Obama “Forcefully Endorses” Ground Zero Mosque

From the AP/ Yahoo News: President Barack Obama hosts an iftar dinner, the meal that breaks the dawn-to-dusk fast for Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan, in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, Friday, Aug. 13, 2010.

Earlier this week, we read the news that nearly 70% of Americans oppose the building of the mosque at ground zero. Now, it appears that Captain Kick-A  is drastically on the wrong side of the American people, AGAIN….but then, when has he ever been in tune with the American people, and why should he start, now?

Fox News.com reports:

President Barack Obama on Friday forcefully endorsed building a mosque near ground zero, saying the country’s founding principles demanded no less.

“As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country,” Obama said, weighing in for the first time on a controversy that has riven New York City and the nation.

And see? Obama, as usual, throws out the ridiculous strawman. Who, pray, is advocating that Muslims  be prevented from practicing their religion in this country? Hm? Anybody?

Nobody has a problem with Muslims putting up Mosques. That’s one of the lamer arguments I’ve heard Islamists and their lib allies make.

Nobody is even advocating that the government stop them. They are appealing to their better angels to be sensitive to the feelings of Americans who are understandably offended by the idea.

PLEASE…JUST NOT THERE.

Ground Zero is hallowed ground, CK says, and he’s right:

When we speak of Ground Zero as hallowed ground, what we mean is that it belongs to those who suffered and died there — and that such ownership obliges us, the living, to preserve the dignity and memory of the place, never allowing it to be forgotten, trivialized or misappropriated.

***

America is a free country where you can build whatever you want — but not anywhere. That’s why we have zoning laws. No liquor store near a school, no strip malls where they offend local sensibilities, and, if your house doesn’t meet community architectural codes, you cannot build at all.

These restrictions are for reasons of aesthetics. Others are for more profound reasons of common decency and respect for the sacred. No commercial tower over Gettysburg, no convent at Auschwitz — and no mosque at Ground Zero.

Build it anywhere but there.

The governor of New York offered to help find land to build the mosque elsewhere. A mosque really seeking to build bridges, Rauf’s ostensible hope for the structure, would accept the offer.

But the President is on a roll, let’s hear him out:

“That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances,” he said. “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.”

Obama made the comments at an annual dinner in the White House State Dining Room celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Uh huh. Awesome. Another gift to Republicans.

Obama may want to alert Gibsy, though, because he’s been telling people that as far as the administration is concerned, it’s a local matter.

UPDATE:

Video of Obama’s statement:

UPDATE II:

The WSJ:

Debra Burlingame, whose brother Charles Burlingame was the pilot of the plane the terrorists hijacked and flew into the Pentagon, said she was furious over the president’s remarks.

“I’m so angry. I believe this president has abandoned the American people,” she said. “This isn’t a fight about religious freedom for Muslims. No one has argued they don’t have the property rights. This is about a project led by someone who says he’s trying to build bridges and bring the community together and he’s chosen probably the worst place in America and the worst way to do it.”

Around the blogosphere:

Hot Air: Obama on the Ground Zero mosque: Sounds like a plan

AoSHQ: Obama: Ground Zero Victory Mosque? Absolutely, Sounds Awesome

iOWNTHEWORLD: Obama Backs Mosque

Jihad Watch: Tonight at White House Ramadan dinner, Obama set to betray Americans who are standing against the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero

Atlas Shrugs: Obama Backs 911 Ground Zero Mega Mosque at Ramadan Celebration

Gateway Pundit: Shocker. Obama Defends Ground Zero Mosque Plans at Ramadan Iftar Celebration

Sister Toldjah: President Obama endorses Ground Zero mosque – on “freedom of religion” grounds

Wizbang: Obama gives ‘thumbs up’ to Ground Zero mosque

and

Obama endorses Ground Zero mosque

Ed Driscoll: ‘Obama Defends Ground Zero Mosque Plans’

Jennifer Rubin: Obama Sides With Ground Zero Mosque Builders vs. Americans

American Power: Obama Defends Plan for Mosque Near Ground Zero — ‘Friends of Terror’ Attend White House Ramadan Dinner

Doug Ross: Citing Overwhelming Support Of Vast Majority Of Muslims Living In Foreign Countries, Obama Defends Ground Zero Mosque

The Other McCain: How Much Contempt Will Americans Suffer?

Dan Riehl: Obama: “Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground, but”

and Video: Obama’s People Problem

Exurban League: An uncomfortable thought.

Imagine yourself on the evening of Sept. 11, 2001.

As you sat there in shock, what if someone had told you that in 10 years….

sisu: Obama: “Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground, but”

PREVIOUSLY:

Obama’s Odd Ramadan Message

Bloomberg’s Ground Zero Speech On State Dept. Website As Obama Administration Pretends To Be Neutral On Issue

LINKED BY:  Michelle Malkin, Buzzworthy, thanks!

Can We Call Them Democrat Socialists, Now?

Because quite a number of them  really are card carrying Dem Socialists.

Gateway Pundit reports:

The Socialist Party of America announced in their October 2009 newsletter that 70 Congressional democrats currently belong to their caucus.
This admission was recently posted on Scribd.com:

See Gateway Pundit for the 70 Dems on the list.

I’ve been saying for a year and a half now that it’s time to rebrand the whole party. Even though most Dems are not on the record, they’ve greenlighted Obama’s Socialist agenda every step of the way.

And make no mistake. Obama is a Democratic Socialist, himself.

Last November Trevor Loudon reported:

The push to socialize US Heathcare came, not from from the “people”, but from small clique of Marxists, led by a man with close persional ties to president Barack Obama.

This group’s goal is fully socialized, government run “single payer” healthcare-as long promoted through Congressman John Conyers’ National Health Insurance Act, or HR 676.

The leader of this Marxist clique is Quentin Young-a retired Chicago physician, a life long Marxist activist and long time friend and political ally of Barack Obama.

Physicians for a National Health Program National Coordinator Dr. Quentin Young with Sen. Barack Obama at Dr. Young’s 80th birthday celebration in 2003.

Young has known and worked with Obama for years, in Chicago and has reportedly directly influenced Obama’s views on socialized medicine.

According to radical journalist John Nichols writing in The Progressive;

Obama…learned about single-payer health care from his old friend and neighbor Dr. Quentin Young, the longtime coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program.

Quentin Young told Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, that while an Illinois State senator, Obama was a strong supporter of “single payer”

Barack Obama, in those early days—influenced, I hope, by me and others—categorically said single payer was the best way, and he would inaugurate it if he could get the support, meaning majorities in both houses, which he’s got, and the presidency, which he’s got. And he said that on more than one occasion…. ”

Of course, Obama has subsequently stated that he was for single payer…..“only if we were starting from scratch”, because we’re all stupid enough to buy that line of b.s.

RELATED:

The Hill: ‘Professional left’ not ready to back an Obama challenger

Of course they’re not – what a load of crap. The ‘professional left’ has never had it this good, and most likely , never will again.

UPDATE:

Much more at American Power on The Democrat Socialist Party of America.

Linked by Michelle Malkin in Buzzworthy, thanks!

A Video Answer To F*ck Tea

I linked to Professor Jacobson’s  post about this latest left-wing, grassroots astroturf  attempt at  a “movement” on my  “Must Reads” post, yesterday  This latest attempt: “F*ck Tea”,  is so lame, even some liberals are objecting on the (correct!) grounds that it makes progressives look like a$$holes.

Anyway, Carol of No Sheeples Here couldn’t resist creating an answer video to F*CK  Tea,  which brilliantly highlights even more pathetic childishness coming from the left. (The song is NSFW):

Announcing Ten Buck Friday Winner For This Week: Congratulations Joel Demos!

When I found out who Demos was running against, my vote this week was a no-brainer. Anyone with the cojones to run  against the well financed Keith Ellison in one of the bluest districts in the U.S.A deserves our support.

You can read more about Demos at Right Klik.

Donate to Joel Demos here.

(PayPal account NOT required)

A new TBF poll goes up on Sunday. Please keep the nominations and blog posts, Facebook posts and tweets coming!

TBF Blogroll:

What up? Andrew Klavan’s Explains The Constitution To Young Dudes And Dudettes

Andrew Klavan snarkily explains the Constitution in “hep, groovy lingo” young people can understand:

H/T: Infidel Joe

Obama’s Odd Ramadan Message

It has been customary for Presidents going back to at least Carter, to issue special messages on religious holidays, including the Muslim holy day of Ramadan. GW Bush took great pains in his messages to convey the idea that the United States was not at war with Islam.

Obama, not surprisingly, goes above and beyond the call of duty with his greeting for this year’s Ramadan

On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I want to extend our best wishes to Muslims in America and around the world. Ramadan Kareem.

Ramadan is a time when Muslims around the world reflect upon the wisdom and guidance that comes with faith, and the responsibility that human beings have to one another, and to God.  This is a time when families gather, friends host iftars, and meals are shared.  But Ramadan is also a time of intense devotion and reflection – a time when Muslims fast during the day and pray during the night; when Muslims provide support to others to advance opportunity and prosperity for people everywhere.  For all of us must remember that the world we want to build – and the changes that we want to make – must begin in our own hearts, and our own communities.

These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings. (?) Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity and racial equality. (??) And here in the United States, Ramadan is a reminder that Islam has always been part of America and that American Muslims have made extraordinary contributions to our country. (???) And today, I want to extend my best wishes to the 1.5 billion Muslims around the world – and your families and friends – as you welcome the beginning of Ramadan.

I look forward to hosting an Iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan here at the White House later this week, and wish you a blessed month.

May God’s peace be upon you.

As this Washington Times oped notes, Obama seems to have rewritten US history and given “Islam a prominence in American annals that it has not earned”.

That Islam has had a major role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings may come as a surprise to Muslim women. Young Afghan girls who are having acid thrown in their faces on the way to school might want to offer their perspectives. That Islam is “known” for diversity and racial equality is also a bit of a reach. This certainly does not refer to religious diversity, which is nonexistent in many Muslim-majority states. This is a plaudit better reserved for a speech at the opening of a synagogue in Mecca.

Most puzzling is the president’s claim that “Islam has always been part of America.” Islam had no influence on the origins and development of the United States. It contributed nothing to early American political culture, art, literature, music or any other aspect of the early nation.

Throughout most of American history, the Muslim world was perceived as remote, alien and belligerent.

Read on as the article makes that case.

He is so off the mark you almost wonder if he’s using taqiyya.

Obama has a history of exaggerating the contributions of Islam to the world. He did the same thing during his speech to the Muslim world, last year, which Robert Spencer summed up as platitudes and naivete, and Michelle Malkin called Rainbows and unicorns and a world without the j-word.

Melanie Phillips was alarmed to hear Obama using common Islamic boilerplate.

He appears to be a doubling down on a strategy of  what Charles Krauthammer termed, “imperial condescension and adolescent diplomacy” with the Islamic world in the hopes that that will make them like us more.

Apparently no one ever taught him, “honesty is the best policy”.

Good Thing They Weren’t Churches Or Synagogues…

…because the usual suspects would be all over that!

From the Washington Times:

Americans also may be surprised to learn that the United States has been an active participant in mosque construction projects overseas. In April, U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania Alfonso E. Lenhardt helped cut the ribbon at the 12th-century Kizimkazi Mosque, which was refurbished with assistance from the United States under a program to preserve culturally significant buildings. The U.S. government also helped save the Amr Ebn El Aas Mosque in Cairo, which dates back to 642. The mosque’s namesake was the Muslim conqueror of Christian Egypt, who built the structure on the site where he had pitched his tent before doing battle with the country’s Byzantine rulers. For those who think the Ground Zero Mosque is an example of “Muslim triumphalism” glorifying conquest, the Amr Ebn El Aas Mosque is an example of such a monument – and one paid for with U.S. taxpayer funds.

The mosques being rebuilt by the United States are used for religious worship, which raises important First Amendment questions. U.S. taxpayer money should not be used to preserve and promote Islam, even abroad. In July 2009, the Office of the Inspector General published an audit of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) faith-based and community initiatives that examined whether government funds were being used for religious activities. The auditors found that while USAID was funding some religious activities, officials were “uncertain of whether such uses of Agency funding violate Agency regulations or the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution” when balanced against foreign-policy objectives.

I guess that “wall of separation” only applies to Christians and Jews. 

On the other hand, I suppose we should be grateful.  The government is doing something productive with the money it is borrowing from China.  Just not something productive for Americans.

Today’s Must Reads

Hey, it’s back to school time in the Nice Deb household, so I’ve been kinda swamped for the past week. Actually, I’ve been swamped all summer, which, of course has effected my blogging. Some days, it’s all I can do to get just one or two posts out there.

Starting next week: FREEEEEDOM!!!!

Don’t get me wrong – it’s not that I don’t love having the little dears at home. I do. But for every thing, (turn, turn, turn) there is a season…(turn, turn, turn)…and the season for more personal time for Nice Deb is coming soon.

As for today, I’m not sure if I’m going to have time for more than this here round-up.  There’s lots of good stuff out there, today, and I want you to see it all:

Let’s start with good ol’ Nile Gardiner at the UK Telegraph: The stunning decline of Barack Obama: 10 key reasons why the Obama presidency is in meltdown

Everybody‘s writing about Obama’s fall from grace, lately. I love it:

The last few weeks have been a nightmare for President Obama, in a summer of discontent in the United States which has deeply unsettled the ruling liberal elites, so much so that even the Left has begun to turn against the White House. While the anti-establishment Tea Party movement has gained significant

‘ground and is now a rising and powerful political force to be reckoned with, many of the president’s own supporters as well as independents are rapidly losing faith in Barack Obama, with open warfare breaking out between ,mthe White House and the left-wing of the Democratic Party. While conservatism in America grows stronger by the day, the forces of liberalism are growing increasingly weaker and divided.

Did you catch the “summer of discontent” wording??? Oh yeah, where have you seen that before? Keep reading, it’s nothing you don’t already know, but it’s always fun to see the Brits piling on. After suffering through the nightmarish years of 2008-2010, as we watched this horrific combination of  Marxist/incompetent/shyster steamroll his way to electoral victory, and then truly awful legislative victories,  it is profoundly gratifying to see that most people have finally caught on, and they want to see the radical agenda of this modern day Elmer Gantry curtailed. As I’ve said many times before, it’s  like the average commenter at Daily Kos is running the country. That kind of *YUCK* is not going to fool the country for long.

More bad tidings for Dems: I bet they were hoping that the Joe Sestak/WH job bribe scandal was over, but, it ain’t over, thanks to Bill Clinton, who’s decided he’s no longer going to play the dupe for this failing administration:

Ed Morrissey: Clinton backing away from Sestak story? Update: Video added; Update: New video with Clinton

Hahaha. Watch for some intense word parsing in the coming days.

Gateway Pundit has been covering this bizarre story:

Disgusting. Lib Candidate Now Sending Supporters to Rand Paul Rallies to Act Like Racists (Video)

Figures. Fake Racist Plant at Rand Paul Rally Was Obama Campaign Worker

Was he seriously trying to fool people while wearing a tinfoil hat?

In case you missed it, Michelle Malkin was a target of some vulgar liberal female “comedians”.

When things don’t go their way, libs become increasingly deranged. Look for more of this in the not so distant future.

Move over Coffee Party…there’s a new kid in town: “F.*.c.k. Tea project,” (Just more infantile moonbats with no pretense of civility this time). Pathetic.

More to come (possibly), later.

Great Post at AoSHQ: The “Neutral Story Line” and How The Media Uses It To Justify Its Perpetual Game of “Guess That Party!”

Ace explains how the media justifies its bias. Long, but worth reading in full.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t link to this: Miss Him Yet? Bush Welcomes Returning Heroes As Obama Fundraises

Hell yes, I miss him. So do a lot of people, which is why the Dems’ midterm  Blame Bush Strategy Won’t Work.

Graph-o-the-day at the GOP Conference Blog: GRAPH: Democrats’ Job Agenda Revealed

More charts and graphs from the GOP, here.

Don’t miss: The Daily Beast: Ground Zero Mosque Hurts Islam

The very idea of building a mosque there is a dangerous sign of Muslim demands on Western societies, says British authority Douglas Murray—and it shows that the U.S. must make a stand.

Oh, I almost forgot! I saw this late last night, and wanted to do a whole post about it, but I ran out of time.

This is good stuff:

American Digest: Syoung809132001: The Voice of the People

Neoneocon found this commenter’s cri du Coeur deep inside the Washington Post’s long stream of comments castigating the Journolist quislings it still keeps on the payroll. I’ve corrected the spelling and punctuation and added paragraphing for pacing. Otherwise I have changed “Syoung809132001″ words not one whit.

These words are long, strong, worth reading and absorbing. This is Whitman’s “barbaric yawp sounded over the roofs of the world.” This is an American Citizen speaking, and it is the sound and sign of Democracy awakened. It is the voice of the people betrayed:

I urge the new Republicans who are now running to reach out to the unions. We are weary. We know we are a big part of the problem and we are ready to compromise and work together.

Hell, I used to buy all of the spin. I am guilty of doing too little research and just toeing the party line because I was too busy. I’ve got plenty of time now. I’ve got plenty of will now. To say I regret all of the above doesn’t do it justice.

However, as a penance for the error of my ways, I am willing to take any kind of pay cut, benefit cut, furlough, whatever just to be able to feed my family and not have to worry about the bills and the roof over our heads. I am willing to cut whatever corners are necessary, learn whatever new skill is required to just get people working again.

If I never have to hear the words GREEN JOBS from my governor’s mouth again I would fall on my knees in gratitude. Fancy ideas, cotton candy spun dreams do not materialize into real paying jobs.

Our entire state of Michigan was sacrificed to the green job pie in the sky promise. Michigan now resembles a third world country. Whatever it takes, with whatever party candidate who has a realistic, adult answer will get our union votes.

The rose colored glasses are gone, I am turning accusing eyes at my so called “advocates” and I am bringing a hell of a lot of people with me.

I am an adult. Speak to me as an adult. Do not whine and point a finger of blame at a minority party for your own failure. ADULTS admit when they have made a mistake.

It is becoming clear to me who the irresponsible children are who go on a crazy “who cares” spending spree, and then become irritated when the people aren’t appreciative of their irresponsibility. And it is apparent who the adults are who are standing up screaming: “NO! STOP! YOU IDIOTS!” We will soon see which side the majority of the electorate is on.

I only regret I have one vote to cast. It is a dog eat dog world out there and the Democrat party wrote their own obituary with their utter foolishness. I played a part in that foolishness. I regret it utterly, but thankfully a tragic and deep lesson has been learned. If nothing else, I am grateful to be awake, thinking on my own, and seeing the light for the first time. It is a miniscule silver lining to a very dark cloud.

There’s more. This Washington Post commenter has been busy. And he’s awesome.

Linked by Michelle Malkin, Buzzworthy, thanks!

Bloomberg’s Ground Zero Speech On State Dept. Website As Obama Administration Pretends To Be Neutral On Issue

Who do they think they’re kidding?

Two weeks ago, Robert Gibbs told reporters, when asked about the Obama administration’s position on the  Ground Zero Mosque, that “it was a decision that was appropriately debated at the local level.”

So why did the State Department publish the entire text of Mayor Bloomberg’s speech – his very unpopular endorsement of the Ground Zero  mosque - on its affiliate website, www.america.gov ?

Andrew McCarthy noticed it first:

I noted a few days ago that the Obama administration claimed to be taking no position on the Ground Zero mosque, with Robert Gibbs explaining that the president would not want to meddle in local affairs.

Now it emerges that the Obama State Department is not only footing the bill for Imam Feisal Rauf’s fling to the Persian Gulf region; it has also posted Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s speech in vigorous support of Rauf’s Ground Zero project on its website (here).

Daniel Halper at The Weekly Standard has been looking into it:

When reached by THE WEEKLY STANDARD, the State Department official, Joanne Moore, first denied that America.gov was part of the State Department’s website. When I read her this line, “Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State,” which is at the end of the text of Bloomberg’s speech, she said she did not know, and that she would get back to me.

Moore then said, “no comment.”

So the question for the State Department remains: Why is Bloomberg’s speech on your website?

You can view the screenshot of  Bloomberg’s speech at The Weekly Standard.

If posting  the  speech on a State Dept. website isn’t an endorsement, what is it?

Hat tip: Weasel Zippers

RELATED:

Weekly Standard: CNN Poll: 68% of American Voters Oppose Ground Zero Mosque

Atlas Shrugs: Fox and Friends: Pamala Geller vs Nicole Neroulias on Ground Zero Mosque and Bus Campaign

Today’s Must-Read: The Obsolescence of Barack Obama

This FOUAD AJAMI piece at the WSJ, chronicles Obama’s rise to power, and his swift fall from grace:

The vaunted Obama economic stimulus, at $862 billion, has failed. The “progressives” want to double down, and were they to have their way, would have pushed for a bigger stimulus still. But the American people are in open rebellion against an economic strategy of public debt, higher taxes and unending deficits. We’re not all Keynesians, it turns out. The panic that propelled Mr. Obama to the presidency has waned. There is deep concern, to be sure. But the Obama strategy has lost the consent of the governed.

Mr. Obama could protest that his swift and sudden fall from grace is no fault of his. He had been a blank slate, and the devotees had projected onto him their hopes and dreams. His victory had not been the triumph of policies he had enunciated in great detail. He had never run anything in his entire life. He had a scant public record, but oddly this worked to his advantage. If he was going to begin the world anew, it was better that he knew little about the machinery of government.

He pronounced on the American condition with stark, unalloyed confidence. He had little if any regard for precedents. He could be forgiven the thought that America’s faith in economic freedom had given way and that he had the popular writ to move the nation toward a super-regulated command economy. An “economic emergency” was upon us, and this would be the New New Deal.

Read the whole thing.

As the nation “recovers its poise”, perhaps  it’s useful to point out that Obama wasn’t elected without a lot of help from the MSM.

Ace has the latest example of that: Hmmm: Lefty Blogger Claims Obama Campaign Told Him To Do “Dirty Work” In 2008 and He Did It

Joe and I are upset with Obama, and we, for example, raised nearly $43,000 for the man, According to the White House, our money now doesn’t count. Great, would they like to give it back? I for one, would love the $1000 back that I personally donated to the Obama campaign. Joe gave even more. I suspect a lot of our readers wouldn’t mind their contributions back too, since apparently they’re not appreciated.

Then there’s all that work we did for the campaign, all the dirty work they asked us to do – and we did it, gladly, and quietly – none of that counted either, apparently.

UPDATE:

Ace digs for more dirt and finds some: Dirty Work If You Can Get It: Wading Into Americablog’s Prior Service In the Employ of Obama, Inc.

Linked by Michelle Malkin, and Dan Riehl, thanks!

Video: AFL-CIO Boss Says We Don’t Have Any Deficit Problem

This just goes to show you the delusional state of mind libs are in these days. They think you are stupid enough to buy this b.s:

Even the premise of the CSPAN host’s question was delusional. “Does the Obama administration deserve some of the blame for not doing a better job defining the debate”? Seriously, lady?

The “bully in the bully pulpit” has been out there every week since he was elected “making his case”, and “defining the debate”. I’m not sure there is any way he could get out there more, since he is so annoyingly overexposed as it is. The problem for the administration is that fewer and fewer people are buying the lies. They can see for themselves that the economy is not recovering in spite of all the ruinous deficit spending, and they want it to stop.

AFL-CIO Prez,  Richard Trumka thinks we don’t have a deficit problem? Every economist in the country knows that? Every. single. one? 100% consensus on that?

Friggin’ A, dude.

The CBO says we’re heading for a “Greek-style” debt crisis in the not too distant future if we don’t rein in the spending.

Obama’s own exiting Budget Director, Peter Ortzag, on his way out the door, pressed Congress to make “tough budget choices” to deal with the country’s debt problem.

We are approaching 100% of federal debt to GDP……

That’s a problem.

Hat tip: Gateway Pundit: AFL-CIO Prez Says We Don’t Have Any Deficit Problem??

Check out the latest debt graph.

RELATED:

Gateway Pundit: Michele Bachmann: Pelosi’s Union Bailout Allows Public Employee Unions to Run Ads Against GOP On Taxpayers’ Dime (Video)

The WSJ: Stimulus Pushers:

… taxpayers are figuring out that these state bailouts are only making unions more reluctant to share their sacrifice. While Mr. Obama quotes the union figure of 160,000 potential lost teacher jobs, those don’t have to come out of the classroom. According to research by Eric Hanushek of Stanford University, student enrollment grew by 22% from 1990 to 2007, but teacher employment grew by 41%. Since 2000, enrollment has grown by 5% but teacher employment by 10%.

The unions themselves could have prevented some layoffs had they been willing to adjust their rich benefits. In Milwaukee, for example, nearly all of the 500 teacher layoffs announced earlier this year could have been avoided if the unions had agreed to change health plans that cost $23,000 per teacher per year for family coverage. They could have accepted a still-rich $17,000 plan. The unions chose the layoffs, betting (correctly) that Democrats in Washington would come to their rescue.

Keep in mind that this teacher bailout also amounts to a huge contribution by Democrats to their own election campaigns. The National Right to Work Committee estimates that two of every three teachers belong to unions. The average union dues payment varies, but a reasonable estimate is that between 1% and 1.5% of teacher salaries goes to dues. The National Education Association and other unions will thus get as much as $100 million in additional dues from this bill, much of which will flow immediately to endangered Democratic candidates in competitive House and Senate races this year.

***

So in the name of still another “stimulus,” Democrats are rewarding their own political funders, putting the most fiscally responsible states into even greater distress, and postponing the day of reckoning for spendthrift states. Oh, and Mr. Obama rushed to sign the bill Tuesday, violating his campaign pledge to give the public five days to read legislation online. As we say, the only way for voters to stop such fiscal abuse is to run this crowd out of town.

Stopa: How the stimulus hurt private investment:

Fully, a third of the stimulus funds remain unspent. This amount ($280 billion) roughly equals the cost to fully extend the Bush tax cuts for two years. The emerging double dip recession is in reality a single deepening recession with the mirage of recovery in the middle from a spike of largely useless spending. The president has the power, with a single stroke, to greatly allay business uncertainty and get the country moving again. He should extend all of the Bush tax cuts.

Video:3 Things You Should Know About Islam

Spread this video around…too many people remain ignorant as a result of political correctness.

Imo, taqiyya has been  deployed quite liberally in the Ground Zero Mosque debate.

Hat tip: Moonbattery

Video: Greg Gutfeld Pitches His Ground Zero Gay Bar Idea To Glenn Beck

video via Townhall.

The entire Twitter back and forth between Gutfeld and Mosque organizers, Park51, is  here.

But this right here says it all:

@park51 Hey, how do you feel about my gay Muslim bar set to be built near the Mosque? Do you embrace in name of tolerance?

Park51, apparently oblivious to the glaring hypocrisy, responded:

@greggutfeld You’re free to open whatever you like. If you won’t consider the sensibilities of Muslims, you’re not going to build dialog

These people are slimy hypocrites,  and not very bright ones at that.

Doug Ross has the Top 30 Gaybar Names.

iOWNTHEWORLD has a contest going on over at their place. 439 submissions, thus far.

Atlas goes to the belly of the beast: MSNBC: Pamela Geller on the Ground Zero Bus Ads (Watch the video).

Pamela’s also organizing a protest rally: If you Build it, They Will Come

This is amazing………… look at what Americans are doing to get to our 911 demonstration against the Ground Zero mega mosque on September 11th at 2pm at Park Place between Church and West Broadway.

Join the largest Caravan in America coming cross-country to 9-11 Rally!

See also:

The NY Post: An odd envoy

It’s not sufficiently divisive, apparently, that a controversial imam wants to erect a mosque near Ground Zero; now the Obama folks have him conducting “outreach” to Arab countries on behalf of the United States — and on the taxpayers’ dime, no less.

Can anything be more ill-considered?

As Claudia Rosett first reported at

Forbes.com, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is headed to the Arab world for a month-long “outreach” tour, courtesy of the State Department. His wife, Daisy Khan, is to make a similar trip.

Just what they’ll be doing — their scheduled stops include Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar — remains a bit of a mystery.

Has Bob heard about this, yet? Because I’m not sure his blood pressure can take much more.

A good, comprehensive piece on the Cordoba Initiative at RedState: The Ground Zero Mosque and The Obama Administration

Atlas Shrugs: NY Governor Stands Up for the Fallen: Paterson Suggests Alternative Site For Controversial Ground Zero Mega Mosque

Obama Still Using Campaign Logo At Speaking Events

Matt Lewis captured the following screen shot from Dallas TV station WFAA:

While nobody is accusing Obama of crossing legal lines, the Republican Party of Texas is questioning the decision to include campaign logos at an official presidential policy speech.

“It’s one thing for the President to carry his campaign logo forward into the transition to the presidency,” says Texas GOP spokesman Bryan Preston, “but quite another for him to carry it to official functions and policy events 18 months after he has been in office.”

“The appearance of this logo on signage for an official presidential event – not a fundraiser, but a presidential policy speech – shows just how confused this entire administration is about what’s appropriate and what is not. What next, are they planning to paint the Obama campaign logo on Air Force One?”

Do you think maybe he’s trying to revive the old magic?

Judging from the apron full of Obama pins this woman wore to Obama’s speech in Austin, Obama worship is still alive and well.

Hat tip: iOWNTHEWORLD

On a related note, here’s an excellent piece by Slublog at AoSHQ about Obama’s endless campaign of partisan attacks:

As much as he’s tried to create one, Obama has no Gingrich. The GOP leadership may irritate us at times, but they do manage to come across mostly as affable, well-meaning public servants to the average voter. One of Obama’s most visible GOP opponents is Rep. Paul Ryan, whose soft-spoken voice of fiscal sanity is a marked contrast to Obama’s partisan bomb-throwing.

In addition, Obama doesn’t have Clinton’s ability to charm a crowd. Or if he does, he doesn’t communicate it well. He’s a Frankenstein monster made up of the preachy sanctimoniousness of Al Gore, the elite snobbery of John Kerry and the ultra-partisanship of Nancy Pelosi. A perfect storm of economic chaos, media cheerleading and an awful GOP presidential candidate made Obama’s election possible. That storm has passed, and in its wake, the true nature of our president is starting to become evident.

Not to get too psychoanalyz-ey, but for all of the “no drama Obama” hype we heard during the campaign, it’s pretty clear to me that the president isn’t comfortable in his own skin, because who he pretends to be and who he really is are not the same person. What he presented during the 2008 campaign was all construct and he’s constantly engaged in an internal struggle. On the one hand, he wants to recapture the spirit of 2008 and live up to that construct, but on the other, he wants to be himself. In the past year and a half, the American people have caught glimpses of who he really is and it’s not pretty.

Obama has at times revealed himself to be petty, whiny and generally unlikeable. I think a lot of those who voted for him have seen the mask slip, which is why he is not likely to get those voters back. People can forgive bad policy decisions, but they’re less likely to forgive betrayal. In some ways, Obama is unlike any president in the modern era. Americans expect candidates to fib on the campaign trail, but few are revealed to be completely fictional creations.

Read it in full.

Yes. “No Drama Obama” was a complete fabrication. What we have in Obama is a hyper-partisan far left-wing ideologue who isn’t above using lies, deceit,  and thug tactics to get what he wants. What we have been witnessing for a year and a half is not only unPresidential, it’s a soft form of tyranny.

The Summer of Our Discontent

The “summer of recovery” should be renamed “the summer of our discontent” because it seems like almost nobody is happy. As hard as the Obama team has tried to convince everyone that everything is going swimmingly, the sad reality keeps rearing its ugly head:

You know you’re in the summer of recovery when both the Wall Street Journal runs editorials titled “It isn’t working” and “Why I’m not hiring” and the New York Time’s front page story is “U.S. Lost 131,000 Jobs as Governments Cut Back“.  Listening to the White House and then analyzing economic data is like participating in an episode of the Twilight Zone. In the Time’s article we also learn;

“The Labor Department greatly revised its headline number for June, widening the job loss figure for that month to 221,000 jobs, from 125,000. Private sector hiring in June, originally reported at 83,000, was lowered to 31,000″

The people that are supposed to keep track of the number of jobs created from month to month got the number of private sector jobs wrong by 168 percent last month.  So the “it’s getting better” number that was reported in June was actually much worse.   With example after example of this type of incompetence, is it any wonder that polls show that American’s don’t trust their government?

***

At a time when expect our government to be encouraging companies to hire, President Obama’s policies do the opposite.  From the coming tax increases to President Obama’s recently signed health care legislation, each policy increases the already high costs associated with adding a new employee.  It costs a NJ company $74,000 to put $44,000 in an employee’s pocket, and so companies in that position aren’t going to hire.  What happens when taxes go up significantly next year?  More companies will be doing more with less because they have to and President Obama’s policies have ensured that.  How’s that summer of recovery working out for you?  For more and more people it isn’t, and a majority of Americans are placing the blame squarely in President Obama’s lap.

What does our President have to say about all of this? The world according President Obama proclaims that it is all George W. Bush’s fault.  This continual demagoguery might rev up the base, but it’s losing independents in droves. It’s also backfiring.

No wonder the President is getting so bored with it all…According to The Washington Prowler:

….there is a mounting whispering campaign in Washington about the current President’s disenchantment with the job he currently holds. “You hear it a lot from White House staff,” says a Democrat lobbyist in the financial services sector, who worked on the Obama transition team. “The President is tired of dealing or bored with all the B.S., or that things haven’t broken the way he wanted and it’s not shaping up to be the job that he thought it was going to be. The way some of them talk they make the President sound like a recent college graduate unhappy with his first job stuck in the mailroom.”

Apparently the entire White House is seriously displeased with events as they have unfolded:

[Todd] Purdum spends a day inside the West Wing and talks to Obama’s top aides, who tell him about the challenges of playing the Beltway game, ugly as it has become, even as their boss insists they find a way to transcend it.

“There’s a relentlessness to this that’s unlike anything else, especially when you come into office in a time of crisis,” says Obama senior adviser David Axelrod. “We did not exactly ease into the tub. The world is so much smaller, and events reverberate much more quickly, and one person can create an event so quickly from one computer terminal.”

Larry Summers, who served as Clinton’s Treasury secretary for the last 18 months of his term, says, “It used to be there was a kind of rhythm to the day” with the tempo picking up after the markets closed and as newspaper deadlines approached, between four and seven P.M. “That’s gone.” And, according to Rahm Emanuel, C.I.A. director Leon Panetta thinks “it’s a huge problem” that Washington runs at such “a highly caffeinated speed.”

Emanuel calls it “F***nutsville,” and Valerie Jarrett says she looks back wistfully to a time when credible people could put a stamp of reliability on information and opinion: “Walter Cronkite would get on and say the truth, and people believed the media,” she says.

etc…

Peter Wehner is having none of it, (nor am I):

Life in the White House is challenging; anyone who has worked there can testify to that. And Washington, D.C., is certainly an imperfect city, as all are. But the impression Team Obama is trying to create — that no group has ever faced more challenges, more difficulties, or more hardships — is silly and somewhat pathetic. Politics is the worthiest ambition, wrote John Buchan (the author of JFK’s favorite book, Pilgrim’s Way); it is the greatest and most honorable adventure.

If Obama and his aides don’t see that or anything like that — if they view politics and governing only through a lens tinted by bitterness, frustration, and resentment — then it is time for them to step aside. If not, then they should man up. Self-pity is a terribly unattractive quality.

Of course, their discontent is nothing compared to the rest of our’s, as Tony Blankley aptly notes:

A foul and dangerous brew is heating up that is composed of: (1) The economic collapse that started in 2008; (2) the radical, “fundamentally transforming” left-wing agenda of the government; and, (3) the thwarting of the public will – with glee – by the entrenched, non-elected powers (in the courts, media, colleges and government bureaucracies) as they get into the face and under the skin of the cultural and political majority.

It is insufferable (and will not long be suffered) to be lectured to and imposed upon by a ruling class that loathes our nation’s history, values and accomplishments; by those who are not, in fact, our genuine betters. They are neither better educated nor more profoundly morally versed.

In fact, they are our intellectual and moral inferiors – not superiors. Constantly grinning Supreme CourtJustice Elena Kagan didn’t think the Declaration of Independence’s proclamation that human beings “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” should in any way affect her understanding of our constitutional rights – presumably, if any.

Obama’s base should be happy, right? After all, he’s been so incredibly successful in transforming the country into the Socialist Utopia they all dream about. But no. As poor Robert Gibbs bitterly snarks, “They wouldn’t be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was president”:

The White House is simmering with anger at criticism from liberals who say President Obama is more concerned with deal-making than ideological purity.

During an interview with The Hill in his West Wing office, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs blasted liberal naysayers, whom he said would never regard anything the president did as good enough.

I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs said. “I mean, it’s crazy.”
The press secretary dismissed the “professional left” in terms very similar to those used by their opponents on the ideological right, saying, “They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality.”

Of those who complain that Obama caved to centrists on issues such as healthcare reform, Gibbs said: “They wouldn’t be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was President”.

Jeez, I understand the Bush-bashing, but why drag poor Dennis Kucinich into this?

RELATED:

The predictable result of all this discontent in/with Washington:

Big Government: The Rats Begin Leaving Obama’s Sinking Ship

Neither Orszag nor Romer is a fool. They were party to a con, and they surely knew it.

They presumed that the economy would bounce back as it usually does after a recession, and they went along with Rahm Emanuel’s strategy of exploiting the crisis lest it “go to waste.” In the process, they did what they were told and said what they had to. They endorsed and defended policies that, as economists, they knew were unsustainable; and they have left us holding the bag. The recovery has stalled; unemployment is at least 35% higher than Romer predicted it would be at this stage; and the deficits stemming from the so-called “stimulus bill” that these two piously praised as necessary for the recovery now threaten its continuance.

I doubt that Barack Obama cares one whit. His aim was the transformation of a country that he sincerely hates, and Orszag and Romer have loyally served his purpose – as Geithner and Summers still do. There will, I suspect, be a political reckoning for all of this profligacy, and its first harbinger will present itself on the first Tuesday in November. You can fool Americans for a time – but not for long.

Ace Of Spades HQ: Income Falls In Almost All Cities, Except For Three — Including Washington DC

Washington DC’s in the business of government, and business is good, baby.

The other two cities only grew in income due to government salaries, too:

Among the 52 MSAs with a population of one million or more, only three had an increase in both net earnings and personal income in 2009 (Washington, D.C.; San Antonio, Texas; and Virginia Beach, Virginia). The biggest gains in compensation in these three MSAs were in the federal government (civilian and military combined). Private sector compensation declined in these three MSAs.

Link this to Christienomics and you’re cooking with gas.

Is anyone noticing this? I mean, I know you are; I mean other people.

Yes,  people are noticing.

The Blog Professor: Dems gone wild: Kansas City mayor pro tem Bill Skaggs assaults videographer

Yet another Dem Pol loses his cool.

*Images spotted at Doug Ross@Journal, and Instapundit.

Linked by Michelle Malkin in Buzzworthy, thanks!