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TUESDAY,  JULY 6,  2010

OBAMA STEADY IN POLL – AT 8:13 P.M. ET:  One thing Republicans must face is the fact that President Obama's approval ratings tend to be remarkably steady.  That doesn't mean they won't erode further.  It does mean that he still retains a solid base of at least reasonable support. 

The Democratic Party is a coalition, and some of the blocs making up that coalition simply will not vote against Obama.  Scott Rasmussen reports:

Overall, 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove. A review of the month-by-month polling numbers shows that the president’s ratings have been remarkably stable. Despite the passage of health care, the Gulf Oil spill, economic concerns, and more, his full-month approval ratings have remained at 46% or 47% for seven straight months.

COMMENT:  And that's not bad.  True, it's not a majority, and, true, those who dislike Obama dislike him strongly, but he's not in catastrophic shape.  Republicans are perpetually overconfident, and that overconfidence can easily drip over to 2012.  So far, I have not seen a GOP candidate for president who is a truly strong campaigner, someone who excites, and that's what we'll need to defeat Obama.  The man can't govern, but he can campaign.  In an age of short attention spans and a show-business approach to almost everything, that counts...big time.

July 6, 2010     Permalink

REBUKE FOR NASA CHIEF – AT 7:58 P.M. ET:  But not from the White House.  Unbelievably, the White House today gave a statement of support to embattled NASA head Charles Bolden, whose comment that his main mission is Muslim outreach has created an uproar.

The White House could have "clarified" the remark, made to the vastly corrupt Arab news outlet, Al Jazeera, but chose not to.  As one American commentator remarked, once the groveling comment is out there, it's awfully hard to take it back. 

But a former NASA administrator has issued an appropriate public rebuke:

The former head of NASA on Tuesday described as "deeply flawed" the idea that the space exploration agency's priority should be outreach to Muslim countries, after current Administrator Charles Bolden made that assertion in an interview last month.

"NASA ... represents the best of America. Its purpose is not to inspire Muslims or any other cultural entity," Michael Griffin, who served as NASA administrator during the latter half of the Bush administration, told FoxNews.com.

Well said.

"If by doing great things, people are inspired, well then that's wonderful," Griffin said. "If you get it in the wrong order ... it becomes an empty shell."

Griffin added: "That is exactly what is in danger of happening."

He also said that while welcome, Muslim-nation cooperation is not vital for U.S. advancements in space exploration.

"There is no technology they have that we need," Griffin said.

NASA did seek to soften Bolden's comments somewhat, but the man came off as a clown, and we'd be better off without him.

Once again, another administration appointee, largely unvetted by the media, fails us.

July 6, 2010     Permalink

SUPREME BALANCE – AT 7:43 P.M.  ET:  Put away the Zoloft.  Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy of the United States Supreme Court announced today that he won't be stepping down any time soon.  That is an enormous relief.

Kennedy, who is almost 74, is the swing vote on the Court, but he usually goes conservative.  If he retired, Obama would have a third Supreme Court pick, almost certainly another strong liberal.  That would tilt the Court in the liberal direction, and probably lead the way to a sharp "reinterpretation" of our basic rights, including the individual right to bear arms, which four members of the current court do not accept.

Kennedy is needed.  Needed just as much is a Republican Senate, which could filibuster another Sotomayor or Kagan.  Sadly, some Republicans would probably vote to confirm almost any liberal as long as the candidate's records are in order.  But a GOP majority, supplemented by a few votes from moderate Dems, might be enough to block another doctrinaire liberal.

Most Americans don't realize how close we are to an Obama court, a court that could change the entire direction of American history to fit the leftist leanings of the man in the White House.

We hope Justice Kennedy can hand on until 2016.  Hey, he'd only be 80.  A young guy.  Come on, Judge, redecorate your office.

July 6, 2010     Permalink

NASA STORY LIFTS OFF – AT 8:57 A.M. ET:  Yesterday we brought you the exciting news that part of NASA's new mission in the age of Barack Hussein Obama Jr. will be outreach to the Muslim world.  I know, I know.  Think of John Glenn.  Think of going to the moon.  Think of...Muslim outreach.

The story of this policy, announced by Obama's hand-picked chief of NASA, Charles Bolden, is going viral.  It's all over the place, and is being met by appropriate shock, dismay and large servings of revulsion.  Byron York at the Washington Examiner extends the story:

"When I became the NASA administrator, [Obama] charged me with three things," NASA head Charles Bolden said in a recent interview with the Middle Eastern news network al-Jazeera. "One, he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math; he wanted me to expand our international relationships; and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering."

From moon landings to promoting self-esteem: It would be difficult to imagine a more dramatic shift in focus for an agency famous for reaching the heavens. Bolden's words left supporters of space exploration astonished. "Everyone had the same impression: Is this what he is spending his time on?" says a Republican Hill aide who tracks the space program. "A lot of people are very upset about it."

And...

Bolden's words, together with the president's decision to scrap much of NASA's mission and include the agency in the "Cairo Initiative" -- that is, the White House outreach program outlined in Obama's June 4, 2009, Cairo speech to the Muslim world -- show that the NASA of the future will be little like the past.

And get this gem:

"NASA is not only a space exploration agency," Bolden concluded, "but also an Earth improvement agency."

Oh how moving.  I'm close to tears.  Let me get my Kleenex.   Sure, NASA is an Earth improvement agency, and it's improved the Earth through good science, technical innovation, and exploration.  I don't think Muslim outreach makes the list.

At the same time, Bolden gave a bleak assessment of the space part of NASA's mission. More than 40 years after the first moon landing, he told al-Jazeera, the U.S. can no longer reach beyond Earth's orbit without assistance from abroad. "We're not going to go anywhere beyond low Earth orbit as a single entity," Bolden said. "The United States can't do it."

And the hard left, of which Obama is a part, loves that.  Just loves that.

Its space initiatives junked, its administrator rhapsodizing about helping Muslims "feel good" about themselves: That is the new NASA.

COMMENT:  And, of course, Republicans have been their usual articulate selves in opposing this obscenity.  This can grow into a major issue for them, if they center it properly.  Come on, fellas.

July 6, 2010      Permalink

SYMPATHY VOTE – AT 8:36 A.M. ET:  There is grief this morning, overwhelming grief.  While we don't exactly share it, rest assured that a key member of CNN's "reporting" team does indeed.  We bring you her pain:

How did CNN senior editor of Middle East affairs Octavia Nasr celebrate July 4? By mourning the passing of Hezbollah's Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. Here's what the CNN editor posted on her Twitter account:

Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.. One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot..

Fadlallah "famously justified suicide bombings," as the New York Times recalls in its obituary for him:

In a 2002 interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph, he was quoted as saying of the Palestinians: “They have had their land stolen, their families killed, their homes destroyed, and the Israelis are using weapons, such as the F16 aircraft, which are meant only for major wars. There is no other way for the Palestinians to push back those mountains, apart from martyrdom operations.”

The Times also reports in its obit that Fadlallah is believed to be responsible for the killing of 241 U.S. Marines during the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings...

...in 2008, Fadlallah said on Palestinian TV that "Zionism has inflated the number of victims in this Holocaust beyond imagination."

COMMENT:  CNN has some fine reporters, but there's an element at CNN, especially in its international operations, that is beyond the pale.  These people, like Octavia Nasr, reflect the left-wing views of CNN"s founder, Ted Turner, and the intensely pro-Arab views of its former chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, the single most overrated person in journalism.  Amanpour will now sully David Brinkley's old seat at ABC.

To praise a man who justified the bombings of restaurants and buses, and who may well have been responsible for the murder of 241 Marines, is beyond all decency.  Nasr should be let go, but it won't happen.  Amanpour built a team that will support her.

July 6, 2010      Permalink

DIRE DOW – AT 8:19 A.M. ET:  We are getting a number of new stories cropping up comparing our current economic situation to that just before the Great Depression.  The one bright spot in the economy over the last year has been the stock market, but it is starting to soften.  From CNBC:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is repeating a pattern that appeared just before markets fell during the Great Depression, Daryl Guppy, CEO at Guppytraders.com, told CNBC Monday.

“Those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it…there was a head and shoulders pattern that developed before the Depression in 1929, then with the recovery in 1930 we had another head and shoulders pattern that preceded a fall in the market, and in the current Dow situation we see an exact repeat of that environment,” Guppy said.

The Dow retreated 457.33 points, or 4.5 percent last week, to close at 9,686 Friday. Guppy said a Dow fall below 9,800 confirmed the head and shoulders pattern.

The Shanghai Composite is seeing a very rapid collapse, falling below 2,500, which suggests the major fall in the Dow, he added.

I've never believed that history repeats itself.  I do believe that the psychology of history repeats itself, and indeed there are some chilling similarities in the psychology of today and the psychology of the early thirties – especially the growth of fear.  You hear it and sense it everywhere. 

If the stock market tanks again, the effect could be far worse than 2008 because the nation has nothing to fall back on.  The federal government is deeply in debt, and the states are out of money.  Indeed, if the Dow heads south, tax revenues to New York State, which is already in deep trouble, will be sharply reduced, and the state can essentially collapse, joining good buddies California and Illinois. 

Ah, that Obama leadership.  Aren't you inspired?

July 6, 2010      Permalink

THE WAR AGAINST ARIZONA – AT 7:59 A.M. ET:  Since the administration can't do much about Iran, and isn't willing to name our enemy in the war on terror, how about going to war against...Arizona?  Now, why didn't I think of that?

According to WaPo, that's exactly what the Obama administration is doing.  It's so much more fun than solving the illegal immigration problems that have made Phoenix the kidnaping capital of the United States:

The Justice Department has decided to file suit against Arizona on the grounds that the state's new immigration law illegally intrudes on federal prerogatives, law enforcement sources said Monday.

The lawsuit, which three sources said could be filed as early as Tuesday, will invoke for its main argument the legal doctrine of "preemption," which is based on the Constitution's supremacy clause and says that federal law trumps state statutes. Justice Department officials believe that enforcing immigration laws is a federal responsibility, the sources said.

Uh, hey wait.  Aren't there these left-wing "sanctuary" cities that have given sanctuary to illegals, and have barred their police from asking any questions about documentation?  Why aren't those cities being sued for preempting the federal government?

Oh, I see.  They're on the politically correct side of the issue.

The filing is expected to include declarations from other U.S. agencies saying that the Arizona law would place a undue burden on their ability to enforce immigration laws nationwide, because Arizona police are expected to refer so many illegal immigrants to federal authorities.

In other words, Arizona will actually be doing the job the feds refuse to do, and will be prosecuted for it.  What an interpretation of the word "justice."

July 6,  2010     Permalink

MONDAY,  JULY 5,  2010

THE DELICATE ISSUE – AT 8:26 P.M. ET:  It is of course race.  President Obama's support among white voters is slipping, as the Washington Post reports:

Four years after Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) lost the white vote by 17 percentage points, Obama lost it by 12, according to exit polls. While the 2008 gains were generally attributed to Obama's strength with young voters -- he won by 10 points among whites 18 to 29 years old -- he managed to improve on Kerry's showing with white voters across every age demographic.

Fast-forward to today. With the November midterm elections less than four months away, Obama's standing among white voters has sunk -- leading some party strategists to fret that the president's erosion -- and the party's -- could adversely affect Democrats' chances of holding on to their House and Senate majorities.

"Since in the past House elections white voters tended to represent the independent vote, [the midterms] will surely be devastating for Democrats running in an election that will be a referendum on the Obama agenda," predicted one senior Democratic operative who closely tracks House races.

In Washington Post-ABC polling, Obama's approval rating among white voters has dropped from better than 60 percent to just above 40 percent. In a June poll, 46 percent of white voters under age 40 approved of how Obama was doing, compared with just 39 percent of whites 65 and older.

And...

One senior strategist, speaking candidly about his concerns on the condition of anonymity, noted that white voters made up 79 percent of the 2006 midterm electorate, while they made up 74 percent of the 2008 vote. If the white percentage returns to its 2006 level, that means there will be 3 million more white voters than if it stayed at its 2008 levels. That scenario, said the source, "would generate massive losses" for House and Senate Democrats in November because of Obama's standing with that demographic.

COMMENT:  It is sad that we have to deal with ethnic divisions, but we have to...and we've always had to.  Ever since I can remember, there's been talk of the white vote, the black vote, the Catholic vote, the women's vote, and so on. 

With an African-American in the White House, the issue is all the more delicate.

But Democrats must be careful.  Some Dem strategists want to focus on bringing out minorities, to overwhelm the GOP advantage among whites.  That, however, can be a double-edged sword.  David Dinkins, the first black mayor of New York, was defeated for reelection in large measure because he was seen as "the mayor of the blacks," rather than a mayor who happened to be black.  Obama ran, deceptively, as a post-racial president.  If he is increasingly seen as "the president of the minorities," his mandate will rapidly slip away.

July 5, 2010     Permalink

WHERE DOES THIS GUY GET OFF? – AT 7:45 P.M. ET:  Well, President Obama seems to have started a trend – bashing the United States while abroad.  Now, an American ambassadors shows that he can follow the leader.  This is disgraceful:

U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield spoke out against the controversial Arizona law that makes failure to carry immigration documents into a crime., El Espectador reports on Monday.

According to reports, Brownfield said that it is illogical to reject the presence of immigrants because "the United States is a country of immigrants."

Look, pal, the United States is a nation of legal immigrants.  You get that?

Brownfield's comments came during an independence day celebration at his residence in Bogota on July 4. Attending the event, which was capped off with a fireworks show, were top U.S. political officials in Colombia, military officers, and other special guests, such as former FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt, in addition to the three U.S. contractors who were also held in FARC captivity and rescued in the 2008 "Operation Checkmate."

Brownfield's rejection of the Arizona immigration law echoes the calls from many Colombian individuals and institutions which have spoken out against it, including the Senate, Foreign Ministry, and pop stars Juanes and Shakira.

The law, introduced in April by Arizona governor Jan Brewer, is expected to take effect in late July or early August, and is the first in the U.S. to criminalize immigrants who fail to carry documentation. Under the law, police officers will be required to question people regarding their immigration status if there is suspicion that they may be illegal.

I'm not sure that description of the law is accurate.  Actually, police may question the immigration status of those stopped on suspicion of committing other offenses.

The idea of a United States ambassador criticizing the laws of an American state while abroad is repulsive.  I'm reminded of an incident early in the tenure of the great George Shultz, one of our finest secretaries of state, who served under President Reagan.   Shultz invited a group of new ambassadors into his office, walked them to a large world map and asked the first ambassador, "Which is your country?"  The ambassador approached the map and pointed to a nation in Africa.  "No," Secretary Shultz told him, pointing to the United States, "this is your country."

Secretary Shultz was teaching the ambassadors a powerful lesson.  They represent the United States, not the interests of the country they're assigned to.  Apparently, that lesson needs to be taught again.

July 5, 2010     Permalink

MY HEART BREAKS, GET ME MY CHECKBOOK...NO, BETTER NOT – AT 8:49 A.M. ET:  I'm a little confused here.  Aren't Wall Street and the Hamptons, playgrounds of the veddy rich, the places were Republicans get their money?  Inform me please.  From The Politico:

A perfect storm of events - the recession, Wall Street anger at Washington, donors who feel ignored by the White House and interest group dissatisfaction – have Democrats bracing for a brutal fundraising period and fearful of losing dominance in longtime donor stronghold and mega-rich New York.

Ah, New York, my home, and home of the guilty rich, who become conspicuous liberals because they want to "give back."  Hah.  They want to get into the right parties. 

While the exact quarterly figures won’t be known until after the July 15 filing deadline, a number of Democratic campaign insiders said the past few months were a mighty struggle to raise cash for candidates.

It's a humbling moment for Democratic money-makers in the richest city in the world, an uncomfortable and unfamiliar position for New York fundraisers after a long ride on the gravy train. Beyond a free-flowing financial market that managed to rebound after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, there were 16 flush years of having a Clinton family member in a position of power and working the Big Apple donor base hard.

Things are different now. While most Democrats blame the economy and anger from Wall Street for the fundraising predicament, President Obama, whose own donor model was low-dollar contributors and internet contributors over high-dollar types, has headlined just one major New York event so far this year, for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

And several fundraisers said they knew of very few major events in the Hamptons - the summer playground for the wealthy that was long worked by the Clintons, who used it for simultaneous socializing, vacationing and rainmaking for the national party committees.

COMMENT:  They were the good old days, weren't they?  All those people in Armani suits who cared so much about the environment, about peace in...what's the name of that foreign place?  Darlings, you just can't get good donors anymore.  Why, Binky and Winky may even go GOP, especially if they get that dear man Petraeus.  Oh, did we pick the wrong group?  How could we?

July 5, 2010     Permalink

IN NEED OF OUTREACH – AT 8:37 A.M. ET:  Reflecting on our story just below, maybe President Obama should assign NASA to reach out to this guy, who needs it.  But outreach is unlikely, as it would acknowledge that this chap's philosophy actually exists, or is in any way a problem:

LEADERS of the global Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir have called on Australian Muslims to spurn secular democracy and Western notions of moderate Islam and join the struggle for a transnational Islamic state.

British Hizb ut-Tahrir leader Burhan Hanif told participants at a conference in western Sydney yesterday that democracy is "haram" (forbidden) for Muslims, whose political engagement should be be based purely on Islamic law.

"We must adhere to Islam and Islam alone," Mr Hanif told about 500 participants attending the convention in Lidcombe.

"We should not be conned or succumb to the disingenuous and flawed narrative that the only way to engage politically is through the secular democratic process. It is prohibited and haram."

He said democracy was incompatible with Islam because the Koran insisted Allah was the sole lawmaker, and Muslim political involvement could not be based on "secular and erroneous concepts such as democracy and freedom".

His view was echoed by an Australian HT official, Wassim Dourehi, who told the conference Muslims should not support "any kafir (non-believer) political party", because humans have no right to make laws.

COMMENT:  You read something like this, and realize it's being taught throughout the Muslim world.  And yet, the current administration denies that we are fighting any kind of ideology.  Why have arrived at the point where we not only aren't permitted to name our enemy, we're not even permitted, in polite company, to describe him.

And, tell me, what kind of outreach will have an impact on a man like this, or his followers?

I suspect that part of the reason for Obama's blindness is the training he had in the tents of lefists and Marxists during his upbringing.  My own experience with the left has taught me that it's a segment of society where lying is a way of life, where creating illusions is considered honorable.  To the true believer of the left, America doesn't fight evil ideologies; it only fights on behalf of capitalism.  The ideas slide off the leftist tongue so easily.

July 5, 2010     Permalink

AS THEY SAY, YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP – AT 8:31 A.M. ET:  Paul Mirengoff, at Power Line,  has discovered an appalling interview given to, natch, Al Jazeera, by Obama's hand-picked head of NASA.  Apparently, Houston, there's a problem, and it's the president. 

Charles Bolden, head of NASA, tells Al Jazeera that the "foremost" task President Obama has given him is "to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with predominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering." Thus, NASA's primary mission is no longer to enhance American science and engineering or to explore space, but to boost the self-esteem of "predominantly Muslim nations."

Exploring space didn't even make the top three things Obama wants Bolden to accomplish. The other two are "re-inspire children to want to get into science and math" and "expand our international relationships,"

This is more evidence, if any were needed, of Obama's lack of interest in American achievement or, indeed, American greatness. He seems to believe we've achieved enough (or perhaps too much) and that the trick now is to make nations that have achieved little for centuries feel like we couldn't have done it without them (in the video, Bolden goes on to talk about how much NASA owes the Russians and the Japanese).

COMMENT:  Well, add to our list of negatives about this president is that he has no sense of imagination or adventure.  In his leftist, quasi-intellectual world, the excitement of discovery has no place.  It's so middle class, so American.

What is so disgraceful here is Obama's, and his crowd's, refusal to recognize that America is indeed a nation of many nations.  And so people of a number of backgrounds have contributed to our space program.  We don't have to farm out the compliments overseas. 

Some have smugly, and happily, declared Obama to be the first "post-American" president.  In some ways, I think they're right.  And that's one of the major reasons why this man must be sent packing in 2012.

July 5,  2010     Permalink