Your love and respect for our troops is REAL!

President Obama addresses the nation tonight about the war in Iraq.

I strongly suspect he will not use the word “victory.” He will not admit he was wrong about the surge he adamantly opposed with other leading Democrats. He will not give credit to President Bush.

Our arrogant, egotistical Commander-in-Chief has already begun touting his successes. From his weekly radio address Saturday:

“As a candidate for this office, I pledged I would end this war.  As President, that is what I am doing.  We have brought home more than 90,000 troops since I took office.  We have closed or turned over to Iraq hundreds of bases.  In many parts of the country, Iraqis have already taken the lead for security.

In the months ahead, our troops will continue to support and train Iraqi forces, partner with Iraqis in counterterrorism missions, and protect our civilian and military efforts.  But the bottom line is this: the war is ending.  Like any sovereign, independent nation, Iraq is free to chart its own course.  And by the end of next year, all of our troops will be home.”

Earlier this month in Atlanta, the president told disabled veterans he was keeping a campaign promise to end the war “on schedule.” The problem is, the timetable for ending the war was scheduled long before he took office. It occurred on President Bush’s watch. CNS News reports:

“The timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops in Iraq was decided during the Bush administration with the signing of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) by U.S. and Iraq officials on Nov. 16, 2008. The Iraqi parliament signed SOFA on Nov. 27, 2008.
 
The agreement, which had been in negotiations since 2007, set a timetable calling for most U.S. troops to leave Iraqi towns and cities by June 30, 2009, with about 50,000 troops left in place until the final withdrawal of all U.S. military forces by Dec. 31, 2011.”

Stephen Hadley writes in today’s Wall Street Journal:

“The U.S. effort in Iraq is not over. Some 50,000 U.S. troops, together with a robust diplomatic presence, continue to train and assist Iraq’s security forces and support its democratic progress. The American people, our coalition allies and especially the Iraqi people have paid an enormous price. It is important to remember why.

For over two decades, the regime of Saddam Hussein had threatened the national security of the United States, its key allies and the stability of the Middle East. It had invaded some of its neighbors (Iran and Kuwait) and threatened others (including Saudi Arabia and Israel). It had produced weapons of mass destruction, used them on its own people and the people of Iran, and threatened to use them against others.

Perhaps the most critical moment was President Bush’s decision in January 2007 to add over 20,000 American combat troops and change the military strategy. He was actively opposed by a majority of the Congress and a commentariat that argued for everything from withdrawing immediately to partitioning the country.

Following Mr. Bush’s decision, U.S. military forces and diplomats forged an unprecedented partnership to implement the new strategy and break the back of an insurgency that threatened to tear the country apart. Their success permitted the United States to begin withdrawing its troops in December 2007. By December 2008, Mr. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki could sign agreements providing both a long-term U.S.-Iraqi partnership and the withdrawal of all American troops by the end of 2011.”

President Obama deserves no credit for the current developments in Iraq. He opposed the war, and until recently, has shown little regard for our troops. Don’t be fooled by anything he pontificates tonight.

Every Sunday morning on my blog at FranklinNOW.com, I post a list of highly recommended columns from the previous week.  Here is this week’s compilation that should keep you busy:

Cheapskating to victory

“(Scott) Walker is running for governor hoping to galvanize what he calls a ‘Brown Bag Movement.’ He visits workplaces around the state during lunch hour and after a short speech takes questions from the workers who show up to hear him. Every seat has a brown paper lunch bag with a short saying. ‘I have to brown bag it so I can pay Wisconsin’s taxes’ or ‘I’d be eating out if government wasn’t gobbling up all of my money’ or ‘Wisconsin is Tax Hell!’

It’s cheesy, but, like the salary ad, it seems to be working. When I mentioned to a Washington-based political reporter that I was headed to Wisconsin to profile Walker, he said: ‘Oh, the Brown Bag guy’.”

Is it time to listen to Paul Ryan’s economic prescription?

“Who is this guy? It would be no surprise if he turned out to be a wealthy financier who had taken up budget policy as a retirement hobby (like Peter G. Peterson) or a professional forecaster whose views on consumer spending are bearish (like Gary Shilling). The surprise is that Ryan is an elected official. He’s running for election to a seventh term in Congress, representing a district with a razor-thin Republican edge south of Milwaukee.

Mess with Social Security? Are voters ready for this? Maybe they are. Those trillion-dollar deficits can’t go on much longer.”

Democrats betrayed us

“Wonder why voters will hand the GOP a crushing victory in November? It’s the trust, stupid.”

It’s the stupid season, stupid

“If you vote for Tom Barrett because you think Scott Walker gleefully employs racists at the highest levels of his campaign, you’re stupid, and shouldn’t be voting. If you vote for Russ Feingold because you think Ron Johnson will make it even slightly harder for you to kill animals and people with barely regulated deadly weapons, you’re stupid.”

The last refuge of a liberal

“Now we know why the country has become ‘ungovernable,’  last year’s excuse for the Democrats’ failure of governance: Who can possibly govern a nation of racist, nativist, homophobic Islamophobes?

Note what connects these issues. In every one, liberals have lost the argument in the court of public opinion. Majorities — often lopsided majorities — oppose President Obama’s social-democratic agenda (e.g., the stimulus, Obamacare), support the Arizona law, oppose gay marriage and reject a mosque near Ground Zero.

What’s a liberal to do? Pull out the bigotry charge, the trump that preempts debate and gives no credit to the seriousness and substance of the contrary argument. The most venerable of these trumps is, of course, the race card.”

Women behaving badly

“I hereby present—with full chromosomal immunity—a rundown of things women have been doing to totally screw themselves since winning the right to vote.”

Where are the new jobs?

“The problem today is that the economy is not being left alone. Instead, it is haunted by uncertainty on a hundred fronts. When rules are unintelligible and unpredictable, when new workers are potential threats because of Labor Department regulations, businesses have little confidence to hire. President Obama’s vaunted legislative record not only left entrepreneurs with the burden of bigger government, it also makes it impossible for them to accurately estimate the new burden.

In at least three big areas—health insurance, financial regulation, and taxes—no one can know what will happen.”

Public pensions and our fiscal future

“Few Californians in the private sector have $1 million in savings, but that’s effectively the retirement account they guarantee to public employees who opt to retire at age 55 and are entitled to a monthly, inflation-protected check of $3,000 for the rest of their lives.”

Pols clueless on Ground Zero mosque

“The angry national debate over Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s intention to build a mosque two blocks north of the horror of 9/11 at Ground Zero has been further fueled by supporter Nancy Pelosi declaring, ‘I join those who have called for looking into how … this opposition to the mosque is being funded.’ If one of her sleuths knocks on my door, this opponent will readily state that I need no outside funding as a reporter who is deeply investigating the motivation of Imam Rauf’s choice of this site of mass murder for the mosque.” 

The real radio hatemongers

“The hypocrites. Leftists say outrageous things on the radio routinely, things they truly mean, too, and those remarks never see the light of day on ABC, CBS and NBC. Talking about the N-word is wrong but wishing death on political enemies is OK when the rhetorical bombs are dropped on conservatives. The

Media has a new report chronicling who the real radio hatemongers are. Research Center

Start with …”

Once again I’ve let the Feed Reader of Doom™ overgrow everything. Let’s see what’s inside:

• Lawhawk found that even the tiniest of profits in Philadelphia get whacked with a $300 “business privilege license”. That sound you hear is Benjamin Franklin increasing the revolutions of his corpse.
• Randall Hoven asks and answers the question, “Which was higher between FY2003 and FY2008 – spending on the Iraq War or federal spending on education?” Hint – the cumulative FY2003-FY2010 deficits would have been between $4 trillion and $5 trillion with or without the Iraq War.
• Related (H/T – Fausta) – The Wall Street Journal reports that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the “baseline spending” by the federal government (what the government is expected to spend if the laws that are in effect at the time continue, with any scheduled expirations happening on-time) for FY2008-FY2018 has increased by $4.4 trillion (including actual spending in FY2008 and FY2009) between January 2008 and August 2010. Bonus item #1 – instead of spending a projected $4.2 trillion in 2018, the federal government is now expected to spend $5.0 trillion in 2018.
• Bonus item #2 – The Heritage Foundation has some startling figures from that CBO report – the deficit nears $2 trillion in 2020 (and that’s with no more Bush or Obama tax cuts), the publicly-held debt of $23 trillion will exceed 100% of GDP by 2020, and over half the above-the-historical-average tax revenues (with or without tax-cut extension) will go to servicing interest on said debt.
• Jim Geraghty raises the GOP House predictions. Wisconsin interests include the 7th as a “GOP has a good chance of winning”, the 8th as a “GOP chances about 50-50” and the 3rd as “GOP should win with luck or wave”. Speaking of the 3rd, Dan Kapanke is on Geraghty’s Bakers’ Dozen low-profile upset potentials.
• James Wigderson found the “normal Feingold supporter”. I’m shocked, SHOCKED to find it is a DC lobbyist.
• Even the Associated Press is noting that neither rain nor gloom of failed international relations (well, I put the second part in) is keeping Teh Won from his appointed rounds of golf.
• CDR Salamander has the graph of the day – the total national defense spending between 1947 and 2011 in both inflation-adjusted numbers and as a percentage of GDP. Question number 2 for you the gentle reader – which is higher – defense spending as a percentage of GDP in 1979 or 2009? Hint – the Commander’s exit quote is, “I call them the ‘Terrible 20s’ for a reason.”
• Eric predicts what will happen in the latest Israeli/Palestinian “Peace” talks. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

If this were morning, it would be a Scramble. However, I had to sneak these past the egg inspectors.

Shortly after Rand Paul won the Kentucky Senate primary in May, he found it necessary to revisit the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  In particular, he questioned whether the part of the law dealing with racial discrimination by private businesses that are deemed “public accommodations” might be a violation of private property rights.  This is clearly a legitimate question to entertain in a law school constitutional law class.  During a political race, not so much.

Last week President Obama found it necessary to weigh in on the mosque near Ground Zero controversy.  Professor Obama schooled us all on the First Amendment as seen by the Founding Fathers.  And according to Obama, the mosque would have been a “go” for James Madison and the boys.  He might be correct as a constitutional matter.  But as a political matter, not so much.

Just like Paul appeared to be giving intellectual cover to racially motivated actions, Obama appeared to be giving intellectual cover to those who want to build an ostentatious structure honoring Allah within a stones throw of the site where nearly 3,000 Americans were incinerated by followers of Allah, in the name of Allah.

Earth to the President.  I have a constitutional right to put my toilet in the living room instead of the bathroom and use it while entertaining guests.  Guess what?  I don’t.

Every rational person knows that the decision to construct a mega-mosque near Ground Zero is a political statement.  The President is America’s politician-in-chief.  His failure to understand the impact of his words on the people of New York (and all of America) is yet another example of Obama’s academic, above-the-fray view of the world.  His Party is going to pay dearly in November.

It is incredibly uproarious to watch unfold. Democrats, who historically eat their own, with critical elections coming in the fall, are beating each other up.

Seems a fair a number of liberal bloggers, you know, oh, let’s just pick one to give you a clear picture………..

Yes, I’m talking about the ones who generally hide behind cowardly anonymous monikers and can’t argue their way through a wet paper bag and resort to sophomoric attacks generally laced with profanities….yeh, that’s the bunch…..have been moaning and groaning and whining and crying that the great Obamessiah, the almighty who was going to turn us into the USSR overnight has just been too slow in ramming socialism and uber-liberalism down our throats. It’s bad enough how he’s damaged the country. These ignoramuses want him to do more and they want it NOW!

Out behind the curtain, stepping up to the podium is the Commander- in -chief’s  #1 butt kisser, Robert Gibbs!!!

Obama’s top spokesman angered the Rhoades scholars by saying they need to be drug-tested.

Bravo, Mr. Gibbs! The first thing you got right since you took the job!

Again, does November sound or seem like anything important to the donkey party?

Fight!

Fight!

There’s a fight over here!

There goes Gibbs!

And there goes one knuckle-dragging liberal blogger after another!

This is an honest to God real hoot! Some yahoos propped behind their computers attacking, not right-wingers, but their own leader and the guy who speaks for their own leader!

And my goodness. Shouldn’t Gibbs just be ignoring this sorry lot of nobodies?

What harmony!

What unity!

The warm and fuzzy party, giving each other bolo punches and brass knuckles!

Here’s what I’m talking about. For conservatives, this will mean a million laughs.

John Hawkins at Right Wing News (what candor, huh?) has compiled a list of numerous liberal bloggers and their angst over Robert Gibbs suggesting they’re high on dope. Here is just one example:

“Joe and I are upset with Obama, and we, for example, raised nearly $43,000 for the man, According to the White House, our money now doesn’t count. Great, would they like to give it back? I for one, would love the $1000 back that I personally donated to the Obama campaign. Joe gave even more. I suspect a lot of our readers wouldn’t mind their contributions back too, since apparently they’re not appreciated.

Then there’s all that work we did for the campaign, all the dirty work they asked us to do – and we did it, gladly, and quietly – none of that counted either, apparently.”
John Aravosis, AmericaBlog

OMG!

That is…..

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SUH-WEEEEEEEEEEEEETTT!

Liberal Democrats, especially the dimwit liberal bloggers, have taken their eyes OFF the prize.

Maybe they think the prize is a lost cause this year.

Conservatives, you want some laughs? Click HERE. 

Libs? Only do it if you’re really brave and tough, and you know you’re not.

Just go write a nasty gram to Robert Gibbs at…..

Is the White House frustrated? Yeh, they’re frustrated.

I don’t typically post things circulating the internet but this was too good to let pass:

Information about Gonorrhea Lectim: The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of this old disease. The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim. It is pronounced “Gonna re-elect ’em,” and it is a terrible obamanation. The disease is contracted through dangerous and high risk behavior involving putting your cranium up your rectum. Many victims contracted it in 2008…but now most people, after having been infected for the past two years, are starting to realize how destructive this sickness is. Gonorrhea Lectim is easily cured with a new drug just coming on the market called Votemout (vote-’em-out). You take the first dose in 2010 and the second dose in 2012, and simply don’t engage in such behavior again; otherwise, it could become permanent and eventually wipe out all life, as we know it. Several states are already on top of this, like Virginia and New Jersey, and apparently now Massachusetts; with many more seeing the need.