He Owns Them, And He Knows It

Barack Obama is a man who understands power, if nothing else. He understands the relationship between those who have it and those who don't (hence his bullying tactics regarding Chrysler, and his complete mocking indifference to any Americans who oppose his agenda). Which is why his casual attempt to dictate the type of storylines he would prefer from the White House press corps is not surprising in the least:

In remarks on his administration's proposed $17 billion in cuts from the 2010 budget this morning, President Obama was somewhat on the defensive against charges that his cuts don't amount to much considering that next year's total budget amounts to $3.4 trillion.

In his remarks today, the president sought to change that tenor of that coverage. He mocked the notion that smaller savings are considered "trivial" in Washington and stressed that "these savings, large and small, add up."

And he told journalists directly that they should stress the fact that the cuts are "significant" – a surprisingly direct appeal to reporters concerning which angle they should take in their coverage."

It is important, though, for all of you, as you're writing up these stories, to recognize that $17 billion taken out of our discretionary, non-defense budget, as well as portions of our defense budget, are significant," he said.

Geez, what makes Obama so confident he can customize the media's coverage? What makes his underlings smug and secure enough in their power to tell reluctant creditors that they should take the loss or the full force of the White House Press Corps would destroy its reputation ?

Maybe it's the fact that they have always done his bidding before, especially in the election, when they refused to cover any story he deemed "distracting". Maybe it's the same attitude he takes with American Jews, a sneer and a "what are they going to do? Support a Republican? Bwahahahaha!" type of thing. Or maybe it's just seeing MSNBC editing their footage on a daily basis to make sure nothing embarrassing about their president gets through to the general public.

How will the media respond? Looking forward to today's coverage....

Crony Capitalism Catches Up to Obama

..and, by extension, ourselves, our families, and our children.

Change, but no hope:

U.S. stocks slid on Thursday as investors took profits from the technology sector's recent surge, while analyst downgrades hurt telecoms and a tepid response to a government bond auction raised fears about public finances.

Investors worried that poor demand for government debt could raise the cost of capital and hamper chances of a U.S. economic recovery.

U.S. debt prices slid, sending the 30-year Treasury bond yield to its highest since November.
"The auction is big news because now it's showing that maybe the Chinese don't want our bonds. If the cost of capital for the United States becomes more expensive, then the recession is going to take that much longer to get out of," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.

I'm sure Obama's utterly reckless $3 trillion-plus budget plan, submited with no real way to pay for it, might have had something to do with it. Or maybe it was the way Obama tried to screw Chrysler's debt holders in order to protect his votes from the UAW...

Day 108, and the world has lost faith in America's ability to pay its bills. Well, that's change, all right....

Update: You think we aren't a Thugocracy now? This is how Obama's people spoke with the investors who refused to take a soaking on the Chrysler deal in order to help Obama's union supporters:

Confronting the head of a non-TARP fund holding Chrysler debt and unwilling to release it for any sum less than that to which it was legally entitled without compelling cause, this country's "Car Czar" berated the manager of said fund with an outburst of prose substantially resembling this:

Who the fuck do you think you're dealing with? We'll have the IRS audit your fund. Every one of your employees. Your investors. Then we will have the Securities and Exchange Commission rip through your books looking for anything and everything and nothing we find to destroy you with.

So how's that "stimulus" working out, America?

You can't argue with the facts (although, if you are a Democratic president with a subserviant media, you can lie about them):

Number of people collecting unemployment benefits the week the stimulus was signed into law: 5.11 million.

Number of people collecting unemployment benefits as of May 2: 6.35 million.

CNN spins it thusly:

Unemployment claims at 3-month low

When the truth is:

The number of people filing initial claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, to their lowest level in more than 3 months...

Big but here:

But the number of people filing claims on an ongoing basis rose to a record high for the 14th straight week as employers remain reluctant to hire in the weak economy.

So - since the stimulus bill passed, 1.24 million more Americans are now unemployed. And while fewer are filing for the first time, unemployed Americans continue to file claims as they cannot find work in an economy where the private sector is being strangled to death.

Whatcha got next for us, Baracky? Improving our national security by subcontracting it to the Iranians?

Anti-Semitism Roundup - Thursday Edition

Sacre Bleu! Why not start with the French, who were the masters of the art until the Germans picked it up and did it better...

What your about to see is a video of Israel haters scouring a French supermarket to remove Israeli products from the shelf. There isn't a manager in sight. All the shoppers go about their business like it is 1942 Vichy France.




And just for an added kick in the balls:

This video is even more grotesque than you think. It was shot in a suburb of Paris called Aulnay-sous-Bois. The next-door town to Aulnay is called Drancy, about one mile away. Drancy was used by the Nazis between 1942-1944 as a deportation holding camp for the Jews of Paris prior to the deportation to the extermination camps in eastern Europe. Sixty-five thoursand Jews passed through Drancy, of whom 63,000 were killed. In other words, the Israeli boycotters have chosen, of all the supermarkets in France, the one closest to France's most important Holocaust memorial site.

"Never again", right? As meaningless a phrase in France as "cutting the budget" is in DC...

Next, we go to the West Bank, where Fatah is busted in an attempt to use the Pope as a prop in a morality play showing the world how wicked those damn Jews are:

A Palestinian official says the Palestinian Authority has scrapped plans to host Pope Benedict XVI next week on a stage near the West Bank separation fence.
Palestinian say they had hoped that receiving the pope next to a towering cement wall and military watchtower inside the Aida refugee camp would highlight their suffering under Israeli occupation.

How about posing the Pope next to the fence that seperates, say, Gaza from Egypt? Or even France from Albania? Ah, but without the Jews it's nothing!

And how's that peace process going these days? Everyone (well, the few remaining readers of the NYT) was abuzz at Hamas' Khaled Meshal's offer for a ten year "hudna" with Israel in an interview with the Times a few days ago. Meshal then showed how much weight his words have:

Militants in Gaza fired five mortar shells into southern Israel on Wednesday, and Israel retaliated with airstrikes on three smuggling tunnels along Gaza’s border with Egypt, the Israeli military said....

The military wing of Hamas claimed responsibility for the mortar fire, according to the Palestinian news agency Maan. On Monday, the Syria-based leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshal, told The New York Times in an interview that his group was not firing at Israel currently as “part of an evaluation of the movement to serve the people’s interest.”

Finally - do you want to see the Arab dream of "every Jew pushed into the sea" realized? The Times has a depiction from a French artist here...with their full support, of course.

It always seems to begin and end with the French, doesn't it?

Corzine Trying to "Fix" Republican Primary?

Oh, man, only in Jersey is this kind of circus-like shennanigans possible:

Allies of New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Jon S. Corzine, are so worried about his re-election prospects that they are going to start spending and advertising heavily — in the Republican primary.

Mr. Corzine’s allies plan to attack the Republican they consider more formidable, the former federal prosecutor Christopher J. Christie, in an attempt to knock him out in the June primary, according to people briefed on the matter.

That would leave Mr. Corzine facing Steven M. Lonegan, a former small-town mayor from the party’s right wing, whose support for a flat income tax and a ban on abortion are popular with conservative voters, but could be a problem in the general election.

Mr. Christie has based his campaign almost entirely on his credentials as a corruption fighter, having obtained convictions of some 130 New Jersey politicians and public employees. and promises to bring the same forceful leadership to tackling the state’s fiscal problems. The Democratic assault, according to one of the people briefed on the plans, will aim to tarnish that image.

A desperate plan from a desperate man, I reckon. I believe Christie will survive this attack, as he has already survied others from frightened Corzine allies such as the ACLU, who smeared Christie with accusations of "abuses of power" that turned out to be anything but. Corzine still trails Christie, with polls showing leads over the embattled incumbant of anywhere of 4-9 points.

Six months out from election day, and Corzine is already using his unlimited wealth to go negative in the opposition's primary. This is going to be ugly, and the Republicans better be ready to fight back hard, or the state will retain Corzine for another four years, or until he is forced out, a la Rick Wagoner, in a bankruptcy hearing.

And speaking of forced out - Corzine's strategy here is reminicent of Gray Davis' strategy in the 2002 California governor's election, where he used his funds to defeat a tough Republican in their primaries and then cruise to an easy general election victory.

Does Corzine remember, though, what happened a short time after that? Enter the infamous California recall, say goodbye to Mr. Davis, and hello to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Desperate men win small victories, but always lose big in the end...

Poll: Torture the Bastards!

Although a sizeable majority of Barack Obama's most feverent supporters want to see President Bush swinging in the gallows for smacking around the leadership of al-Qaeda, it seems as if most Americans actually approve of Bush's less-than-gentle handling of terrorists:

Six in ten people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday believe that some of the procedures, such as water boarding, were a form of torture, with 36 percent disagreeing.

But half the public approves of the Bush administration's decision to use of those techniques during the questioning of suspected terrorists, with 50 percent in approval and 46 percent opposed.

"Roughly one in five Americans believe those techniques were torture but nonetheless approve of the decision to use those procedures against suspected terrorists," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "That goes a long way toward explaining why a majority don't want to see former Bush officials investigated."

Fifty-seven percent of those questioned don't want Congress to investigate Bush officials who authorized those harsh interrogation procedures, with 42 percent calling for action by lawmakers. Fifty-five percent also don't want a similar investigation by an independent panel.

Investigations of the military and intelligence personnel who actually used those techniques during interrogations are even less popular...

This is a CNN poll, so add another five percentage points to every pro-Bush question....still, it shows that Americans are quite aware of what is going on here. Only 20% of all surveyed classified waterboarding as torture (as opposed to "a form of", which is a pretty loose definition - for me, seeing Obama's fascist mug is a form of torture; can I have him tried and jailed?), with at least 50% believing it was OK to smack these murderous thugs around a bit.

And this is almost eight years after 9/11, mind you. Imagine what a survey would have said eight weeks or months after the attack.

Seems like Obama has backtracked on his initial wavering on whether or not Bush administration officials would be indicted for torture. Still, he gets no praise here. To float a horrific idea, and then retract it weeks later, is not quite the genius-level intellect the media was selling us here.

Creating a negative, then removing it, is not a positive. Pointing a gun at someone's head, then lowering it, does not make you a hero. Breaking someone's leg with intent, then splinting it, is not a good deed.

Obama has already poisoned the well with his ugly trial balloon. He'd better hope it doesn't blow up in his face when the new administration takes charge in 2013 with their own scores to settle...

Related: From Obama's election website:

"The secret authorization of brutal interrogations is an outrageous betrayal of our core values, and a grave danger to our security....Torture is how you create enemies, not how you defeat them. Torture is how you get bad information, not good intelligence..."

Seems like at least 50% of Americans disagree with you, Baracky, as well as Dennis Blair, your hand-picked national intelligence director, who claimed high-value information was obtained with these techniques.

The blind leading the clueless....

While Obama Kisses Mad Mullah Butt....

...ordinary Americans, of all races and religious identifications, are making a stand against radical Islam.

Big movements start with small crowds, although 400 people of diverse backround is worth more than a homogeneous crowd of 4000:

The pouring rain did not stop over 300-400 concerned citizens from attending a rally in Times Square, sponsored by the Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam. Comprised of people from all religious, ethnic, racial and sexual preference groups including Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Christians, Jews, Israelis and secularists, the focus of today’s events, which featured a diverse selection of speakers, was to educate and mobilize people to support freedom, democracy and tolerance and to oppose the inherent dangers that radical Islam presents to those who cherish the aforementioned ideals.

Speaking today were Pastor Gerald Bell, a black minister who personally traveled to the Sudan to help liberate African slaves from their Muslim captors, Tawfik Hamid, a former jihadi terrorist, Beth Gilinsky of the Jewish Action Alliance who spoke of the burgeoning menace of radical Islam and how it will effect the future of Israel in terms of Iran’s growing nuclear arsenal, (and who read my speech as well), Arish Sahani, of the Indian American Intellectual Forum who spoke of the barbaric and systematic slaughter of Hindus in Pakistan. He also mentioned, “the alarming trend of Hindu girls being kidnapped, raped and held in Madrassas and forcibly converted to Islam”.

Quoting a Hindu American Foundation report he said, “In 1947, in what is Bangladesh today, Hindus composed 30% of the population. Today they are less than 10%. Every day there are acts of murder, rape, kidnappings, temple destruction and physical intimidation. Just yesterday, areas captured by the Taliban forced followers of the Sikh religion to vacate their homes and businesses for not paying the oppressive Jizya tax.”

And where was the media? Debating whether Obama is already, on day 105, a greater president than FDR and JFK combined, all while our enemies gather and our economy is taxed into a coma.

If the Obama administration has done anything positive in the infamous "100 Days", it is to stir a realization in ordinary Americans about how far their government has strayed from its roots and from its responsibilities to the people they alledge to represent. First Tea Parties to protest insane spending and taxation, now mulitcultural foreign-policy groups who see the danger in Obama's appeasement of radical Islam.

Let the media surround him and keep assuring him that he's the King, and the blacks and Hindus and Jews amrching together are just 21st-century "Uncle Toms". It will make the look on his face all the more enjoyable when the inevitable fall comes...

More info on HRCARI and the Times Square rally at Right Truth and Atlas Shrugs.

Personal Freedom = Economic Prosperity. Somebody tell Jon Corzine...

Fascinating report issued by the Mercatus Center of George Mason University, entitled Freedom in the 50 States.

It can be summed up rather succiently:

We find that the freest states in the country are New Hampshire, Colorado, and South Dakota, which together achieve a virtual tie for first place. All three states feature low taxes and government spending and middling levels of regulation and paternalism. New York is the least free by a considerable margin, followed by New Jersey, Rhode Island, California, and Maryland.

Regression analysis demonstrates that states enjoying more economic and personal freedom tend to attract substantially higher rates of internal net migration.

So those bastions of "progressive thought" - New York, New Jersey, and California - are essentially ranked 48th-50th in terms of personal freedom. Which makes Obama's bullying and threatening tactics all the more understandable, as it seems to be part and parcel of all Leftist movements since Stalin.

But what does this mean in terms of economics? The New York Post explains:

Together, New York, New Jersey and California face some $65 billion in budget deficits in 2009, amounting to more than two-thirds of the budget gaps faced by all 50 states. These states' stratospheric spending and taxes have stifled economic growth and left them scarily unprepared for the economic downturn.

Job growth has lagged, too. New Jersey in the last decade saw virtually no private-sector job gains, even counting the boom years before this steep recession. California's unemployment rate is the country's fourth highest.... The bottom-rankers also have reputations as the places that citizens most want to flee for other states.

What a contrast with the study's freest states: New Hampshire, Colorado, South Dakota, Idaho and Texas. They all have unemployment rates at or below the national average....

I keep hearing how smart all these progressives are, so much smarter than a Neaderthal like myself. Yet why can't they read the above data and add 1+1 together, and let their people be free ?

Unless it's really not about about a certain way to run an economy, or to conduct international relations. If it's truly all about obtaining power, and holding it at any cost, why, it is no suprise that Obama and the Democrats would follow the lead of the bottom three, and take the rest of the nation down with us. We may be nothing more than a 3rd world power by 2012, but as long as the Democrats have absolute power, they won't shed a tear...

Rahm Emanuel: "Quid Pro Quo, Jews!"

...because it isn't enough that over 75% of American Jews voted with their so-called social consciences and voted for Barack Obama...from the Jerusalem Post:

Thwarting Iran's nuclear program is conditional on progress in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, according to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Israeli TV reports said Monday that Emanuel made the comments in a closed-door meeting the previous day with 300 major AIPAC donors.

Man, Obama must feel real confident about that Jewish support - shoot, instead of respecting these big-time donors, he tells 'em how its gonna be while he's the boss, even if it puts their lives in danger.

I can see Obama and Emanuel snickering to themselves - "What are the Jews gonna do? Vote Republican? Bwahahahaha!!!"

Well, the Jews deserve what's coming to them here. Judaism in America has become less about religious identity and more about political affiliation. "Of course I'm a good Jew! I voted for Barack Obama, didn't I? And just look at the 'Impeach Bush' bumper sticker on my Mercedes!"

So what did we get for our efforts? A president who sat for 20 years at the feet of an anti-Semetic preacher, with a self-loathing Jewish sidekick who "puts the screws" to his own people, Sopranos-style. Not to mention the fact that Obama is already meeting privately with Democratic congressmen (why should he even talk to Republicans, right?) to warn them to expect a coming rift with Israel.

Just why do people think we Jews are so smart, anyway? Based on their actions within the American political system (at least when it comes to their own self-preservation) they haven't got a clue...

June 25th, 2009: The day New Jersey dies?

Via Bob Ingle, we learn that the state of New Jersey has a pretty big bill coming due next month, and it seems as if the state may not be able to pony up the dough:

On June 25, New Jersey is due to repay $1.8 billion plus interest the governor borrowed to make tax rebates. Word came late this week that revenue projections are $1.5 million to $2 million short of what they expected.

Will the state be able to pay the debt? The governor has been silent on that, which has Sen. Marcia Karrow wondering what’s up.

“The governor should say now where he will find the money to make that huge balloon payment. He may very well be forced to seek layoffs of government workers, more delays of payments into our evaporating pension funds or even more cutbacks in school or municipal aid.”

The literal destruction of New Jersey is a trifle to Jon Corzine, who is too busy playing hide and seek with state Republicans (when not on the road whoring himself for out-of-state campaign contributions)...Karrow, again:

“Despite repeated pleas from Republican legislators, the governor has refused to either release daily updates of state revenue collections during budget negotiations or restrain spending sufficiently to reflect economic reality. With just two months remaining in the fiscal year, most of the money the state budgeted to spend this year is already gone..."

Read that last line again. Most of the money is gone, and we have a $1.8 billion dollar payment coming due in just over six weeks. Will New Jersey be the first state ever to face the shame of being forced to declare bankruptcy?

Well, shame nonwithstanding, I think a forced financial collpase could be a good thing. Let a federal court eliminate a portion of the billions of dollars in entitlement spending that is draining the state's middle class. Let a bankruptcy judge force new work rules for the fattened state unions and its pampered government employees. And let us be a lesson to the rest of America, that our shameful path is destined to be followed by the United States as a whole if we don't stop the insane taxation and spending spree that Barack Obama and the Democratic party have embarked upon.

If our death can save America's future, then the sacrifice of New Jersey's middle class will not have been in vain...

All that's missing is the "Sieg Heil ! "

Great video clip showing President Bush entering the White House briefing room, in Feb. of '08, to the yawns and stretches of the assembled media.

Compared, of course, to when Fearless Leader strides in...notice how the dogs leap to their feet in their master's presence:




Obama: And isn't it a lovely day in the People's Republic of America?

WH Press Corps: Ja wohl, mein Führer

Jon Corzine: New Jersey's own Chris Dodd?

Seems like Gov. Jon Corzine, trailing badly to various Republican challengers in a blue state, is taking a book out of the Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) book of fundraising:

The five-term incumbent reported raising just $4,250 from five Connecticut residents during the first three months of the year while raking in $604,745 from nearly 400 individuals living outside the state.

So where's Corzine these days? Begging for money on the left coast while Jersey falls apart:

Corzine was due to have a fund-raiser in San Francisco tonight at The Bankers Club, 55th Floor, where a “friend” could buy a ticket for $1,000 and you would be a “chair” for only $25,000. Checks payable to “Corzine ‘09, Inc.” please.

And the Star-Ledger reports Corzine isn't picky about who he's taking cash from:

Gov. Jon Corzine, during a campaign event last week in a luxury suite high up in an Atlantic City hotel, saluted and embraced a prominent engineer who is serving probation after pleading guilty last fall in a corruption case.

Would be nice to find out how much money Corzine is getting from in-state donors as compared to what he's raking in at his big-city, big-ticket soirées in liberal strongholds across the nation.

Would love to see who's contributing these dollars as well...more corrupt contractors, perhaps? Betcha we'd see an almost surrealistic collection - a rogues gallery, if you will - of theives, tax cheats, professional pols, union thugs, and other similar types of human driftwood whose mission is strictly to increase their access to power by any means possible...

Now if only we had an old-fashioned investigative media willing to, you know, investigate....

Michelle Obama: "Let them eat Keds!"

Remember when Sarah Palin's people spent six figures on a wardrobe makeover? Man, did the media go wild! I mean, how easy would it be to prove she was an inbred hick with the intelligence of an Alaskan Salmon unless she was dressed in a bear-claw coat and fishing boots, right?

Seems like a different stnadard is being applied to a Democrat (stop me if you've heard this one before), or in this case, the high-profile wife of a Democrat. You see, it appears as if Michelle Obama went out and bought herself some new sneakers the other day. No, not some canvas Converse or a trendy Sketchers or an ethnic-pride pair of Air Jordans or even a solid Nike running show.

She bought these:

Made by French fashion label Lanvin, they go for the modest middle-class price of $540-.

Let them eat cake, right, Michelle?

"They're shoes," the First Lady's reps sniffed when curious reporters inquired about the fancy footwear....

They're $540- "shoes", Michelle. Something to think about when you and your husband are targeting the earnings of America's middle class, who can barely afford to send their kids to dancing class or karate. You can bet those Americans, weeping as they see their tax bills, are not walking the dog in $540+ "Lanvins"...

Obama a "Ratings" Flop !!

President Narcissus believes the American people can't get enough of his divine presence or his mellifluous voice, hence his propensity to schedule a live primetime press conference every 30-odd days.

But television -with its thumbs-up/thumbs-down rating methodolgy - is the ultimate democratic medium. And based on the vote totals - sorry, I mean viewer totals - it seems as if less and less folks want to hear from the master of lies and self-absorbtion:

Audience interest in Barack Obama’s news conferences seems to be falling, with Wednesday’s press event drawing the president’s smallest primetime audience since his inauguration.

The telecast to mark Obama’s 100th day in office was viewed by 28.8 million people, according to Nielsen. That's a 29% drop from the president's last press conference, on March 24, and a 42% fall since his first, on Feb. 9.

Ten networks carried the telecast, which is one less than last time since Fox elected to run its detective drama Lie to Me (7.8 million, 2.3 national adults 18-49 rating) instead. Airing its regular entertainment programming saved Fox ad dollars but didn’t help the show much. Lie pulled the same rating it did last week. Yet, like last week, it won the 8 p.m. hour.

Here's the president's last three primetime news events:

Feb: 9: 49.5 million
March 24: 40.4 million
April 29: 28.8 million

Seems like folks are tuning him out. You know what happens with television shows that show a sharp and steady slide in ratings, right?

Alas, we're stuck with this poorly-scripted, transparent sitcom for three more years. But perhaps a ratings review in 2010 will affect the tone and tenor of future performances...?

And They Call These Guys "Moderates"!

Mind you, these are not the so-called militants of Gaza, but our "moderate" friends in the West Bank who we are constantly propping up with billions in American aid. From Commentary, the headline says it all:

Sentenced to Die for Selling Real Estate to a Jew

The story is fleshed out in the J-Post:

In the first case of its kind, a Palestinian Authority "military court" on Tuesday sentenced a Palestinian man (Anwar Brigith, age 59) to death by hanging after finding him guilty of selling land to Jews.

The verdict came shortly after the PA's chief Islamic judge, Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, issued yet another fatwa (religious decree) banning Muslims from selling land or houses to Jews.

The accused was also found guilty of violating a law dating back to 1958 that calls for a boycott against Israel, as well as another law from 1953 that bans trade with Israelis.

The judges issued the verdict unanimously and pointed out that the defendant did not have the right to appeal.

The court also decided to confiscate Brigith's money and property.

Again, from Commentary:

....even to these “moderates,” a real-estate transaction with a Jew is a capital offense because it is an article of Palestinian faith that every inch of their country must be rendered Judenrein in order for their national destiny to be fulfilled.

Israel, naturally, is a bit cautious about any automatic agreement to bargin with these type of people in good faith (despite the veiled threats from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama). Who can be opposed to such a common-sense approach (besides the aforementioned twosome)? Why, the EU, of course, who are issuing threats of their own:

Israel warned the European Union on Thursday to tone down its criticism of the new Israeli government or risk forfeiting the bloc's role as broker in Mideast peace efforts.

The warning came after EU's commissioner for external relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, this week criticized Israel's refusal to endorse a Palestinian state. She said an upgrade in Israeli-EU relations would depend on Israel's commitment to the "two-state solution."

And don't forget the UN, who would have no purpose in life if it weren't for their obsession with the destruction of the Jewish state:

None of a $4.5 billion package of reconstruction aid recently pledged for the Gaza Strip has got through because of border restrictions, a top U.N. official said on Thursday.

Robert Serry, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said on a visit to Gaza on Thursday the situation was alarming and warned that issues such as Palestinian reconciliation and secure borders had to be addressed.

"In the absence of real progress on issues like Palestinian reconciliation, open crossings, secure borders and a prisoners exchange, the potential for renewed violence is ever-present," Serry said in a statement.

Sounds like a threat to me. And where are these bleeding hearts when it comes to the rights of Mr. Anwar Brigith, who will die for the crime of conducting a sale of private property to a Jew?

Their silence speaks volumes....

The Media, Gay "Rights", Polygamy, and Americans

The media wants you to believe that the issue of gay "rights" (they seem to have most every single right availabale to every other American, save for the right to marry within their gender) is rending the nation in two:

National poll: mixed views on gay-rights issues

But when you look at the results, the responses among all questions is quite uniform:

By 56-37 percent, voters said the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military should be repealed

By 55-38 percent, voters said they did not want their state to allow same-sex couples to marry. However, by 57-38 percent, they favored allowing such couples to form civil unions that would provide marriage-like rights and by 53-40 percent they supported allowing same-sex couples to adopt children.

_Also by 50-44 percent, voters supported the federal law allowing states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

_Asked if society is paying too much attention to the needs of gays and lesbians, 49 percent of voters said yes, while 21 percent said there's too little attention and 22 percent said it's "about right."

So where are the "mixed views"? You have 50% plus of respondents agreeing to give gays everything they want, except the right to call a same-sex union a "marriage". Seems like a consistant majority of Americans hold the same opinion here (especially on the marriage/union issue), with only the media and the radicalized portion of the gay community trying to force a split within the nation's population.

An issue of "rights"? Hardly. It's one issue and one only, over whether to change the 5,000 year definition of marriage to suit the needs of a group of people who have unusual sexual preferences. And here's why you can't do it, incidentally - it's a slippery slope to social breakdown. I posted on it over two years ago, while making a sarcastic case for polygamy:

The pro-gay marriage crowd will say, "If two people love each other, regardles of their sex, shouldn't they be allowed to be married? If two men or two women wish to marry, isn't denying them that right based on the sexual gender of the two partners discrimination?"

OK, fine then. The sex of the partners is now ruled as irrelevant - only love between two consenting adults matters.

Now, if the gender of the couple is irrelevant, why shouldn't other factors of the marriage compact be irrelevant as well? Why does it have to be "TWO consenting adults"? If a man and two women are in love, why should they be denied the opportunity to marry as a threesome? If the sex of the partners is now irrelevant, cannot one make the case that the number of people involved in the marriage compact are irrelevant as well?

Look at the opportunities polygamy provides....!

Americans get this, and yet we'll give gays everything they want, including recognized unions under a different name. If the media and the gay community want to fight this out in the name of "rights", let's pose the polygamy question back to them as well. Let them explain why one perversion of the definition of marriage is OK, while another is not....

Jon Corzine: The Ultimate Ingrate

It was just over two years ago when Jon Corzine almost died in a near-fatal accident almost entirely of his own making - ordering his driver to speed (91 MPH in a 65 zone) while refusing to wear a seat belt ("Click it or Ticket", guv!), in order to attend a meeting between Don Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team.

Does anyone even remember that kerfluffle any more? Certainly not Corzine, although he was a dim bulb before he took a shot to the head in the now infamous crash. It seems like Corzine forgot the whole incident - beacuse the governor, who thanked the first-responder EMTs for saving his life that night, is now cutting their budget by 90%. Bob Ingle of the Asbury Park-Press:

Surely Corzine can find a better way to balance the budget than cut $4 million from an account established in 1995 to fund volunteer EMT training through 50 cents taken from every moving violation in the state. The governor would leave $400,000 in the fund and that means 20,000 volunteers would have to pay for their own EMT training

Two years ago, Corzine praised the EMTs who helped save his life. They have to undergo training to keep their knowledge current and their licenses valid. EMTs can mean the difference between life and death — Corzine should know.

Assemblywoman Dawn Marie Addiego:

“Other than the satisfaction of serving the community and helping others, being a volunteer EMT does not bring many perks. Making them pay for their training will worsen their already thinning ranks and push towns toward paid squads, which will increase property taxes.”

Rudder noted that it was volunteer responders who first arrived to Corzine’s aid when he sustained nearly fatal injuries in a 2007 automobile crash.“

Governor Corzine should know better than most the value EMTs provide to New Jersey, yet his budget proposal threatens to make these volunteers disappear from the state’s landscape – just like he is doing to the middle class and small businesses,” Rudder said. “The governor’s budget has many misguided priorities, but this example shows contempt for those who keep us safe without charging for their services.”

More:

John Mateus, president of the New Jersey Medical Services Educator's Association, said Corzine would be making a "tragic decision" if he uses the money to plug a hole in the state budget.

Mateus said he hopes a letter-writing campaign will convince the governor to change his mind.
The campaign includes a flyer, "Say Thanks to Corzine," showing the governor in a wheelchair the day he was released from a Camden hospital thanking those who treated him after he suffered broken ribs and a broken femur in a much-publicized April 2007 car crash.

What an ungrateful bastard - to raid and de-fund the very people who saved his life in order to continue to pay for the myriad of social welfare programs he has initiated that are bleeding the state bone dry.

What's next? Robbing his father while raping his mother? Hey, if it helps him stay "progressive..."

The Obama Popularity Myth

How much of a disconnect is there between the public's perception of Barack Obama and the media's? It's a gulf that even Moses himself couldn't part. First, the facts, from the Washington Examiner:

...at the 100-day mark of his presidency, Mr. Obama is the second-least-popular president in 40 years.

According to Gallup's April survey, Americans have a lower approval of Mr. Obama at this point than all but one president since Gallup began tracking this in 1969. The only new president less popular was Bill Clinton... Mr. Obama's current approval rating of 56 percent is only one tick higher than the 55-percent approval Mr. Clinton had during those crises.

...five presidents rated higher than Mr. Obama after 100 days in office. Ronald Reagan topped the charts in April 1981 with 67 percent approval. Following the Gipper, in order of popularity, were: Jimmy Carter with 63 percent in 1977; George W. Bush with 62 percent in 2001; Richard Nixon with 61 percent in 1969; and George H.W. Bush with 58 percent in 1989.

It's no surprise the liberal media aren't anxious to point out that their darling is less popular than George W. Bush. But given the Gallup numbers, their hurrahs could be more subdued.

Especially since their darling is in the basement, more or less. But realistic analysis is not what you get from those head-over-heels in love; you get pulp romance instead:

The combination of candor and vision and the patient explanation of complex issues was Obama at his best — and more than any other moment of his first 100 days in office, it summed up the purpose of his presidency: a radical change of course not just from his predecessor, not just from the 30-year Reagan era but also from the quick-fix, sugar-rush, attention-deficit society of the postmodern age.

And if you are part of that ever growing group of Americans that is wary of Mr. Obama's radical agenda? Well, the media has a word for you:

...frequent, unbidden appearances by such unpopular characters as Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich, whose rants about everything from Obama's decision to repudiate the torture of enemy combatants to his handshake with Chávez seem both ungracious and unhinged.

"Ungracious and unhinged" "rants" are probably the best three words I can think of to describe the media's treatment of Geroge Bush in particular and Republicans in general.

Actually, though, "unhinged" is a good word for the media to use to describe itself - after all, what else do you call an obsessed lover who sees no fault, only radiance, from their heartthrob?

And they wonder why they're losing readers by the millions...I mean, really - who wants to read a paper written by the equivalent of a street-corner lunatic, anyway?

How Barack Obama Sees the World

Via Baseball Crank, the best baseball/conservative blog on the block. He comments thusly:

Next time the United States captures some hardened, mass-murdering terrorists, the CIA should tell President Obama that we captured some unborn children, and he'll let them do whatever they want.

Or just tell him they're conservatives...he'd probably stand in line to get a knee-whack in himself.

Specter Quits, Spits on Pennsylvania Republicans

So Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA.) is leaving the party to become a Democrat. Hey, they're all the rage these days! But it's not about philosophy - Specter has none - it's about holding on to his pathetic job and power for another six years:

Veteran Republican Sen. Arlen Specter disclosed plans Tuesday to switch parties, a move intended to boost his chances of winning re-election next year that will also push Democrats closer to a 60-vote filibuster-resistant majority.

Republican voters had sent him to the Senate five times. But faced with the prospect of a strong challenge from conservative Pat Toomey in the GOP primary and the state trending Democratic, Specter jumped ship.

"I can understand their disappointment," he continued. "I am also disappointed that so many in the party I have worked for for more than four decades do not want me to be their candidate. It is very painful on both sides."

Oh, poor baby! You were going to face a primary challenge, and you are just too good for that kind of treatment! Better to quit, dump any remaining principles, and run to the other side where you hope to be safe!

His real anger is at Pennsylvania Republicans, who dared question whether it was time to hear from another voice. Specter makes his disgust with his hometown fans clear:

"I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate," he said in the statement.

"I don't have to say anything to them. They said it to me," Specter said

Wow. What anger and hatred for people who supported him for 30 years. One moment of doubt, and he turns their back on them, throwing curses over his shoulder as he runs to his callow new friends.

What reprehensible behavior. When Nasty Arlen moved to the democrats, he forgot to pack his class and decency.

Perhaps he never had any to begin with?