"t’s not enough for MSNBCers to say, **We disagree w/ GOP.** No no, it has to be **You’re a bunch of lying liars, racists, and liars. RACISTS!**”

Jay Cost, RealClearPolitics and TWS, a nice tweet

It’s not just that Progressives don’t get it, it’s that they don’t get that they don’t get it

Steve Benen has been a shill for Obama for quite a while, but here he demonstrates for all the values that the ideology of LUXURY will, among that elite group always matter more than the practicalities of necessity.

From the MaddowBlog (vat den?)

Rising sea levels aren’t funny

BySteve Benen

 - 

Fri Aug 31, 2012 4:30 PM EDT

For those who can’t watch clips online, Romney said, “President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your family.”

That’s great news for those of us who don’t have families on this planet.

Now, as a factual matter, Romney’s promise is itself rather strange. How “you and your family” will benefit from less access to affordable health care, less access to education, and fewer investments in roads and infrastructure is something of a mystery.

But even putting that aside, the aspect of Romney’s comments that was simply astounding was the ignorance. The Republican treated rising sea levels as a punch-line, as if the very idea of addressing the climate crisis is ridiculous and those who take this seriously are fools worthy of mockery.

Indeed, the Republican audience took their cues, literally laughing at Obama’s efforts to address global warming.

Also notice that, in Romney’s mind, there’s a distinction — the nation can deal with the climate crisis or we can help families, as if the two have nothing to do with one another

If YOU DO NOT HAVE A JOB, AND NO PROSPECTS, AND THE MORTGAGE IS BEHIND, AND THE ELECTRIC BILL, AND FILLING THE CAR IS $55-$75, AND YOU THINK ABOUT HOW FAR IT IS TO THE SUPERMARKET BECAUSE GAS IS TWICE WHAT IT WAS WHEN OBAMA TOOK OFFICE, AND YOU SEE THE GREATEST ECONOMY IN THE WORLD TANKING FROM MISMANAGEMENT, DOUCHEBAG, THE TWO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH EACH OTHER

Why is this missed?

Why is this practicality NON EXISTENT TO PEOPLE LIKE MADDOW AND BENEN?

Get Your Eastwood RNC 2012 Bumper Stickers Right Here

LINK

"Anderson, it doesn’t matter.”

Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s response to Anderson Cooper when he confronted her with evidence that Mitt Romney explicitly said he DOES NOT SUPPORT the abortion plank of the Republican Convention. Schultz had just claimed ROMNEY CREATED IT.

So what does matter if the truth doesn’t?

POWER.

The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites.

This Bitter Earth from the Venetian Snares

Hiszékeny

Venetian Snares

If I Could Say I Love You

Venetian Snares

Szamar Madar

Venetian Snares

Stevie Ray Vaughan
Live At Montreux

1. Program Start
2. Scuttle Buttin'
3. Say What!
4. Ain't Gone 'N' Give Up On Love
5. Pride And Joy
6. Mary Had A Little Lamb
7. Cold Shot(with Johnny Copeland)
8. Tin Pan Alley (aka Roughest Place In Town)(with Johnny Copeland)
9. Look At Little Sister(with Johnny Copeland)
10. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
11. Texas Flood
12. SRV Talking From Stage
13. Life Without You
14. Gone Home
15. Couldn't Stand The Weather

ISRAELI PAPER DETAILS ALLEGED TENSE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN NETANYAHU AND U.S. AMBASSADOR OVER OBAMA’S IRAN POLICY: ‘LIGHTNING AND SPARKS FLEW

From the Blaze:

The incident took place when Republican congressman and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers visited Netanyahu’s office for an Iran briefing, accompanied by the U.S. ambassador to Israel. Schiffer reports (translated via hard copy by TheBlaze in Israel):

Netanyahu, according to a source who participated in the meeting, was particularly surly and stressed. At the start of the meeting, he opened with a sharp attack on the Obama administration which according to him has not done enough on the Iranian issue. “Instead of effectively pressuring Iran, Obama and his people are pressuring us not to attack the nuclear facilities,” he said, and then moved on to a harsh criticism of the administration’s pronouncements indicating there is still room for diplomacy. “The time has run out,” he said resolutely.

At one point, an anomalous thing occurred in the office, which is very unacceptable in diplomatic code. Ambassador Shapiro who was appointed by President Obama and for years was among his closest advisers decided he’d had enough. Enough is enough. He spoke and answered Netanyahu politely but in a manner that left no room for doubt.

The ambassador in fact accused Netanyahu of distorting Obama’s position. He quoted the president, who promised he would not allow a nuclear Iran and said that all options – including a military strike – are on the table […]

Diplomatic sources who were privy to the incident say that “lightning and sparks flew” in the room, and that the exchange of words became more harsh.

And, then, our petty, self-driven President dramatically scaled back our planned military exercise with Israel:

Seven months ago, Israel and the United States postponed a massive joint military exercise that was originally set to go forward just as concerns were brimming that Israel would launch a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The exercise was rescheduled for late October, and appears likely to go forward on the cusp of the U.S. presidential election. But it won’t be nearly the same exercise. Well-placed sources in both countries have told TIME that Washington has greatly reduced the scale of U.S. participation, slashing by more than two-thirds the number of American troops going to Israel and reducing both the number and potency of missile interception systems at the core of the joint exercise. 

“Basically what the Americans are saying is, ‘We don’t trust you,’” a senior Israeli military official tells TIME. 

The reductions are striking. Instead of the approximately 5,000 U.S. troops originally trumpeted for Austere Challenge 12, as the annual exercise is called, the Pentagon will send only 1,500 service members, and perhaps as few as 1,200.  Patriot anti-missile systems will arrive in Israel as planned, but the crews to operate them will not.  Instead of two Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense warships being dispatched to Israeli waters, the new plan is to send one, though even the remaining vessel is listed as a “maybe,” according to officials in both militaries. 

U.S. commanders privately revealed the scaling back to their Israeli counterparts more than two months ago.  The official explanation was budget restrictions.  But the American retreat coincided with growing tensions between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations on Israel’s persistent threats to launch an airstrike on Iran. The Islamic Republic would be expected to retaliate by missile strikes, either through its own intermediate range arsenal or through its proxy, the Hizballah militia, which has more than 40,000 missiles aimed at Israel from neighboring Lebanon. 

In the current political context, the U.S. logic is transparent, says Israeli analyst Efraim Inbar. “I think they don’t want to insinuate that they are preparing something together with the Israelis against Iran – that’s the message,” says Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. “Trust? We don’t trust them. They don’t trust us. All these liberal notions! Even a liberal president like Obama knows better.”

Keep reading…

Clint Eastwood - Full Speech at the RNC

Wow. I am really surprised.

This is good stuff.

The media is saying Clint Eastwood was incoherent, addled, and confused.

The man spoke without notes, without a teleprompter, off the cuff. And he introduced himself at the beginning of the speech telling you he doesn't believe in razzle-dazzle, saying, "Conservative people, by the very nature of the word, play it close to the vest. They don't go around hot-dogging it."

Got it? He's not going to put on a fucking show for you. How hard is that to understand.

The problems we have are much more serious than that. As Eastwood notes, we have 23 million people out of work. That is serious enough to make Eastwood cry.

Unlike our celebrity President, Clint Eastwood does not believe he, or his celebrity ought to be the center of attention. He thinks the American People ought to be the Center of Attention.

This is a great speech, by an American concerned with the direction of the country, stepping up, and doing what he can to help us move into a better direction.

Obama To Eastwood: ‘This Seat’s Taken’

Here’s an image from Twitter of President Obama’s tweeted response to Clint Eastwood’s speech at the Republican National Convention. During his speech Eastwood carried on a mock dialogue with an empty chair that represented the Democratic incumbent.

Obama says The Presidency is his seat. Apparently, we needn't even bother with an election.

Read the full story here.

Thanks to Will at The Other News.

Jaco Pastorius, John Scofield and Kenwood Dennard
The Chicken

UK: MUSLIM VIEWERS DECLARE JIHAD ON LIGHTHEARTED MUSLIM SITCOM, CITIZEN KHAN, INVESTIGATION PENDING

FROM ATLAS SHRUGS:

Muslims criticized the program for ridiculing Islam and for containing "stereotypes about Asians [Muslims]." The Twittersphere was aflame yesterday with religious fervor and condemnation of the series.
The BBC received more complaints from viewers and religious leaders about the first episode. It is believed that the number has risen to 600.

Even a former Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, Yousuf Bhailok, said it was ‘the best thing the BBC has done recently’. He added: ‘There is great humour among Muslims. I am glad it has been made.’

The comedy is billed as a humorous take on the lives of an ordinary Muslim family living in today’s Britain. However, critics claim it stereotypes Muslims and is ‘disrespectful to the Koran’.(Daily Mail)

Heavily made-up girl in a hijab provokes storm of complaints as BBC is accused of insulting Muslims with new sitcom:

One scene that particularly provoked anger was where a heavily-made up girl, Mr Khan’s daughter, rushed to put on a hijab and pretended to be reading the Koran when her father entered.

The six-part series, which aired for the first time on BBC1 on Monday at 10.35pm, has been created by British Muslim Adil Ray, who also plays the lead role. Read more: (more here)

How many times have I read that honor killing victims would wear the hijab in front of their parents and families and take them off as soon as they were out of sight of their parents (Aqsa Parvez, Rifqa Bary et al)? It wasn't funny for them, but it was true.

Citizen Khan -- Viewers say the program 'takes the mickey out of Islam' and is guilty of 'stereotypes about Asians'. The BBC stepped in it on this one. lol(but there is no lol in Islam.)

"Citizen Khan may face Ofcom investigation"

  Debut of BBC1 sitcom about an Asian family prompted complaints that it stereotypes Muslims and insults Islam Guardian, August 30, 2012



 Controversial: The firstepisode of BBC comedy series Citizen Khan attracted in the region of 200 complaints

Ofcom may launch an investigation into the BBC's comedy Citizen Khan.

Ofcom is considering launching an investigation into BBC1's Citizen Khan, a comedy about a modern Asian family, after receivingcomplaints that it stereotypes Muslims and insults Islam.

The TV regulator has received about 20 complaints about the sitcom, which debuted on BBC1 in Monday night, and is now assessing them.

Ofcom will then make a decision as to whether the complaints warrant a formal investigation to see whether the BBC has broken any UK broadcasting rules relating to viewer harm and offence.

The BBC had received 187 complaints by Tuesday about the show, which follows the life of a self-appointed "Muslim community leader" and his British-Pakistani family in Birmingham, following its broadcast.

The number of complaints has almost certainly increased since then, propelled by media coverage of the show, prompting the BBC to decide not to release any updated figures.

The show was groundbreaking for the BBC, the first Asian sitcom commissioned specifically for BBC1, created by and starring British Muslim Adil Ray.

Rice: ‘We Do Not Have a Choice — We Cannot Be Reluctant to Lead’

From Bridget Johnson at PJM:

In one of the best-received speeches of the Republican National Convention, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reflected on where America stands in the world, the greatest civil-rights issue of our time, and how a girl who couldn’t sit at the “white’s only” lunch counter grew up to be the world’s top diplomat.

“I know too there is a wariness. I know that it feels as if we have carried these burdens long enough,” Rice said of the world’s woes from oppressed nations to AIDS orphans in Africa to sex trafficking victims in Southeast Asia. “But we can only know that there is no choice, because one of two things will happen if we don’t lead. Either no one will lead and there will be chaos, or someone will fill the vacuum who does not share our values.”

“My fellow Americans, we do not have a choice,” she stressed. “We cannot be reluctant to lead and you cannot lead from behind.”

Rice advocated moving forward on free trade, military capability, and energy independence. “Most importantly, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will rebuild the foundation of our strength, the American economy — stimulating private sector growth and stimulating small business entrepreneurship,” she said. “When the world looks at us today, they see an American government that cannot live within its means.”

She said America’s narrative has never been one “of grievance and entitlement.”

“We have never believed that I am doing poorly because you are doing well. We have never been jealous of one another and never envious of each others’ successes,” Rice said.

Page 1 of 2  Next -> 

Paul Ryan: Speech at the Republican National Convention, Best Moments

Arthur Davis: Speech to the Republican National Convention

"We've got to get on with the show, because we have a country to turn around."

Former Democratic Alabama Rep. Artur Davis, who introduced President Barack Obama in 2008 at the Democratic Convention in Denver, appeared before the Republicans in Tampa on Monday and fired up the crowd with a powerful speech. He said that he regretted his vote and spoke directly to the nation's independents and Democrats who do not support Obama anymore. "May it be said of this time in our history, 2008 to 2012: mistake corrected," said Davis.



 The entirety of Arthur Davis' speech is worth reading, so here it is:

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you.

Some of you may know, the last time I spoke at a convention, it turned out I was in the wrong place.

So, Tampa, my fellow Republicans, thank you for welcoming me where I belong.

We have a country to turn around. This week you will nominate the most experienced executive to seek the presidency in 60 years in Mitt Romney.

He has no illusions about what makes America great, and he doesn't confuse the presidency with celebrity, or loftiness with leadership.

What a difference four years makes.

The Democrats' ads convince me that Governor Romney can't sing, but his record convinces me he knows how to lead, and I think you know which skill we need more.

Now, America is a land of second chances, and I gather you have room for the estimated 6 million of us who know we got it wrong in 2008 and who want to fix it.

Maybe we should have known that night in Denver that things that begin with plywood Greek columns and artificial smoke typically don't end well.

Maybe the Hollywood stars and the glamour blinded us a little: you thought it was the glare, some of us thought it was a halo.

But in all seriousness, do you know why so many of us believed? We led with our hearts and our dreams that we could be more inclusive than America had ever been, and no candidate had ever spoken so beautifully.

But dreams meet daybreak: the jobless know what I mean, so do the families who wonder how this Administration could wreck a recovery for three years and counting.

So many of those high-flown words have faded.

Remember the President saying of negative politics and untrue ads, "not this time?"

Who knew "not this time" just meant "not unless the economy is still stuck and we can't run on our record?"

Remember, too, when he said, "this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal?"

Who knew the plain English version of it was, "middle America, get ready to shell out 60 bucks to fill up your car?"

And in terms of their crown jewel legislative achievement: who knew that when asked, "will government impose a new federal mandate requiring middle class Americans to buy health insurance whether they can afford it or not?"

The answer would be "Yes we can!"

So, this time, in the name of 23 million of our children and parents and brothers and sisters who are officially unemployed, underemployed, or who have stopped looking for work, let's put the poetry aside, let's suspend the hype, let's come down to earth and start creating jobs again.

This time, instead of moving oceans and healing planets, let's get our bills in order and pay down the debt so we control our own future.

And of course, we know that opportunity lies outside the reach of some of our people.

We don't need flowery words about inequality to tell us that, and we don't need a party that has led while poverty and hunger rose to record levels to give us lectures about suffering.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are Americans who are listening to this speech tonight who haven't always been with you, and I want you to let me talk -- just to them - for a moment.

I know how loaded up our politics is with anger and animosity, but I have to believe we can still make a case over the raised voices.

There are Americans who voted for the president, but who are searching right now, because they know that their votes didn't build the country they wanted.

To those Democrats and independents whose minds are open to argument: listen closely to the Democratic Party that will gather in Charlotte and ask yourself if you ever hear your voice in the clamor.

Ask yourself if these Democrats still speak for you.

When they say we have a duty to grow government even when we can't afford it, does it sound like compassion to you -- or recklessness?

When you hear the party that glorified Occupy Wall Street blast success; when you hear them minimize the genius of the men and women who make jobs out of nothing, is that what you teach your children about work?

When they tell you America is this unequal place where the powerful trample on the powerless, does that sound like the country your children or your spouse risked their lives for in Iraq or Afghanistan?

Do you even recognize the America they are talking about? And what can we say about a house that doesn't honor the pictures on its walls?

John F. Kennedy asked us what we could do for America. This Democratic Party asks what can government give you. Don't worry about paying the bill, it's on your kids and grandkids.

Bill Clinton took on his base and made welfare a thing you had to work for; this current crowd guts the welfare work requirement in the dead of night.

Bill Clinton, Jack Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson reached out across the aisle and said meet me in the middle; but their party rammed through a healthcare bill that took over one-sixth of our economy, without accepting a single Republican idea, without winning a single vote in either house from a party whose constituents make up about 50 percent of the country.

You know, the Democrats used to have a night when they presented a film of their presidential legends: if they do it in Charlotte, the theme song should be this year's hit, "Somebody That I Used to Know."

My fellow Americans, when great athletes falter, their coaches sometimes whisper to them "remember who you are." It's a call to their greatness at a moment when their bodies and spirit are too sapped to remember their strength.

This sweet, blessed, God-inspired place called America is a champion that has absorbed some blows.

But while we bend, we don't break.

This is no dark hour; this is the dawn before we remember who we are.

May it be said of this time in our history: 2008 to 2011: lesson learned.

2012: mistake corrected.

God bless you, God bless America. Thank you.

Mia Love: Speech at the Republican National Convention

"The first day of college my father came with me to orientation and I remember he looked at me. He looked at me very seriously and he said, "Mia, your mother and I have done everything to get you to where you are right now." We have never taken a hand out, we have worked hard for everything we have through personal responsibility. You will not be a burden to society. You will give back.

If I could describe Freedom in one word, it would be Agency. The ability to make decisions, and reap the benefits of those decisions, or suffer the consequences. 

If I could go to Washington tomorrow and change one thing, it would be to restore the power of the decision making back to the people. It is not government's responsibility to save our country. 

It's up to us to save our country. 

What makes America great is this idea that we are free, free to work, free to live, free to choose, and free to fail, because our failures make us better."

 

This Week On The Gathering Storm

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, hosted by WC and Always On Watch. The show broadcasts live for 30 minutes every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is 646-915-9870. Callers welcome!

Listen to the August 31, 2012 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS:
Read more »

MSNBC? Racist Or Agenda Driven? Both?

As you may have heard, MSNBC curtailed their Tuesday, August 28, 2012 coverage of the 2012 Republicn National Convention in a particular way:

In lieu of airing speeches from former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis, a black American; Mia Love, a black candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Utah; and Texas senatorial hopeful Ted Cruz, a Latino American, MSNBC opted to show commentary anchored by Rachel Maddow from Rev. Al Sharpton, Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews, Chris Hayes and Steve Schmidt.

Racism on the part of MSNBC?

Determination to continue painting the GOP as the political party of nothing but "white guys"?

Emulating Stalin along the lines of airbrushing?

Humpday Blues

Willie Dixon
I'm Nervous

Built for Comfort

Yahoo:

'Hitler' clothing store stirs anger in India

The owner of an Indian clothing store said Wednesday that he would only change its name from "Hitler" if he was compensated for re-branding costs, amid a growing row over the new shop.

The outlet, which sells Western men's wear, opened 10 days ago in Ahmedabad city in the western state of Gujarat with "Hitler" written in big letters over the front and with a Nazi swastika as the dot on the "i".

"I will change it (the name) if people want to compensate me for the money we have spent -- the logo, the hoarding, the business cards, the brand," Rajesh Shah told AFP.

He put the total costs at about 150,000 rupees ($2,700).

Shah insisted that until the store opened he did not know who Adolf Hitler was and that Hitler was a nickname given to the grandfather of his store partner because "he was very strict".

"I didn't know how much the name would disturb people," he told AFP by telephone from Ahmedabad. "It was only when the store opened I learnt Hitler had killed six million people."

Members of the tiny Jewish community in Ahmedabad condemned the store's name, while a senior Israeli diplomat said the embassy would raise the matter "in the strongest possible way."

"People use such names mostly out of ignorance," Israel's Mumbai Consul General Orna Sagiv told AFP.

[Related: 11 Urban Outfitters clothing controversies]

Esther David, a prominent Indian writer in Ahmedabad who is Jewish, said she was "disturbed and distressed" by the shop, but added that some Indians used the word "Hitler" casually to describe autocratic people.

David said Jewish residents had sought to change Shah's mind about the store's name and told him about the Holocaust.

The row evoked memories of a controversy six years ago when a Mumbai restaurant owner called his cafe "Hitler's Cross" and put a swastika on the hoarding, claiming Hitler was a "catchy" name.

The restaurant owner eventually agreed to change the name after protests by the Israeli embassy, Germany and the US Anti-Defamation League.

Hitler attracts an unusual degree of respect in some parts of India, with his book "Mein Kampf" a popular title in bookshops and on street stalls.

Gujarat schoolbooks issued by the Hindu nationalist state government were criticised a few years ago for praising Hitler as someone who gave "dignity and prestige" to the German government.

This should be the subject of an immediate firing or resignation

Yahoo News Washington bureau chief David Chalian provided the perfect example of the pervasive anti-Republican bias Mitt Romney faces in his bid to unseat President Barack Obama.

In video broadcast Monday night by ABC and Yahoo over the Internet, Chalian can be heard claiming that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife Ann are unconcerned about the fate of residents of the New Orleans area who are currently being hit by Hurricane Isaac.

“They aren’t concerned at all,” Chalian can be heard on the live broadcast. “They are happy to have a party when black people drown.”

That line elicits laughter from several employees listening in on the joke.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-sheffield/2012/08/29/abc-news-romneys-happy-have-party-when-black-people-drown#ixzz24xQzwFVN

This man should be writing columns for HuffPo and MILES FROM ACTUAL REPORTING

Obama in Egypt

To me THIS KIND OF ATTACK ON IRAN sounds like Israel

Unimaginably crippling, zero casualties, totally destabilizing.

Free Beacon .. Bill Gertz

Analyst Sees Possibility of EMP Strike on Iran

U.S. sees signs Israel could use nuclear EMP attack against Iran

U.S. intelligence agencies recently reported growing concerns that Israel will conduct a strike on Iran using a high-altitude nuclear burst aimed at disrupting all electronics in the country.

The intelligence worries were triggered by recent publication of anarticlein the Israeli press suggesting the Jewish state should carry out an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, attack.

U.S. officials said the article likely reflects official Israeli government thinking about a possible preemptive response to Iran’s expected emergence as a nuclear weapons state in the near future.

Asked about the EMP report, an Israeli government spokesman declined to comment. A U.S. intelligence community spokesman also declined comment.

A U.S. official said the article in question appeared Aug. 6 in the news outlet Israel National News. The article stated that an Israeli nuclear burst over Iran could “send Iran back to the Stone Age.”

It was the first time the issue of a nuclear EMP attack by Israel had appeared in a mainstream Israeli press outlet.

RIA

ISRAEL NATION NEWS OP ED:

Op-Ed: Israel’s EMP Attack Can Send Iran Back to the Stone Age

There is no question that Iran is now a de facto nuclear state - a “casus belli” for Israeli military action.

As Iran miscalculates Israeli resolve, it is clear that the diplomatic dance of deceit and empty bluster for years is over. The die is cast and Israel has crossed the Rubicon, since a significant spectacle of events is set to begin to work against Iran come October.

While the onus is on Iran to abide by itsinternationalobligations, the wild card is in Israel’s hand - withElectrnonic Magnetic Pulse (EMP) inscribed on it. Since diplomacy and sanctions were an abject failure, war has become inevitable and preparations for preventing Iran’s rapid nuclear progress have, thus far, accelerated.

Despite Israel’s highly advanced technology and strategic military advantage, Israel’s fear of an Iranian existential threat is understandable. In any case, Israel has done it the past with flawlessprecisionwhen it destroyed Iraq’sOsiraq reactor in 1981 and aSyrian reactor being built by North Koreans in 2007. Both surprise attacks were immensely successful and kept Israel’s enemies scratching their heads in disbelief, stunning the world.

Iran has reached the ‘zone of immunity.’

There are five solid reasons that Iran has now entered what Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak termed as the “zone of immunity”:

First,Iran plans to ratchet up enrichment up to 60 per cent uranium which is now on the way to an 80-90 percent weapons grade.

Second, Iran has accelerated its forced projection and tested ballistic missilesdeliverysystem in anEMP modewith North Korean assistance.

Thirdl, Iran’s stockpile of low grade enriched uranium can be converted to five nuclear weapons if refined further, according to theInstitute for Science and International Security.

Fourth, satellite imagery showsmega-fortification of underground nuclear facilities impervious to U.S. super bunker buster bombs.

Finally, Iran has started the process of loading 163fuel rodsinto the core of Bushehr nuclear power plant reactor.

In light of the latest developments, there is no question that Iran is now a de facto nuclear state - a “casus belli” for Israeli military action. Although the military option is unattractive and untenable, failure to act would be much worse if Iran got the atomic bomb.

A large majority of Israelis and Americans believes that Israel would be better off if the U.S. would lead the attack on Iran.

READ THE OP ED

"The America I grew up knowing was centered in self-reliance and filled with the possibilities of living the American dream”

Mia Love 36, daughter of Hatian immigrants who arrived with $10, republican nominee for congress in Utah.

Ms. Love, a staunch conservative who converted to Mormonism, is challenging Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson, a six-term incumbent. Cook Political Report rates the race a tossup, and Ms. Love’s exposure on Tuesday night could give her a boost.

John Adams
Hallelujah Junction
Tzenka Dianova and Sarah Watkins, pianos

Shaker Loops

(call and response ;-)

Hymn to a Great City - from the Composer Arvo Part

Vater Unser (Our Father) - Composer, Arvo Part

School asks deaf preschooler to change his sign language name

Three-and-a-half year old Hunter Spanjer, who is deaf, signs his name by crossing his forefinger and index finger and moving his hand up and down.

To his family, friends and those who know the Signing Exact English (S.E.E.) language that the Grand Island, Neb., boy uses, that gesture uniquely means "Hunter Spanjer."

But to Hunter's school district, it might mean something else. The district claims that it violates a rule that forbids anything in the school that looks like a weapon, reports KOLN-TV.

And Hunter's parents claim that Grand Island Pubic Schools administrators have asked them to change their son's sign language name.

"Anybody that I have talked to thinks this is absolutely ridiculous," Hunter's grandmother Janet Logue told the TV station. "This is not threatening in any way."

Hunter's father Brian Spanjer said, "It's a symbol. It's an actual sign, a registered sign, through S.E.E."

The family told KOLN that lawyers from the National Association of the Deaf may push for Hunter's right to sign his name at the school.

Jack Sheard, Grand Island Public Schools spokesperson told KOLN, "We are working with the parents to come to the best solution we can for the child."

One Grand Island resident said she disagrees with the school.

"I find it very difficult to believe that the sign language that shows his name resembles a gun in any way would even enter a child's mind," Fredda Bartenbach said in the news report.

Tarja Turunen
I Feel Immortal

Until Dawn

Has the Muslim Brotherhood taken a repressive turn?”

Are they stupid at Time?

Are they so incompetent?

Is it denial?

Has no one there read Qutb?

Sabah Hamamou recalls hoping for the best and giving Mohamed Morsy the benefit of the doubt when the longtime Muslim Brotherhood official became Egypt’s first ever elected civilian President earlier this summer.

For Hamamou, a deputy business editor at the state-owned flagship daily newspaper al-Ahram, it was an opportunity to finally fix the institution to which she has dedicated 17 years of her professional life. Hamamou is one of the hardcore dissidents inside Egypt’s state media machine. Halfway through the January 2011 revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak from power, she and a handful of colleagues launched an internal revolt to chase out the Mubarak-appointed editor. So when Morsy came to power, she hoped for a fresh start and a new regime that would return the historic paper to something approaching respectability.

That optimism crumbled on Aug. 8 when the Shura Council — the upper house of parliament controlled by Morsy’s Muslim Brotherhood — announced dozens of new editors at a host of state-owned newspapers and magazines. The new al-Ahram editor, Abdel Nasser Salama, was just one of the hires that prompted a widespread revolt among Egyptian journalists.

Read more: http://world.time.com/2012/08/28/shades-of-mubarak-egyptian-journalists-chafe-under-media-controls/#ixzz24sXZM0vd

“Obama’s campaign team, remains convinced that the campaign is not bluffing about its belief that it remains ahead in the race and unlikely to lose barring an unforeseen external event.”

GOOD

Top Lebanese Sunni Cleric: Buddhists Are Trained By The Jews To Oppress Muslims In Burma

Thuggery! The DOJ And Gallup

From Sodahead (hat tip to Bunkerville):

In a move that could have chilling First Amendment consequences, the Obama regime this week showed that it's willing to use the full weight and power of the Justice Department to pummel any media outlet that doesn't toe the party line.

Within days of the Gallup Organization issuing, essentially, a veiled warning to the Obama gang about tinkering with unemployment numbers, Obama's DOJ jumped, jackboots first, into a multi-million dollar legal action against Gallup, in a case initiated by a former Obama operative.

Others have noted that the DOJ action occurred after Gallup had Mitt Romney ahead of Obama in its polling for a few days....

[...]

Twice this summer, Gallup has published a report calling into question discrepancies between its unadjusted research and what is being tallied in the adjusted O-fficial statistics....

Read the rest HERE.

Dog Whistle Racism: He Who Hears The Whistle Is The Dog

"He said, 'Black people.' Waaahhcism! Waaahhcism!"

From Ace of Spades:

The problem isn’t that Tingles is willing to presume racism; the problem is that his presumption is irrebuttable, with subconscious racism the inevitable fallback presumption in cases like these when the accused protests vehemently enough. You’re guilty, even if you don’t know it. 

True. He always frames it as "have you stopped beating your wife?" and then talks over you as you try to make your point. And he's been doing it for decades. 

But here's a little value-add over and above cribbing from Allah via James Taranto's WSJ column today. It's a point that never seems to dawn on Tingles and the rest of the dog whistle crowd as we laugh at them. 

The thing we adore about these dog-whistle kerfuffles is that the people who react to the whistle always assume it's intended for somebody else. The whole point of the metaphor is that if you can hear the whistle, you're the dog.

Read the whole thing.