Political Digest May 10, 2010

I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article. Nor that I disagree with them, of course.
New word: Testosterphobia
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Testosterphobia

The Stalled War on Terror
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-05-08/the-stalled-war-on-terror/full/
Excerpt: The attempted bombing of Times Square has many eerie parallels with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. This tells us that neither the terrorists nor federal officials have learned very much in the past two decades.

Global Warming Petition
http://www.oism.org/pproject/
Excerpt: We urge the United States government to reject the global warming agreement that was written in Kyoto, Japan in December, 1997, and any other similar proposals. The proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind. There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gasses is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth. This petition has been signed by over 31,000 American scientists.

Quote for Mr. Gore
We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases. --Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Obama Goes Golfing as Nashville Suffers From Biggest Disaster Since Civil War
http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/05/obama-goes-golfing-as-nashville-suffers-from-biggest-disaster-since-civil-war/
This is probably the same unfair criticism the leftstream media and politicians like BO delighted in directing at Bush for eight years. But as ye sow, so shall ye reap.

Out: Female Genital Mutilation, In: Female Genital “Nicking,” Says American Academy of Pediatrics
http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/05/08/out-female-genital-mutilation-in-female-genital-nicking-says-american-academy-of-pediatrics/
Excerpt: There is no limit to the depravity of the cultists who worship at the altar of multiculturalism. 100 to 140 million girls and women around the world have been subjected to genital mutilation. And now, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is embracing this barbaric expression of misogyny in the name of cultural sensitivity and immigrant outreach.

Anti-American, Pro-Saddam Hussein George Galloway Loses Seat in Parliament
https://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/1287cc00404bf9e9
Excerpt: Good news: George Galloway – an incredibly anti-American member of the British Parliament who stood by his buddy Saddam Hussein’s side until the very end - won’t be returning to Parliament. The man who told everybody who wanted to hear it that Iraq’s brutal former dictator “was not hated” by the Iraqi people lost his seat during Thursday’s elections. This even though he desperately tried to hang on to it by shifting over to the constituency of Poplar and Limehouse from the neighbouring constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow.

Banned: The American Flag on Cinco de Mayo
http://townhall.com/columnists/KevinMcCullough/2010/05/09/banned_the_american_flag_on_cinco_de_mayo
If they had burned the flag, the ACLU would already have the school officials in court. Excerpt: When 200 hispanic students skipped school last week and marched through downtown Morgan Hill, California chanting "Si se puede" intermixed with "We want respect," none were banned from school attendance on their return. When five students, one of them an American from latino roots, wore American flags to school as a sign of patriotic speech, they were labeled incendiary. They were instructed to turn their shirts inside-out so as to cover up the American flag. And when they refused to surrender their first amendment right to expression, they were given unexcused absences.

Is America Conquered When the American Flag Is 'Offensive'?
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/is_america_conquered_when_the.html
Excerpt: Few students at the school probably realize that America provided help to Mexico in expelling the French, whose defeat at the Battle of Puebla is commemorated on May 5. How can American flags be "offensive" on a day that is almost as much American as it is Mexican? Cinco de Mayo is not even celebrated as a national holiday in Mexico. This incident follows Columbus Day's downgrade to "Indigenous People's Day" in some cities in the dying state. While certainly no one is against the idea of cultural celebrations, guests do not get to tell the host to sit down and shut up. This is merely the tip of a very large iceberg stretching deep into the heart of the American Southwest.

Citizen Gabriella Sesito schools the Tuscon City Council
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=14130

Our flag might offend?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-03-14-haiti-flag-flap_N.htm
Excerpt: Our nation responds faster and with far more help to Haiti than the rest of the world combined, but we won't fly our flag in front of our camps because it maybe, possibly, just barely perhaps might offend someone? While every other nation with any camp there flies their flag? Sorry, this is not minor to me, not so much because it is a slight to all our people working there and all the people here who have contributed (although that's certainly not a nice thing), but because it's part of an insane level of worrying about never offending anyone and turning ourselves inside out in trying to not ever offend anyone. Which is, very much of the time, totally useless anyhow. It certainly hasn't mattered to Iran or North Korea or Sudan or Darfur that we have at times been careful in language and terminology so as to not rile them, their attitudes towards us have remained nasty and contemptuous and they have done exactly what they felt like doing anytime they feel like doing it no matter what we've said or how we said it. It doesn't matter that our President has said we aren't really a Christian nation and has credited Moslems for being part of our history, no jihadist could possibly care any less about such reaching out. In fact, if such efforts register at all, it's only us showing weakness in their eyes.

Pakistan test-fires pair of ballistic missiles
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/08/pakistan.missiles/index.html?hpt=T2
Excerpt: Pakistan has test-fired two ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the military said Saturday. Both the Shaheen-1, which can hit a target 400 miles (650 kilometers) away, and the Ghazvani, with a range of 180 miles (290 kilometers), were fired successfully, Pakistan military officials said. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who witnessed the event with several senior military officials, said that the nation had developed a strong nuclear deterrence capability, according to a government statement. He said that Pakistan's armed forces were "fully capable of safeguarding Pakistan's security against all kinds of aggression," according to the statement. Gilani mentioned last month's Nuclear Security Summit hosted by President Obama in Washington, an event aimed at enhancing international cooperation to prevent nuclear terrorism. Much of the event focused on Iran's nuclear program, which has drawn deep concerns from the West. However, the international community also has had concerns about the stability of the Pakistani government and the security of its nuclear arsenal, questioning whether it's safe from the hands of the Taliban. Gilani on Saturday said the world can now move "beyond safety and security concerns," the statement said. "These were laid to rest at the Nuclear Security Summit where Pakistan forcefully projected a forthright stance on the issue and the world expressed satisfaction at Pakistan's nuclear security arrangements."

Hezbollah says it's ready for fresh war with Israel – and stronger now
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0507/Hezbollah-says-it-s-ready-for-fresh-war-with-Israel-and-stronger-now
Excerpt: Driving through Hezbollah's stronghold in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, a veteran fighter says the militant group has made significant military advances since their last war with Israel in 2006: 'We have many other surprises for the Israelis.'

L.A. Teacher Calls for Mexican Revolt in the U.S.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGqPo5ofk0s
I keep hearing about dangerous Tea Parties preaching violence. Was this one?

Pakistani Taliban behind attempted Times Square car bombing, attorney general says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/09/AR2010050901143.html?wpisrc=nl_natlalert
Bad news for the left—it wasn’t a crazy Tea Party guy as they quickly speculated. Excerpt: Attorney General Eric Holder said Sunday that there is now conclusive evidence the Pakistani Taliban is to blame for last weekend's attempted car bombing in Times Square. We've now developed evidence that shows that the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack," Holder said on ABC's "This Week." "We know that they helped facilitate it. We know that they probably helped finance it. And that he was working at their direction."

Lieberman, Collins leaning toward taking administration to court over Fort Hood http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/96547-lieberman-collins-leaning-toward-taking-administration-to-court
Excerpt: Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and ranking Republican Susan Collins (Maine) on Thursday said they are poised to press their subpoena fight with the Obama administration into court. Lieberman and Collins, speaking separately, both said the Justice and Defense departments have been uncooperative with their efforts to obtain more information about the November 2009 shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 people.

The Tea Party menace spreads to Europe
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/the-tea-party-menace-spreads-to-europe-92903579.html
Excerpt: It seems that European ruling class are recoiling in horror at over the fact that American tea partiers are finding a receptive Continental audience. In fact, the Nowegian Labour Party Secretary recently took to Huffington Post to sound the alarm about “Tea Party Fear in Europe.” Michael Moynihan of Reason, who has spent years living in Europe, notes the hypocrisy is rich: Tea Parties? Not in Europe. Never. The pitchfork-toting crowd is a peculiar byproduct of the misinformed, disturbed politics of the United States, where Lindberghs, Limbaughs, and Levins have always proliferated. Protest movements on the continent, like the May 1st protests in Kungsträdgården, under a sea of Cuban flags and photos of Marx and Mao, are a more civilized celebration of dictatorship and egalitarianism. Or how about the protests in Greece, where Tea Parti…errr…left-wing protesters took to the streets again today to demand that, as the government and economy collapses, that no austerity measures be taken. The result? Three people dead in the firebombing of a bank in Athens. CNN has the chilling details:

Moms to the Barricades
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=14161
Excerpt: If Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. And if you’ve been to a tea party, you know Momma ain’t happy at all. Forget “angry white men.” In the male-dominated world of conservative politics, the tea party stands out as a movement of energized and organized women. In particular, moms. Moms like Sarah Palin, of course, who’s been described as the “Momma Bear” of the tea party movement. But more important are the thousands of women at the state and local level who created this political phenomenon. Moms like Christen Varley, the suburban mother of four who organized the successful tea party rally on Boston Common last month. Moms like Karen Miner Herd, who calls herself “one of the founding mothers” of the tea party movement in Virginia.

Meanwhile, In Nashville
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=532771
Excerpt: What does it say when 11 men who perish on an exploding oil platform, or 30 poor souls who die in a 1,000-year Tennessee flood, get less coverage than two oil-soaked birds? It says news is driven from the left. It is to the credit of the one media outlet that reported the paparazzi-like scrums of reporters trailing rescue workers as they tried to clean off one oil-soaked gannet caught in the oil spill off Louisiana waters after a rig exploded in the Gulf on April 20. Not only did the U.S. and European media obsess breathlessly about the bird, and later about a brown pelican that followed, they seemed to be panting for more. That's because birds are convenient tools for driving the radical green agenda to halt all oil drilling. TV media and the national papers pounded the bird story because it served a political purpose. It's getting obvious that that's the pattern: A parallel example is in the media coverage of combat deaths in Afghanistan. During the Bush years, the media reported deaths of soldiers daily because it advanced an anti-war agenda. With President Obama now at the helm, they've dropped coverage. A look at the Los Angeles Times' oil spill coverage, for one, shows birds featured daily in its blog and paper while the 11 oil platform workers have barely registered. On the blog, the news of the deaths wasn't acknowledged until May 5, eight days after the workers' employer identified them in a memorial Web site.

The Problems with Al Gore
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/the_problems_with_al_gore.html
Excerpt: But Al Gore refuses to debate his critics. He has repeatedly dodged a debate with Christopher Monckton. Instead of engaging skeptics in reasoned discussions, Gore has relentlessly demonized those who disagree with him. In a series of infamous character assassinations, he has stated that people who are skeptical of the hysterical global warming scenario he has been promoting (and profiting from) are comparable to the lunatic fringe that believes the Apollo Moon landings were filmed on a movie stage. He has also compared global warming skeptics to people who believe the Earth is flat. Scientific issues like climate change are not morality plays. Scientists are objective and tentative. To be a scientist is to be skeptical. Science is never "settled," because there can be no finality in any empirical system of knowledge. Only God has all the data. Scientists employ multiple working hypotheses. They work together cooperatively, eager to have their mistakes pointed out to them, so as to advance a disinterested search for truth.

Report: China, Iran, North Korea have formed strategic alliance
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/ea_china0383_05_07.asp
Hopefully not true. Excerpt: The report said that Beijing, Pyongyang and Teheran were helping each other in missile and nuclear programs. The report, titled "China, Iran and North Korea: A Triangular Strategic Alliance," by Israel's GLORIA Center said China and North Korea were the key suppliers of Scud-based ballistic missiles to Iran's military, the target of Western sanctions.

Earth to Media: Unemployment Numbers Are Like Golf Scores — the Lower the Better
http://bigjournalism.com/mopelka/2010/05/08/earth-to-media-unemployment-numbers-are-like-golf-scores-the-lower-the-better/
Excerpt: It’s another weekend here in the land of the unemployed/underemployed and the latest jobs report is due. Last month the unemployment number held steady at 9.7%. Today the news is not good -- unemployment has jumped up to 9.9% — not good, unless you are working in the Mainstream Media or the White House, then it’s great news. If reality is the biggest success in TV these days then the news departments of the major networks should consider adding some reality to their programming. Then again, perhaps the news outlets were simply looking for something positive amid all the bed we’ve had of late. From the attempted bombing in Times Square, to the growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the latest stock market meltdown – the news has not been very happy. Or maybe the MSM believes that cheerleading has been added to the definition of journalism.

Imam’s Path From Condemning Terror to Preaching Jihad
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/world/09awlaki.html
Excerpt: His mix of scripture and vitriol has helped lure young Muslims into a dozen plots. He cheered on the Fort Hood gunman and had a role in prompting the attempted airliner bombing on Dec. 25, intelligence officials say. And last week, Faisal Shahzad, who is charged in the attempted bombing in Times Square, told investigators that Mr. Awlaki’s prolific online lectures urging jihad as a religious duty helped inspire him to act.

Gallup Poll on the most prestigious branch of service
From: SgtMaj of the Marine Corps
To: SgtsMaj, MGySgts, CMDCMs,
A Gallup Poll was recently done on the most prestigious branch of service. I know it is no surprise to you what the American people and the world think of the United States Marine Corps! Marines and Sailors that serve with Marines are continuing the Marine Corps legacy with a Warrior mentality and indomitable spirit. Appreciate you pushing this info out to all Marines/Sailors to let them know that the American people are in full support of the Marine Corps. Thanks. Semper Fi. --SgtMaj Kent

Gallup consulting poll on which branch of service is the most prestigious is the following:

Marine Corps - 55 % - Air Force - 27% - Army - 10 % - Navy - 7% - Coast Guard - 1%