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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2010

SICKENING REPORTING – AT 8:55 P.M. ET:  The sins of the press are, as college professors like to put it, many and varied.  There has been a horrible crime committed in New York – a Muslim cab driver was stabbed, almost to death, by a man who first asked him if he were a Muslim, then attacked.

Hate crime, right?  Bigot, right?  It sure looks that way at first:

The man charged with the anti-Muslim slashing and stabbing of a cabdriver was arraigned Wednesday afternoon in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of second-degree attempted murder as a hate crime, first-degree assault as a hate crime and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

An emergency medical technician said that had the cut been any deeper or longer, the driver would have died, prosecutors said.

Judge ShawnDya L. Simpson ordered the man, Michael Enright, 21, held without bail.

James Zaleta, an assistant district attorney, said in court that Mr. Enright hailed a taxi near 24th Street and Second Avenue on Tuesday evening. Mr. Enright asked the taxi driver, who was from Bangladesh, whether he was Muslim, Mr. Zaleta said.

After the driver said he was, Mr. Enright responded with the Arabic greeting, “Assalamu alaikum,” according to the criminal court complaint.

Then Mr. Enright said, “Consider this a checkpoint,” before pulling out a Leatherman utility knife and slashing the taxi driver’s throat, Mr. Zaleta said. The driver turned and Mr. Enright slashed him in his face and forearms, Mr. Zaleta said.

Sickening and outrageous.  But, way, way, way down in the story, in The New York Times, we read this:

Mr. Enright is a volunteer with Intersections International, a nonprofit that works to promote cross-cultural understanding and has spoken out in favor of the proposed Islamic cultural center near ground zero.

Huh? 

What we have here, I would imagine, is a mental-health situation, not a political act.  But the left is already milking this on TV.  I hope the usual suspects have the decency to show some restraint.

August 25, 2010     Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 8:23 P.M. ET:  The mosque debate rages.  Now a group of leftist "clergymen" has weighed in on the side of the mosque.  They're led by ultra-leftist Jim Wallis, who is close (natch) to President Obama.  They claim they're concerned about religious liberty.

Strange, when Terri Schiavo was put to death in Florida, and the chic left ridiculed her family's Christian beliefs, I didn't hear any of these pro-mosque clergymen warning about attacks on religion.  Did you? 

When the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., in whose church Barack Obama sat for 20 years, engaged in his anti-Semitic hate-mongering, I didn't hear Rev. Wallis or his crowd expressing outrage.  Did you?

But now, on behalf of a mosque at Ground Zero, presided over by an imam who mixes "moderation" with some standard America-bashing and Israel-abolishing speech, the "clergymen" are anguished. 

Wes Pruden of the Washington times says it well:

The American elites no longer understand strongly held convictions, good or evil, religious or political. The church and synagogue is only a place for rites and ritual, a place to marry your daughters and bury your dead. But devout Muslims really believe. They never apologize for who they are or what they believe. They have only contempt for the platitudes they have learned to use so effectively in hoodwinking the West — and for presidents who peddle the moonshine.

We make a distinction between truly moderate Muslims, and there are legions of them, and the frauds.  The fact is that Islam is both a religion and a political/military movement.  We have a right to examine its beliefs and motives. 

And Pruden is right that American elites no longer understand strongly held convictions.  How can they, when any idea, absurd or not, is presented to them in our "best" universities simply as "an alternative narrative"?

The elites are making fools of themselves.  They will be replaced.

August 25, 2010        Permalink

NEW THREAT FROM YEMEN – AT 10:19 A.M. ET:  At a time when we're concentrating on domestic politics, let's not forget that threats from some peace-loving nations are increasing.  We are apparently stepping up military operations in Yemen:

For the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, CIA analysts see one of al-Qaeda's offshoots - rather than the core group now based in Pakistan - as the most urgent threat to U.S. security, officials said.

The sober new assessment of al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen has helped prompt senior Obama administration officials to call for an escalation of U.S. operations there - including a proposal to add armed CIA drones to a clandestine campaign of U.S. military strikes, the officials said.

"We are looking to draw on all of the capabilities at our disposal," said a senior Obama administration official, who described plans for "a ramp-up over a period of months."

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, stressed that that analysts continue to see al-Qaeda and its allies in the tribal areas of Pakistan as supremely dangerous adversaries. The officials insisted there would be no letup in their pursuit of Osama bin Laden and other senior figures thought to be hiding in Pakistan.

Indeed, officials said it was largely because al-Qaeda has been decimated by Predator strikes in Pakistan that the franchise in Yemen has emerged as a more potent threat. A CIA strike killed a group of al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen in 2002, but officials said the agency has not had that capability on the peninsula for several years.

COMMENT:  The war on terrorism will go on for decades, possibly for generations.  Leon Panetta seems to be doing a good job as head of CIA, despite a lack of experience in intelligence work.  He was, before taking the post, a liberal Democrat, but leaning toward the saner end of things, more like the old "national defense liberals." 

There is also increased Al Qaeda activity in Somalia, on Africa's west coast.  Sooner or later, one of these Al Qaeda offshoots will succeed in an attack against Americans, possibly right here in the U.S.  And Americans will be reminded of the intensity of this struggle.  And, sooner or later, these terror groups will acquire some form of WMD, possibly biological even before nuclear.

This is still our first responsibility, even if the chattering classes really don't want to talk about it.

August 25, 2010      Permalink

WITH STORIES LIKE THESE – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  The media is filled with negative economic stories, given a huge boost by yesterday's news of a dramatic decline in home sales.  Where is this recovery we were told about? 

Consider this bit of "happy days are here again":

Positive gross domestic product readings and other mildly hopeful signs are masking an ugly truth: The US economy is in a 1930s-style Depression, Gluskin Sheff economist David Rosenberg said Tuesday.

Writing in his daily briefing to investors, Rosenberg said the Great Depression also had its high points, with a series of positive GDP reports and sharp stock market gains.

But then as now, those signs of recovery were unsustainable and only provided a false sense of stability, said Rosenberg.

Rosenberg calls current economic conditions "a depression, and not just some garden-variety recession," and notes that any good news both during the initial 1929-33 recession and the one that began in 2008 triggered "euphoric response."

"Such is human nature and nobody can be blamed for trying to be optimistic; however, in the money management business, we have a fiduciary responsibility to be as realistic as possible about the outlook for the economy and the market at all times," he said.

The 1929-33 recession saw six quarterly bounces in GDP with an average gain of 8 percent, sending the stock market to a 50 percent rally in early 1930 as investors thought the worst had passed.

"False premise," Rosenberg said. "And guess what? We may well be reliving history here. If you're keeping score, we have recorded four quarterly advances in real GDP, and the average is only 3%."

COMMENT:  Not exactly news that sends you to the Lexus dealer.  I am not an economist, but even laymen know that economic conditions rest very heavily on psychology.  Americans are growing more pessimistic, not optimistic, about the economy, meaning that they'll be willing to spend less and risk less, and may be hesitant about investment.

We are in danger.  Will someone tell the president.  Send him a message stuffed inside an ice cream cone.

August 25, 2010         Permalink

ALL LIBERALS KNOW THAT MEN CAN'T BE TRUSTED – AT 8:22 A.M. ET:  The president has fallen below the magic 40% approval mark among men.  Even in Martha's Vineyard, this has to be alarming news:

(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama’s job approval rating among American men has fallen to a record low, hitting 39 percent in the week of Aug. 16-22, according to the Gallup Poll.

The week of Aug. 16-22 also marked the first time Obama’s average weekly approval rating dropped below 40 percent for either gender. His approval rating among American women was 46 percent for the week.

When Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, his job approval rating was 64 percent among men and 69 percent among women, according to Gallup. That was the highest his approval ever hit with men.

Obama’s approval rating first dipped below 50 percent among men in the week of Aug. 24-30, 2009. In October and November of 2009, it rebounded above 50 percent for a four-week stretch, but then in the week of Nov.16-22 it dropped to 46 percent and has never again exceeded 48 percent.

The last time Obama had an average weekly approval rating as high as 50 percent among American women was the week of June 28-July 4.

COMMENT:  Nothing seems to help the president because he is almost pathetic in his leadership skills.  He will speak of achievements, but most Americans see the achievements as things they oppose, like Obamacare. 

There does not appear to be anything on the horizon between now and the midterms, save a miracle recovery in the economy, that can strengthen Mr. Obama.  He has gotten himself into this mess, and has no clue on how to climb out.

August 25, 2010      Permalink

YIKES!! – AT 8:02 A.M. ET:  Stand by.  There is a major political upset underway in...Alaska.  Or, after today, maybe it will be called Sarahstan.  Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski is trailing in her bid to be renominated.  The clear reason:  Her virtually unknown opponent was recently endorsed by former Governor Sarah Palin.

If challenger Joe Miller wins, it will be a political earthquake, and shatter the myth that Sarah has lost popularity in her native state.  From the Anchorage Daily News, this morning:

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is battling for her political life this morning against Republican primary challenger Joe Miller, the Tea Party-backed candidate who had a slim lead as ballots continued to be counted overnight. Miller, a Fairbanks attorney, led from when the first returns came in Tuesday night, and was on the verge of pulling off one of the biggest election upsets ever in Alaska. With 84 percent of Alaska's precincts reporting around 2 a.m., Miller had 45,188 votes to 42,633 for Murkowski.

Miller credited the support of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his lead.

"I'm absolutely certain that was pivotal," he said.

Cautionary note:  The winner will not be known with certainty for a week, for 16,000 absentee ballots were sent out.  But so far, political history is being made.  And Sarah may well retain her magic touch.  I look forward to Katie Couric's spin on this.

August 25, 2010      Permalink

TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2010

FLORIDA GOP GOVERNOR'S RACE – AT 11:38 P.M. ET:  Rick Scott has become the GOP candidate for governor, defeating establishment candidate Bill McCollum.  But Scott has substantial baggage from questions over his management of a health-care firm, and faces a steep fight in the general election campaign against Democratic nominee Alex Sink, Florida's chief financial officer.

ARIZONA – AT 11:24 P.M. ET:  John McCain has, as expected, won the Republican nomination for the Senate in Arizona, beating back a challenge from J.D. Hayworth. 

FLORIDA UPDATE:  AT 10:07 P.M. ET:  The GOP primary battle for the gubernatorial nomination is still unsettled.  With 72% of the vote in, businessman Rick Scott has a small lead over state Attorney General Bill McCollum, 46-43 percent.  My own sense is that McCollum would make the stronger candidate in November, but voters apparently disagree. 

BULLETIN:  AT 8:37 P.M. ET:  The Associated Press has just called the Florida Democratic primary race for the U.S. Senate for Kendrick Meek.  That is good news for Marco Rubio.  Meek has no real chance of being elected in November, but his nomination, as we noted below, will draw African-American votes that might have gone to Rubio's opponent, Charlie Crist.

THE PRIMARIES – AT 8:11 P.M. ET:  You all know that this is primary day in several states.  Most focus is on Florida.

In Florida, Marco Rubio is expected to win the GOP nod for the U.S. Senate easily.  The intrigue is on the Democratic side.  African-American Congressman Kendrick Meek is battling against entrepreneur Jeff Greene.  Polls have just closed.

The Democratic outcome may well decide the general-election result in November.  Florida has a three-way election for the Senate.  Marco Rubio, presumtive GOP candidate, will oppose current Republican-turned-Independent Governor Charlie Crist.  If Meek wins the Dem nod, as expected, it will help Rubio, as African-Americans who might support Crist, who has always had a good rapport with the black community, will rally behind their home-town guy.  If Greene wins, blacks might well flock to Crist.  As of right now, Meek is well ahead in the initial count, good news for Rubio.

Other races to watch are Florida's gubernatorial primaries, and, of course, the primary race between John McCain and J.D. Hayworth in Arizona.  McCain should win handily. 

Stand by for more.

August 24, 2010     Permalink

WELCOME TO OBAMACARE.  START COUGHING – AT 10:22 A.M. ET:  The first programs under ObamaCare are starting to be formed, and we still don't know what our new, socialized health-care system will look like.  But the great Thomas Sowell doesn't like what he sees, and makes the threat clear:

The most basic fact is that it is cheaper to remain sick than to get medical treatment. What is cheapest of all is to die instead of getting life-saving medications and treatment, which can be very expensive.

Despite these facts, most of us tend to take a somewhat more parochial view of the situation when it is we ourselves who are sick or who face a potentially fatal illness. But what if that decision is taken out of your hands under Obamacare and is made for you by a bureaucrat in Washington?

I think we'd like to know the answer.

A new book, The Truth About Obamacare, by Sally Pipes of the Pacific Research Institute, lays out the facts in the plainest English.

While she can’t tell you the future, she can tell you enough about government-run medical systems in other countries that it will not take a rocket scientist to figure out what is in store for us if Obamacare doesn’t get repealed before it takes full effect in 2014. It is not a pretty picture.

We hear a lot about how wonderful it is that the Canadians or the British or the Swedes get free medical treatment because the government runs the system. But we don’t hear much about the quality of that medical care.

Having just gone through some medical stuff, the thing I valued much was the fact that I had choices, and, equally important, that the physician had choices.  I fear that this will evaporate.

We don’t hear about more than 4,000 expectant mothers who gave birth inside a hospital, but not in the maternity ward, in Britain in just one year. They had their babies in hallways, bathrooms, and even elevators...

...the media spin is that various countries with government-run medical systems have life expectancies that are as long as ours, or longer. That is very clever as media spin, if you don’t bother to stop and think about it.

Sally Pipes did bother to stop and think about it in The Truth About Obamacare. She points out that medical care is just one of the factors in life expectancy.

She cites a study by Profs. Robert Ohsfeldt and John Schneider at the University of Iowa, which shows that, if you leave out people who are victims of homicide or who die in automobile accidents, Americans live longer than people in any other Western country.

And, to be perfectly blunt, they seem to accomplish and create more...those dumb, bigoted, Islamophobic Yanks.

In the things that doctors can affect, such as the survival rates of cancer patients, the United States leads the world.

Americans get the latest pharmaceutical drugs, sometimes years before those drugs are available to people in Britain or in other countries where the government runs the medical system. Why? Because the latest drugs cost more and it is cheaper to let people die.

COMMENT:  The Obamans have tried to institute changes that are permanent, hoping that when people start receiving "benefits" they'll demand that those benefits continue.  I have to have more faith in the American people.  When they see their choices disappear, they will know what to do.

I hope.

August 24, 2010      Permalink

GREAT MOMENTS IN NATIONAL SUICIDE – AT 9:40 A.M. ET:  It's come to this:  The United States is reporting on its human rights shortcomings to the UN Human Rights Council, one of the most corrupt, degenerate bodies in the world.  From AP:

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration has told the United Nations that America's human rights record is less than perfect while stressing that the U.S. political system has built-in safeguards that promote improvements.

In its first-ever report to the U.N. Human Rights Council on conditions in the United States, the State Department said some minorities are still victims of discrimination. Despite progress in reforming past unfair policies and practices, the report said "work remains to meet our goal of ensuring equality before the law for all."

This is a farce.  Do you know who runs the Human Rights Council?  It's a garbage bin for some of the world's worst regimes, including Libya, Cuba and Iran.  And we're reporting to them? 

Council members are required to review their rights records.

The U.S. had shunned the council until last year over its criticism of Israel and a membership that includes repressive regimes.

Yeah, really.  Can you imagine President Bush reporting to this gang of thugs?

The Israelis use the term "salami tactics."  It refers to the gradual reduction of a country's strength and standing, one slice at a time.  It is happening to us, but I have a sense that the American people realize it, and will send the current Washington regime packing. 

Hmm.  Barack Obama for secretary-general of the UN.  He'd like that.  And he'd probably wind up as an America basher. 

August 24, 2010      Permalink

IMAGE RESTORATION NEWS – AT 8:44 A.M. ET:  If this weren't so sad, it would be funny.  Michelle Obama, seeking to restore her image after her Fantasy Island-style trip to Spain, is teaming up with...Laura Bush.  What?  You mean the wife of the evil BUSH (!!)?  Yes, that's the one.

The occasion will be a commemoration of the heroism aboard United Flight 93, which plunged to Earth in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, after passengers tried to retake the plane from hijackers.  Ms. Obama, previously known for saying that she'd never been proud of her country until her husband ran for president, will apparently express her pride in the heroism of that day.  CNN will undoubtedly cover her live:

After her sterling public image took on some tarnish from her recent vacation to Spain, the White House announced that first lady Michelle Obama will appear with Laura Bush for Sept. 11 observances in Pennsylvania.

The deft public relations move by the administration will place the two popular first ladies side-by-side for the first time since the 2008 inauguration.

"I am proud to be a part of the ceremony and public gathering in Shanksville on September 11 to commemorate the courageous acts of those on board Flight 93," Bush said in a statement. "We must never forget the brave sacrifice of these extraordinary men and women."

Obama, vacationing with her family on Martha's Vineyard, saw her popularity dip after a recent trip to Spain with daughter Sasha, 9.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll after the Spain trip found just 50 percent of Americans had a positive opinion of the first lady, down 14 percent from the same poll in April...

...Gallup pollsters noted that Laura Bush averaged a 71 percent approval rating during her husband's presidency and left the White House in 2009 with a 76 percent favorability rating.

COMMENT:  There have also been suggestions in the liberal press that former President Bush step up and help President Obama out on the Ground Zero mosque issue.  We observe with pleasure that the former president has remained silent.

The first lady, having returned from Spain, is now on a 10-day holiday with her family in Martha's Vineyard, apparently recovering from the exhaustion of shopping. 

I suppose a trip to remember Flight 93 will help Michelle Obama, but one has to wonder if she really cares. 

August 24, 2010      Permalink

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR COUNTRY? – AT 8:09 A.M. ET:  While we're being told by CNN and assorted pundits that anyone who opposes the mosque at Ground Zero must be a bigot, a stunning development in New York State shows the degree to which Islam is being whitewashed at the expense of Christianity.

The New York State regents exams, given to high-school students to test their knowledge, have been among the most respected in the country.  Given that background, consider this:

State testmakers played favorites when quizzing high-schoolers on world religions -- giving Islam and Buddhism the kid-gloves treatment while socking it to Christianity, critics say.

Teachers complain that the reading selections from the Regents exam in global history and geography given last week featured glowing passages pertaining to Muslim society but much more critical essay excerpts on the subject of Christianity.

"There should have been a little balance in there," said one Brooklyn teacher who administered the exam but did not want to be identified.

"To me, this was offensive because it's just so inappropriate and the timing of it was piss-poor," he added, referring to the debate over the plan to build a mosque near Ground Zero.

The most troubling passage came from Daniel Roselle's "A World History: A Cultural Approach," observers said.

The passage reads: "Wherever they went, the Moslems [sic] brought with them their love of art, beauty and learning. From about the eighth to the eleventh century, their culture was superior in many ways to that of western Christendom."

Meanwhile, an excerpt listing the common procedures used by Christian friars to introduce the religion in Latin America stated that "idols, temples and other material evidences of paganism [were] destroyed," and "Christian buildings [were] often constructed on sites of destroyed native temples" -- and built with free Indian labor, to boot.

"I can see why some people might see these questions as skewed," said Mark MacWilliams, a religious-studies professor at St. Lawrence University in upstate Canton. "Why does the exam seem to have only documents that portray Islam as a religion of peace, civilization and refinement, while it includes documents about Christianity that show it was anything but peaceful in the Spanish conquest of the Americas?"

COMMENT:  That is only a taste of what is happening all over the United States.  Does it reflect some sudden love of Islam by "educators"?  Of course not.  It reflects the infiltration into education of the hard left, which will always boost those forces that hate the United States.  And, of course, it reflects the contempt for Western religion that the hard left has always felt. 

Ask the question:  What are my children being taught?  It will take courage to ask the question, for you'll be accused of stupidity, McCarthyism and bigotry simply for asking.

August 24, 2010     Permalink