There’s a vast gulf between the two.

The military promotes a “can-do” attitude, so does aggressive corporate leadership.

The Obama Administration, like any socialist organization, promotes mediocrity, which is synonymous with defeatism, and why not? After all, the one thing socialism does not promote is personal accomplishment. Sure, these wannabe Bolsheviks may preach the concept, but once one accomplishes, they then seek to penalize one and distribute the spoils to those who accomplish nothing.

And the defeatist mentality seeps into everything, not just the “governed”, but those from which the doctrine of defeatism emanates.

Remember when Homeland “Security” Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the border was as secure as it has ever been, a manipulation of words meant to suggest that it was pretty durn secure?

Well, it wasn’t and isn’t secure, and from her words, Napolitano has no intention of succeeding in making it so.

Not merely her words back in May, but last week as well.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, whose agency is charged with securing America’s borders, told an audience in Washington, D.C., in reference to the U.S.-Mexico border, “You’re never going to totally seal that border.”

Napolitano spoke and answered questions at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on “Securing the Border: A Smarter Law Enforcement Approach,” on Wednesday.

When asked if she could give a timeline on when the border would be secured, Napolitano said, “The plain fact of the matter is the border is as secure now as it has ever been, but we know we can always do more. And that will always be the case.

“It’s a big border,” she said. “It’s 1,960 miles across that Southwest border. It’s some of the roughest, toughest geographical terrain in the world across that border. And so, the notion that you’re going to seal that border somehow is something that anybody who’s been involved in the actual doing of law enforcement–the front office work or the front line work of the law enforcement–would say, ‘You’re never going to totally seal that border.’”

The rest here.

Yes, folks, American “leadership” has surely fallen a long way.

Where once we were the greatest producer not only of manufactured goods but also of blatant success this planet had ever seen, we are now, thanks in large part to a parade of socialist losers and their minions being elected and reelected by some very
stupid voters who have been too mentally lazy to study candidates and their likely effects, if elected, on the American way of life before going to the polls, a country of defeatists, for defeatists and by defeatists, with Obamas, Napolitanos, Pelosis and Reids sitting on their thrones in Washington, detouring our great nation away from the Constitutional path that once enabled us, through the liberties that are being gradually diminished, to triumph.

Whoa! In the run-on sentences department…

So yeah, Janet, you’re probably right: With a defeatist White House and a defeatist majority on the Hill that encourage excellence only in misleading lies that mask stealth legislation to the contrary, the border will never be secured.

Of course, an unsecure border plays right into the hands of today’s Democrats, who see a “more the merrier” silver lining to that cloud — the more illegal aliens we have in the country when they finally push amnesty through, the more votes there’ll be for Democrats.

Ain’t life grand!?

Just when it looks like the entire world has lost its collective mind, practicality arises from an unexpected source.

Events in Turkey indicate that much of the Turkish public increasingly believes that their Prime Minister blundered by unnecessarily provoking a crisis with Israel.

If crises often provide opportunities, however, the long-term results of the flotilla incident might be just the opportunity to restore Turkish-Israeli relations to where they were before Turkey’s current Islamist government took power.

It now appears that the average Turk — for lack of a better term - approximately 70% of the population who is not part of the political establishment, the academic establishment, or the media — now understands that this crisis has hurt Turkey internationally and politically and that there was no reason for Turkey to provoke Israel.

It looks like the United States isn’t the only nation whose government is experiencing backlash from its citizens.

All over Turkey, people are asking the following questions:

Q: Where is this place called Gaza; who lives there?

A: The Palestinians – not Turks.

Q: Why are they trapped there?

A: Because Hamas is there, and will not work with the Palestinian Authority.

Q: Why should Turkey help them when Egypt – an Arab country - is also blockading Gaza, and none of the rich Arab petrodollar countries is helping the people in Gaza?

A: We are not a country as rich as the Arab petrodollar countries; they should help their own people. The Turkish government, our government, should use its money to help our poor, our laborers, and the people out in the eastern part of our country, nine out of ten of whom do not have enough money to put bread on their tables.

Q: Why then did our Prime Minister provoke this crisis?

A: This is an Arab affair. We are Turks. If the Arabs will not help themselves, and we do not have the basic necessities that we need, why should we worry about them? They do not help their own people, let alone other poor Muslims like ourselves. This is not our affair; we should not have been involved.

One elderly Turk summarized this attitude as follows: Why is there all this commotion about Gaza? There is very little difference between us and the Jews. We go to our mosques and they go to their mosques (i.e., Jewish synagogues). We eat Halal meat and they Jews eat their Halal meat (kosher meat). So, I do not understand why we are trying to protect these Palestinians. Why aren’t the Arabs helping their follow Arabs as we Turks are helping each other?

Erdigan (presumably): Ooops!

Yes, transcending even the game of global politics is one time honored tradition, that of remembering whom ones true friends are.

Moreover, many of these people are beginning to understand the value of the Turkish-Israeli relationship in positive ways they did understand before. For example, Israel helped Turkey, both militarily and internationally, with political support in the United States. For example, Israel and American Jewry have been helping Turkey over the years in Turkey’s lobbying efforts in Congress. Israel has also helped upgrade Turkish military equipment. Israel has also shared with Turkey intelligence information about the terrorist threats facing Turkey.

That’s what I’m talking about!

Continue reading here.

Hat Tip, TIP! (The Israel Project).

Next week, the Senate begins the farcical debate – farcical given the Democrat majority over there — over lefty activist shrew Solicitor General Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

The Rabbinical Alliance of America takes umbrage.

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is “not kosher”–meaning she is not fit to serve on the court–according to more than 850 Orthodox members of the Rabbinical Alliance of America. That’s the term the rabbis used about Kagan in a press release issued Thursday, saying “Elena Kagan is not kosher. She is not fit to sit on this Court–or any court.”

Rabbi Yehuda Levin, spokesman for the alliance, told CNSNews.com on Thursday that “a great deal has been made about the fact that she would be the second Jewish woman on the court, and we want to signal to people across the country that we take no pride in this.”

Levin said most people are happy when “one of their own” is nominated to such a high position. But, he added, “We feel that Elena Kagan turns traditional Judaism on its head–from a concept of a nation of priests and holy people, she is turning it into, ‘Let’s homosexualize every segment of society. And by the way, partial-birth babies have no right to be delivered.’”

In a statement issued Thursday, the rabbinical alliance called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to refuse to confirm Kagan to succeed the outgoing Justice John Paul Stevens.

“It is clear from Ms. Kagan’s record on issues such as abortion-on-demand, partial-birth-abortion, the radical homosexual and lesbian agenda, the ’supremacy’ of the anti-family panoply over religious liberties of biblical adherents, et. al., that she will function as a flame-throwing radical, hastening society’s already steep decline into Sodom and Gomorrah,” the rabbis said in the statement.

Levin told CNSNews.com that his fellow rabbis–and hundreds of thousands of Orthodox and traditional Jews–are puzzled at the president’s choice of Kagan.

“What exactly was Obama thinking, President Obama thinking, when he nominated Kagan? Because eventually, down the road, someone–or some group–is going to ‘take the hit’ for the crazy decisions that Kagan is bound to make. So we would have much preferred if President Obama had given this ‘distinction’ to another minority group, instead of singling out the Jews.”

Right on, Rabbi!

The Mexican kid who got himself waxed by the Border Patrol back in early June, the one over whom the Mexican government created such a big brouhaha and demanded an investigation, etcetera, wasn’t merely among the “tired and poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free” as we were led to believe.

A 15-year-old Mexican boy shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent was among El Paso’s most wanted juvenile immigrant smugglers, according to federal arrest records reviewed by The Associated Press.

The records show Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereca had been arrested at least four times since 2008 and twice in the same week in February 2009 on suspicion of smuggling illegal immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border. Hernandez was repeatedly arrested along the U.S. side of the border near downtown El Paso, not far from where he was killed, but was never charged with a crime by federal prosecutors.

A Border Patrol agent shot and killed Hernandez June 7 while trying to arrest illegal immigrants crossing the muddy bed of the Rio Grande. Some witnesses said a group of people on the Mexican side were throwing rocks at the agents. Agents are generally permitted to use lethal force against rock throwers.

The records show that in at least one case Hernandez was to be paid $50 a person for smuggling four people into the U.S.

The youth was apparently a felony entrepreneur.

Now how do you like that?

Whenever the mainstream media or the federal government refer to “Americans” who leave the country for terrorist training compounds in places like Libya, Syria or Lebanon, these politically correct people in whom lies the responsibility of keeping the public informed (yes, the same folks who believe that their real job is to shape public opinion, generally in a leftward direction), their goal is obviously to have their readers or TV “news” audience envision a white guy whose family has enjoyed United States citizenship for several generations.

Sure, al-Qaeda Americans.

Dozens of Americans have joined terrorist groups and are posing a threat to the United States and its interests abroad, the president’s most senior adviser on counterterrorism and homeland security said Thursday.

“There are, in my mind, dozens of U.S. persons who are in different parts of the world, and they are very concerning to us,” said John O. Brennan, deputy White House national security adviser for homeland security and counterterrorism.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Times, Mr. Brennan said he would not talk about lists of targeted American terrorists. However, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been tracking down U.S. nationals and U.S. passport holders who pose security threats, like the Yemen-based al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, he said.

The interesting part of the equation is that these “Americans” all seem to have Arabic sounding names.

Now ain’t that strange…

To reverse an old adage, every silver lining has a cloud.

At least this one does.

As I mentioned previously, other conservatives have said that the plus side of the Obama presidency is that it has awakened “sleeping” Americans to the dangerous influence a socialist administration, especially one supported by a socialist-dominated House and Senate, presents; How it can effect the American way of life, virtually decimate our economy and intrude upon the liberties guaranteed us by the Constitution.

That is the silver lining.

The cloud is the damage the Obama Administration and the Pelosi/Reid-led Congress have already done to the economy and are laboring to do to the First, Second, Tenth and Twenty Seventh Amendments before they are voted out of the White House and into a minority on the Hill, respectively.

But back to the silver lining.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Americans are more pessimistic about the state of the country and less confident in President Barack Obama’s leadership than at any point since Mr. Obama entered the White House, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

The survey also shows grave and growing concerns about the Gulf oil spill, with overwhelming majorities of adults favoring stronger regulation of the oil industry and believing that the spill will affect the nation’s economy and environment.

Sixty-two percent of adults in the survey feel the country is on the wrong track, the highest level since before the 2008 election. Just one-third think the economy will get better over the next year, a 7-point drop from a month ago and the low point of Mr. Obama’s tenure.

Amid anxiety over the nation’s course, support for Mr. Obama and other incumbents is eroding. For the first time, more people disapprove of Mr. Obama’s job performance than approve. And 57% of voters would prefer to elect a new person to Congress than re-elect their local representatives, the highest share in 18 years.

The results show “a really ugly mood and an unhappy electorate,” said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducts the Journal/NBC poll with GOP pollster Bill McInturff. “The voters, I think, are just looking for change, and that means bad news for incumbents and in particular for the Democrats.”

The entire article.

…57% of voters would prefer to elect a new person to Congress than re-elect their local representatives, the highest share in 18 years.

18 years, that’s how long it’s been since the Democrats last got skunked and a lengthy Republican majority ensued.

This time, however, a number of incumbent GOP long timers are also being given pink slips by right thinkers and moderate Republicans alike in state primaries, being replaced by more genuinely conservative candidates.

The RINOs and several “progressives” are either going to have to retire or start typing their resumes; while many of those Democrats who so recently made it plain that they were willing to sell out the American people for the good of “the party” have experienced the sudden urge to “spend more time with their families”.

Essentially, the disaffected voters of this greatest of nations have opted to take a step in the right direction.

This is a must-post, since there are, no doubt and for what I can only call unfathomable reasons, some people out there who don’t read Victor Davis Hanson as a matter of habit and some things just have to be shared.

Do you remember candidate Barack Obama offering his hope-and-change platitudes in front of the fake Greek columns during the Democratic convention? Or earlier pontificating at the Victory Monument in Berlin?

Why didn’t an old cigar-chomping Democratic pro take him aside and warn him about offending Nemesis? She is the dreaded goddess who brings divine retribution in ironic fashion to overweening arrogance.

Or maybe a friend could have whispered to Senator Obama to tone it down when he was merciless in damning the Bush administration for its supposedly slow response to Hurricane Katrina.

Obama railed that Bush showed “unconscionable ineptitude.” Obama further charged that Bush’s response was “achingly slow,” a result of “passive indifference,” and that his team was rife with “corruption and cronyism.”

Those adjectives now apply to Obama himself, as he seems lost amid his own disaster — eerily in about the same Gulf environs. Adding insult to injury, a recent poll revealed that Louisiana residents thought Bush had done a better job with Katrina than Obama has with BP.

Couldn’t one of Obama’s many handlers have warned him to ignore the media’s tingling-leg gaga worship, or their nonsense that Obama is “a god”?

Read on.

In regard to the kerfuffle involving the National Rifle Association and H.R. 5175, the “Disclose Act”, there has been a lot of bashing of the NRA by conservatives and a number of organizations devoted to preserving our Second Amendment rights, based on accusations that America’s primary gun owners’ rights group has “sold out” to the anti-gun left in order to exempt themselves from the provisions of a bill which would strip other Second Amendment advocacies of certain rights while having no significant effect on the NRA.

Columnists, bloggers and even other “gun groups” for whose opinions, common sense and patriotic beliefs we here at Hard Astarboard have a great deal of respect express the above sentiment, and here we feel we must disagree.

Seth, Wolf and I are all life members of the NRA and appreciate the hard work they’ve done in the legislative area (the Institute for Legislative Action, NRA-ILA is perpetually, tirelessly and with almost superhuman tenacity all over state legislatures, city councils and both house of Congress) to preserve our Second Amendment rights. The NRA provides a plethora of useful and educational services, including firearms safety.

To the meat of the affair: The NRA-ILA is a legislative behemoth supported by millions of members and is the front line of the defense of our right to keep and bear arms. Their very size, financing and therefore powerful voice are intimidating to the left and to the elected and appointed flunkies of the left, and because of this the NRA’s opposition to H.R. 5175 caused the political opposition to make an accommodation.

The NRA had no intention of cutting out the “little guys”, as it were, but they also have a self appointed and therefore selfless duty to their members and indeed to all gun owning Americans to stay in the box and continue fighting the good fight on our behalf.

To quote Mike Piccione, editor of Guns & Patriots in a recent newsletter:

There were a lot of conservatives bad-mouthing the NRA last week. Most of the talkers aren’t even NRA members, so they have that in common with Obama, Pelosi & Hillary. I trust Wayne LaPierre to protect my gun rights more than whining critics with soft hands that spend more time holding a blow-dryer than a gun. I feel for my $2 a month I get value from the NRA that can’t be delivered from any other organization. If someone is bashing the NRA what is their real agenda anyway?

To hear the NRA’s side of the story, here:

NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox’s Letter to Members of Congress on H.R. 5175, the Disclose Act

Read the document here in PDF format:

May 26, 2010

Dear Member of Congress:

I am writing to express the National Rifle Association’s strong concerns with H.R. 5175, the DISCLOSE Act, as well as our opposition to this bill in its current form. It is our sincere hope that these concerns will be addressed as this legislation is considered by the full House.

Earlier this year, in Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court struck down the ban on certain political speech by nonprofit membership associations such as the NRA. In an attempt to characterize that ruling as something other than a vindication of the free speech and associational rights of millions of individual American citizens, H.R. 5175 attempts to reverse that decision.

Under the First Amendment, as recognized in a long line of Supreme Court cases, citizens have the right to speak and associate privately and anonymously. H.R. 5175, however, would require the NRA to turn our membership and donor lists over to the government and to disclose top donors on political advertisements. The bill would empower the Federal Election Commission to require the NRA to reveal private, internal discussions with our four million members about political communications. This unnecessary and burdensome requirement would leave it in the hands of government officials to make a determination about the type and amount of speech that would trigger potential criminal penalties.

H.R. 5175 creates a series of byzantine disclosure requirements that have the obvious effect of intimidating speech. The bill, for example, requires “top-five funder” disclosures on TV ads that mention candidates for federal office from 90 days prior to a primary election through the general election; “top-two funder” disclosure on similar radio ads during that period; “significant funder” and “top-five funder” disclosures on similar mass mailings during that period; and “significant funder” disclosure for similar “robocalls” during that period. Internet communications are covered if placed for a fee on another website, such as the use of banner ads that mention candidates for federal office. Even worse, no exceptions are included for organizations communicating with their members. This is far worse than current law and would severely restrict the various ways that the NRA communicates with our members and like-minded individuals.

While there are some groups that have run ads and attempted to hide their identities, the NRA isn’t one of them. The NRA has been in existence since 1871. Our four million members across the country contribute for the purpose of speaking during elections and participating in the political process. When the NRA runs ads, we clearly and proudly put our name on them. Indeed, that’s what our members expect us to do. There is no reason to include the NRA in overly burdensome disclosure and reporting requirements that are supposedly aimed at so-called “shadow” groups.

On the issue of reporting requirements, the bill mandates that the NRA electronically file all reports with the FEC within 24 hours of each expenditure. Within 24 hours of FEC posting of the reports, the NRA would be required to put a hyperlink on our website to the exact page on which the reports appear on the FEC’s website - and keep that link: active for at least one year following the date of the general election. Independent Expenditure reports would have to disclose all individuals who donate $600 or more to the NRA during the reporting period and Electioneering Communication reports would have to disclose all individuals who donate $1,000 or more to the NRA during the reporting period. There are literally thousands of NRA donors who would meet those thresholds, so these requirements would create a significant and unwarranted burden.

Some have argued that under the bill, all the NRA would have to do to avoid disclosing our $600 or $1,000 level donors is to create a “Campaign-Related Activity Account.” Were we to set up such an account, however, we would be precluded from transferring more than $10,000 from our general treasury to the account; all individual donors to that account would have to specifically designate their contributions in that manner and would have to limit their contributions to $9,999; the burdensome disclosure requirements for ads, mailings and robocalls would still apply; and the NRA would be prohibited from spending money on election activity from any other source - including the NRA’s Political Victory Fund (our PAC). In sum, this provision is completely unworkable.

Unfortunately, H.R. 5175 attacks nearly all of the NRA’s political speech by creating an arbitrary patchwork of unprecedented reporting and disclosure requirements. Under the bill, the NRA would have to track the political priorities of each of our individual members - all four million of them. The cost of complying with these requirements would be immense and significantly restrict our ability to speak.

As noted above, there is no legitimate reason to include the NRA in H.R. 5175’s overly burdensome disclosure and reporting requirements. Therefore, we will continue to work with members from both parties to address these issues. Should our concerns not be resolved - and to date, they have not been - the NRA will have no choice but to oppose passage of this legislation.

Sincerely,

Chris W. Cox
Executive Director

Continuing:

Statement From The National Rifle Association On H.R. 5175: DISCLOSE ACT

We appreciate the concerns that some NRA members have raised regarding our position on H.R. 5175, the “DISCLOSE Act.” Unfortunately, critics of our position have misstated or misunderstood the facts.

We have never said we would support any version of this bill. To the contrary, we clearly stated NRA’s strong opposition to the DISCLOSE Act (as introduced) in a letter sent to Members of Congress on May 26 (click here to read the letter).
Through the courts and in Congress, the NRA has consistently and strongly opposed any effort to restrict the rights of our four million members to speak and have their voices heard on behalf of gun owners nationwide. H.R. 5175 would put a gag order on the NRA during elections and threaten our members’ freedom of association, by forcing us to turn our donor lists over to the federal government. We would also be forced to list our top donors on all election-related television, radio and Internet ads and mailings—even mailings to our own members. We refuse to let this Congress impose those unconstitutional restrictions on our Association.

The NRA provides critical firearms training for our Armed Forces and law enforcement throughout the country. This bill would force us to choose between training our men and women in uniform and exercising our right to free political speech. We refuse to let this Congress force us to make that choice.

We didn’t “sell out” to Nancy Pelosi or anyone else. We told Congress we opposed the bill. As a result, congressional leaders announced they would exempt us from its draconian restrictions on free speech. If that happens, we will not be involved in the final House debate. If it doesn’t, we will continue to strongly oppose the bill.

Our position is based on principle and experience. During consideration of the previous campaign finance legislation passed in 2002, congressional leadership repeatedly refused to exempt the NRA from its provisions, promising that our concerns would be fixed somewhere down the line. That didn’t happen; instead, the NRA had to live under those restrictions for seven years and spend millions of dollars on compliance costs and on legal fees to challenge the law. We will not go down that road again when we have an opportunity to protect our ability to speak.

There are those who say the NRA should put the Second Amendment at risk over a First Amendment principle. That’s easy to say unless you have a sworn duty to protect the Second Amendment above all else, as we do.

The NRA is a bipartisan, single-issue organization made up of millions of individual members dedicated to the protection of the Second Amendment. We do not represent the interests of other organizations. That’s their responsibility. Our responsibility is to protect and defend the interests of our members. And that we do without apology.

And here:

NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox’s Message on H.R. 5175

I appreciate the concerns that some NRA members have raised regarding the NRA’s position on H.R. 5175, the “DISCLOSE Act”. Regrettably, our position has been misstated by some and intentionally misrepresented by others. I hope you’ll allow me to provide the proper context.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision was a significant victory for free speech and the Constitution. The NRA filed a strong brief in that case, which the Court specifically cited several times in its opinion. The DISCLOSE Act is an attempt to reverse that victory and that’s why we told Congress we oppose it.

The NRA has never supported–nor would we ever support — any version of this bill. Those who suggest otherwise are wrong.

The restrictions in this bill should not apply to anyone or to any organization. My job is to ensure they don’t apply to the NRA and our members. Without the NRA, the Second Amendment will be lost and I will do everything in my power to prevent that.

We believe that any restriction on political speech is repugnant. But some of our critics believe we should put the Second Amendment at risk over a First Amendment principle to protect other organizations. That’s easy to say–unless you have a sworn duty to protect the Second Amendment above all else, as I do.

The NRA is a single-issue organization made up of millions of individual members dedicated to protecting the Second Amendment. We do not represent the interests of other organizations. Nor do all groups fight all issues together. For example, we didn’t support the U.S. Chamber of Commerce when it backed amnesty for tens of millions of illegal aliens and we did not join the Chamber in its support of President Obama’s stimulus bill. And we’ve been in direct opposition when the Chamber has tried to restrict Second Amendment rights in publicly accessible parking lots.

Rather than focusing on opposing this bill, some have encouraged people to blame the NRA for this Congress’s unconstitutional attack on free speech. That’s a shame. If you oppose this bill, I hope you will contact your Member of Congress and Senators so they can hear from you.

Listen to whomever you like and draw whatever conclusions you will, but our position at Hard Astarboard is that there was no wrongdoing on the part of the NRA.

Hmmph…

Obama’s home loan modification program was talked up by the bailout-friendly news media as a potential “ray of light” for struggling homeowners.

But on June 21, Associated Press reported the mortgage assistance program is “falling flat.”

The broadcast networks supported the mortgage modification and housing bailout when Obama launched it in 2009, after criticizing Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan for not doing “enough” to fix the problem. ABC, CBS and NBC haven’t mentioned the new figures since AP reported them.

“More than a third of the 1.24 million borrowers who have enrolled in the $75 billion mortgage modification program have dropped out,” AP said. “That exceeds the number of people who have managed to have their loan payments reduced to help them keep their homes.”

Not surprising; It seems that the “progressive” elements within the government are so wrapped up in their other-wordly reality that true reality eludes them. So they create a mostly wasted program that benefits only a few of those interested or in need of such a venue, then, together with their tame mainstream media, announce the sheer brilliance, greatness and necessity of the waste of time and allocated treasure.

The “ambitious” Home Affordable Modification Program was supposed to help 3-4 million people. As of last month the number of dropouts (436,000) exceeded the permanent modifications by almost 100,000 (340,000).

This was part of the same housing bailout Rick Santelli condemned on CNBC saying “the government is promoting bad behavior.” Santelli’s rant against the housing bailout helped inspire thousands of Americans to protest bailouts and runaway government spending at Tea Parties around the country in 2009 and 2010.

But Santelli’s opposition to a bailout was an exception among the pro-bailout news media. As recently as Feb. 18, 2010 ABC’s Robin Roberts was praising the program as “what may be a ray of light for the millions of homeowners struggling to hold on to their piece of the American dream.”

The rest of the article.

Most Americans don’t want what the Obama Administration and the far-left run House and Senate are hanging on us. That’s why there were so many intraparty shake-ups during recent primaries and why the Tea Party, despite the belittlement, courtesy of the leftist mainstream media, that no one took much notice of once it became obvious that the Fourth Estate and the Alphabet networks were shilling for anything that was “progressive” out of pure party politics rather than any attempt at responsible reporting. What’s new, right?

I’ve had more than one fellow conservative tell me that they are actually glad that Obama got elected.

Why?

Because as president, his agenda has served to wake up millions of sleepy, daydreaming, uninformed and otherwise unaware Americans to the reality of socialist doctrine the far left, through their dominance within the Democratic Party, has been stealthily forcing upon us and in so doing, activate that good old spirit of liberty that defines us as a people; defines our heritage and our way of life and as a result, We, The People are now united and, eyes wide open to the threat among us, fighting back.

That “American Dream” cannot be provided by government programs, government spending and government regulation, it must be worked hard for by people who cherish their freedom and want to build a good life wherein they are independent and beholden to no parentally structured political body for what they have.

First, so much for the Obama deepwater offshore drilling moratorium.

A federal judge halted President Obama’s deep-water oil-drilling moratorium on Tuesday, telling the government its justification for the ban was “rather overbearing” and misled the public in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Judge Martin L.C. Feldman issued an injunction, describing the president’s decision as rushed and ruling that the government had jumped to the conclusion that all deep-water drilling rigs are dangerous despite the lack of any evidence.

The White House said it will immediately appeal, but in the meantime it is yet another setback as Mr. Obama seeks to show he has gained control of the environmental disaster in the region two months after the BP well first began gushing. Eleven workers were killed when the rig exploded on April 20.

The moratorium has come under fire from lawmakers of both parties in the region, who said the halt could hurt the already struggling economy’s chances of rebounding.

Judge Feldman said the Interior Department misstated the opinion of the experts it consulted. In his report to Mr. Obama, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the recommendations, including the six-month moratorium, were reviewed by experts from the National Academy of Engineering but the engineers said they never saw the final recommendations and don’t support a blanket ban.

Oh, well, Mr. President, there’s one attempted sabotage on our fledgling (if existing at all) economic recovery that looks to have bitten the dust.

Next, returning to the subject of Obama’s overtures toward a “boiling frog” style takeover of the Internet, Bob Livingston has a spot on essay on the subject that casts a pall of reality over the dubious reassurances of one Senator Joe Lieberman.

Relax!
It’s always a comforting feeling when the fascists tell you to relax. And that’s what Senator Joe Leiberman (I-Conn.) told everyone to do Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley.

Crowley asked about the Kill Switch bill Leiberman co-sponsors with Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) that would allow the President to shut down the Internet in a time of emergency.

The President will never take over the Internet, Leiberman—with a warm smile—assured the audience. The government shouldn’t take over the internet. The president would only do that in catastrophic times. Not going to do it every day. It’s only for national security. Relax.

“Right now China—the government—can disconnect parts of its Internet in a case of war. We need to have the ability to do that, too,” Leiberman said.

Of course, in China the government runs over its people with tanks. It drags them off to prisons without trial for practicing Christianity or saying something government doesn’t like, where they disappear forever—probably with a bullet in the brain. I wonder if Lieberman thinks our government should have those abilities as well.

China also censors the Internet—every day—to stifle the free flow of information… because it can.

The worry for Leiberman and his fascist buddies—the elected elitists who march to the orders of the New World Order—is not what would happen to America if some outside entity launched a cyber attack on the United States.

The worry is that the Internet has opened up a treasure trove of information and an ability to share ideas with freedom-loving people all over the world. No longer is the main stream media the sole purveyor of information….

The rest is here.

Now, in the interests of displaying a group of people who are really easy to laugh at, we give you… “progressives!”

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a liberal consumer advocacy organization, has announced it will sue McDonald’s unless the fast-food franchise stops using toys to market its “Happy Meals” to children.

“This morning, CSPI notified McDonald’s that we will file a lawsuit against the company unless it stops using toys to beguile young children,” said Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

“We contend that tempting kids with toys is unfair and deceptive both to kids who don’t understand the concept of advertising and to their parents who have to put up with their nagging children,” he said.

unfair and deceptive both to kids who don’t understand the concept of advertising and to their parents who have to put up with their nagging children…

And these are people who expect to be taken seriously.

Sports-wise, the United States is moving ahead in the World Cup…

Landon Donovan scored a stunning goal in the first minute of injury time, advancing the United States to the second round at the World Cup with a 1-0 win over Algeria.

With the U.S. perhaps three minutes from elimination Wednesday, Donovan brought the ball upfield on a counterattack and Jozy Altidore’s shot on the breakaway was tipped by Clint Dempsey into goalkeeper Rais Bolihi. The rebound went to Donovan, who kicked it in from about 8 yards for one of the biggest goals in U.S. soccer history.

…while the French… display their Frenchness.

French soccer chiefs were so certain their failing team would crash out of the World Cup that they had a bus ready to take them straight to the airport for a coach-class flight back home. Sure enough, the most arrogant, disjointed, fractured and embarrassing squad in the tournament was happy to oblige.

For the third match in a row, France, a 2006 World Cup finalist in Germany, showed a complete lack of class on and off the field in South Africa. A 2-1 defeat to the host nation sent the French home with just a single point, and coach Raymond Domenech provided a new low point by gracelessly refusing to shake the hand of South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira.

Two days after a player mutiny in which the team refused to show up for one of Domenech’s official training sessions, France was on its way back to Paris, stripped of its superstar privileges.

Instead of flying in first-class luxury on an Airbus A380, like how it arrived to South Africa two weeks ago, the squad was ushered out of the country on a no-frills charter flight booked by its fuming national federation.

And it was nothing less than the team deserved.

So much for France…