Photos: Biden Urges Obama To Challenge Romney To Basketball Game

Click image to make it bigger

Sept. 30, 2012 - The first Presidential Debate is scheduled for Wednesday, October 3. Get the popcorn ready, kids. This oughta be fun.

The debate will air 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time and will be broadcast live on C-SPAN, ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC (more schedule info at 2012 Presidential Election News.)

Nobody knows who will "win," of course. Republican nominee Romney? Democrat-Socialist nominee Obama? The pundits will have their say, as will the viewing public, and there will be disagreement.

One thing does seem certain, however: The Obama campaign has got to be at least a little worried about how their man will perform. After all, Romney is going to want to discuss issues such as unemployment, the monstrous federal deficit, billions of wasted taxpayer dollars (think Solyndra), the trade deficit and China, national security, the failed "Arab Spring," and more.

Obama has spent the greater part of his time in the Oval Office trying to divert attention from his failures. Andy Sullivan of Reuters wrote today that "Romney is under pressure to deliver a performance that shifts the momentum in his direction." Sullivan also wrote that "Obama, on the other hand, merely needs to avoid a catastrophic performance that could cause independent voters to reassess their support."

"Merely?" Even if Obama deftly delivers his smooth answers, it will be a challenge for him to defend his lousy performance in office.

Click image to make it bigger

With that in mind, Vice President Joe Biden yesterday urged Obama to challenge Romney to a one-on-one game of "HORSE," a type of basketball game played by two people.

Biden fears that Romney might actually call Obama out for his pitiful presidential career.

Biden said that a victory over Romney in a basketball game would "show the nation who the real man in this race really is."

"Look," said Biden, "I love sports, and there's a lot of similarity to politics." He said that in the game of HORSE, "the players make trick shots and they make lucky shots that are intended to make the other guy miss. You know, trip up your opponent." Biden expressed concern that questions to Obama about his presidential job performance "could be like those trick shots," and that Romney's expected use of hard facts about Obama's failures "would be like those lucky shots to screw up the other guy, the other guy in this case being President Obama." 

Little is known about Romney's own skills at basketball, but Obama is well known as a competent player. "Nobody dribbles like Barack," said Biden, "and nobody is better on a layup shot."

Controversial and outspoken New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, predicts a win for Romney in the Wednesday debate. "I have absolute confidence that when we get to Thursday morning George, all of you are going to be shaking your heads saying it’s a brand new race," Christie told George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s "This Week" today. "All he’s got to do is go out there and tell the truth."

Christie, who is thought by many to be better at basketball than Obama, said he hopes Romney "does not dignify an Obama basketball challenge by accepting it. Are they serious?"

Related:

• Horse or H-O-R-S-E Basketball Getting Outside

November is Plunger Time: Flush Out Obama!

Let's work to get Barack Obama out of the Oval Office. November is plunger time, America.

Hey! See a larger version of Obama with a plunger on his face at Chicago News Bench's Facebook page.

Remember this, Libtards:
Fear no art. LOL.

Big thanks to iOwnTheWorld for linking to this post. Also see: Photos: Biden Urges Obama To Challenge Romney To Basketball Game

New York MTA Gives In To Pro-Savage Complaints, Bans Free Speech In Subway

This advert was too scary for New York's MTA

Sept. 30, 2012 - You KNEW this would happen, didn't you? When New York City blogger Pamela Geller went balls-out and bought space in the city's subway stations for her pro-Israel, anti-Jihad posters, it caused instant controversy.

Sadly, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) of New York is composed of spineless pussies who caved in to the screeches and howls of those who objected to the First Amendment-protected posters.  

Freedom of speech is under assault by the Left, folks: The banning of Gellers subway placards comes on the heels of Barack Obama's recent anti-free speech statement at the United Nations, in which he said, "The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam." Obama got that backwards, of course: The First Amendment guarantees you and me the freedom to say whatever we bloody well please about Mohammed, pro or con, or about any other religion or religious figure. The future, then, must never belong to those who would suppress my right to criticize Mohammed, Jesus, Moses, Donald Duck, Winston Churchill, the Chicago Bears or anything else.

The placards simply said, "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad." They were not anti-Islam per se. They were specifically anti-Jihad. Reasonable Americans know what that means: Violent, murderous militant radical Muslims. In fact, the words "Muslim" and "Islam" did not appear in the ads.

Will the ACLU weigh in on this issue? They already did, actually. Fox News reported on Sept. 23 that Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, supported Geller's right to run what she called the "patently offensive" ads. "More offensive would be their censorship," Fox quoted Lieberman as saying, "because that would violate the guarantee of free expression of all ideas regardless of how distasteful they are."

Indeed, the First Amendment is supposed to protect speech even if it offends some people.

Frankly, I find the Geller anti-Jihad placards to be much less offensive than Jihadists' videos of beheadings, suicide bombings and hangings. Don't you prefer Geller's approach to protesting against something she dislikes (jihad and savagery) over the manner in which so many Muslims worldwide take?

Was ChrisStevens killed by savages? Well, yes.

You know, like the killing U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11, 2012. Or like the countless numbers of violent protests and attacks and - sure, let's throw these in, too - stoning of women, executions of gay people just because they are gay people, burning hotels and killing guests because they engaged in (gasp) drinking beer ... and so much more.  

"Savage" seems appropriate when describing those things. Doesn't it? Does it describe all Muslims? No, it does not. It only describes the savage ones. This is so simple that it's almost painful.

At first, the MTA used one of their own regulations that allows them to turn down ads if they “demean an individual or group of individuals on account of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, gender, age, disability or sexual orientation.”

Look at the wording of Geller's placards, and at the MTA regulation that initially banned it, and you see a sort of disconnect from reality. "In any war between the civilized man and the savage," said the placards, "support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad."  Could "savage" be offensive to an unthinking, overly sensitive, guilt-ridden, Jihad-supporting Muslim? I suppose so, but can a reasonable person argue that suicide belt-wearing people bent on killing innocent people just because they are not Muslims are not savages? I think not....

Free Phones and 47 Percenters - SEIU Morons Prove Romney Right

Sept. 27, 2012 - "Give it away, give it away, give it away now."  Watch this woman protesting with others outside of a Mitt Romney campaign rally in Cleveland, Ohio yesterday.

"RealFreedom1776" posted the video to YouTube and noted that this woman "explains how Obama gives all minorities free phones and that is why they should vote for him." I mean, seriously, these folks could just as well have been chanting "WE! ARE! THE FORTY SEVEN PERCENT!"

It will come as no surprise to many of you that the protesters were paid by the SEIU to be there and chant their nonsense. "We don't want no Bain Economy!" they mumbled, but had no idea what Bain is.

Obamaphone devotee and Democrat voter

Yes, and isn't that exactly the kind of thing that Mitt Romney referred to (clumsily) when he said that "47 percent" of Americans are on the dole?

Yes, I know: Not ALL of those getting assistance from the government are slackers. I know.

However, it is undeniable that a large number of them are just like this woman, happy to have their votes and their political loyalty bought for damned free cell phone and a few loaves of bread. They don't see that they and others are enslaved, trapped in a very-hard-to-break cycle of dependency. They don't see that their "free" Obamaphone is not really free, but that it is paid for by taxpayer money. They don't see that taxpayers' money is forcibly taken from them to pay for that Obamaphone.  Many who do, though, don't care or shrug it off.

Okay, some of them do care. I live in Chicago, and I talk to the homeless and the poor. I am acquainted with about a dozen people (all white, by the way) who are receiving food stamps. Four or five have an "Obamaphone." They call it that with a sneer, however.

Above:  Obama video released Sept. 27 attacks Romney for speaking the truth.

The people I know are desperately looking for work, and a cell phone is a vital tool for them in their job hunt. Needless to say, food to keep you alive is important too. My point is simple: Some benefits receivers hate being on the dole, but have no choice. Even so....

The woman in the top video, however, is one of those people who Mitt Romney was thinking of when he said, "There are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what." That woman speaks not for all of the 47% who are getting help. Rather, she speaks for those who make a career and a lifestyle of sucking at the government teat. I have no doubt that Mitt Romney is aware of the fact that some of those receiving benefits are conservatives and are not happy to have to take public aid - and that plenty actually agree with him. Think of the woman in the first video telling us we need to keep Obama "in president" because he gives away free cell phone.  Think of her when you hear Romney say that there are people "who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it." He might have said it better, but Romney was essentially right.

Hat tip to Angry White Dude.

Bust a Move With Mitt Romney, Dancer Extraordinaire

Betcha didn't know that Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney is quite a hoofer.  Yep. Here are some videos to 'prove' it. Mitt dances across the stage (above) as you've never seen him dance before in this an animated .gif, actually, and funny as hell.

There is also a video of Romney dancing (below). There isn't any information about the sexy dance Mitt does, but he struts his stuff and wows the crowd with pelvic thrusts that might have made Elvis Presley blush. Or have back pain the next day.

And then there's Mitt dancing a little jig to the music of a busker on Grafton St., Dublin, Ireland. His dance styles are wide and varied, just like his political philosophy/ies.

The final video here does not feature Mitt, but it is about having those "moves like Romney." Dancin' like the Mittster, baby, is where it's at.

Sorry, no dancing horse videos.

500 Election Judges Needed NOW in Cook County IL (But Last-Minute Alarm May Be Too Late)

Sharon Meroni - Photo credit: unknown*

Sept. 26, 2012 - Sharon Meroni urgently needs your help to fight voter fraud in Illinois, but to be honest I fear that the effort to help her is too little and far too late. "This could actually end up being the biggest story of the 2012 elections," wrote HillBuzz on Monday, "but it’s hard to get conservative writers to focus on anything in Illinois, since the past incompetence of the GOP in our state has made it something of a laughingstock nationally."

I received a group email to bloggers urging us all to write about this and to encourage other bloggers to write about it. The email was simply a link to a post at HillBuzz. Trouble is, the email was not sent until yesterday evening (on Sept. 25), and they are asking for 500 election judges "by this coming Thursday." Alrighty then...

WLS Morning Man Don Wade To Have Brain Surgery

Don Wade and Roma (wlsam.com)

UPDATE, OCT. 2: Don Wade is recovering at home after successful brain surgery. More...

Sept. 25, 2012 - We are praying for the speedy recovery of WLS's Don Wade, the male half of the extremely popular Don Wade & Roma Show in Chicago, to pull through his health nightmare. After suffering a seizure on Sept. 13, Don will have surgery to remove a tumor from his brain. The surgery is scheduled for this Thursday. Don Wade is 71 years old.

TrueNewsUSA noted yesterday that "Don Wade, the popular conservative Republican leaning host of the morning show on WLS AM 890, will be off the air for at least a month, to receive treatment for a growth on his brain, the station announced on its website."  Don and wife Roma have been hosting the show for more than 20 years on WLS 890 AM.

Here is an excerpt from a statement released yesterday by WLS Radio:

"Don Wade had a seizure while traveling last week. After a series of tests, doctors discovered a growth on his brain. He is having surgery this week to remove the growth. Recovery from the surgery will keep Don off the air for at least four weeks. Don and Roma remain positive and optimistic..."

Send well-wishes to Don and Roma by email to getwelldon@gmail.com or by U.S. Post to:

WLS-AM190
Get Well Don!
North State Street, 9th Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60601

While Don Wade is out on medical leave, the show will be hosted by self be-clowned Bruce Wolf and his anal retentive, pompous sidekick, "Cicero" Dan Proft. Why WLS allows its airwaves to be tainted by the likes of an oily weasel like Proft, who "allegedly" bullies women, is a mystery. Apparently, the management at WLS has no problem with those issues, or with the possible ethics problems of one of their talk show hosts "raising campaign funds for a second statewide political bid for governor while he is promoting himself on Chicago radio."

Google Gives Us Clean Bill of Health: No Malware!

Sept. 25, 2012 - The four-day long national nightmare is over. Chicago News Bench is back, given a clean bill of health by Google this afternoon.  Google's Webmaster Tools informed us today that "Google has not detected any malware on this site" and also that "latest badware review" for Chicago News Bench "has finished. The site was found clean. The badware warnings from web search are being removed. Please note that it can take some time for this change to propagate."

It was painful. We first became aware of the malware last Friday morning, and fixing the problem required the deletion of a bunch of old posts. Fortunately, those posts were very old and nobody had visited them in a long, long time anyway - so that was no big loss. A fresh template was installed  yesterday just to be doubly certain. We then requested another review from Google and the good news came this afternoon.

It's a long story, but suffice it to say that Chicago News Bench and hundreds of other websites were hit hard by malware last Friday morning.

The malicious software came to bloggers via Izea Social Media Marketing Company, which unwittingly served it through an ad widget. I love Izea. I've been dealing with them for over three years and they are honest, helpful and pay their ad publishers well. Izea was a victim in all of this, too, and the "badware" that came through Izea originated from something called "admaxstat.com," which was pumping evil code through the servers of a Chicago dedicated server host called SingleHop. (See Google's own statements about malware from Admaxstat and malware from Singlehop.)

For some background about this, check out two items at Izea's own blog: Taking Out Malware Warnings (Sept. 21) and Izea Media Update (Sept. 24).

More later. In the meantime, we're glad to be back.
(Liberals: You can stop laughing now, bwaaaah-hahahahahahaha!)

Chicago Teachers Strike Ends

Sept. 18, 2012 - The Chicago Teachers Union voted today to end their strike. Teachers will be back in classrooms tomorrow morning (Wednesday), as will some 350,000 affected students. The strike began on Monday, September 10.

"Union delegates voted overwhelmingly to formally suspend the strike," says Fox News today, "after discussing details of a proposed contract settlement worked out over the weekend. Classes were to resume Wednesday." The union only voted on whether or not to keep striking, and today's vote "was not on the contract offer itself," reports Fox, and the "contract will now be submitted to a vote by the full membership of more than 25,000 teachers."

Related:

• Chicago Teachers Suspend Strike-But Who Won? ~ Forbes
• How Obama Trapped Himself in Chicago Teachers’ Strike ~ The Progressive
• Are Socialists Now Calling the Shots In The Chicago Teachers Strike? ~ Labor Union Report

Blog Launches Citywide Taxi-Top Ad Campaign in Chicago

CNB's new taxi-top "blogvertising" in Chicago

Sept. 18, 2012 - Some taxi cabs in Chicago will be sporting an ad for a political blog. Beginning this week, about 300 taxis in the city will feature an ad from Chicago News Bench (CNB), a conservative blog of news and commentary.

CNBs latest "blogvertising" campaign is an unusual way for a blog to promote itself. Many just scrawl their blog's web address (URL) on public restroom walls with a Sharpie marker, post irrelevant and unwelcome comments on other websites with a link back to their own site, or send pitifully desperate emails to the publishers of  larger blogs and websites. Still other bloggers will print up a few hundred cheap stickers and slap them on light poles, boarded up storefronts, and bus stop shelters.

"There are many ways to promote a blog, but most bloggers think small," says Erma Gerd. She is CNB's Advertising Director, and the taxi-top campaign was her idea. "Advertising on taxis is never even considered by most of them but I don't know why not. It seems like a pretty obvious thing to do, don't you think?"

CNB's taxi-top ad campaign is scheduled through mid-January, 2013. If the campaign is successful, CNB will has plans for billboards throughout northern Illinois. Ms. Gerd says that CNB is also producing a one-minute television ad to air during the next Super Bowl.

Rahm Emanuel Lost His Luster

Sept. 17, 2012 - OF COURSE Chicago's mayor is now hated and despised by hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans. The blush, as some might say, is indeed off the rose. The mask is off, and so on. Rahm Emanuel is now officially and undeniably a union buster (God bless him).

There is a myriad of blog posts and other articles out there, and has been for over a week now, that are slamming Emanuel rather hard for this "Walker-like" anti-union position in the ongoing Chicago Teachers Union strike. Emanuel is being portrayed now as a traitor to the pro-union, pro-worker Liberal Cause.

Emanuel is now seen as a sell-out to the corporate interests. Progressives all over the nation are calling Emanuel a Judas and saying he is the Democrats' Scott Walker. Luster? Yah, luster lost. The rose is no longer blushing.

Here is a sampling of those blog posts and news articles, which prove beyond doubt that Rahm Emanuel's reputation as a Hope and Change Progressive Liberal is forever tarnished:

Exclusive: In Secret Meeting, Scott Walker Advised Rahm Emanuel To Use "Nuclear Option" Against Striking Teachers (Satire)

Sept. 17, 2012 - Special Report - In the days just before the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) went on strike (now in its sixth day) Mayor Rahm Emanuel was desperate for a quick solution.

Completely fake photo, so relax

Emanuel was not getting the expected level of support from his own Democratic Party that he had hoped for and so he turned to a neighbor to the north: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, well known for his anti-public sector union legislation.

Sources told Chicago News Bench late yesterday that Emanuel was "very dismayed" early on by contentious negotiations with the CTU. "President Obama indicated that Mayor Emanuel would get no support from the White House," said the source, "but several prominent Republicans phoned the mayor to privately express their support."

One of those Republicans, said the source, was U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc), who later came out publicly to support Emanuel in his fight with the CTU. Ryan is running for Vice President as Mitt Romney's running mate. Another Republican was Gov. Scott Walker, who phoned the mayor in late August to give moral support to Chicago's mayor. It was during that call that Emanuel asked Walker if he would be willing to meet with him in Kenosha, in the southeastern part of Wisconsin just north of the Illinois border.

Our source, a member of Emanuel's mayoral staff, said that the mayor was "pleasantly surprised" when Walker agreed. During the last weekend of August, the two men each flew to Kenosha by helicopter - Walker from Madison, Emanuel from Chicago - and secretly met in a park on the edge of town "for about two hours."

Emanuel told Walker that he planned to allow the CTU to strike for a week, said our source, "just to make it look like he was negotiating in good faith." However, says the source, Emanuel never really planned to agree to all of the demands of the CTU, which the source says Emanuel called "absurd and insulting."

The "Nuclear Option"

"I was with them," said our source,

"walking with them in the park. I was carrying Mayor Emanuel's briefcase and heard the whole conversation. Walker advised Rahm to let it play out, as he put it, for a week and then use what he called the 'nuclear option' of getting an injunction against the union."

In fact, that is what Emanuel did. Lawyers for the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) asked a Cook County Circuit Court to order the teachers back to work. CPS says that the strike violates Illinois state law. In its   motion to the court, CPS said that the strike is "a clear and present danger to public health and safety."

"Governor Walker actually told Rahm to use that phrase," said our source. "He said calling the strike a 'clear and present danger' would make it sound all scary and serious. Mayor Emanuel really liked that and said he would pass that on to Chicago School Board President David Vitale."

"Mayor Emanuel felt a lot better about the situation after meeting with Governor Walker," our source said. "I think he's really grateful for the support and the advice." Emanuel and Walker continue to talk regularly on the phone about the developing and still unresolved teachers strike.

Are These Videos Worse Than "The Innocence Of Muslims?"

September 16, 2012 - The Obama Administration has been busy trying to blame the video "The Innoncence of Muslims" for the epidemic of crazed anti-American violence across the Muslim world, going so far even as to ask Google to remove the video from YouTube. But what about the videos below? One  shows Sec. of State Hillary Clinton in an unabashed moment of American triumphalism, expressing her joy over invading an Muslim nation and killing its leader. The other shows her bragging about killing Osama bin Laden. I'm serious: How many Muslims have seen these videos worldwide? How much have they contributed to the hatred of America? Will Hillary issue an apology for them? Will Obama demand their removal from YouTube?

Chicago Teachers Union Infighting May Prolong Strike - CTU President Accused of Selling Out

September 16, 2012 - There are reports of discord and dissent within the ranks of the Chicago Teachers Union. Even as their delegates meet at this hour (3:00 p.m. CDT) to look over the latest version of a proposed deal with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), we are hearing that a number of those delegates are suspicious of CTU President Karen Lewis. This endangers the possibility of 350,000 children returning to school on Monday, Sept. 17.

"CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION SELLOUT"
"While CTU President Karen Lewis and her team are ready to present the details to the House of Delegates this afternoon," reports NBC5 Chicago today, "there is already a vocal faction promising to vote no, said the source. The source added that late into Saturday night, Lewis’ caucus shouted obscenities at her and the other leaders. 'You sold out' and 'Rahm’s getting everything they wanted, what the hell did we get?' The source quoted caucus members saying to her."

There is suspicion, indeed, that the "framework" agreed to by CTU and CPS is tainted. Author Stephen Lendman wrote at MostlyWater.org today that it doesn't smell right. "It's in the air. You can smell and taste it. It's not pleasant. Union bosses and city officials struck a deal." Lendman makes no bones about his feeling that Lewis sold out the union and the teachers it represents for an expedient deal.

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis Wants To Eat Your Children

UPDATE, MAY 7, 2013: 

Karen Lewis lays bare Chicago union’s mission: build and maintain power
UPDATE, MAY 6, 2013: 

My challenge to Karen Lewis by Tanya Saunders-Wolffe
UPDATE, JAN. 9, 2013: 

Kill The Rich, Jokes Chicago Teachers Union President

Not really Karen Lewis,
but a close facsimile

Sept. 10, 2012 - The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) went on strike today, for the first time in over 25 years. More than 26,000 teachers today inconvenienced about 400,000 school kids, putting many in danger of street violence.

This fat pig of a union bully doesn't give a damn about the kids in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). She doesn't care about their parents, either, many of whom had to scramble today to make arrangements for safety of their children.

Here's a special note for you hypersensitive liberals out there who think I'm being rude by posting this image of the vile and grotesque Karen Lewis, or by calling her names. I've got two things to say to you: (1) Fear no art, and (2) Karen Lewis herself has a long history of publicly slandering and viciously mocking people she disagrees with. 

I'll hand you over momentarily to Michelle Malkin, who has some amazing videos of Lewis "bragging about smoking weed in college, cracking homophobic slurs about Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s lisp," and more. In other words, Karen Lewis is not only a big fat loudmouth, she's a cruel big fat loudmouth. Karma, baby.

Here's a video of Lewis telling the audience that she's "too fat to go to jail." She's speaking at the Northwest Teaching for Social Justice conference in Seattle on October 1, 2011. While all the teachers union toadies in the audience applauded and laughed at just the right moments, normal people will find it disturbing that this is the kind of disgusting, vile people we have in charge of our kids' education.

My friend Lennie Jarrett made a good observation today at Champion News. He notes that Lewis claims that the CTU is not in the fight for merit pay proposals.

"For those that don’t know," explains Jarrett, "merit pay is based on educational outcomes of the students, not the years of employment or the number of degrees have. By not being interested in educational outcomes of the students, Karen Lewis is telling Chicago parents education doesn’t matter, we just want your money."

Education be damned. Safety of the kids, many left to roam Chicago's dangerous streets unattended, be damned. Taxpayers be damned. Fat cat union thug Karen Lewis just wants more cheese on that.

The strike was called after more than five months of negotiations finally failed late Sunday night, when Lewis announced in a press conference that CTU would man pickets lines instead of classrooms.  Mayor Rahm Emanuel told reporters today, "Don’t take it out on the kids of Chicago if you have a problem with me." His comments were obviously aimed at Lewis and the CTU.

The situation, by the way, has created some odd political bedfellows. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have publicly condemned the strike - and given public words of support to Mayor Emanuel, Obama's former White House Chief of Staff.

 

Romney said, "It was a strike of choice … it’s unnecessary, it’s avoidable and it’s wrong," reports The Washington Times.

"We know that Rahm is not going to support our campaign," Ryan said today, "but on this issue and this day we stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel."

"This does not have to divide the two parties," said Ryan today. "And so, we were going to ask, where does President Obama stand? Does he stand with his former Chief of Staff Mayor Rahm Emanuel, with the children and the parents, or does he stand with the union? On issues like this, we need to speak out and be really clear." Ryan was addressing the fact that Obama has so far not taken a stand on the strike action - and the White House has indicated that he won't. (More about Ryan's comments at ABC News.)

A lot of Republicans, if not all of them, support Emanuel in his fight against the greedy CTU. (One cannot help but think that Wisconsin's Gov. Scott Walker must have hiccups from laughing.)

To you libs who are "offended" by this, just please shut up. Until I see a flood of your letters and comments condemning Lewis for her offenses, I will just laugh at your own hypocrisy.

Related:

• CTU President Accused of Selling Out Chicago News Bench
• Why The Chicago Teachers Strike Is A Huge Bummer For Barack Obama Business Insider
• Another thug union puts self-preservation over children Michelle Malkin
• Chicago teachers go on strike Peter Bella, Washington Times Communities

Obama Loves This Jew-Hating Egyptian University

Sept. 9, 2012 - When Barack Obama lavished praise on Egypt's Al-Azhar University back in a speech there in 2009, did he know that it was staffed by rabid Jew haters? Was so ignorant that he did not know, or did he know but just didn't care?

In that speech Obama said, “As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam. It was Islam — at places like Al-Azhar — that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment.”Al-Azhar is Egypt's highest Islamic authority.

"In 2012, Dr. Abdul Hamid al-Atrash, the head of the Fatwa Committee of Al Azhar in Egypt, which issues rulings of Islamic law, declared that Jews could be banned from going to pray in a synagogue."  More at FrontPageMag.com.

Hamid al-Atrash: Keyword is 'trash'

Hamid al-Atrash is the head of the Fatwa Committee of Al Azhar in Egypt. He issued a ruling that allows Arabs to prohibit Jews from visiting their Jewish sites in Arab lands, according to a post at the Elder of Ziyon blog,

In his 2009 speech at Al-Azhar, Obama said, “Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance." That tradition is pretty spotty, however, varying greatly from place to place, and from time to time.

As FrontPageMag points out, Obama "boasted of standing up for the right of Muslim women to wear the Hijab." They end with a pointed question: "Will be similarly stand up for the right of Jews to pray in a synagogue in Egypt?"

Don't count on it. In fact, all non-Muslims are in peril in the new Egypt that Barack Obama holds up as a shining example of his own foreign policy so-called successes.  "Of course, the persecution of Christians is nothing new in the Middle East," notes The National Interest. "But times are tougher now with the rise of governments motivated by Islamism, which in some interpretations does not give equal billings to other faiths. And amidst the ongoing unrest, some of these regional states have imposed crackdowns on non-Islamic religious communities when their stability is threatened."

The persecution of Christian Copts in Egypt is not a new problem, but it has gotten progressively worse since the fall of Mubarak last year. Last month, a publication called El Fegr posted a copy of a letter titled "An Urgent and Important Notice." It incited violence against Christians. "The letter refers to Christians as enemies of Allah's religion and slaves of the cross," reports Catholic Online, and it "calls for Allah to curse them and for all Muslims to physically attack or kill Christians throughout Egypt..."

"Fears for the future of religious minorities in Egypt were accentuated last week," reported Gatestone Institute, "when it was announced that the last synagogue in the country would be closed down. The Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue, which had operated in Alexandria, was the last functioning center of Jewish life in the country. It is now clear that its cavernous halls, built in the nineteenth century, will not be open to worshippers hoping to mark Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services this year."

Gatestone also notes that sectarian tensions across Egypt "have been heightened ever since last year's revolution, with Christian minorities bearing the brunt of the violence. One of the unintended consequences of the Arab Spring is the guarantee of security – long assured by the region's old dictators; it has been cast away by the tide of popular unrest sweeping the region."

Related:

• Obama’s Favorite Islamic University Outlaws Judaism in Egypt Blazing Cat Fur
• In Egypt, anti-Semitism comes back in fashion TribLive.com
• The Mideast's Vanishing Christians The National Interes
• A Warning Sign: Cleric's fatwa risks dragging Egypt back to the darkness Albawaba 
• Egypt's sexual harassment of women 'epidemic' BBC
• Egypt prof: Israel will be gone by next year Times of Israel (also see the video)

U.S. Labor Market Still In 'Deep Depression'

September 7, 2012 - Obama wants four more years to continue his failed economic policies. His campaign has said that his policies have succeeded. They have not, however. They have failed miserably. Sure, you may have heard today that the national average unemployment rate has "gone down" to 8.1% but the bad news is that the reduction is due in no small part to people just giving up and, as a result, no longer being counted officially in the unemployment numbers.

Click graph to enlarge it. Source: CalculatedRiskBlog

Obama has had nearly four years for his "hope and change" to work. It has not worked. The change has been catastrophic, and has caused hundreds of thousands of people to give up hope.

Like a demonic sadist, Obama now commands us to beg for more punishment. Whether or not he wins re-election in November will depend upon how many masochists go to the polls to vote for him.

"While the unemployment rate dropped to 8.1% from 8.3% in July, it was due to a big drop in the labor force participation rate (the share of Americans with a job or looking for one)," notes the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) today.  "If fewer Americans hadn’t given up looking for work, the unemployment rate would have risen."

The Guardian, a respected British newspaper, reports today that "The US economy added just 96,000 new jobs in August, far below economists' expectations and dealing a crushing blow to President Barack Obama after the close of the Democratic national convention."

That number - 96,000 - is pitiful indeed. That's an average of a mere 1,920 per state and it does not tell the story of jobs that were lost during the same time period, nor does that raw number tell anything about the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have just given up trying to find work in a horrifically bad economic environment. CNN Money noted today that, "The unemployment rate fell largely because 368,000 people stopped looking for work, many of them young people. Just 63.5% of the working-age population was either employed or actively looking for work -- a 30-year low."

In addition, says The Guardian, the increase of 96,000 jobs "is below population growth." To make matters even worse, "the figures for July and June were revised downwards." 

You can read the full depressing report at the Bureau of Labor Statistics website.

New Romney Video Recalls What Bill Clinton Said About Obama in 2008

Sept. 6, 2012 - A new campaign video today from the Romney campaign contrasts what Bill Clinton said about Barack Obama back in 2008 to what he just said at the Democratic National Convention. It's a hoot, really... unless you're a Democrat.

The video is called "Give Me A Break." The video's narrator says that Clinton in 2012 is "a good soldier, helping his party's president, but what did Bill Clinton say about Barack Obama in 2008?"

Cut to Bill Clinton speaking during the New Hampshire primary, 2008. "Give me a break," Clinton told a group of Hillary Clinton supporters.

Referring to Obama's economic plan Clinton said, "This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen." Powerful stuff, and Clinton cannot deny that he said it.

Bart Stupak: Obamacare HHS Mandate Violates Executive Order, Statutory Law

Sept. 4, 2012 - Former Congressman Bart Stupak, a pro-life Democrat of Michigan was a key swing vote for Obamacare in 2010, is saying that Obama's HHS mandate violates not only the Executive Order, but statutory law as well.

The HHS mandate went into effect on August 1st. Many religious institutions now have about a year "to figure out how they’re going to violate their consciences," as NY Cardinal Timothy Dolan put it.

The video was made during a Democrats For Life panel discussion at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina and posted to YouTube by RedState today. But Stupak's words are not really news: He came out months ago to express his disappointment in Obama's HHS mandate and the way it approaches contraception. On February 8, 2012, for example, he said the mandate was illegal when he was interviewed by Fox's Greta Van Susteren (see below).

On March 21, 2010, TheHill.com reported that Democrats "reached a deal on an executive order on abortion that could hand them a victory on healthcare," and that "Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) announced a deal at a press conference. He said the deal means Democrats will have the 216 votes they need to win a healthcare reform vote on the floor." 

The title of the Order is "Executive Order: Ensuring Enforcement And Implementation Of Abortion Restrictions In The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act." The parts of the Executive Order that Stupak (and others) now object to are Paragraphs 2 and 3 of "Section 1. Policy."

"Bart Stupak was a vital swing vote in the Obamacare debate 2 years ago," says RedState.com today. In March of 2010, Stupak said he could not support Obamacare unless he could be assured that abortion would not be covered by the mandate. As RedState notes, "Following an Executive Order signed by President Obama that supposedly ensured that abortion would not be covered, Stupak declared victory for the pro-life movement. This in spite of the fact that many had said the Executive Order was toothless and would not prevent anything."

Found at FireAndreaMitchell.com

Jill Stanek wrote an excellent critique of the Order. In essence, she called it meaningless. She wrote, in part, that "there is no operative language in the executive order. It merely observes there are two conscience laws, like observing there are two clouds floating by. Meanwhile, Obamacare states the HHS Secretary can mandate coverage of anything s/he decides is a 'preventative service' which Kathleen Sebelius has indeed deemed contraception, the morning after pill, the IUD, and sterilization."

Fox's Greta Van Susteren interviewed Stupak for "On the Record" on February 8, 2012. Stupak said this about the the HHS contraception mandate:

".... it dealt with not only abortion, but also with the conscience clause. In fact, if you look in section one of the executive order, it's – very clearly it says – it cites the Church amendment way back in 1973, all the way to the Weldon amendment, which was in legislation that President Obama signed in 2009, in which they talked about the conscience clause and the right of individuals and institutions such as the church to not provide these services if it violates their tenets of their faith and their principles and their conscience."

The mystery in all of this is why it took so long for Stupak and others to realize that they were fooled. The Executive Order was, after all, posted to the White House website on March 21, 2010 – the same day that Stupak had his victorious press conference. Stupak was suckered, lied to by Obama and his White House operatives.

Or - maybe not. Many accuse Stupak of selling his vote to support Obama's mandate in exchange for a lot of pork to his district in Michigan.

Related:

• Someone call the president! Stupak says executive order bars contraceptive mandate Jill Stanek
• Stupak Says ‘No Regrets’ About Decisive Obamacare Vote CNS News
• Rep. Bart Stupak interviewed on Fox News by Megyn Kelly, 3/22/10  YouTube
• Flashback Video: Congressman Bart Stupak from March 2010 - GretaWire.Foxinsider
• Bart Stupak paid off! Announces $726,409 for airports... Fire Andrea Mitchell
• Cardinal Dolan “White House strangling Catholic church” Catholic Advocate

Greta Van Susteren Blows Story About Chicago Cops With Obama at DNC in Charlotte NC, Tinfoil Hatters Go Crazy

Greta Van Susteren - Photo: Facebook

September 3, 2012 - A lot of Americans are in a panic after learning that Chicago Police Officers are protecting Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte (DNC), North Carolina this week.  

Rumors of conspiracy and whatever else the Tinfoil Hat Crowd is panicking about are flying. Greta Van Susteren at Fox News seems to be the primary culprit in all of this idiocy, but careless bloggers are spreading the crap around like cheap fertilizer. It's a typical case of truth being blown all out of proportion, facts being twisted, and facts being omitted.

What is actually happening in Charlotte, North Carolina? Simple, really. The DNC is a big event with big security concerns. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is good, but it does not have enough officers to handle the security for such an event - which includes POTUS, after all - and so officers from outside agencies will be there to supplement their own manpower. (During the recent NATO Summit in Chicago, hundreds of officers from other cities, including Homeland Security personnel, assisted Chicago Police. With that in mind, cops from other cities being in Charlotte NC is not unusual.)

"Hundreds of law enforcement officers from across the country arrived Saturday at the Charlotte Police Training Academy," reported Your News Now yesterday. "CMPD is not releasing the exact number of officers being brought in for the Democratic National Convention, but they did say there are hundreds and they are all ready for any challenge."

CMPD make an arrest at DNC2012. Book 'em!

Despite that report, people are freaking out. I became aware of this panic when I happened across a post on The Ulsterman Report, a blog I respect a little bit less today after reading a post titled "Why is Obama Using Chicago Police At South Carolina DNC Convention?" The headline even got the state wrong. The DNC is in the other Carolina (North), as Ulsterman even wrote when quoting Fox: "A Fox News reporter just shared information regarding a considerable contingent of Chicago police inside the DNC convention center in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Yet another Obama related act that makes one go hmmmmm…"

One thing that made me go "hmmmm" was the fact that Ulsterman obviously did not bother to actually Google this for himself. Instead, this idiotic comment was added: "As has so often been said regarding the Obama regime – all roads always seem to lead “Back to Chicago." I'm not sure what the hell that mean, but it sure sounds – oh hell, it just sounds stupid. I will explain why below.

Greta Van Susteren, though, should really be ashamed of herself. She can be a good reporter, but sometimes she just sucks at it. When she's bad, she's really, really damned bad. She is not some underpaid blogger desperate for a few more website visitors: Greta is a trained journalist, and yet she published this tripe today, without bothering to research it or in collusion with Pergram:

CHICAGO POLICE AT THE NORTH CAROLINA CONVENTION
by Greta Van Susteren
Sep 3 2012 - 12:06 PM ET

Below is a note I was just emailed by FNC’s Chad Pergram

And just an interesting note. There are lots of police here from other organizations. But at the convention center, Chicago Police are here….not just folks from across the state or South Carolina.Of course, remember the confrontations Democrats had with Chicago Police at the ’68 Convention….

Chad Pergram
FOX News
Senior Producer for Capitol Hill

Since I know that she knows better, I must assume that Greta's only motivation for publishing such a load of crap is this: Sensationalism. In my opinion, Greta Van Susteren is an overpaid blogger who deliberately sensationalizes just to get more website visitors. There's a word for that kind of person: It starts with "w" and ends with "hore."

The same, I contend, can be said of Chad Pergram. I would say that he is either a moron who doesn't deserve to work in the mail room of any news organization, or he deliberately added that part about the Democrats and the Chicago Police in 1968 - which has NOTHING to do with the reality of what's happening currently in Charlotte.

As for Chicago Police being at the convention center, well, so what? Notice that Pergram did not say that only Chicago cops are at the convention center. Pergram's note is written either as a moron would write such a note, or as a very clever manipulator would. I suspect that Pergram is not a moron.

To be fair, Greta's blog post did say that there are many police officers from other cities, not just Chicago, in Charlotte.  Which part of that did Ulsterman - and others - miss or not understand? 

To recap, Chad sent a stupid note to Greta, who then reproduced it on her Fox site without a shred of added value or any research. Idiot readers won't bother looking beyond Greta's steaming pile, and so the panic and rumors are flying today across blogs run by non-journalists, across Facebook timelines by people who are stupid and/or intellectually lazy, and on Twitter by all of the above.

Empty Chair Day, September 3, 2012

September 2, 2012 - Tomorrow is Labor Day in the United States. But, thanks to Clint Eastwood, it is now also "National Empty Chair Day." 
Remind fellow Americans that President Obama's office chair has been empty more often that it's cushioned the First Butt. Inspired by Clint Eastwood's empty chair skit at the RNC last week, let's put an empty chair in our own front yards, in front of our businesses, or anywhere else. Be creative! Then post a photo on your Facebook timeline.

It's just  not possible to campaign, visit wealthy donors and get in all that golfing, after all, while sitting in the Oval Office.

For more information and ideas, visit the National Empty Chair Day Event Page on Facebook!