Robert Spencer corrects Marc Lamont Hill

"Morally shameful"

I agree with Mr. Wehner that it is shameful how hostile President Obama and his administration are toward our country's greatest ally in the Middle East. The man bows to other world leaders and lets them cross "red lines" without repercussions. But Israel draws his rage and his snubs. Excerpt:

But the problem goes much deeper than a personality clash. President Obama is, quite simply, anti-Israel. In every conceivable situation and circumstance, the president and his aides give the benefit of the doubt not to Israel but to its enemies. This despite the fact that Israel is among America’s longest and best allies, democratic, lawful, takes exquisite steps to prevent civilian deaths in nations committed to destroying it, and has made extraordinary sacrifices for peace. No matter; the pressure that’s applied is always applied most against Israel–even when, as in last year’s conflict with Hamas, Israel was the victim of lethal attacks.

This is morally shameful. In a world filled with despotic leaders and sadistic and ruthless regimes–North Korea, Iran, Syria, Cuba, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, and on and on–which nation alone does Mr. Obama become “enraged” at? Which is the object of his disdain? Which provokes his white-hot anger?

Answer: Israel. Has it struck you, as it has struck me, that with every other nation, including the most repressive and anti-American on earth, Mr. Obama is careful never to give offense, to always extend the olive branch, and to treat their leaders with unusual deference and respect? Except for the Jewish State of Israel. It always seems to be in the Obama crosshair.

Berkeley students dislike Israel, don't mind ISIS

Amazing but not surprising.



Ami Horowitz: I have always thought that there was no connection between intellect and wisdom. To put this theory to the test, I headed out to the University of California, Berkeley.

Students at Berkeley clearly have a lot of intellect; it is one of the most prestigious and selective universities in the country. But do they have wisdom? I went to the bucolic campus armed with a flag that represents the greatest evil known today, ISIS. If these are our best and brightest then we should all be afraid, very afraid.

The shocking video above unfortunately proves once and for all that there is in fact no connection between intellect and wisdom.

My "Don't Confirm Hagel" Email to Senators

If you go here, you can automatically send an email note to your Senators telling them to just say NO to confirming Hagel as Sec Def. I sent mine to Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman. Standard text is provided by the website, but I modified the text in mine slightly, adding an extra paragraph, which I highlighted in bold below.

I am asking you---not only as your constituent but a concerned citizen---to vote "No" on the confirmation of Senator Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense. Chuck Hagel's confirmation would send a dangerous signal to Iran and other radical Islamic elements which would make our country and our allies less secure. Senator Hagel has made it clear that he would not use strength to prevent the Iranians from obtaining nuclear weapons. He has also sought to distance the United States from Israel, and refused to stop efforts to end terrorist attacks on Israel.

As my representative in the United States Senate you swore to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic." I firmly believe there are more qualified persons to serve as our next Secretary of Defense.

For all these reasons I have been opposed to Hagel being confirmed as Secretary of Defense for some time now. But listening to audio of the confirmation hearings today, I have another concern. Mr. Hagel's halting, hesitating responses when he was asked several difficult questions--which he assuredly knew he would receive--made me wonder if he is mentally competent to serve in this high pressure position. Upon observing this I remember thinking that I wouldn't be surprised if he had unknowingly suffered a stroke, or has some other malady of the brain which makes him slow on the uptake. Please consider this before you confirm a man with an impaired mind.

I deliberately avoided the use of the word retarded which, though the most accurate word I can think of to describe his feeble-minded responses and speech impediment, I deemed to possibly be construed as a bit disrespectful by the staffers who are forced to read these correspondences.

Donald McClarey pwns Jimmy Carter

On Saturday over at the American Catholic blog, Donald McClarey skillfully disassembled what he rightly calls Jimmy Carter's "latest mind droppings". Mainly he is reacting to the recent bilious remarks that Carter made about Blessed Pope John Paul II along the standard liberal lines, referring to the late Holy Father as a "fundamentalist". I encourage you to read the entire thing, but here is an excerpt:

Jimmy, here is a clue for you. No one cares a rat’s nether regions about what you think about anything. You were a completely incompetent president and the American people have tried their best to forget you. You were such a wretched president that even in your own party you are a non-person, and it difficult to embarrass Democrats over anything. Pope John Paul II was a magnificent pope. Here is a list of just a few of his accomplishments, although it will take centuries for historians to fully assess his almost 27 year-long papacy, but here are some of the factors that I think they will note.

Then Donald goes on to discuss some of JPII's accomplishments, like ending communism, keeping the church from descending into Anglican-like irrelevance, etc. Next to these, Carter looks pretty much like a sorex longirostris fisheri¹ in comparison. So he merely concludes thus:

This list only touches some of the main features of the papacy of John Paul II, a papacy that will be discussed endlessly as the centuries pass. In the far future Jimmy, if historians will recall you at all, it will probably be because you were president at the start of the pontificate of John Paul the Great.

There are a lot of comments there worth reading as well, notably this one from Martial Artist/Keith Töpfer:

Professor Esolen,

Thank you for responding to C-Veg with the facts. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi went into exile on 16th January 1979, in the middle of the following a series of militantly anti-Shah demonstrations the first of which occurred in October 1977, in the middle of the Carter administration. He did not come to the United States until late October 1979, and was allowed into the country to undergo surgical treatment.

On a related note, as a former enlisted submariner in the U.S. Navy, subsequently commissioned, I would have to rate Mr. McClarey’s assessment of Mr. Carter as a bit on the generous side. Carter repeatedly demonstrated an inability to think beyond a limited set of fixed policies and procedures.

Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer, LCDR, USN [ret]

Also, just today, Donald reports that he received awesome "fan mail" for his efforts. I'm totally jealous. Good job, Donald.

-----

1 - Dismal Swamp Southestern Shrew.

Who reads American Conservative Magazine?

And who comments there? My friend sent me an email last night admiring Kathleen's The Day Rod Was There post and simultaneously suggesting that the list be updated including the new Rod-centric details he posted here. I had already read that bit of inadvertent clownishness, but I checked in today for the comments since he had specifically requested them. The first one sort of popped up at me:

mccavity, on September 11th, 2011 at 10:32 am Said:

I lived in the city but was out of town visiting family. I watched it on TV.

When the first tower was hit I thought it was an accident.

When the second tower was hit I thought “THIS IS THE PRICE WE ARE PAYING FOR ISRAEL”.

On this day of remembering where we all were, and what happened, if is very important to remember WHY it happened.

Rod Dreher probably won't delete this comment. He only deletes comments if he disagrees with them or if he finds them to be offensive.

Hell-in, Hell-out

Blogger was down earlier, and I was busting to post all this great Helen Thomas stuff. First the viral video:

Thank you RabbiLive.com for giving us the unvarnished truth, not that any amount of varnish would help in Helen's case. Here are some more tasty factoids posted on the RabbiLive site:

Helen Thomas has been dropped by her speaker’s agency, Nine Speakers, Inc for her comments posted on RabbiLIVE.com.

Craig Crawford also refuses to work with Helen on any future book projects.

Additionally, Helen has been dropped from a High School graduation key note speaker position.

Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary, and Lanny Davis, former White House counsel, both are calling for Hearst Corporation to fire Helen immediately.

Of course, this was before she was retired.

Someone set up a Twitter page to channel the old gal's thoughts. Too funny. My favorite:

You call them terrorists, but some people call them freedom fighters. I call them all Achmed because I'm bad with names. What's a twitter?

Jonah's piece is good. Like this line: "Suddenly, all of these people and groups are stunned to discover that Helen Thomas is . . . Helen Thomas."



Did the President leave out the "...and many more" on purpose?

Palestinian Demonstration

Comments welcome.