Brutally Honest

Yes, let’s talk about fairness, Mr. President

By tim, The Godless Heathen

Via Moonbattery comes this awesome piece by Stephen Moore at the WSJ:

President Obama has frequently justified his policies—and judged their outcomes—in terms of equity, justice and fairness. That raises an obvious question: How does our existing system—and his own policy record—stack up according to those criteria?

Is it fair that the richest 10% of Americans shoulder a higher share of their country's income-tax burden than do the richest 10% in every other industrialized nation, including socialist Sweden?

Is it fair that American corporations pay the highest statutory corporate tax rate of all other industrialized nations but Japan, which cuts its rate on April 1?

Is it fair that Americans who build a family business, hire workers, reinvest and save their money—paying a lifetime of federal, state and local taxes often climbing into the millions of dollars—must then pay an additional estate tax of 35% (and as much as 55% when the law changes next year) when they die, rather than passing that money onto their loved ones?

Is it fair that after the first three years of Obamanomics, the poor are poorer, the poverty rate is rising, the middle class is losing income, and some 5.5 million fewer Americans have jobs today than in 2007?

Go read the rest, it's worth it.

Rush's Clint Eastwood "Halftime" Parody

By tim, The Godless Heathen

Via AD:

Ladies and gentlemen, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee

By tim, The Godless Heathen

Via The Gateway Pundit:

"We saw what happened when Iran took hostages in 1979. A president lost his re-election. The prestige of the United States was challenged."

"I am not going to be taken hostage again to extend the Bush tax cuts when every economist says that it’s absolutely absurd forever and points to the fact that no jobs are necessarily created by extending the Bush tax cuts, at least on the top one percent of Americans, and when the top one percent population polled have said that they have no problem with losing that ludicrous benefit forever and ever. And then, when everyone understands the question of mutual sacrifice, benefit and sacrifice, with all of our soldiers coming home we’re now going to talk about being held hostage to the Bush tax cuts forever."

(Emphasis mine)

I have so much to say, yet…I’d rather hear what you, gentle reader, think of that.

The Truth About the Refugees

By tim, The Godless Heathen

Via The Blaze comes this video from the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, explaining the Palestinian refugee myth.

Why after more than 60 years are the Arab-Palestinian refugees still not welcomed and absorbed among their own brethren? And how could their numbers have grown from 500,000 to 4.7 million? The sad reality is that Palestinian refugees never had a chance. Attempts at resettlement were blocked by a variety of discriminatory laws enacted in Arab countries such as: a ban on receiving citizenship – with the exception of Jordan; blocking them from entering many professions; restrictions on owning land; restrictions on movement…

The rest here.

Damn facts, always getting in the way of good propaganda.

Muslim assaults, rapes, “workplace violence” and dhimmitude

By tim, The Godless Heathen

Happened upon these three separate but related stories today. See if you can detect a theme, a line of correlation. The how and why things escalate. How political correctness leads to innocents being preyed upon and ultimately death.

JihadWatch:

A gang of Muslim women who attacked a passer-by in a city centre walked free from court after a judge heard they were ‘not used to being drunk’ because of their religion.

The group – three sisters and a cousin – allegedly screamed ‘kill the white slag’ as they set upon Rhea Page as she waited for a taxi with her boyfriend.

Miss Page, 22, was left with a bald patch where her hair was pulled out in the attack and was left ‘black and blue’ after suffering a flurry of kicks to the head, back, arms and legs while motionless on the pavement.

Ambaro Maxamed, 24, students Ayan Maxamed, 28, and Hibo Maxamed, 24, and their 28-year-old cousin Ifrah Nur each admitted actual bodily harm, which carries a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment.

But Judge Robert Brown gave them suspended jail terms after hearing mitigation that as Muslims, the women were not used to being drunk. The Koran prohibits Muslims from consuming alcohol, although Islamic teachings permit its use for medicinal purposes.

The rest.

Seraphic Secret:

Norway is suffering from an unprecedented wave of rapes that are largely being perpetrated by Muslim immigrants against local women, according to Yehuda Bello, an acclaimed Israeli blogger whose special interests include Norway.

Bello, who understands Norwegian and has Norwegian contacts, reports that from January to late October, 48 rapes were confirmed to have been carried out in Oslo alone, 45 of them by Muslims. In the first six months of 2011, 208 Norwegian women complained of rape and attempted rape in Oslo alone. In all of Norway, 929 rapes and attempted aggravated rapes were reported since the beginning of the year, he adds.

Bello notes that Norway is “the most advanced country in the world in granting rights to women.” However, he adds, the “politically correct rot” prevents the rape wave by Muslims from being reported. “They are called ‘non-western,’ ‘dark skinned,’ ‘Middle Eastern’ et cetera. After a police report in Oslo said that Muslims were raping Norwegian women out of a religious conviction that this was the proper thing to do, a stormy public debate erupted, reports Bello, and “the government ministers, most of them avowed anti-Semites, claimed that the report and its publication serve Israel and its policy of occupation.”

Norway’s justice minister defended the police report but also said that “Israel must be glad to hear about it.”

The rest.

FoxNews:

Sen. Susan Collins on Wednesday blasted the Defense Department for classifying the Fort Hood massacre as workplace violence and suggested political correctness is being placed above the security of the nation's Armed Forces at home.

During a joint session of the Senate and House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, the Maine Republican referenced a letter from the Defense Department depicting the Fort Hood shootings as workplace violence. She criticized the Obama administration for failing to identify the threat as radical Islam.

Thirteen people were killed and dozens more wounded at Fort Hood in 2009, and the number of alleged plots targeting the military has grown significantly since then. Lawmakers said there have been 33 plots against the U.S. military since Sept. 11, 2001, and 70 percent of those threats have been since mid-2009.

The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, said the military has become a "direct target of violent Islamist extremism" within the United States.

"The stark reality is that the American service member is increasingly in the terrorists' scope and not just overseas in a traditional war setting," Lieberman told Fox News before the start of Wednesday's hearing.

The rest.

The Imaginarium of Barack Obama

By tim, The Godless Heathen

Victor Davis Hanson -

The presidency of Barack Obama is full of funny things that need not follow any sort of logic. Images and ideas just pop in and out, without worry of inconsistency, contradiction or hypocrisy. It’s a fascinating mish-mash of strange heroes and bogeymen, this imaginarium of our president.

In the imaginarium, there are no revolving doors, earmarks, or lobbyists. So Peter Orszag did not go from being OMB director to a Citigroup fat-cat. Once chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel did not make $16 million for his well-known banking expertise. The more you damn the pernicious role of lobbyists and the polluting role of big money, the more you must hire and seek out both. Public financing of campaigns is wonderful for everyone else who lacks the integrity of Barack Obama who understandably must renounce such unfair impositions.

Those who now vote against raising the large Obama debt ceiling are political hucksters and opportunists; those who not long ago voted against raising the smaller Bush debt ceiling were principled statesmen. “Unpatriotic” presidents borrow $4 trillion in eight years; patriotic ones we’ve been waiting for can trump that in three.

Catching known terrorists and putting them in Guantanamo is very bad; killing suspected ones by drone assassinations—and anyone unlucky enough to be in their general vicinity —is exceptionally good. Tribunals, renditions, preventative detention, and all that were bad ideas under Bush-Cheney, but could become good ideas under Barack Obama, the law professor who often sees no need to follow the law when an immigration or marriage statute is deemed regressive.

A million Iranians protesting a soon to be nuclear theocracy is false revolutionary consciousness and to be left alone; a few thousand Israelis wanting to buy apartments in the Jerusalem suburbs is subversive and worthy of presidential condemnation. And when atoning for supposed American lapses, what better place to begin apologizing than in Turkey, the incubator of the Armenian, Greek, and Kurdish mass killings? We need to deny history to make the case that America is not exceptional, and to invent it to persuade us that the Muslim world is extraordinary.

Twenty-four months of a Democratic Congress, and over $4 trillion in spending, resulted in 9.1% unemployment and near nonexistent growth. Yet the culprit for the current slows is ten months of a Republican-controlled House that has yet to approve another $500 million of borrowing. In the imaginarium, just a little more of the massive amount that has failed will not fail. But if the Republicans are to be blamed for not wanting to waste the last half-trillion, are the Democrats to be praised for borrowing the first wasted $4 trillion?

The rest here.

H/T American Digest

236th Birthday of the U.S.M.C.

By tim, The Godless Heathen

Gen. James F. Amos, Commandant of the Marine Corps and Sgt. Maj. Micheal P. Barrett, Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps present the 236th Marine Corps birthday message and honor the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and how the events shaped the lives of Marines past and present.

Semper Fidelis and Happy Birthday my fellow Devil Dogs!

Got aurora borealis?

By tim, The Godless Heathen

In what can only be explained by Global Warming (snark off) a wonderful celestial spectacle, referred to as the Northern Lights, usually only visible to more northern locales was visible to many across N. America.

From Fox News:

A giant mass of plasma spat from the sun on Saturday morning hit the Earth Monday afternoon, causing an unusually colored light show that dazzled skywatchers.

Mother Nature's majesty was on display following a coronal mass ejection (CME) that hit the planet at approximately 2:00p.m. EDT on October 24, reported Spaceweather.com, a website dedicated to tracking solar wind, solar storms and other interstellar events.

The impact strongly compressed Earth's magnetic field, the site reported, exposing geosynchronous satellites to solar wind plasma -- and sparking a dazzlingly intense geomagnetic storm.

"Wow, wow, wow! These were the best Northern Lights I've seen since 2004," said Shawn Malone. The photographer told FoxNews.com that the auroras he spied in Northern Michigan were the best in years.

Spaceweather.com reported aurora sightings stretching across the United States, from New Mexico and California to Kansas, Iowa, Maryland and New York

The rest here with a slideshow.

I’m very disappointed I missed it.  I was very fortunate to have seem them about 6/7 years ago during another rare occurrence here in Western NY.

If any of you were lucky enough to have witnessed the show, as a amateur sky gazer I’d love to hear your experience, so please share in the comments.

Another kinetic military operation

By tim, The Godless Heathen

Michelle Malkin reports Pres. Obama has decided to send troops to Africa to help get rid of something called the ‘Lord’s Resistance Army’.

Here’s the letter to House GOP Speaker John Boehner (my emphasis in bold):

TEXT OF A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AND THE PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE OF THE SENATE

October 14, 2011

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)
For more than two decades, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has murdered, raped, and kidnapped tens of thousands of men, women, and children in central Africa. The LRA continues to commit atrocities across the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan that have a disproportionate impact on regional security. Since 2008, the United States has supported regional military efforts to pursue the LRA and protect local communities. Even with some limited
U.S. assistance, however, regional military efforts have thus far been unsuccessful in removing LRA leader Joseph Kony or his top commanders from the battlefield. In the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009, Public Law 111-172, enacted May 24, 2010, the Congress also expressed support for increased, comprehensive U.S. efforts to help mitigate and eliminate the threat posed by the LRA to civilians and regional stability.

In furtherance of the Congress’s stated policy, I have authorized a small number of combat-equipped U.S. forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield. 

I believe that deploying these U.S. Armed Forces furthers U.S. national security interests and foreign policy and will be a significant contribution toward counter-LRA efforts in central
Africa.

On October 12, the initial team of U.S. military personnel with appropriate combat equipment deployed to Uganda. During the next month, additional forces will deploy, including a second combat-equipped team and associated headquarters, communications, and
logistics personnel. The total number of U.S. military personnel deploying for this mission is approximately 100. These forces will act as advisors to partner forces that have the goal of
removing from the battlefield Joseph Kony and other senior leadership of the LRA. Our forces will provide information, advice, and assistance to select partner nation forces. Subject to the approval of each respective host nation, elements of these U.S. forces will deploy into Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The support provided by U.S. forces will enhance regional efforts against the LRA. However, although the U.S. forces are
combat-equipped, they will only be providing information, advice, and assistance to partner nation forces, and they will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense. All appropriate precautions have been taken to ensure the safety of U.S. military personnel during their deployment.  I have directed this deployment, which is in the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct U.S. foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive. I am making this report as part of my efforts to keep the Congress fully informed, consistent with the War Powers Resolution (Public
Law 93-148). I appreciate the support of the Congress in this action.

Sincerely,
BARACK OBAMA

Could someone, maybe Pres. Obama, please explain those U.S. national security interests?

Notice the total number of additional troops of the “second combat-equipped team” isn’t mentioned, not even a ballpark figure. He literally has no idea, not even a guess? Or just isn’t willing to say today.

Will the troops be under the control of “each respective host nation”, the UN, NATO…? Can they have rounds chambered? What exactly are the rules of engagement (besides waiting to get fired upon)?

How exactly have “all appropriate precautions have been taken to ensure the safety of U.S. military personnel during their deployment.”? Their going into a combat zone, correct?

As MM points out this mission has been spearheaded by GOP Sen. James Inhofe.

Coulter: MEET THE FLEA PARTY!

By tim, The Godless Heathen

By way of Drudge -

So far, the only major accomplishment of the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters is that they have finally put an end to their previous initiative, "Occupy Our Mothers' Basements."

Oddly enough for such a respectable-looking group -- a mixture of adolescents looking for a cause, public sector union members, drug dealers, criminals, teenage runaways, people who have been at every protest since the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, Andrea Dworkin look-alikes, people 95 percent of whose hair is concentrated in their ponytails and other average Democrats -- they can't even explain what they're protesting.

The protesters either treat inquiries about their purpose as a trick question, or -- worse -- instantly rattle off a series of insane causes: "No. 1, abolish capitalism; No. 2, because 9/11 was an inside job; No. 3, because Mumia is innocent ..."

Curiously, the only point universally agreed upon by the protesters and their admirers in the Democratic Party and the mainstream media is that "Occupy Wall Street" should be compared to the tea party. Yes, that would be the same tea party that has been denounced and slandered by the Democratic Party and the mainstream media for the last three years.

As a refresher: The Democratic National Committee called the tea partiers "angry mobs" and "rabid right-wing extremists." ABC said they were a "mob." CNN accused them of "rabble rousing." Harry Reid called them "evil mongers." Nancy Pelosi said they were "un-American." CNN's Anderson Cooper and every single host on MSNBC called the tea partiers a name that referred to an obscure gay sex act.

But apparently liberals couldn't even convince themselves that tea partiers were an extremist group unworthy of emulation.

At least they're embarrassed about what the OWS protesters really are: wingless, bloodsucking and parasitic. This is the flea party, not the tea party.

Go read the rest here.

Ann lays the smack down to the Wall Street protesting petulant, whining punks by giving historical examples regarding our constitutional representational government, rebellions and revolts and also gives great reminders of who exactly was responsible for implementing and enforcing civil rights and who did their best to oppose, ignore and violate them. (Take a guess which group the Democrats were.)

Great stuff.