Veni, Vidi, Vici

Thank you, Iowa! Pella represents the state beautifully & Iowa reflects America's good heart. Hard working optimistic heartlanders= love you -Sarah Palin


Posted by Patrick S. Adams

Sarah Palin came to Pella, IA yesterday and the love affair was mutual.

Despite not being a declared candidate for president, Governor Palin received more attention than any of the declared candidates when they appear in the state. There was a media swarm; and even many of those members of the press could not secure tickets for the screening of "The Undefeated." It's a testimony to her ability to draw people by the droves that there were so many who wanted to attend the screening and the barbecue which followed who were not be able to attend because of limited space and ticket availability. About 300 people attended the screening and around 1,000 attended the barbecue.

The Palin operation has become a grass roots movement of a large number of people who are organized and kept informed by those who became activists following her 2008 vice presidential run along with new activists who have joined the Palin movement since her resignation. Yes, that's right. Since resigning as governor, although Palin hit rock bottom in terms of polls and popularity shortly thereafter, more people have come to "have her back" now more so than ever before following a nearly three year slime fest by the mainstream media and the Republican establishment.

Palin's poll numbers still show lingering effects of a smear campaign that portrayed her as an evil intellectual lightweight bent on returning the world to the days of the dinosaurs. But, the task "The Undefeated" has undertaken to finish correcting the record is far less than that one would have imagined two years ago if looking ahead to 2012 from then. Palin remains a top tier candidate who would be competitive with the rest of the Republican field in the primaries should she choose to listen to the voices of the millions of people who are calling on her to run.

Her ability to do what she has done with her One Nation bus tour and to draw such high demand in Iowa is a testament to her strength and ability, particularly after having withstood a flood of politically motivated frivolous ethics complaints as governor of Alaska, being accused of the Arizona murders in a blood libel against her and after several hit books against her were published as the left sifted through 24,000 pages of emails looking for the gotcha one that didn't exist.

It’s not going to be easy to run for president. It will require a near perfect campaign on her part. But the biggest obstacle, the media, is finally falling on its face. The failure of the media’s email witch hunt (in fact, it helped Palin demonstrate how well she governed) and now the movie “The Undefeated” is the one-two punch to the media’s face that Palin supporters have been waiting for since the 2008 election.

The Sarah Palin sale is not one that requires selling her record. Her record stands for itself. The Sarah Palin sale is one that requires selling people on the fact that the media lies. Only when people stop listening to the media memes and bullcrap can the real sale of Sarah Palin begin. While "The Undefeated" does sell Palin's record, it does so in pursuit of the real sale: to prove once and for all that the media myth about Sarah Palin is an utter lie. Those who have participated in the sliming of Sarah Palin, especially well accredited journalists who have spent years building their integrity and gaining stature at their respective media outlets, ought to crawl away from the past three years humiliated, guilt ridden, disgraced and disgusted by their behavior. There is no difference between Journolist-gate and Weiner-gate. In both instances, some really morally inept people exposed themselves for what they really are.

The crystal ball in 2009 told us that 2012 might not happen for Palin. She could enter the race lower in the polls than expected and hinge her hopes of victory on a massive turning on the media by the public due to some unexpected event outside of her control. It was thought that her book tours, Fox News appearances and whatever movies and documentaries which would have been produced could enhance her chances in 2012; but many didn’t count on her being as effective as she has been, not because she wasn’t capable but because they believed that the media would still stop her cold.

Had this more challenging scenario played out, Palin supporters would still be fighting to the death for her and her chances of winning would still be enough to warrant entry into the race. However, the skies are much brighter now and the landscape much more navigable.

The key to all this was the constant pounding from the blogosphere and in conservative media in much the same fashion as the constant pounding against her was taking place on the left. The left got to put its bad thoughts into the minds of the public first; so it became the role of conservative bloggers, websites like Conservatives4Palin and the hundreds that are on the Palin blog roll, the Breitbart sites, talk radio and conservative talk show hosts and pundits on Fox News to flood the minds of American voters with as much or more positive information so as to offset and overcome what was being put out in the negative.

The task was akin to flushing out hundreds of millions of gallons of bad water in a lake by displacing it with hundreds of millions of gallons of good water. Those who understand the concept of how people are able to self improve by putting enough positive thoughts into their heads so as to flush out the negative ones can see how this tactic has worked so well for those on the Palin side. If you are reading this post now, chances are you are one of the many Palin supporters who have been willing to fight to the death for her and who have stuck this thing out through thick and thin. For that, you deserve high praise and a never ending river of compliments.

Yet the one who has astounded all of us the most is the (potential) candidate herself. Sarah Palin has worked harder than anyone ever has in three years to prepare herself for the presidency. In many ways, she has single handedly carried out all of the required tactics laid out by this conservative blogger and many like me. She has infiltrated the media by getting an analyst job with Fox News. She has infiltrated the pop culture by appearing on The Tonight Show (remember her all in good fun take down of William Shatner after which they both walked off stage arm in arm after mocking each other?), by supporting her daughter Bristol’s participation in Dancing With the Stars and by producing the wildly popular Sarah Palin's Alaska television series. She has infiltrated the intelligentsia's minds by writing two books, giving substance laced speeches to specialty groups and by penning op-eds which took on global climate change and health care reform.

While her online army, the Media Research Center and Andrew Breitbart among others were clanging swords constantly day after day with the loony left who were just making things up and discarding their journalistic integrity in the name of saving their socialist destruction of America from being thwarted by Governor Palin, Palin herself led the charge from her Facebook and Twitter pages. She was revered by those followers posting on their blogs, tweeting, debunking myths and taking on fire from the haters because she would join them in their battles, riding in like Xena the warrior princess to settle online clashes that had been going on for days in minutes.

Her army certainly had her back for sure; but she is their leader who fights from the front and has never been known to leave one Palinista behind wounded on the battlefield unattended. She has done the work. She is a model of success. Leaders never ask their people to do anything they wouldn't do. Leaders never show hurt, doubt or fear. Leaders make lemons out of lemonade. They think outside the box. Failure is never final, but rather knowledge gained without having to pay tuition. Those who overcome great adversity often go on to be successful. Sarah Palin is all of this and more. As such, she is the most qualified person in America today to take on the presidency.


Listen to Patrick's World USA on Blogtalk Radio every Wednesday night at 11:00 pm ET, 8:00 pm PT for some great talk about the role Sarah Palin is playing in the conservative movement toward taking back our country. Tonight's guests are Whitney Pitcher from Conservatives4Palin and Jackie Siciliano from Team Sarah.

Patrick's World

Sarah Palin: Still the GOP’s Biggest Star

By Craig Robinson

Pella took center stage as Sarah Palin made a visit to the community of 10,000 to view a new documentary about her political life, “The Undefeated.” Below are my thoughts about what took place there yesterday.

The Setting

The setting couldn’t have been more perfect. The City of Pella is worth a visit at any time of year, especially in the early spring when its millions of tulips are bloom. But even after the tulips are gone, the vibrant city known for its Dutch heritage still impresses those who stop in the southern Iowa town.

The heart of the city is populated with locally owned stores. There isn’t a big box store in sight of the downtown. Instead of cars being lined up at a Starbucks, people grab their coffee at Smokey Row. People travel from near and far to get Dutch letters and baked goods from the Jaarsma Bakery. If sweets and baked goods are not your forte, there is always Ulrich’s Meat Market.

Pella was the perfect setting to unveil the new Palin documentary, The Undefeated, because, in many ways, it could be said that the community of Pella is undefeated. While many parts of the state are dealing with high unemployment, Marion County, which includes Pella, has seen its unemployment rate dropped from 7.3 percent in January to 5.7 percent in May, which is below the state average.

The community, which has 2400 more registered Republicans than Democrats, embraced the movie premier and Palin visit. The day before her visit, the movie producer and other advance staff could be heard laughing throughout the downtown with public safety officials. As always, the community of Pella put its best foot forward as the spotlight shined upon its picturesque city.

The Movie

Last week, I talked to a member of the media who had seen a preview of “The Undefeated” and was unimpressed. Most of the complaints were technical in nature.

They were also offended by the unrated version’s language that opens the movie. The movie begins showing the vicious attacks on Palin, most of them from the liberal elite from Hollywood. The version shown in Pella was lightly toned down with the offending curse words being bleeped out, but the effect of displaying the vitriol this woman faced, mostly just for the fact that she’s a conservative woman, was still shocking and a bit overwhelming to watch.

My initial thought while watching the movies was, where was this three years ago when Palin was on the Republican presidential ticket? The movie does an excellent job of telling the story of Palin’s political career, the odds she faced, the victories she achieved, and the price that she ultimately paid.

After watching the film, you come away with a better understanding of what Palin did in Alaska that thrust her into the national spotlight. The documentary showcases the victories she achieved in the first 20 months as governor. Then it shows how, after being demonized by the liberal left, she was no longer able to accomplish anything.

The movie helps to reintroduce Palin after having been made into a punching bag for the media and anyone else who is threatened by her presence in American politics. As the movie closes, it pushes the possibility that a Palin candidacy could be eminent. If she did run, that means Palin could give people a movie while other candidates hand out books.

The crowd was electric inside the Pella Opera House during the movie. Those in attendance didn’t just sit back and watch the movie, they participated in it by clapping and cheering throughout.

The Star

Palin was amazing in Pella yesterday. As she and Todd made their way though various shops in the downtown area, onlookers would stop to say hello, ask to take a photo, or get an autograph. Palin took it all in stride. Even though she is a huge media sensation, she is somehow able to remain grounded. Nothing illustrated that more than the bug splattered Chevy Malibu that they drove to Pella.

The media couldn’t help but try and compare Palin to Michele Bachmann, who officially launched her presidential campaign on Monday. They both connect to people, and both have star power, but having seem them both in Iowa in the span of 24 hours, it’s clear that Palin will always be the original female GOP star.

That’s not an insult toward Bachmann, but Palin’s star shines brighter.

I thought it was pretty remarkable that Palin, who is a national political phenomenon, came to this small Iowa town, strolled through the town square, watched a two-hour movie with 300 plus locals, and then spent several hours meeting people and shaking hands at the cook out that followed the movie premier. The people just flocked to her in Pella last night, and she handled it all with grace.

Palin must have posed for a thousand photographs last night. In addition, she also autographed hundreds of books, tickets, and even a baseball. While she could have left at any time, she patiently worked through the crowd until she hit the door of her car. The crowd loved her. Nobody went home disappointed.

Photos by Dave Davidson

 The Iowa Republican

The Arizona Fires and the Border

June 30, 2011
By Elise Cooper

The three recent fires in Southern Arizona once again bring the issue of border security to the forefront.  

These fires are an exemplary example of how the border is not secure.  Experts and residents in the area interviewed by American Thinker are in complete agreement that all of these fires were set by people and that at least one, possibly all of the fires, were started by illegal immigrants. 

These fires destroyed at least 60 homes, burned a great deal of acreage, and the havoc created will continue once the monsoon rains arrive, bringing with them the fear of massive flooding.  A resident of the area was very grateful that no one died in this disaster; yet, cannot put into words how people's lives are devastated: losing their shelter, livelihood, belongings, and memories.

There is not only widespread speculation but some evidence that illegal immigrants are the cause of the fires.  Tucson Border Patrol agents have confirmed to American Thinker that an illegal immigrant started one of the fires, the Murphy Fire, as a distress signal.  He was probably smuggling illegals into the United States and they were overcome by the heat.  He was arrested and while interviewed by the Fire Marshal admitted guilt.  

However, officials decided not to prosecute him and he will probably be deported to Mexico. 

There is strong circumstantial evidence that another fire in Southern Arizona, the Monument Fire, was also started by illegals.  A resident, Mary Ann Black felt that the drug and human smugglers light the fires "in one spot where everyone runs to, busting their tails, trying to put it out.  Then they move their operation down further.  I am certain that this is a new tactic.  This new tactic really hurts us, is easy to do, and is free for them."  The Tucson Border Patrol Agents agreed that fires have been started for deception tactics because "everyone goes to that area initially, which leaves a hole in the line.  The enemies we are dealing with are not stupid.  They are going to use any method to distract us."  The Sheriff of Cochise County in Arizona, Larry Dever, feels that anyone who connects the dots will realize that the fires were started by illegals considering the history; the rugged, mountainous landscape; and the continuous smuggling activity in that area.  

Furthermore, Dever wanted everyone to understand that the National Park and National Forest were closed to the public several days before the fire started and "the area is widely known in law enforcement circles as a high intensity, drug smuggling corridor.  Anyone that lives in this area knows that the only people that use the trails are illegal immigrants. In the Park there is a sign warning visitors that there is a prevalence of drug smugglers in the area. Since there is a strong probability that the fire was started by smugglers Americans should understand that the border is not safe. This does not fit the Obama's Administration paradigm."

Why is the Obama Administration mute on this issue?  Congresswoman Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) in a private plane observed the devastation of the fires while the President did not.  It appears to all interviewed that the President did not want to backtrack on his statements made regarding border security in May of this year. 
Border security should be a bipartisan issue.  In August, 2010 Giffords stated that "for my district, which represents the Tucson sector, last year we had over 240,000 illegal immigrants, that's over 660 every day, apprehended in the Tucson sector, 1.2 million pounds of drugs...I think there's a lot of ping-ponging, a lot of political gamesmanship...And frankly, the administration didn't elect me, my constituents elected me, and I'm going to do what's right for my constituents."  Just recently Senator John McCain (R-AZ) was criticized for saying, "There is substantial evidence that some of these fires have been caused by people who have crossed our border illegally.  The answer to that part of the problem is to get a secure border."  Currently Senators McCain and John Kyl (R-AZ) are requesting that the GAO (Government Accountability Office) examine how illegal immigrants have possibly caused the Arizona wildfires over the last five years.

Arizona Representative Peggy Judd (R) pointed out that the US Forest Service sent out to the firefighters a safety alert that stated that "[t]here is a real possibility firefighters will encounter illegal immigrants or drug smugglers...These coyotes are engaged in illegal activities, could be armed, and don't want to be caught.  An encounter with these individuals poses a threat to personal safety...this area is deemed a high intensity drug trafficking area.  Drug smugglers are moving large quantities of drugs across Federal lands...Drug smugglers are always considered potentially violent...Arson fires are being started to divert attention from illegal activities happening nearby."  Judd also believes that past fires have been started to ruin the surveillance equipment and to burn the ground sensors.

Those living in the area are angry and upset and want Americans to understand, as stated by a rancher on the border, that "[t]he American public is getting raped by the administration.  Because it is politically incorrect, they will never say that the fires were started by illegals."  John Ladd, a rancher whose best friend lost his house, believes that "these fires are perfect examples of the way this border is controlled.  There is no rocket science to determine who started this."  Another resident, Sandy Kunzer, compares fighting these large fires to fighting a war.  Arizona Representative John Kavanagh (R) agrees with Kunzer and further points out that "[i]f it were a bomb we would call it an act of terrorism.  These people are here illegally causing major damage to Americans which shows that it is a homeland security issue."

Mr. President, instead of going to El Paso, Texas to make an immigration speech with hyperbolic language, maybe you should go to the Arizona border and listen to what Congresswoman Giffords has said in the past and what Senators McCain and Kyl, the border residents, and the Arizona representatives are currently stating.  How many more fires have to be started and how much devastation has to occur before you realize the border is far from secure?  As a matter of fact, Representative Kavanagh is willing to take you up on your offer and will be introducing a bill to enter in a contract with Florida to exchange helomonsters (lizards) for Florida alligators to put in the moat you suggested since you seem to be turning a deaf ear and a blind eye to the reality of border security.

American Thinker

American Leftism: An Infantile Disorder

June 30, 2011
By Victor Volsky

In his fascinating essay "The Metaphysics of Contemporary Theft" describing the rising tide of parasitism engulfing the U.S., Victor Davis Hanson suggests that the Obama Administration only pretends to want to destroy the American way of life so as not to deprive itself of its source of sustenance:

Its real goal is a sort of parasitism that assumes the survivability of the enfeebled host. That does not mean it has not done a lot of damage and will not do even more in the next two years; only that it never quite wanted to see cap and trade legislation enacted, blanket amnesty, Guantanamo shut down, or Predators ended; these were simply crude slurs by which to demonize Bush, ways of acquiring power and influence, but not a workable plan of living. Note that Obama is now zealous on just those issues which he could have easily rammed through his Democratically controlled congress in 2009-10 when he had large majorities, such as amnesty and cap and trade.

I yield to no one in my admiration for Victor Davis Hanson, but with all due respect I beg to disagree with him on this one point.  I am convinced that the radical left, whether Barack Obama is its actual leader or a mere figurehead, has been quite serious in its desire to build a socialist paradise out of "Amerika," as they like to call the country that has provided them with a very comfortable living.  They came to power brimming with confidence and burning with impatience to get down to work.  And if they failed it was not for lack of desire. 

 They just didn't know how to go about it.

Any parent who has ever argued with his teen offspring bursting into intellectual puberty and proudly brandishing his brand new radicalism vividly remembers these telltale signs of overweening immaturity: the know-it-all arrogance, the boundless self-referential conceit, the grandiosity of pronouncements, the blanket rejection of the ugly present in favor of an unknown -- but no doubt glorious -- future, the powerful destructive impulses, the vagueness as to what's to be done once the destruction is complete.  All of these bespeak a teenager blaming his pimples on the unjust world and vowing cosmic vengeance.

But they also fit to a tee a leftist intellectual raging at the "system" whose true sin consists of not recognizing the critic's superiority and refusing to hand him the reins of power.  For the leftist idea is profoundly infantile.  I have a formidable authority to support my contention: none other than V.I. Lenin who castigated his opponents on the left in a 1920 book called "Left-Wing Communism": an Infantile Disorder.  A ruthless pragmatist who candidly acknowledged that power is the overriding issue of the revolution, the Bolshevik leader attacked proponents of "pure" Marxism -- what would later be called "left communism."

The self-styled "revolutionaries" are predominantly liberal arts graduates and radical lawyers endowed with the gift of gab and a large stock of "progressive" catchphrases that roll off their tongues with effortless ease, like water off a duck's back.  As the years fly by, the revolutionaries may age physically; but spiritually and emotionally they stay stuck in a time warp.  These perpetual adolescents form a herd of independent minds (in Harold Rosenberg's felicitous bon mot), a mutual admiration society where they spend their time endlessly marveling at their own vast erudition, lofty sentiments, and noble intentions.  They talk and talk and talk...and then talk some more.  For it is the only thing they are able and willing to do.  But it would be a mistake to think that they view their bull sessions as a sort of parlor game.  They are dead serious.

It takes a truly diabolical personality to stand aloof of mankind, watching in grim amusement as it plays out the drama of its tragic destiny, and manipulating human passions like a puppeteer for the lonely joy of relishing one's superiority.  Saul Alinsky, who dedicated his Rules for Radicals to Satan, may have been that kind of man.  But it's too much to expect the same level of demonic self-consciousness from a garden-variety radical. 

 He is fully committed to his revolutionary ideas, he never tires of boasting of the steep ramparts he will scale and the Herculean feats he will perform when power is finally his.  But when an opportunity does present itself, he just doesn't know what to do with it.  Because he is a talker, not a doer; a bungler, not an achiever. 

 He can only destroy; building is beyond his ken.

I believe that Obama and his cohorts grabbed the levers of power fully intending to redo America in accordance with the socialist blueprint and firmly believing that their economic plans would indeed bring prosperity as well as social justice.  Indeed, why wouldn't they be certain of success?  After all, weren't they the most educated, the smartest, and the noblest of human beings?  Haven't they read and assimilated the most abstruse works of the prophets of progress?  That's why they pushed the stimulus package, which they confidently expected to revive the moribund economy while bringing immediate gratification to themselves and their allies.

They probably would have been smarter to push for an immigration reform first.  It's almost a given that flush with his electoral success Barack Obama could easily score a legislative victory that in all likelihood would have brought a slew of southwestern states into the Democratic fold, permanently refashioning the political landscape.  Instead the new rulers succumbed to their greedy impulses.  They just couldn't keep their hands off that nearly trillion-dollar piñata and miss the chance to reward themselves and their allies with all the goodies they had coveted, lo all those long years.  But they also believed their plan would work.  Otherwise they wouldn't have staked much of their political capital on that roll of the dice.  

So confident were they that when the stimulus failed to revive the economy, they refused to believe the bad news.  To own up to their defeat would have been tantamount to a betrayal of their cherished creed and, worse still, an acknowledgement that their adversaries, those benighted "knuckle-draggers," were right -- an intolerable affront to their self-esteem.  And so, even in the teeth of a looming electoral disaster, they continue talking of more of the same: more Keynesian stimulus, more money-printing, more "greening" of the economy, more taxes.  In short, they are prepared to double down on the failed plan which works like a charm in a progressive's dream, but never in the real world.

They have no idea how the economy actually works. They truly believe that government spending is a route to prosperity, that heavily subsidized "green energy" is efficient, that unemployment benefits boost economic growth.  But for all the absurdity of their ideas, they don't feign ignorance -- they are genuine economic innocents.  And when President Obama blames persistent unemployment on ATMs and airport kiosks, I have little doubt that he is blithely sincere in his Luddite, pre-Marxist worldview.

The Russian philosopher Georgy Fedotov described the leftist intelligentsia as "a special group of people notable for the idealism of their commitments and the vacuity of their ideas."  Truer words have rarely been spoken.

Obama's personnel policy clearly shows the seriousness of his transformational urges.  Other than Bob Gates, a relic of the previous administration probably kept as Secretary of Defense as a sop to the Pentagon in the midst of a couple of ongoing wars, and Hillary Clinton, offered the plum position of Secretary of State to neutralize her as a possible presidential rival in 2012, just about all other appointees of the new president were his loyal comrades-in-arms and rabid progressives.  Even more telling are his "czars," a few dozen (nobody knows the exact figure) policy-makers who required no confirmation by the Senate and are thus able to operate in the shadows; these are the out-and-out radicals.

As for Obama's sybaritic inclinations shared by his cohorts, living in the lap of luxury is no evidence of conservatism.  Revolutionaries everywhere have always managed to combine radical rhetoric with inordinately expensive tastes (the few ascetic fanatics like Robespierre are the exceptions that prove the rule).  The Bolshevik leaders hastened to divvy up the palaces of the highest Russian nobility; did it dilute their revolutionary zealotry?  During the terrible winter of 1918 in St. Petersburg, as the population of the city starved and froze, dying by the thousands, Larissa Reissner, the Madame Defarge of the Bolshevik Revolution, took champagne baths; did she believe that such an extravagance marred the purity of her revolutionary robes?  To the contrary: "That's what we fought for, didn't we?" she opined with touching candor.  Michelle Obama, who combines an awful taste in clothes with the enormousness and extreme costliness of her wardrobe, would doubtless agree with the Russian revolutionary if she had an inkling of her existence.

American Thinker

Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan: Any Muslim Who Refuses to Pray Is an Infidel, and Must Be Killed

Posted by Al Mutarjim Jun 30th 2011 at 3:06 pm in Islam, Islamic extremism, Middle East, saudi arabia, sharia

Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan, a member of the Saudi Council of Senior Scholars, explains in this short fatwa that any Muslim who refuses to pray has become an infidel, and therefore must be killed. This fatwa was originally published in audio format on al-Fawzan’s website some time ago, but was recently published in a video on YouTube, and was later picked up by Arabic-language news sites, such as al-Arabiya.The subtitled video is above, transcript is below:

This questioner says, “Your Eminence,” he says, “I have a colleague at work who doesn’t pray. I admonished him, but he didn’t respond. I informed the one in authority over us, and told him, ‘He is afraid of being transferred. Admonish him to pray, and threaten to transfer him.’ My colleague then became angry with me. Here’s my question: Is what I did wrong? What is my duty in this situation?”

He who does not pray is not a Muslim, owing to the saying of Muhammad (PBUH): “(The difference) between worship (of Allah), and infidelity and polytheism, is failing to pray.” He also said (PBUH): “The covenant that is between us and them is prayer, and whoever neglects this has become an infidel.” There are numerous evidences in the Qur’an and Sunnah for the fact that he who fails to pray is an infidel. It is not enough for this man to be transferred, but he must be fired from the job. And if he doesn’t repent to Allah and keep his prayers, then he must be killed. He must be called on to repent, but if he doesn’t repent, then he is killed.

What you have done with him was your duty, from the counsel and admonition of Allah. If he does not accept (the admonition), and insists on abstaining from praying, then he must be killed.

It is not enough for him to be transferred from his job, for merely employing him is wrong. It is not permissible for an infidel to be in charge of the doings of Muslims, because he will be an example to others.

Big Peace

Union Geniuses: Use Beleaguered Pension Funds to Finance Real Estate Rehab!

by Kyle Olson 

For the last several months, pension managers, school districts and public officials have been howling about the alarming state of employee pension funds.  They tell us pension systems are dangerously underfunded and taxpayers are on the hook for potentially billions of dollars to make them whole.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey was even floating a bill that would make the federal government the backstop for pension funds – essentially committing to a bailout if the funds ran dry.

Rich Trumka and Randi Weingarten smell an opportunity!

But the brain trust at the AFL-CIO and American Federation of Teachers have come up with a new idea: let’s use the billions of pension dollars set aside for union retirees to fund real estate development.

In other words, they want to use massive sums of money sitting in a (albeit evil) bank somewhere to put union members back to work on construction projects. This from people who said former President George W. Bush was crazy for proposing the investment of Social Security funds into the stock market.

Has Rich Trumka or Randi Weingarten looked at the real estate market lately?  It’s kind of not good.


From the New York Times:

“Richard L. Trumka, president of the labor federation, will present the plan at a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in Chicago as part of organized labor’s effort to get the federal government, banks and money managers to do more to issue bonds or create other mechanisms to finance infrastructure projects.

“A.F.L.-C.I.O. officials said they planned to work with Deutsche Bank and other financial institutions in the hope of coming up with hundreds of millions of dollars to retrofit large commercial buildings. Many building owners are hesitating to do such retrofits because they are highly leveraged and do not have the cash to make the investments. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. hopes its $10 billion will provide an incentive for banks and hedge funds to develop financing vehicles to make such projects happen.”

What happens if the real estate investments go south?  Who pays to make sure Mrs. Jones and Mr. Anderson collect their full pensions on schedule?  Trumka and Weingarten?  Their members?  Of course not.  These folks have a long history of seeking bailouts from Congress when something goes wrong.

Pension funds should not be treated like union piggy banks, unless the unions want to accept the responsibility of replacing the money if the investments turn sour.  Taxpayers should not be left holding the bag for a foolish self-serving union financial strategy.

Big Government

Progressive Media Narrative Unravels in Prosser vs. Bradley

Posted by RB Jun 30th 2011 at 4:58 am in Democrats/progressives, Featured Story, Media Matters, New Media, Soros, media bias

New details are coming to light regarding the incident between Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices David Prosser and Ann Walsh Bradley. The investigations are still being conducted, but if the news out of NationalReview.com is accurate, some Leftist smear merchants might want to start drafting corrections (and maybe even apologies).

According to one witness, Bradley charged toward Prosser, shaking her clenched fist in his face.

Another source says they were “literally nose to nose.” Prosser then put his hands up to push her away. As one source pointed out, if a man wants to push a woman who is facing him, he wouldn’t push her in the chest (unless he wants to face an entirely different criminal charge).

Consequently, Prosser put his hands on Bradley’s shoulders to push her away, and in doing so, made contact with her neck.

At that moment, another justice approached Bradley from behind and pulled her away from Prosser, saying, “Stop it, Ann, this isn’t like you.” Bradley then shouted, “I was choked!”

Another justice present replied, “You were not choked.” In a statement following the incident, Bradley maintained Prosser “put his hands around my neck in anger in a chokehold.”

As previously noted, CrooksandLiars.com blogger, Karoli, couldn’t “imagine” how Prosser’s hands could wind up near Bradley’s neck. Can she can “imagine” it now? Is Eric Boehlert reconsidering his position given the new information? Or is he going to pretend there’s only one possible scenario and continue to attack anyone who doesn’t follow along?

But wait! There’s more:

On Monday night, Bradley called Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs to talk to him about the incident. On the morning of Wednesday, June 15, Tubbs joined the justices in a closed-door meeting, where he discussed “issues relating to workplace violence.”During the meeting, Chief Justice Abrahamson actually reenacted the incident on Chief Tubbs — no doubt an amusing sight, as the diminutive Abrahamson mimicked choking the tall, portly police chief. During her demonstration, Abrahamson emphasized that Prosser had exerted “pressure” on Bradley’s throat.

“There was no pressure,” interrupted the justice who had initially broken up the incident between Bradley and Prosser. “That’s only because you broke us apart,” shot back Bradley. This exchange led several meeting attendees to believe Bradley was making up the charge, as they took her rejoinder as an admission that there was no pressure applied to her neck.

You read that correctly. A fellow Justice (unnamed) refuted Bradley’s claim, to her face, in front of the Capitol Police Chief, and she basically admitted there was no pressure applied to her neck because “you broke us apart.”


Basically, her position is now: “He would have choked me if someone hadn’t broken us apart.” Of course, those who really hope Bradley isn’t making things up will completely ignore that in order to “break” anyone apart, there had to be something to “break” apart. Ignoring this fact is critical or they can’t also ignore that Prosser has claimed he was reacting to Bradley getting all up in his kitchen. The smear merchants have to protect the narrative – Prosser assaulted Bradley. Facts like the ones above do not move that narrative forward therefore they are dismissed.

To sum up:

• Bradley approached Prosser and was nose to nose with him while shaking a clenched fist at him.
• When Prosser reacted to her threatening posture, Bradley claimed she was choked.
• A fellow Justice (or two) has twice stated Bradley wasn’t choked – once at the time of the altercation, and another during the re-enactment in front of the Capitol Police Chief.

Speculation: When this is over, Bradley is probably going to be forced to resign.
We will continue to monitor the news for anything new. Stay tuned …

Big Journalism

Navy Seal Team 6

 This is well worth your read. Take special note of the 2008 vs. 2011 quotes at the end. 

 

Navy Seal Team 6...........

This is what the Navy Seal team looked like when they went in to get Bin Laden.

A couple of things to notice:

50 caliber sniper on the right.

Knee, knuckle and forearm protection.

Various plastic/wire ties.

Absolute identity denial to protect their families.

Free choice of footwear.

Fourth from the right has three artillery simulators and CS gas grenades On his belly.  He's the 'shock and awe' guy.

Group Photo of Seal Team Six, . . .. . . . .
and you can imagine the look on Bin Laden's face when these guys came through the door?

Click on image to enlarge.

Let's be clear on this: OBAMA did NOT kill Bin Laden. An American sailor, who Obama, just a few weeks ago, was debating on whether or not to PAY, did.  In fact, if you remember a little less than two years ago, his administration actually charged and attempted to court-martial 3 Navy Seals from Seal Team Six, when a terrorist suspect they captured, complained they had punched him during the take down and bloodied his nose. His administration further commented how brutal they were. The left were calling them Nazi's and Baby Killers. Now all of a sudden, the very brave men they vilified are now heroes when they make his administration look good in the eyes of the public. Obama just happened to be the one in office when the CIA finally found the b...... And our sailors took him out. Essentially, Obama only gave an answer. Yes or No, to him being taken out. This is NOT an Obama victory, but an AMERICAN victory!! Forward on IF YOU AGREE!!" 

 Ed Schreiber Col. USMC (Ret.)
"Semper Fi"

OBAMA'S  OWN  WORDS TRAP HIM:

2008:  "Navy Seal Team 6 is Cheney's private assassination team."
2011:  "I put together Seal Team 6 to take out Bin Laden."
  
2008:  "Bin Laden is innocent until proven guilty, and must be captured alive and given a fair trial."
2011:  "I authorized Seal Team 6 to kill Bin Laden."
  
2008:   " Guantanamo is entirely unnecessary, and the detainees should not be interrogated."
2011:   "Vital intelligence was obtained from Guantanamo detainees that led to our locating Bin Laden."

SOME  PEOPLE  CARE ABOUT THE TRUTH!

Sarah Palin addresses crowd in Pella after movie debut

The Right Scoop

Sarah Palin's man in Iowa says she will run for the White House in 2012

By Toby Harnden US politics Last updated: June 29th, 2011

Peter Singleton, Sarah Palin's man in Iowa. Photo: Wall Street Journal

 Sarah Palin will run for the White House in 2012 and conduct an “unorthodox, grassroots campaign the likes of which you’ve never seen”, according to the man who has spent the past eight months organising for her in Iowa.

Speaking to me after the premiere of the film “The Undefeated” in Pella, Iowa, Peter Singleton, a California lawyer who has been assiduously courting Republicans across the state where the first contest of the 2012 election will be held, said it was “unthinkable” she would remain on the sidelines.

“She’s the right person at this time,” he said. “If you look back at Churchill’s time, in 1938 Churchill was unelectable, in 1940 he was indispensable.

“I can’t see her sitting this one out,” he said. “The stakes are too high. It goes back to 1940. Can you see Churchill sitting it out? It’s unthinkable. Can you see George Washington in 1776 sitting it out? Unthinkable. He wanted to be back on his farm but they said we need you to be president of the republic.”

Mr Singleton, 56, tall and urbane, is a man of considerable mystery. He represents the national Organize4Palin group and has been ubiquitous in Republicans circles building up a network for the former Alaska governor, whose presidential intentions have kept Americans guessing for months.

Although he was standing about 20 yards away from Mrs Palin as he talked to me, Mr Singleton insisted he had never met or spoken to her.

This stance, which he has maintained assiduously since he began working on organising a Palin 2012 campaign in Iowa last November following a scouting trip four months earlier, is something that some senior Iowa Republicans do not take at face value.

A film poster outside the Pella Opera House. Photo: Toby Harnden

A film poster outside the Pella Opera House. Photo: Toby Harnden

It was Mr Singleton who telephoned Beth Hill, director of the Pella Opera House, last Thursday to ask her whether “The Undefeated”, a full-throated defence of Mrs Palin and her career, could be shown there. He then visited to look at the auditorium and put Stephen Bannon, the film’s director on the phone to speak to her.

“Peter came here and he found our town reflected Sarah Palin’s small town, conservative values,” she said. Mr Singleton was also instrumental in distributing the 332 tickets for the film as well as inviting 1,000 Iowans, including many key Republican leaders in the state, for a barbecue afterwards.

When I asked about his involvement, Mr Singleton said that he was an old friend of Mr Bannon and he had been just one of ” a bunch of people” who had helped set up the screening.
Pella, with a population of some 10,500, was founded by Dutch immigrants seeking freedom from religious persecution. As well as being famous for the window company that bears its name, the town boasts the oldest working windmill in the United States and an annual tulip festival. There is a town ordinance that stipulates that all buildings should have traditional Dutch facades.

Seymour Vander Schaaf, 70, the theatre pipe organist, who performed before the film, said: “This is a conservative community. Swimming pools weren’t even open on Sunday for many, many years. If you run a lawnmower on a Sunday, you’ll probably have a church member come and ask you whether that is the thing to do.

“They break their damn fool neck trying to get the town to pay bills. They don’t want to have debt. It’s important to get bills paid as quickly as possible and save. The ethic is work hard and provide for your family.

Those are values that have huge, long-range implications.
“We’ve lost a bit of them over the years and we need to get it back because we’re at a critical tipping point.

 With the debt, we’ve got a damn monster on our hands.”

Asked by a Fox News reporter before the film about whether she would run in 2012, Mrs Palin responded: “It’s a tough decision, it’s a big decision to decide whether to run for office or not. I’m still contemplating….I am still thinking about the decision and you know a lot goes into such a life-changing, relatively earth-shattering type of decision and still thinking about it.”

Earlier in the day, it had been reported that her eldest daughter Bristol had said Mrs Palin had made a decision about whether or not to run. Mrs Palin laughed about this and said: “I texted Bristol, I said, ‘Honey what did you say this morning on some news programme.

“She said, ‘Oh, mom, you’ve got to watch the interview. You know how they take everything out of context.’ I said, ‘You remember Bristol what we talk about on the fishing boat stays on the fishing boat’. I don’t know what she said.”

After the film, Mrs Palin and her husband Todd were mobbed by hundreds of supporters amid shots of “your record is golden”, when’s the sequel” and “we need you in the White House, Sarah”.

Sarah Palin talks to supporters after the film. Photo: Toby Harnden

Asked about the movie as she signed autographs and posed for picture, she said that there was “vindication in it” but “beyond the vindication of my record personally and my team’s record it is a wonderful story about American values”.

It went some way, she added, to presenting the reality of her time as Alaska governor and her life. “There are so many false narratives out there about Todd about our kids, about my record, about my team that has worked so hard together that there is never going to be a way to absolutely set the record straight.”
Mr Singleton also spoke about narratives that were incorrect. “The narratives are: she’s not running; she’s about to endorse another candidate;  it’s too late for her to get in; she’s going to run as a celebrity candidate; she’s  got no support here; support is attenuated; she’s yesterday’s news,” he said. “All that is comically inaccurate.”

Mrs Palin, he said, would work to connect with Iowans. “Her support is latent. When she runs, whether she wins or loses will be dependent in part on how well she campaigns.

“It’s not like all she has to do is announce and then do a couple of rallies. It doesn’t work and way and it shouldn’t . She will need to work diligently and campaign. Her people are going to have to campaign in every town and every county. That’s what we’re doing.”

For her part, Mrs Palin told RealClearPolitics that she would commit “110 percent” to the Iowa caucus process if she does run for president.

Mr Singleton predicted Mrs Palin “will have hundreds of thousands of volunteers, 10 times more than any other candidate and I think that’s why she’ll win”.

There was still time, he insisted, for her to enter the race, currently being led by Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann. “It’s not too late. Would I like her to be here campaigning? Oh sure. But am i worried that the window has closed? No.

“The race is wide open. She has a lot of support. I can tell you that because I’ve got field data. I’m part of a team that’s out there all the time.”

Mr Singleton declined to say how many Palin volunteers there were in Iowa but other Republicans said that there were scores, perhaps more than 100, across the state. In time, he said, he expected that “lots of our volunteers now will fold into her campaign in some capacity”.

Todd Palin obliges with a picture of his wife and a supporter. Photo: Toby Harnden

The Telegraph

The Un-American American President

June 29, 2011

By Jay Clarke


Something is wrong with Barack Obama.  We all know it.  We all see it.  When he speaks about America, Americans cringe.  There is a strangeness to his manner, an unease when he talks about America.  He appears awkward and uncomfortable.  His speech seems performed and practiced yet, oddly halting.  It's reminiscent of American POW's in Vietnam or Iraq reading a forced confession.  His eyes, expressions, and vocal tone are disconnected from his words.  The words themselves often sound American, but the delivery is clinical and detached.  His attempts at patriotic sentiment ring hollow and phony.  "Once again, with feeling!" is how Americans are left feeling.  He just doesn't seem right.  He doesn't seem like, well...one of us.  

Before anyone "goes there" and makes accusations of racism, this is about a pervasive, nagging, national perception that Barack Obama does not intuitively understand or appreciate America or Americans.  Not our past.  Not our present or future.  He just doesn't act or sound like an American.  In fact, there are good reasons and ample evidence for why.

For many of us, "being an American" was a normal part of our collective upbringing.  We learned it in school.  

We said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning right alongside our teachers.  Even in liberal Southern California the day began with the Pledge often followed by singing "God Bless America" or "America the Beautiful."  Annual "Flag Ceremonies" were held with quotations from the Declaration of Independence and patriotic songs performed by the student body, in public, for parents and passersby to enjoy.  There were even songs that mentioned God.  Christmas was celebrated, in school.  It was understood that God was integral to the founding of America and that The Creator was the true source of our liberties.  Schools reinforced parental authority, being a good citizen, and responsibility to God.  Religion was never preached or taught, but it was also never denigrated and never censored.

Public school teachers and administrators modeled patriotism for their students.  It was part of growing up in America.  Honoring America.  Being an American.  The 4^th of July was a community celebration.  We stood with parents, neighbors, and friends and together celebrated America.  We learned early on to revere the Stars and Stripes.  The Flag was sacred.  Many of our fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and brothers had fought for it in wars past and were fighting for it in Vietnam.  Many had died and would die for the American Flag and the people and ideals it represented.  We saw the sacrifices on the nightly news with continual pictures of dead American soldiers and the daily "body count" recited.  

From the World War II Generation to those who lived and fought through Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan today's Americans are those who know, all too well, the price of freedom.  Our children and grandchildren witnessed the attacks of September 11, 2001.  The memory of distraught parents, difficult dinnertime conversations, and the ensuing War on Terror shaped their youth and young adult years.
These and many other shared experiences before and since have created generations of Americans who cherish this land, this idea that is America.  They do so with heart and soul.  Standing on cue they remove their hats, place their hands over their hearts or salute, and then choke back the tears as the Star-Spangled Banner is played.  They are Americans within the very fiber of their being. 

Naturalized citizens often display this same love of country, for many have escaped oppressive regimes or economic hopelessness to come to America and be adopted as America's sons and daughters.  They came seeking their American Dream, the freedom and opportunity to build a better life for themselves and their families.  There's a common, deep, and intimate connection that Americans feel for their country.  The soul of America is maintained in the hearts of its people, fiercely loyal to the vision of our Founders and the ideas and precepts of our founding documents.

These same kinds of experiences did not shape the young Barack Obama.  His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was an atheist and politically extreme.  At the age of 6 the future president was ushered off to Indonesia where he attended school registered as a Muslim, recited the Quran in Arabic, and learned how to be a good Muslim.  In these studies, he would have learned that all non-Muslims were infidels worthy of deception and ultimately, death.  Christians and Jews were the enemy.  Despite what Obama may say, the United States remains a Christian nation with a strong Jewish population and deep ties to Israel.  Judeo-Christian principles helped form and continue to influence our national identity with many signers of the Declaration of Independence having been clergy or devout Christians.  America remains home to the largest Christian population in the world.  What bigger infidel could there be than America?

Obama's teen years were spent living with his maternal grandparents on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.  There he met a family friend, communist, purported pedophile, and his eventual mentor, the radical poet Frank Marshall Davis. 

Obama's connections to radical leftists are numerous and well-known.  He's admitted to attending socialist meetings and participated in a rally organized by the Democratic Socialists of America.  In 1996, he sought and received the endorsement of the far left group The New Party.  He has worked with, supported, and attempted to shield from investigation the group ACORN which was recently convicted of massive voter fraud.  Obama's White House is chock-full of radical leftist, anti-American advisors.  As a 20-year attendee at Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ, Obama was steeped in Black Liberation Theology which is rooted in the collectivist philosophy of Karl Marx.  Marx's most oft-quoted excerpt from his work "Critique of the Gotha Programme" seems to foreshadow the future President Obama's stated belief in wealth redistribution: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

The reason that Americans feel unease when Barack Obama talks about America is that he is talking about a different America.  His words are carefully chosen and crafted to sound American, but the hidden meaning is much more malevolent.  His goal is "fundamentally transforming the United States of America" into a nation where social justice reigns and injustice is counted as fairness and equity.  He seeks a nation of redistribution where those who succeed through hard work, honest enterprise, financial investment, time, energy, and risk are rewarded with government confiscation of the fruits of their labor.  His is a country where communication systems, travel corridors, and private property are tightly controlled by the State.  It's a country where education is state-run and curricula are state-mandated.  In a fully implemented Obama-nation, it would be illegal to pass the accumulation of one's lifetime on to heirs.  This is the America of Karl Marx's dreams.
Barack Obama does not sound like an American because Obama's heart and soul are not American in nature.  His thoughts are not American.  His attitude and philosophy are not American.  He cannot speak from the heart about America because America does not reside there.  With a Muslim upbringing, a radical family, radical mentor, a myriad of radical connections, radical advisors, a radical theology, and some say a radical spouse, it's no wonder. 

Obama's agenda is informed by Marx and guided by years of close associations with extreme individuals and groups whose stated goals are the demise of America and America's influence in the world.  When he says he wants to "fundamentally transform America," he is dead serious.

For the first time in all of American history, we are at the mercy of an un-American American President.
May God truly bless the United States of America.

Jay Clarke is a businessman and lifelong conservative from Southern California.  He's a proud husband, father, and grandfather.

American Thinker

Is Obama Making His Next Career Move?

June 29, 2011

By James Lewis


Obama always seems to crave more ego gratification.  There is no limit to his thirst for personal power and glory.  The slogan "The Audacity of Hope" is taken straight from Napoleon's creed, "L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace!"  Always act audaciously on the battlefield, because your opponents will never predict your dangerous moves.  Your enemies will be shocked and overwhelmed by the risks you take.

That's how Napoleon managed to kill tens of millions of Europeans in his attempt to conquer the world after 1800.  George Patton used the audacity strategy to beat Nazi armored divisions in World War II.  Hitler used it with the Blitzkrieg.  It's also the theory of the Big Lie: You tell such breath-taking whoppers that normal people can't imagine that you don't believe a word of it yourself.  Most people will believe in Big Lies more than little lies, if you repeat the Big Lies over and over again -- and if you control the Organs of Propaganda.  Which the left did until the internet arose. 

Obama has a lifetime of faith in an imperialistic creed, Leninist-Marxism of the third-world variety.  That was the dream his Kenyan father had.

So it's not just his mysterious birth certificate.  Obama is a psychological stranger to normal American politics, and intuitively many Americans grasp that.  Compare Obama to Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin, or Herman Cain, and you get it immediately.  It's just like the Sesame Street jingle, "One of these is not like the others..."  Obama's differentness has nothing to do with skin color.  It's his fundamental beliefs, his political style, and his personal morality.  At some level everybody gets that.

But Obama is also a calculating politician.  Like all running politicians, he projects complete faith that he'll win in 2012.  But privately he knows perfectly well that his chances are about 50-50, and even if he wins next year, he will be out by 2016.

Remember that Obama must always expand his ego domain.  He always needs a bigger stage to play on.  That's the nature of his personality.  If he can't expand his ego he feels crushed, worthless, and depressed.  You can see it in his face when he runs into a serious roadblock.  It's not hard to spot, and you can bet that every major government in the world has hired psychological teams to do it.

I believe Obama is already planning his next promotion.  That's a rational political calculation, as well as fitting his personal grandiosity.

When politicians seem to endanger their self-interest there are two possibilities.  One is that they are taking great personal risks to benefit others.  Anwar Sadat, Pope John Paul II, and Gandhi took risks for what they believed was the greater good, and all were targeted for assassination as a result.

But that's extremely rare.  Most of the time when politicians seem to risk their careers they are planning something unexpected.  They might be using the audacity strategy: Surprise the hell out of the enemy -- that would be you and me, folks -- so the enemy can't do anything to stop you.

Why is Obama always bullying Americans whose support he needs for reelection?  Why did he come out for the maximum anti-Israel position?  Isn't that self-destructive, if he wants to be reelected in 2012?

A reasonable guess is that Obama wants to be UN Secretary General.  To do that he needs two things: Radical Muslim support, and the international left, especially European socialists.

Targeting Israel and American capitalism is the way to their hearts.  It's what they all want, because Israel and America are the biggest examples of successful free nation-states today.  The left want to abolish the nation-state in favor of an international imperium to be run by -- the left!  Muslims want to destroy Israel for psychic revenge, and because they must own Jerusalem, just like they must own Mecca and Medina.  Both sides dream of an international imperium.  Radical Muslims follow a utopian imperialist creed, and so does the radical left.

The only trouble is that their utopias are actually dystopias, horrific conditions for most human beings.  They are cruel charades for the human beings who must live under their control.

The Ottoman Caliphate was the last Shari'a imperium, and in Bulgaria ordinary people still hate and despise the Turks for what they did to their great-grandparents.  It was horrific.  Naturally, radical Muslims are still dreaming of a new and better caliphate, one that's bigger and more powerful.  That's something both Shiites like Ahmadinejad and Sunnis like the Muslim Brotherhood take as their goal.

The left is atheist, and has been since Karl Marx.  It always harbors bitter hatred against traditional Christianity (and Orthodox Judaism).  Radical Muslims want the whole world to obey Shari'ah law.  The True Believers of the left don't believe a word in traditional Islam, just like they don't believe a word about Christianity, Judaism, or, for that matter, Buddhism and Hinduism.  They are thorough-going atheists.

And yet the left is constantly pretending to know nothing about Islam, and Muslims are always pretending to ignore the atheistic faith of the left.  But that's just the usual barefaced denial.  They both know everything there is to know about each other.  They can read, can't they?  Muslim ideologues read Karl Marx, and Marxists read the Salafist and Khomeinist radicals.  They know.

Since 1900 there have been plenty of Communists in the Muslim world and plenty of Muslims in the Communist and socialist world.  They talk to each other all the time, and they make political deals.  You scratch my back, I scratch yours.  It's happening on some American college campuses today, which is why Ahmadinejad can speak at Columbia but the Israeli ambassador is heckled and booed whenever he speaks on a campus.  These are not accidents.

Ordinary liberals may be suckered about Islam, but the radical left isn't.  They know they are making a pact with the Devil.  So do the radical Muslims.  Both sides believe they will end up trying to destroy each other in the end.  But they have a bigger common enemy: Us.

The worldwide left-Muslim alliance wants to undermine American dominance in the post-Cold War world. 

 The left believes what Putin has said out loud: That the breakdown of the Soviet Union was the biggest catastrophe of the 20^th century.  For normal people the Soviet system fell apart because it was a corrupt disaster.  For the left the Soviet Union was an experiment that didn't work, and therefore has to be done over again.  Never mind those 100 million innocent victims.  You have to crush a lot of eggs to make this omelet.  It's okay with them.

The logic is exactly like the Hitler-Stalin pact of 1938.  It was politically convenient because both sides wanted to take over the West.  But they knew they were enemies.  Once the left-Islamist alliance destroys the current superpower they will be at each other's throats.

It's just bizarre to think that the feminist left really wants all the women in the world to wear black tents, and to be beaten (or even killed) at home for disobeying the men of the family in accordance with Shar'iah law.  The actions of the left only make sense if they believe they will gain from driving a radical Muslim wedge into Western nations.  Radical leftists have said exactly that.

That's why Europe now has 53 million Muslims, concentrated in capital cities like London, Paris, and Berlin.  

That's why Obama and the Democrats are deliberately failing to protect our borders, and suing Arizona for trying to enforce what is already federal law.  To normal people that all seems self-destructive, but there's a method to their madness.

Fundamentally, Islam and the left are ideologically incompatible.  The fact that they are colluding against Israel and America means that they see a short-term advantage against their inevitable long-term struggle to the death.

The Muslim Brotherhood regime of Turkey is even now trying to repeat the Mavi Marmara publicity stunt against Israel, with the militant support of Code Pink.  That is the left-Islamist axis operating right in front of our eyes.  This stunt is slated to happen soon, so just watch what happens.

Together, Muslims and the European left control the United Nations General Assembly.  That is why the genocidal Sudan is on the UN Human Rights Commission, a grotesque reward for a mass-murdering regime.  Muslim fascists and the radical left both believe in a world imperium.  The United Nations is the logical vehicle for that.  Radical Muslims practice a world-imperialistic cult belief.  So does the left.
Obama's Berlin speech at the Prussian Victory monument started with "Citizens of the world!" -- an obvious echo of Marx and Engels' "Workers of the world, unite!  You have nothing to lose but your chains!"  Every leftist in Europe had to understand that.  It's preaching Jesus to the Pope.

If you look at Obama's Cairo speech to the Muslim world, it is also aimed at a specific international constituency.  Or take his middle name "Hussein."  Obama has played with his own names -- Barry Soetoro Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. -- so much that keeping "Hussein" must have been a deliberate decision.
I don't think it means he is a faithful Muslim, because he doesn't do the five mandatory requirements of Islam.  (Five daily prostrations, the pilgrimage to Mecca, and so on.)  Obama was raised by atheist leftists; that is his real constituency, the one he really cares most about.

No, he's not a Muslim, but he can fake being Muslim very nicely, just like he tries to fake being Christian.  He's a fast-change artist.  That's why nobody was allowed to use "Hussein" during the election campaign, but when he wanted to be heard by Muslims he suddenly became Barack Hussein Obama.  A shape-shifter.  He could have changed Hussein to Harry, just like he changed Barack to Barry.  He didn't, because he was looking to appeal to a Muslim constituency, and the only name that's more traditional than Hussein is Mohammed.  But in America only 0.8 percent of the population is Muslim.  It's not American Muslims he is thinking about.

But notice that he must have decided to keep "Hussein" years ahead of time.  These people always play with symbols -- it's their way of feeling smarter than everybody else.  The radical left does a lot of long-term planning, which is also why normal Americans are constantly surprised when they conquer another peak of power in our society: the media, universities, and now the American economy.

Obama always favors internationalist constituencies over American interest.  That's why he was willing to bow down to China's Hu, to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, and to the Emperor of Japan -- but not to the Queen of England.  It's all deliberate symbolism that triggers recognition by the constituencies he wants to impress.  If Obama is not addressing America's real concerns it's because he has bigger, foreign audiences in mind.
This is the audacity of the radical left.  Bill Ayers' 2001 book had a cover picture of ole' Bill stomping on a crumpled American flag.  They did that with malice aforethought, not just to say "up yours!" to Americans who love America, but also to signal the left and Islamists whose side they are on.  Remember, Israel is the Little Satan but America is the Big Satan.  Killing Israel is only the first step.

Nothing could be better for Obama's UN ambitions than coming out for the strategic destruction of Israel, as the 1949 cease-fire lines imply.  In the Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer just made a compelling case for that.  But the indefensibility of the 1949 borders has long been obvious.  You can't defend a country nine miles wide at the waist.  Obama claims to be ignorant of that elementary fact, but that is absurd.  He knows, he knows.

By targeting Israel Obama may be preparing the ground for a UN Secretary General campaign.  If he loses in 2012 he will blame the United States for being racist, the way he always does.  Racism is the club they use to beat us with.  They don't even believe it, but they use it, following the immortal line Obama cited, "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun."  Obama will be a nice guy to you until he needs his gun.  Then you're a racist, just like Hillary and Bill became "racists" when Obama needed to win.  Bill Clinton was outraged by being called a racist, but then he's used that club thousands of times in his political career.

The next time a Democrat gets into the White House -- maybe Hillary in 2016? -- Obama expects to be nominated for UN Sec. General.

What comes after that?  Nobody can know that, but the overall goal is clear enough.

Obama has always followed an imperialistic creed, and so has Islam.  That Axis of Evil is trying to grasp worldwide power right now, and if Obama has his way, he will be at the head of the parade.

American Thinker