WASILLA, Alaska – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin surprised supporters Friday and announced she is resigning from office at the end of the month without explaining why she plans to step down — throwing into question whether she would seek a run for the White House in 2012.
[...]
The former Republican vice presidential candidate said she had been considering leaving office since she decided not to run for re-election.

“Many just accept that lame duck status, and they hit that road. They draw a paycheck. They kind of milk it. And I’m not going to put Alaskans through that,” Palin said.

Wow, just wow.

“Many just accept that lame duck status, and they hit that road. They draw a paycheck. They kind of milk it. And I’m not going to put Alaskans through that,” Palin said.

OK, now that she put it that way, I agree and if frees her up of other things.

Don Feder asks the obvious – If Islam is so peaceful, why do they have to keep reminding us?

“Last week, four Southern Baptists were arrested for plotting to blow up St Patrick’s Cathedral. The men, who became born-again Christians in prison, wanted to kill and terrorize Catholics.”

 If that was the opening paragraph in a newspaper story you were reading, your gut reaction would be – huh? Baptists don’t do things like that in the name of their faith. Neither do Catholics, Presbyterians, Seventh Day Adventists or Mormons.

 But when we read the headline in a May 21^st   New York Times’ story — “4 Accused of Bombing Plot at Bronx Synagogues” — it was ho-hum stuff.

 It wasn’t exactly a revelation when The Times informed us, in the 9^th paragraph, “They are all Muslims, a law enforcement official said” – just in case you thought the conspiracy involved Episcopalians, Rotarians or the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

 If you hear about a hijacking, suicide bombing, sniper attack or the beheading of a hostage anywhere in the world, your first reaction is: a Muslim did it. Why? Because 9 times out of 10 a Muslim did do it.

In the case of The Newburgh Four, here’s what we know:

 Their names are David “Daoud” Williams, James “Abdul Rahman” Cromitie, Onta “Hamza” Williams and Laguerre “Amin” Payen.  At least two were prison-converts to the Big Peaceful.

1. They planned to blow up two synagogues with what they thought was C-4 explosives, supplied by the FBI.
2. They wanted to obtain Stinger missiles to shoot down military aircraft.
3. As Assistant US Attorney Eric Snyder stated when the defendants were arraigned in federal court, “These are people who were eager to bring death to Jews and the Jewish community.”
4. According to an informant, Cromitie said of the Jewish people: “I hate those motherf—–s, those f—ing Jewish bastards. I would like to get a synagogue.” Also, while scoping out a Jewish community center as a potential target, Cromitie is alleged to have said of nearby pedestrians that if he had a gun at the time, he would “shoot each one in the head.”

 If Islam is such a “religion of peace,” why do they have to keep reminding us? Nobody’s running around saying “Christianity is a religion of peace” or “Judaism is a religion of peace” – because neither proposition is in doubt.

Yet, George W. Bush felt compelled to regularly reassure us (especially after 9/11) that Islam was about as peaceful as a religion can get.

 Speaking at a 2005 dinner marking the end of Ramadan, Bush’s Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, said Mohammedanism was “the religion of love and peace.” For Condi, being peaceful wasn’t enough. Islam had to be warm and cuddly too. “We in America know the benevolence that is at the heart of Islam,” Rice absurdly remarked. “We’ve seen it in many ways” –including in glorious Technicolor, in the video of the decapitation of Daniel Pearl.

Read the whole thing.  A good reminder, too, of how this country’s ruling caste – from both parties – have traitorously sold out the welfare of the people for the sake of appeasing those who hate us. 

Time for a new ruling caste.

Tomorrow, there will be nationwide Tea Parties across the country once again. I hope everyone that canbe there  is out there in full force.

Pajamas Media: How to Talk to Reporters at Your Tea Party

As a brand-new fiscal conservative and Republican, I notice some of my new friends have little or no experience with political protests. They could use a few tips on how to talk to reporters and how to make the most of their tea party demonstration experience. I was a newspaper reporter for a couple of years in the 1980s, and because lesbians and women have had to fight for equality, I’ve participated in picketing, demonstrations, and marches since around 1974. The most important thing you can bring to your tea party is your 30-second answer to the following question: “Why are you here?”

I am here to tell the rest of America to snap out of the zombie state and open their eyes to what is happening.

I am here for the fellowship with other Americans that feel the same way that I do because it is nice to know that not everyone is taken in by this cult of personality that wants to change everything about the country that I hold dear.

I am here because I want the next generations to experience the greatness that we have been so lucky to be a part of.

I am here to tell Janeane Garafalo that a lot of us were mad about the spending of the Bush administration, and that anyone who comes in and makes that debt look paltry in the first six months of office HAS to be told that we aren’t going to keep taking it and I would ask her why she isn’t protesting with us.

I am here because I love my country.

(much thanks to vagabond trader for the link)

Iranian cleric says UK embassy staff may face trial

TEHRAN (Reuters) – A senior Iranian cleric suggested on Friday that detained local staff from the British embassy in Tehran would be put on trial in the Islamic Republic for their alleged role in post-election unrest.

[...]

“In these developments their embassy here maintained a presence in which individuals were arrested and inevitably they will be tried as they have (made) confessions,” Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati told Friday prayer worshippers in Tehran.

Jannati heads the Guardian Council, a powerful constitutional watchdog.

“A place of solitude offers a retreat from the opposing forces and diverse demands of living, an entry into a state of peace and unity. Mind and body can retire from confusion and conflict to a sanctuary of clarity and harmony”

-Anthony Lawlor

While our Congress lectures us about how often we can use our thermostats, what cars we can drive, how we need to tighten our belts for the sake of the Country, how we are in a horrible recession and financial constraints, and regulating the salaries of Corporations,  they are gallivanting around the world with their families and friends on our dime.

________________________________

WASHINGTON — Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands.

The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That’s a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.

The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as “codels,” has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data.

…

In mid-June, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D., Hawaii) led a group of a half-dozen senators and their spouses on a four-day trip to France for the biennial Paris Air Show. An itinerary for the event shows that lawmakers flew on the Air Force’s version of the Boeing 737, which costs $5,700 an hour to operate. They stayed at the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand Hotel, which advertises rooms from $460 a night.

The lawmakers were invited to a dinner party at the U.S. Embassy and had cocktails at a private party at the Eiffel Tower. Mr. Inouye attended a dinner sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association, a U.S. trade group. Another senator on the trip, Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, took a cruise on the River Seine with defense-industry executives and elected officials from Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

…

In February, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a delegation of Democratic lawmakers to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan for a day. Before landing in Kabul, the eight lawmakers and their entourage of spouses and aides spent eight days in Italy, spending $57,697 on hotels and meals.

…

Documents obtained by the Journal show that the cost of flying a small group of lawmakers to the Middle East is about $150,000. Larger trips on the Air Force’s version of the Boeing 757 cost about $12,000 an hour. Two federal agencies pay for most of the travel — the Defense Department and the State Department.

…

{It only gets worse: – The Rest of The Article}

________________________________

DON’T JUST SIT THERE…..DO SOMETHING!

This has got to stop immediately! Help this Thread go viral by forwarding it to everyone you can think of, and contact Congress.

Guest post by Jehu

Clinton or Obama, which is worse? Wrong question, I think.

America has been dying via the thousand cuts of liberalism and Political Correctness for a hundred years. Since Wilson we oscillate between liberal leadership to moderate Republican leadership. IMO moderate Republicans are just Dem party light.a slower death. Remember Nixon imposed wage freezes and continued expanding the welfare state started under Johnson (actually under FDR).

Reagan was an exception to this back and forth choosing of Dem’s or Dem light.

Now if you believe as I do that all History is orchestrated by God, that nations are raised up and brought down by God, that miracles like America, and Israel came forth by the hand of God, then you should also believe man is not going to have the final say so about the outcomes.

America is blessed for one reason only: 90% of all missionary effort has come from America in the past 100 years. Now you may be an unbeliever, or of another faith. You may think much of Christianity is corrupt etc. But Christianity always brings with it the seeds of liberty and greater light.

Hospitals are built in the name of Christianity, women are elevated in status via Christianity, civil wars are fought to end slavery via Christianity. World wars have been won because Christians were praying. Communism was weakened by men that spoke like prophets.think of Reagan “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Iraq is in the process of being liberated, for the most part, by Christian soldiers. No matter what the media says, how many suicide bombers spring up for some time after our soldiers leave that freedom will take root and will not be thwarted.

This will not be allowed to be stopped by the “progressives,” or any other ideology, Communism, Fascism, Emperor Worship, Islam, American Leftists.

Instead God is judging America right now, not destructively (although it seems like that, and it will get worse) but he is drawing together in one net all those that hate America, hate what she stands for, what she does. Note that Clinton IS a part of this administration, note that the “progressives,” have a sense of inevitability and power like at no other time in American history.

They will be seen for what they are, they will cause such damage as the majority of Americans will reject the progressive agenda for all time. You are not seeing the conquest of freedom by the progressives, instead you are seeing the revealing of rattlesnakes just before they are sprayed with gasoline and the match is lit. HAVE FAITH.

If you do not in these days that are coming, despair will be like ashes in your mouth. Already I have a hard time listening to conservative talk radio, because they see the judgment.yes, but they do not see the outcome, the triumph of God that is coming over this evil.

This idea I am expressing here ought to be a thread, IMO. It is important for all of us to reject despair right now, to really believe.

********************************************************************

Well, I think so too, thats why it’s here as a topic…

savage

 hat tip to jakee308

After three previous rounds of inconclusive voting back in March, the UN nuclear agency’s 35-nation board finally chose Yuikya Amano to replace Mohammad ElBaradei as IAEA head.  He will start in November 2009.

____________________________

Mr Amano won the required two-thirds majority from the IAEA governing board, defeating his South African rival, Abdul Samad Minty, by 23 votes to 11.

…

Mr Amano had the support of many industrialised countries while Mr Minty was favoured by most developing nations.

The vote reflected that split, with Mr Amano scraping through to victory by the bare minimum margin, without the support of developing states. There was also one abstention.

Mr. Amano has held senior arms control posts in Tokyo and most recently was Japan’s representative at the IAEA.

…

{The Rest of The Article}

_________________________________

The jury is still out on what type of difference this election make on the agency, if any.  While some are very unenthusiastic about this change, the BBC (as quoted above) seems to consider Mr. Amano to be the West’s guy.

However, insofar that Japan just entered into a major oil deal with Iran, I’m not very optimistic that Mr. Amano is going to be the watchdog we are looking for.

Pakistan’s top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, is buying children as young as 7 to serve as suicide bombers in the growing spate of attacks against Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. targets, U.S. Defense Department and Pakistani officials say.

A Pakistani official, who spoke on the condition that he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the topic, said the going price for child bombers was $7,000 to $14,000 – huge sums in Pakistan, where per-capita income is about $2,600 a year.

“[Mehsud] has turned suicide bombing into a production output, not unlike [the way] Toyota outputs cars,” a U.S. Defense Department official told reporters recently. He spoke on the condition that he not be named because of ongoing intelligence efforts to catch Mehsud, a prime target for a U.S. and Pakistani anti-Taliban campaign.

An apparent U.S. effort to kill Mehsud last week failed. On Sunday, the Pakistani government offered a reward of about $615,300 for information leading to the capture of Mehsud, dead or alive. The U.S. State Department has offered a bounty of $5 million for Mehsud, who is thought to be hiding in the tribal areas near the Afghan border.

The rest….

This is beyond disgusting. Taking advantage of the weakest in society for their own personal gain. How “righteous” of them.

You know, if Rudy were still Hizzoner in NYC, he’d be breaking a few windows of his own over this – NY City Council backs closure of schools for Islamic Feast on Sept. 11th

The New York City Council June 30 called on Mayor Bloomberg to add the Islamic feast days of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha to the New York Public School calendar. The non-binding council vote, Resolution 1281, passed with only councilmember G. Oliver Koppel opposing, urges the schools be closed to celebrate the two Islamic feast days. The vote comes as the culmination of a three-years lobbying effort by New York Islamist groups and what supporters such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations describe as “over 80 Labor and Community Organizations.”

The New York Times July 1 noted:

Supporters also say that since the Ids (pronounced eeds) are floating holidays whose timing is set by the lunar calendar, they often fall on other religious holidays, on weekends or during the summer. During the next decade, for instance, at least one of the two Ids each year is expected to coincide with summer recess or an existing school holiday, according to a report by the Immigrant Rights Clinic at New York University.

While assiduously digging into Islamic lunar calendar for the future timing of the Islamic feast days, The Times fails to mention that Eid al-Adha falls on Sunday, September 11 in the year 2016 and Eid al-Fitr will begin at sunset on September 9 and continue to sunset on Friday September 10 in the year 2010.

These “civil dates” for the two feast days are projected by the Islamic Umm al-Qura calendar maintained by the Saudi Government.  They are the earliest possible dates for sighting of the crescent moon at Mecca. The feasts may fall one or two days later depending on a Saudi “hilal committee” responsible to spot the first visible crescent moon at Mecca—so Eid al-Fitr could possibly begin at sunset on September 10 or 11 and continue into September 11 or 12, 2010.  Resolution 1281 makes no mention of the date on which the Islamic feast days will be celebrated.

The Umm al-Qura calendar gives the modern “Georgian” calendar dates of six Islamic feast days and holidays until the year 2029. Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha are the two which will fall on September 11 soonest. The next will be Islamic New Year–1 Muharram–which will be September 11, 2018. No others fall on September 11 through 2029.

This is not the only example of Islamists convincing local authorities to celebrate Islam on September 11. Earlier this year the Hawaii State Legislature voted to celebrate “Islam Day” on September 24, 2009—a day which corresponds to absolutely nothing in the Islamic calendar but is September 11, 2009 on the old Julian calendar favored by the Eastern Orthodox Christians conquered by Islam.

But remember folks, people on the Left aren’t traitors to America.  No way.  No how.  Hunh uh.  Not ever. 

Dear Citizens of Honduras,
I wish to personally thank you for faithfully defending your nation’s constitution from a failed coup d’etat, by your now ousted President.
You have given all lovers of freedom and democratic principles, a shining example of how to recognize and defeat a determined enemy, and one who would become your dictator.

Good citizens of Honduras, you watched as ‘Mel’ ran a corrupt government, that hadn’t even submitted a fiscal budget for 2009, as demanded by your constitution. His attempts to bribe and confuse the mostly impoverished citizens did not go unnoticed, and you acted accordingly. In violation of your constitution, he attempted to hold an illegal referendum (which are prohibited within six months of a general election) in order to force the ‘cuarta urna’, or fourth ballot box, into the polling places for the November general election. This would have created a National Constituent Assembly, hand picked by Zelaya, which would have had the power to review and change the constitution, with the end result being ‘continuismo’ for Zelaya, just as his close associate Hugo Chavez has done.

People of Honduras, with your Attorney General, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), your military commanders, and the National Congress, you have demonstrated loyalty to the rule of law. As young as your constitution is, ratified in 1982, you have nurtured it despite the many hardships your citizens face in their daily lives.

I would also like to thank you for demonstrating, to those of us who will listen and pay attention, what a government and its citizens can and should do when its elected leaders behave unlawfully. You have given us hope that we could, when faced with a constitutional crisis, rise up and peacefully remove the president when his actions are repeatedly demonstrated as being unconstitutional.

Further thanks are extended for continuing to show support for your government’s actions in removing your president, despite the many world leaders opposition, as well as the ongoing propaganda being disseminated against you in the alleged main stream media. That CNN will cover your peaceful protests of thousands, in support of your governments actions, the only videos to be found are of the pro-Zelaya protests, small as they are.

While I don’t envy the uncertainty that you face right now, Honduras, you have given us all an excellent lesson in civics and hope, that with reasonable people, usurpers of authority and illegal acts will not be tolerated.
You have proven that there is change we can believe in.

With gratitude and respect,
a freedom loving American citizen.

Excellent links for additional info:
Where is the Fourth Box taking us?

From La Gringa’s Blogicito, read this post first, then this link takes you to her home page for a most excellent description of what has/is taking place.

*Cross-Posted*
At Nuke’s.

To Blogmocracy readers:

I will be leaving tomorrow to the Bahamas and will not post until next Tuesday. I just want to thank all the readers who have made this website a success. Without your input we would not have made the progress we have with this blog. Again many thanks for commenting and posting.

To the Blogmocracy Admins:

I would like to thank you all for helping me to improve as a blogger. I also appreciate that while we may have differences on issues from time to time, we stay united as a team. Special thanks to Savage who has helped get LGF2.0 on the map in the early days. Wrath, M, Lance Kates, Bar, No 2 Liberals,  gclaghorn, tqcincinnatus, Bob, and Chen Zen keep up the good work while I am gone.

Here are my 2 favorite Vacation songs:

This was the theme song of 1999 Trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

God bless everyone who supports us!

Radiohead

“Jigsaw Falling Into Place”

Ahmadinejad Is Hanging Mousavi Supporters

“I’ve made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is not interfering with Iran’s affairs.”

-U.S. President Barack Obama two days ago.

My good friend Konservo has a piece on his blog exposing how Charles “Icarus” Johnson hypocritically attacks the Right for calling Cap and Trade supporters traitors. Icarus doesn’t comment that Radical Progressive: Paul Krugman called anyone that opposes Cap and Trade traitors. The washed up jazz artist really is a two faced liar and deceiver.

Treason?

JERUSALEM (CNN) – The Israeli navy took control of a boat that violated an Israeli blockade and crossed into Gazan waters Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said, while a Gaza group said the ship was carrying humanitarian aid, a former U.S. congresswoman and a Nobel laureate.

The boat’s crew included former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, according to the Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group that sent the boat it calls “Spirit of Humanity” from Cyprus.

Along with McKinney, who served six terms in the House of Representatives from Georgia and was the Green Party’s presidential nominee in 2008, Israeli authorities took 20 people into custody, the group said.

[...]

IDF said the Israeli navy contacted the boat, which it called the Arion, while it was still at sea and warned the crew they would not be allowed to enter Gazan waters “because of security risks in the area and the existing naval blockade.”

Disregarding all warnings, the boat entered Gazan coastal waters, IDF said. An Israeli navy force intercepted, boarded and took control of the boat, directing it toward Ashdod, Israel, IDF said.

The boat’s crew, the military said, would “be handed over to the proper authorities.”

Without naming individuals on the boat, IDF confirmed the incident it described was the same one detailed by the Free Gaza Movement.

According to the Free Gaza group, McKinney said, “This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip,” before authorities confiscated cell phones.

No shame.

(hattip and thanks to Speranza!)

Update by m (quoting WrathofG-d):

LETS COUNTER THEIR PURPOSE! Call, write, or otherwise contact your elected officials, and encourage them to supports Israel, her right to keep her borders with Gaza closed, and her need to take the steps she did against the “Free Gaza” organization, etc.

Hillary Clinton whom at one time I despised, I have grown some respect for over the last year. She didn’t quit her campaign when the Media told her too and stood up to the Vast Progressive Conspiracy. She saw what Obama’s true colors were and tried to stop this Totalitarian takeover.She failed and being a loyal party member endorsed and accepted the Secretary of State Position. Unlike Obama, Hillary knows about the threats facing this nation, as Iran was in chaos, she urged Obama to get firmer and back the protesters.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged President Obama for two days to toughen his language on Iran before he did so, and then was surprised when he condemned Iran’s crackdown on demonstrators last week, administration officials say.

At his June 23 news conference, Mr. Obama said he was “appalled and outraged” by Iranian behavior and “strongly condemned” the violence against anti-government demonstrators. Up until then, Mr. Obama and other administration officials had taken a softer line, expressing “deep concern” about the situation and calling on Iran to “respect the dignity of its own people.”

Behind the scenes, the officials, who spoke on the condition that they not be named because they were discussing internal deliberations, said Mrs. Clinton had been advocating the stronger U.S. response, but the president resisted. When he finally took her advice, the aides said, he did so without informing her first.

Read the Rest.

I never thought I would say this but I wish Hillary was President and not Obama. Although the Clintons are Liberals, they are not Progressives and don’t believe in a government take over of the economy. I know the Clinton haters will jump at me, but better Hillary than Obama.

It looks like the phony pedophile prophet and Bin Laden’s pathetic women hating/fearing girlie-men are pissed off (yet again), because French President Nicolas Sarkozy (He’s a Jew, ya know!) has proposed banning the wearing of burkas in France…

Al-Qaeda’s North Africa wing threatened on Tuesday to take revenge on France for its opposition to the burka, calling on Muslims to retaliate against the country, the US monitoring service SITE Intelligence reported.

Earlier this month, President Nicolas Sarkozy said the burka, which covers the whole face, was not welcome in the strictly secular country.

“Yesterday was the hijab (the Islamic headscarf long banned in French schools) and today, it is the niqab (the full veil),” Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, head of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was quoted as saying.

“We will take revenge for the honour of our daughters and sisters against France and against its interests by every means at our disposal.”

The group also called on Muslims to retaliate for what it called French “hostility” against the community and its attempt to obstruct Islam’s practice on its territory.

“For us, the mujahedeen … we will not remain silent to such provocations and injustices,” Abdul Wadud said without elaborating, according to SITE.

“We call upon all Muslims to confront this hostility with greater hostility, and to counter France’s efforts to divide male and female believers from their faith with a greater effort … (by) adherence to the teachings of their Islamic sharia.”

He said Muslims in France, who are estimated at around five million, are “increasingly concerned about the practices of French politicians and leaders and their harassment”.

On June 22, Sarkozy said the burka was not a symbol of religious faith but a sign of women’s “subservience,” adding that the head-to-toe veil was “not welcome” in staunchly secular France.

The French National Assembly set up an inquiry into the rising number of Muslim women who wear the burka.

France is home to Europe’s largest Muslim community and faces a dilemma between accommodating Islam and maintaining secularism. In 2004, it passed a law banning headscarves or any other “conspicuous” religious symbols in schools to uphold a separation between church and state.

Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri criticized the law, saying the decision showed “the grudge the Western crusaders have against Islam.”

France is the only state in Europe to have such a ban.

It is not known how many women wear the burka in France.

The majority of Muslim clerics around the world do not regard wearing the burka, unlike the head cover, as a religious obligation under Islam.