"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Saturday, July 12, 2008

NYTIMES: OBAMA IS LOSING HIS LEFTIST BASE

UPDATE: A DAY LATER AND INSTAPUNDIT FINDS THE ARTICLE CITED BELOW...

NYT:
PORTLAND, Ore. — In the breathless weeks before the Oregon presidential primary in May, Martha Shade did what thousands of other people here did: she registered as a Democrat so she could vote for Senator Barack Obama.

Now, however, after critics have accused Mr. Obama of shifting positions on issues like the war in Iraq, the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants, gun control and the death penalty — all in what some view as a shameless play to a general election audience — Ms. Shade said she planned to switch back to the Green Party.

“I’m disgusted with him,” said Ms. Shade, an artist. “I can’t even listen to him anymore. He had such an opportunity, but all this ‘audacity of hope’ stuff, it’s blah, blah, blah. For all the independents he’s going to gain, he’s going to lose a lot of progressives.”

... Ms. Shade, the Green-turned-Democrat-returned-Green voter, spoke about Mr. Obama while leaning out her second-floor apartment window, where she has placed homemade signs urging the impeachment of President Bush. Others say “Free Gaza” and “Occupation is Terrorism.” She said twice that the American political system was “rotten.”

“You realize,” Ms. Shade said, her voice fading with resignation, “that you’re talking to somebody who’s pretty far out of the mainstream.”
  • OBAMA IS OUT OF THE MAINSTREAM -
  • AND AS HE TRIES HARDER AND HARDER TO APPEAR TO BE WHAT HE ISN'T, HE WILL LOSE HIS BASE.
  • AND WITHOUT CONVINCING ANYONE IN THE MIDDLE.
  • WELL.. HE WILL CONVINCE A MAJORITY OF PEOPLE OF ONE THING:
  • HE'S A PHONY UNFIT FOR HIGH OFFICE.
VOTE ACCORDINGLY.
  • BTW: THIS EXPLAINS OBAMA'S DROP IN THE POLLS. AND WHY HE WILL LOSE IN NOVEMBER.
  • IT WON'T COME AS A RESULT OF US TELLING CENTRISTS/INDEPENDENTS OBAMA IS A LEFTIST.
  • IT WILL BE A RESULT OF HIS BASE DISCOVERING HE'S A PHONY, A LIAR, AND A CORRUPT POLITICIAN.

ME LEARNING SPANISH WON'T HELP THE ILLEGAL ALIENS GET BETTER JOBS

Barack [middle name redacted] Obama seems to think that we can help the immigrants if we learn Spanish (as transcribed by Rachel Lucas):

“I, I don’t understand, when people are going around worrying about, ‘we need to have English only.’ They, they wanna pass a law, ‘we want just, uh, we want English only.’ No, I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that.

But. But. Understand this. Instead of worrying about whether, uh, immigrants can learn English. They’ll learn English. You need to make sure your child can speak Spanish! You should be thinking about how can your child become bilingual. We should have every child speaking more than one language.

“You know, it’s embarrassing, it’s embarrassing when, when, uh, when Europeans come over here. They all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe. All we can say is merci beaucoup. Right?”

But American English-speakers learning additional languages won't help illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America.

The New Duranty Times had an in-depth profile of several such Central American workers today, in an article by Javier Hernandez. One of them, a 22-year-old Honduran named Francisco Perez, is satisfied with his monolingualism:

That morning, at the recommendation of a friend, he had called a construction company to make his pitch and arrange for the pickup.

Within the group of day laborers that formed on this day, Mr. Perez’s success bred quiet jealousy. On his corner, men from Guatemala, Ecuador, and Mexico stood at a distance, chatting about the outrageous joke on the radio the day before, the good-looking girl in the supermarket, and how hard it was to get jobs.

Mr. Perez, electrified by the $85 in sight for 10 hours of work, was optimistic. A single man with skin darkened by his days in the sun, he said he looked forward to coming to the corner each day.

“For me, this is a good life,” he said in Spanish. “If I knew English, I would have a better job, but this isn’t bad at all.” At 6:45, the black construction van came and whisked him away. [Emphasis added.]

Mr. Perez knows that he can find better work if he bothers to learn English, but he is satisfied with the work he can get in Spanish. He can't be bothered.

And whether you and I or any number of other native-English speakers in America learn Spanish or French (merci beaucoup is French, right?) or German, won't make any difference in the kind of jobs available to Mr. Perez. And he doesn't care, anyway.

Despite what Senator Obama says, aliens like Mr. Perez won't learn English, and will spend their lives in this country in Spanish-speaking enclaves, which are really just foreign settlements in the midst of an indigenous, Anglophone America.

OBAMA AFRAID TO HAVE TOWNHALL WITH US TROOPS

EARLY IN THE CAMPAIGN, OBAMA SAID HE WOULD DEBATE MCCAIN ON FOREIGN POLICY ANYWHERE, ANYTIME.



APPARENTLY HE WAS LYING/KIDDING.

TWS:
A coalition of military groups is planning a nationally televised town-hall-style meeting with the presidential candidates near Fort Hood, Tex., the largest active-duty military installation in the country. But so far, only Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, has agreed to attend.

... the list of people Obama would now meet with includes Ahmadinejad, Castro, and Chavez, but no town hall with U.S. soldier.
OBAMA IS NOT FIT TO BE COMMANDER IN CHIEF.

FROM CITIBANK, EVEN MORE PROOF THAT WE'RE IN AN OIL BUBBLE

DINOCRAT:
22 is a lot of times

Tim Evans of Citibank as quoted in the airline industry website Stop Oil Speculation Now:

“combined crude oil futures volume…reached a new record…about 22 times the level of global daily demand. With the futures market this much larger than the underlying physical market, we think the potential for a speculative bubble to form is certainly expanded…”

No doubt the fundamentals of supply and demand form a percentage of the reason for current high prices. That is always true in a bubble. However, when the trading of a commodity is 22x the demand for the commodity, speculation would appear to be a significant part of the explanation for prices.

And the amount of pension fund money in commodities is 20 times what it was just 5 years ago.

These two factors mean that MUCH more money is now chasing the same amount of oil and that’s why the price is so effin' high.

The money chasing oil has no relation to oil’s actual industrial use - only to it’s use as a hedge/investment.

And oil's actual use is retarded by it's current high price. The exorbitantly high price of oil is killing the goose.

The bubble will burst very soon.

ANWR: THE REFUGE OF SCOUNDRELS



BOTTOM-LINE:
THE LEFT IS WRONG; DRILLING FOR OIL IN ANWR IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

ANWR IS AS PRISTINE AS THE AVERAGE CONGRESSMAN.

UNRELATED ITEMS: OBAMA AND KANSAS VALUES

MORE HERE AND HERE.

TONY SNOW DEAD; SCOTT MCCLELAN ALIVE

ON DAYS LIKE THIS, LIFE SEEMS ESPECIALLY UNJUST.

SNOW WOULD NOT HAVE ENDORSED MY SENTIMENT, BUT THEN: HE WAS A BETTER MAN THAN ME.

RIP.

FULL ROUND UP HERE.

CORNYN TALKS SENSE ON ENERGY


CORNYN IS ONE OF THE BEST WE HAVE.

VIA POWER LINE.

British troops betrayed by their Leftist government

Excerpt:

Research conducted by the Ministry of Defence, and published this week, showed the shocking finding that around half of the brave men and women in our Forces are suffering low morale. Many would leave if they could.

It is, of course, demoralising for our Forces to be caught up in two apparently unwinnable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, those who join the Services do so with a view to the possibility of having to go into battle, and to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country and for the civilised values of our nation.

What they do not expect is to go into battle with inferior equipment that makes them sitting ducks for a vicious enemy. Nor do they expect the politicians who take the decisions that affect their deployment to lie to them about why they are in the front line, or to lie about the quality of the kit that they are expected to use when engaging the enemy. This is the root of the betrayal of every soldier, sailor and airman in our Forces: and it is a betrayal not merely of the poor bloody infantry, or of cannon-fodder among the enlisted men and women, but of the most senior officers too.

Almost daily we hear of brave soldiers being blown up in Afghanistan because their Land Rovers are useless, or being killed or injured because their air transport falls out of the sky. If you talk to Labour loyalists about this - not that there are many of those left these days - you are fed the line that there used to be problems with kit, but these have been resolved. They jolly well haven't. But when anyone in authority seeks to argue the contrary they are summarily dealt with.

Look at the case of General Sir Richard Dannatt, an honourable man and Christian soldier in the most literal sense of the term. Distressed by the offhand treatment of soldiers for whom, as Chief of the General Staff, he is ultimately responsible, he has made his feelings known regularly since taking up that post. This is the highest mark of honour for him, and the right thing to do on behalf of his subordinates: but it has, inevitably, simply attracted contempt from his political masters.

What will happen to our Armed Forces if this goes on is all too clear. Patriotic and brave young people simply won't want to join them. Those in the ranks will leave at an ever-higher rate, fed up with the contempt with which they are being treated. Officers, depressed at the treatment they and those under them are getting, will simply choose a better-paid job in civilian life. If you doubt any of this, go to the internet and look at some of the blogs run by services insiders to see just how shamefully bad things are, not least in the MoD itself.

More here

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

Birth certificate petition shut down by threat from Obama supporter

Post below recycled from Red Ink . See the original for links

By now, even the people living under rocks have heard about Obama's forged birth certificate. This is worrisome for a number of reasons. First off, that he and/or his campaign staff thought the general public was that stupid/gullible (well, on second thought, he DOES have a lot of supporters, maybe a lot of them ARE that stupid.), and secondly why on earth would they feel that they needed to submit a forgery? Is he a native US citizen or not? Or is this about his name? or his parent's religion? Either way, it is a reasonable thing to look at since after all, there is that little legal requirement that he be a native US citizen, and not just a naturalized one. One person put up a website for an online petition calling for the REAL birth certificate to be released, but within hours of it going up, someone, using the site operator's home address, left a veiled threat against the site operator and his family.
""Petition Closed

A veiled threat was made against myself and my family which included our home address, so I have decided to close the petition for good. It is truly sad that political discourse in our country has come to this. "


Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

A MESSAGE TO MY FELLOW JEWS - AND ALL AMERICANS WHO LOVE ISRAEL


GATEWAY:
Anyone who believes that Barack Obama, who spent 20 years in a Jew-hating church, with a Jew-hating pastor, and hung around Jew haters, is going to be a friend of Israel is a fool.
A VOTE FOR OBAMA OS A VOTE AGAINST ISRAEL.

Friday, July 11, 2008

OBAMA: WHERE'S MY TELEPROMPTER, DUDE!?





RUSSIANS USING OIL AS A WEAPON

NYTIMES:
Three days after the Czech Republic signed an agreement with the United States to host a tracking radar for an antiballistic missile system that Russia vehemently opposes, the authorities in Prague said the flow of Russian oil to their country was beginning to dwindle. In a statement on Friday, Czech officials declined to link the reduced supply to the deal signed Tuesday in Prague.

... In January 2006, Gazprom, Russia’s gas company, cut gas supplies to Ukraine for three days, about a year after the protests known as the Orange Revolution ushered in a pro-Western government. The cutoff was ostensibly over a pricing dispute.

Later in 2006, after Lithuanian authorities sold an important oil refinery to a non-Russian company, the Russian pipeline operator closed the pipe to that refinery, blaming technical problems.
THE RUSSIANS ARE STILL OUR ENEMIES.

OBAMA TROTS OUT THAT OLD LEFTIST CANARD: "IRAQ WAS A DISTRACTION FROM FIGHTING AL QAEDA"

OBAMA TODAY ON CNN:
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:

If he was captured alive, then we would make a decision to bring the full weight of not only U.S. justice, but world justice down on him. And I think that -- and I've said this before -- that I am not a cheerleader for the death penalty. I think it has to be reserved for only the most heinous crimes, but I certainly think plotting and engineering the death of 3,000 Americans justifies such an approach.


Now, the -- I think this is a big hypothetical, though. Let's catch him first, and the fact that we have failed to seriously go after al Qaeda over the last five years because of the distraction of Iraq, I think we are now seeing the consequences of that in Afghanistan.
THIS IS UTTER BS.

THE REASON THERE'S AN UPTICK OF VIOLENCE IN AFGHANISTAN NOW IS TWO-FOLD:

(1) BECAUSE THE NEW REGIME IN PAKISTAN HAS BEEN APPEASING THE TALIBAN; AND

(2) BECAUSE WE AND OUR NATO ALLIES ARE BEING MORE AGGRESSIVE ABOUT GOING AFTER THEM.]
  • AND WE HAVE KILLED MORE AL QAEDA IN IRAQ SINCE 2004 THAN ANYWHERE ELSE.
  • WE'RE KILLING THEM THERE BECAUSE AL QAEDA DECIDED TO MAKE A STAND THERE. WE RESPONDED TO THEIR ATTACKS AND THEIR EFFORTS TO START A SECTARIAN WAR.
  • THE IRAQ WAR HAS MADE THE ENTIRE WORLD SAFER, TOO.
  • AND HAS LEFT AL QAEDA REELING.
  • OBAMA IS DEAD WRONG ABOUT IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.
VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

BARACK "GLASS JAW" OBAMA

THEY'RE TIED UP - AND IT'S ONLY JUST BEGUN.

IN A YEAR THAT THE DEMOCRAT OBAMESSIAH SHOULD BE KICKING ASS..

JUST WEEKS AFTER THE SAME POLL HAD OBAMA UOP BY 15.

Now, it's a dead heat in the same poll.

PROVING WHAT!?

THE BIGGER THEY ARE, THE HARDER THE FALL...

BARACK "GLASS JAW" OBAMA.

VIA GATEWAY: IT'S WORSE THAN YOU THINK: ACCORDING TO FLOPPING ACES THE POLL WAS SKEWED TOWARD THE DEMS!

DESPERATE FOR DETERRENCE: THE MISSILE TEST THAT WASN'T

THE IRANIAN TESTS WERE FAKED.
  • WHY?
  • TO SCARE US.
  • WELL, THEY SCARED THE OIL MARKETS.
  • BUT THEY SHOULD NEITHER SCARE OR FOOL ANYONE ELSE.
  • ALL THEIR FAKERY REALLY PROVES IS THAT WE MUST STRIKE THEM NOW - BEFORE THEY GET BETTER DETERRENCE - LIKE NUKES.
IT'S NOW OR NEVER BABY...

BARACK AND JEREMIAH: OBAMA DID TO WHITES WHAT HIS FATHER DID TO HIS MOTHER

By joining, converting in, marrying in and having his children baptized at Trinity Church Obama turned his back on half his heritage.

His white heritage.

He spit on it.

HE ABANDONED IT.

Like his father did him and his mother.

I think this is central to Obama's character - or really LACK of character - its' why he has no trouble tossing people under the bus as soon as they get in the way of his ambition.

He takes after his father: a bad man; a leftist; a bad father.

NONE of the pretty talk can change where he has worshiped and what.

IF YOU THINK JESUS WAS BLACK AND AMERICA EVIL, THEN VOTE FOR OBAMA.

Barack Hussein Amoeba: a person who will assume any shape necessary for his own success.

SOCIALISTS STICKING TOGETHER: CHINA AND RUSSIA VETO SANCTIONS AGAINST MUGABE

SICKENING:
A draft resolution to impose sanctions on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and a number of his key allies has been vetoed at the UN Security Council.

China and Russia both rejected the proposed measures, including a freeze on their financial assets and travel.
RUSSIA AND CHINA ARE DISGUSTING.

AND THEIR VETOES IN THE UNSC MAKE THE ENTIRE UN A JOKE.

LEFTIES CHALLENGING MCCAIN'S CITIZENSHIP QUALIFICATIONS AND RIGHT TO BE ON BALLOT

A lawsuit challenging Mr. McCain’s qualifications is pending in the Federal District Court in Concord, N.H.
Why isn't there one against Obama?

Troubling developments in Lebanon

1 - 'Hizbullah is rearming at a dizzying pace'
There are some 2,500 non-uniformed Hizbullah fighters in southern Lebanon, and the organization has trebled its pre-war missile arsenal, government sources said Wednesday following a security cabinet meeting on Hizbullah's current strength and the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

According to the sources, Hizbullah today has some 40,000 short and medium-range missiles inside Lebanon, and UN Security Council Resolution 1701 - the resolution that put an end to the Second Lebanon War and provided an expanded mandate for UNIFIL - has been completely ineffective in stopping arms from pouring in to Hizbullah from Syria.

The vast majority of the missiles are north of the Litani river, but can still "blanket" the northern part of Israel, the sources said.

The security cabinet meeting came as the government is apparently trying to place the implementation of 1701 back on the international agenda.
2 - Lebanon's prime minister formed a national unity Cabinet on Friday in which Hezbollah and its allies have veto power over government decisions.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, who announced the Cabinet formation in Beirut, had been struggling to form a government since former army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman was elected president in May.

THESE ARE THE FRUITS OF APPEASEMENT.
  • WE SHOULD HAVE VAPORIZED NASRALLAH YEARS AGO.
  • NOW HE AND HIZBALLAH ARE STRONGER THAN BEFORE - AND WE HAD HIM ON THE ROPES.
  • I EXPECT ANOTHER WAR HERE BEFORE THE ELECTION: BECAUSE IRAN DOESN'T WANT TO BE ATTACKED; THEY WOULD RATHER LEBANON IS ATTACKED.
  • I'M SURE IRAN THINKS THAT IF THEY CAN STALL AND PUT OFF AN ATTACK UNTIL AFTER OBAMA IS ELECTED THEN THEY WILL GET TO HAVE NUKES.

NEW SUSPICIONS AGAINST OLMERT

Yet more investigations are being launched against him:
(IsraelNN.com) In a joint statement issued early Friday afternoon, the police and Justice Ministry said that they are looking into new allegations against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. According to these allegations, Olmert used to have several bodies – including the government – finance his trips abroad when he was Mayor of Jerusalem and Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor.

According to the statement, "The travel agency which took care of his trips produced separate invoices for each of the bodies and public organizations that paid for the trips… In this way the sum total of the money that was received from the different bodies for the same trip was greater than the real expenditure for the flights, and the extra funds, in substantial amounts, that were – it is suspected – fraudulently obtained, were transferred to a special private account on Olmert's name that the travel agency managed for him. These funds were used to fund private trips abroad by Mr. Olmert and members of his family."
According to this article on NFC, a sixth investigation has been launched against one of the most extraordinarily dishonest politicians ever known here.

Obama has been here before

Excerpt:

The election this year is between two very different political personalities. John McCain is a moderate conservative and war hero with a solid political record but limited media skills (he still has trouble using a teleprompter) and no excess of charisma. Barack Obama is a young, very charismatic newcomer with virtually no political record but great oratorical talent who promises profound change.

This is very reminiscent of the election of 1896, when William McKinley ran against William Jennings Bryan. McKinley too was a genuine war hero (distinguished service in the Civil War) who then entered politics. He served several terms in the House and became chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. In 1891 he was elected governor of Ohio.

His opponent's political resume was a lot thinner, with only two back-bencher terms in the House. But at the Democratic convention of 1896, Bryan electrified the crowd with his "Cross of Gold" speech. It instantly became an American classic and propelled him to the nomination at just 36 years old, by far the youngest man ever nominated by a major party. Like Mr. Obama, Bryan promised a new politics aimed to benefit the common man, not the capitalists.

He launched the country's first whistle-stop campaign, giving more than 500 speeches around the country. And at first it worked. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had made its debut on May 26 of that year at 40.94, had lost 30% by August, when it stood at 28.48. But the Republicans fought back, utilizing new advertising techniques, and painted Bryan as someone whose populist ideas would wreck the American economy. The Dow began to recover as McKinley picked up support in northern industrial cities, and among ethnic workers who had been previously Democratic. In the end he won with 51% of the popular vote against 47%.

So 1896 turned out to be a watershed election, alright. By rejecting the candidate who advocated change for the candidate who promised moderate conservatism, it made the Republicans the dominant party until 1932.

More here

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

Which is it? Global warming caused by more smog or by less smog?

Don't laugh. It's easy: To a Greenie, EVERYTHING is bad and causes global warming

1) Study links global warming to more smog

Excerpt: U.S. environmental regulators quietly published a draft study on Thursday that linked global warming to higher levels of smog that could harm human health, a report green groups said stood in contrast to the Bush Administration's slow movement on climate change.

Source

2) Study links global warming to less smog

Excerpt: Goodbye air pollution and smoky chimneys, hello brighter days. That's been the trend in Europe for the past three decades - but unfortunately cleaning up the skies has allowed more of the sun's rays to pierce the atmosphere, contributing to at least half the warming that has occurred.

Source

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

Is the West versus Islam like Montezuma versus Cortez?

In "Conquistador", Buddy Levy offers a fascinating account of the impetuous Spanish adventurer Cortez and Montezuma, the ill-starred emperor of the Aztecs -- clearly the wrong emperor at the wrong place at the wrong time. Mr. Levy has an eye for vivid detail and manages to build a compelling narrative out of this almost unbelievable story of missionary zeal, greed, cruelty and courage. By avoiding the kind of ideological posturing that usually distorts re-tellings of the conquest of the New World, Mr. Levy rightly focuses his reader's attention on the story's antagonists.

Others had tried what Cortez wanted to do, and failed. They died in shipwrecks or were captured and sold into slavery by the Indians. Cortez, though, had the advantage of iron resolve, a good mind and an instinct for seizing the initiative in a crisis. With his handful of men, three cannon and 15 horses, he overawed the first tribes he encountered. Realizing that the gold trinkets they offered him were only a hint of the wealth lying further west, he began his drive into the interior of Mexico, fighting and marching through scorching deserts and over ice-bound mountain passes. He did not stop until he reached the capital of the most feared people of the central Mexican valley, the Aztecs.

Cortez was a man of deep contradictions. A devout Catholic, he was horrified by the sights and sounds of Aztec worship: its human sacrifices and cannibalism, its skull racks, its idols draped with human body parts, its priests with their blood-clotted hair. But he was not above massacring his enemies or burning them at the stake. He was genuinely dazzled by his first sight of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, with its tidy fields and gleaming stone causeways, a city of nearly a quarter-million people that was, he wrote in a letter to the Spanish king, more beautiful than any in Europe. Even so, he was ready to destroy it all to feed his desire for gold and to bend the Aztecs to his will.

If Cortez was a man of contradictions, Montezuma was not. Studious and conscientious, he had been trained for Aztec priesthood before becoming emperor in 1503 -- the same year that Cortes set out from Spain for America. Montezuma believed in the rightness of his own convictions but also, it appears, in the importance of an open mind. As Mr. Levy shows, he always looked for ways to dispel a crisis by placating the feelings of all concerned. He would have made a fine college president. From his first meeting with Cortez in November 1519, though, he was desperately overmatched.

Montezuma hoped that, by giving Cortez magnificent gifts of gold and silver, he could make him go away. He made him want to stay instead. The Aztec ruler never quite shook off the suspicion that Cortez might be the Aztec god Quetzelcoatl returning home according to ancient prophesy -- a suspicion that led Montezuma to want to treat the intrusive Spaniards as guests rather than a threat.

Cortez exploited Montezuma's weakness without scruple, squeezing one concession after another out of him until, though outnumbered by more than 1,000-to-1, Cortez made him a hostage. When Montezuma had lost all credibility with his people and was no longer useful, Cortez cast him aside. Montezuma died a broken man -- although probably not, Mr. Levy argues, at Cortes's order. It is more likely that Montezuma died from wounds inflicted by his own subjects. When they saw him appear in chains and appeal for calm, they had bombarded him with stones and arrows. His weakness, they understood, had betrayed them to the Spanish.

Cortez wound up besieging Tenochtitlan, in alliance with Indian tribes who had cursed their lot under Aztec rule. By Aug. 31, 1521, the city was a smoldering ruin. Nearly 100,000 people died in the siege; another 100,000 died of smallpox -- the disease that eventually tipped the demographic balance in favor of the Spaniards in the New World...

"It was Cortez, the consummate gambler," Mr. Levy writes, "who staked high wagers and won." Montezuma was the more lovable man. But his world has vanished into dust. The world Cortez made is still around us.

More here

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

Thursday, July 10, 2008

OBAMA, KANSAS, TRINITY AND OZ

POWER LINE:
Barack Obama is on the air in the Washington D.C. media market with a bio-ad that touts his love of America and describes his values as coming "straight from the Kansas heartland." The ad presumably is aimed at Northern Virginia voters. If Obama rolls up big enough margins in Northern Virginia, he could be competitive against McCain statewide. At a minimum, Obama hopes to force McCain to devote resources to what has long been a reliable Republican state in presidential elections.

The ad itself is vintage Obama, which is to say fraudulent.

Obama's embrace of Kansas values cannot be reconciled with how he worshiped on Sundays throughout the past 20 years.
I'D SAY THAT OBAMA'S VALUES HAVE MORE TO DO WITH OZ THAN KANSAS!

FROM BLOOMBERG, ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF HOW THE MSM MAKES THE ECONOMY SEEM WORSE THAN IT IS

BLOOMBERG HEADLINE: Foreclosures Rose 53% in June, Bank Seizures Tripled
U.S. foreclosure filings increased 53 percent in June from a year earlier and bank seizures rose the most on record as deteriorating property values and higher rates on adjustable mortgages forced more people to give up their homes.

More than 252,000 properties, or one in 501 U.S. households, entered a stage of the foreclosure process, RealtyTrac Inc., a seller of default data, said today in a statement.

GET THAT!?! IT SAID: "one in 501 U.S. households" - YET THEY WROTE A HEADLINE THAT MAKES IT SEEM AS IF FORECLOSURES ARE EXPLODING!!!!!!!

ONE IN 500 IS .20%. THAT'S , 1/5TH OF ONE PERCENT ENTERED A STAGE OF FORECLOSURE.

IT'S MINUSCULE.
  • A GROWING NUMBER WE SHOULD BE CONCERNED WITH, BUT NOT A NATIONAL CATASTROPHE.
  • THE ECONOMY IS NOT IN SHAMBLES.
  • IT'S SOFT.
  • WE NEED TO ADJUST. MOSTLY TO EXTREMELY HIGH ENERGY COSTS.
  • WE WILL.
  • AND SOON IF YOU ALL WOULD JUST STOP READING THE MSM'S PROPAGANDA.

OBAMA: "THIS IS NOT THE JESSE JACKSON I KNOW."

HEH.

IOW: SISTER SOULJAH MOMENT MY ASS.

Beyond Preaching To The Choir — "Voices of Freedom" on KFNX News-Talk Radio 1100

Beginning on Thursday, July 17, at 8:00 P.M. Phoenix time, a team of us anti-jihadists and lovers of Western civilization will host "Voices of Freedom," a one-hour weekly show on KFNX 1100. See this time-zone chart (Refresh the page!) if you are in a different time zone than Phoenix, Arizona; click directly on the word "PHOENIX" to get a world map of time zones.

Team members: Cassandra USA, Pamela Geller, Pastorius, WC, and yours truly.

Tune in if you can! In addition to AM air time at the scheduled hour, KFNX offers live streaming at the station's web site.

VOICES OF FREEDOM: THE SHOW THAT MAKES JIHADISTS CRY.

Schedule available at Always On Watch.

Obama Won't Just Eat Of Any Apple


Oh, he'll eat the apple, but it has to be the right kind.

From a Friend of a Friend (a friend of ours):


An aide to Obama - who was in NYC last night - was sent on a mission: Find and buy Obama GALA APPLES.

Apparently, it's the only type he'll eat.

What? The rest are not good enough for him?

What a snob.

Barack Snobama.
Oh, by the way, Wiki says:
Gala apples are small and are usually red with a portion being greenish or yellow-green, vertically striped. Gala apples are fairly resistant to bruising and are sweet, grainy, with a mild flavor and a thinner skin than most apples. They are also considered to be a very soft eating apple due to their lack of crispiness, well-suited for denture wearers.
Does the Messiah wear dentures?

OBAMA CAMPAIGN CHANGES MOTTO


... from

"Change We Can Believe In"

to

"Press 2 For English"


Seriously, has Barack "Clarification" Obama "clarified" his idiotic comments yet!?!?!

What's taking so long?

"Not evil, just wrong": A movie that the Greenies will not want people to see

A movie that looks at how sanctimony and misunderstanding drove environmentalists to stop Africans from using DDT to help save children's lives and how the model is repeating itself in the Global Warming debate with even greater tragic consequences. View Trailer

Posted by John Ray.

Intellectual impotence

Excerpt

The greatest lie intellectuals tell us is that "the pen is mightier than the sword." That's what cowards claim when they want to preen as heroes. Billions of words have been hurled at Sudan's government. The misery in Darfur not only continues but deepens. While intellectuals wrestled with compound sentences, Darfur degenerated from selective oppression to savage anarchy. Legions of columnists and commentators have deplored Robert Mugabe's monstrous rule in Zimbabwe. But none of the hand-wringing by American, European or even African intellectuals restrained one fist or stopped one club in midair. Guess who "won" that election. Regiments of professors and pundits have bemoaned China's gobbling of Tibet for half a century. The result? Beijing cracked down even harder.

"Brave" columnists wrote countless columns bemoaning the suffering of the Kurds and the Shia under Saddam Hussein. Their earnest paragraphs didn't save a single life. Only when better men acted did the surviving victims of one of the world's worst dictatorships glimpse freedom - an imperfect freedom but better than a mass grave. Nothing positive is going to happen in Sudan or Zimbabwe (or Tibet) until rule-of-law states take action. As outraged activists scribble on, Beijing blithely continues supporting these and other rogue regimes...

Does anyone really believe that there's anything we can write or say that will persuade al Qaeda to make nice? It's on the strategic defensive today but only because our soldiers and Marines thumped the hell out of its cadres in Iraq and Afghanistan. The point isn't that military solutions are always the best solutions - any problem that can be resolved without bloodshed should be handled peaceably. But we've got to stop playing pretend: In this hate-plagued, often merciless world, events sometimes demand action, not just talk.

More here

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

GOOD NEWS FROM RASMUSSEN: MCCAIN LEADS IN MISSOURI; AND AMERICANS REJECT OBAMA'S BI-LINGUAL ATTACK

MISSOURI HERE:
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Missouri shows John McCain attracting 47% of the vote while Barack Obama earns 42%. A month ago, the candidates were essentially even. That survey was conducted the night that Obama clinched the Democratic Presidential nomination. McCain had the advantage in earlier surveys.

When leaners are included in the current survey, McCain leads Obama 50% to 45%.
BILINGUAL ATTACK HERE:
Barack Obama said yesterday that “instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English,” Americans “need to make sure your child can speak Spanish.” A national telephone survey conducted last month by Rasmussen Reports found that U.S. voters overwhelmingly disagree with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. (see video)

Eighty-three percent (83%) place a higher priority on encouraging immigrants to speak English as their primary language. Just 13% take the opposite view and say it is more important for Americans to learn other languages.
  • IF OBAMA KEEPS "MISSPEAKING" HE MIGHT LOSE NY!
  • MISSPEAKING IS IN QUOTWES BECAUSE WHEN OBAMA "MISSPEAKS" HE ACTUALLY TELLING THE TRUTH; THE "CLARIFICATIONS" ARE THE BS, LIES AND OBFUSCATIONS.
VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

NICE ARTICLE ABOUT BILLY JOEL

HERE.

ONLY ONE ANNOYING AND UNNECESSARY ANTI-REAGAN LINE BY THE REPORTER.

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

FRANCE SENDS A POWERFUL MESSAGE TO IRAN: TOTAL WON'T INVEST

BBC: French firm 'quits Iran gas deal'
The boss of French energy giant Total says he will not invest in Iran because it is too risky.

The firm had been due to develop gas fields in the south of the country, but Christophe de Margerie told the Financial Times it would not go ahead.

The announcement comes a day after Iran test-fired a series of missiles, amid weeks of rising tensions with Israel over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Analysts say the move will be a big blow to Iran's energy industry.
SEEMS THAT UNDER SARKOZY, THE FRENCH HAVE GROWN A SET OF BALLS.

MAGNIFIQUE.

THE QUESTION NOBODY DARES ASK OBAMA IN A DEBATE: HOW DO YOU SAY "ARUGULA" IN SPANISH?

SE HABLA ESPANOL SENOR OBAMA?

ESTE HOMBRE NO ME GUSTA NADA.

ER, UM... HOW DO YOU SAY "HEH" IN SPANISH?

Vota por consiguiente!

Jesse Jackson's latter-day "Hymietown": Just why exactly do we CARE about this?? Diversion from "Spanish Scandal"?

I saw Glenn's take, and I have to admit my first reaction to this was that Jackson's remarks might have well as been issued purposefully, because they probably will serve to help the Obama campaign in their efforts to downplay his long-term associations with radical race-baiters like Wright, et al. Plus: it will obviously serve to deflect attention for several days onto Jackson (CNN is covering this like the Pope died or something...) and away from Obama's whopper flip-flops and his call for Americans to learn Spanish rather than immigrants having to learn English:

JESSE JACKSON SLAMS OBAMA: This seems like good news for the Obama Campaign.

Obviously, to suggest that Jackson made his statements to a "hot mike" accidentally-on purpose is a "conspiracy theorist" take, and I am not sure I even buy into it. Still he was in the FOX Studios... if you are going to drop an "accidental" bomb, what better place to do it?

On the other hand, the whole episode makes Jesse look like the complete idiot/fool/anachronism that he is. It discredits him and it does not help his leverage in extorting corporate America. Which is why--unless he got paid; always follow the money with this guy--I doubt JJ would have done it on purpose.

Still, I agree with Reynolds; my initial take is: score one point for Obamunism. We'll see how Surber scores it later...

Republicans: keep your eye on the prize--the Jackson thing is a diversion from where we need to be focused, which is keeping the Marxist Obama out of office.

Spanish. I repeat, Spanish!

ABC NEWS OWES THE PUBLIC AN APOLOGY AND A CORRECTION

RED STATE (VIA CONFEDERATE YANKEE):
My niece, Katelyn, stationed at Baluud , Iraq was assigned, with others of her detachment, to be escort/guard/watcher for Martha Raddatz of ABC News as she covered John McCain’s recent trip to Iraq.

Katelyn and her Captain stood directly behind Raddatz as she queried GI’s walking past. They kept count of the GI’s and you should remember these numbers. She asked 60 GI’s who they planned to vote for in November. 54 said John McCain, 4 for Obama, and 2 for Hillary.

Katelyn called home and told her Mom and Dad to watch ABC news the next night because she was standing directly behind Raddatz and maybe they’d see her on TV. Mom and Dad of course, called and emailed all the kinfolk to watch the newscast and maybe see Katelyn.

Well, of course, we all watched and what we saw wasn’t a glimpse of Katelyn, but got a hell’uva view of skewed news. After a dissertation on McCain’s trip and speech, ABC showed 5 GI’s being asked by Raddatz how they were going to vote in November; 3 for Obama and 2 for Clinton .. No mention of the 54 for McCain.

Ah, the irony of American Patriots protecting the press from harm while the reporter prepares a completely misleading story about which candidate the soldiers prefer.
  • ABC BROADCAST A DELIBERATELY AND COMPLETELY MISLEADING REPORT LABELED AS NEWS.
  • THEY SHOULD BE FINED AND FORCED TO RUN A NEW REPORT ON SEVERAL BROADCASTS TO CORRECT THE ERROR.

OBAMA REGURGITATES ANOTHER FAVORITE LEFTIST MEME: "BLACKWATER IS A MERCENARY OUTFIT"

GATEWAY:
Here's the latest nutty Obama interview of the day...

Barack Obama talks about private security contractors (code for "The evil Blackwater mercenaries"):

Even his facial expressions are telling in this interview-- He doesn't have the slightest clue on what he's talking about... It is amazing.
Here are a couple of notable lines:

--Private security contractors put our troops in harm's way(?)
--If you start building a military premised on the use of private contractors and you start making decisions on armed engagement based on the availability of private contractors to fill holes and gaps that over time you are, I believe, eroding the core of our military’s relationship to the nation(?)
--I think you are privatizing something that is what essentially sets a nation-state apart, which is a monopoly on violence(?)

[...]

This is what Barack said to The Military Times, July 2, 2008:

There is room for private contractors to work in the mess hall, providing basic supplies and doing some logistical work that might have been done in-house in the past. I am troubled by the use of private contractors when it comes to potential armed engagements… I think it creates some difficult morale issues when you’ve got private contractors getting paid 10 times what an Army private’s getting paid for work that carries similar risks...
Does Barck even understand what Blackwater does ... they are NOT mercenaries. They do not replace the activity of our armed forces but actually complement the effort through special tasks best left to security professionals.
I HAD A HUGE ARGUMENT WITH A COUPLA THREE HARDCORE/BRAINWASHED LEFTIES ON THIS EXACT SUBJECT OVER THE WEEKEND.
  • CALLING PEOPLE WHO USE ARMS TO DEFEND US AND OUR ALLIES "mercenaries" IS AN OLD CHESTNUT OF THE LEFT.
  • DECADES AGO THEY ACCUSED THE US HAVING A DRAFT WHICH ONLY DRAFTED POOR BLACKS (A LIE!).
  • THEN, WHEN THEIR ENEMY NIXON ENDED THE DRAFT, THEY CALLED THE VOLUNTEER ARMY A MERCENARY FORCE - DRAWING MOSTLY FROM UNEMPLOYED BLACKS - ANOTHER LIE!
  • NOW THEY ACCUSE BLACKWATER OF BEING MERCENARIES: ANOTHER LIE.
THE LEFTIES I WAS ARGUING WITH SHUT UP WHEN I SHOWED THEM THESE TWO THINGS:
WIKI:

A mercenary is a person who takes part in an armed conflict who is not a national or a party to the conflict and "is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a Party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party"

(Additional
Protocol I to the Geneva Convention of August 1949).[1][2]
THIS IS NOT WHAT OUR UNIFORMNED ARMED FORCES DO IN IRAQ OR ANYWHERE ELSE.

THEN THERE'S THIS QUOTE FROM THE AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ - ABOUT BLACKWATER:
In his comments on Friday, Crocker defended the work of private security contractors like Blackwater as “absolutely essential” to the functioning of embassy staff.

The State Department last week renewed Blackwater’s contract despite the fact that an FBI investigation into the September incident is still under way.

Crocker said he and his team would not able to do their jobs if they did not have such protection.

“The challenges of getting the nation’s business done in Iraq are pretty substantial,” he said. “We have to function in conditions that would in most places have us pretty much in a stand-down. But this is the nation’s most critical work, and it has to go on, and security contractors like Blackwater are absolutely essential to this effort.”
TIME MAGAZINE HAS THIS ON BLACKWATER'S ESSENTIAL MISSION:
Founded by former Navy SEAL Erik Prince, the firm is privately held and secretive. Last week U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker testified to the Senate that the State Department is overwhelmingly dependent on contractors like Blackwater for its security. As he put it, "There is simply no way at all that the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security could ever have enough full-time personnel to staff the security function in Iraq. There is no alternative except through contracts."
AND THEN THERE'S THIS:
Poland Decorates Blackwater Men for Valor - First Awards to Foreigners Since World War II The government of Poland has bestowed its Silver Star and Bronze Star combat medals on foreigners for the first time since World War II - and Blackwater security men were the recipients.

Polish Ambassador to Iraq Edward Pietrzyk (fourth from right) presented the awards on behalf of his government in a January, 2008 ceremony to recognize the Blackwater guards for evacuating him by helicopter after an October 2007 assassination attempt. Poland is one of the most important NATO allies in Iraq.

The State Department's internal State Magazine has the story in its April, 2008 issue. The award ceremony was considered so important that US Ambassador Ryan Crocker (third from right) and General David Petraeus (left) attended and posed for pictures with the contractors. The above photo, picturing some of the Blackwater men, appears in the magazine.
  • OBAMA AND HIS LEFTIST COMRADES ARE IDIOITC IGNORANT SCUM FOR CRITICISING THE BRAVE AND IMPORTANT WORK BLACKWATER DOES FOR OUR STATE DEPARTMENT AND FOR OUR ALLIES IN HARMS WAY.
  • IT'S PART AND PARCEL OF THEIR DOVISH APPROACH TO EVERYTHING.
  • THEY SHOULDN'T BE TRUSTED WITH THE DEFENSE OF THE FREE WORLD.
VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

ACORN BUSTED... AGAIN!

TODAY'S NEWS ABOUT ANOTHER GROUP OF CORRUPT SCUM WHO ARE LONGTIME BACKERS OF OBAMA - ACORN:
From A Tiny ACORN, Scandal Grows Vice in the cathedral.

That term came to mind upon learning that ACORN, one of the nation's most influential community organization groups, is reeling from a case of embezzlement.

More troubling,
ACORN's leadership made matters worse by covering up the problem for years and now is sitting on its hands waiting for the scandal to pass.

Dummies.

Today's New York Times tells the sordid tale, so I won't get into all the details except to note that a trusted employee (funny how embezzlers are always trusted) walked off with a cool $1 million about eight years ago.

That's not the worse of it. Upon learning of the shortfall, ACORN's executive leadership keep this nugget of news to itself, never telling board members about the scandal and--get this--not bothering to tell the cops.
[UMPH ADDED!]

While embezzlement is bad, it can happen anywhere and any place. I've long believed that when anyone has unfettered access to other people's money, there's potential for abuse. That's why organizations--even do-gooder groups like ACORN--should be aggressively audited by outside accountants.


But where ACORN really screwed up is in its failure to come clean and tell the world.

ACORN argues that it stayed mum out of fear that its enemies would use the embezzlement against the group in the court of public opinion.
ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is feared and hated by many corporate adversaries and some so-called conservative politicians, who despise its tactics when protesting in behalf of higher living wages, minority rights and improved health care. (In Chicago, ACORN opposition is one the reasons Wal-Mart has not been allowed to expand. Even the former community organizer and presidential hopeful Barack Obama has been slammed by some blogs for his earlier ties to ACORN.

I don't always care for ACORN's aggressive approach. But over the years I've seen ACORN play an important role in improving affordable housing for minorities and addressing other neighborhood grassroots issues.
But in this case, ACORN'S hypocrisy can't be ignored.

Imagine the fuss ACORN would have raised if one of its corporate targets or politicians had embezzled and then hid under a rock. Shouts of "Fraud!" and "Dereliction of Duty!" would have accompanied ACORN's protests, which would also include demanding the ousters of those responsible.

Right now, ACORN's leadership is content to sit tight and risk its organization's credibility and financial backing. Organizationally, its response to this scandal has been a minor reshuffling of the ACORN leadership deck.

That's not enough.
HE'S WAY TOO SOFT N THIS COMMIE SCUM . HERE'S OTHER RECENT NEWS ABOUT ACORN:

ACORN Watch: Voter fraud suspected in Pa.

By Michelle Malkin • July 8, 2008 03:13 PM

Yesterday, it was Las Vegas. Today, it’s Dauphin County, Pa. I’m going to make ACORN Watch a regular feature, because Obama’s “old friends” will be up to no good across the country through November. And you’re paying for it. Keep a look out in your neck of the woods.

Hat tip for this one to reader Sandy. Via the Patriot-News:

A voter registration drive by a national organization is being investigated by Dauphin County authorities after election officials raised questions about more than 100 of the forms.

Charles Jackson, a spokesman for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, said that his organization fired a temporary employee involved in collecting registrations and that it has been cooperating with Dauphin County detectives.

Dauphin County District Attorney Edward M. Marsico Jr. confirmed last week the investigation by county detectives is “ongoing.” John Goshert, head county detective, said a former ACORN worker had been questioned, but has not been charged with any criminal offense.

Related: Do You Want Your Mortgage Payments Funding Voter Fraud?

Previous ACORN blogging.

MORE ON ACORN'S CORRUPT PAST:

Michelle Malkin, The ACORN Obama Knows

Last July, ACORN settled the largest case of voter fraud in the history of Washington State. Seven ACORN workers had submitted nearly 2,000 bogus voter registration forms. According to case records, they flipped through phone books for names to use on the forms, including "Leon Spinks," "Frekkie Magoal" and "Fruto Boy Crispila." Three ACORN election hoaxers pleaded guilty in October. A King County prosecutor called ACORN's criminal sabotage "an act of vandalism upon the voter rolls."

The group's vandalism on electoral integrity is systemic. ACORN has been implicated in similar voter fraud schemes in Missouri, Ohio and at least 12 other states.[See more on vote fraud below. -- ed.] The Wall Street Journal noted: "In Ohio in 2004, a worker for one affiliate was given crack cocaine in exchange for fraudulent registrations that included underage voters, dead voters and pillars of the community named Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy and Jive Turkey. During a congressional hearing in Ohio in the aftermath of the 2004 election, officials from several counties in the state explained ACORN's practice of dumping thousands of registration forms in their lap on the submission deadline, even though the forms had been collected months earlier."
...

Under the guise of "consumer advocacy," ACORN has received money from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD funds hundreds, if not thousands, of left-wing "anti-poverty" groups across the country led by ACORN. Last October, HUD announced more than $44 million in new housing counseling grants to over 400 state and local efforts. The White House has increased funding for housing counseling by 150 percent since taking office in 2001, despite the role most of these recipients play as activist satellites of the Democratic Party. The AARP scored nearly $400,000 for training; the National Council of La Raza ("The Race") scooped up more than $1.3 million; the National Urban League raked in nearly $1 million; and the ACORN Housing Corporation received more than $1.6 million.

SEIU IS A MAJOR SUPPORTER OF ACORN. WHO THE SEIU IS:
From the Communist Party USA's Political Affairs Editors Blog

"There has never been a fight in Illinois or a fight in the nation where our members have not asked Barack Obama for assistance and he has not done everything he could to help us," said Andy Stern, the Service Employees International Union's president, according to the Associated Press.

SEIU announced today its endorsement of Barack Obama for president.

A press statement by the union adds:

Nurses, childcare workers, janitors and other service workers endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president today, calling him the candidate with the best vision, best plan and best strategy to lead the country to a new American Dream.

SEIU members are supporting Obama with an aggressive political effort. With more than 150,000 members in the upcoming primary states, including Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Texas, SEIU will mobilize thousands to go door-to-door, work the phones, and will send mail about their support for Obama. SEIU also will have a substantial presence on television and radio in every critical state.

Stern stated, "Barack Obama is creating the broadest and deepest coalition of voters we’ve ever seen."

Anna Burger, secretary-treasurer of SEIU and chair of the Change to Win federation of unions that includes SEIU, said, “This is one of the most important presidential elections workers have faced. Families are struggling, we’re fighting two wars, and a majority of Americans are now worried that their children will be worse off than they are. Obama is the right person at the right time to lead the change we so desperately need in our country.

This is a huge coup for Obama, but hardly surprising as the SEIU leadership is strongly linked to DSA.

According to Discover the Networks
ON ANDY STERN, SEIU PREZ:
SEIU president Andy Stern gained his current position when his mentor, "card carrying" DSA member John Sweeney left the job to take on the US labour movement.s top job-president of the AFL-CIO.

Stern is a former New Leftist who came out of the University of Pennsylvania. In one of the eulogies given at a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) memorial after the death of DSA co-founder Michael Harrington, Steve Max, the Midwest Academy's Director of Organizing and Training, gave tribute to "the people who worked with or fought with Mike who now staff high councils of the AFL, like Andy Stern of SEIU…."

Stern is one of many radical union organizers who came out of the Midwest Academy, which was formed by onetime Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) members Paul and Heather Booth to train community organizers and infiltrate the labor movement.

According to the Freedom Road Socialist Organisation, the Midwest Academy;

Probably the most well-known organizing method is Alinskyism, named after Saul Alinsky, a Chicago-born community organizer who helped set up the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council and later the Industrial Areas Foundation in the 1930s. (Today in New York Alinskyism can be found in groups that do neighborhood-based organizing like ACORN, Mothers on the Move, TICO as well as NYPIRG). The Mid-West Academy is a training center set up by members of DSA [Democratic Socialists of America] that draws heavily from Alinskyism.

Barack Obama was a disciple of Alinsky while working a "community organisor" in Chicago in the early "80s. later he did considerable legal work for the radical community group ACORN, which is closely linked to the Midwest Academy.

ACORN and Chicago DSA formed the backbone of the leftist New Party which Obama worked closely with during his successful 1996 Illinois State Senate bid.

Steve Max, associate director the Midwest Academy is a DSA Vice-Chair, while academy founder Heather Booth and current executive director Jackie Kendall both have close ties to Chicago DSA.
ANDY STERN AND HIS COMRADES RUNNING THE SEIU ARE AS CORRUPT AS THEY COME. HERE'S NEWS FROM TODAY VIA HOT AIR:

If anyone wondered why the unions have pressed so hard for the EFCA bill, known better as Card Check, maybe the SEIU’s status can explain a few things. The massive union has long played politics, and plans to spend as much as $85 million in the upcoming election. However, the union finds itself a little short on funding its pension funds while at the same time attacking the investment firm that handles its accounts:

The SEIU, which has pledged $85 million to Democratic campaigns this year, wants this pressure to lead to investment decisions by KKR that Mr. Stern asserts would benefit workers: reduced CEO compensation, higher rank-and-file wages, and more emphasis on environmentalism and politics, instead of profits.

Yet in 2006, the SEIU National Industry Pension Plan, a plan for the rank-and-file members, covering 100,787 workers, was 75% funded. That is, it had three-fourths of the money it needed to pay benefit obligations of workers and retirees.

In contrast, a separate fund for the union’s own employees, numbering 1,305, participants was 91% funded. Even better, the pension fund for SEIU officers and employees, which had 6,595 members, was 103% funded.

As the Sun points out, the SEIU obviously knows how to manage pension funds, as their own funds are not underfunded.
  • THE REASON THE SEIU AND AFSCME SUPPORT IS THE SAME REASON THE CORRUPOT CHICAGO MACHINE DOESl THEY WANT TO GET THEYR GRUBBIE STINKING COMMIE HANDS ON THE FEDERAL BUDGET.
  • REMEMBER: THE SEIU AND AFSCME ARE UNIONS REPRESENTING GOVERNMENT WORKERS.
  • THE MO' BIIGER OBAMA MAKES GOVERNMENT PROGRAMN THE MO' MONEY THE UNION MAKES.
  • QUID PRO QUO.
  • SCUM.
VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

HONOR MURDER IN GEORGIA BY PAKISTANI

Another tragedy of this sort has occurred in America, in the state of Georgia (via LGF):
A Clayton County man faces murder charges in the strangling death of his 25-year-old daughter early Sunday over her desire to end an arranged marriage.

Chaudhry Rashad, 54, apparently got mad during an argument in which the victim, Sandela Kanwal, told him she wanted out of the marriage, Clayton police officer Timothy Owens said.

Authorities were called to their Utah Drive home in Jonesboro just after 3 a.m. Sunday. Kanwal lived with her father when she was not with her husband, who is in Chicago, Owens said. She hadn’t seen the husband in three months, he said.

Both Rashad and Kanwal are of Pakistani descent.
If the authorities do not start setting up some kind of special unit to deal with these kind of crimes, they will continue to crop up in the US. It's time for the police to start focusing seriously on protecting women facing these dangers, and not caving to political correctness.

ISRAELI POLICE ARE ABYSMAL

Do you want to know why in many cases, the Israeli authorities have failed to protect its citizens properly? Caroline Glick explains it very well (Hat tip: One Jerusalem). And I'll have to agree - both the authorities and the government are astoundingly pathetic in these cases. Update: might as well post a link to this related article as well as this one.

Obama : "Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English ...you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish"

So, does the Messiah, Baruch O'Bummer, speak Spanish? Has he made the attempt to become bilingual?

No, not in the slightest.

But, he does speak Bahasa, the native language of Indonesia, a language he picked up as a kid.

That ought to come in handy at the United Nations.

Let us ponder the words of the Messiah himself. From Just One Minute:
You know, I don't understand when people are going around worrying about, "We need to have English- only." They want to pass a law, "We want English-only."

Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that. But understand this. Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English -- they'll learn English -- you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about, how can your child become bilingual? We should have every child speaking more than one language.

You know, it's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and all we can say [is], "Merci beaucoup." Right?
Si, say poo-ay-day.

Let's face it, the Messiah is a freaking idiot.

UPDATE - (RELIAPUNDIT): HERE'S THE SHOCKING VIDEO:



IT'S AMAZING WHAT CRAP OBAMA SAYS WHEN HE DROPS HIS GUARD. AND THE CAMPAIGN HASN'T EVEN STARTED YET!

UPDATE #2: EXIT QUESTION: HOW LONG BEFORE OBAMA ISSUES A CLARIFICATION!?!?

HE MIGHT AS WELL CHANGE HIS MIDDLE NAME: BARACK CLARIFICATION OBAMA.

Canadian Pastor Convicted of Hate Speech Appeals Human Rights Commission Ruling

At last this crap will be scrutinized by a proper court:
"Alberta Pastor Steve Boissoin has filed an appeal to the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal ruling that convicted him of hate speech. The pastor was found guilty last November of having written a letter to the editor in the Red Deer Advocate that was "likely" to expose homosexuals to hatred.

LifeSiteNews spoke with Boissoin's attorney, Gerald Chipeur, who said that he is confident that the court will grant the appeal and overturn the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal's decision.

"We are very optimistic, because the Constitution is so clear," said Chipeur. "We were surprised to have lost before the Tribunal, but we believe that the courts will conclude that there has been a violation of the constitutional rights of our client. We feel very confident in our arguments, and we do expect the courts to intervene and reverse the decision."

Last month the Alberta Tribunal issued a remedy ruling that ordered Boissoin to pay $7,000 in fines, to never speak disparagingly about homosexuality or about the complainant Darren Lund, and to apologize to Lund in a letter to be published in the Red Deer Advocate. Besides the sum of the fines, Boissoin has also had to spend many tens of thousands of dollars in defending himself against Lund's complaint since the case began.

The appeal filed with the Queen's Bench criticizes the Tribunal's decision on numerous points, including the nature of the remedy ruling, for which the Tribunal is accused of having "exceeded the limits of its jurisdiction and the constraints of law, natural justice and the Charter." ....

Chipeur concluded his interview with LifeSiteNews, saying that, in his opinion, the Human Rights Commissions, in prosecuting "hate speech" at all, have turned human rights laws "on their head" and have made them "a weapon against the individual."

Source



(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, DISSECTING LEFTISM, GREENIE WATCH, OBAMA WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)

Bible publisher faces $60M federal lawsuit over homosexuality

In the article indented below, we read that a homosexual is upset that some Bibles translate the Greek word "arsenokoites" in 1 Corinthians 6:9 as "homosexual" instead of "sodomite". Politeness gets you nowhere, it seems. My Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon just gives "sodomite" as the meaning of the word. The word that Americans spell as "ass" (NOT meaning a donkey) is spelt and pronounced in the British Commonwealth as "arse". It is tempting to see a convergence with the Greek there!

I note that the highly-regarded New English Bible published by the Oxford University Press renders the passage as "homosexual perversion". Wow! Are they in big trouble! Actually, nobody is in big trouble. The lawsuit is so thin that it is obviously just "go-away" money that the guy and his lawyer want. I hope Zondervan resists.

Some more points: The historic Geneva Bible translates the word as "buggerers" so that is pretty frank too. And note that in the original Greek, St Paul groups together for condemnation both sodomites and effeminates ("malakoi oute arsenokoitai") so it is perfectly clear that he is condemning homosexuality generally -- JR

Christian publisher Zondervan is facing a $60 million federal lawsuit filed by a man who claims he and other homosexuals have suffered based on what the suit claims is a misinterpretation of the Bible. But a company spokeswoman says Zondervan doesn't translate the Bible or own the copyright for any of the translations. Instead, she said in a statement, the company relies on the "scholarly judgment of credible translation committees." That is to say, setting aside whether the federal civil rights lawsuit is credible, the company says Bradley Fowler sued the wrong group.

His suit centers on one passage in scripture -- 1 Corinthians 6:9 -- and how it reads in Bibles published by Zondervan. Fowler says Zondervan Bibles published in 1982 and 1987 use the word homosexuals among a list of those who are "wicked" or "unrighteous" and won't inherit the kingdom of heaven. Fowler says his family's pastor used that Zondervan Bible, and because of it his family considered him a sinner and he suffered.

Now he is asking for an apology and $60 million. "To compensate for the past 20 years of emotional duress and mental instability," [I can believe the mental instability] Fowler told 24 Hour News 8 in a phone interview. He claims the company is misinterpreting the Bible by specifically using the word homosexuals. Fowler admits that every Bible printed is a translation, interpreted in some way, but he says specifically using that word is not a translation but a change. "These are opinions based on the publishers," he said. "And they are being embedded in the religious structure as a way of life."

More here


Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH