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SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 2010

YOU WON'T SEE THIS ON CNN – AT 9:04 P.M. ET:  Apparently the populace of Louisiana refuses to think the way elite Washington wants it to.  This is a serious violation of the new order, and must be reported.  If you have names, please send them to appropriate authorities.  From Bluegrass Pundit:

Louisiana has faced two major crises in recent years. The first was hurricane Katrina handled by former President Bush. The second was the Gulf oil spill handled by current President Obama. A PPP poll asked likely voters who they think is better at handling crisis, Obama or Bush. 54% chose President Bush. Only 33% picked President Obama

81% of Louisiana voters support offshore drilling.

While support has nearly returned to previous levels elsewhere, support in Louisiana has, if it were possible, also increased, to 81%, with only 9% not in favor.

COMMENT:  Well, these are the people on the front lines, and they have spoken.  President Obama will speak about Hurricane Katrina this week, and I doubt if he will mention these numbers, but he might think about them.  The oil spill was his Katrina, and he handled it with his usual cold, detached lack of ability.

August 28, 2010      Permalink

OUT OF CONTROL – AT 8:27 P.M. ET:  Glenn Beck's massive rally at the Lincoln Memorial today has unleashed some of the most uncontrolled, undisciplined, unruly journalism that we've seen lately, and we've seen much.

Beck is controversial.  I agree with some of his views, disagree with others.  His rally took place on the anniversary of Dr. King's famous "I have a dream" speech, and Beck spoke at the same place.  My own sense:  He might have wisely chosen another day.

However, the left forgot any sense of shame in attacking Beck, and relating his speech to all kinds of horrors.  Consider this from Bob Herbert of The New York Times:

There is a great deal of hatred and bigotry in this country, but it does not define the country. The daily experience of most Americans is not a bitter experience and for all of our problems we are in a much better place on these matters than we were a half century ago.

But I worry about the potential for violence that grows out of unrestrained, hostile bombast. We’ve seen it so often. A little more than two weeks after the 1963 March on Washington, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan and four young black girls were killed. And three months after the march, Jack Kennedy was assassinated.

What, precisely, does the assassination of President Kennedy have to do with the march on Washington?  Herbert seems to suggest that it was a racist act, or an act by peple upset with the civil rights movement.  He simply cannot accept that Mr. Kennedy was murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald, a man with profound left-wing views.

Herbert concludes:

My sincere advice to Beck, Palin and their followers is chill, baby, chill.

O, that he would give the same advice to some of his ideological brethren, who tag most Americans as bigots, Islamophobes, racists and fascists whenever some disagreement arises.  There are certainly nut jobs on the right.  But there are more, today, on the left, and the left won't even acknowledge them.

August 28, 2010     Permalink

JOB INTERVIEW? – AT 8:37 A.M. ET:  President Obama and Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York have had their golf outing.  But what was it really about?  From The Politico:

VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. — President Barack Obama hit the links Friday with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, mixing business with his summer vacation on Martha’s Vineyard.

Obama and Bloomberg huddled inside the clubhouse at the Vineyard Golf Club for about 15 minutes to discuss the economy before heading to the driving range, the White House said.

It’s the first time Obama and Bloomberg have met since the controversy over the planned construction of an Islamic center near ground zero in Manhattan. Bloomberg strongly supports the Park51 center, but Obama triggered a storm of controversy when he said proponents have a right to proceed with project, and then seemed to question the wisdom of building it.

COMMENT:  Bloomberg has grown increasingly bizarre.  After the attempting terrorist attack in Times Square, he speculated that the bomber might have been someone who just didn't like Obamacare.

No, I mean it.  He said that.  He also meddles in people's diets, pushing all kinds of regulations as to what mere citizens may be served in New York. 

And, of course, undoubtedly dear to Obama's heart, Bloomberg not only supports the Ground Zero mosque, but has declared that those opposed to it should be "ashamed" of themselves. 

He used to be a Republican.  Then he became an independent.  I wonder what he is now, or can be persuaded to be.

But one speculates on whether this was more than a golf game.  Although Bloomberg was elected to a third term as mayor last November, his popularity has dropped since then.  With the economy in the kind of shape it is, Obama might be looking for a new secretary of the Treasury.  Who better, some might say, than a billionaire who knows how to make money?

Just speculating.  But I doubt Obama invited Bloomberg just to have a golf partner who likes mosques.

August 28, 2010      Permalink 

FOLLOW THE MONEY – AT 8:33 A.M. ET:  Want to know why journalism is so biased?  It's the kind of people who get hired to write and deliver the news.  All you have to do is look at their political contributions.  From the Washington Examiner:

Senior executives, on-air personalities, producers, reporters, editors, writers and other self-identifying employees of ABC, CBS and NBC contributed more than $1 million to Democratic candidates and campaign committees in 2008, according to an analysis by The Examiner of data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The Democratic total of $1,020,816 was given by 1,160 employees of the three major broadcast television networks, with an average contribution of $880.

By contrast, only 193 of the employees contributed to Republican candidates and campaign committees, for a total of $142,863. The average Republican contribution was $744.

Disclosure of the heavily Democratic contributions by influential employees of the three major broadcast networks follows on the heels of controversy last week when it was learned that media baron Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. contributed $1 million to the Republican Governors Association.

COMMENT:  There has been much fainting on the left over Murdoch's contribution, but almost no attention paid to the breathtakingly lopsided record of contributions by people who actually produce news reports. 

Not only is there a liberal bias to news reporting, it's becoming accepted as perfectly proper by a generation of journalists who went into the business to "make a difference."  To them, to paraphrase a leftist professor in the 1960s, the truth is what supports progressive causes.

I suspect it will take an entire generation to clean up journalism, assuming anyone employed by the mainstream media has a desire to clean it up.  In the meantime, immense damage to the country is being done. 

August 28, 2010      Permalink

WERE YOU AWARE OF THIS? – AT 8:31 A.M. ET:  The Obama administration has, to its disgrace, actually reported "human rights" problems in the United States to the UN Human Rights Council, a body presided over by thugs.  It is a new low for an administration presided over bya man who sees himself, not as an American, but as a citizen of the world.  One governor is striking back:

PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer demanded Friday that a reference to the state's controversial immigration law be removed from a State Department report to the United Nations' human rights commissioner.

The U.S. included its legal challenge to the law on a list of ways the federal government is protecting human rights.

In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Brewer says it is "downright offensive" that a state law would be included in the report, which was drafted as part of a UN review of human rights in all member nations every four years.

"The idea of our own American government submitting the duly enacted laws of a state of the United States to 'review' by the United Nations is internationalism run amok and unconstitutional," Brewer wrote.

Arizona's law generally requires police officer enforcing other laws to investigate the immigration status of people they suspect are illegal immigrants.

COMMENT:  Can you imagine that this is the country we're now living in?  We report to a group of dictators?  Have you seen a protest in the mainstream media? 

Yet, you may be certain that Gov. Brewer, like Sarah Palin, will be portrayed as a fool, an airhead, an extremist, by the gatekeepers of news.  But Gov. Brewer is absolutely correct.

August 28, 2010     Permalink

FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2010

BUT SOMETIMES THERE'S SANITY – AT 8:15 P.M. ET:  As Charles Krauthammer points out, this administration has gone out of its way to antagonize as many Americans as possible.  But, apparently, someone shut down the power on what could have been a major blowout:

In a swift and unexpected decision, the Environmental Protection Agency today rejected a petition from environmental groups to ban the use of lead in bullets and shotgun shells, claiming it doesn't have jurisdiction to weigh on the controversial Second Amendment issue. The decision came just hours after the Drudge Report posted stories from Washington Whispers and the Weekly Standard about how gun groups were fighting the lead bullet ban.

Leave me I should translate that into English:  The White House, seeing the Drudge Report, made a call to some honcho at EPA, speaking as follows:  "Jerk, what are you people thinking?  Don't you realize that gun control cost us the Congress in 1994?  Clown, get this off the table as quickly as possible.  Fool, do you want your job tomorrow?"

The EPA had planned to solicit public responses to the petition for two months, but this afternoon issued a statement rejecting a 100-page request from the Center for Biological Diversity, the American Bird Conservancy, and three other groups for a ban on lead bullets, shot, and fishing sinkers. The agency is still considering what to do about sinkers.

The decision was a huge victory for the National Rifle Association which just seven days ago asked that the EPA reject the petition, suggesting that it was a back door attempt to limit hunting and impose gun control. It also was a politically savvy move to take gun control off the table as the Democrats ready for a very difficult midterm election.

COMMENT:  You can be sure that, after the election, some other group will try to get gun control in the back door.  Look, I'm no fanatic.  There are reasonable measures to reduce gun tragedies that can be taken, like the instant background check.  And we have banned private ownership of automatic weapons (machine guns) since 1934.  But the Second Amendment, which celebrates the supremacy of the people over the government, is critically important to this nation's character, and must be preserved.

August 27, 2010     Permalink

THE MADNESS CONTINUES – It is reported that President Obama has invited New York's Mayor Mike "the mosque" Bloomberg for a round of golf.  Why not?  They think alike.  My hunch is that there may be a place in the Obama administration for Mayor Mike.  Meanwhile, back in the city, New York's liberals continue their descent into madness:

(Reuters) - The Muslim center planned near the site of the World Trade Center attack could qualify for tax-free financing, a spokesman for City Comptroller John Liu said on Friday, and Liu is willing to consider approving the public subsidy.

The Democratic comptroller's spokesman, Scott Sieber, said Liu supported the project. The center has sparked an intense debate over U.S. religious freedoms and the sanctity of the Trade Center site, where nearly 3,000 perished in the September 11, 2001 attack.

"If it turns out to be financially feasible and if they can demonstrate an ability to pay off the bonds and comply with the laws concerning tax-exempt financing, we'd certainly consider it," Sieber told Reuters.

Spokesmen for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor David Paterson and the Islamic center and were not immediately available.

The proposed center, two blocks from the Trade Center site in lower Manhattan, has caused a split between people who lost relatives and friends in the attack, as well as conservative politicians, and those who support the project. Among those who support it are the mayor, civic and religious groups, and some families of victims.

COMMENT:  Note the fact that the story does not list among those who oppose the placement of the mosque former Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

As for tax-free financing, New York City is about to increase its already astronomically high transportation charges.  I don't think the populace will be overly pleased to help finance the mosque near Ground Zero.  But, of course, they're all Islamophobes.

August 27, 2010     Permalink

DISGRACEFUL – AT 10:12 A.M. ET:  Do the embarrassments of this administration ever end?  The great Ed Lasky at American Thinker alerts us to a WaPo report on the latest weirdness from Obama's Department of Maybe Justice, Maybe Not:

The Obama administration has shelved the planned prosecution of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged coordinator of the Oct. 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, according to a court filing.

The decision at least temporarily scuttles what was supposed to be the signature trial of a major al-Qaeda figure under a reformed system of military commissions. And it comes practically on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the attack, which killed 17 sailors and wounded dozens when a boat packed with explosives ripped a hole in the side of the warship in the port of Aden.

This must make the families feel just great.  But, given this administration's sensitivity to the grief of those who've suffered in the war on terror, why should Washington care?

"It's politics at this point," said one military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss policy. He said he thinks the administration does not want to proceed against a high-value detainee without some prospect of civilian trials for other major figures at Guantanamo Bay.

A White House official disputed that.

Whom do you believe, the military official or the White House guy?  I've made my choice.

"After 10 years, it seems like nobody really cares," said Gloria Clodfelter, whose 21-year-old son, Kenneth, was killed on the Cole.

Welcome to the cold world of Washington, ma'am.  Maybe you can join with the 9-11 mourners, who are seeing a mosque go up at Ground Zero with the full support of the president of the United States.

What's wrong with this administration?  Does the word "everything" come to mind?

August 27, 2010     Permalink

TO BE YOUNG AND UNEMPLOYED – AT 9:11 A.M. ET:  The national economic figures, grim as they are, hide the fact that young people are being hit especially hard.  Add to this the fact that they often have college debts.  It's inevitable that this will start affecting the way they see Barack Obama, and the way they vote:

One indication of the weakness of the job market is that research institutions are getting too many intern applications -- from college graduates who should be getting paid jobs.

Generally, intern applicants are studying for B.A. degrees in economics and looking for some practical research experience to accompany their coursework. They might be enrolled at local universities, or come to Washington on one of many Washington Semester programs, such as those run by American University or the University of California systems.

Now, applications are flowing in from young people who already have B.A.s in economics. In any other year, they would already have jobs. After all, they're not comparative literature majors. One reason people major in economics is because economics is supposed to be a marketable degree.

And...

The unemployment rate for 20- to 24-year-olds is 16 percent, far higher than the overall unemployment rate of 9.5 percent. Two years ago, the rate for this age group was 10 percent. Men are having a tougher time than women. Their unemployment rate is 18 percent, compared with 13 percent for young women.

By some measures, it's never been this difficult to find a job. Almost half of the unemployed have been out of work for six months or longer, a record since the Labor Department began keeping track of these data in 1948.

And upcoming requirements on employers to offer health insurance or pay a penalty discourage employers from hiring low-skilled workers, because employers can't reduce these workers' salaries to compensate for the extra benefits.

Yeah, that Obamacare.  What a great idea.  Not.

Unless the economy turns around soon, the lack of job opportunities is going to have a major effect not only on the lifetime earnings of young people but on their appetite for risk.

Just as those who grew up during the Great Depression are more frugal, current and future graduates might be more risk averse. Once they have jobs, they might be more likely to avoid looking elsewhere, reducing the traditional dynamism and job mobility that made America a major economic power.

This risk aversion has been a feature of European economies, where high unemployment has meant a preference for government employment and a lack of job mobility in the economy.

Ah yes.  And the outrage is that some Obamans have no problem with that outcome.  More government employment.  Never take a risk.  Get benefits.  What a way to live.

Sometimes I wish we had a parliamentary system, where the president could be sent packing in the middle of a term.  It is quite possible, I think, that President Obama, after a GOP victory in November, and if the economy continues to tank, will be seen as nothing more than a caretaker until the end of his term.

Change we can believe in?

August 27, 2010      Permalink

RECOVERY?  ARE WE SERIOUS? – AT 8:48 A.M. ET:  The figures have just been released.  Happy days are not here again:

Economic statistics released Friday offered the clearest sign yet that the recovery, already acknowledged to be sauntering, had slowed to a crawl.

The government lowered its estimate of economic growth in the second quarter to an annual rate of 1.6 percent, after originally reporting last month that growth in the three-month period was 2.4 percent.

The revision is a significant slowdown from the annual rate of 3.7 percent in the first quarter and 5 percent in the last three months of 2009.

The news came at the end of a week that showed the economic retrenchment that began in the second quarter has spilled over into the summer. Existing home sales in July were down to their lowest level in a decade, and sales of new homes that month were at their lowest level since the government began tracking such data in 1963. Orders for large factory goods, excluding the volatile transportation sector, dropped in July, indicating that recovery in the manufacturing sector is also stalling.

With such grim reports, economists are now concerned that the outlook for job creation, which has been spluttering all summer, could deteriorate further. Companies and consumers tend to be spooked by bad news, and market analysts and economists worry that faltering confidence could cause employers to hold back on hiring.

COMMENT:  We are a bit more than two months away from the election.  It is simply impossible for the economy, in this short period ahead, to turn around.  These are the figures the Dems will carry with them to the polls.  This is a catastrophe.  Some analysts are already talking about losses for the Dems in the House that go far beyond the 39 seats needed to flip control. 

On the other hand, beware a Democratic fear campaign that can affect close races. 

In my lifetime, I have never seen a midterm election quite like this.  We don't look to midterms for earthquakes.  But I'm starting to feel the ground rumble.

August 27, 2010      Permalink

OBAMACRASH, BY FAITH GROUP – AT 8:12 A.M. ET:  American Muslims heart Obama.  A new survey shows Obama still popular among Muslims, but fading among other faith groups.  From Andrew Malcolm at the L.A. Times's Top of the Ticket blog:

As a group, Americans of the Muslim faith give Barack Obama the highest job approval rating of any major religion.

A new Gallup Poll of 275,000 adults this morning finds that while the Democrat's overall approval ratings have dropped across all faiths -- even those Americans without any -- Muslims continue to approve of him the most. And you'll never guess which faith based in Utah thinks the least of the 44th president's job.

Seventy-eight percent of Muslims (down from 86% after Obama's inauguration) now approve of the president's 19-month job performance, while less than one-in-four Mormons (24%) do (down from 43%).

Catholics' job approval has fallen from 67% to 50%. Protestants' from 58% to 43%. Jews' from....

...77% to 61%. Other non-Christian religions' from 74% to 64%. And atheist/agnostic from 75% to 63%, believe it or not.

Overall, Gallup finds Americans' approval of Obama's job has dropped in the same time-span from 63% to 48%.

While consistently declining across faiths, Obama, who describes his own faith as Christian, has lost more among Mormons and least among Muslims, a group his administration has made special outreach efforts toward.

COMMENT:  The most startling drop is among Jews, a critical component of the Democratic coalition.  One of the indicators that Ronald Reagan would be elected in 1980 was Jimmah Carter's sharp drop in popularity among Jews.  Jews are only two percent of the population, but about 90% go to the polls, and that vote is concentrated in large, critical states. 

Protestants are, of course, the nation's largest faith group, and Obama's approval rating of 43% among the group does not bode well for Dems this November.  Midterms are often a referendum on a presidency.

August 27, 2010     Permalink