What I learned from Obama's Kabuki theatre...

1. Obama is extraordinarily arrogant

Yeah, I know I've thought this way for some time. But there were a few examples that proved to me it was not just my imagination. For one thing, his comment to John McCain - a Congressman/Senator now for almost 30 years, who not only is 30 years older than the President, but has more life experience in his pinky than Teh Won has in his entire body - reminding him that "the campaign is over." Just who the hell does Obama think he is, talking to this American hero this way. I am not a big McCain supporter and I held my nose when I voted for him is '08. But to arrogantly dismiss what was an honest comment about why the health care bill is ill-advised was simply way out of line.

In addition, Obama made certain to call each person who spoke by their first name. That may be appropriate with House members he is friendly with. But it comes across as very demeaning to others who have served this country longer that Obama has. It's an arrogance that shows contempt for those who represent the citizens of this country.

Whenever any Republican made a point, valid or not, Obama dismissed it as either grandstanding, or simply irrelevant. It was a hypocritical display of partisanship demeaning to the office. It didn't upset me that he garnered over 33% of the allotted time, after all, he is the President. But to verbalize that being the reason was again tremendously arrogant.

2. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are bald-faced liars

Again, not a huge surprise. Pelosi's big lie was then she said that there is no abortion funding in the bill. Even Obama himself admitted there was - although, he "claims" it was put in there without his knowledge. That would be like the Trump corporation building a casino without "the Donald" knowing about it.

Of course, this pales somewhat in comparison to her remarks yesterday, that this is the "most ethical Congress ever." Charlie Rangel, William Jefferson, Chris Dodd, Alan Mollohan, John Conyers, the late John Murtha and Barney Frank were unavailable for comment.

Reid's whopper was even better. He blurted out "no one is talking about reconciliation!" Well, no one except Reid and just about every other member of the Democrat Party.

3. The Republicans are the party of "no"

Being against a takeover of 1/6 the economy is not a bad thing. Many bad policies have been shelved because members of Congress have said "no." Personally, I think saying "no" is not strong enough. "Hell no" sounds more like it.

I find it simply amazing that the Democrats (read: Obama) is blaming the failure (thus far) of passing this health care monstrosity on the GOP. Last time I checked, they only held 41 seats in the Senate and when the original bills were passed, only 40 seats. Meaning, not one single Republican could stand in the way of it's passage.

When Obama argues he will put this through with reconciliation, what he's really saying is that he will do this even though 10 Democrats are against it as well. My belief is that if the bill is so odious to half the members of the Senate, perhaps it's not the right bill to pass.

4. Obama doesn't care what his constituents want

This is an interesting issue. Obama won the election with 53% of the vote. Of course, you could say that aside from the African-American voters who turned out in record numbers, many of his votes came not for him, but for anyone but George Bush (and his party). Still, Obama won fair and square.

Unfortunately, this victory led him to believe he was elected because of his policies - when in fact, many voters admitted at the time they simply wanted a new face (who wasn't George Bush) and knew very little about Obama. Never, at any point and time (with the exception of the far Left) did the voters want a far-Left, socialist-leaning, radical agenda put in play. Polls taken at the time and in the following months indicated that while the populace liked Obama personally, they were not looking for radical changes in society.

However, due to his own arrogance, Obama believed the hype about being "the one we've been waiting for." His world apology tour embarrassed the American people and his handling of almost every situation since has caused his popularity to plummet to unprecidented depths (according to the latest Rasmussen poll, only 22% strongly approve of him, 43% somewhat approve and now 55% disapprove).

Furthermore, according to the latest AP polling, just 30% of Americans want the health care bill that Obama is selling. There are sweious doubts now that the Democrats will be able to pass this legislation even with reconcilliation. While MSNBC and the Democrat Party may believe the Tea Party movement is a joke, they are clearly making a dent in public discourse. Many Democrats are openly worried that they will be slaughtered in the election in November, if they vote for this. They are right.

5. The Republicans won the day

The American people aren't as stupid and Bill Maher and the rest of the unhinged Left think they are. Obama had hoped not to influence the GOP, but to make them look weak in the face of Obama's superior rhetorical skills. Instead, even though they only got 33% of the allotted time to present their side, they came across far more interested in working for their constituents then the Dems did. It was ammusing to hear Chris Matthews complain the other day that the GOP "came prepared", as if it were a bad thing. Personally, I would never go into a meeting like this unprepared!

Much to the chagrin of the President, the GOP does have a plan for health care. For the past year, all we heard from the Democrats was how the Republicans have no plan except to stall. Reid even compared that (untrue) tactic to slavery. But the GOP proved that while they are firmly against the monolithic bill, they are clearly for reforming the health care industry.

in conclusion, this summit was simply an exercise not in Democracy, but in bloviation and failed strategy. Obama hoped for the GOP to be taken to the woodshed, and instead, he was the one who looked smaller for it. Following the meeting, polling showed that the popularity of this bill shrank even further.

Obama likes to say the reason the bill isn't more acceptable is because he hasn't explained it well enough. Considering that he has spoken of little else for the past four months, it is highly unlikely that's the case. But his arrogance dictates that he is too smart and too big to fail. Therefore, it must be the American people who are at fault for this bill being so unpopular.

But polling shows that the more he speaks of it, the less attractive it is.

So why does he and the Democrats insist on shoving it down our throats? It could be because Obama has invested so much capital that he fears failure will destroy his Presidency. However, Clinton faced the same struggle. The difference being in 1994, the GOP conquered the House and Senate. This allowed Clinton to move more to the Center, which in turn raised his popularity and gave him a landslide victory over Bob Dole in '96.

Or, it could be that the Left simply believes that the American people are stupid and they know what's best for them. Never underestimate the arrogance of modern liberalism. But this also is a clear indication that the Dems misread their mandate in '08, much like Bush did in '04.

The amazing thing about all of this is that it is so unnecessary. Yes, there are problems with health care - no one is questioning that. But American care is by far the best in the world. No one is refused emergency care and while the costs are astronomical, it is the price we pay for it. In countries where health care is supposedly free, income taxes, which pay for it, are crippling. Currently, 14% of the population is on Medicare. 14% is on Medicaid. 9% receive government benefits. 4% are on military health plans. 43% receive coverage from their private employment. Only 6% of the population actually purchases their own insurance. Yet the Democrats want to destroy the insurance companies over this (h/t EIB, via Doug Ross).

Another amazing this is that while the White House screams about the absurd profits made by the insurance companies, you could take the annual profits of the private health insurance companies and buy health insurance for people for two days.

Consider that the next time President Obama vilifies the 'obscene' profits of the insurance companies.

It's good to know certain Brits have the balls to say what this MP has said (to Prime Minister Gordon Brown). But does any American politician have the nerve? After all, change the word "Pound" for "Dollar" and the situation is exactly the same.

This is a must watch video:




H/T ZIP

As most of you know, I am no fan of President Obama (or most of today's Democrats, for that matter). However, I must give credit where credit is due.

Of all the appointments this President has made, perhaps the one I disagreed with the most (and this does say something) was naming Arne Duncan to the post of Secretary of Education. Duncan, the former CEO of Chicago Public Schools (named by Mayor Daley), was the point man for the CPS from 2001 until he was named to Obama's cabinet.

As a local, I have seen first hand how poorly the Chicago Public School system has floundered under Duncan's leadership. The system was so awful during his leadership that Crain's Chicago Business reported:

Chicago Public School reform largely has failed, with the vast bulk of students either dropping out or unprepared for college and apparent gains at the grade-school level more perceived than real.

That's the bottom line of a blockbuster report released Tuesday by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club, a report that directly challenges the legitimacy of one of Mayor Richard M. Daley's major claimed accomplishments.

Titled "Still Left Behind," the report freely uses terms like "abysmal" to describe the true state of public education in Chicago. The report was prepared by committee President R. Eden Martin, a lawyer, with analytical support from Paul Zavitkovsky of the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Half of the students drop out by high school, and of those who remain until 11th grade, 70% fail to meet state standards, the report says. In fact, "In the regular (non-magnet) neighborhood high schools, which serve the vast preponderance of students, almost no students are prepared to succeed in college."

But I'm here to praise this time...

Especially after hearing Duncan's remarks following the news that Rhode Island's Central Falls High School - long considered to be among the worst public schools, not only in Rhode Island, but perhaps nationwide - had fired the entire staff, from principals, teachers, to everyone involved in the failure of the institution.

Central Falls' abysmal graduation rates have been a source of contention for many years. However, due to the arrogance of teacher's union, which refuses to fire poor teachers and administrators, yet demands more and more taxpayer funds for nothing in return, the decision was of course, met with anger and derision by the union.

However, to his credit, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has "applauded" the move to fire every teacher at Rhode Island's Central Falls High School.

According the the report, in the Providence Journal, Duncan has mandated that each state's worst performing schools either be closed, converted to charter or charter-like schools, reorganized around a longer school day, or have the entire teaching staff fired. In the last case, a maximum of 50 percent can be rehired in the fall.

Very well done. It's way past the time to stop the arrogance of not just the teacher's unions, but many other of the nation's over bloated, outdated unions.

In the early 20th Century, unions played a huge role in fighting for employee's rights and fair wages. But soon after, the involvement of organized crime and other corrupt officials have turned the unions into nothing more that legalized theft and exploitation. The teachers' unions have perhaps become the most crooked. Merit-based pay is discouraged, leaving the worst rated teachers to remain in place, continuing to fail to educate our nation's youth.

Unfortunately, the huge dollars that fuel the Democrat Party comes from these union's coffers. While Obama likes to talk a good game about "special interests," this is only the first time I have witnessed an Obama official actually doing something about it.

Good.

Very interesting (and disturbing) post by William Jacobson, at Legal Insurrection:

Malmö Syndrome

Malmö is the third largest Swedish city, and now the poster child for what I call Malmö Syndrome, the anti-Semitic violence which results from the shared anti-Israeli agenda of Islamists and leftists.

The result is that Malmö is being depopulated of Jews as a result of street violence by Mulsims and disinterest by left-wing politicians:

"This new hatred comes from Muslim immigrants. The Jewish people are afraid now."

Malmo's Jews, however, do not just point the finger at bigoted Muslims and their fellow racists in the country's Neo-Nazi fringe. They also accuse Ilmar Reepalu, the Left-wing mayor who has been in power for 15 years, of failing to protect them.

Mr Reepalu, who is blamed for lax policing, is at the centre of a growing controversy for saying that what the Jews perceive as naked anti-Semitism is in fact just a sad, but understandable consequence of Israeli policy in the Middle East.

While his views are far from unusual on the European liberal-left, which is often accused of a pro-Palestinian bias, his Jewish critics say they encourage young Muslim hotheads to abuse and harass them.

At the heart of Malmo Syndrome is the attempt to delegitimize Israel:

Jewish residents in Malmo are furious after the Swedish town's mayor, Ilmar Reepalu, equated Zionism to anti-Semitism in an interview published on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

During the interview with Skanska Dagbladet newspaper, Reepalu was asked whether he considered a public condemnation of anti-Semitism in Malmo. The mayor responded that "Malmo does not accept anti-Semitism and does not accept Zionism," charging that both adopt extreme positions towards certain groups.

Reepalu added that local Jews bear some responsibility for the attitude towards them, noting that "they have the possibility to affect the way they are seen by society." The mayor then urged Malmo's Jewish community to "distance itself" from Israeli attacks on Gaza's civilian population.

The acts of violence are incited by wholly one-sided, and sometimes irrational, criticisms of Israel. Last August, Aftonbladet, Sweden’s largest-circulation newspaper, claimed that the Israeli military killed Palestinians to harvest their organs. (Reality was that an Israeli institute in the 1990s had harvested some organs from Israeli soldiers, Israeli civilians, and some Palestinians without family permission, but there was no killing of Palestinians for the purpose of harvesting organs.)

The Swedish newspaper accusation was a variation on an ages-old anti-Semitic blood libel and consistent with Palestinian propaganda:

Reporter Donald Boström charges that, since the first Intifada in the early 1990s, the Israeli Army has been kidnapping and murdering Palestinian young men "who disappeared for a few days and returned by night, dead and autopsied."

It's important to note that these outlandish charges did not appear out of thin air. They are not only a staple of Palestinian hate mythology, but extend to Iran where a few years ago Sahar, the government TV channel, aired a weekly drama, titled "Zahra's Blue Eyes," which portrayed "Zionist" doctors kidnapping little Palestinian children to harvest their organs.

Malmö Syndrome is not new or unique to Malmö. Wherever one finds "pro-Palestinian" demonstrators -- whether secular leftists or Islamists -- one finds blatant and often violent anti-Semitism:

London saw the highest number of anti-Semitic attacks last year, according to reports from the Jewish Community Security Trust (CST).

More than 924 reports of bigoted violence and abuse were received in total by the CST - with 460 incidents taking place in the capital.

Manchester had the second highest number of attacks, from violence to desecration of Jewish properties, with 206 incidents reported, followed by Hertfordshire with 48 and Leeds with 35.

The charity, which monitors anti-Semitism in Britain, said the figures marked the worst year since records began in 1984. They included violent street attacks,arson, egg-throwing, racist graffiti, website hacking and hate mail.

Researchers said the surge was fuelled by the ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces in January 2009. Almost a quarter of incidents (23%) included some form of reference to the controversial conflict.

Campuses in particular are a hotbed of Malmö Syndrome. Here is a non-exhaustive list of disruptions during just the first two weeks of this month in which Jews either were attacked on campus or speeches were disrupted in the name of anti-Zionism:

On February 1, at York University in Toronto, 20 Jewish students who had gathered to raise awareness of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and terrorist acts committed by Hamas were surrounded by about 50 protestors chanting anti-Israel and anti-Semitic slurs. Two of the Jewish students were slapped, one on the arm and one across the face.

On February 3, during his lecture at Oxford University, Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon was heckled by a Muslim student who shouted, among other
things, "Itbah Al-Yahud" - "kill the Jews."

On February 7, the Israel Society at Cambridge University canceled a talk by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev historian Benny Morris after protesters accused him of "Islamophobia" and "racism."

On February 8, at UCLA School of Law, members of Law Students for Justice in Palestine (LSJP), an undergraduate group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the local Women in Black disrupted a lecture by Daniel Taub, Principal Deputy Legal Advisor of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Also on February 8, at the University of California, Irvine, hecklers tried to disrupt a lecture by Michael Oren, Israeli ambassador to the United States, who is also a distinguished academic.

The excuse now is the Israeli invasion of Gaza, but that is just an excuse. From the "Zionism is Racism" UN resolution in 1975, to the exaggerated claims of Israeli killings in Jenin and elsewhere, there always is some excuse to attack Israel on campus.

It is a very thin line between what is happening on campuses and in the anti-Israel blogosphere, and Malmö Syndrome.

But to point out this thin line leads to the new blogospheric badge of honor, the supposed false accusation of anti-semitism:

In fact, the whole Wieseltier-Sullivan episode has served to illustrate an emerging trend among critics of Israel: Their eagerness to allege that they've been accused of being an anti-Semite. I do agree that some of Israel's defenders are too quick to throw out charges of anti-Semitism or "self-hating Jew," and that's lamentable and a problem. But it seems that among many of Israel's critics, claiming that you've been accused of being an anti-Semite has become some sort of bizarre badge of honor. And quite a few of those that have allegedly been accused of being an anti-Semite, according to Wieseltier's critics, either were never smeared with such a term or were only accused of making a specific problematic remark and not tarred with some broad brush of disliking Jews, as they claim.

Critics of Israel who are not anti-Semitic need to admit that they have a problem, Malmö Syndrome.

The line between anti-Israel rhetoric and anti-Semitic violence has been all but erased, and the enlightened leftists supposedly committed to human rights in fact are in bed with those who act on the oldest hate.

Doug Ross does it again.

Islamists influence all areas of government, attempt to poison military and kill civilians; but old media reports only on lone crackpot who hated IRS

The real national headlines -- courtesy of the center-right blogosphere (you can think of it as the new mainstream media) -- are as follows:

• Five Muslim soldiers were reportedly arrested just before Christmas for attempting to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson. This group may have been in contact with five Washington, DC-area Muslim extremists arrested by Pakistani authorities around the same time.

• Meanwhile, DHS head Janet "The System Worked" Napolitano has been fraternizing with a true enemy: the Muslim Brotherhood. Pajamas Media reports that J-Nap and her staff met in secret with three groups tied to the infamous and acknowledged terror group. The briefings lasted two days (1/27 - 1/28) and were arranged by the DHS as part of an Obama administration-inspired information exchange.

• President Obama's 'Islamic Envoy' is reported to have strongly defended a convicted and imprisoned terror supporter named Sami al-Arian. Rashad Hussain -- Obama's envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference -- was said to have claimed in 2004 that al-Arian was the victim of "politically motivated persecutions."

• National security deputy John Brennan has suffered a series of recent gaffes including his claim that 20% recidivism for terrorists released from Gitmo isn't so bad after all. Even more ominous, however, is his apparent ignorance of the "Flying Imams". Omar Shahin -- the ringleader of the group that was forcibly removed from a Northwest Airlines flight for an apparent terror dry run; who advocated that Sharia law supplant the legal systems of the West; who has been involved with Hamas-linked charities and radical youth groups; and who headed the infamous Tucson Islamic Center -- engaged Brennan in a Q&A session. Brennan's answers were as dishonest as they were laced with suicidal politically correctness -- and constituted an apology for the very policies that protect America.

Yet when a lone nutjob had a run-in with the IRS and then crashed a small plane into a government building, Time Magazine instantly linked the incident to an endemic right-wing threat associated with Tea Parties.

Of course Time failed to report that the man's suicide note wistfully referenced Communism along with a distinct hatred for America, George W. Bush and organized religion.

...Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy... The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living... That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie.

...The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count...

...The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.

Suffice it to say that Joe wasn't exactly the prototypical Tea Party member. But, shush. No one tell Time Magazine. They have five or six magazines to sell. Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews haven't received their issues yet, so don't spoil it for them.

Meanwhile, the infestation of the U.S. government with suicidal political correctness, Marxists, Islamists and other radical crackpots continues apace. And with respect to the reporting of the legacy media on these phenomena, you'll only hear crickets and the soft waft of a tumbleweed rolling by.


Images adapted from: Washington Post.

Blogger Jim Hoft notes a pair of news stories that illustrate the hypocrisy of the AGW crowd:

From the San Francisco Chronicle, July 6, 2009:

The Bay Area just had its foggiest May in 50 years. And thanks to global warming, it's about to get even foggier.

And from London's Daily Telegraph, Feb. 15, 2010:

Fog Over San Francisco Thins by a Third Due to Climate Change
The sight of Golden Gate Bridge towering above the fog will become increasing rare as climate change warms San Francisco bay, scientists have found.

But, but the science is settled!

H/T James Taranto

I'm really loving Xtranormal!


Countdown with Keith Olbermann - special guest: Jack Bauer


H/T IMAO

It really doesn't get better than this.



H/T Don Surber

Okay, this is just brilliant.

From the incomparable Doug Ross:

Democrats shocked -- SHOCKED -- that Republicans won't eat the juicy, tender crap sandwich they cooked up all on their own

That wailing and gnashing of teeth you hear in the distance is the faux outrage ginned up by the Chicago wing of (that is to say -- the entire) White House over the GOP's refusal to participate in a "health care summit."

Now criticism of the Republicans might be warranted if, say, a single one of their ideas was truly on the table. But, as so often happens with this particular administration, truth is in extremely short supply. Because what the Democrats want the Republicans to discuss -- and then swallow -- is their original, Rube Goldberg-esque health care bill.

Yes, that's the same bill from which the GOP was completely excluded. That was crafted behind closed doors in secret meetings. That contains thousands of pages and billions in payoffs to the trial lawyers, the SEIU, Benedict Nelson, Mary Landfill, and every other radical Leftist constituency that had donated to Obama's campaign.

The Washington Compost provides the back-story with one of the highlights featuring the dumbest press secretary of all time. Yes, Robert Gibbs is on the front lines again today, accusing the GOP of -- wait for it -- excessive partisanship. Gibbs, whose birth certificate is rumored to be an apology note from a condom factory, rolled out Standardized Obama Talking Point #19. Memo to Gibbs: excessive repetition won't make it any less of a lie.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs responded by saying that Obama has sought Republican input since early last year, and the president remains interested in hearing ideas that the GOP believe will advance the cause of health care reform... But he appeared to give little ground on the idea that Obama might abandon the months of work that produced Democratic bills that passed the House and the Senate late last year.

In a nutshell, President Obama -- Huckster-in-Chief -- is selling a "Bipartisan Health Summit" that is strictly predicated upon the exact same crap sandwich that the voters of Massachusetts forcefully spit out only weeks ago.

And when the GOP and the American people reject the same, noxious Sloppy Joe -- constructed by Democrats, for Democrats -- the Alinsky-trained hacks at the White House cry partisanship.

If this were a John Grisham story, readers would think the plot too unrealistic.

Tony Romo Endorses Yarmulkes

Tony Romo: Product Spokesman from Tony Romo

Pretty darn funny!

H/T Bang It Out