Obamunism Update

Obama baby boom: Predicted surge in births goes bust

Soaring deficit may defy forecasts

Watchdog says bad assets still threaten banks

Energy prices slump after Labor Department report

Energy prices slumped Tuesday on a Labor Department report that suggested consumer spending, a major economic driver, may be depressed for some time as companies cut back.

Wholesale inventories fall for 10th straight month

…wholesale inventories declined 1.7 percent in June, nearly double the 0.9 percent decrease economists had expected.

Bankruptcy Filing Near for Taylor Bean

A bankruptcy filing is “imminent” for Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., lawyers representing the mortgage lender said in a federal court filing last week.

Pickens Long Oil, Still Expects Higher Prices

Soros: Economy Has Bottomed

Trinkets that stick it to Obama start to sell

Obama Makes The Case Against His Own Health Care Plan

“UPS & FedEx are doing just fine. It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems.”

Thanks for proving the point that the government needs to stay the hell away from the heath care business.

Astroturfing in New Hampshire

I knew that there was something #fishy about this AP Story regarding the Portsmouth, NH Obamacare rally, featuring the Chief Snake Oil Salesman, himself:

The White House had been ready for an unruly reception from opponents of overhauling health care. There was no sign of that, perhaps because of the makeup of the day’s crowd or out of traditional deference for the president.

Obama’s push came amid a string of disruptive health care town halls nationwide that have overshadowed his message and threatened to derail support in Congress. Indeed, Republican-turned-Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter faced hostile questions, taunts and jeers earlier Tuesday as he tried to explain his positions at a town hall in Lebanon, Pa. Voter fears of a government takeover of health care were on stark display.

Some lawmakers, holding forums during Congress’ August recess, have gone so far as to replace public forums with teleconferences or step up security to keep protesters at bay.

But the Democratic president faced no outbursts.

The encounter was so friendly, in fact, that by the end Obama was even asking for skeptical questioners to come forward — to no avail.

Of course, to the clueless AP state-run media, there was nothing #fishy about this happenstance. But to anyone with a google search engine, the reasons were obvious:

On Monday dozens of workers — including White House staffers — spent hours setting up the high school auditorium for Obama’s forum, which is only open to those members of the public who secured tickets. Organizers would not disclose how many tickets were issued.

John Moran, 71, of Nottingham was among the many who went to the school to pick up tickets for an event marking Obama’s first trip to the Granite State since he took office in January.

Moran, a Democrat, said he is a strong Obama supporter who was thrilled when he got a call notifying him that he would have two tickets for today’s Town Hall forum.

The Nottingham resident said his wife — who will also be attending — was even more excited with the chance to see Obama live.

“She is really tickled. You should have seen her … she was jumping up and down,” Moran said.

Moran said he has a couple questions in mind if he is called on at the forum with one of them being how the president intends to get health insurance companies to work with him to reform health care.

He said he hopes Obama’s plan will push for a more proactive approach to healthy living that involves coverage for preventive health care like screening and exercise.

Kathleen O’Brien, 64, and Jean Sanders, 66, both of Atkinson, said they will be sitting on stage for the event as they worked on Obama’s campaign beginning in 2007.

On Monday they both went to the high school to pick up tickets and their excitement was more than evident.

“He is as good as everyone says he is. The last person I worked this hard for was Robert Kennedy,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien wore an American flag-style scarf around her neck and a lanyard carrying several Obama pins.

She said she’s read most of Obama’s reform bill concerning health care, but still wants more information.

“I want to hear as much as possible about the plan,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien and Sanders said they spent the weekend calling those who were selected in the lottery to receive tickets.

Sanders said some people sounded like they had just won a fortune when they were informed they would be able to attend the forum and hear Obama speak first-hand about his plan.

“It was unbelievable,” Sander said.

Now here’s the real ‘laugh-a-minute’ quote:

O’Brien said she is sure many “hecklers” will be outside Portsmouth High School trying to derail reform, but she said anyone paying attention to the specifics of the plan will support what Obama is trying to do. She balked at those who say the plan is not in the best interest of senior citizens.

“He is actually protecting seniors,” O’Brien said.

Now that’s Astroturf you can believe in.

The Danger of Dealing for Hostages

Victor Davis Hanson with a timely reminder:

…Once we get beyond the emotional high of seeing two young Americans rescued from such a creepy regime, I think we are going to collectively sober up and realize that we just did what we always said we would never do: bargained for the release of hostages from terrorists. Think away the notion of North Korea as a legitimate government, and we are indeed left with begging a terrorist clique, at a critical time in non-proliferation talks, to release those they kidnapped for the purposes of humiliating the United States. What would have been the press reaction had Bush I been asked by someone like Boone Pickens to visit Pyongyang to free two of his company’s kidnapped employees in North Korea with the complicit blessing of the Bush II administration amid talks about nuclear violations?

The genesis of the ill-famed “Iran/Contra” affair was the desire by President Reagan to get American hostages out of the hands of Islamist savages who had already proved their brutality by cruelly murdering some of their captives. An admirable and humane impulse, but it eventually led to giving weapons to the very Islamists we were actually in battle against. There can be no deals with terrorists – even if those terrorists have set themselves up in an organization which apes human government. Much as I was (and am) delighted that those two women were released, I wonder how many others will be made to pay the price now that the terrorists know we will deal with them in return for released hostages?

The Israelis have this same problem – time and time again they have given up hundreds of captured enemies because the Islamists have one or two Israeli soldiers in captivity. All these exchanges do is provide incentive for more taking more captives. I wonder how many of our enemies are wondering, now, just what we’ll give up for one or two additional American prisoners?

It is a hard thing, but it must be done – when an American is taken captive, our position should be that we will punish those who took captive and/or harmed an American…this punishment may range from criminal prosecution to a well aimed, Special Forces bullet, depending on what seems most appropriate. Regimes who sponsor capturing Americans must be advised that massive US military strikes will follow swiftly upon our conclusion that said nation had a hand in the outrage. Some of our enemies will not listen and will take captives and brutally kill them…but not that many, because there would be no upside for it.

Terrorists are despicable savages, but they do have an inner logic – they want us afraid and grovelling…show no fear and wield the sword for innocent, unarmed prisoners and the enemy will make different calculations.

Phrase of the Day

Beware of change for the sake of change:

The perceptive reformer combines an ability to reform with a disposition to preserve; the man who loves change is wholly disqualified, from his lust, to be the agent of change. – Russell Kirk

The Afghan Campaign Comes to a Crisis Point

Michael Yon’s latest:

Daily dramas unfolded, including the bangs, booms and small-arms fire that punctuated the times. At 1800, I was preparing to go to orders with 1 Platoon, A Company of 2 Rifles, when shots from a large-caliber rifle began cracking low over base. I passed by sniper, Kris Griffith, and said, “Hey Kris, why don’t you grab your rifle and go shoot that guy?” Kris replied that two other sniper teams were on it. “He’s close,” I said, and Kris answered, “About 600 meters.” Then we went our separate ways….

Underscores this:

The Taliban have gained the upper hand in Afghanistan, the top American commander there said, forcing the U.S. to change its strategy in the eight-year-old conflict by increasing the number of troops in heavily populated areas like the volatile southern city of Kandahar, the insurgency’s spiritual home.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal warned that means U.S. casualties, already running at record levels, will remain high for months to come.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the commander offered a preview of the strategic assessment he is to deliver to Washington later this month, saying the troop shifts are designed to better protect Afghan civilians from rising levels of Taliban violence and intimidation. The coming redeployments are the clearest manifestation to date of Gen. McChrystal’s strategy for Afghanistan, which puts a premium on safeguarding the Afghan population rather than hunting down militants…

I believe that what is meant by “upper hand” here is that the Taliban have gained the initiative and we are reacting to them rather than forcing them to fight on our chosen ground. This is still bad, but no one should think that such reports mean the Taliban are winning – winning in the sense of endangering our troops with destruction or withdrawal. Michael Yon makes the assertion in the first linked article that the Taliban are “undisciplined savages” and are thus our best allies in defeating them – the worse they get, the better we appear in contrast. Of course, this only works as much as Joe Average Afghani believes we can protect him from the “undisciplined savages”. If the locals think that we’re going to leave them high and dry, they’ll kowtow to the Taliban as much as is necessary to survive.

Yon also notes that a lot of the problem we’re having is from bombs made from gasoline and fertilizer – which means that while weapons may be coming in from Pakistan and Iran, the mere securing of the Afghan border won’t stop the fighting. In light of all this, I believe that General McChrystal has the right strategy – protect the Afghans from the Taliban. This will not only deny a support system for the Taliban but also force them to attack us where we’ve prepared the field of battle – they’ll be forced to walk right in to the killing grounds we’ll set up for them.

This will be a long, difficult and, at times, very bloody fight. But we’ll win…as long as our political leadership supports the troops.

The (Honduran) Mouse That Roared

And put us neatly in our place:

…In a welcome about-face, the State Department told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Richard Lugar, R-Ind., in a letter Tuesday that the U.S. would no longer threaten sanctions on Honduras for ousting its president, Mel Zelaya, last June 28.

Nor will it insist on Zelaya’s return to power. As it turns out, the U.S. Senate can’t find any legal reason why the Honduran Supreme Court’s refusal to let Zelaya stay in office beyond the time allowed by Honduran law constitutes a “military coup.”

This marks a shift. The U.S. at first supported Zelaya, a man who had been elected democratically but didn’t govern that way. Now they’re reaching out to average Hondurans, the real democrats.

Sure, the U.S. continues to condemn Zelaya’s ouster and still seeks mediation of the dispute through Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. But no U.S. sanctions means Hondurans have won…

Free people standing up for themselves will always be glorious – in the face of both tyrants and fools. I’m glad that Obama has called off the leftist dogs, but its a sad day when Hondurans have to teach us a lesson in democracy…but it is a lesson well worth learning, my fellow Americans.

The Blood of the Martyrs is Seed

Real martyrs – not bloodthirsty murderers pretending to be such, but meek people spreading the word and paying for it with their lives:

A ministry that assists the persecuted Church worldwide is trying to put pressure on North Korea’s communist government, after a Christian was executed there for distributing the Bible.

Activists in South Korea reported recently that communist officials in North Korea publicly executed a 33-year-old mother of three. Ri Hyon Ok…

…Jim Jacobson, president of Christian Freedom International, says the execution signals a major change in the crackdown on religion in North Korea. He believes the house church movement will be strengthened by the senseless murder.

“There’s a really opposite and equal reaction to this that means more Bibles will probably go in as a result of this. Christians will be evermore strengthened in their faith, as unbelievable as that sounds,” he admits. “The more you persecute Christians, the more Christianity thrives.”

My heart falters when I read such things, wondering if I would have the courage to accept such a fate. I simply don’t know – but I do know courage and faith, and this is it.

Obamunism Update

Deficit grew by $181 billion in July

Bankruptcies May Hit 1.4 Million

CEO of Nortel steps down as company liquidates

Dynegy sells plants for $1 billion, 2Q loss widens

Gas prices nationwide jump 16 cents

Credit cards holders shocked to see interest rates skyrocket, limits plunge

Volume of ‘subdivision’ vacant lots overwhelms banks

Some fire-sale prices on have dipped to 20 to 30 cents on the dollar

Where did that bank bailout go? Watchdogs aren’t entirely sure

U.S. Economy May Be on Brink of Recovery, Tyson, Krugman Say

Unlike Pelosi, I've Actually Seen Protesters With Swastikas

I took this picture at Ground Zero in New York City, back in 2004.

For eight years I have listened to folks on the left compare President Bush to Hitler, even combining the names into the single “Bushitler.”

Sure, I have seen photos of protesters with signs show Obama with a Hitler mustache… but what I don’t get is why is the left suddenly so offended by such comparisons? It’s revealing for the situation to be reversed isn’t it?

Cry me a river. lefties. Don’t dish it if you can’t take it. Don’t pretend to be above that stuff.

UPDATE, by Mark Noonan: Steve Crowder shows that “Chaos, Violence & Rage Are Fueling Right Wing Hate Mobs“

UPDATE II, by Mark Noonan: And they accuse us of being astroturf?

George Soros Pledges $5 Million To Bankroll Health Care Reform Push, Group Says