Obama Watch... 7/30/10
A Chronicle of the Socialization of America
The American People: Mugged!
Headlines …
HHS bans coverage of elective abortion in high-risk pools
Washington D.C., Jul 29, 2010 / 08:14 pm (EWTN News/CNA)
After reports recently surfaced that some of the new federally-funded high risk pool insurance programs in states across the U.S. were covering elective abortion, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a statement today, prohibiting the plans from covering the procedure.
The insurance pool programs for high-risk patients are part of a $5 billion federal funding program set up under the Affordable Health Care Act that was signed into law this March.
When states began to roll out their plans for the federal funds, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) investigated plans in Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Maryland, all of which the pro-life group accused of funding abortion. Following the passage of the health care overhaul in March, [Alleged] President Obama signed an executive order which purported to ban federal funding of abortion.
Following media scrutiny, the HHS issued a new regulation on July 29, clarifying that the pool programs are prohibited from covering the procedure.
Read more <http://www.ewtnnews.com/new.php?id=1292>
Missouri Ballot Measure Will Test Popularity of Obama's Health Care Law
<http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70217>
First in the Nation Referendum on Obamacare: Yes on Prop C
<http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Related Stories
SOROS CLAN HOSTS CLINTON WEDDING WEEKEND...
<http://www.drudgereport.com/>
Domestic ...
Administration
CBO Warns Obama: Exploding US Debt a Huge Risk
Thursday, 29 Jul 2010 11:13 AM
By: Dan Weil
The mushrooming U.S. government debt burden may cause a new financial crisis by spurring a sharp rise in interest rates, warns Doug Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Countries such as Greece already have seen such crises, as their debt buildups sent interest rates soaring and drove away international bond investors.
The CBO projects that U.S. federal government debt will reach 62 percent of GDP by Sept. 30, up from 36 percent just three years earlier. Only once before has that figure surpassed 50 percent, during and just after World War II.
The debt, of course, is created by massive budget deficits, with the White House projecting a gap of $1.47 trillion this year.
Read more <http://www.moneynews.com/Headline/cbo-Congress-watchdog-Debt-Financial--Crisis-Doug-Elmendorf/2010/07/29/id/366001>
Wells Fargo’s Stumpf: Customers Will Pay Dearly for Financial Reform
Thursday, 29 Jul 2010 04:31 PM
By: Dan Weil
Critics of the new financial reform law have said that additional costs it imposes on banks will simply be passed on to customers.
A growing number of bank executives are now confirming that view, with Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf the latest.
Customers will have to share in the new costs the bill created for a wide range of services, he told Bloomberg in an interview.
“I can’t guarantee that we won’t pass on some of those costs,” Stumpf said.
“We’ll try to tighten our belt and absorb some of the costs of compliance, but some costs may change, and customers might pay for their financial services in new ways.”
Indeed, Wells Fargo already has acted by slapping fees on checking accounts and increasing interest rates for loans and credit cards, notes Dick Bove, bank analyst for Rochdale Securities.
Read more <http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/Wells-Fargo-Stumpf-Customers-Pay--Financial--Reform/2010/07/29/id/366050>
[Alleged] President Obama calls African-Americans a ‘mongrel people’
By Sam Youngman - 07/29/10 11:00 AM ET
NEW YORK — [Alleged] President Obama waded into the national race debate in an unlikely setting and with an unusual choice of words: telling daytime talk show hosts that African-Americans are “sort of a mongrel people.”
The president appeared on ABC’s morning talk show “The View” Thursday, where he talked about the forced resignation of Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod, his experience with race and his roots.
When asked about his background, which includes a black father and white mother, Obama said of African-Americans: "We are sort of a mongrel people."
Read more <http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/111611-obama-calls-african-americans-a-mongrel-people->
Obama, Who Ended D.C.’s Voucher Program, Talks About Improving Education for Children ‘Born in the Wrong Neighborhood’
Friday, July 30, 2010
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration is phasing out a program that allows underprivileged children to get scholarships to expensive private schools in Washington, D.C., such as Sidwell Friends, the school the Obama girls attend, where tuition runs about $31,000 a year.
Nevertheless, Obama on Thursday spoke about his “obligation to lift up every child” to help them achieve a quality education.
Read more <http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70266>
ACLU Slams Obama's Security Policies
Friday, 30 Jul 2010 08:15 AM
By: Kara Rowland
The ACLU on Thursday excoriated [Alleged] President Obama for continuing the Bush administration's strictest national security policies, including indefinite detention, military commissions and a "targeted kill" program that authorizes the government to take out suspected terrorists anywhere.
The American Civil Liberties Union warned Mr. Obama, in a report based on a review of his 18 months in office, that his administration was on course to institutionalize the policies of his predecessor. The ACLU was a fierce critic of President George W. Bush's war on terror.
Failing to overturn those and other contentious tactics risks the creation of a "new normal," the ACLU argued in the report, which looked at administration policies it says implicate human rights and civil liberties.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/ACLU--Obama--security--policies/2010/07/30/id/366102>
Related Stories
Obama to Sell Auto Bailout As Good News in Michigan
<http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70259>
After a Year in Office, Biden Says Afghan War Policy Still Developing
<http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Trump Urges Obama to Extend Bush Era Tax Cuts for All
<http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/donald-trump-obama-bush-tax-cuts/2010/07/29/id/365987>
Obama Appears on The View —Because His Wife Watches It
<http://www.tvguide.com/News/Obama-Appears-View-1021146.aspx?rss=breakingnews>
Local Woman Convicted of Drug Fraud Joins Obama at the Podium
<http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/99497354.html>
Economy
Fed Warns Slow Growth Keeps Recovery From Gaining Strength
Thursday, 29 Jul 2010 07:28 AM
The pace of economic activity has slowed or held steady in parts of the country, revealing a choppy path back to health.
A new survey released by the Federal Reserve Wednesday found the U.S. economy growing this summer, even as risks mount.
Of the 12 regions tracked by the Fed, the survey said that growth held steady in Cleveland and Kansas City, but slowed in Atlanta and Chicago. Economic activity elsewhere was described as modest.
High unemployment, cautious consumers and businesses, an ailing housing market and an edgy Wall Street have kept the recovery from gaining strength.
Read more <http://www.moneynews.com/FinanceNews/US-Economy/2010/07/29/id/365972>
Obama: We'll Get Back Money From Auto Bailout
Thursday, 29 Jul 2010 02:47 PM
[Note: Is he really that naïve? And is anyone listening naïve enough to think the taxpayer would see a penny of it if by some stroke of magic they get money back? - hm]
[Alleged] President Barack Obama says the government will recover all the taxpayer money used to bail out the auto industry last year.
In an interview on the ABC daytime talk show "The View," Obama said the auto industry "tells a good story" of his administration's efforts to rescue the economy. He plans to highlight that story with stops at three auto plants over the next several days, including two stops in Michigan on Friday.
Pasted from <http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/US-Obama-Autos/2010/07/29/id/366042>
Related Stories
Foreclosures Surge in Most Big Cities as Home Crisis Spreads
<http://www.moneynews.com/Headline/US-Foreclosure-Rates/2010/07/29/id/365965>
Abortion, Life & Family Issues
Experts Ask If Anyone Will Be 'Normal'
Thursday, July 29, 2010 8:12 AM
An updated edition of a mental health bible for doctors may include diagnoses for "disorders" such as toddler tantrums and binge eating, experts say, and could mean that soon no one will be classified as normal.
Leading mental health experts gave a briefing to warn that a new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which is being revised now for publication in 2013, could devalue the seriousness of mental illness and label almost everyone as having some kind of disorder.
Citing examples of new additions like "mild anxiety depression," "psychosis risk syndrome," and "temper dysregulation disorder," they said many people previously seen as perfectly healthy could in future be told they are ill.
"It's leaking into normality. It is shrinking the pool of what is normal to a puddle," said Til Wykes of the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London.
Read more <http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/health_stories/experts_anyone_normal/2010/07/29/336627.html>
Congress
Ethics Panel Accuses Rep. Charles Rangel of 13 Violations
Thursday, 29 Jul 2010 02:38 PM
WASHINGTON – People familiar with the talks say representatives of New York Democrat Charles Rangel and lawyers for the House ethics committee have reached a plea deal in his ethics case. However, committee members have not agreed to the settlement.
It was not immediately clear how many of the 13 charges of ethical violations Rangel agreed to accept.
The ethics panel that will judge Rangel's conduct held its first meeting Thursday.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/rangel-ethics-13-violations-charged-obama-house-pelosi/2010/07/29/id/366039>
NY Congressman Calls for Probe of Funding for Mosque Near Ground Zero and Its Promoter
Friday, July 30, 2010
By Nick Dean
(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said a mosque should not be built near Ground Zero in Manhattan and that there should be an investigation into the funding for the proposed Islamic community center, as well as the imam who is promoting the initiative.
"I don’t believe that there should be a mosque in the vicinity of Ground Zero,” King said on Wednesday. “This is such a sensitive issue, and it is offensive to so many people that I don’t think there should be a mosque there.”
Read more <http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70234>
Related Stories
Elena Kagan news: Sen. Jeff Sessions calls Kagan a 'dangerous' nominee
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/28/AR2010072805147_pf.html>
Graham: End Birthright Citizenship for Illegals' Children
<http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/lindsey-graham-birthright-citizenship-immigration/2010/07/29/id/366025>
Intelligence Nominee Clears First Senate Hurdle
<http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/US-Intelligence-Chief-Senate/2010/07/29/id/366059>
Barney Frank: 'Zero chance' of Congress approving 'unpopular' value-added tax
<http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/111725-barney-frank-zero-chance-of-congress-approving-a-value-added-tax>
Hoyer: Expiration of Bush Tax Cuts Equals a ‘Republican Tax Increase’ on Middle Class
<http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70244>
Republicans Say Obama’s Drilling Moratorium Could Have Taxpayers Picking Up Tab for More Unemployed Oil Workers <http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70190>
CIA
Before the CIA, There Was the Pond
Thursday, 29 Jul 2010 02:30 PM
It was a night in early November during the infancy of the Cold War when the anti-communist dissidents were hustled through a garden and across a gully to a vehicle on a dark, deserted road in Budapest. They hid in four large crates for their perilous journey.
Four roadblocks stood between them and freedom.
What Zoltan Pfeiffer, a top political figure opposed to Soviet occupation, his wife and 5-year-old daughter did not know as they were whisked out of Hungary in 1947 was that their driver, James McCargar, was a covert agent for one of America's most secretive espionage agencies, known simply as the Pond.
Created during World War II as a purely U.S. operation free of the perceived taint of European allies, the Pond existed for 13 years and was shrouded in secrecy for more than 50 years. It used sources that ranged from Nazi officials to Stalinists and, at one point, a French serial killer.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/US-Spy-Agency-The-Pond/2010/07/29/id/366034>
Exclusive: Google, CIA Invest in ‘Future’ of Web Monitoring
By Noah Shachtman
July 28, 2010
The investment arms of the CIA and Google are both backing a company that monitors the web in real time — and says it uses that information to predict the future.
The company is called Recorded Future, and it scours tens of thousands of websites, blogs and Twitter accounts to find the relationships between people, organizations, actions and incidents — both present and still-to-come. In a white paper, the company says its temporal analytics engine “goes beyond search” by “looking at the ‘invisible links’ between documents that talk about the same, or related, entities and events.”
The idea is to figure out for each incident who was involved, where it happened and when it might go down. Recorded Future then plots that chatter, showing online “momentum” for any given event.
Read more <http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/exclusive-google-cia/>
Education
NEA Removes Post Encouraging Teachers To Celebrate Chinese Communist Revolution
Posted by Guest Contributor on Thursday, July 29, 2010, 4:37 PM
By The P/Oed Patriot
After I posted the Article this morning about the National Education Association (NEA) and their recommendation that their members read Saul Alinksy’s “Rules for Radicals”, I decided to do a little digging.
It would appear that Alinsky is not the only Communist the NEA seems to hold in high regard.
According to an Article in the World Net Daily (WND), the NEA is partial to the Communist leader Chairman Mao.
On the NEA website, in the Diversity calendar, there was a posting on October 1st that read this:
“OCT 1
Communist China Established
In Tiananmen Square in 1949, Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Communist Party of China, proclaimed the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Saying that the “Chinese People have stood up!”
Here is the Screen shot that was taken by WND (Click to Enlarge):
Read more <http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Politics
Fake Michigan Tea Party Acting Spoiler for Republicans?
Posted by Guest Contributor on Thursday, July 29, 2010, 3:01 PM
-By Warner Todd Huston
Back in May I posted a report on what seemed to be a fake tea party group circulating petitions in the state of Michigan to get themselves recognized as an official political party.
The group circulating the petition, Progressive Campaigns, Inc., had long-time connections to the Michigan Democrat Party and at that time no one in the various Michigan tea party groups had any knowledge of this new so-called Tea Party petition effort.
Now the Detroit Free Press is reporting that a United Auto Workers union member named Mark Steffek has filed papers with the state announcing that this so-called Tea Party has had a “convention” and is fielding a slate of candidates for the 2010 elections.
Read more <http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Related Stories
Gingrich: Obama Repeating Mistakes From the Great Depression
<http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/gingrich-obama-depression-recession-mosque-islam-taxes-bush-cuts/2010/07/29/id/366064>
DNC Chair Kaine Complains of Media Effort to ‘Brand’ Sherrod, but Stops Short of Calling FoxNews ‘Racist’
<http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70243>
Democrats Strategy Against the Republicans / Tea Party : Claim they are One and the Same
<http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
GOP Gets Wish: Rangel Case in Campaign Season
<http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/US-Rangel-Ethics/2010/07/30/id/366083>
Media
Details of 100 million Facebook users published online
Users' personal information cannot now be made private, security consultant says
The personal details of 100 million Facebook users have been collected and published online in a downloadable file, meaning they will now be unable to make their publicly available information private.
However, Facebook downplayed the issue, saying that no private data had been compromised.
The information was posted by Ron Bowes, an online security consultant, on the Internet site Pirate Bay.
Read more <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38463013/ns/technology_and_science/>
ACORN Whistleblower Anita MonCrief’s New Venture: EmergingCorruption.com
Posted by Guest Contributor on Thursday, July 29, 2010, 2:00 PM
-By Warner Todd Huston
ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief, the brave young woman whose conscience wouldn’t allow her to cover for ACORN’s criminal activity while she was in its employ, has started a new venture. A website dedicated to rooting out government corruption called www.EmergingCorruption.com was launched last weekend headed by Anita and a cadre of writers and researchers (myself being one of them).
Emerging Corruption is a political news website that provides to the public information and investigations into ACORN and other center-left enterprises. The news website will investigate and expose historically corrupt special interest organizations and will feature information and investigations into organizational tactics, programs, campaigns, staff & initiatives including fund raising and finances.
Read more <http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Conservative Media Watchdog Issues Ethics Challenge to Washington Post
Friday, July 30, 2010
By Matt Cover, Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) – Conservative media watchdog L. Brent Bozell III has issued an open letter to Washington Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli calling on the Post to fully divulge the involvement of its employees with the controversial Journolist e-mail list.
Bozell, president of the Media Research Center – the parent organization of CNSNews.com – pointed out that several Post employees were members of the liberal email list. This association, he said, put the paper’s credibility and impartiality in doubt.
Read more <http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70242>
Related Stories
Daily Kos Editor Says Global Warming Skeptics Should Commit Suicide
<http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Keith Olbermann Named “Worst Person In The World”!
<http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
The States
Va. activist can post officials' Social Security numbers on site, court rules
By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 29, 2010
[Note: Unbelievable! -hm]
Betty "B.J." Ostergren wanted to persuade Virginia to take sensitive personal data off state Web sites. To make her point, she created her own site and then posted public records that included the Social Security numbers of government officials.
This week, a federal appellate court in Virginia ruled that Ostergren can keep those records on her site, The Virginia Watchdog. The court found that a 2008 law that prohibits publishing Social Security numbers violates Ostergren's constitutional right to free speech.
Ostergren has made it her mission to argue that the government is too lax with personal data posted online, making residents vulnerable to identity theft. She's free to use deeds and tax liens from lawmakers and court clerks to send her message, the court said.
Read more <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/28/AR2010072805887.html?hpid=topnews>
International …
Terrorism
Shocking! ACORN Hippies Discover Rule Of Law In Missouri
Posted by Guest Contributor on Thursday, July 29, 2010, 1:28 PM
Guest post by Jim Durbin, 24thstate
Last week, the reconstituted ACORN (now known as Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment), stormed a Chase Bank branch in St Louis in a carefully orchestrated protest designed to create sympathetic media stories for breaking the law.
MORE, whose Facebook page includes celebration of communist ideals and whose membership includes the most radical and deluded socialists today’s universities can manufacture, uses civil disobedience to try and intimidate bank employees just trying to go about their days. Here’s a video of what it looked like when they stormed Chase last week, in contrast to the calm interviews local television stations gave the protesters.
On Tuesday, communists learned that professor McSocialist lied to them. There are consequences to acting like a bunch of brown-shirted thugs. A Wells Fargo branch unaffiliated with the mortgage business was attacked this morning by the same group of miscreants that assaulted Chase last week, but this time, they were tossed out in the street instead of being allowed to shut down a business for the day. Here is their complaint.
Read more <http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/>
Russia
Medvedev widens powers of KGB successor agency
Jul 29, 6:58 AM (ET)
By MANSUR MIROVALEV
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia has broadened the authority of the Federal Security Service, the KGB's main successor agency, giving it Soviet-style repressive powers in a move critics say could be used to stifle protests and intimidate government opponents.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a law Thursday allowing the agency, known by its initials FSB, to issue warnings or detain people suspected of preparing to commit crimes against Russia's security - which could include participating in anti-government rallies. Perpetrators face fines or up to 15 days detention.
Like many past restrictions, the law was described as part of an effort to combat extremism. The bill, submitted to Russian lawmakers in April, followed twin subway bombings in Moscow that killed 40 people and reflected the Kremlin's dissatisfaction with critical media coverage of its anti-terrorism efforts.
A senior lawmaker said the law protects people from abuse by law enforcement officers.
Read more <http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100729/D9H8LTJO1.html>
China
China conducts naval drill in disputed southern seas
Thu Jul 29, 6:44 am ET
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese naval forces have carried out a series of drills in the South China Sea, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday, strategic waters which are disputed by a number of Southeast Asia countries.
The exercises were overseen by General Chen Bingde, Chief of General Staff for the three-million-strong People's Liberation Army, the Defense Ministry said on its website (www.mod.gov.cn).
The ministry's statement did not say exactly where the drills took place or how many ships or sailors participated. It said guided missiles were fired and anti-aircraft attacks simulated, as well as electromagnetic interference.
"Pay close attention to changes in the development of the mission, soundly prepare for combat," the ministry paraphrased Chen as saying.
Read more <http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100729/wl_nm/us_china_military_drill>
Opinion …
The Moral Case against High Taxation
Kate Wicker
As a pro-life Catholic, I wouldn't vote for a politician with radical pro-choice views. And, for the most part, even those who disagree with me respect that position. But people begin to raise eyebrows when I say I believe that raising taxes on the wealthy to benefit the less well-off is wrong as well.
How do I reconcile my obligation to promote social justice and embrace Jesus' teaching that "whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me" with my strong beliefs that high taxation is wrong?
Let me count the ways.
There's the economic standpoint, which has little to do with my Catholic faith -- the fact that high taxation results in sluggish economies where enterprising individuals and businesses sustain such a heavy tax burden that they either look to do business elsewhere (as in abroad) or cut jobs and stop hiring.
But standing on its own, my economic arguments do little to show why, in my mind, high taxation does not only hurt economies, it hurts humanity.
Let me explain.
Income should not be distributed; it should be earned. There is something morally wrong with coercively taking people's money and punishing diligence. That's exactly what "redistributing the wealth" does: We give government the power to determine who is in need and who isn't. We take away a person's ownership of their work. Creation belongs to the creator.
Do we have a Christian duty to share our God-given blessings with others? Definitely. But not through government coercion. When government becomes the central hub for the distribution of wealth, people's work no longer belongs to them; it belongs to the greater society, the "common good." As Americans, we are entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." By burdening upper-income earners with tremendous taxes in order to "restore fairness," we're saying that some of us are entitled to happiness without the pursuit.
Even Scripture is clear on the importance of work for able bodies:
For we did not act in a disorderly way among you, nor did we eat food received free from anyone. On the contrary, in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked, so as not to burden any of you. Not that we do not have the right. Rather, we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you, so that you might imitate us. In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat (2 Thes 3: 7-10).
Read more <http://www.insidecatholic.com/feature/the-moral-case-against-high-taxation.html>
Kandahar Best
By John Batchelor on July 29, 2010 12:36 AM
Spoke Lt. Colonel Dave Oclander, Task Force Fury, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Regiment, 82nd Airborne, at Kandahar City, to hear his summary of the death of four of his paratroopers on July 13th. Six Taliban suicide vest bombers penetrated security at an Afghan base, and two got through the wire to the inner most compound. One enemy attacker was stopped by a paratrooper before he reached the main force. Another was stopped at the wire. First Lt. Chris Goeke (left) of the 82nd, from Minneapolis, graduate of Apple Valley High School and West Point (6th in his class) was killed by a gunshot to the head -- as the bombers came in firing automatic weapons. Colonel Oclander estimates the firefight last twenty minutes. Results were four KIA paratroopers, more than one Afhan translator KIA, several wounded, and six KIA Taliban. Dave Oclander emphasized the "heroic" conduct of his soldiers. Mention that Dave Oclander has lost 9 KIA since his unit deployed last August 2009 at Zabul Province and then moved to Kandahar. The security situation at Kandahar is sub standard and not helped by the civilian corruption (Karzai cartel) and the Taliban bloody-mindedness. Dave Oclander reports that his unit is coming hom in August to Bragg, and that it will be replaced by three Army brigades from Fort Carson and a Military Police unit -- a sizable increase in firepower. However Oclander emphasized that the solution in Kandhar is not firepower. He pointed to the civilian government as rotten. He also said that the Afghan police are wholly inadequate. Oclander finds the Afghan National Army acceptable and worthy. But the officials and the police are rotten -- and therein lies the tale of woe. Why did Chris Goeke perish? Doing his job: one of our best. Like the Italians (above). And the six KIA Taliban? Medieval men, living in a tiny, delusional worldview of only First Cause -- no cause and effect, no freewill, just slaves in a cemetery. They died, in their minds, because Allah willed it. How do we defeat such an enemy?
Source <http://johnbatchelorshow.com/jb/2010/07/kandahar-ops/>
Obama's Mean Streak
By Ed Lasky
Barack Obama seems to have a pattern of using ceremonial or stately events as opportunities to ambush and humiliate people. This behavior is unpresidential and reveals a vindictive streak that makes Richard Nixon look like Mister Rogers.
A few examples of Obama's taking pleasure in administering public pain to others:
During the State of the Union Address, he chose to direct his ire at the justices of the Supreme Court, located in the front rows. After the Supreme Court issued a ruling in favor of the First Amendment regarding political speech, Barack Obama famously chose to dress down the black-clad justices before the entire nation -- miscomprehending the law and the ruling in a fit of (un)presidential petulance. The embarrassing spectacle was prompted by a view that the court's ruling may make it easier for opponents of the president and Democrats to make their views known to the public.
Regardless of Obama's pique, it was wrong on so many levels that it earned a rebuke from the Supreme Court historian, who had enthusiastically voted for him. The noted historian said it "was really unusual in my mind to see the President going after the Supreme Court in such a forum." That is change for you. He predicted that justices may refuse to attend in the future because "you don't go to be insulted. I can't see the Justices wanting to be there and be insulted by the President."
Their appearance was a mark of respect for the government of the United States, broken into three branches but united in the goal of helping fellow Americans. Barack Obama did not reciprocate the respect -- and demeaned himself (though his narcissism and his cheering section entourage would shield him from such self-reflection) and the dignity of the office by needlessly ambushing the most august institution of the land.
He seems to have a penchant for ambushing financial executives, too -- or people he calls "fat cats" -- after he cashes their campaign checks. But he does like to tag people with labels.
Read more <http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/obamas_mean_streak_1.html>
Real Sherrod Story Still Untold
By Jack Cashill
Had Andrew Breitbart dutifully written a column detailing how an obscure USDA official, Shirley Sherrod, and her husband, Charles Sherrod, had scammed the government out of millions, the story would have had the range and lifespan of a fruit fly.
Instead, as the world knows, Breitbart released an edited version of Shirley Sherrod's speech before the NAACP that provoked national headlines and caused the NAACP to denounce her and a panicky Obama administration to fire her from her position as the Georgia Director of Rural Development for the USDA.
Then, of course, when the full version of the speech emerged -- which showed Sherrod as a recovering racist, not as a practicing one -- the Obama White House fell all over itself apologizing, and the media turned their guns on Breitbart.
Breitbart, however, had put a potentially huge story into play the only way he could -- through sheer provocation. As he knew, and as we are learning, the story goes well beyond Sherrod's long-ago racist mischief-making with a poor white farmer.
This past Sunday, in his weekly column for the San Francisco Chronicle, "Willie's World," veteran black politico Willie Brown confirmed that "there is more to the story than just [Sherrod's] remarks."
"As an old pro," Brown acknowledged, "I know that you don't fire someone without at least hearing their side of the story unless you want them gone in the first place." Brown observed that Sherrod had been a thorn in the USDA's side for years, that many had objected to her hiring, and that she had been "operating a community activist organization not unlike ACORN." Although Brown does not go into detail, he alludes to a class action lawsuit against the USDA in which she participated some years ago.
Read more <http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/real_sherrod_story_still_untol.html>
Gen. Jones is Not a Useful Idiot
By Ken Blackwell
Gen. James Jones is not a "useful idiot." He's a well-educated, most respected military professional. He's also a highly decorated Marine. He is [Alleged] President Obama's National Security Adviser. Ordinarily, that would be good news for all Americans.
That cynical "useful idiot" phrase comes to us from Vladimir Lenin, the Bolshevik revolutionary who overthrew Russia's democratic government in 1917. Lenin set up the world's first Communist regime. Soon after taking power in Moscow, the Communists saw famine overtake their new Soviet Union. Everything was rationed. All property was owned by the proletariat -- and soon, everything was in short supply.
Beset by shortages, invading Germans, and civil war at home, Lenin presided over one famous Kremlin meeting during which he renewed his assurances that capitalism was on its last legs. "We will hang all the capitalists," Lenin pledged. His comrade Martov bitterly answered: "Under our great new socialist government, we couldn't even find enough rope to hang them!" Lenin, ever humorless, responded: "When I get ready to hang the capitalists, those useful idiots will sell me the rope -- on credit."
The Washington Post celebrated July 4th with an astonishing front-page story. In it, the entire national security apparatus of the United States was laid out. The daily -- and nightly -- routines of Defense Sec. Robert Gates, Homeland Security Sec. Janet Napolitano, and Attorney Gen. Eric Holder, as well as Gen. Jones and CIA Director Leon Panetta, were described in detail. Was that wise?
In the article, Gen. Jones is described as someone who feared the Soviet Union when he was a boy. The Post tells us that when the 6'4", strapping general was growing up, he was never afraid of the dark, but he was afraid of Russia. "His parents would talk soberly of the Iron Curtain," the article informs us. "The image 'terrified me as a child. Millions of people in prison, behind a so-called curtain.'"
Now, we are told, the general calls Sergei Prikhodko, the Russian national security adviser, many nights. Gen. Jones believes that by regularly interacting with Prikhodko, he can better defend Americans from the threats we face today.
Read more <http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/gen_jones_is_not_a_useful_idio.html>
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