Obama loses Twitter followers, Iraq, and the respect of the American people...

As the mainstream media would say, what a week for President Obama!

We'll start with the ironic:

Tech-savvy president wages Twitter campaign against GOP, loses 36,000+ followers

President Obama created a barrage of activity on Twitter on Friday afternoon when he began urging his more than 9 million followers to tweet at their Republican Congressmen to “ask them to support a bipartisan solution to the deficit crisis" ...

....some users felt the state-by-state tweets were creating way too much noise — the President has lost nearly 37,000 followers so far today.

To put it another way, he lost twice as many followers today as jobs created last month....

What is it with Democrats and Twitter, anyway? Whether it is Barack Obama or Anthony Weiner, why can't they get a functional grip on a technology that is handled smoothly and effortlessly by your average teenage girl? These are the folks, remember, that mocked John McCain for having trouble using a keyboard due to fingers that were mangled while being tortured in a Vietnamese prison camp...

A Senate Republican staffer told National Journal that Republican Senators, in total, added about 6,500 new followers throughout the afternoon.

Expect Obama to issue an executive order putting Twitter under government control by Tuesday, limiting accounts to those who are down with the program - liberals, union thugs, and South American strongmen...

Next, let's move on to Iraq - Obama will go on the campaign trail claiming to have ended the war in Iraq, but the truth seems to be he seems to have lost it instead. Like blowing a nine run lead against a last place team with two outs in the ninth:

Frequent bombings, assassinations and a resurgence in violence by Shiite militias have made Iraq more dangerous now than it was just a year ago, a U.S. government watchdog concludes in a report released Saturday.

The findings come during what U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart W. Bowen Jr. called "a summer of uncertainty" in Baghdad over whether American forces will stay past a year-end withdrawal deadline and continue military aid for the unstable nation.

"Iraq remains an extraordinarily dangerous place to work," Bowen concluded in his 172-page quarterly report to Congress and the Obama administration on progress — and setbacks — in Iraq. "It is less safe, in my judgment, than 12 months ago."

The report cited the deaths of 15 U.S. soldiers in June, the bloodiest month for the U.S. military in Iraq in two years. Nearly all of them were killed in attacks by Shiite militias bent on forcing out American troops on schedule.

In response, expect Barack Obama to fire the Inspector General Bowen, much like he fired the Special Inspector for Americorps  five minutes after he blew the whistle on fraud within the organization.  Asked why he  broke the law by not giving a 30 day termination notice, Obama claimed Inspector Walpin was "confused and disoriented".  Expect Bowen to be accused of the same.  Perhaps the president can set up special institutions for the "politically insane", like they used to do for dissidents in the Soviet Union...

And the denouement of this sad three-act play is rather predictable...the audience has walked out:

President Obama’s job approval rating is at a new low, averaging 40% in July 26-28 Gallup Daily tracking. His prior low rating of 41% occurred several times, the last of which was in April....

Obama’s approval rating averaged 46% in June and was near that level for most of July; however, it has stumbled in the past few days, coinciding with intensification of the debt ceiling/budget battle in Washington.


Every time George W. Bush's approval rating dropped a point, it was headline news.  Not so for Man-Child.  Seems like every time the American people seem to actually pay attention to how he's doing his job, his approval ratings plummet.  Which does not bode well for his re-election campaign, but which does hold hope for a better future in about 15 months.

Meanwhile - how does Barack Obama top this week?  Let's see...folks are now coming to realize that Apple, GE, and Microsoft have more cash on hand than the U.S.  Government, and that default date is when, exactly...?

Is Michele Bachmann Jersey's Girl?

Even I was somewhat surprised by this:

Bachmann and Romney neck-and-neck in NC and NJ

....The situation is similar in New Jersey, where Romney leads Bachmann 22-21. Bachmann is followed by Paul at 11%, Perry at 10%, Cain at 8%, Gingrich at 7%, Pawlenty at 5%, and Huntsman at 3%. Bachmann achieves strong support despite moderates making up 27% of the New Jersey GOP electorate, even more than the 23% who are very conservative. While Romney holds a 34-16 lead among moderates, Bachmann holds a slim lead with somewhat conservatives, 21-19, and leads Romney with very conservatives, 26-18.

Can Michele win the New Jersey Republican primary?  She'll be demonized by the local media (much of it New York based) while Romney will be described as the lesser of the two evils.  That being said, such talk will likely only strengthen her conservative bona fides, and reminders that John McCain fared rather poorly after earning the nomination based on the on the "Romney Rationale" might help her win over a revitalized "Jersey Right".

The best part about Michele Bachmann winning the nomination?  Watching Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi campaign against her.  I'm not sure how good The Boss will look campaigning vigorously against a women, given his disdain for things such as his marital vows, as well as those of the women he covets.  Of course, claiming to be the hero of the working man while supporting a president who has pretty much killed the blue-collar economy won't sit to well, either.

Bon Jovi tends to keep it a bit quieter, holding $30K/person fundraisers for the president down on his Navasink Rver mansion.  But he sold out a long time ago, so that is less of a surprise.  What can be fun, though, is that both the aforementioned rockers, while fighting to elect politicians who would raise taxes on the common man, find ways to work around paying the bill themselves:

Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen have been making hit music for years and its no surprise that they've earned enough money to buy big mansions with acres of property, but what might surprise you is the huge tax breaks they, and others, are getting.

It turns out, as far as New Jersey tax collectors are concerned, that they are farmers.

Almost a million acres in New Jersey are certified as farmland. Owners who own at least five acres, practice some kind of agriculture, or manage the trees on their property and sell $500 worth of goods a year qualify for a significant tax break.

Through a trust, Bruce Springsteen owns more than 200 acres in Colts Neck. the taxes for his house and three acres are more than $138,000. But because of the farm tax break, the tax bill on a little more than 200 additional acres is less than $5,000. Town officials say he has horses and an organic farmer working some of the land. A lawyer for the trust had no comment.

In another part of Monmouth County, Bon Jovi has and estate on the Navesink River. Taxes on the mansion and some property add up to $295,68 but his tax bill on an additional 6.85 aces is $104 because he raises honeybees...
 
An organic farmer?  Honeybees?  Put it this way....in my township, homes built on a quarter-acre of property average annual property tax bills of $10K-$12K.  In other words, Springsteen stiffs the government out of $2M/year, while Bon Jovi is a piker, screwing New Jersey's poor out of a mere $84K annually.
 
Don't you think Michele Bachmann would have a little fun with these two clowns?  Here's hoping she's still in the mix when primary time comes to Jersey...

As If I Needed Another Reason To Root For A Government Shutdown...

....listening to these whiny bitches - aka federal employees - complain about how tough their lives are and how unfair the current political environment ("the return of common sense") is to them, makes me pray for an extended government shutdown, just to learn these pampered fops a lesson they so strongly deserve.

The Washington Post airs their grievances, as they respond to the following query" "As a federal employee, describe how you feel about the possibility of a default.".  And that's where the fun starts:

“Irritated. They don’t do their jobs, and we pay the consequences.” — Environmental Protection Agency, Minnesota
(and when you do your job, we pay - literally - the consequences.  Sounds fair....)

“I report to work at 4:30 a.m., work 8.5 hours per day, including weekends and holidays. My net pay is about $45,000 per year. However, I believe I will be a scapegoat for the politicians who need to prove that they are controlling expenses.” — Transportation Security Administration, New York
(boo-hoo.  $45K net is at least $60-$65K before taxes.  And considering your health benefits and pension, it's like worth closer to $80K.  Sell it to Hallmark, sis...)

“I am tired of the partisanship. The president has been the ‘adult’ in this, and the Republicans are acting like petulant children determined to have their way.” — Interior, Atlanta
(And what does that make you, oh ye of of a make-work job?  "Interior", indeed...!)

After the Post goes on to ell us that most of it's respondents blamed the Republicans for the current mess (shocker, who's gonna blame sugar daddy?), they asked our esteemed Federal employees "What information do you need/want to know from your agency?"

“Something, anything; the silence is ridiculous and very disconcerting.” — Agriculture Department, California
(Ever work at a real job, Miss Ag Dept, where layoffs where imminent?  No one tells you sh*t until the pink slips start flurrying...)

“Just the basics: Will this affect our budget? Will people lose their jobs? If the answer to the last question is yes, then how will the remaining people fulfill the agency’s mandates? — National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the District
(Oh, my - how will the nation survive without NOAA? Well, as long as the Weather Channel stays on the air....)

“I gave over 30 years of my life to keep this country strong. Now I would like to know who in [Congress and the White House] is going to pay my bills when the government defaults.” — Defense Department, retired, Arizona
(A question that has been asked by every employee who has worked 30 years for a company, and been unceremoniously let go.  What the f*ck makes you so special, and why do you deserve more of my money?)


 
You know, if these folks were smart, maybe they would keep their mouths shut, and just let the media make the case for them, as it inevitably will, portraying them as victims of hate crimes perpetrated on Republicans that wish to starve our poor, innocent, "public servants."
 
But if they were smart....they'd probably have other jobs...

"Who Is Ronnie Bryant?"

...that will be the question liberals - as well as corporations like GE, who thrive off of  the taxpayer teat - will be asking with more and more urgency and fear as things begin to unravel over the next 15 months. 

At a time when Atlas Shrugged has come to life, it should be no surprise that we just re-lived one of the epic scenes in the novel, where a young engineer stands up and defies collectivism at the Twentieth Century Motors factory:

Gerald Starnes died, and his three children—two brothers, Gerald Jr. and Eric, and their sister Ivy—proposed a radical change in management for the factory. Under this system, people would work according to their ability, but be paid according to their needs.

The employees actually voted in favor of this plan, with no conception of what it would mean. This vote took place in the main assembly bay of the factory. After this vote...Mr. Starnes said the following: "This is a great moment in the history of our country! Remember that none of you may leave this place, for you are all bound here by the moral code which we all accept!"

"I don't," said John Galt, who quietly stood up in his place. Every eye sank when it beheld him, because "he stood like a man who knows that he is right."

Galt went on, "I will put an end to this once and for all." Then he turned to walk out of the bay.

Gerald Starnes called after him, "How?"

Galt turned and said, "I will stop the motor of the world."

Ladies and gentlemen...meet Ronnie Bryant, a coal mine operator out of Alabama. After listening for two hours at a public meeting organized by the Justice Department and the EPA on "environmental justice", he rose to speak:

My name’s Ronnie Bryant, and I’m a mine operator…. I’ve been issued a [state] permit in the recent past for [waste water] discharge, and after standing in this room today listening to the comments being made by the people…. [pause] Nearly every day without fail — I have a different perspective — men stream to these [mining] operations looking for work in Walker County. They can’t pay their mortgage. They can’t pay their car note. They can’t feed their families. They don’t have health insurance. And as I stand here today, I just … you know … what’s the use? I got a permit to open up an underground coal mine that would employ probably 125 people. They’d be paid wages from $50,000 to $150,000 a year. We would consume probably $50 million to $60 million in consumables a year, putting more men to work. And my only idea today is to go home. What’s the use? I don’t know. I mean, I see these guys — I see them with tears in their eyes — looking for work. And if there’s so much opposition to these guys making a living, I feel like there’s no need in me putting out the effort to provide work for them.
So as I stood against the wall here today, basically what I’ve decided is not to open the mine.
I’m just quitting.
Thank you.

And so the strike of the able, the strike of the producers, the strike of the mind, has begun.

Godspeed, Ronny Bryant.  We'll know all is safe once you return to he world...

In his own words...video via Protein Wisdom:

Did Ben Affleck Just Save America?

Not that he'd want to...

The question before us is - could an 18 second movie clip bring  the Republican Caucus together behind the Boehner Plan?  The legend begins....

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the party’s vote counter, began his talk by showing a clip from the movie, “The Town”, trying to forge a sense of unity among the independent-minded caucus.

One character asks his friend: “I need your help. I can’t tell you what it is. You can never ask me about it later.”

“Whose car are we gonna take?” the character says.



After showing the clip, Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), one of the most outspoken critics of leadership among the 87 freshmen, stood up to speak, according to GOP aides. “I’m ready to drive the car,” West replied, surprising many Republicans by giving his full -throated support for the plan.

Well, maybe my post title here was a bit premature. Maybe it is Lieutenant Colonel West who will lead us out of purgatory and back on the road to redemption. And perhaps Barack Obama should be taking notes on how leaders lead.

No doubt this is the video that the Democratic Caucus is showing to their few remaining true believers:

43% of Americans Agree: Someone Else Should Pay Higher Taxes!

Two tidbits on the debt ceiling/reduction issue, tangentially related.  From the Daily Caller:

An overnight poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs finds Americans increasingly concerned about the debt ceiling and closely divided on the question of whether the GOP or the White House needs to give way.

The poll was conducted after President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner made televised comments Monday night about the debt ceiling.

Among the respondents who wanted to see both sides give ground, 49 percent leaned toward spending cuts and 43 percent favor tax increases, read the report.


Where have I seen that 43% figure before? Oh, yeah:


On April 15, don't be surprised if the line at your local post office is a bit shorter than usual. That's because your neighbors may not be paying any income taxes this year.

An astonishing 43.4 percent of Americans now pay zero or negative federal income taxes. The number of single or jointly-filing "taxpayers" - the word must be applied sparingly - who pay no taxes or receive government handouts has reached 65.6 million, out of a total of 151 million.

Those numbers come from an analysis published yesterday by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution. Neither is a low-tax or conservative advocacy group...

"You've got a larger and larger share of people paying less and less for the services provided by the federal government," says Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center. "The concern is that the majority can say, 'Let's have more benefits, spend more,' if they're not paying for it. It's 'free.' That's not a good thing to have.

You don't think Obama knows about that magic number - 43% - and figures he's got them in the bag in 2012? Now all he needs to do is to throw enough mud to confuse another 8%, and we'll become the United Socialist States of America, now and forever, amen.

Of course, the most famous problem with socialism is that eventually, you run out of other people's money. But I guess America's 43% never heard of that old saying, and for some reason I feel fairly confident Barack Obama would be the last man to try to educate them on it...

Terror In Norway: Let Loose The Dogs Of Anti-Semitism!

So when I penned the title of this post - Norway Terror Attacks, Conspiracy Theory Edition: Blame The Jews? - I was pretty much speaking tongue in cheek.  I say "pretty much", because it was interesting to note that the Anders Behring Breivik as Mossad agent angle pointed out that:

The junior partner in the Norwegian government, the Socialist Left Party of Kristin Halvorsen, (Sosialistisk Venstreparti), plans to vote on a measure calling for military action against Israel if it decides to act against the Hamas in Gaza...

More on Kristen later. More on that anti-semitism masking itself as anti-Zionism now. Via Legal Insurrection, we see how Norway's ambassador to Israel, one Svein Sevje, sees his nation's losses, as compared to those suffered by the Jews:

Palestinians, the ambassador told Maariv, “are doing this because of a defined goal that is related to the Israeli occupation. There are elements of revenge against Israel and hatred of Israel. To this you can add the religious element to their actions.”

“In the case of the terror attack in Norway, the murderer had an ideology that says that Norway, particularly the Labor Party, is forgoing Norwegian culture,” Sevje said, referring to suspect Anders Breivik, a Christian nativist who is openly anti-Islam and anti-immigration.

Unlike European Union states, Norway has engaged Hamas and often been fiercely critical of Israel, to Jerusalem’s dismay.

While Sevje voiced sympathy for Israeli terror victims, having experienced “the inferno” of such attacks during his posting, he saw little chance of Norway reviewing its Middle East policies.

“We Norwegians consider the occupation to be the cause of the terror against Israel,” he said. “Those who believe this will not change their mind because of the attack in Oslo.”

He added, “Can Israel and the Palestinians solve the problems without Hamas? I don’t think so.”


Well, it's a relief to know that Norway won't stop it's incessant Jew-bashing and Israel-boycotting any time soon. Simultaneously, it's a shame that the Norwegian ambassador has nary a clue about the nation he is posted to.

Because the last time I checked, Hamas ran Gaza, which has not been "occupied" by Israel since 2005. And just about all Hamas has done since taking over the strip is wage nonstop war against Israel, primarily against civilian targets, with the express intent of killing every Jew and taking the land for themselves. Either Sevje is ignorant of this basic fact of international politics, or is intentionally misstating them in order to justify his own fierce anti-Semitism as well as the butchery of Islamic terrorists.

How long was Sevje looking for an excuse to vent his hatred of Israel and the Jews?  Who can say? All we do know is that he used the savagery of Anders Behring Breivik to justify Hamas' savagery against the Jews, and to attempt some type of perverse morality play to prove that the while the Jews have it coming, poor Norway does not.

Exactly the type of society that will throw up a Anders Behring Breivik every now and again.  And a Kristin Halvorsen.  Yes, full circle back to her.  As she was trying to rally Norwegian politicians to war against Israel, we are reminded that:

Kristin Halvorsen is the same woman while as Finance Minister in the Norwegian government, participated in an anti-Israel demonstration where shouts of "kill the Jews” we heard, and appeared smiling.

 Now for the punch line: What post does Kristen hold in the Norwegian government?

She's now Minister of Education....

More on Norway's anti-Semitic past and present here....

Seperated at Birth: Jon Corzine and Cosmo Kramer?

The portrait of former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine that will hang in Trenton:

....looks a lot like the portrait of one Cosmo Kramer, libertarian and all-around gadfly:

They even sound alike!

It is my absolute intent to hold the line on taxes.
~Jon Corzine
I bought a chicken.
~Cosmo Kramer

Members will hear me say repeatedly words are important; deeds are a reality.
~Jon Corzine
 I'm at the corner of first, and first. Wait a minute. How can the same street intersect with itself? I must be at the center of the universe!
~Cosmo Kramer:

We shouldn't be so dependent on foreign oil.
~Jon Corzine
Well, I've got gonorrhea.
~Cosmo Kramer

I strongly believe that we as a nation can be both secure and free.
~Jon Corzine
Whew. It's like a sauna in here.
~Kramer (while in the sauna)


Now if Christie had a real sense of humor, he'd hang "The Kramer" right next to Crooked Jon - while leaving Corzine's picture slightly askew, of course...

Obama Talks Down To A Nation Of Stupid, Selfish Bastards

As the apotheosis of the liberal mentality, Obama, like all of his pseudo-intellectual ilk, assumes the American people are just too plain 'ol dumb to understand the inner machinations of their complex endeavors, plots, and schemata.
Most, however, are a bit smarter than the Bitch-in Chief, who comes out on a national primetime speech and says so:

Now, what makes today’s stalemate so dangerous is that it has been tied to something known as the debt ceiling – a term that most people outside of Washington have probably never heard of before.

Understand – raising the debt ceiling does not allow Congress to spend more money. It simply gives our country the ability to pay the bills that Congress has already racked up.

It's only been the #1 topic on the news for weeks now, and the president himself has been on TV almost daily threatening us with a financial apocalypse unless we do his bidding.  Yet he assumes no one is watching, no one is reading, and no one is listening.  Hence his constant urge to make speeches; he honestly believes that when he talks, the American people listen, and nod in agreement.  Maybe a few years ago...
 
Back to the Weekly Standard:
 
Consider the condescension implicit in the president’s statement—“a term that most people outside of Washington have probably never heard of before.” These “people outside of Washington” are not little children being lectured on an obscure subject by a worldly adult. These people outside Washington are ... citizens.

What Obama wants, and thinks he has, is a kingdom full of subjects. Plodding and toiling away for the duration of our mean, nasty little lives, we should be grateful for all The One offers us - socialized healthcare, socialized schooling, and tons of new rules and regulations - all for our own benefit, of course. All he asks in return is that we look askew while he loots our treasure and plunders our wealthy in order to maintain his seat on the throne. Why do we care, he wonders, if he's giving us a little taste of the spoils?

Hence Obama's rising bitterness, at both his political rivals and the nation he pretends to lead. Too stupid, we are, to appreciate the goodwill he showers upon his subjects, he now chides us for not paying attention (when in fact the problem is that we are watching all too closely), mocks us for not agreeing with him, and grows angry with us for refusing to yield to the fear he is projecting across the nation.

Ah, the problems of dealing with an informed citizenry....

Debt Ceiling Debacle: Obama Can't Bluff For Sh*t

Sure, send your minions on the Sunday TV talk shows to warn America that we are about to plunge into a Greater Depression if the Republicans do not bend to his tax-hiking will by August 2nd, but whisper to your big money pals not to worry, you won't blow your bankroll, because you have every intention of folding if the ante is raised:

While officials from the Obama Administration raised their rhetoric over the weekend about the possibility of a debt default if the debt ceiling isn't raised, they privately have been telling top executives at major U.S. banks that such an event won’t happen, FOX Business has learned.

In a series of phone calls, administration officials have told bankers that the administration will not allow a default to happen even if the debt cap isn't raised by the August 2 date Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says the government will run out of money to pay all its bills, including obligations to bond holders.

This guidance is a big reason why Wall Street has largely dismissed the possibility of default, and though the markets have been jittery amid the talk of default, they haven't imploded as would be the case, many economists fear, if the nation missed a payment on its debt.

Points to ponder:

- If in fact we have multiple ways to pay our bills come August 3rd - and we do - why the hell has Obama been trying to scare the American people into thinking the End Times are nigh? Surely, he can't be doing this all for political advantage, can he?

-Related:  Whatever happened to Obama ending the whole "politics of fear" thing?  Or did he actually say "embracing" fear?  Somebody check, before it is "New-Speak'ed" out of existence...

-Isn't the White House, by issuing one set of proclamations publicly and another set privately, to wealthy bankers and brokerages, manipulating the market? Are they lying to "the Street" in order to forestall an early crash that would force Obama to cave earlier than he wishes? Or are administration insiders selling shares now, knowing what may in fact come down the pipe if a crazed Obama decides to go all-in with a low hand?

-Can somebody please - please! - get me into a poker game with the Chump-in-Chief?

Debt Ceiling Doomsday: August 15th?

Zero Hedge does the analysis:

At this point, we expect Treasury to have less cash in early August than we thought previously...we now show Treasury with a negative cash balance of $15.5 billion on August 15, which implies that Treasury wouldn't have the resources to pay $30.6 billion in interest on that day.

Well, that's why we have a Treasury Secretary, right? To figure this stuff out and reassure the American people (and the markets) that we can work our way through this?

Right?

Despite persistent questioning from Chris Wallace, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner refused to acknowledge what his plans were just in case the debt ceiling is not raised before August 2nd. Insisting that his plan was only to get Congress to raise the debt ceiling, Geithner seemed to demonstrate just how fearful he is of what might happen by hesitating to even discuss the possibility of any contingency plan

Well, the Zero Hedge site offers a number of different ways that the Treasury Secretary can make money available to pay our bills for weeks to follow the August 15th drop-dead date. Is Geithner refusing to discuss them because he's not aware of them (scary), thinks we're too stupid to understand them (typical), or because he is quite closely aligned with Barack Obama's political philosophy of creating a new financial crisis here in order to bend the nation to his will, and his vision, of a high-tax, big-government American future?

You tell me...Jen Rubin reports, as of 8AM this morning:

A Republican aide e-mails me: “The Speaker, Sen. Reid and Sen. McConnell all agreed on the general framework of a two-part plan. A short-term increase (with cuts greater than the increase), combined with a committee to find long-term savings before the rest of the increase would be considered. Sen. Reid took the bipartisan plan to the White House and the President said no.”

If this is accurate the president is playing with fire. By halting a bipartisan deal he imperils the country’s finances and can rightly be accused of putting partisanship above all else...

The president wants chaos. That's how he pushed through his $1T stimulus and his disastrous health care reform, against the spoken will of the people. He's counting on chaos one more time to help advance his radical agenda, and if the nation is destroyed by it, well, remember...the important thing here is his survival...

Norway Terror Attacks, Conspiracy Theory Edition: Blame The Jews?

Just tossing this one out there for the sake of balance. When terror attacks are committed by Islamic radicals, their sympathisers are out there 15 minutes later claiming how it could not have been them; and present a full-on hypothesis on how it was a secret plot hatched by the CIA, the Mossad, the Canadian Royal Mounties, or a joint effort of the three. This, usually after the guilty terrorist group has proudly declared their complicity.

So what are we hearing about the "twin" Norway terror attacks? First, that their government was up to something the day before...via Infowars (paranoia left intact):

In yet another example of how almost every major terror event is accompanied by a security drill focused around the same scenario, Oslo police were conducting a bombing exercise at a location near the Oslo Opera House just 48 hours before a terrorist blast hit a government building in the Norwegian capital

According to the translated version of an Aftenposten report, “Anti-terror police fired explosive charges at a training center in Oslo, two hundred meters from the Opera, but forgot to notify the public.”

The exercise occurred on Wednesday and revolved around anti-terror units attacking a disused building at the edge of Bjørvika pier with bombs and firearms.

“The men lowered themselves down from the roof and in through the window that had just been blown out, while they fired hand their weapons,” states the report, noting that the exercise was “dramatic,” produced “violent bangs,” and was watched by spectators at the nearby Opera House.



Police had to publicly apologize today for not informing the public about the exercise.

In the case of the London bombings, a consultancy agency with government and police connections was running an exercise for an unnamed company that revolved around the London Underground being bombed at the exact same times and locations as happened in real life on the morning of July 7th, a “coincidence” many skeptics of the official story have dismissed as a statistical impossibility.

I don't know about a "statistical impossibility, but Wikipedia backs up the claim about the odd 7/7 coincidence, with no further comments either way.

We can look at the numerology as well:

And then there are the numbers…always the numbers

9/11 9+1+1=11
7/22 7+2+2=11

7/22/11 features 22/11

Bombing happened 3:26pm local time 3+2+6=11

560 members of the Labor Youth Movement on the Island 5+6=11

Headline reads “Shocked by twin attacks” echoing “attacks on twin towers” , 'Blast scene 'like 9/11'....

And then there are the Jews...always the Jews. In another example of the virulent anti-Semitism of the Norwegian people, one of the nation's governing parties was about to vote on legislation authorizing war against Israel:

The junior partner in the Norwegian government, the Socialist Left Party of Kristin Halvorsen, (Sosialistisk Venstreparti), plans to vote on a measure calling for military action against Israel if it decides to act against the Hamas in Gaza.... Remember, Kristin Halvorsen is the same woman while as Finance Minister in the Norwegian government, participated in an anti-Israel demonstration where shouts of "kill the Jews” we heard, and appeared smiling. She’s now Minister of Education....

The blonde next to the skinhead, smirking at anti-Israeli/anti-American propaganda, is a governing partner in Norway..and the Minister of Education.  You go, girl!

So the Mossad, I assume, found a patsy to murder Norwegian children to...do what, exactly? Distract the Norwegian Gestapo to avoid getting hit by snowballs and assaulted by curse words with lots of umlauts in them?

Now, if you really wanted a good conspiracy theory....you might say that the hard-left Norwegian government was growing increasingly concerned about increased dissension among the populace regarding the influx of Muslim immigrants, who appear to be less keen about learning the ways of their new homeland and more determined to turn it into a frozen version of their previous desert hell.  And to blunt that concern, they orchestrated a terror attack that looked like the work of Islamic terrorists but could easily be pinned on a white, conservative Christian.

It serves multiple purposes: It finds a more politically convenient group on which the Norwegians can focus their anger, it shames the people for making the "Muslim assumption" (and thus silences them during the next influx of Muslim immigration and subsequent cultural surrenders), and it rallies the people around the current government.  Would have been truly a work of genius if the Norwegian leadership had found a Jew to do the job instead of Anders Behring Breivik...

I actually haven't heard the theory above yet, I just pulled it out of my ass. You'll never hear the conspiracy theory above anywhere else, despite the paranoid commonality of its reasoning, because that would involve a "liberal" government slaughtering its own people. And everyone knows only conservatives do that...



UPDATE: So much for the "lone gunman" theory, looks as if a conspiracy is in fact unraveling fast:

The Media Gets Their "Dream" Terrorist!

CNN reports:

While police have not officially named him, Norwegian television and newspaper reports have identified the suspect as 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik, of Norwegian origin.

A picture is emerging, gleaned from official sources and social media, of a right-wing Christian fundamentalist who may have had an issue with Norway's multi-cultural society.

Norwegian and international news outlets have run photographs of a blond man with blue-green eyes and chiseled features, dressed in a preppy style.


Funny - in almost all prior terrorist attacks, how often has the media put the suspects political leanings, religion, and skin color in the first three paragraphs? And made an assumption about his motivations, to boot?

Do you think we'll ever see a MSM article that leads like this:

Terror suspect Abdul Abdul Salam Muhammad Akbar, a radical anti-American and anti-Semitic Muslim, was taken into custody today, a long beard obscuring his dark skin tones. He wore a headscarf, prayer robes, and was carrying a book believed to be the Koran. Based on clues from associates and from texts of sermons at his mosque, it is believed that his hatred of America - due to their "decadent culture" and support for the Jews -  was the primary motivation behind his plot to slaughter innocent civilians.


Yeah, right. That's called "the white guy treatment". This is how the above scenario would read in the media:


A man of unknown origin was taken into custody today. No clues were available as to any possible motives the terrorist may have had.

But give them a white guy, a Christian....boy oh boy, here's where the fun really begins! Watch the media roll like pigs in the slop, and wait for the left to demand that the Tea Party be added to terrorist watch lists. Assuming, of course, we're not already there...

So...How'd That Anti-Semetic Turn Work Out For Norway?

What happened in Norway was deplorable, with the attack on the youth camp displaying the bottom-line truth of Islamic terrorism: it is based in fear and cowardice -not is heroic revolution - as it chooses constantly to attack the most helpless (children, tourists, civilians) in order to guarantee they have bodies and blood to dance upon.  May there be no mercy, in this life or any other, for the perpetrators of this massacre.

But what I think is worthy of note is how much the Norwegian establishment - the academics, the politicians, the media - turned toward the Islamic position in recent years, and embraced their anti-semitism under the thin guise of anti-Zionism.

Note recent headlines in the Norweigen media, especially via their version of the New York Times:

Aftenposten:  ‘Rich Jews Threaten Obama’

Nice.  And here's a Jerusalem Post interview with Bruce Bawer, described as an American literary critic, writer and poet and a sharp critic of European anti-Semitism and radical Islam:

What is contemporary Norwegian anti- Semitism? What is propagating post-Holocaust hatred of Israel and Jews in Norway?

It’s a phenomenon of a sort that I never encountered in all my years in the US, and that I once thought had been banished to the dustbin of history. It’s most virulent among the cultural elite – the academics, intellectuals, writers, journalists, politicians, and technocrats.

They’re overwhelmingly on the left, and intensely hostile to the West, to capitalism, to the US and to Israel. Before the fall of the USSR, an extraordinary percentage of them were Communists. They have replaced their affinity to the Soviet Union with sympathy for the great totalitarian ideology of our time: Islamism. Thus they romanticize Palestinians and despise Israel.

Part of the motivation for this anti-Semitism is the influx into Norway in recent decades of masses of Muslims from Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia and elsewhere. Multiculturalism has taught Norway’s cultural elite to take an uncritical, even obsequious, posture toward every aspect of Muslim culture and belief. When Muslim leaders rant against Israel and the Jews, the reflexive response of the multiculturalist elite is to join them in their rantings. This is called solidarity.

Norwegian history also plays a role in all this. Anti-Semitism has a long, deeply-rooted history here....

Perhaps the academic left in Norway is the worst.  Alan Dershowitz writes of his recent experiences in the WSJ:

I recently completed a tour of Norwegian universities, where I spoke about international law as applied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the tour nearly never happened.

Its sponsor, a Norwegian pro-Israel group, offered to have me lecture without any charge to the three major universities. Norwegian universities generally jump at any opportunity to invite lecturers from elsewhere.

My hosts expected, therefore, that their offer to have me present a different academic perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be eagerly accepted. I have written half a dozen books on the subject presenting a centrist view in support of the two-state solution. But the universities refused.

The dean of the law faculty at Bergen University said he would be "honored" to have me present a lecture "on the O.J. Simpson case," as long as I was willing to promise not to mention Israel. An administrator at the Trondheim school said that Israel was too "controversial."

The University of Oslo simply said "no" without offering an excuse. That led one journalist to wonder whether the Norwegian universities believe that I am "not entirely house-trained."

Only once before have I been prevented from lecturing at universities in a country. The other country was Apartheid South Africa...

t was then that I realized why all this happened. At all of the Norwegian universities, there have been efforts to enact academic and cultural boycotts of Jewish Israeli academics. This boycott is directed against Israel's "occupation" of Palestinian land—but the occupation that the boycott supporters have in mind is not of the West Bank but rather of Israel itself. Here is the first line of their petition: "Since 1948 the state of Israel has occupied Palestinian land . . ."

The administrations of the universities have refused to go along with this form of collective punishment of all Israeli academics, so the formal demand for a boycott failed. But in practice it exists. Jewish pro-Israel speakers are subject to a de facto boycott.

The first boycott signatory was Trond Adresen, a professor at Trondheim. About Jews, he has written: "There is something immensely self-satisfied and self-centered at the tribal mentality that is so prevalent among Jews. . . . [They] as a whole, are characterized by this mentality. . . . It is no less legitimate to say such a thing about Jews in 2008-2009 than it was to make the same point about the Germans around 1938."

And the politicians? Even worse:

This line of talk—directed at Jews, not Israel—is apparently acceptable among many in Norway's elite. Consider former Prime Minister Kare Willock's reaction to President Obama's selection of Rahm Emanuel as his first chief of staff: "It does not look too promising, he has chosen a chief of staff who is Jewish." Mr. Willock didn't know anything about Mr. Emanuel's views—he based his criticism on the sole fact that Mr. Emanuel is a Jew. Perhaps unsurprisingly, fewer than 1,000 Jews live in Norway today.

And even that many is a surprise:

Last month’s publication of a study ordered by the Oslo municipality on racism and anti-Semitism among students of the 8th through 10th grades in the town’s schools came as a shock. The study found that 33 percent of the Jewish students regularly experience bullying at school. ...


It would be hard to find similarly extreme data anywhere else in Western Europe....
 
So what did all of the Norwegian elite's solidarity with Islam - down to their acceptance of, and parroting, of a cruel and vicious Nazi-style antisemitism - result in?
 
Bodies of dead children floating in the sea off a summer vacation isle.
 
It is probably too late for Norway to escape its fate, and perhaps they don't even deserve to.  But for the wise - what few remain - their is a lesson to be learned about the effectiveness of selling out your morals in order to hop on the pro-Islam, anti-Israeli bandwagon.  Ever hear of the scorpion and the frog?

Top New Jersey Democrat Fumes That "Christie May Be Planning A Tax Cut"!

The last time we saw New Jersey Senate president Steve Sweeney (D, as in dumb as a...), he was threatening to punch Chris Christie in his head for not allowing him to have his way. Sigh, typical liberal. But his latest rant was classic, and I love the headline at the Asbury Park Press, who no doubt think in their infinite cluelessness they are painting Sweeney in a positive light:

Sweeney, still angry, suspects Christie cutting to pave way for tax cut

Sweeney says he...thinks the administration is understating tax revenue projections so the extra funds can help build a large enough surplus to cut the state’s top income tax rate in 2012.

"I think next year you’re going to see the governor announce he wants to cut the income tax for the wealthiest people in the state. He’s talked about it. He talks about how (New York Gov.) Andrew Cuomo did it,” Sweeney said. “And how’s he going to do it? Next year, we’re going to have a budget surplus of over a billion dollars, and he’s going to say we have the money to do it now.”

As a candidate in 2009, Christie pledged to cut income taxes at all levels but said it wouldn’t be done immediately because of the state’s budget deficit...

A tax cut?  Heaven forfend!  I'm sure the resident of New Jersey will be all up in arms about this and go rushing to Trenton any moment now, holding signs and waving their Gadsden flags, demanding that their taxes stay where they are - among the highest in every category nationwide.

What's that?  Nobody showed up?  Must be the weather...maybe tomorrow....


Related:

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D.-Md.) said on the House floor last night that if the balanced budget amendment Republicans are supporting is ratified and included in the Constitution it would make it “virtually impossible” to raise taxes.

Thankfully, according to the media, these guys are not the ideologues, we are...


Hat tip on the Sweeney story:  MoreMonmouthMusings - Sweeney needs to grow up and/or seek therapy

Virginia: Another Republican Economic Success Story!

New Jersey's Chris Christie has gone into hand-to-hand combat with the East Coast liberal establishment and balanced the state's budget without raising taxes, while simultaneously cutting a deal to force government union to fork over a bigger share of their entitlement costs.

While Rick Perry's Texas, up until now, has been carrying the entire nation on it's back since the inauguration of The One.

So Republican governor Scott Walker makes Wisconsin - f*cking Wisconsin!!! - the job-creation engine of the American economy.

Now it is Virginia's turn to show what a Republican governor can get done:

Governor Bob McDonnell announced that Virginia finished its fiscal year with a surplus of $311 million — its second straight year with higher-than-expected revenue. McDonnell said he expects the surplus to increase by at least another $35 million to $40 million after the state calculates taxes for June, the final month of the fiscal year.

“A key to what we have done in Virginia is we decided to budget conservatively, cut spending dramatically and to not raise taxes,’’ McDonnell said at a news conference. “I think, to me, that is the formula for why Virginia — and states like Virginia — have experienced this kind of growth.”

So there are "shoots of growth" in the American economy - but only at the state level, and only where Republicans inhabit the statehouse.

And they are doing it not by raising taxes and spending wildly, but by reducing them while cutting spending.

And good golly, this common-sense approach to budgeting seems to actually work. Who would have thunk it?

Not Obama, nor his lickspittle in the mainstream media. How do they respond when - during the Republican 2012 convention - these governors march across the stage, tell America of their success, then introduce a national candidate who will pledge to follow the same path to prosperity?

Hint to the Democrats: Calling them "stupid conservatives" will not move the meter much...

HIllary Clinton Embarrasses Us All....

...not, not with her inane policy pronouncements ("Assad is a reformer!") or her shopworn liberal tropes she trots out regardless of how inappropriate or ill-suited they may be.  I'm talking about her fashion sense, or lack of the same.  Is this how the Secretary of State of the United States of America goes out in public?  Bali or not, this is...hellacious.

And just in case you thought it was a bad angle...

Just chilling.  To paraphrase another First Lady: For the first time, I am ashamed of my country.

Will we ever get a president who will at least appoint a cabinet that can finally "raise our standing in the world"?  So many have promised....

More than half of June's jobs created in...Wisconsin?

How odd. It's not like anything special has been going on there. Oh, right - except for the first battle of the Second American Civil War, this one not between men of differing colors, but between unionized government workers and the citizens they wish to enslave.

Walker and the Democrats won the opening skirmishes, by greatly reducing union influence over the budgeting process; the people of Wisconsin supported him by re-electing Judge Prosser despite a vicious, heavily financed, left-wing hate campaign against him.

And what were the results?

While Nation Sputters on Jobs, Wisconsin Economy Begins to Hum

Earlier this month, analysts were dismayed by the nation’s anemic job creation numbers. On Thursday, state officials were pleased as they released data that showed more than half of the net new jobs added in the US in June came from Wisconsin.

“We have made difficult decisions in our state, but they are beginning to payoff,” said Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R)....we must help lead the nation to recovery.”

Using seasonally adjusted data, the 12,900 private-sector jobs created in June marks the largest one-month gain in Wisconsin since September 2003. The state’s net new job gain for June is 9,500 jobs, more than half of the nation’s net gain of 18,000 jobs for the same month

“Wisconsin has added 39,300 private-sector jobs since Governor Walker declared Wisconsin open for business,” Department of Workforce Development Secretary Scott Baumbach said....

 State officials note that in the first six months of 2011, Wisconsin’s total private sector job growth of 1.7% has been almost twice the national rate of 0.9%; and in the manufacturing sector job growth has been more than twice the national rate, 3.2% compared to 1.2%.

Wisconsin total nonfarm job growth (1.4%) has been more that twice the national rate (0.6%)...

Of course, we should probably give some credit to the Wisconsin Democrats here.  By fleeing the state to try to prevent a vote they didn't want to lose, they made it easier for the Republicans to win.  And really - why does it seem like every time Democrats and their unionized, race-baiting cronies are forced to pack up and leave, things all of a sudden get better?  And quite rapidly, to boot?

Another hill for Barack Obama to climb in his re-election fantasy.  You can only fight facts with mud for so long; and his window will be more limited than most.

 Remember, Obama was personally invested in the Wisconsin union's side here, calling Walker's reforms an "assault on unions", with his fighting words helping to inspire some of the more extreme ugliness were saw amongst the left-wing protesters there.  But if an assault on unions can help turn the economy around in a matter of months, why isn't he fighting that battle on the nation's behalf right now?

Ha-ha, that's a joke.  But the laughs will be on him come 2012, when states like Texas, Wisconsin, South Carolina, and hopefully New Jersey are leading the way with Republican governors and real reform, and all Obama is left with is to beg for more time to prove his socialist agenda can accomplish the same thing.

Good luck, Mr. President.

So Obama wants 2012 to be a referendum on his stewardship? Careful what you wish for...

Barack Obama, yesterday:

President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he'll be re-elected for a second term if voters feel like he's been on their side, working as hard as he can and getting things done.

"If they don't," the president said, "then I'll lose."

The blunt political assessment from Obama cast next year's presidential contest as a referendum on his leadership rather than a choice between him and whoever his GOP opponent will be.

"That's not to say that the other candidate is irrelevant," Obama said, "but it does mean that I'm probably going to win or lose depending on their assessment of my stewardship."

Let's skip the fact that Obama is claiming, once again, that all else is irrelevant save himself. Let's get to the "assessment of my stewardship" part. So how's that working out? According to the latest FOX News Poll...not so well:

Voters are more than twice as likely to say the economy is getting worse than to say it is getting better. The new poll found 58 percent of voters think the economy is getting worse. That’s up from 52 percent who felt that way last year and 42 percent in 2009.

Likewise, by a 15 percentage-point margin, more voters say the Obama administration has made the economy worse (49 percent) rather than better (34 percent).

While over half of Democrats think the Obama administration is helping, about one in six says it is making things worse (17 percent). Independents are 20 points more likely to think the White House is doing damage to the economy.

Meanwhile, a 58-percent majority thinks it is unfair for President Obama to continue to blame former President George W. Bush for the country’s economic problems..A majority of independents (61 percent) and 28 percent of Democrats think it is unfair for Obama to keep blaming Bush.

Ouch. And before you whine about this being a FOX News poll - which has steadfastly proven to be more spot-on than most of it's media competitors - check out PPP's polling.  And that, my friends, is a for-hire Democratic polling firm...

The whole "referendum on his stewardship" is just another Obama lie at worst, wishful thinking at best.  With absolutely no accomplishments to run on (ask yourself how well Obama will come off, shouting in a mike to roaring union thugs "We got our health care reform"!), by the time the presidential campaign kicks off, all the Democrats will have left to throw is large buckets of mud.  The media will help them, of course, but it won't help much.

Even a starving man will puke on a diet of sludge.  And he won't feed it to his family, either...