Michael Ramirez: Taxpayers as Fodder

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Jay Nordlinger & Ocean Kayaker Agree

Jay Nordlinger, senior editor at National Review will be beside himself with delight to learn that he and I agree on last night's GOP debate. He posted this Impromptus piece at National Review Online this morning.

Here are some his best observations (my three favorites are highlighted):

Rick Perry — total Marlboro Man.

Mitt Romney looks like a Ken doll, as everyone says. By the way, what’s wrong with looking like Ken? You ever see Barbie?

Generally speaking, is the process a little demeaning? Oh, yeah.

CNN and the Tea Party co-hosted a debate? Proof of the old adage “Politics makes strange bedfellows.”

Newt should have run in ’96 — that was his time, that was his year.

Perry’s line about making Washington as inconsequential to you as possible? I’m reminded of how Phil Gramm campaigned. He’d shake a man’s hand and say, “I’ll try to keep the government out of your wallet.”

What Perry is now saying about Social Security? How it will be unchanged for current retirees and those nearing retirement, but that younger people will have flexibility and options? Exactly what Candidate George W. Bush said, way back in 2000.

Romney was not very good when being pesky, when badgering Perry. He looked small.

Charming guy, Cain. Might there be room for him in a future Republican administration?

Santorum kept talking about all the “courage” he had shown in his political life — “I had the courage to” do this, “I had the courage to” do that. Ay, caramba, Rick. That’s for others to say, not you.

He (Santorum) referred to himself as a “spokesperson.” I wish he had had the — what, courage? — to say “spokesman.” If a Rick Santorum waves the linguistic white flag, we’re all doomed.

When Newt talked about all the “waste” in government, and how getting rid of it would take care of our budget woes, I almost ralphed. Every bad, dim, or dishonest candidate has said this since the beginning of time: waste, fraud, and abuse. And going after tax cheats. Newt knows so much better.

Romney pounced on this, saying, Waste, schmaste — we have to cut spending, seriously and structurally. It was just about the most adult moment of the campaign.

Huntsman keeps saying things like, “I want all of you to understand . . .” When he does so, he comes off as condescending and snide, in my opinion.

Perry was very good on how people have voted with their feet — have moved to Texas, for more opportunity. Very good. That rebuts criticisms of the Texas record: “If we’re so bad, how come people keep coming to us, to build their businesses, to pursue their dreams? How come they’re not going to, say, Massachusetts?”

His (Ron Paul) view of the War on Terror is essentially the same as Michael Moore’s or Noam Chomsky’s. Shouldn’t they be allowed to participate in Republican presidential debates, too? They articulate that view much better.

Tell you why I could never run for president: When they asked me, “What will you do to attract Latino voters?” I would say, “Nothing, really. I will appeal to all Americans as Americans. That is attractive to those who want to be Americans, instead of ethnic groups or special interests.”

When Romney said he’d restore the Churchill bust to the Oval Office, I thought, “Good one.” Then I think I heard Perry say, “Good one” — which made me think very well of Perry.

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Surely anyone of the eight candidates shown above, with the possible exceptions of Huntsman (described after the last debate by Hadley Arkes as "a sanctimonious, nasty little man") and Paul, would make Obama pale into insignificance on a debate platform.

From Caroline Glick Today

From today's post at CarolineGlick.com:

"As I expected, Pamela Geller is all over this anti-Israel NY subway ad campaign I discussed yesterday. .

"She submitted the ad above to CBS Outdoor/NY Transit to run on NY subway cars.

"Go to Atlas Shrugs to help her finance this effort. In the event that the ad is rejected, she will sue and you are invited to join her."

Michael Ramirez: Obama's Jobs Plan

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Wounded Warrior Project: Join the Advance Guard

You can help our returning wounded warriors by joining the Advance Guard of The Wounded Warrior Project, and making a monthly donation to the cause. Today, September 11, would be a great day to do it.

September 11, 2001: Never Forget!

World Trade Center

Pentagon

Shanksville

Mark Steyn: "Let's Roll Over"

The inestimable Mark Steyn makes his case against those among us who, unlike Todd Beamer, would prefer that we roll over rather than continue the fight against terrorism.

Let’s Roll Over - Mark Steyn - National Review Online

Colonel Greg Semmel Remembers 9/11

Colonel Greg Semmel, Assistant Vice Wing Commander, 174th Fighter Wing, Syracuse, New York, a first-responder to the attack against the United States by Radical Islamic Terrorists on September 11, 2001, recalls the events of that fateful day.

Herman Cain: "We Waited 30 Months For This?"

From The Associated Press (really!): FACT CHECK: Obama's jobs plan paid for? Seems not
By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press

Herman Cain was not the only one unimpressed with the president's Jobs "plan," which, as usual, has not been committed to paper. Even the Associated Press saw through the campaign stop at the U.S. Capitol last night. Here's what the AP's Calvin Woodward had to say about it:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's promise Thursday that everything in his jobs plan will be paid for rests on highly iffy propositions.

It will only be paid for if a committee he can't control does his bidding, if Congress puts that into law and if leaders in the future — the ones who will feel the fiscal pinch of his proposals — don't roll it back.

Underscoring the gravity of the nation's high employment rate, Obama chose a joint session of Congress, normally reserved for a State of the Union speech, to lay out his proposals. But if the moment was extraordinary, the plan he presented was conventional Washington rhetoric in one respect: It employs sleight-of-hand accounting.

A look at some of Obama's claims and how they compare with the facts:

OBAMA: "Everything in this bill will be paid for. Everything."

THE FACTS: Obama did not spell out exactly how he would pay for the measures contained in his nearly $450 billion American Jobs Act but said he would send his proposed specifics in a week to the new congressional supercommittee charged with finding budget savings. White House aides suggested that new deficit spending in the near-term to try to promote job creation would be paid for in the future — the "out years," in legislative jargon — but they did not specify what would be cut or what revenues they would use.

Essentially, the jobs plan is an IOU from a president and lawmakers who may not even be in office down the road when the bills come due. Today's Congress cannot bind a later one for future spending. A future Congress could simply reverse it.

Currently, roughly all federal taxes and other revenues are consumed in spending on various federal benefit programs, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans' benefits, food stamps, farm subsidies and other social-assistance programs and payments on the national debt. Pretty much everything else is done on credit with borrowed money.

So there is no guarantee that programs that clearly will increase annual deficits in the near term will be paid for in the long term.
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OBAMA: "Everything in here is the kind of proposal that's been supported by both Democrats and Republicans, including many who sit here tonight."

THE FACTS: Obama's proposed cut in the Social Security payroll tax does seem likely to garner significant GOP support. But Obama proposes paying for the plan in part with tax increases that have already generated stiff Republican opposition.

For instance, Obama makes a pitch anew to end Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, which he has defined as couples earning over $250,000 a year or individuals earning over $200,000 a year. Republicans have adamantly blocked what they view as new taxes. As recently as last month, House Republicans refused to go along with any deal to raise the government's borrowing authority that included new revenues, or taxes.
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OBAMA: "It will not add to the deficit."

THE FACTS: It's hard to see how the program would not raise the deficit over the next year or two because most of the envisioned spending cuts and tax increases are designed to come later rather than now, when they could jeopardize the fragile recovery. Deficits are calculated for individual years. The accumulation of years of deficit spending has produced a national debt headed toward $15 trillion. Perhaps Obama meant to say that, in the long run, his hoped-for programs would not further increase the national debt, not annual deficits.
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OBAMA: "The American Jobs Act answers the urgent need to create jobs right away."

THE FACTS: Not all of the president's major proposals are likely to yield quick job growth if adopted. One is to set up a national infrastructure bank to raise private capital for roads, rail, bridges, airports and waterways. Even supporters of such a bank doubt it could have much impact on jobs in the next two years because it takes time to set up. The idea is likely to run into opposition from some Republicans who say such a bank would give the federal government too much power. They'd rather divide money among existing state infrastructure banks.

Associated Press writer Joan Lowy contributed to this report.

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When you're a Democrat being fact checked by the AP, you're in trouble.

Michael Ramirez: Obama's Base

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Error Theory: Muslim consultants LIED to Park Service on Flight 93 Memorial

That's Alec Rawls of Error Theory Blog. He's been doing great work proving that the memorial for Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on 9/11, is actually a memorial to the hijackers. The giant crescent which makes up the memorial points to Mecca, according to Rawls, but three "experts" hired by the National Park Service deny the research done by Rawls. The "experts" are Muslim consultants; I'm going with Alec Rawls.

Here is the latest post at Error Theory Blog:

Error Theory: Muslim consultants LIED to Park Service

The dedication of the Flight 93 Memorial is this Saturday.

To review earlier posts on this topic , type "Flight 93" in the "Search This Blog" box under the flags on the right.

For Patriots and Golfers

For those who love their country and love their golf (even as a spectator), this will be 14 minutes well spent.

H/T: dc9271

Turkey Suspends Defense Ties With Israel

Erdogan just won't let it go.

From Jihad Watch two hours ago:

Turkey to step up naval patrols in waters where Israeli navy operates

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/09/turkish-pm-suspends-all-defense-ties-with-israel-promises-this-process-will-be-followed-by-different.html

Robert Spencer: Islam is islamism

Robert Spencer of Jihadwatch.org posted this must read piece on his website on Saturday. He called it: Islam versus Islamism -- a distinction without a difference? These short clips pretty much summarize his thesis:

"The Quran says that Muslims are fated to rule the world, and everyone in it. While Jesus of Christianity says, "My Kingdom is not of this world," Muslims are explicitly commanded to do otherwise, to remake the world into an Islamic kingdom and all religion is for Allah (Quran 8:39). In other words, the Quran is an inherently political document. Consequently, there is no separation between mosque and state in core Islamic texts. In traditional Islam, dating back to the time of its prophet, the spiritual and the political are one.

"Drawing distinctions between Islam and its corresponding '-ism' is a false dichotomy. There is no political Islam, no 'Islamism', no 'Islamists' -- there are only Islam and Muslims. The so-called 'radical', 'fundamentalist' or 'militant' Muslims, the 'Islamists', and indeed the terrorists, are the ones faithfully practicing the dictum of Islam, exactly as Islam's founder intended."

Click below for the entire piece.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/09/islam-versus-islamism----a-distinction-without-a-difference-1.html

The Islamization of Turkey III

Caroline Glick, Israel's Iron Lady, points out how Turkey is once again trying to ingratiate herself with the Islamic world. Prime Minister Erdogan has practically neutered the military that has, since the days of Ataturk, been charged with maintaining the secular government of the country, and he continues to move the country closer and closer to an Islamic Republic. That's bad news for our closest ally in that part of the world, and bad news for us.

Listen to Turkey's latest unprovoked attempt to embarrass the Israelis for no apparent reason:

"Monday morning Turkey took its anti-Israel campaign to a new level. Beyond downgrading diplomatic relations with Israel; beyond suspending military agreements; beyond threatening naval war; beyond threatening to foment an irredentist insurrection of Israeli Arabs; the Turks decided to terrorize Israeli tourists landing in Istanbul airport.

"Forty Israeli passengers, mainly businessmen who had landed in Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight from Tel Aviv, were separated from the rest of the flight passengers. Their passports were confiscated.

"They were placed in interrogation rooms and stripped down to their underwear. Their carry-on bags were checked. And then they were lined up against a wall, forbidden to sit down or use the washroom.

"Passengers who contacted the Foreign Ministry said they felt frightened and intimidated.

"The ordeal went on for 90 minutes, until Turkish authorities returned their Israeli passports and permitted them to pick up their suitcases and exit the airport."

Click the link below to read the entire article.

http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2011/09/turkeys-chosen-scapegoat.php


For previous posts on this subject go HERE and HERE.


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Uncle Sam's Debt Crisis: A Primer

Sundays are for Beauty: Alison Balsom

Have a Beautiful Sunday.

Jonah Goldberg: The Speech Obma Should Give

Were Obama smart enough to deliver this speech written for him by Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online, he could possibly win a second term, but he's not and he won't.

Here are some highlights from the speech that could save Obama:

“I can blame the mistakes of my predecessor all day long, but the simple truth is that the stimulus effort did not do what I or my own economic advisers said it would.

“Worse, many of the programs and policies inherent to the stimulus were built on fictions. Indeed, much of the money we wasted — at the behest of the Democratic congressional leadership at the time — was never even intended to stimulate so much as bail out programs and local governments.

“Even more dismaying, much of our green-jobs program agenda has been an indefensible failure. In Seattle, we spent $20 million in the hope of creating 2,000 jobs and weatherizing 2,000 homes. We created 14 jobs and weatherized three houses. In Toledo, Kansas City, and Phoenix combined, we allocated $65 million and created 72 jobs. California got $186 million and created just over 500 jobs.

“Taxpayers gave $58 million to Evergreen Solar in Massachusetts. It cut 800 jobs and is now bankrupt.

“Just last week, a company my administration touted as the crown jewel of the new green economy, Solyndra Inc., announced plans to file for bankruptcy, despite half a billion dollars in loan guarantees from the federal government.

“No other country in the world refuses to exploit its natural wealth the way we do. This must end.

“We will take the tax-revenue windfall from new oil and gas exploration and invest it in basic energy and sound climate research in the hope of solving our problems through innovation instead of immiseration.

“Let me be clear: The reason there were no shovel-ready jobs is because government rules and regulations make it difficult to hire people.

“My fellow Americans, I’ve said many times I believe that government can do amazing things. I still believe that. But after more than two years of bold, persistent experimentation, it has become clear that in this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

Here's the whole article from National Review Online.

My Fellow Americans . . . - Jonah Goldberg - National Review Online

Fr. Robert Barron on the movie: "Rise of the Planet of the Apes"

Fr. Robert Barron of Word on Fire comments on the relationship between the new movie: "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and the Bible story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis.

http://www.youtube.com/user/wordonfirevideo?feature=uploademail_ch

Heres's a trailer for the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1yKN0llkrY

Michael Ramirez: Obama or Perry?

(Click to enlarge) H/T: rutusmc