Matthews: McConnell was trying to undermine Obama

How? By saying he takes him at his word. Hard as this may be to believe, it's true. Chris Matthews says McConnell was trying to undercut Obama by saying "I take him at his word" when asked if McConnell believed Obama is a Christian. This is why nobody listens to Chris Matthews anymore. Over at Newsbusters:

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Good evening, I'm Chris Matthews back in Washington. Leading off, tonight "Who is Mitch McConnell and why is he saying those terrible things about me?" Yesterday the Republican leader of the Senate played Birther politics with abandon. What did he say when asked whether President Obama is of the religion he says he is, quote, "I take him at his word." And there you have it. Why do 34 percent of Republicans say Obama is a Muslim? Why do only 27 percent of Republicans say he's a Christian? Only 23 percent say he was born in America. One reason might be that people like Republican leader Mitch McConnell go on Meet the Press, as he did yesterday, and say things like, "I take him at his word," when asked if the President is, as he says, a Christian. Pitch perfect, dog whistle to the haters. "Yeah sure, whatever he says, right." This is not about belief. It's an accusation that President Obama is not one of us. The right wing's attempt to de-Americanize the President is our top story tonigh

Lowry: We don't know him

Some people thought they knew him when they voted for him so enthusiastically and lovingly. What happened? What changed? Rich Lowry at the New York Post has some suggestions:

That a sliver of Americans believes Obama is a Muslim is not shocking in the context of other bizarre and stupid things they tell pollsters. In a rebuke to geography teachers everywhere, 10 percent of people either don't think Hawaii is part of the United States or aren't sure. Twenty percent believe aliens have contacted us here on Earth. And 11 percent have confidence in the United States Congress.

Clint Howard, conservative?

Ron Howard's brother, actor Clint Howard, has come out of the closet to star in a conservative ad. Read at Daily Caller:

Clint Howard, long-time character actor and brother of the more liberal director Ron Howard, is displaying his conservative stripes in a new advertisement for Heritage Action for American, the new grassroots advocacy arm of The Heritage Foundation

TWO people signed up for Obamacare?

  Note the headline. It's hard to read it without laughing:

Uninsured Slow To Sign Up For Coverage

HACKENSACK, N.J. - Just two people in New Jersey will begin receiving coverage Monday under new plans created by federal health care reform

  Slow? SLOW? Oh, but 600 packets were downloaded for information. So maybe, in a state of almost nine million people, 600 packets were downloaded? 
  Yeah. Sounds like a rush.

Blame Glenn Beck

  Glenn Beck seems to be the poster boy for leftists hits, having taken the place of Rush Limbaugh since Glenn is on the forefront of organizing these days. Over at CNN, Howard Kurtz asks, Should Glenn Beck be 'sensitive' and move the date of his rally to a different date because of the date being ML King's march on Washington 48 years ago.
  This is truly getting ridiculous. Anything any black leader did apparently now warrants special dates and set-asides, never to be tainted by white leaders' admiration. Instead, only black people can speak on those days. In fact, over at progressive Jim Wallis's website, a minister mourns that Glenn Beck is such a hateful guy that he has no right to even meet with King's niece Alveda, or march on the mall on that date. Beck has repeatedly commended the ideas behind King's march. He has done more for black history than any white or black tv personality. He has done more to encourage talk about race and equality than any other tv personality.
  Watch the video over at Mediate.

Eyewitness report from mosque protest

Weasel Zippers has an eyewitness report of the ground zero protest. Zip also has commentary on the Maureen Dowd statement that people need to get over 9/11. Yes, she said it. Along with Bob Beckel. And Frank Rich. And all the leftists who said, after it happened, "never forget." Weasel Zippers:

 It was a city block long. Lots of good speakers and they didnt speak just about the mosque and the location. They talked a lot about Sharia law. Hammered it home actually. It seemed to be about educating the people as much as it was about the mosque itself. One speaker said that to promote Sharia law is treason. Two speakers actually talked about the meaning behind Cordoba. Frank Gaffney was there and talked about stealth jihad and told Obama it was a “teachable moment”. One talked about the Barbary pirates, muslim slave traders and asked if any muslims signed the Declaration of Independence. One speaker was a former slave and told Bloomberg to build it in City Hall. Blloomberg wasnt well liked there and his name was booed a lot. As well as Pelosi and Obama. You can tell people were pissed by more than just the mosque. One called for Pelosi to be investigated. People even chanted “Obama must go”.

Wanna blog? Pay 300 bucks AND taxes

This is hard to believe. Though the bloggers in this story make almost no money ($11 a year?) from ads, the city of Philadelphia wants them to buy a $300 "license" and pay taxes on their "profit," even if it's $11. How much more ridiculous can the whole idea of taxes get? It's as if greedy governments want to steal money out of people's hands before they even make it. And for what? For corruption, graft, ridiculous pensions...Read over at CityPaper:

In May, the city sent Bess a letter demanding that she pay $300, the price of a business privilege license.

"The real kick in the pants is that I don't even have a full-time job, so for the city to tell me to pony up $300 for a business privilege license, pay wage tax, business privilege tax, net profits tax on a handful of money is outrageous," Bess says.

Michigan democrats boot fake tea party enabler

Ha! Exposed! What is great about this announcement is that the democrats in Michigan really have voted for transparency this time, unlike much of the rest of their party. Read over at Oakland County:

“Democrats on the Board of Commissioners are very concerned about allegations that an employee of the county party may have had a role in fraudulent Tea Party candidate filings. We have been strong advocates for open and transparent county government, and there is no place in our politics where deception can be tolerated. Without commenting on the legal merits of these accusations, we ask for the immediate removal of Jason Bauer as an employee of the Oakland County Democratic Party. Our caucus members and candidates demand the highest ethical standards of ourselves, our government and our party, and any violation of those standards must have real and significant consequences.”

Moderate Muslims agree: No mosque

The Daily Caller has another interesting article today on the proposed mosque in NYC: moderate Muslims do not understand why this mosque is being pushed near Ground Zero. Some suspect that the U.S. Government (State Department or the White House) is secretly supporting the endeavor. Read the article here:

“This is not a humble Islamic statement. A mosque such as this is actually a political structure that casts a shadow over a cemetery, over hallowed ground. 9/11 was the beginning of a kinetic war, it is not an opportunity for cultural exchange. It was the beginning of a conflict with those who want to destroy our way of life,” Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, told The Daily Caller.

“I am in no way looking to infringe on First Amendment issues. I approach this as a Muslim that is dedicated to reform,” he said.

9/11: Get over it

  Ibrahim Hooper says the decision to build a mosque near Ground Zero is just a "business decision." 
  Bob Beckel says at some point New Yorkers need to "get over 9/11." 
  Don't bother to find out where the money for the mosque, a "religious" endeavor, is coming from. 
  Don't worry that Muslim extremists use our respect for mosques as places to hide soldiers, weaponry and bombs.
  Don't think about the people who jumped from the towers on that day. Don't think about the flames, the smoke, the air that was thick with human remains.
  Don't worry if you find bones from victims to this day.
  Don't worry about wahhabism. Wahhabism is extremely intolerant but we ourselves should be judged on our....tolerance.
  Don't worry about jihad. Don't worry that you must accept Islam or be reduced to dhimmitude and extra taxes or die in many Muslim countries.
  That might be coming down the road but only for our children. Not for us. Maybe.
  Are the liberals who support these ideas human? Do these people feel anything? Do the people who say these things care about real people in real lives? 

Murdoch, $1 million and fair and balanced

Hee. Over at the Washington Examiner, the truth is revealed about the money Murdoch donated to Republicans and the money that pours in from media organizations to....the DNC. The truth is that there is a revolving door between the media and democrat organizations (that dissent hunter Linda Douglass being the best example), not to mention the millions of dollars donated by all manner of media personalities. We won't even mention, either, the bias in today's news delivery services, which explains the growth of the alternate media.

But wait a minute, if the political donations of the corporate parent of Fox News are relevant to its political coverage, as suggested by Daschle, doesn't that mean the political donations of people with other media organizations are just as relevant?

With that in mind, I just did a quickie search on the FEC site for all federal contributions between Jan. 1, 2006, and Aug. 1, 2010 by anybody who listed "NBC" as their employer. Haven't had a chance yet to total it all up but, trust me, the list reads like a Democratic campaign roll call. Ditto with searches for "CBS" and"ABC," though the latter evinced a smaller number of donors.

Another movie star goes wackadoo

  Really, now, at what point do we establish that someone whose pampered and wealthy lifestyle affords him or her whatever they want, both in material possessions and attention, has gone over the edge?
  Take, for example, Heidi Montag, whose doctor transformed her into an unrecognizable human being.

  More doll than girl, Montag scares people now. She sees nothing out of the ordinary in her transformation.

  Fifty years old and a surgeon to the stars, this famous doctor Frank Ryan (originally from Toledo) died the other day. He drove his Jeep over the edge of a cliff near his home in beautiful Malibu while texting this:

Minutes before his crash, Ryan had Tweeted: "After 25 years of driving by, I finally hiked to the top of the giant sand dune on the pch west of Malibu. Much harder than it looks! Whew! ... Border collie jill surveying the view from atop the sand dune."

He also Tweeted a photo of his dog on the dune.

  Prince Charles of England is another privileged human being who doesn't seem to quite get it. A staff of 125 people lives with him at his palace to meet his every need. He flies around the world in a private jet lecturing others on what they need to do to prevent global warming. Indeed, he believes his purpose in life is to "save the world."
  How will he save the world? He tells people to stop living the way he does. Daily Mail:

Each member of Charles's party will leave a carbon footprint of 4.41 tons - 13 times more than if they had used a scheduled flight on the same type of plane, which can carry up to 156 passengers.

The flights on the specially converted jet, which boasts a master suite with its own lavatory and shower, will cost an estimated £80,000 - five times more than business-class fares on scheduled airlines.

  So he's made a movie about this purpose. It's called Harmony, and he's hoping all of you will all drive to the cinema and see this movie about him, his purpose in life and the fact that the planet has a.....fever.
  The beautiful, thin, rich, talented and white but tortured Sheryl Crow used her angst to record a derogatory song about Sarah Palin.
  Joaquin Phoenix of Signs and Walk the Line fame had a great career going. What happened? He started behaving oddly, undoubtedly due to the hardships of all that fame and money. He had to emerge, like a caterpillar, into the butterfly he had always longed to be. 
  Now a documentary (or mockumentary?) will be released about Joaquin's "journey." Is it a joke? Is it real? No one knows. But we're all supposed to drive to the cinema and watch his evolution, because in watching this cinematic delight we will learn something more about....ourselves. 
  Because it's all about ourselves, right?
  Take a look at the trailer. 

  How did we get to the place where our commander in chief feels himself so above the small people, cold and detached from reality that he could manufacture money of thin air, ignore the wishes of a majority of the people, continue on a path that is so obviously not only wrong but calamitous and then act like he's doing the taxpayers a favor by bailing out every debt-ridden foolish endeavor known to man? 
  It's all about them, I guess. It's all about them.

Your son deserved to die

  Code Pink is the group that protests around the nation various aspects of the military, the war and anything conservative. One mom writes about the loss of her son and Code Pink's taunting of her. They claim to be anti-war, but why would you raise money for such violent men as the Fallujah murderers if you were really anti-war? Why would you say "Your son deserved to die" if you were really peaceful and loving? It's obvious that these people have darker motives for doing what they do.
  Now there is a call for Jerry Brown (Governor Moonbeam) to return the money he has received from Code Pink for his race for governor of California against Meg Whitman. Read about it at Big Peace:

Numerous times over the past four years I have confronted the antics of Jodie Evans and her anti-war Code Pink cronies. We’ve all seen the nightly news with them being arrested time and time again throwing their leftist temper tantrums with their pink boa feathers wrapped around their necks as they kick and scream like a two-year-old throwing a tantrum to get attention. They have sent over $600,000.00 to the terrorists in Fallujah, or as they called them, “freedom fighting” heroes. You would think treasonous acts like this would have them locked in jail. Over and over they have attacked our military recruiting offices causing thousands of dollars of damage to the offices and threatening the recruiters.

T shirt update

Over at the Boston Herald, the update on the t shirts that are selling on Martha's Vineyard, that bastion of wealthy liberalism, reveals that the Bush "How's that hopey changey thing workin' out for ya?" shirt is selling like hotcakes. Some are offended. Many are not. Go here to read.

Controversy over Dr. Laura: what was SO wrong?

  So, of course, when Dr. Laura protests that she's ready to throw in the towel because she's sick of the harpies on the left protesting every little thing she says and does and that she wants her first amendment rights back, Yahoo have to run over to a first amendment rights "expert" and get an explanation that will make Dr. Laura look petulant, in errata, and very right wing. You can read their so-called "research" here.
  Lots has been said about the rant that caused Dr Laura to pull the plug on her radio show at the end of the year; what's most interesting, if you haven't heard it, is to actually read the verbal exchange between Dr. Laura and her black caller. (Is it okay to say that? Black caller? Or is it wrong to designate race, even when that's the reason the woman is calling and that's the point???)
  The entire conversation is over at Radio Equalizer. Dr. Laura's point was that people are too sensitive about language and that many times people choose to be offended by mere words. The caller took offense. Here's the exchange, which you can view over at Radio Equalizer. You can also view the liberal crowing over Dr. Laura's scalp:

CALLER: How about the N-word? So, the N-word's been thrown around --SCHLESSINGER: Black guys use it all the time. Turn on HBO, listen to a black comic, and all you hear is nigger, nigger, nigger. 

CALLER: That isn't -- 

SCHLESSINGER: I don't get it. If anybody without enough melanin says it, it's a horrible thing; but when black people say it, it's affectionate. 

CALLER: So it's OK to say "nigger"? 

SCHLESSINGER: -- and not enough sense of humor

CALLER: It's OK to say that word? 

SCHLESSINGER: It depends how it's said

CALLER: Is it OK to say that word? Is it ever OK to say that word

SCHLESSINGER: It's -- it depends how it's said. Black guys talking to each other seem to think it's OK

CALLER: But you're not black. They're not black. My husband is white

SCHLESSINGER: Oh, I see. So, a word is restricted to race. Got it. Can't do much about that.
CALLER: I can't believe someone like you is on the radio spewing out the "nigger" word, and I hope everybody heard it. 

SCHLESSINGER: I didn't spew out the "nigger" word. 

CALLER: You said, "Nigger, nigger, nigger." 

SCHLESSINGER: Right, I said that's what you hear. 

CALLER: Everybody heard it. 

SCHLESSINGER: Yes, they did. 

CALLER: I hope everybody heard it. 

SCHLESSINGER: They did, and I'll say it again -- 

CALLER: So what makes it OK for you to say the word? 

SCHLESSINGER: -- nigger, nigger, nigger is what you hear on HB -- 

CALLER: So what makes it -- 

SCHLESSINGER: Why don't you let me finish a sentence? 

CALLER: OK. 

SCHLESSINGER: Don't take things out of context. Don't double N -- NAACP me. Tape the -- 

CALLER: I know what the NAACP -- 

SCHLESSINGER: Leave them in context.

If this were a church or a synagogue....

Correct me if I'm wrong, but did the Jewish people fly a few planes into American buildings? Did Christian extremists kidnap people aboard American planes and fly them into the ground? Have Christians and Jews declared war on American values, on America herself, on the freedom we have in this society? How can Tim Kaine, DNC chair, be so wrong? And why don't these people just shut up?

Social security not in crisis?

  Another absolute lie. Not a prevarication. Not an exaggeration. A lie.
  Just as we learn that Social Security has gone into the red, Dear Leader declares, as Barney Frank and Maxine Waters declared Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac not in crisis, that we shouldn't worry about social security.
  In fact, John Lott says this country is in worse shape than, wait for it, Greece.
  Read over at Fox News:

In Ohio on Wednesday President Obama announced that Social Security "is not in crisis" and that only "modest adjustments" are required. He has long promised that his health care plan will not add "one dime" to the deficit. Yet, a new report from the International Monetary Fund concludes that, long-term, our government is in worse financial shape than Greece, and that this problem is driven in large part by both programs, particularly the new health care plan.

So what does the mosque outrage mean for Obama

Dunn says it means the point of no return. The American Thinker has an abundance of, well, great thinkers (and writers). This article is particularly insightful concerning the current regime in Washington:

The past two years are the best Obama will ever see. The real crises of his presidency are still to come, and they are easily visible as they move toward us -- Iran, terrorism, the economy, the collapse of the national health care system hastened by his own policies. He will meet them under a cloud of his own making, attempting to overcome them as a president who takes endless vacations, who will not defend his country's borders, who sat out the Gulf oil crisis, who overlooks the sacrifices of his own countrymen in favor of dubious foreign figures.

Schoen: disaster awaits

  Some remarkable poll results over at the Daily Beast. It appears people are not especially enamored with the Republicans; in fact, they don't even know what some of the Republicans stand for, but they're ready to vote for them just to get rid of the dems. Schoen says to win back the hearts of the voters, dems need to cut spending and present a fiscally responsible plan to not bankrupt us. Fat chance that will happen.
  What is increasingly being suggested (by democrats) is that Obama really does not want a second term; he has governed opposite to what the people want. Charlie Cook over at National Journal rationalizes it over here, but it's a pretty sad rationalization.
  So people aren't too excited to see him just now. The staged events are getting harder to fill, although there are always lots of union members. Bush is polling 6 points ahead of Obama.
  Meanwhile over at Martha's Vineyard, that democrat stronghold, Bush t-shirts ("Miss me yet?" ) are outselling Obama t-shirts. Hee.

Scandal erupts over Righthaven lawsuits

  Perhaps you've been following the recently developing story of the Las Vegas Review Journal,owned by Stephens media, suing little bloggers for big bucks.
  Why?
  Because they quote from their papers. Even if the bloggers link back to the source, if even one word is quoted, the newspaper chain is claiming copyright infringement and suing bloggers who make little or no money reporting the news.
  Blogging has always been a grassroots endeavor to link around the web. That's why the web is called a "web": the basically understanding has always been that the "webbing" people do through their blogs is what makes the WWW an interesting place, helps it survive and thrive.
  Legally blogging about stories around the web should be covered by "fair use" laws, but Stephens Media is not acknowledging that, and suing little nonprofit bloggers for thousands and even hundreds of thousands of dollars. The vehicle Stephens Media is using is called RightHaven, oddly enough.
  No takedown requests have ever been issued. The bloggers just are sued from thin air.
  Amazing in this day we have a situation like this.
  What is also amazing is that this smells funny and somehow tracks back to the president of the United States.
  For further information, go here and read this thread. Here's a bit of info from that thread:

This RightHaven founder Steven Gibson is definitely a "Chicago Guy"...so I did a little digging in the public domain.....

Steven A. Gibson

Born: Chicago, Illinois, December 11, 1963

School: Chicago-Kent College of Law

Degree: J.D.

City: Chicago

State: IL 

Year: 1990

Honors: IIT/Chicago-Kent College of Law. Cum Laude 1990.

Prior to establishing his own firm, Mr. Gibson was an associate at Sidley Austin LLP a Chicago Law firm...

  There's more info here. Wired did a profile here (try to ignore the position of his hand. It's truly disturbing.) Here's an article by a little blogger who has been sued.
  It is certainly mystifying why a media company would go about business on the web this way. What's happening is that bloggers are shutting down their connections to any website who is capable of treating readers this way. Indeed, a plugin has been created to block Firefox from even visiting these websites.
  Certainly this isn't a profitable business model. Because Righthaven is basically blackmailing little bloggers who have no money, they settle for fairly small amounts, at this point. Thus this issue has NOT come before a judge.
  The Las Vegas Sun has done an excellent job covering this issue.