[jeaccatty]

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/publ..._don_t_like_it

Many More Now Following Mosque Controversy – And Don’t Like It

Monday, August 23, 2010

A lot more voters are paying attention to the plans to build a mosque near the Ground Zero site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City, and they don’t like the idea.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 85% of U.S. voters say they are now following news stories about the mosque planned near Ground Zero. That’s a 34-point jump from a month ago when only 51% said they were following the story.

The new finding includes 58% who are following the story very closely, up from 22% in mid-July.

Now 62% oppose the building of a mosque near where the World Trade Center stood in Lower Manhattan, compared to 54% in the previous survey. Twenty-five percent (25%) favor allowing the mosque to go ahead, and 13% more are not sure.

Sixty-eight percent (68%) of the Political Class, however, favor building the mosque near Ground Zero. Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Mainstream voters are opposed.

[Charryith]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/op...101302919.html

Little-known fact: Obama's failed stimulus program cost more than the Iraq war

By: Mark Tapscott
Editorial Page Editor

08/23/10 11:32 AM EDT

Expect to hear a lot about how much the Iraq war cost in the days ahead from Democrats worried about voter wrath against their unprecedented spending excesses.

The meme is simple: The economy is in a shambles because of Bush's economic policies and his war in Iraq. As American Thinker's Randall Hoven points out, that's the message being peddled by lefties as diverse as former Clinton political strategist James Carville, economist Joseph Stiglitz, and The Nation's Washington editor, Christopher Hayes.

The key point in the mantra is an alleged $3 trillion cost for the war. Well, it was expensive to be sure, in both blood and treasure, but, as Hoven notes, the CBO puts the total cost at $709 billion. To put that figure in the proper context of overall spending since the war began in 2003, Hoven provides this handy CBO chart showing the portion of the annual deficit attributable to the conflict:

But there is much more to be said of this data and Hoven does an admirable job of summarizing the highlights of such an analysis:

* Obama's stimulus, passed in his first month in office, will cost more than the entire Iraq War -- more than $100 billion (15%) more.

* Just the first two years of Obama's stimulus cost more than the entire cost of the Iraq War under President Bush, or six years of that war.

* Iraq War spending accounted for just 3.2% of all federal spending while it lasted.

* Iraq War spending was not even one quarter of what we spent on Medicare in the same time frame

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/op...#ixzz0xTokwR3H

[Unlopssesuj]

When Howard Dean and Harry Reid temporarily take leave of their insanity and enter the world of common sense can the apocalypse be far behind???

Go, Howard!!! LOL

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_1...40-503544.html

Howard Dean on Mosque Comments: "I am Not Going to Back Off"

Posted by Brian Montopoli

Former Democratic Presidential Candidate and Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean is defending his comments on the so-called "ground zero mosque," which he has called "a real affront to people who lost their lives."

Writing on Salon.com, Dean states he is "not going to back off" his earlier comments - but then stops short of explicitly calling for the project to be moved, as he had earlier suggested.

He calls for compromise in the column, writing that "I personally believe that there are other possible solutions that could result from [a dialogue] and that a genuine exploration of those possibilities is something we ought to try."

"This center may be intended as a bridge or a healing gesture but it will not be perceived that way unless a dialogue with a real attempt to understand each other happens," he writes. "That means the builders have to be willing to go beyond what is their right and be willing to talk about feelings whether the feelings are 'justified' or not."

Dean argues that most of the people opposed to the "ground zero mosque" - actually a planned Islamic community center that would include a mosque two blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center -- "are not right-wing hate mongers." He says that while the developers have a right to build what and where they want, they should consider that many Americans "have very strong emotional resistance to building on this site."

"This is about ending the poisonous atmosphere engendered by fear and hate, and in order to do that there has to be genuine listening, hearing and willingness to compromise on both sides," he writes.

[SHaEFU0i]

Dead Fish should be called...along with Dear Leader and Dingy Harry...

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefi...ify-in-retrial

Blagojevich: Will call Emanuel, Reid, Menendez in retrial

By Jared Allen - 08/22/10 09:45 AM ET

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Sunday he would call a host of high-profile witnesses — including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel — to testify if he is retried on corruption charges.

Blagojevich, in a combative interview on "Fox News Sunday," said he was ready for a second trial on charges he tried to sell President Obama's former Senate seat. Federal prosecutors have vowed to retry Blagojevich after a jury deadlocked on all but one of 24 criminal counts the government brought against the Democrat.

"In the second round, we're going to put a defense on, I'm sure," Blagojevich said, vowing to call Emanuel, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), DSCC Chairman Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) to testify in his defense.

Blagojevich also said he would again attempt to subpoena Obama. That attempt was rejected during the first trial.

"We would call Rahm Emanuel and a whole bunch of other people in the second trial to show what was really going on," Blagojevich said. "The decision I made was to try to make a political deal. Rahm Emanuel a day before my arrest was going to make it happen. They did nothing wrong either."

[Senasivar]

He knows he's got low numbers among men, that's why he goes on shows like "The View" and "Oprah".

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/71557

Obama's Approval Hits All-Time Low of 39 Percent Among Men, Says Gallup

Tuesday, August 24, 2010
By Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief

(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama’s job approval rating among American men has fallen to a record low, hitting 39 percent in the week of Aug. 16-22, according to the Gallup Poll.

The week of Aug. 16-22 also marked the first time Obama’s average weekly approval rating dropped below 40 percent for either gender. His approval rating among American women was 46 percent for the week.

When Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, his job approval rating was 64 percent among men and 69 percent among women, according to Gallup. That was the highest his approval ever hit with men.

Obama’s approval rating first dipped below 50 percent among men in the week of Aug. 24-30, 2009. In October and November of 2009, it rebounded above 50 percent for a four-week stretch, but then in the week of Nov.16-22 it dropped to 46 percent and has never again exceeded 48 percent.

The last time Obama had an average weekly approval rating as high as 50 percent among American women was the week of June 28-July 4.

[Frierlovene]

Just because the Obama's are living like royalty during The Great Recession doesn't mean they're out of touch with average Americans.

http://www.whitehousedossier.com/201...obster-supply/

Obamas Depleting U.S. Lobster Supply

by Keith Koffler on August 25, 2010, 2:56 pm

So how much lobster are you having during these precarious economic times? What? You’ve had to cut back? No longer ordering it stuffed with crab meat, at least?

Well, if you happen to be the President of the United States or the First Lady, your lobster consumption is continuing at a robust pace.

Yes, the economy is still getting battered. And last night, so was President Obama’s lobster.

According to ABC’s Jake Tapper, the president savored some lobster tempura at the trendy State Road Restaurant in West Tisbury on Martha’s Vineyard. Oh, just the thought of it. If he brings some back to the White House for me, I’ll write whatever he wants.

Monday night at The Sweet Life Cafe in Oak Bluffs on the Vineyard it was the lobster pasta appetizer for the president and a surf and turf entrée – the “surf” being a lobster tail – for Mrs. Obama.

And what would the vacation to Maine in July have been without a taste of everyone’s favorite crustacean. The president did it in a little less genteel fashion that time, heading over to something called Stewman’s Downtown restaurant where he was served the “Lobster Experience” dinner – just regular lobster, corn and slaw.

[sesIgnose]

LMAO

Uh-oh! If he's lost the ultra-Liberal Letterman then who does he still have on his side?

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/08/...test-vacation/

“He’ll have plenty of time for vacations after his one term is up.”

-- David Letterman Letterman Knocks Obama For Latest Vacation

August 25, 2010 8:57 AM AP copy removed

[kSmica]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...LEFTTopStories

Mexican Military Finds 72 Bodies Near Border

By DAVID LUHNOW and JOSE DE CORDOBA

MEXICO CITY—Gunmen from a drug cartel appear to have massacred 72 migrants from Central and South America who were on their way to the U.S., a grisly event that marks the single biggest killing in Mexico's war on organized crime.

Mexican marines discovered the 72 bodies—58 men and 14 women —on Tuesday after the lone survivor of the massacre, a wounded migrant from Ecuador, stumbled into a Navy checkpoint the previous day and told of being shot on Monday at a nearby ranch, Mexican officials said on Wednesday.

When the marines went to investigate, they were met with a hail of gunfire from cartel gunmen holed up at the ranch, which sits 90 miles from the U.S. border. One marine and three alleged gunmen died during a two-hour battle, which ended when the gunmen fled in a fleet of SUVs, leaving behind a cache of weapons.

The Ecuadorean migrant told investigators that his captors identified themselves as members of the Zetas drug gang, said Vice Adm. Jose Luis Vergara, a spokesman for the Mexican navy.

An Ecuadorean citizen escaped from a remote ranch in eastern Mexico and stumbled wounded to a highway checkpoint, where he alerted Mexican Navy marines. One marine was killed in a firefight after marines went to investigate the ranch.

"This illustrates that organized crime has no limits or moral qualms about what they are prepared to do," Alejandro Poire, head of the government's national-security council, told a news conference.

[Bobobsdo]

Oh, geeze. Alaska is the ultimate flyover state way "up there" in the North country. You can't expect sophisticated progressives to keep up on what's going on there.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/...me-alaska.html

DNC spokesman can't name Alaska Dem running for Senate

Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee spokesmen were on ABC's "Top Line" Wednesday with dueling messages coming out of last night's primary.

RNC spokesman Doug Heye was asked right off the bat whether the party embraced Alaska Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller's position that unemployment benefits were not constitutionally authorized. "We embrace whatever [a] candidate needs to do to win," said Heye. "Every candidate campaigns in a different manner...We look for candidates who can win." Heye went on to call the Constitution a "key talking point" for the GOP.

The DNC's Brad Woodhouse jumped on Heye immediately, "If Republicans are going to say whatever they need to do to win, I think we might be in better shape than people think." But when Woodhouse was asked to name the Democratic Senate candidate in Alaska, which is a strong Republican hold, he was at a loss. Eventually he responded, "Well, our candidate in Alaska...his name is not Lisa Murkowski." (Woodhouse fields the question at about 6 minutes in.).

Woodhouse was right about that. His name is Scott McAdams, and he stands a remote chance of beating Miller or current Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski in November. As The Post's Chris Cillizza put it in an online live chat late Wednesday morning: "I have heard NOTHING from Democrats about Alaska and given the other races they have to worry about in the Senate, it's hard for me to imagine them spending any money in the Last Frontier or targeting it in any significant way."

[Brareevor]

Is he up for re-election this year?

Remember this next time he's up for re-election, Montanans!!!

http://www.northernbroadcasting.com/...-for-That.aspx

Baucus on Reading Bill: We Hire Experts for That

As an update on the story out of Libby, where Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius joined Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) for a listening session Monday, apparently Senator Baucus- the Chairman of the US Senate Finance Committee who helped author the federal health care bill- still hasn't even read the entire thing.

This according to The Flathead Beacon which filed this report.

Judy Matott asked Baucus if he would work to improve Libby’s image, and then asked him and Sebelius, “if either of you read the health care bill before it was passed and if not, that is the most despicable, irresponsible thing.”

Baucus replied that if Libby residents assembled an economic development plan, he would do what he could to help, and he took credit for “essentially” writing the health care bill that passed the Senate.

“I don’t think you want me to waste my time to read every page of the health care bill. You know why? It’s statutory language,” Baucus said. “We hire experts.”

So he wants to take credit for writing the legislation, but still hasn't even read the bill? Reminds me of when one of my young kids grabs the broom and pats it against the floor. You graciously thank the child for helping sweep the floor- even when realizing they didn't really do a thing to actually help.

As a side note, Judy brings up another great point: the only time the Montana press corps does a story about Libby is when it pertains to the asbestos issue, and it has hurt Libby's image and economy. Maybe the cameras can show up to tell a good story about Libby every now and then. Go visit and you can find plenty. When we went to Libby for a live show of "Voices of Montana" during Logger Days, I had a nice lady who owns a business on Main Street come up to me during a commercial break and hand me a note graciously thanking me for coming to Libby and telling the story of Libby other than just the asbestos issue.

[Promotiona]

Bagels are a Jewish food. If they were a Muslim food you can bet they wouldn't tax them.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/busin...101374809.html

Islam: The ONLY religion Democrats support.

Bagels With a Slice of Tax

Little known tax clause boosts prices for New York bagels

Updated 1:03 PM EDT, Tue, Aug 24, 2010

Have you noticed bagel shops tacking on a few more cents to your beloved pumpernickel and cream cheese? Blame Albany.

Bagels – however you slice them – most likely haven't been subject to tax at your favorite neighborhood shop. But, desperate for cash, Albany began enforcing a little known clause in its sales tax code that calls for a tax on sliced bagels or whole bagels consumed at the place of purchase, according to The Wall Street Journal.

When an audit found New York chain Bruegger's Bagel in violation of this often unenforced clause, the state demanded owner Kenneth Greene cough up a "significant" amount in taxes to cover what the state figured he owed, according to the Journal.

Customers bristled at the additional charge – roughly 8 cents a bagel -- blaming the franchise for trying to squeeze every penny out of patrons in a tough economy. The backlash prompted Greene to post signs near the cashiers explaining the cost increase.

[education]

Where's the separation of church and state, hypocrites...er...libs???

http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/20/cr...e-middle-east/

Critics attack State Department program sponsoring Ground Zero imam’s trip to the Middle East

By Amanda Carey - The Daily Caller | Published: 1:27 AM 08/20/2010 | Updated: 11:36 AM 08/20/2010

Amidst the contentious debate surrounding the building of a mosque and Islamic community center at Ground Zero, it was revealed that the imam behind the project – Feisal Abdul Rauf – will soon be departing on a State Department-sponsored trip to the Middle East — and American taxpayers will be footing the bill.

The State Department released further information about the trip Wednesday, disclosing that it will cost roughly $16,000, with Rauf — who has been criticized for refusing to call Hamas a terrorist organization and saying that American actions in the Middle East were ”an accessory to the crime” of the 9/11 attacks — receiving $3,000 in speaker fees.

The 15-day excursion to Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates is meant to promote religious tolerance and help bridge the cultural gap between the Muslim world and the West. It is part of the State Department’s Bureau of International Information Program. For Rauf, it will be his fourth tour as part of the program.

In a joint statement about the trip, Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Peter King of New York expressed outrage that the State Department would be promoting a figure they view as extreme.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/20/cr...#ixzz0xffbehcb

[Cofeeman]

Surely you're not suggesting that only atheists are qualified to attempt to build bridges between us and other cultures?

[Carol]

I guess after watching the emasculation of America by The Left, a few of America's masculine movie stars have come out of Hollywood's Conservative closet to voice their views...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...834624f7794827

Sylvester Stallone: U.S. 'apologizes too much'

Actor says 'Expendables' does not have political agenda

By Paul Bond

Aug 20, 2010, 04:12 PM ET

"The Expendables"

What would John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart think of this?

Sylvester Stallone has been defending his movie "The Expendables" from the dastardly charge that the movie is... too American.

"I'm innocent. I didn't do nuttin," Stallone joked Thursday night on "The O'Reilly Factor."

Stallone was responding to an assertion in the Los Angeles Times that "Expendables" was exploiting patriotism in order to put American-made butts into movie theater seats.

All that pro-American schmaltz where right is right and wrong is wrong should be left to country music and Fox News, not Hollywood, suggests Steven Zeitchick in the Times article. He writes, "When times are confusing, we want movies to reflect that confusion, and even to make sense of it. But we probably don't want to pretend that confusion doesn't exist."

The article prompted host Bill O'Reilly to ask Stallone: "There's no, like, subtle promoting-America message to the people of Pakistan" in the movie?

Apparently not.

"It's pretty straight forward," Stallone said. "You're bad, you gotta go."

[QwOpHGyZ]

The DNC has no idea who their Alaska candidate is but it looks like he'll be going up against a tea-bagger...

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08...a-senate-race/

Lisa Murkowski Trails Joe Miller in Alaska Senate Race

Anti-incumbent fever apparently spread to Alaska, where Tea Party upstart and Sarah Palin favorite Joe Miller leads Sen. Lisa Murkowski by 2,000 votes in the Republican Senate primary, with 429 out of 438 precincts reporting.

Even after the full tally is in, the race could remain up in the air for some time, as the Alaska Division of Elections reported that just 7,600 of a requested 16,000 absentee ballots had been returned as of Monday night. The ballots that have been received won't be counted for another six days.

Miller, a Kansas-born war hero and West Point graduate, leads despite being outspent 20-1 by Murkowski, who was seeking her second full term. She was appointed to the seat in 2002 to succeed her father, Frank Murkowski, who went on to become governor.

The 43-year-old Miller has ridden a wave of Tea Party support while attacking the senator as a big-spending Washington insider. He got the backing of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a longtime Murkowski foe, who made last-minute robo-calls accusing the senator of voting "with the Democrats more than any Republican up for re-election this year."

Miller, should his lead hold, will face Democrat Scott McAdams in the November general election. McAdams, the mayor of Sitka, won the Democratic primary against Frank Vondersaar and Jacob Seth Kern.

[Frinzer]

http://www.adn.com/2010/08/25/142342...-in-early.html

Miller on verge of toppling Murkowski

By SEAN COCKERHAM and KYLE HOPKINS

Anchorage Daily News

Published: August 25th, 2010 06:37 AM
Last Modified: August 25th, 2010 03:16 PM

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is battling for her political life this morning against Republican primary challenger Joe Miller, the tea party-backed candidate who has a slim lead as ballots continue to be counted.

Miller, a Fairbanks attorney, led from when the first returns came in Tuesday night and was on the verge of pulling off one of the biggest election upsets ever in Alaska.

With 429 of 438 precincts counted this morning,, Miller had 45,909 votes (51 percent) to 43,949 (49 percent) for Murkowski.

Miller credited the support of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his lead.

"I'm absolutely certain that was pivotal," he said.

Read more: http://www.adn.com/2010/08/25/142342...#ixzz0xfnL4t00

[xanonlinexan]

You do realize that they're both significant Democratic contributors, right? Of course not.

CAAN, JAMES E
ENCINO, CA 91436
JEC PRODUCTIONS, INC./ACTOR/DIREC

CLINTON, HILLARY RODHAM
VIA FRIENDS OF HILLARY
04/04/2006 2100.00 26020480447
04/04/2006 2100.00 26020480447
Total Contributions: 4200.00 STALLONE, SYLVESTER
BEVERLY HILLS, CA 90210
ACTOR

BIDEN, JOSEPH R JR
VIA CITIZENS FOR BIDEN
02/02/2002 1000.00 22020231362
STALLONE, SYLVESTER
WOODLAND HILLS, CA 91367
ACTOR

BOXER, BARBARA
VIA FRIENDS OF BARBARA BOXER
02/28/2003 250.00 23020171684
STALLONE, SYLVESTER
WOODLAND HILLS, CA 91367
ROGUE MARBLE PRODUCTIONS

JONES, BILL
VIA BILL JONES FOR US SENATE
05/21/2004 2000.00 24020730107
Total Contributions: 3250.00

[casinobonuscxz]

This is the reality: No Senator or Congressperson reads the bills themselves. They have staffs of advisors that pore over them from a number of legal and other perspectives, and they assemble all that feedback into position papers that the legislator uses to determine their vote on the bill.

It's the same for every legislator. They receive bills that are hundreds of pages long with a vote scheduled for just a few days away, and often are voting on several a day. They read them through when they're dozens of pages long, but beyond that, they hand them off to staff.

[Staillateno]

While there is absolutely no proof of any wrongdoing by Imam Rauf, the same cannot be said about members of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Who are the true hypocrites, here?

President Barack Obama has declared that a group of moderate Muslims have the right to build a community center in lower Manhattan, two blocks from the site once occupied by the World Trade Center towers. Yet representatives of a wholly US government-funded outfit have joined the vociferous opposition to the Park51 or Cordoba House project that critics have dubbed the "Ground Zero Mosque." A leader of this group—which receives $4.3 million a year from the government—has even proclaimed that the community center could be a front for Islamic terrorism. That's not all: the same agency, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCRIF), has been the subject of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint for allegedly discriminating against Muslim employees.

The commission was created by Congress in 1998 to monitor religious freedom around the world and scold countries that aren't meeting religious freedom obligations outlined by international human rights treaties. Its sole source of funding is the US government; it is empowered to make recommendations to the president about policy decisions related to issues of religious freedom. Recently, the commission has decried Vietnam for its systemic violation of religious freedom and slammed China for its repression of Uighur Muslims. But leading conservative members of the commission have supported the opposition to the Cordoba House, essentially joining those who want to deny New York Muslims the freedom to build their religious and cultural center at this particular site.

In a recent piece for National Review Online, Nina Shea, one of USCIRF's nine commissioners (who are selected by the president and congressional leaders), wrote that instead of "a cultural center for all New Yorkers," the "mosque" project could be "a potential tool for Islamists"—suggesting it would be a hotbed of jihadism that, among other things, spreads the literature and ideas of Islamic extremism. She compared the leaders of the Cordoba House project to convicted terrorist Omar Abdel Rahman (the "blind Sheikh") and accused Fort Hood and Christmas Day bombing coordinator Anwar al-Awlaki. (Shea's piece, as of Monday, was no longer showing up on the NRO site.)

Shea, long an influential figure in neoconservative circles last appointed to the commission by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), is not the only commissioner of this religious freedom organization trying to block the Cordoba House project. Leonard Leo, the chairman of the commission and a top official in the conservative Federalist Society, is director of Liberty Central, a new tea party-related rightwing group organized by Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and Liberty Central has organized a petition campaign against the Cordoba House project. Moreover, Virginia Thomas is one of several conservative leaders participating in a 9/11 rally against the Cordoba House project, organized in part by anti-Islam activist/blogger Pam Geller, who runs an organization called Stop Islamization of America and who kick-started the "mosque" controversy. (Geller recently said that Obama has "sided with Islamic jihadists.") To break this down: the chairman of the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (Leonard Leo) is working closely with a conservative activist (Virginia Thomas) who is a featured speaker at an event being mounted by an outright anti-Islam group. [Regarding Thomas' participation in this rally, see the update below.]

And as TPM reported, Richard Land, another USCIRF commissioner and the influential president of the conservative Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, has opposed the project, comparing it to a (non-existent) Shinto shrine near Pearl Harbor and a (never-built) convent near Auschwitz. (Land says that the USCIRF itself is prohibited from intervening in domestic matters, but the commission has officially criticized a Saudi-run high school in Alexandria, Virginia.) http://motherjones.com/politics/2010...nd-zero-mosque

[IRYzouNv]

In my opinion, Senators and Congresspersons are like celebrity product endorsers. Celebrities who endorses products does so for one reason: money. The same can be said about Senators and Congresspersons.