pressure, opposition and hate. At least Obama has 99% of the MSM shining his turd. Here Barry, some good advice from the song voted #7 on the "Top 10 Worst Songs of The 1980s":

Obama reported to be mumbling, Re-election's over, John. /snark

As usual, there was a juicy docu-dump on Friday. This one involved emails and memos to the DOJ's AG Eric Holder regarding "Fast and Furious", starkly contradicting the top cop's previous testimony in front of a Congressional hearing where AG Eric Holder (head of the United States Department of Justice) denied knowing anything about the deadly gunwalking operation of the ATF.

I don't know how many shoes there are to drop on this mega-mess, but one is dropping today, as there is now a call from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) to Obama to appoint a special counsel to investigate whether Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress. As of yesterday, Holder's lame defense was that he doesn't always read his emails/memos. Comforting, no?

For all my griping about the MSM malpractice with Obama and his administration, I must give extremely high 'props' and kudos to CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson for her continued professional digging, deeper and deeper, into this. She appeared on Laura Ingraham's radio show this morning and conveyed how she is being treated by the White House and DOJ in her investigation. Not nice, would be an understatement:

AoSH notes:

For a fun exercise, check out how many results a Google search for "Fast and Furious Holder" gets compared with "Occupy Wall Street" (I added "Holder" to the search since results show up for the assorted F&F movies otherwise).

Deadly...

HT: Powerline

All the green being thrown at "Green" should have us all seeing Red ...That's if the MSM would cover these stories with as much vinegar as they always seem to cover anything Halliburton. But they won't, because it is a democrat administration, and that's different. Not to mention the administration's biggest media support comes from a network whose primary holder is a company that is invested in the whole "green energy" movement. Obama and Nancy Pelosi have been some of the loudest voices touting more transparency ... "the most honest, most open and most ethical government in history" when democrats are in control. I really do not believe they have actually tried to hide all that's been happening. They can safely leave anything and everything out on the table because they know the American media will not grab it and bring it to the attention of the American people. The MSM has become highly trained operatives for that dirty mission.

As the blinding glow of the Solyndra scandal is pretty much blocked by the American media some glimmers of light are still escaping to reveal the failed company that was granted over half a billion dollars was not the only one on the administration's "green" gravy train. Now comes news of an even bigger "green" quid pro quo deal that involves Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law. The price tag on this business venture for the Obama administration is a couple hundred million more than Solyndra.

DOE announced a $737 million loan guarantee to help finance construction of the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, a 110-megawatt solar-power-generating facility in Nye County, Nev. The project is sponsored by Tonopah Solar, a subsidiary of California-based SolarReserve.

The Energy Department said the project will result in 600 construction jobs and 45 permanent jobs.

And check out Ed Morrissey's number crunching (and more) on this:

Forty-five permanent jobs? That puts the cost per permanent job at over $16 million, a figure that could employ perhaps a hundred people had the capital remained in the hands of the private sector that produced it. Whatever else these green-tech loans are, they certainly are not job-creation stimulus.

But that’s not the best part. As both Gateway Pundit and American Glob discover, one of SolarReserve’s “investment partners” is Pacific Corporate Group, through its Clean Energy and Technology Fund. And PCG’s executive director is Ron Pelosi — brother of Nancy Pelosi’s husband. Suddenly, this deal makes a lot more sense than spending $737 million for forty-five jobs.

I believe the recent call by Rep. Cliff Stearns to halt Obama's "stimulus" energy deals should be taken very seriously and investigated, and soon...

I suppose I should ease-off a bit on the MSM on Solyndra. I mean, ABC has fallen into the story, and there are sporadic mentions of it on the WaPo and AP feeds. In general, however, the running media opinion of Solyndra (and this green energy stimulus hydra) is that there's no there there.

In good economic times this movement would be risky at best. But during our current fall into economic abyss to be halting domestic energy drilling and insist on only a conversion into something even Spain discovered was a losing endeavor to "create jobs" and a new economy is suicide. Not to mention throwing TRILLIONS we don't have at this failed energy industry! But according to the guy who doesn't pay his taxes, but expects you to pay yours so the government can spend it, the fact that Obama's waiting "new jobs bill" will cost $200,000 per job! Excuse me, but isn't that figure right around the democrats'/liberals'/left's designation of "the rich"??!?? And that's not even the salaries of these jobs. That's what will be spent to create them. Where's my roll of duct tape ...

But it goes beyond that (as a side note here...). Here we have the renegade EPA issuing job and economy crippling business/industry and power company federal regulations (on CO2 emissions!!!) outside the separation of powers (meaning circumventing Congress). Only Texas seems to have the cowboy-sized `nads to stand up to them. Then you have the tentacles of the EPA's grabbing and dictating private land use on the local level. (You've had such troubles on Florida farms). It all seems so ... Chavez, no?

There are societies that are barely making it on their own for their own meager existence. Follow the money behind all the "global warming/climate change and the "green"/alternative-'renewable' energy push over the last ten or so years. The company mentioned in this New York Times story from earlier in the week is ... Well, I will give you two guesses (and the first one doesn't count) who is an acting Chairman of the New Forests Company emerging multi-billion-dollar carbon credit company involved in the NYTimes story of Ugandan farmers and villagers being beaten, burned alive, and run off their land by armed soldiers.

I opened this post by stating we should be seeing "red" ... Yeah, I meant anger ... But I also mean we had better see this for exactly what it is. This is a money and power grab, world-wide, in order to move this country into a "Red" world governing with the help of the EPA, the Obama administration, the UN, and the companies set up by all those big-mouthed "global warming" champions with big pockets. "Green" really is the new "Red", and I don't believe I need to explain that word to this blog's community.

Rush Limbaugh has called all this "stimulus" money quid pro quo going to these "green" start-up companies and to unions a "slush fund" for Obama (and the democrat party) to be pumped back into their political coffers. He's right ... But since we are talking about a Chicago-way political thug I prefer to use "money laundering" to describe what is going on here.

Follow the money ... Follow the money ... Follow the money.

I'm walking on sunshine, woooah
and don't it feel good!!

(Yeah, it's a photoshop...)

Rex Murphy at The National Post delivers a very well played, and overdue, touché of the American MSM. I did a bit of difficult truncating. Difficult because every word was so-o-o-o delectable ... Be sure to read it in full.

In the main, the establishment American media abandoned its critical faculties during the Obama campaign — and it hasn’t reclaimed them since.

Much of the Obama coverage was orchestrated sychophancy. They glided past his pretensions ... They ignored his arrogance ... And they averted their eyes from his every gaffe ...

The media walked right past the decades-long association of Obama with the weird and racist pastor Jermiah Wright. In the midst of the brief stormlet over the issue, one CNN host — inexplicably — decided that CNN was going to be a “Wright-free zone.” He could have hung out a sign: “No bad news about Obama here.”

The media trashed Hillary. They burned Republicans. They ransacked Sarah Palin and her family. But Obama, the cool, the detached, the oracular Obama — he strolled to the presidency.

[...]

As a result, the press gave the great American republic an untried, unknown and, it is becoming more and more frighteningly clear, incompetent figure as President. Under Obama, America’s foreign policies are a mixture of confusion and costly impotence. It is increasingly bypassed or derided; the great approach to the Muslim world, symbolized by the Cairo speech, is in tatters. Its debt and deficits are a weight on the entire global economy. And the office of presidency is less and less a symbol of strength.

To the degree the press neglected its function as watchdog and turned cupbearer to a styrofoam demigod, it is a partner in the flaws and failures of what is turning out to be one of the most miserable performances in the modern history of the American presidency.

What is even more shameful, as I probably have offered in previous posts on the subject, the American MSM tried to cover their butts in their post-election shock that the guy had actually won the general election. And realizing the task ahead of them was to be certain the empty suited socialist BozO they had helped get into the highest seat of leadership on the planet was never revealed to the American people as an abject failure because it would mean they were also big losers never again to be trusted. They were now Obama's publicists and PR firm to the mind-numbed American populace that looked to them for honest information.

To this day the MSM has either begrudgingly touched on or completely buried huge stories concerning this administration. Stories such as the ATF's "Fast and Furious" operation, and the DOJ's and White House's direct involvement in it, that has gotten people killed, including our own border patrol agent. And there's that failed green energy companies fiasco within the stimulus that cost the American people billions as Obama is proposing more "shoveling" of money in his latest "jobs bill" that would be MSM lead stories if they involved a republican administration ... with said "news" media leading the charge for investigations, impeachments, and frog-marches.

So, a failed Obama is an even bigger failed American MSM.

HT: Ace