Pictures Reveal Character or Lack of It

A fascinating read from American Thinker, via Atlas Shrugs. Nothing like a picture to make one’s case. What a gracious man Sgt. Crowley is, and President Bush shows far more character than the current resident of the White House.

Obama's revealing body language (updated and expanded))
Thomas Lifson

“This picture truly is worth at least a thousand words.



I am stunned that the official White House Blog published this picture and that it is in the public domain. The body language is most revealing.

Sergeant Crowley, the sole class act in this trio, helps the handicapped Professor Gates down the stairs, while Barack Obama, heedless of the infirmities of his friend and fellow victim of self-defined racial profiling, strides ahead on his own. So who is compassionate? And who is so self-involved and arrogant that he is oblivious?

In my own dealings with the wealthy and powerful, I have always found that the way to quickly capture the moral essence of a person is to watch how they treat those who are less powerful. Do they understand that the others are also human beings with feelings? Especially when they think nobody is looking.

Hat tip: Rick Richman

Update from Thomas Lifson:

I think this photo constitutes another major Obama blunder.

As some AT commentators point out, this picture becomes a metaphor for ObamaCare. The elderly are left in the back, with only the kindness of the Crowleys of the world, the stand up guys, to depend on. The government has other priorities.

One of the major subtexts of the health care debate involves the public's fear of indifferent, powerful bureaucrats ruling their lives. It is one thing to wait in line at the DMV to find out which other line you should wait in, in order to begin the process of waiting for multiple bureaucrats to go through the motions of processing your request. I have spent entire afternoons going through this process.

But when we get to health care, waiting often means enduring pain and dysfunction longer than necessary, sometimes a worsening of the condition, and sometimes death.

That's why I think this image will have genuine resonance. It captures something that older Americans in particular can relate to. The President presses ahead with a program that will tell them to take painkillers instead of getting that artificial hip.

At every stage of the entire Gates affair, Obama has provided a revealing tell. The 'acted stupidly' blunder revealed that he automatically blames the police and thinks they really are stupid to begin with. It didn't trigger a single alarm bell in his mind as he figured out what to say.

Then, the non-apology apology revealed an arrogant man who cannot do what honest people do: admit it when they make a mistake.

Now at stage three, the beer photo op looked OK. It didn't turn into a disaster.

But then in a small moment that nobody in the White House had the brains to understand, Obama goes and send a body language message like this.

I think he is going to get deeper and deeper into trouble. He is no longer repeating the familiar scripts dreamed up for the campaign. He was a master performer.

But when he goes improv, as a president must do, he lets his true character show. This helps widen the level of doubt that Obama is the same guy a majority voted for. Those doubts can only grow.

Andrew McCarthy has assembled an overwhelming case that Obama has lied about who he is. I predict that more and more Americans will become open to the argument that they have been had by a sophisticated and ruthless effort to foist a phony on America.

Update from Clarice Feldman

A nice comparison of the character of the two most recent presidents. George Bush with Senator Robert Byrd“:

Obama's Love for Anti-Zionists

Perhaps, President Obama should spend more time trying to solve our unemployment crisis and our out-of-control deficit spending and lay off his intense hatred for Israel.

For more evidence of Obama’s hatred for Israel, read from Joshua Pundit:

President Obama Awards Medal of Freedom To Prominent 'Anti-Zionists'

“President Barack Obama has announced his first list of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients for 2009, America’s highest civilian honor.

While some of the names belong to people who might obviously be deserving and some are there for simple political bean counting, two names jumped out at me...Bishop Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights.

Bishop Desmond Tutu is a well known Israel basher and anti-Semite.

Like most of the rest of the ANC, the good Bishop was noted for his friendliness with Palestinians and Yasir Arafat (the Palestinians supplied the ANC with weaponry and terrorist training) and his frequent comparison of Israel with apartheid South Africa.

During the first UN Human Rights Commission meeting in Durban in 2001 ( known as Durban I) Tutu led the charge on what became an anti-Semitic orgy inside and out so bad that even the Americans and European delegations left.

Here's a few choice Tutuisms uttered at a conference in Boston back in 2002:


‘Israel is like Hitler and apartheid.’

‘The Jewish lobby is very powerful.. People are scared in this country [the U.S.], to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful—very powerful.’


There's lots more, if anyone's interested.

While Bishop Tutu was the head of the Investigative Commission for the notorious UN Human Rights Commission, it never found time to investigate a single other state for `human rights violations' but Israel. Not even a word on Darfur, for instance.

Mary Robinson is another interesting choice. The former Leftist president of Ireland, she was an outspoken, 'anti-Zionist'.

While she was president and especially while Ireland held the presidency of the EU, she happily provided Arafat and the PLO with millions in aid much of which went to fund Arafat's War Against the Jews.

She went on to become United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, where she was the architect of the infamous Durban Conference and oversaw its anti-Israel platform, while not saying or doing anything about the blatant anti-Semitic demonstrations and propaganda inside and outside the conference. She was instrumental in seeing to it that homicide bombing and terrorist attacks against Israel was not condemned as a violation of human rights. In fact , Robinson’s UN commission actually voted to condone homicide bombings as a legitimate means to establish Palestinian statehood.

She also was instrumental in pressing for UN investigation of the non-massacre in Jenin and in appointing known anti-Semite Bishop Tutu as head of the UNHRC's investigative commission.

After her stint as a UN Judeophobe, she went on to become a professor at Columbia, where she fit right in with anti-Semites like Obama's old friend Rashid Khalidi.

You can tell a lot about someone from seeing whom his heroes are and what kind of behavior he honors.

By honoring Tutu and Robinson, Obama is making an obvious gesture to Israel and the Jews. The one normally made using the middle finger.

UPDATE: Gabriel over at Ace's place reminds me about another of Obama's wonderful Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, the Rev Joseph Lowery. You remember him....he was the cretin who made the following 'benediction' at the Inaugural:

Black will not be asked to get in back;
When Brown can stick around;
When Yellow will be mellow;
When the Red Man can get ahead, man;
And when White will embrace what is right.

He's also the same moron who attacked President Bush and the First Lady when they attended the Coretta Scott King funeral.”

Good for Thee, But Not Me

This says it all. If Obama Care is so darned great, then how about our politicians sign up for it? Are you kidding? Those bloodsucking hypocrites wouldn’t be caught dead in a healthcare rationing plan like they have concocted for the rest of us poor peons.

From Atlas Shrugs:

Democrat Cretins in DC Vote Down Blunt Resolution for Obamacare for Congress



“The majority on the House Energy and Commerce Committee refused to consider an amendment by Health Care Solutions Group Chairman Roy Blunt to require all federal elected officials, including the president, vice-president, and the Congress, to join the government health care plan.

It was voted down-of course-Blunt has my vote (hat tip Laura) Blunt says,


‘“If the majority is really so confident that their plan will provide the very best health care for the people we represent, we ought to demonstrate that confidence by enrolling ourselves,” Blunt said. “I’m surprised, given that other committees in both the House and Senate have considered similar efforts in the last several weeks.”

“I, for one, don’t believe that a government-run health care plan will be the best for the people we represent,” Blunt continued, “But clearly the majority has discovered how potent this issue is. After all, if we are going to force this government takeover on the American people, let’s put our money where our mouths are and enroll ourselves.”’


If it's good enough for us, why not the pigs at the trough. Bloodsuckers. America should be outraged. OUTRAGED.

Welcome to the new America, special privilege for special classes.”

JESUS GAVE US THE NAME OF THE ANTICHRIST

I never believed the notion that Obama is the anti-Christ, but check this out, from Hot Air:



How weird is that?

Who Is Responsible for Our Economic Woes?

In case you have forgotten:

Release Gilad Shalit First

Good for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu! He has refused to open the crossing into Gaza until Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Palestinian militants over three years ago, is released. It’s well past time something is done to secure the safe release of this young soldier.

Read from the Jerusalem Post:

Netanyahu: 'Crossings shut until Schalit freed'

“Israel will continue to keep the crossings to Gaza closed, except for humanitarian aid, until the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told US National Security Adviser Jim Jones on Wednesday.

A decision by Defense Minister Ehud Barak earlier in the day to allow the shipment of hundreds of tons of cement into Gaza did not signal a change in policy on the crossings, sources in the Prime Minister's Office said. Rather, the cement was earmarked specifically for three humanitarian projects, including a sewage plant under construction in northern Gaza and a flour mill.

In total, the IDF will allow in more than 300 tons of cement.

Israel has been under mounting international pressure since Operation Cast Lead to allow cement and steel into Gaza to rebuild the area. The government has barred the entry of these materials out of concern they would be used to rebuild Hamas's terrorist infrastructure."

Read it all.

Sinking Deeper

"Welcome to Czarist Amerika"

From Michelle Malkin:

A Battle Against the Forces of Pure Evil

The Brown Shirts are alive and well, and they have inhabited America’s Democratic Party. And to think that they referred to President Bush as Hitler.

The debate over how to fix our health care problem has gone beyond politics and has become a battle against the forces of pure evil. President Obama is out and out lying to the American people about the details of the National Health Care bill, hoping that it will be passed into law before the average American can find out what is in it.

America has its new Hitler, and he takes up residence in the White House. Wake up America; put down the Kool-Aid before it’s too late!

Read the warning from Rick Joyner, the founder of Morning Star Ministries:

SPECIAL BULLETIN
NATIONAL HEALTH SCARE

By Rick Joyner

“When I read the brief on what was contained in the National Health Care bill that is now being presented before Congress, I could not believe I was reading something that was actually being considered in the United States of America. This is not about money or government mismanagement—this is about something far more diabolical than that. As incomprehensible as it may seem, this is about the power to determine who lives or dies in America. This is not a joke—this is actually the nature of what is being proposed in the National Health Care legislation, and it is the obvious reason why the Obama Administration wants to ram it through Congress before anyone gets a chance to read it.

I have resolved to always be as generous as I can toward people with opposing views of my own. I do this because I believe it is the mandate of I Corinthians 13 to always believe the best about people, rather than the worst. I know this opens me up to be misled by some, but I consider that a small price to pay to not become cynical. I also do it because I think it is wise to always try and understand the position of my opponents—to be open to consider their positions and not be too rigid or inflexible to change because we all ‘see in part,’ and ‘know in part.’ Because of this, I have been chided for being too generous by giving those I do challenge grace by believing that they had not thought through the consequences of their proposals, or had other good intentioned reasons for doing what they were doing. However, after reading the brief on this health care bill, I don’t see how anyone could not see that there is profound evil and evil intent at work here. I just do not see any way to be any more generous with those who proposed this bill than that. It is that bad.

This bill is obviously designed to put the authority to determine who lives and dies in America into the hands of government bureaucrats. As outrageous as that seems, it is true—you can read it yourself. It even gives the government access to all of your accounts, and the authority to make withdrawals. I know this is hard to believe, but you can read it yourself.

Do you want a government bureaucrat to determine if your mother or father can receive treatment, even in life and death cases? Would you want a government bureaucrat to determine if your child, or you, could receive treatment, even when it means life or death? Think of the best experience that you ever had working with a government bureaucrat, and then think about them having the power to make a potentially life or death choice for your child, your parents, or for you. This is actually what is being proposed.

Add to that chilling thought the fact that this bureaucrat does not have to know one thing about medicine to be in that position. In fact, this bill proposes letting the government define what quality health care is and impose that definition on health care workers. Nowhere does it even specify what training, expertise, or qualifications this all-powerful government bureaucrat has to have to be placed in the position to make such ultimate decisions for the health, well-being, and even the lives of Americans.

Am I being too hard on bureaucrats, or the Obama Administration’s intentions? Certainly there are many bureaucrats who are sincere and true public servants. I agree that such are deserving of our appreciation and respect. The modern world could not exist without them. Think of the most noble and conscientious there are. What kind of position would we be putting them in to have to go to work every day and decide who is going to get treatment, who is going to have to go on a waiting list and for how long, and who are they going to have to just let die?

Who could live with such a job? There are many who could, who would just see it as paperwork, and those are the ones who would be in that position because the truly noble ones could not endure it. Hitler found many who could dispatch thousands each day, and then go home and enjoy their own families at night. There are people with that kind of moral disconnect. These jobs will be filled and by the very ones we would never want in such positions.

It is beyond anything I thought I would ever see in my lifetime that such a bill could ever be seriously considered in the U.S. Congress. This bill has the potential for totalitarian control to be imposed on America to a degree that Hitler and Stalin could not have even imagined. With the technology available now, totalitarian control can very quickly be imposed to a degree far beyond what was attained by either the Nazis or the Communists, and this bill has provisions in it for just that. It mandates the sharing of all of your personal information, from just about every conceivable source, with the new health care bureaucracy being set up to implement this national health care system. The penalties for trying to escape this web are serious. You do not have to take my word for it—read it for yourself. Below I will include a brief on this bill so that you can look it up, chapter and verse.

I am a pastor and a watchman, and I therefore have a mandate to watch out for the people, and to sound the alarm when I see a threat. I have never seen one like this before. Even so, I have prayed for restraint and calm as I address this, and do not want to exaggerate anything. In spite of this terrible evil that is manifesting itself through the Obama Administration, I am resolved to pray for our government leaders, and I try to pray for the President every day. My sincere hope is for a spiritual awakening for him and for those in every government position, and for the Lord to give them wisdom and help for the most difficult task they have. However, with all due respect (and I mean this), what is coming out of the Obama Administration is evil, more evil than anything I thought I would ever see in America. It is time to call it what it is."

Please read it all.

Fox News' Ratings Soar; MSNBC's Tumble

The American Pravda is so over-the-top with Obama adoration that the average American is fed up. Just watch the expression on the face of Today’s Show host, Matt Lauer at the end of his interview with conservative Michelle Malkin.

Objectivity? “What’s that?” says Lauer.

I’m pleased to announce that the ratings for the government-run, enough to make one want to barf, MSNBC, are in the toilet, while at the same time, Fox News’ numbers are going through the roof. What? People don’t like Keith Olbermann? How can that be?

Read from Newsbusters:

FNC's Ratings Continue to Climb, MSNBC's and Olbermann's Fall

“While July has been another banner month for the Fox News Channel, the good folks at MSNBC might want to rethink their current lineup.

In the all important demographic group aged 25 to 54, FNC was up 48 percent in total daily viewers, and an astounding 70 percent in prime time compared to July 2008.

By contrast, MSNBC's take of this demo was unchanged in prime time and down seven percent in total daily viewers.

The liberal network's top personality Keith Olbermann saw his July demo numbers decline to their lowest level since December 2007.

As reported moments ago by TVNewser (h/t Bret Baier):


- ‘FNC's audience expanded in all categories during July 2009, besting CNN and MSNBC combined in viewership (for both Total Day and Prime) according to Nielsen Media Research.

- In the key 25-54 demographic, FNC posted the largest gains among all cable news networks in both Total Day and Prime Time – increasing an extraordinary 48% and 70% respectively when compared to July 2008.

- Among basic cable networks, FNC ranked third for the month in prime time viewership behind only USA Network and TNT, with CNN and MSNBC lagging behind at 15th and 26th, respectively, while continuing to battle each other for third place in cable news.

- FNC also secured nine out of the top 10 rated programs in cable news for the month based on total viewership. The O'Reilly Factor marked #1 for 104 consecutive months in July and led all programs with 3,075,000 viewers, ending the month up 37% over July 2008. Hannity was second, up 41%. Other notables include: On the Record with Greta Van Susteren (up 60%); Glenn Beck (up 120%); The FOX Report with Shepard Smith (up 36%)

- In the key 25-54 demographic, FNC expanded upon an already dominant lead in Prime Time averaging 530,000 viewers surging 70% compared with CNN's 377,000 (up 40%) and MSNBC's 252,000 (flat). In total day, FNC averaged 301,000 (up 48%) compared to CNN’s 231,000 (up 39%) and MSNBC's 143,000 (down 7%). Meanwhile, CNN’s latest failure in Prime Time, Campbell Brown, finished in fourth place in 25-54 behind FNC, HLN and MSNBC at 8:00pm ET.

- In Prime Time, FNC bested CNN and MSNBC combined with an average of 2,071,000 viewers (up 43%) during July 2009, compared with CNN's 1,127,000 (up 39%) and MSNBC’s 738,000 (up 24%). In total day, FNC also rated higher than the competition combined with 1,138,000 total viewers (up 36%) compared to CNN’s 723,000 (up 45%) and MSNBC's 396,000 (up 12%).’


As for Olbermann and MSNBC:


‘MSNBC slipped to fourth place in total day A25-54 demo viewers. The network's most popular show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, is down 11% year-over-year; second in Total Viewers, third in the A25-54 demo. July 2009 was Countdown's lowest month in A25-54 viewers since Dec. '07. (Olbermann was off 7 of the 20 days of the ratings period).

As for MSNBC's new shows, they are down double-digits compared to July '08:

• Morning Meeting with Dylan Ratigan (9-11amET) is down 14% in the demo compared to MSNBC Live in July '08 (87K v 101K).


• Dr. Nancy (Noon-1pmET) is down 38% in the demo compared to MSNBC Live in July '08 (53K v 86K).

"Morning Joe" showed growth, year-over-year, up 15% in Total Viewers and up 7% in the demo.’


Fascinating that the show with a pseudo-conservative host is growing in viewers, don't you agree?”

"Hope and Change Came Wrapped in Brass Knuckles"

Michelle Malkin has been all over the airwaves promoting her new book, “Culture of Corruption”, and the liberals are fuming. In this book, which happens to be #1 on Amazon, she nails President Obama for his Chicago thug-style politics, and while she is at it, she takes a few hits at the First Lady in a Michelle vs. Michelle show-down. And no, Diogenes, I don’t get a cut from her book sales; I do this for free. It’s called “love of country”.

Read a sample of some of what Malkin has discovered about the 44th president.

Bully boys: A brief history of White House thuggery
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2009

“Six months into the Obama administration, it should now be clear to all Americans: Hope and Change came to the White House wrapped in brass knuckles.

Ask the Congressional Budget Office. Last week, President Obama spilled the beans on the Today Show that he had met with CBO director Douglas Elmendorf – just as the number-crunchers were casting ruinous doubt on White House cost-saving claims. Yes, question the timing. The CBO is supposed to be a neutral score-keeper – not a water boy for the White House. But when the meeting failed to stop the CBO from issuing more analysis undercutting the health care savings claims, Obama’s budget director Peter Orszag played the heavy.

Orszag warned the CBO in a public letter that it risked feeding the perception that it was ‘exaggerating costs and underestimating savings.’ Message: Leave the number-fudging to the boss. Capiche?

President Obama issued an even more explicit order to unleash the hounds on Blue Dog Democrats during his health care press conference. ‘Keep up the heat’ translated into Organizing for America/Democrat National Committee attack ads on moderate Democrats who have revolted against Obamacare’s high costs and expansive government powers over medical decisions.

Looks like there won’t be a health care beer summit any time soon.

The CBO and the Blue Dogs got off easy compared to inspectors generals targeted by Team Obama goons. Gerald Walpin, the former Americorps inspector general was slimed as mentally incompetent (‘confused’ and ‘disoriented‘) after blowing the whistle on several cases of community service tax fraud, including the case of Obama crony Kevin Johnson. As I’ve reported previously, Johnson’s the NBA star-turned-Sacramento Democrat mayor who ran a federally-funded non-profit group employing AmeriCorps volunteers that were exploited to perform campaign work for Johnson and provided personal services (car washes, errands) to Johnson and his staff.

Walpin filed suit last week to get his job back – and to defend the integrity and independence of inspector generals system-wide. But he faces hardball tactics from both the West Wing and the East Wing, where First Lady Michelle Obama has been intimately involved in personnel decisions at AmeriCorps, according to youth service program insiders.

At the Environmental Protection Agency, top Obama officials muzzled veteran researcher Alan Carlin, who dared to question the conventional wisdom on global warming. The economist with a physics degree was trashed as a non-scientist know-nothing.

Obama Treasury officials forced banks to take TARP bailout money they didn’t want and obstructed banks that wanted to pay back TARP money from doing so. The administration strong-armed Chrysler creditors and strong-armed Chrysler dealers using politicized tactics that united both House Democrats and Republicans, who passed an amendment last week reversing President Obama on the closure of nearly 800 Chrysler car dealerships and more than 2,000 GM dealerships.

At the Justice Department, Obama lawyers are now blocking a House inquiry into the suspicious decision to dismiss default judgments against radical New Black Panther Party activists who intimidated voters and poll workers on Election Day in Philadelphia. The DOJ is preventing Virginia Republican Rep. Frank Wolf from meeting with the trial team in the case. Rep. Wolf has been pressing for answers on what communications Attorney General Eric Holder and his deputies conducted with third-party interest groups and other political appointees about the case. So far: radio silence.

In the mafia culture, the bully boys depend on a code of silence and allegiance – omerta — not only among their brethren, but also from the victims. The victims of Obama thugocracy are no longer cooperating. Perhaps it won’t be long until some of the enforcers start to sing, too.”

Hey There Obama (Drink the Kool Aid)

Enjoy! From the Patriot Room:

Michelle Malkin talks with Matt Lauer about Obama's "Culture of Corruption"

Go get him, Michelle! Way to go for exposing the corruption of the Obama machine!

From Hot Air:

Obama on America: No City on a Hill

Get a load of the Obama Doctrine from the Washington Times:

The Obama doctrine
Opening a pathway to America's decline
By Jeffrey T. Kuhner

"The Obama administration has developed a new doctrine in foreign affairs over the past six months. It is the Obama Doctrine. If it continues to be pursued, it will mark the decline and fall of the United States as the world's superpower.

In fact, its very objective is to undercut America's pre-eminent global role, reducing its great-power status to that of a multilateral partner equal to Russia, China or the European Union. At its core, the Obama Doctrine maintains that all societies and cultures are morally equal. More important, promoting democracy and human rights has been abandoned in favor of 'improving America's standing in the world.'

Since the presidency of Jimmy Carter, a key component of U.S. foreign policy has been to advance democratization and human rights. Each administration has understood that expanding political freedom strengthens American national interests -- and values.

Ronald Reagan sought to roll back communism. George H.W. Bush encouraged the reunification of Germany and oversaw the implosion of the Soviet empire. Bill Clinton liberated Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo from Serbian revanchism. George W. Bush imposed democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq, freeing more than 50 million Muslims from totalitarian rule.

This tradition has been ruptured by Mr. Obama. As a result, freedom is in retreat. Our enemies have become emboldened. America is weaker.

On China, Mr. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have deliberately put human rights and Tibet on the back burner, refusing to raise these issues for fear of angering Beijing. Instead, Mrs. Clinton insists that the 'global financial crisis,' the supposed 'climate-change crisis' and the 'security crisis' are more important. Hence, China's democrats and persecuted religious minorities no longer look to Washington for support.

The same applies to Russia. Mr. Obama has publicly praised Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. This is done despite Moscow's war of aggression against the Republic of Georgia and its attempt to bully Ukraine.

Washington is slowly sacrificing our closest regional allies in the vain hope of appeasing the Russian bear. Moreover, Mr. Obama is determined to press the 'reset' button on Russo-American relations even though Prime Minister Putin has transformed Russia into a gangster state where independent journalists and critics are murdered. This is not realpolitik -- the theory that international relations is governed by amoral power politics. It is national self-abnegation -- a liberal suicide instinct -- dressed up as practical multipolar realism.

The clearest example is Iran. The recent street protests against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's sham 're-election' presented a golden opportunity for the Obama administration to trigger regime change.

The mass demonstrations revealed the profound divisions in Iran and the widespread opposition to the theocratic regime. Iranian protesters were seething not only at the mullahs' domestic incompetence, but also at their fanatical foreign policy. They seek Islamism with a human face -- a Muslim reform movement marked by greater openness, religious tolerance and respect for women's rights.

The dissidents realize that Mr. Ahmadinejad's acquisition of the bomb will lead to only one disastrous conclusion: a nuclear war with Israel. Iranians don't want to be sacrificed as part of a revolutionary, apocalyptic Shi'ite vision to destroy the Jews and hasten the coming of the Islamic messiah -- the so-called hidden imam.

Instead of openly supporting Iran's democratic movement, Mr. Obama stood by and watched passively as fascist brownshirts -- the paramilitary Basij -- gunned down, arrested and tortured peaceful demonstrators. Nothing will stop Mr. Obama from his policy of diplomatic engagement -- even innocent blood being spilled on the streets of Tehran, blood that represents America's and the region's best hope of sweeping away the evil Islamic Republic.

Every great advance of freedom -- the defeat of the Axis powers, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of European colonialism -- has come with significant American leadership and internal meddling.

The Allies bombed Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan into submission; the independence of Ireland, Israel, India and many other countries came about largely because of U.S. diplomatic support. Washington vigorously encouraged the captive nations of Eastern Europe to break away from the Soviet orbit.

More ominously, Mrs. Clinton has said that a nuclear-armed Iran will cause America to extend a 'defense umbrella' over its allies in the Persian Gulf. In other words, the Obama administration is signaling it can live with an Iranian bomb.

The strategic flaw in Mr. Obama's thinking is that traditional diplomacy or containment does not work with religious fanatics. Tehran's mullocracy believes in nuclear war as salvation. Mr. Obama's policies are reassuring them they have nothing to fear from America.

Mr. Obama is able to find common cause with the world's tyrants -- from the butchers in Beijing to Mr. Putin's Great Russian nationalists, from Mr. Ahmadinejad's Islamic fascists to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's Bolivarian socialists. The president refuses to demand democratic accountability and defend individual liberty. Instead, he practices a chic anti-Americanism. He blames America for the world economic crisis, global warming, the invasion of Iraq and Mexico's drug wars.

In short, he is a transnational leftist who believes American power must be restrained, not enhanced. More important, he is a cultural relativist. He is convinced the United States is not a singular force for good in the world, but an imperial, jingoistic nation that must be chastened -- and humbled -- on the world stage.

Mr. Reagan spoke of America as a 'city on a hill.' Mr. Obama speaks of a one-world multicultural love fest in which America is only one color in the international rainbow coalition. He is the anti-Reagan. He will lead the United States to defeat, disgrace and ruin."

Ordering a Pizza in 2012

Great email:

"This is absolutely hilarious, but the scary part about it is that it's probably not too far away from being reality, providing Obama has his way with socialized medicine, and digitizing medical records.

Want to know how to order a pizza in 2012? Click the link and see.

Turn up the volume, listen closely and watch the pointer!"

The National Debt Road Trip

From Hot Air:

Christians United for Israel

"For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet." (Isaiah 62:1)

President Obama is bound and determined to stick it to Israel every chance he gets. But, the real question is: Are the American people behind him in his anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian agenda?

American Jews for the large part sold out the Jewish nation when they overwhelmingly voted for Obama in the 2008 presidential election. Sadly, liberalism seems to be their religion.

Evangelical Christians, on the other hand, are the strongest supporters of Israel. As a preteen living in the Middle East, I grew up with a pro-Palestinian mindset. Only after becoming a Bible-believing Christian in my 20’s did I see the error of my ways. Over the years I have made a 180 degree turn and now am a strong advocate for the Jewish nation and a member of Christians United for Israel.

Read from CBN News about the recent Christians United for Israel conference held in Washington, D.C. to show support for the Israeli people.

Christians, Jews Stand Together for Israel

WASHINGTON -- “For centuries, Christians and Jews had a rocky relationship that was frequently marred by anti-Semitism.

But times have changed.

Today, America's largest pro-Israel organization is run by evangelical Christians.
That group -- Christians United for Israel -- holds its annual conference in Washington this week.

The event has featured scenes that would have been unthinkable not too long ago: from Christians and Jews dancing side-by-side to the Hebrew folk song ‘Hava Nagila,’ to a crowd of over 4,000 people -- overwhelmingly Christian -- proudly waving the flag of the Jewish state.

Pastor John Hagee founded Christians United for Israel in 2006 as a way for Christians and Jews to come together in support of Israel. Judging by the group's annual conference -- which is being held at the Washington Convention Center -- his vision is being realized.

Several prominent Christian and Jewish lawmakers, journalists and media personalities have taken the stage to stand for Israel. Sen. Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., received the groups' Defender of Israel award, while Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., Fox News's Fred Barnes, and talk radio hosts Michael Medved and Dennis Prager also delivered addresses. A highlight Tuesday was a live satellite appearance by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

‘Today, millions of Christians stand with Israel because they stand for freedom,’ Netanyahu said. ‘Millions of Christians stand with Israel because they stand for truth. And millions of Christians stand for Israel because they want to see a genuine peace in the Holy Land.’

The Christians United for Israel conference is always a very festive occasion. You'll see people blowing into ancient biblical shofars, singing traditional Hebrew songs, dancing, and praising God. But there is also a serious message. Attendees say the threats gathering against Israel -- including increased U.S. Pressure -- have never been greater. And leading those threats is Iran."

......

Also, read from the Jerusalem Post:

'50 million US Christians back Israel'

"For two days, the participants learned about Israel, its history, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, how to effectively defend Israel, what America's government should do, how to deal with Iran and how to lobby elected officials. On Wednesday participants met with their elected officials in Congress to voice their support for Israel.

‘We're here to tell you and the people of Israel that there are 50 million Christians in this nation who support you and the State of Israel,’ said CUFI founder John Hagee to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who joined the conference via satellite.

‘Your unwavering friendship strengthens us,’ said Netanyahu, noting that CUFI is helping open a new chapter in Jewish-Christian relations.

……

‘What drives us is the biblical mandate to stand with Israel and the Jewish people,’ said Western Regional Coordinator Randy Neal.

……

Founded in 2006, CUFI now claims over 220,000 followers throughout the US.

Recurring themes brought up by most of the conference speakers were the many aspects of Israel's right to exist and expand, a sense that the Obama administration was unfairly pressuring Israel to stop expanding and an urgent need to address Iran.

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, joined in criticizing Obama's Middle East policy. He said he did not believe in Obama's theory that sowing some discord between America and Israel will give America legitimacy to negotiate with Arab states.

While CUFI is still confident of its ability to advocate for Israel under the Obama administration and a heavily Democratic Congress, some experts and CUFI leaders expressed concerns that with the current political climate, advocating CUFI's position might become slightly more difficult. However, there was no doubt that Congress remains a strong ally of Israel.”

What the Arab Press Says About the Palestinian Situation

Read a little history lesson on the Middle East from World Net Daily and discover that the Arabs are responsible for the Palestinian refugee problem, rather than the world’s villain, mean old Israel:

BETWEEN THE LINES

Arab leaders caused refugee problem
Exclusive: Joseph Farah explains why Jewish state cannot solve crisis it did not create

“I've written about ‘the world's collective amnesia" when it comes to the so-called ‘root causes of the Middle East crisis.’

The conventional wisdom today suggests the new state of Israel in 1948 was to blame for the creation of the Arab refugee problem.

The mantra is repeated endlessly by U.S. State Department apparatchiks, Israel's enemies around the globe and even by well-meaning, guilt-ridden Jews.

The entire Middle East peace process is based on this notion – that repatriation of Arab Palestinians in a new homeland of their own will solve the conflict.

There's just one problem with the concept: It's patently untrue.

In fact, I've been collecting, over the years, quotations from the Arab press that reveal the truth of the matter – that Arab aggression toward Israel and the Arab leadership's own encouragement of flight by Arab Palestinians was the main cause of the world's oldest refugee crisis.

Here are some oldies but goodies – not the words of Jews and Israelis, but the actual words of Arabs closer to the time of the events:

‘The fact that there are these refugees is the direct consequence of the act of the Arab states in opposing partition and the Jewish state. The Arab states agree upon this policy unanimously and they must share in the solution of the problem.’
– Emile Ghoury, secretary of the Palestinian Arab Higher Committee, in an interview with the Beirut Telegraph Sept. 6, 1948

‘The Arab state which had encouraged the Palestine Arabs to leave their homes temporarily in order to be out of the way of the Arab invasion armies, have failed to keep their promise to help these refugees.’
– The Jordanian daily newspaper Falastin, Feb. 19, 1949

‘Who brought the Palestinians to Lebanon as refugees, suffering now from the malign attitude of newspapers and communal leaders, who have neither honor nor conscience? Who brought them over in dire straits and penniless, after they lost their honor? The Arab states, and Lebanon amongst them, did it.’
– The Beirut Muslim weekly Kul-Shay, Aug. 19, 1951

‘The 15th May, 1948, arrived ... On that day the mufti of Jerusalem appealed to the Arabs of Palestine to leave the country, because the Arab armies were about to enter and fight in their stead.’
– The Cairo daily Akhbar el Yom, Oct. 12, 1963

For the flight and fall of the other villages it is our leaders who are responsible because of their dissemination of rumors exaggerating Jewish crimes and describing them as atrocities in order to inflame the Arabs ... By spreading rumors of Jewish atrocities, killings of women and children etc., they instilled fear and terror in the hearts of the Arabs in Palestine, until they fled leaving their homes and properties to the enemy.’
– The Jordanian daily newspaper Al Urdun, April 9, 1953

The truth is out there – but you've got to search for it.

The candid comments by Arabs in the Arab press continue to this day.

Here's what Jawad Al Bashiti, an Arab Palestinian journalist in Jordan, wrote in Al-Ayyam May 13 of this year: ‘Remind me of one real cause from all the factors that have caused the “Palestinian Catastrophe,” and I will remind you that it still exists. … The reasons for the Palestinian Catastrophe are the same reasons that have produced and are still producing our catastrophes today. During the Little Catastrophe, meaning the Palestinian Catastrophe, the following happened: The first war between Arabs and Israel had started and the “Arab Salvation Army” came and told the Palestinians: “We have come to you in order to liquidate the Zionists and their state. Leave your houses and villages, you will return to them in a few days safely. Leave them so we can fulfill our mission (destroy Israel) in the best way and so you won't be hurt.” It became clear already then, when it was too late, that the support of the Arab states (against Israel) was a big illusion. Arabs fought as if intending to cause the “Palestinian Catastrophe.”’

The Arabs know the truth – if they read their own history.

There was no Jewish conspiracy to chase Arabs out of their homes in 1948. It never happened. There are, instead, plenty of historical records showing the Jews pleading with their Arab neighbors to stay and live in peace and harmony. Yet, despite the clear, unambiguous words of the Arab observers at the time, history has been successfully rewritten to turn the Jews into the bad guys.

The truth is that 68 percent of the Arab Palestinians who left in 1948 – perhaps 300,000 to 400,000 of them – never saw an Israeli soldier.

Even more importantly, the revised history has given the guilty a free ride. The Arab states that initiated the hostilities have never accepted responsibility – despite their enormous wealth and their ability to assimilate tens of millions of refugees in their largely under-populated nations. And other states have failed to hold them accountable.

It's bad enough the Arab states created a small nation of refugees by their actions. It's worse that they have successfully blamed that international crime on the Jews.

Today, of course, this cruel charade continues. The suffering of millions of Arabs is perpetuated only for political purposes by the Arab states. They are merely pawns in the war to destroy Israel.

There were some 100 million refugees around the world following World War II. The Palestinian Arab group is the only one in the world not absorbed or integrated into their own people's lands. Since then, millions of Jewish refugees from around the world have been absorbed in the tiny nation of Israel.

It makes no sense to expect that same tiny Jewish state to solve a refugee crisis it did not create.”

Why Obama Is in Such a Hurry

Elections have consequences, and Americans are discovering that fact. Can’t say we didn’t warn you. But, it’s a little too late now, unless, of course, enough of us put up such a stink that our congressmen think twice before supporting some of the nonsense that Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and their socialist comrades are crafting.

That “hope and change” mantra isn’t all that it was cracked up to be. Ask any of those who are forced to rely on unemployment checks because there are so few jobs to be found.

At least, the stock market is improving--for now. Could it be that the market sees how Americans are reacting to Obama’s policies and is anticipating that the American people will rise up and stop enough politicians, who ultimately answer to their constituents, from voting for some of the president’s appalling pieces of legislation?

Ben Stein writes a great piece about the wake-up to reality that is occurring throughout our nation as Obama’s poll numbers keep slipping. Read from the American Spectator:

We've Figured Him Out
By Ben Stein

"Why is President Barack Obama in such a hurry to get his socialized medicine bill passed?

Because he and his cunning circle realize some basic truths:

The American people in their unimaginable kindness and trust voted for a pig in a poke in 2008. They wanted so much to believe Barack Obama was somehow better and different from other ultra-leftists that they simply took him on faith.

They ignored his anti-white writings in his books. They ignored his quiet acceptance of hysterical anti-American diatribes by his minister, Jeremiah Wright.

They ignored his refusal to explain years at a time of his life as a student. They ignored his ultra-left record as a ‘community organizer,’ Illinois state legislator, and Senator.

The American people ignored his total zero of an academic record as a student and teacher, his complete lack of scholarship when he was being touted as a scholar.

Now, the American people are starting to wake up to the truth. Barack Obama is a super likeable super leftist, not a fan of this country, way, way too cozy with the terrorist leaders in the Middle East, way beyond naïveté, all the way into active destruction of our interests and our allies and our future.

The American people have already awakened to the truth that the stimulus bill -- a great idea in theory -- was really an immense bribe to Democrat interest groups, and in no way an effort to help all Americans.

Now, Americans are waking up to the truth that ObamaCare basically means that every time you are sick or injured, you will have a clerk from the Department of Motor Vehicles telling your doctor what he can and cannot do.

The American people already know that Mr. Obama's plan to lower health costs while expanding coverage and bureaucracy is a myth, a promise of something that never was and never will be -- a bureaucracy lowering costs in a free society. Either the costs go up or the free society goes away.

These are perilous times. Mrs. Hillary Clinton, our Secretary of State, has given Iran the go-ahead to have nuclear weapons, an unqualified betrayal of the nation. Now, we face a devastating loss of freedom at home in health care. It will be joined by controls on our lives to ‘protect us’ from global warming, itself largely a fraud if believed to be caused by man.

Mr. Obama knows Americans are getting wise and will stop him if he delays at all in taking away our freedoms.

There is his urgency and our opportunity. Once freedom is lost, America is lost. Wake up, beloved America.”

UPDATE: BTW, Diogenes, a comment was left for you from an old article:
Are the God of Christianity and Allah the Same God?

New Federal Guidelines: Can't Arrest Illegals

Our country is out of control with illegal aliens sneaking across our borders with hopes of taking advantage of all the benefits our country offers, and sadly that was the case under Bush, as well as Obama. Of course, during these times of economic downturn, there is not much work to be found in the good ole USA. Not so much hope to offer these days.

However, if President Obama can bully Congress into passing his Obama Care package, illegals will be given free healthcare. Think too many are sneaking across our borders right now? You ain’t seen nothing yet, if Obama Care becomes law. They will be flocking across the border in droves.

Actually, Obama has made it easier for them to do just that already. Read from Atlas Shrugs:

Obamaland: Illegal to arrest Illegals

“Have you heard about Obama's ‘new’ federal guidelines that prevent officers from arresting illegal aliens? When did this come about? Why has no one mentioned it? Is this Obama flying under the radar net of media reporting? Have you ever heard of anything so nonsensical or dangerous as making it illegal to arrest illegals? What will this do to our immigration problems as outsiders learn that is now legal to sneak into our country? I guess Obama is going to import his electorate for 2012 -- no rational, America-loving American is going to vote for the enemy in the White House. (hat tip Chuck)

Read the whole thing here:

PHOENIX – ‘The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office arrested 72 people during a three-day crime sweep in Chandler and Queen Creek southeast of Phoenix.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio says the operation started as an attempt to control illegal immigration, but new federal guidelines prevent deputies from arresting illegal immigrants solely for being in the U.S. illegally.

The sheriff's office says it released three illegal immigrants from custody Thursday and seven Friday based on instruction from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The first two days of the operation resulted in 68 arrests, including 14 illegal immigrants who committed a civil or criminal violation and the 10 who were released.

Of the 72 total people arrested, 25 were illegal immigrants.’”


It’s all about votes, folks. Don’t you love hope and change?

Abortion Support Declining

If President Obama wants to move toward increasing abortions by removing restrictions and forcing taxpayers to fund the brutal practice, which we know he does, contrary to the fact that he lied and told the Pope he would reduce abortions, he better move quickly because Americans are beginning to wake up to the fact that these “fetuses” are far more than blobs of tissue, but instead small persons growing within their mothers’ wombs.

Read about how over time more and more Americans are objecting to abortion, via National Right to Life:

DO OUR STRATEGIES WORK?

“A Gallup poll last May found that a majority of 51% identified themselves as pro-life, while 42% were ‘pro-choice.’ (Other polling firms have reported similar results.) This is the first time this has happened since Gallup began asking the question in 1995. At that time, the result was very different: 56% ‘pro-choice’ and only 33% pro-life. The pro-life and ‘pro-choice’ labels have, however, only limited value in identifying public opinion.

In 1994 Gallup began to ask another set of questions that shed a little more light on public attitudes about abortion. In that year 33% favored abortion to be ‘legal under any circumstances,’ 13% wanted it ‘legal under most circumstances,’ 38% preferred abortion to be ‘legal only in a few circumstances,’ while 13% wanted it to be ‘illegal in all circumstances.’ The usual habit of pollsters is to add the first two numbers as the ‘pro-choice’ position (46%), and the last two numbers as the ‘pro-life’ position (51%). Thus even in 1994, the ‘pro-life’ position held a slight advantage. Note that the solidly pro-abortion position (33%) was nearly three times more popular than the solidly pro-life position (13%). In May 2009, the results for ‘legal in most circumstances’ and ‘legal in only a few circumstances’ were very similar: 15% and 37%, respectively. But the solidly pro-abortion position had dropped by a third to 22%, while the solidly pro-life position nearly doubled to 23%!

Since 1994 there have been significant events to account for this improvement. First, NRLC’s prolonged and intense campaign to ban partial-birth abortions on the federal and state level refocused the public’s attention away from vapid pro-abortion slogans like “choice” and “who decides” onto the horrific reality of what abortion actually does. In 1996, 57% favored, while 39% opposed banning partial-birth abortions. By 2003, the ratio was 70% to 25 % for banning partial-birth abortions. Moreover, NRLC’s various campaigns in the states to enact protective legislation such as informed consent laws, etc. helped further educate the public about abortion. Various polls continue to show that the public favors such laws.

Second, the routine use of ultrasound imaging during a pregnancy showed women that they were carrying a live ‘baby‘—their baby—not just ‘tissue.’ Viewing such an image can only mean that a pregnant woman is less likely to abort her child. In state legislatures, NRLC is vigorously promoting laws requiring that an ultrasound be displayed so that a woman might easily view her unborn child before making a life or death decision.

Third, aside from academic researchers telling us so, women who have had abortions increasingly are speaking out about how damaging abortion has been to them—physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Aside from polling, one can gauge women’s attitudes about abortion by what they actually do: From 1980 to 2005, the number of women of child-bearing age rose by 16%, while the so-called abortion rate, the number of abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age, dropped by 33%. It is worth noting that the abortion rate had rapidly risen during the 1970s, but rather suddenly reversed its steep rise in 1980-81—just at a time when the pro-life movement became nationally very vocal and made abortion an important issue in the election campaign that made Ronald Reagan our president.

Have we changed women’s attitude about abortion? Have we saved lives? If the abortion rate had stayed at the level it had in 1980, there would have been 9 million more abortions by today.”

American Healthcare Superior to That of UK and Canada

America needs healthcare reform, just not the type that Obama, Pelosi, and company have come up with, which includes rationing, government intervention, taxpayer-provided abortion, coverage for illegal aliens, suicide counseling sessions for the elderly, etc, not to mention the fact that we cannot afford this costly plan. Interesting how tort reform is nowhere to be found in Obama Care, when that should be a significant part of the change that needs to take place.

With the debate over Obama Care going at a furious pace, let’s examine some key facts comparing current American healthcare with that of our nations. Based on this study, we have a superior healthcare system to that of Canada and Europe. Do we really want to go the way of inferior medical care?

Read from National Center for Policy Analysis:

10 Surprising Facts about American Health Care

“Medical care in the United States is derided as miserable compared to health care systems in the rest of the developed world. Economists, government officials, insurers and academics alike are beating the drum for a far larger government rôle in health care. Much of the public assumes their arguments are sound because the calls for change are so ubiquitous and the topic so complex. However, before turning to government as the solution, some unheralded facts about America's health care system should be considered.

Fact No. 1: Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers.[1] Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States, and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom. Prostate cancer mortality is 604 percent higher in the U.K. and 457 percent higher in Norway. The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British men and women is about 40 percent higher.

Fact No. 2: Americans have lower cancer mortality rates than Canadians.[2] Breast cancer mortality is 9 percent higher, prostate cancer is 184 percent higher and colon cancer mortality among men is about 10 percent higher than in the United States.

Fact No. 3: Americans have better access to treatment for chronic diseases than patients in other developed countries.[3] Some 56 percent of Americans who could benefit are taking statins, which reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease. By comparison, of those patients who could benefit from these drugs, only 36 percent of the Dutch, 29 percent of the Swiss, 26 percent of Germans, 23 percent of Britons and 17 percent of Italians receive them.

Fact No. 4: Americans have better access to preventive cancer screening than Canadians.[4] Take the proportion of the appropriate-age population groups who have received recommended tests for breast, cervical, prostate and colon cancer:

*Nine of 10 middle-aged American women (89 percent) have had a mammogram, compared to less than three-fourths of Canadians (72 percent).

*Nearly all American women (96 percent) have had a pap smear, compared to less than 90 percent of Canadians.

*More than half of American men (54 percent) have had a PSA test, compared to less than 1 in 6 Canadians (16 percent).

*Nearly one-third of Americans (30 percent) have had a colonoscopy, compared with less than 1 in 20 Canadians (5 percent).

Fact No. 5: Lower income Americans are in better health than comparable Canadians. Twice as many American seniors with below-median incomes self-report 'excellent' health compared to Canadian seniors (11.7 percent versus 5.8 percent). Conversely, white Canadian young adults with below-median incomes are 20 percent more likely than lower income Americans to describe their health as 'fair or poor.'[5]

Fact No. 6: Americans spend less time waiting for care than patients in Canada and the U.K. Canadian and British patients wait about twice as long - sometimes more than a year - to see a specialist, to have elective surgery like hip replacements or to get radiation treatment for cancer.[6] All told, 827,429 people are waiting for some type of procedure in Canada.[7] In England, nearly 1.8 million people are waiting for a hospital admission or outpatient treatment.[8]

Fact No. 7: People in countries with more government control of health care are highly dissatisfied and believe reform is needed. More than 70 percent of German, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and British adults say their health system needs either 'fundamental change' or 'complete rebuilding.'[9]

Fact No. 8: Americans are more satisfied with the care they receive than Canadians. When asked about their own health care instead of the 'health care system,' more than half of Americans (51.3 percent) are very satisfied with their health care services, compared to only 41.5 percent of Canadians; a lower proportion of Americans are dissatisfied (6.8 percent) than Canadians (8.5 percent).[10]

Fact No. 9: Americans have much better access to important new technologies like medical imaging than patients in Canada or the U.K. Maligned as a waste by economists and policymakers naïve to actual medical practice, an overwhelming majority of leading American physicians identified computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the most important medical innovations for improving patient care during the previous decade.[11] [See the table.] The United States has 34 CT scanners per million Americans, compared to 12 in Canada and eight in Britain. The United States has nearly 27 MRI machines per million compared to about 6 per million in Canada and Britain.[12]

Fact No. 10: Americans are responsible for the vast majority of all health care innovations.[13] The top five U.S. hospitals conduct more clinical trials than all the hospitals in any other single developed country.[14] Since the mid-1970s, the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology has gone to American residents more often than recipients from all other countries combined.[15] In only five of the past 34 years did a scientist living in America not win or share in the prize. Most important recent medical innovations were developed in the United States.[16] [Click on the link above to see the table.]

Conclusion. Despite serious challenges, such as escalating costs and the uninsured, the U.S. health care system compares favorably to those in other developed countries.”

Sarah Palin Steps Down as Alaska Governor

Now that Sarah Palin has stepped down as governor of Alaska, she is free to spend lots of time down in the lower 48 driving liberals nuts exposing the dangers of an Obamanation. Go, Sarah!

Here’s a woman who LOVES the military and stands for freedom. How refreshing when compared to the America-hater sitting in the White House who makes a habit out of apologizing for the United States of America. Palin recognizes our exceptionalism; Obama should take some lessons from her, but won‘t.

Sarah Palin at the 07/24/09 Alaska Governor's Picnic in Wasilla, no politics, just honoring vets and their families

Obama Cuts Military Aid to Honduras

The Marxist President Barack Obama is showing his true colors and punishing Honduras for forcing out his buddy, Zelaya. There’s just something about dictators that warm his pinko-commie heart. Hope and change, baby!

Read from Gateway Pundit:

Unreal!... OBAMA CUTS AID To Hondurus For Ousting Leftist Thug

“The ousted Leftist leader of Honduras is backed by Latin American Marxists Raul Castro, Evo Morales, Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chavez and American President Barack Obama.

President Obama cut aid to US ally Honduras this week.

The Gazette reported:


‘Micheletti's government has come under intense pressure to accept Zelaya's return under a deal proposed by Arias.

Arias was expected to make changes to proposals that were rejected by Micheletti, but the United States and Latin American leaders are insisting that Zelaya be reinstated.

The crisis is seen as a diplomatic test for U.S. President Barack Obama as he seeks to improve relations with Latin America, where a growing bloc of leftist leaders that includes Zelaya has challenged Washington's influence in recent years.

Obama's administration has condemned the coup, cut $16.5 million in military aid and threatened to slash economic aid.’


YID with LID has more.

Obama's pal Zelaya said today that he had held back from entering Honduras to avoid provoking a massacre.”

Presidential Approval Index Drops to -11

Americans have begun to awaken to the truth about "hope and change". Hallelujah!

Hizb ut-Tahrir: Anti-Christian and Anti-Semitic

Diogenes can call me a bigot all he wants for my reporting on the Islamic supremacist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, whose goal is an Islamic caliphate in our country. But, Americans better wake up, and they better do it soon. Our political correctness is causing us great danger because the incitement to jihad is taking place right under our noses.

Read about the open jihad-supporting activity at the Hizb ut-Tahrir conference in Chicago last week, via Jihad Watch, and learn about what the Koran has to say about Jews and Christians.

Anti-Semitic, anti-Christian hate literature on display at Chicago Islamic supremacist conference -- much of it from the Qur'an

“And some of it is from the Qur'an. More on this story. ‘Anti-Semitic, Anti-Christian Propaganda on Display at Caliphate Conference,’ from IPT News, July 24 (thanks to Sr. Soph):


‘While Hizb ut-Tahrir, a pro-jihadist group which met openly near Chicago last weekend, is surprisingly candid about its desire to re-establish an Islamic Caliphate, literature available at its conference shows the group also views Christians and Jews as untrustworthy enemies of God.

More than a dozen issues of a Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) newsletter called The Shield were obtained from the conference by the Investigative Project on Terrorism. The publication repeatedly condemns interfaith "outreach initiatives" and shows HT believes in the death penalty for Muslims who leave the faith.

HT pushes a radical ideology that is similar to Al Qaeda, although the organization claims it does not carry out terrorist attacks. It has glorified jihadism and excoriated the terrorist organization Hamas as being too soft on Israel. In a leaflet posted on its website July 1, HT argued that if the Caliphate were in existence, all of "Palestine" would be rid of "the usurpation of the Jewish occupiers" and brought "to the fold of the Islamic state."

Turkish authorities meanwhile, arrested more than 200 HT members Friday, although it is unclear what prompted it. The group is banned in Turkey.
Last week, U.S-based HT members gathered at the Hilton Hotel in Oak Lawn, Ill. for a conference called "The Fall of Capitalism and the Rise of Islam." In addition to speakers' calls to fight "to establish Allah's (swt) word supreme on this earth ... or we die in the attempt," HT literature was available for the audience.

Read it all.”

ObamaCare: "Hazardous to Your Health"

Many Americans are aware of the dangers of ObamaCare, but as I research this appalling piece of legislation, I’m finding that it is far worse than even I imagined.

The Democrats like to portray themselves as the party that is looking out for the little guy. What a load of crap that is! All they care about is power and gaining control over every aspect of our lives.

Wait until you read the following article and listen to the two audios from a woman who has read this entire healthcare bill.

I don’t know how the authors of this bill sleep at night. If this passes, the Democrats will have the blood of many elderly people on their hands.

Read from Hyscience:

Health Care Advocate Betsy McCaughey: ObamaCare's "A Vicious Assault On The Elderly" (Two must-hear audios)

“Health policy expert and former Lt. Governor of New York State, Betsy McCaughey has read the bills cover to cover, and wants to get the word out - ObamaCare would be hazardous to your health, especially the elderly's. Regardless of what the Democrats are saying, they're taking $500 billion out of the system which means at a time when many more people are going to be cared for - treatments are going to be in short supply, there are going to be longer waits, and fewer nurses on the floor.

Below are two must-listen-to audios that give you the truth about Obamacare - and it should scare the hell out of every American.

Via Nice Deb:


‘I listened to substitute host, Raymond Arroyo interview her, this morning on the Laura Ingraham Show, and she didn't mince words - Obama is lying about ObamaCare. (Shut up! Obama's lying?!) You will NOT get to keep your health care if you're satisfied with it. It's a point she's making on talk show after talk show. She also said that the AARP is doing seniors a huge disservice in advocating of nationalized healthcare. She says the rationing that will take place will hurt them the most. These bills do little to cut waste and fraud as promised but would throw billions of dollars toward shady and undefined enterprises such as "community reinvestment".

Here she is on the Mark Levin Show on the 17th‘:



Also via Nice Deb, here's Betsy during her appears on the Fred Thompson Show:

‘... after reading the new House bill, which she characterizes as a vicious assault on the elderly and boomer generation:



"On page 425, the Congress would make it mandatory, absolutely required that every five years, people in Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner: how to decline nutrition, how to decline hydration, how to go into hospice care...and by the way, the bill expressly says that if you get sick, somewhere in that five year period, if you get a cancer diagnosis, for example, you have to go through that session, again....all to do what's in societies best interest, or your family's best interest and cut your life short...these are such sacred issues of life and death - government should have nothing to do with it".’


Scary enough for you?

Philip Klein has more on Obama's health care lies, and it supports McCaughey's analysis that many more people are going to be cared for - treatments are going to be in short supply, there are going to be longer waits, and fewer nurses on the floor.: Study: 83 Mln Would Lose Private Health Coverage Under House Dem Plan.

Readers will find more information at McCaughey's website, Defend Your HealthCare.

In a related note, in spite of Democratic chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, George Miller, having issued a press release this morning saying that "CBO Scores Confirms Deficit Neutrality of Health Reform Bill," his statement doesn't hold up under the light of day. Donald Marron over at dmarron.com has deconstructed the bogus claim, and backs it up with charts and good explanations (House Bill Fails Budget Tests).

It seems that Obama and the Democrats in Congress that support Obamacare just can't stop themselves from lying and distorting the facts every way possible in order to support their health care-destroyin, economy-busting, nanny state agenda.”

U.S. Sanctions Against Israel?

The Israel-hating President Obama may not be through with its bullying of the Jewish nation. While Obama puts enormous pressure on Israel, requires little from the Palestinians who are naming their streets after terrorists, kowtows to the Islamic world, invites 1,350 Palestinian refugees from Iraq to move to the U.S., and gives $5.2 billion in aid to Hamas, yes, Hamas, there is reason to believe he is open to sanctioning Israel over the “settlements” issue.

Read from Joshua Pundit:

US State Department: Talk Of US Sanctions Against Israel 'Premature'

“Not off the table, or 'not under consideration'. Merely premature.

That came from US State department spokesmouth Robert Wood in a press briefing in Israel as he did prep work for US Envoy George Mitchell and the US delegation scheduled to arrive next week and meet with Israeli PM Netanyahu and his staff.


‘Asked at a press briefing whether the US was considering putting financial pressure on Israel to get it to comply with US demands, Wood said: "It's premature to talk about that."

"What we're trying to do," he said, "is to create an environment which makes it conducive for talks to go forward."

US Middle East envoy George Mitchell was working hard on this, Wood said. "And what we all need to do in the international community is support this effort, and that means Americans, that means Arabs and Israelis, [must] do what they can to kind of foster a climate in which the two sides can come together and negotiate their differences peacefully so that we can get to that two-state solution."’


I love that ‘we‘. As if the Obama Administration was actually giving up anything or endangering its citizens, as they're asking Israel to do!or for that matter, as if the Arabs were...

IMRA has the complete transcript, which yields a few more interesting nuggets:

‘QUESTION: What about the agreements between the U.S. and Israel?

MR. WOOD: I think Secretary Clinton has spoken to that issue in quite a bit of detail. And I just really don't have anything more to add. I think you all well know our policy on settlements in Israel (inaudible). I mean, I could go through it again, but I think you've all heard it many times.

QUESTION: Yeah, we know your policy. But what are you going to do to convince Israel to go your way on settlements?

MR. WOOD: Well, as you know, this is what Senator Mitchell is trying to do. He is traveling - he's been to the region a few times, as you know. He is planning to travel again. And what he's trying to do, and what the Secretary has been pushing for, is to try to create conditions on the ground, conditions that will allow us to resume negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis.{...}

QUESTION: Dan Meridor has said - that the agreement we had with the Americans is binding on us and them. And he added that they should keep to the agreement. He's calling the U.S. to keep to the agreement.

MR. WOOD: I think we've been very clear with regard to settlements. They need to stop, and that includes natural growth. I don't have anything more to add to that. The Israelis are well aware of our position. And we'll obviously continue to have talks with the Israelis on this subject and other issues, but our policy remains the same.

QUESTION: But they are continuing building in --

MR. WOOD: Well, I said, we're having --

QUESTION: -- Jerusalem.

MR. WOOD: -- discussions with our Israeli partners about this issue and a whole host of other issues related to the Middle East - Middle East peace. So that's about the best I can offer for you right now.’


Meanwhile the IDF is already making contingency plans for possible cut off or severe reduction of US military aid to Israel.

Why is Obama picking this fight? It can't be to advance US interests.

A cutoff of the military aid the US gives Israel - essentially loans that are almost entirely spent here in the US and keep Americans employed - makes little sense. It makes even less sense it terms of what America gets from Israel in return.

Aside from cutbacks in orders at places like Lockheed that will end up tossing more Americans out of work, a cutoff in aid would damage America's arms industry by unleashing a particularly fierce competitor. Israel's high tech armaments industry has had to decline billions of dollars in overseas contracts in deference to competing American manufacturers. Just recently, Israel had to turn down a multi-billion dollar joint venture with Sweden to design a new fighter for the Indian air force.. because American manufacturers were competing for the business and lobbied to eliminate the competition. This sort of thing has happened countless times. And American defense contractors also do quite well with joint venture projects that give them access to Israeli high tech.

Then there's the access the US has to Israeli intel. Having decimated its own security services, America is heavily dependent on foreign intelligence services like the Mossad that still have boots on the ground.

Israel's also one of the few American allies that has never refused access to any of its air, land or sea facilities to US forces in a prime location of the Eastern Mediterranean. And it was the IDF that saved hundreds of American lives not only by bombing Saddam Hussein Osirak reactor a few years before the Gulf War but by having the IDF draw on its lessons in places like Jenin to train US Marines and soldiers how to fight and survive in Arab cities like Fallujah.

Obama focusing on ultimatums to Israel has had several effects:

*It has emboldened the Arabs and particularly the Palestinians to ignore even a semblance of constructive negotiations with Israel, because they expect Obama to bend the Israelis to his will and force them to give in to the Arab's every demand.

*It has totally deconstructed the US-Israel relationship. Since Netanyahu can already see that Obama is more than willing to break previous agreements with Israel with impunity and is prepared to arm twist the Jews on behalf of his Arab firends with unreasonable demands, Netanyahu has very little to lose by simply defying him and going his own way.If someone's trying to force you to commit suicide, there's no great loss in distancing yourself from him.’

*Obama's clumsy strong arm tactics have united the Israeli public behind Netanyahu's government in a way Obama probably didn't think was possible. Even most of Israel's leftistswant no part of what Obama's selling.’


Obama's assault on Israel - and it's difficult to put it any other way - comes from who he is and what he believes.

Obama's take on Israel proves he wasn't sleeping while his anti-Semitic spiritual mentor Jeremiah Wright was preaching to the congregation at Trinity United. To Obama, Israel is simply a racist white colonial outpost oppressing 'people of color' that needs to be suppressed and dealt with so he can get America out of the Middle East, concentrate on his domestic agenda and win favor with his pals in the Muslim world...perhaps a step along the road to his goal of making America "one of the World's largest Muslim nations."

Obama may very well succeed in destroying the US -Israeli relationship. But it will not be without a cost to America.”


Why is Obama considering sanctions? Because he shares the same disdain for Israel that his Muslim brothers share.

Recently, I asked a friend of mine if she thought Obama was indeed a Muslim. Her response was, “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.” The president is adding fuel to the beliefs that he may be a secret Muslim.

Patient Dumping at Univ. of Chicago Med. Center

More on the Michelle Obama controversy regarding “dumping patients” when she was the vice-president of the University of Chicago Medical Center, which I wrote about earlier. From Hot Air:

Video: Did Michelle Obama start a patient-dumping program?

“While Barack Obama presses for health-care reform, Sean Hannity looks at his wife’s efforts to reform medical care at the University of Chicago Medical Center as its vice-president. In a lengthy segment on last night’s show, Hannity reports on the Urban Health Initiative, a program ostensibly intended to provide the kind of change in health care that President Obama says his program will deliver nationally — fewer emergency room vists, better wellness and prevention care, and lower costs. However, the people in Chicago see the UHI differently. In practice, it looks more like a patient-dumping scheme to avoid dealing with Medicare/Medicaid patients (via HA reader JiangxiDad):



This came up during the presidential campaign, but just as the conventions and running-mate selection picks had the media blinkered. The Chicago Sun-Times reported on it August 23rd, 2008:


‘Sen. Barack Obama’s wife and three close advisers have been involved with a program at the University of Chicago Medical Center that steers patients who don’t have private insurance — primarily poor, black people — to other health care facilities.

Michelle Obama — currently on unpaid leave from her $317,000-a-year job as a vice president of the prestigious hospital — helped create the program, which aims to find neighborhood doctors for low-income people who were flooding the emergency room for basic treatment. Hospital officials say such patients hinder their ability to focus on more critically ill patients in need of specialized care, such as cancer treatment and organ transplants.

Obama’s top political strategist, David Axelrod, co-owns the firm, ASK Public Strategies, that was hired by the hospital last year to sell the program — called the Urban Health Initiative — to the community as a better alternative for poor patients. Obama’s wife and Valerie Jarrett, an Obama friend and adviser who chairs the medical center’s board, backed the Axelrod firm’s hiring, hospital officials said.

Another Obama adviser and close friend, Dr. Eric Whitaker, took over the Urban Health Initiative when he was hired at U. of C. in October 2007. Whitaker previously had been director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Obama has said he recommended Whitaker for the state job, giving his name to Tony Rezko, who helped Gov. Blagojevich assemble his Cabinet. Rezko, a former fund-raiser for Obama and Blagojevich, was convicted in June on federal corruption charges tied to state deals.’


A leading Illinois Democrat, Rep. Bobby Rush, called for a federal investigation into the matter seven weeks ago:


‘U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) is calling on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to investigate allegations that the University of Chicago Medical Center is practicing patient dumping, an illegal act where hospitals divert poor or uninsured patients to other hospitals.

“As an institution that receives federal funds, I am concerned about recent media reports that allege the medical center is turning away and refusing treatment to low-income, uninsured patients,” Rush said in a letter to U.S. Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY), the committee chairman.

Rush, who called patient dumping “a widespread problem” in American health care, said he might move to lift the hospital’s federal funding if it turns out the allegations are true.’


The people of the community seem pretty convinced that UHI intended on keeping poor people out of the UCMC, as these reports and others show.

What I find most interesting about this is that the three people in the White House behind UHI have shown a remarkably low profile on the push for ObamaCare. Could it be that Obama and his staff worry that this will derail the effort, and have kept the trio out of the debate deliberately?

***

Update (Michelle): FYI, I reported on Michelle Obama’s health care horror story you won’t hear about on June 19 and have a detailed section on the patient-dumping scheme in Chapter 2 of Culture of Corruption.”


Don’t hold your breath waiting for the corrupt state-run media to investigate this story.