The American Spectator : Obama's Milky Way

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Obama’s Milky Way

By George Neumayr on 7.8.10 @ 6:10AM

His latest pandering to radical Islam.

Barack Obama is not a Muslim, said Hillary Clinton during the 2008 campaign, adding slyly, “as far as I know.” Reeling from losses that followed this whispering campaign, Obama denied its implication and faked up an eager interest in Christianity. “I was sworn in with my hand on the family bible,” he pouted.

But once safely ensconced in the presidency, he renewed his Islamophilia. Last year in Cairo, he tried to wow his audience by saying that he hails from “generations of Muslims” and that he had marinated for “several years” in Islamic Indonesia, where he “heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and at the fall of dusk.”

By secularist standards, Obama’s Islamophilia constitutes a blatant violation of Church and state. His presidency largely exists for the benefit of one religion, the only religion he appears to consider blameless and holy — Islam, and not even its moderate variant.

Last October, the Washington Post ran an intriguing story about the U.S. government’s unwillingness to help moderate Muslims lest that offend the hardline imams who actually run the religion. The story’s title was, “As Indonesia debates Islam’s role, U.S. stays out: Post-9/11 push to boost moderates gives way,” and began with an anecdote about a scholar in the early 1980s seeking funds to promote moderate Islam who got rejected by a Ford Foundation employee.

“He left empty handed. The United States, he was told, was ‘not interested in getting into Islam,’” said the story. And who turned the moderate Muslim down? Barack Obama’s mother. “The rebuff came from President Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, a U.S. anthropologist who lived in Indonesia for more than a decade.” The story went on to say that today “U.S. thinking has moved back toward what it was in Dunham’s day: stay out of Islam.”

Except, that is, to praise it uncritically. Under Obama, America undercuts moderate Muslims while pandering to violent ones. We’ve seen during Obama’s presidency self-identified Muslim terrorists shoot up a military base, try to blow up a plane over Detroit on the day of Jesus Christ’s birth, and attempt to bomb tourists in Times Square. Yet U.S. attorney general Eric Holder refuses to identify radical Islam as a motive for terrorism and Obama security adviser John Brennan says jihad is a concept of self-improvement that Dr. Phil could endorse — “a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one’s community.”

The Islamophilia of the Obama administration at this point is well beyond the parodies of The Onion. This week NASA administrator Charles Bolden announced that the space program has adopted a new mission — to serve as a self-esteem project for global Islam. He informed a reporter with Al Jazeera that when he took the NASA job Obama made it clear to him that “perhaps foremost he wanted to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science … and math and engineering.”

So, apparently, radical Muslims who consider science intrinsically blasphemous are going to help us get to Mars once their egos are sufficiently massaged. Or perhaps Bolden is saying that NASA has become a kind of learning annex for the scientifically illiterate throughout the world. In any case, the comment is staggering. This is an administration which looks at terrorists and sees misguided peace activists, looks at radical imams who issue death edicts against scholars and sees budding space engineers.

Earth to Bolden and Barack: These imams don’t “feel good” about Islam’s centuries-back contribution to science; they feel ashamed of it. As Robert R. Reilly chronicles in The Closing of the Muslim Mind, mainstream Islamic theology today views science as impious/useless because it presupposes that God created the world rationally, a presupposition which is an affront to God (under the twisted metaphysics of Islamic theology) since it is seen as a limitation on his freedom and transcendence.

“The catastrophic result of this view was the denial of the relationship between cause and effect in the natural order,” writes Reilly. “In The Incoherence of the Philosophers, al-Ghazali, who vehemently rejected Plato and Aristotle, insisted that God is not bound by any order and that there is, therefore, no ‘natural’ sequence of cause and effect, as in fire burning cotton or, more colorfully, as in ‘purging of the bowels and the using of a purgative.’ Rather than a clear and binding relationship between cause and effect, there are merely juxtapositions of discrete events that make it appear that the fire is burning the cotton, but God could just as well do otherwise.”

This Islamic theology simply killed science in the Islamic world, which is illustrated by such basic measures as the paucity of patents and scientific books that come out of it. Yet these are the countries with which the Obama administration hopes to coordinate tricky space flights. And all the while, Obama casts himself as the head of a political party that alone appreciates “science” and slanders Christians as hidebound opponents of it.

About the Author

George Neumayr, a contributing editor to The American Spectator, is co-author, with Phyllis Schlafly, of the new book, No Higher Power: Obama’s War on Religious Freedom.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (142) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

cats1cowboy| 7.8.10 @ 7:32AM

I know... let's send all the muslems to the moon!

Alan Brooks| 7.8.10 @ 8:20AM

"try to blow up a plane over Detroit on the day of Jesus Christ's birth"

Doesn't matter to victims whether they are killed on Christmas, or Halloween, or any other day.

FTM| 7.9.10 @ 3:32AM

Alan,

Really man, I try to be civil toward you but sometimes I can't understand your (apparent) knee-jerk anti-Christian remarks. As a Christian I find your comments at times to be over-the-board offensive. If you want to goon religions, OK fine, I can't do anything to stop you but how about being an equal opportunity bigot for a change?

FTM| 7.9.10 @ 5:55PM

Sorry, I was going to make this post earlier but I forgot. You don't see a terrorist attack against what is still percieved as a "Christian" nation on the day of the second most holy holiday of the year as being an attack against not only the USA but Christianity as well?

What do you think that the liberal/progressive response to carpet bombing Mecca on Ramadan would be.

grantorino| 7.8.10 @ 7:35AM

Who said Islam was such a pioneer of math, science and architecture? Perhaps pre-Islam Arabs, but in any event way long before Islam (7th century AD) because the ancient Greeks (3-4,000 BC) were having a grand time with all of the above when monotheism was still getting a grip in the Middle East--and with Hebrews, not Muslims.

Martin Owens| 7.8.10 @ 7:04PM

Well said! The plain fact of the matter is that Islam, even at its height, was far more of a repeater of previous knowledge than an innovator.

Back when I worked in Saudi, I found that to raise the subject with a Muslim was to get the usual knee-jerk lecture on Avicenna and Ibn Khaldun.
In reply, I used to take a malicious pleasure in asking them to name a Muslim scientist who
HADN'T been dead 500 years. Only once did I get an intelligible answer- someone named Dr, Kahn, the atomic-secrets pimp....

Lloyd| 7.9.10 @ 5:33AM

SUSPEND THE CONSTITUTION??? THIS IS BY FAR THE MOST STUPID IDEA I HAVE EVER HEARD. The USA was the greatest nation on earth until 1913 when we began to throw the constitution under the bus. Our nation has been in a downard sprial ever sense.

RCV| 7.12.10 @ 5:57PM

The United States is still the greatest nation on earth to a lot of us. Moreover, we continue to be on an upward spiral since 1913, despite your views, Lloyd. Since 1913, the United States has:
*Extended suffarage rights to women;
*Banned poll taxes;
*Extended suffarage rights to 18-21 yearolds, sho used to be able to die for their country, but not vote;
*Saved Europe from self-destruction twice;
*Ended racial segregation in our country;
*Landed a man on the moon and explored space;
*Built the first computer and iniated modern communications wonders;
*Defeated the Soviet Union and its Evil Empire.

Stop putting down our country and its accomplishments.

stephanie| 7.8.10 @ 7:44AM

I can't stand obama. can we get rid of him now?

loulou| 7.8.10 @ 9:48AM

How many times do I have to tell you all that Obama is a Muslim and also is not eligible to be POTUS?

If the RINO pantywaists wanted to, they could question his citizenship and eligibility status and expose him for the fraud that he is. Cowards.

Call me a birther or a demented fringe lunatic but Obama is still INELIGIBLE to be president.

Louis Jenkins| 7.8.10 @ 10:37AM

FACT #1: Article 2, Section 1, of the Constitution of the United States states, "No person except a natural born citizen of the United States, at the time of adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President..." It's NOT a technicality, or lunacy on the part of our Founding Fathers. It is a specific statement within a document that forms the basis for ALL of our laws and not open to interpretation (unless the entire Constitution should be now open to interpretation).

FACT #2: In order to be a "natural born citizen," you must be born in the United States or, if you are born abroad, you CAN (if specific circumstances are met) inherit citizenship status from your parents. If he was born abroad, then that's a problem for Barack Hussein Obama because his father was NOT a citizen of the United States and his mother had not lived in the United States the required amount of time after attaining the age of majority when Obama was born - meaning SHE COULD NOT pass citizenship on to Obama.

FACT #3: If Barack Hussein Obama WAS NOT born in the United States, he IS NOT a "natural born citizen" and if that is the case, Obama is guilty of perpetuating the most massive fraud in the history of the United States.

FACT #4: Barack Hussein Obama has actively refused to produce his actual long form birth certificate to the people who elected him. Under Hawaiian law, only Obama can legally release the document but he just won't do it. Why not?

FACT #5: Instead of producing an actual long form birth certificate, Team Obama pulled some sleight-of-hand and produced another document – a “Certification of Live Birth” – and said, in effect, “Here’s his Birth Certificate! Now shut up.”

WRTolkas| 7.8.10 @ 11:44AM

I tried to use a "Certification of Live Birth" issued to my parents to apply for a passport. I was born in Walter Reed Army Medical Center in washington d.c. This document wasn't accepted at the passport office. I had to request and submit a real long form birth certificate from the district.

Louis Jenkins| 7.8.10 @ 2:23PM

Dear WRTolkas:

So a short Certification of Live Birth would not suffice? Yet our Pretender n Chief doesn't have to have a long form to run for President. Hmmmm... There is something wrong with that isn't there? More lies from the left, but you and I have to toe the line. And he can jet over to Norway or France at will, and doesn't have to worry. Amazing, huh?

Richard M| 7.8.10 @ 12:23PM

Dear Lord - not the birther stuff again.

What does this have to do with Bolden's comments about NASA?

The requirement for a minimum U.S. residence by a U.S. citizen birth mother appears nowhere in the Constitution. The (now defunct) statute in effect imposes an additional requirement for citizenship. If it were proved that Obama were born outside the U.S., and this case actually made it to the Supreme Court, it ought to take them all of five minutes to unanimously declare the old statute (and any other such statutory requirement) unconstitutional.

I loathe Obama and what he stands for as much as anyone - no, more. But attacking the legitimacy of his election is a non-starter. It's as bad as Trutherism.

FTM| 7.9.10 @ 6:05PM

Richard M,

A man that is apparently not qualified by the laws of the land to occupy the highest office of the land has pulled the plug on an American permanent manned return to the moon. Shackelton Crater, 2020. Does this have to do with the Bolden comment?

The fact that President Obama is not qualified to be the president of the United States is a really big deal. The guy has hijacked healthcare. He's hijacked a large section of the American free enterprise "private sector." The guy is attempting to hijack banking. The list goes on.

This is a vital and critical question and is entirely appropriate. I guess that next we should elect Mahmoud Amadinajad as president. That would fix everything.

Katherine Magdangal| 7.8.10 @ 1:30PM

I've been saying this for the last 18 months.....it doesn't matter where Obummer was born....he was automatically a British citizen at birth....even if he had applied for and received naturalized or any other kind of citizenship later (which he didn't) he is ineligible to be POTUS

Louis Jenkins| 7.8.10 @ 2:26PM

Dear Katherine:

It's not just the long form birth certificate, but his educational records, his voting records, etc. It's all sealed. Strange isn't it. A blank wall that we butt up against.

loulou| 7.8.10 @ 4:25PM

If anything, Obama is an Indonesian citizen.

coal carrier| 7.8.10 @ 3:27PM

Get a life!

CrossEyes| 8.27.10 @ 2:54PM

Yeah, move along! Nothing to see here! Go back to sleep and let me watch American Idol. You folks who actually CARE about lawful behavior from the ruling elite and defending the constitution are so BORING! Get a life!

Melvin| 7.8.10 @ 7:55AM

Now people we shan't be to harsh on Muslims contribution to science. After all Muslim scientists have developed the field of rocket technology that allows missiles to be fired from Gaza and Lebanon into Israel with alarming accuracy.
Iranian scientists have developed anti-tank new generation weapons that can penetrate our heaviest armor with relatively ease.
These same Iranian scientists have also have made huge strides in developing their capability to produce weaponized Uranium, that allows it to be fabricated into nuclear weapons and place upon Iran's new inter-continental ballistic missiles .
So President Obama is correct that Muslims have contributed much in the field of science for the advancement or destruction of man, or least Israel for starters.
And now NASA has been instructed to help them.

Blackknights1802| 7.8.10 @ 3:31PM

How about the way they have developed the process of stoning.

ojo grande| 7.9.10 @ 8:33AM

Blackknights,
That isn't a laughing matter...but thanks for my morning laugh anyway!

WRTolkas| 7.8.10 @ 8:10AM

For a local American History Time-Line Event, I wrote the introduction for the flag-raising ceremony. This is a snippet of that introduction written about those Muslims dear leader wants NASA to reach:

"We started with Desert Shield; went to Desert Storm, then after 9-11 Enduring Freedom and finally to Iraqi Freedom. The United States with our allies are now engaged in a war to free a people from religious fanatics who know no common decency and will stop at nothing in attempting to destroy our people, our freedom and our country. We are engaged in a battle between "two opposites, between two eras." It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights and the violation of those rights."

"Before Enduring Freedom, when the Taliban in Afghanistan forbid the education of women and the flying of kites, United States Air Force Colonel Eileen Marie Collins was the Command Pilot for Space Shuttle Columbia."

Enough said.

Regards,
WRTolkas

P.S. : Hay, dear leader, how about directing NASA to reach out to some American High-School Students?

Jim O'Brien| 7.8.10 @ 8:25AM

Obama is an incompetent, treacherous impostor. It's incredible that so many voters didn't understand that Obama thinks of America as an "unexceptional" albeit evil, imperialist, and racist country that has exploited the world. That's what Obama really thinks.

Obama doesn't view America as the defender of freedom, or as the country that defeated Hitler, the USSR, and Saddam Hussein. He does not endorse the fundamental values behind the Constitution. Instead, the Constitution is deeply flawed, in his view. How can anyone so hostile to our sovereignty and national security get elected? How can anyone so blind to the track record and lethal threat of Islamism even begin to serve as commander-in-chief of our armed forces? Why did we allow this to happen?

canuckistani| 7.8.10 @ 9:42AM

Because, Jimmy boy, not everyone is you.

Successive presidents holding hands and bowing to Saudi kings crosses party and ideologic lines, with the Bush family #1 in the receiving line. Why? They do it because it is good business, and that is all Americans should give a damn about.
Look at Ireland, is it not filled with Sinn Fein supporters? In reality, no. Most actually believed they were terrorists like the IRA.
But, guess what, they evolved, the brits evolved, and both came down off of their high horses and dealt with the issues at hand. Almost adult of them. Where does your absolutist brain fall in that conflict?
The Islamic world is dead scientifically, and smart observers realize that stimulating reason and advanced thought - like space development - could actually have a destabilizing effect on the religious hegemony that has consumed them for the last 30 years.
The USA is business. That is our gift, not freedom as you believe. People will choose the level of freedom thay want to enjoy on their own, but a access to opportunity is what changes the game - and they have the money right now, not us.
Will you stand on pride and not accept their dollars? If yes, you will be going against 234 years of US history and policy that is completely counter to that principle.

crookedwren| 7.8.10 @ 10:46AM

So -- are you saying that Obama is just one smart Capitalist?

With his background? With Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayres & Mrs. Ayres (you know, once the most dangerous woman in America) and Jim Wallis as guides and helpmates?

You make some interesting points, but remember that freedom can't thrive where opportunities are too limited.

canuckistani| 7.9.10 @ 9:36AM

Yes, I'm also saying we are "one smart capitalist" as well.
Our growth has occurred when other empires fell under the weight of their idle rich's hubris during the last 100 years. 40 acres and mule was effective - but robber barons were more effective at driving America into the realm of superpower, seizing opportunity after opportunity to fill vacuums when others either failed or abandoned them.
I fear we are falling under the same hubris that stalled other great empires when the homefront stopped caring about it and became more interested in fluffing their pillows rather than digging for new treasure and doing the heavy lifting.
The muslim nations - especially oil-rich ones, have the dough-re-mi now. For us to stop pandering to the "haves" now is hypocrisy. Those who believe it a holy crusade are idiots and deny our place as near-neutral players in business affairs throughout history. That's how our founders wanted it, and we should keep that in mind when policy makers devise a prelude to conflicts that our not in our collective interests, aka money.

gibor| 7.8.10 @ 3:24PM

Canukistani, our business provess originates from our freedom. Without freedom there is no business either.

canuckistani| 7.9.10 @ 9:43AM

Not true. We have or had freedom to do business, that has nothing to do with individual rights outside of the commerce clause.
China ain't free and they are using our playbook step by step to rival our capital generating skill.
China is succeeding because we abandoned our time-proven approach that internal affairs of partner nations are just that, internal. What would have been our reaction if France had assisted England in 1776? Or Spain or Holland?
The founders would have been hanged rightly for treason and their followers imprisoned for their folly.
We purposely chose to defend ourselves here, make money everywhere else, and live and let live the regimes that made it happen. This BS policy of state-building is a neocon fantasy to defend Israel, not America. I prefer an American policy, not a foreign one.

duck| 7.8.10 @ 5:03PM

Obama got voted in because there is enough "I hate America" Micheal Moore types that live here plus those that Political Correctness is their life's calling that they would probably vote in the leader of the "New Black Panther Party" or any member of "The American Communist Party" if given half a chance.

Remember, Obama stated that "America is the greatest country on earth, it is time for a change....." and shivers ran up the legs of all who sat in awe..

ojo grande| 7.9.10 @ 8:43AM

Jim O'Brien,
There is something very smelly when you spend millions covering up who you really are....I can't help but believe that Obama is the classic Manchurian Candidate with the backing of the Saudis and a moneyman like Soros...This has been in the planning for a very, very long time. I know, I sound like I'm around the bend...but we don't know who this man really is...he had an incredibly successful election campaign machine...yet he is a completely incompetent POTUS...Nothing adds up...absolutely nothing...everything he has done is against the American people and the West and for the Muslim world...A Saudi would have done everything that Obama has done...including trying to shut down the American oil wells.

canuckistani| 7.9.10 @ 9:51AM

The manchurian candidate was Bush 43. He had $100M in the bank before the 2000 convention. His spectacular incompetence and complete negligence at the switch enabled corporatists to steal our birthright before our eyes.
Obama, love him or hate him, has done nothing even close to the damage junior did under his regime.
Halliburton has moved their world headquarters to Dubai - on Bush and Cheney's watch. Where was your shock and disbelief then? Wake up.
Watching video of Taliban in Houston and Junior holding hands with the Saudi king are enough actual evidence we are being played. Obama's reachout on an emotional level to Islam is what he campaigned on - and got elected on.
I don't agree with it, but he's nowhere near as dishonest as his predecessor.

davelnaf| 7.8.10 @ 8:36AM

What more can you say about this administration’s idiocies that hasn’t already been said? Obama, and now this Obamanaut at NASA, is the gift that keeps on giving.

Louis Jenkins| 7.8.10 @ 8:37AM

The Muslims didn't invent rocketry that could hit a pin, nor did they come up with ways to penetrate amour by using explosives. They borrowed the ideas from the Ruskies, the Chinese, or the North Koreans, and enhanced the techniques. Now the Pretender n Chief can sit back and claim he's a Christian, a Muslim, or an Agnostic, for it matters not. Obumar is a thief and a liar and that sounds like a Muslim to me. You see, ladies and gentlemen, a Muslim can lie to the Non-Believers and he is not "convicted" under Islamic law. In fact, its best to lie to Non-Believers. Look at how many lies he has told. As far as turning NASA loose on the Muslims, well that's just gonna whip them into line in a hurry. What a bunch of dog waste.

canuckistani| 7.8.10 @ 9:52AM

And where did the Russians and Chinese and NK get their tech from? The USA, and where did we get it from? Smart Jewish zealots and ex-Nazi scientists. Pretty pure, ain't we?
Get your brain out of the absolutist column and realize the world is lubricated with money and interests evolve over time.
Muslims can lie to infidels, but we carpet bomb them with nary an apology when we miss - which one is worse? Moral equivalence is not a four-letter word.
I know what my tax dollars are doing to defend the "interests" of the US, and they are being wasted in spectacular fashion. $680B on defense, defense of what, exactly, when we have such structural issues right here? Perhaps another less violent or costly way is in order.

davelnaf| 7.8.10 @ 11:18AM

Maybe you can make a jingle out of all of this, canuckistani, otherwise it's a mess.

Louis Jenkins| 7.8.10 @ 2:34PM

That's a drop in the bucket compared to entitlement programs, pork spending, the Health Care debacle, TARP (started by Bush), the Stimulus Package, etc. And we're carpet bombing Afgahnistan and formerly carpet bombing Iraq? Hardly. Our troops could not even defend themselves when the Islamofascists hid among the Afgahnistan civilians. And yes, some military secrets were given to the Chinese by Clinton. Should have impeached him for that action. I'm for saving money any day of the week, but to put the blame on 680 Billion as the cause, yes, maybe there is another way. But compare 680 Billion to 11 Trillion? That's chicken feed.

frisker| 7.8.10 @ 3:32PM

I never comment, but, canuckistani, you forced me out !! Right on, my friend... right on!!!

canuckistani| 7.9.10 @ 10:11AM

Thanks.
I ain't no sharpie, but we are being duped into believing our own press sometimes. Shades of Orwell when we really do not even know what the heck our boys are doing in these godforesaken lands - and that includes the rockpile known as Israel. Peter got out of dodge and set up shop in Rome. He was promptly executed, but Christians seldom looked back over the ensuing 2000 years, and failed miserably when is was owned by Saladin and his successors. Under levantine colonial rule, our interest was toward trade routes and ultimately oil that the brits started and we perfected, not prepping the land for the 3rd Temple and the Messiah's return. That's voodoo talk that will undermine our future.

gibor| 7.8.10 @ 3:38PM

We carpet bomb mohammedans when they tread on us. The last 1000 years mohammedans contributed science the same or less than the Australian aborigines. The main problem is that Westeners are buying their oil, and with that money they try to destroy or force to submission the non-Islamic World. They are trying to do it more less for 1400 years. Sometimes very successfuly, other times they have failed. Since the oil became so important ,the Islamic world has plenty, they realized their strength and use it. They are in the rush because oil is found all over and more will be found and theirs will lose importance. But science, come on!

canuckistani| 7.9.10 @ 10:23AM

Once again, moral equivalence....
Give me an example of "Mohammedans" treading on us?
9/11 - used our planes with box cutters as Junior read "my pet goat". The cole, attacked with a dinghy. Oklahoma city, er, strike that.
The russians, defeated with CIA-supplied Stinger missiles, er, I mean, by, uh, mohammedans that were defending their nation, er, I mean......strike that one too.
Iran attacked by Iraq with Rumsfeld in Hussein's office under Reagan's direction yucking it up....er, strike that one too....
The Taliban energy minister in Washington and Houston to make gas deals through turkmenistan to Pakistan bypassing Iran, that we reneged on, forcing the Taliban to pick sides, er, I mean.....strike that one too.
The incredible, unprovoked attack of Kuwait by Hussein, preluded by serious debate over oil rights, that we gave tacit approval to just days before the invasion, and then we used as a prelude to setting up staging areas in Saudi Arabia, er, I mean, strike that one as well.
Gibor, believe me when I write this: it ain't their boots on our necks, it quite possibly is ours on theirs.
I truly doubt the Roman establishment believed their empire was anything other than "just", and dissent, when mild, was permitted, when forceful, stamped out like a nuclear bomb on an ant.

Richard| 7.8.10 @ 9:29AM

Barack Obama is the greatest enemy this country now has and his government has become the enemy of the people.

K962| 7.8.10 @ 9:52AM

Obama is a Muslim. Everything points to it. His books, his taking of a Muslim name when he was 18. His bowing to Saudi Arabia sheik. Obama's whole personna is a living lie!

canuckistani| 7.9.10 @ 10:26AM

And what if he is? Are you gonna kill him in Jesus' name?
Doubt it.
Get back into your momma's basement.

loulou| 7.8.10 @ 9:52AM

Well, since the Muslims have oil, can't we just deem that they have made contributions to math, science, technology, medicine, music and art?

In all fairness, it must be depressing to know that your ancestors have contributed NOTHING to civilization (except for war and destruction).

AMENBRO| 7.8.10 @ 10:12AM

Let's see. How do you keep your freedom of speech rights from being trampled upon by the BOARD Monitors when you are commenting upon a people's creed which is history-less absolution to a diety that has no precedent in anything but an amalgamation of the Bible.

The KORAN or however its spelled in supposedly POLITE circles is nothing less than a TYRANNICAL salvation-less screed designed to grasp & hold power through fear & intimidation

The reasons they fostered any contributions to math & science were factually the accumulations from those with a contribution they allowed to LIVE in the lands they conquered. Did you get any of that in College?? If not I'll fill ya in on the rest.

RULE from the edge of the scimitar. Convert or die, unless of course the accumulations of the stolen intellectual fruits of your mind were profitable.

Until we start playing hardball we will get no respect. The only thing they do respect is a good butt kicking. Prior to the whole ridiculous TORTURE sheep dip we were getting somewhere. Anyone care to Google how often CLINTON's CIA used RENDITION??

General Black Jack Pershing's Take on ISLAMIC TERRORISM, err I mean contribution.

Quote
"In the years preceding World War I, General Pershing was commander of the American forces in the Philippines. The small Moslem community on the island nation began to wreak havoc against the Philippine government and American forces. The American troops captured a large group of these terrorists. During the interrogation by the Military Court, the fanatics were heard to repeatedly shout, 'Allah Achbar! Allah Achbar! Jihad! The Philippines are the lands of Islam!'

"Pershing ordered the Amalekites executed one by one in the presence of the whole group. (The author is referring to the prophecy in the Bible that the Amalekites would be a very vicious and war‑like people down through history.) Moslems will not eat pork believing that no one could enter Paradise if there is even the smallest amount of swine flesh in their bodies. Knowing this, the General first ordered the firing squad to shoot large hogs. After they skinned the swine, the executioners rolled their bullets in pork fat and passed fat through the barrels of their rifles while the condemned watched. As each condemned terrorist was executed, his corpse was wrapped in hog's skin and buried on the spot. The entrails of the swine were dumped over the corpse before the grave was covered. Three of the convicted Amalekites were released to take the news back to their Islamic Communities. That ended the Islamic Jihad in the Philippines. Terrorist incidents from Islamic Fundamentalists were unheard of until a decade ago when the U.S. State Department recognized the PLO as legitimate 'Freedom Fighters' " (Vendyl Jones, RESEARCHER [Arlington, Texas: Vendyl Jones Research Institutes, January 2001]: 20).

The State Department. Now there is a real band of INTELLECTUAL CONTRIBUTORS. Only thing missing is Colin Powell's claim that Syria is now our partner, LMAO

JUST ASK THE ISRAELITES.

Anybody out there remember how the Israelites stompped the stuffing outta all ARAB Comers in the 6 day war. NASSAR, Egypts TYRANT of the time was lying like a rug over the radio to his people how his 1000,000 strong army supported by armor was decimating Israel right up to the time that he discovered his once vaunted 1,000 SOVIET tanks were scrap metal in the desert.

That is when the boil on the buttocks of humanity YASSIR Arafat crawled out from under a rock. Course the Arab brother hood was a manifestation of the ARABS allegiance to the Nazis, REAL PROGRESSIVES, FASCISTS & a whole host of people that feel like the world would be a better place if nobody else except their kind were left alive.

Speaking of contributions; after all , Islam has a wonderful ability to build infrastructure and educate & provide basic services for its people.

Ever visit the Middle East?. Its so much easier to assemble a gang of thugs,, I mean Army, than it is to actually CONTRIBUTE to their people's well being.

Outside the newly constructed Global Cities the infrastructure lays bar, whole cloth fully, visible how well they govern. HOBNAILED BOOT UPON THE THROAT OF THE PEOPLE . May I be so bold as to suggest based upon the current Executive Branch assemblage in DC that is why OBAMA is so infatuated with ISLAM?

Exactly why do you think IRAN wants a Nuke?? Why did Saudi Arabia embrace Wahabism??

I stand fully behind my Mexico Flying Burrito Brothers Album Review of yesterday. If you live in DC you know who they are. A fine Country Western Eclectic mix of fine musicians that frequents the Georgetown watering holes.

Don't believe me take your happy bottom to Tijuana or Juarez.

Steve A| 7.8.10 @ 10:34AM

Israel should lift the blockade on Gaza & let Obama ship in a couple hundred thousand telescopes. Problem solved.

dave| 7.8.10 @ 10:36AM

2 words: Mohammed's sleeve.

and I don't quote Voltaire lightly.

AMENBRO| 7.8.10 @ 11:26AM

YUP as I was saying,,

How is the organ of this Arab, who sees half the moon in Mohammed's sleeve, vitiated? It is through fear. He has been told that if he did not believe in this sleeve, his soul, immediately after his death, when passing over the pointed bridge, would fall for ever into the abyss. He has been told even worse things: If ever you have doubts about this sleeve, one dervish will treat you as impious; another will prove to you that you are an insensate fool who, having all possible motives for believing, have not wished to subordinate your superb reason to the evidence; a third will report you to the little divan of a little province, and you will be legally impaled.

All this terrifies the good Arab, his wife, his sister, all his little family into a state of panic. They have good sense about everything else, but on this article their imagination is wounded, as was the imagination of Pascal, who continually saw a precipice beside his armchair. But does our Arab believe in fact in Mohammed's sleeve? No. He makes efforts to believe; he says it is impossible, but that it is true; he believes what he does not believe. On the subject of this sleeve he forms in his head a chaos of ideas which he is afraid to disentangle; and this veritably is not to have common sense.

I'm not nearly as eloquent as VOLTAIRE, but BROTHER I have been to the MIDDLE EAST several times.

Thank you for enlightening me to this classic work from Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary.

Dixie Pixie| 7.8.10 @ 11:12AM

There is a legend about the Muslims that might be pertinent.

After the fall of the City of Alexandria to the conquering Muslim army, the Caliph was asked what to do with the historic Library of Alexandria. Legend has it the the Caliph said:

If any of the books in the Library are in conflict with the Koran, then they are heretical and must be burned.
If any books agree with the Koran, then they are redundant and can be burned.

Legend also states the Caliph used the priceless wisdom of millenniums past recorded on the scrolls burned to heat his bath.

There is a reason the Muslims are considered to be a violently ignorant scientifically illiterate people.
Their religion requires its followers to acquire only that knowledge that is military useful in conquering their neighbors. All other knowledge must be destroyed as it might undermine the faithful.

Destroying the manned spaceflight program to service a people who is certain to use the knowledge gained to military attack us is folly in the extreme.

NASA has been killed by Obama.
We will be lucky if his folly does not kill us.

ojo grande| 7.9.10 @ 8:49AM

Dixie Pixie,
Very insightful....and the best comment of the day.

George S| 7.8.10 @ 12:13PM

The question is why the pandering. Is it sympathy? I think it is cowardice. Liberals do not fight for honor, as they lack same, instead they capitulate, sympathize, bribe and generally roll over and expose their belly in submission in the hopes that their attacker either takes mercy or agrees with the liberal after he skillfully states his condescending position.

First we had Sen. Kennedy writing to the Soviets sympathizing with their plight against Reagan, then we had Pelosi travel to Syria (in violation of the Logan Act) to assure Assad that the cowboy Bush only speaks for real Americans. Nothing new under the sun. It's called appeasement.

Waltzin Matilda| 7.8.10 @ 12:16PM

Taqiyya: According to Christian ethics lying is a sin; In Islamic jurisprudence and theology, the use of taqiyya against the unbelievers is regarded as a virtue and a religious duty.
--------------------------------
"I am a Muslim," Obama Tells Egyptian Foreign Minister Gheit
Islamic Coup on the White House

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said he had a one-on-one meeting with Obama, in which President Obama told him that he was still a Muslim, the son of a Muslim father, the stepson of Muslim stepfather, that his half brothers in Kenya are Muslims, and that he was sympathetic towards the Muslim agenda. He asked that the Moslem world show patience. Obama promised that once he overcame some domestic American problems (Healthcare), that he would show the Moslem world what he would do with Israel.
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.....house.html

So I guess it's just a matter of which Mohammedan arab you choose to believe.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit

Grand Mufti Barack Obama, Mohammedan in Chief, United Caliphate of America

Nate| 7.8.10 @ 12:26PM

This is shabby journalism written for paranoid bumpkins.

I heard the clip of what the NASA director said, and while it is a little inarticulate and obviously vulnerable to the kind of silliness that whips up mobs of tea baggers, it simply is false to claim that Obama has directed NASA to be primarily interested in Muslim outreach. You'd have to be an idiot to think so.

As for Obama being a Muslim, as some of the posters claim, I thought his great crime was attending Rev. Wright's church. His church -- the United Church of CHRIST -- may be a little out of the mainstream on some political issues, but it's hardly Muslim.

Oh and one more thing.

Why don't you all go fuck yourselves?

Steve A| 7.8.10 @ 2:10PM

Nate,
"A little inarticulate; A little out of the mainstream." You should do a stand up comedy routine on the Obama apology circuit. Get over the fact that you were gullible enough to pull the lever for this moron because he looks like you & realize that he is destroying your future.

Nate| 7.8.10 @ 2:32PM

Hah. Because he looks like me. Jackass.

davelnaf| 7.8.10 @ 3:46PM

Nate, Nate, calm down and read your Koran or your (equally effective) dem party talking points on how to deal with conservatives and other infidels.

gibor| 7.8.10 @ 3:56PM

Nate , Nate are you a little bit impatient with the truth? Rev Wright is as much of the disciple of Christ like Minister Farrakhan. Nobody is taking out anything of context. He did direct NASA to reach out to mohammedans as a main task instead reach toward the moon or other heavenly bodies. You think somebody just falsified a video at Al Jaazira? Why would they? They are the friends of Obame. All these you can do the same to yourself what Obame is doing to this country. Love.

loulou| 7.8.10 @ 6:42PM

Temper, temper, little parasite.

Stan | 7.8.10 @ 6:46PM

Hey, Nate - you're the one who showed up here; I'm not going over to your blog and telling your readers to go "F" themselves!

You're telling US to go back and read the transcript? Take your own advice, and listen to the verbatim dialogue, beginning with, "Foremost..."

reasonable doubt| 7.8.10 @ 12:39PM

Nate ...we need not go and f***ourselves . Obama is doing a fine job of that without us lifting a finger. Oh, and if muslims are going to help us get a man on Mars ...might want to check shoes and skivvies before one of their astronauts straps in and blasts off...literally.

prestonsbrooks| 7.8.10 @ 1:07PM

No doubt, Hussein is a muslim, and he won't stop until the Crescent flies over the Capitol, where he as Caliph, rules a secular Islamic state. Just watch.

canuckistani| 7.9.10 @ 10:42AM

What is a secular islamic state? Turkey? Who's a NATO member or something else?
You don't even know what that is.
The problem in Arabia is poverty - just like Northern Ireland, Kashmir, Phillipines, Bosnia, Cypress -and yes - even USA 1775-1776.
Coptic christians are 15% of the Egyptian population, but are influencing 80% of the commerce. Same in Lebanon and in the occupied territories. The flaw of Islam is a forced rejection of reason. If Obama were a Muslim, why is he trying to stimulate reasoned thought?
A bit of a tangent, but helps explain our interest: Why do you think Israel leaves Bethlehem, Nazareth and the Church of the Holy Sepulcre alone? All in "muslim" areas, but are political napalm if they tread there.
There is an uneasy detente between zionists and evangelicals in this dance - and you don't even know it. Bush 43 understands it viscerally, and assembled his neocon study groups based on that premise alone. Cheney's interest is and always been oil. Perfect partnership of wacko and pragmatist, in my view.
That's what's sad, that you deny facts when they are right in front of your lying eyes.

Kipling| 7.8.10 @ 1:29PM

I find it puzzling that so many people in the Obama administration seem to go to so much trouble to draw distinctions between Islamic terrorists and Islam. For example, John Brennan's recent comments about true jihad being an effort to purify oneself or one's community and terrorists having perverted the teachings of Islam. Surely, these people are not so foolish as to believe that real jihadis are going to stop trying to kill Americans because some American official gives lip service to Islam. That leaves only two possibilities, and neither is easy to understand.

One possibility is that Brennan said what he said to influence those Moslems who aren't hardcore jihadis and make them question the need for using terrorist tactics against Americans when the latter actually respect Islam and aren't merely Moslem-hating crusaders. It's hard to believe this could ever work. Most Moslems are taught from childhood to hate Americans and other infidels, and there is no reason to suppose that they are going to hear and understand Brennan or believe Brennan's irenic message instead of the fiery teachings of the local holy man (who at least shares their religion and culture). Even if the irenic message were not arguably contradicted by actions, such as the U.S. military targeting suspected Taliban and al-Qaida members with drone strikes along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, it would take a very long time, and more fidelity to the script than is likely, for the message to have any effect. Moreover, if the message is interpreted as a sign of weakness, it might backfire.

The other possibility is that Brennan's recent comments represent a form of preaching to the leftist choir, a means of currying favor with the relatively small number of Americans who are upset that the U.S. still hasn't closed the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay.

But whether the remarks of Brennan and others in the Obama administration are politically correct propaganda directed to a mostly foreign audience or politically correct rhetoric intended to mollify Obama's domestic political base, encouraging this sort of thinking may have unfortunate results. Had there been less apprehension about reporting and investigating the openly proclaimed radical Moslem sentiments of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, more U.S. soldiers might be alive today.

What are they up to?

Nate| 7.8.10 @ 1:53PM

You pose these questions and make these points because, you insufferable jackass, you don't know what you're talking about.

There are a BILLION Muslims in the world. If any more than a fraction were sympathetic to or participants in terrorism, there'd be a much more dangerous problem facing us than already does.

Let's set aside debate, because you're an ignoramus.

Try this: go to a library and check out some BOOKS. Try some books on the Muslim world, on its fantastic diversity; on its culture; on its people. Try to learn something so you don't sound like such a fucking moron when you offer opinions.

John II| 7.8.10 @ 2:47PM

Actually, there are more than a billion Muslims in the world, but Muslim sympathy for the terrorists registers in the 25-30 percent range in polls taken in Muslim countries.

I've often wondered if that number represents how many REAL Muslims there are in the world. If you're a Muslim in a Muslim country, you don't have much public opportunity for religious demurral. Wouldn't it be interesting if it turned out that about three-quarters of the world's Muslims aren't really Muslims?

Anyhow, the figures suggest that there are approximately 250,000,000 potential Islamic terrorists in the world. That's a pretty big fraction, when you consider, for example, that there were never more than a few hundred thousand sure-enough Nazis in Germany at the height of World War II.

Read the Qur'an, Nate. That's what sure-enough Muslims believe.

Liberal Reader| 7.8.10 @ 4:51PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....U&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....ature=fvwp

Here are some examples of hope for the future with regard to Islam. Nate has his eyes closed as usual.

Nate's Mom| 7.8.10 @ 9:51PM

N-a-a-ate, dinner! Say goodnight to your little Muslim friends, and come upstairs! Dinner's ready!

canuckistani| 7.9.10 @ 11:04AM

My Irish friends remind me of the troubles in the North of Ireland. IDENTICAL to the occupied territories in Palestine.
Listen intently to the old f*ckers that lead the Orange march on the inglorious 12th next Monday: "We do this to defend the crown from the pernicious papists that breed like rabbits to consume our rightful land of Ulster"
The IRA is Hamas and Sinn Fein is the PA. Sinn Fein evolved, the old f*ckers alluded to above are dead or dying and people are getting on with their lives as equal participants. The IRA served its purpose, now almost dead, Palestine will have the same history - they have the numbers just as the pernicious papists have in the North of Ireland.
G. Washington was the IRA, Adams and Franklin were Sinn Fein, as were the contras, the bolsheviks, the fascists and the maoists with similar tracks. All created when existing regimes failed to serve the people. Who are we to judge? Our country was created with insurrection.

Ohiolad| 7.8.10 @ 1:32PM

It is an historical fact beyond dispute that Obama was once a Muslim. As far as I know he has never been accused by anyone for being an apostate; hence he is in all likelihood a Muslim still. Everything he has done up to now indicates that is where his true loyalty lies, and not to this country. All else has been clever deception.

Nate| 7.8.10 @ 1:54PM

It's an historical fact beyond dispute that you are a fool. You're ignorant, silly, and boring. Try to learn something about the world, lad, before making opinions. You'll have less cause for embarrassment later.

John II| 7.8.10 @ 2:53PM

My instincts as a teacher suggest to me that you're not the kind of person capable of embarrassment, rather like Professor Obama. But if you really are the kind of person who reads books, try the Reilly book cited in the current article. And read the Qur'an.

loulou| 7.8.10 @ 6:44PM

Nate is just a troll. He's not going to read anything.

Louis Jenkins| 7.8.10 @ 2:04PM

Once more we find ourselves infiltrated by a Troll. Even the books refuse to say anything of a negative cast towards Trolls, ah, excuse me, Muslims.

Ken (Old Texican)| 7.8.10 @ 2:10PM

Nate, I'm not a bumpkin. My work was at Baylor University.
You keep forgetting something, Nate.
Obama's father was a moslem. To MOSLEMS that makes Barack a Moslem.
Also,
Having attended a madrassa until ten years old...he may just have absorbed some moslem world views dontcha think?
Simply spoken,
In my mind, when moslems say "Islam"...they mean precisely ..."submission"...ie slavery.

If you think otherwise...switch to scotch. The koolaid is going to KILL you. heh. good riddance.

Nate| 7.8.10 @ 2:34PM

Ken --

Your racist drivel is too deranged to convince anyone still on the fence. But just out of decency, and as a fellow citizen, let me say this: get ahold of yourself man. Fall to your prayers. Seek some help for yourself before hate shrivels you up.

Dave| 7.8.10 @ 2:38PM

Nate the Muezzin says: "Fall to your prayers."

gibor| 7.8.10 @ 4:06PM

Oh, again the last resort "racism" . Dear Nate I know that you love obame and his merry mohammedans, but for God sake do not mix race with religion ( however distasteful it is). Mohammedans are coming in all colors and shapes tbut hey are not one race, and probably to your horror most of them caucasians. So read your Qur'an with more attention.

R andy | 7.8.10 @ 2:16PM

Obama is definitely a Muslim...check out the You Tube of "my Muslim faith". You can't possibly forget your faith. Or what about the "57 States"? Do you really believe Obama forgot how many U.S. States there are? (How many Islamic States are there? Hmmm....coincidence?)
The fact that he is Muslim isn't the problem; the fact that he lied about is a HUGE problem, though. This means he can't be trusted, period. Check out the definition of "taquiyya". As a practicing Muslim he will be following its rule.

dw| 7.8.10 @ 2:36PM

Why even respond to an elementary school kid like nate? His intelligent use of profanity speaks for itself. When they haveno responce to reasoned truth they resort to the tactics of play ground ignorance. Let him stand in the corner and be ignored by the adults. Better yet return to your fellow fifth columnist.

Pete| 7.8.10 @ 2:38PM

I found this encouraging. It seems the liberal elite are beginning to realize that the joke is on them, too.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/b.....riginalsC1

Nate| 7.8.10 @ 2:38PM

Dick Cheney is a child molester.

Glenn Beck is a closet homosexual. So is Rush Limbaugh.

Sarah Palin embezzled thousands of dollars from a company she once worked for and defrauded supporters out of hundreds of thousands of donations.

Bill Krystol is a pervert and a pimp.

Mark Levin likes to touch dead bodies.

Sharon Angle is a member of WAR, White Aryan Resistance.

Michelle Malkin is a traitor. She funnels money to terrorist organizations. She also supports child slavery.

Blah blah blah.

This is what I hear when I read your posts. Stuff and nonsense; fantasy; lunacy; stupidy; racism; mob-hysteria.

John II| 7.8.10 @ 2:57PM

How about this one: Nate is a modest and unassuming young man who spends most of his time studying in the library and thinking deep thoughts about history, literature, and the human condition.

There. Try to top THAT howler!

giborr| 7.8.10 @ 4:09PM

Maybe it is all true, but it won't change the fact that Obame is a mohammedan.

RCV| 7.8.10 @ 5:44PM

Nate: You knew a column like this would attract the irrational. I suppose it's better that the congregate together on this post than go out in the world and cause real damage.

Nate| 7.8.10 @ 9:29PM

Thanks for your support. Have you had your poll watcher baton training yet? We are going to kick some A this fall. Can you believe they call us fascists?

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

ojo grande| 7.9.10 @ 9:04AM

Nate,
A psycologist would have a great time with you...what would the doc say about someone that is constantly pushing everyone's buttons?

Aww heck, I'll take a swing at it. You were a precocious, obnoxious child that no one could stand being around...even your poor mother. And as you grew into a manchild...your rotten personality still turns people off...that's why you comment here, since everyone else in your miserable life ignores you.

Mr. T (Nate's Cellie)| 7.9.10 @ 4:36AM

Nate, go slow! GO SLOW, BOY!

CrossEyes| 8.27.10 @ 2:56PM

Shhhhh... go back to sleep

ONTIME| 7.8.10 @ 2:58PM

In the Webster Dictionary of english speech and words is the word "dickweed" above the word is a picture of Barry Sotero. The word refers to a useless growth.

YB| 7.8.10 @ 3:15PM

I don't think Obama is a practising Muslim. I think he's religiously unaffiliated at the moment, since he denounced Rev. Wright's church for obvious political reasons.

cuban pete| 7.8.10 @ 5:31PM

BHO joined Wright's church because he needed "street cred" and it was politically expedient. He distanced himself from Wright because Wright no longer served any purpose and it was politically expedient.
At some point if he needs to get "affiliated" with a religion he will.

Marc Jeric| 7.8.10 @ 4:28PM

Abu Hussein al_Mombassa (or wherever in Kenya this marxist Muslim was born), our Community Organizer-in-Chief, and a follower of Sol Alinsky re-invention of Lenin's local soviets (in Russian community organization = soviet) = what did you expect from him? For this former refugee from a communist hell it is all too late - we are already the new United Socialist Soviet States of America.

yb| 7.8.10 @ 5:21PM

He might have prayed in a mosque when he was growing up, but that doesn't mean he prays in one anymore. He married a Christian woman, dronks alcohol, etc. He doesn't seem to practise any religion, particuliarly. How many religious services has he been to since taking office? he also had a Passover Seder in the White House, along with a Hanukah candle lighting ceremony (as Bush had) Also Easter egg hunt on the white house lawn. He seems to be trying to be all things to all people religiously, but not religious himself. He and his family's personal lives are pretty much under heavy media scrutiny, and you just don't see much personal religious practices.

Solipslip| 7.8.10 @ 5:31PM

Nate-
You're an erect respite to the conversation’s seriousness.

Thanks for the comic relief.

yb| 7.8.10 @ 5:31PM

Please excuse spelling and punctuation in previous post. I was distracted by talking on the phone at the time. AND my kid just got home from day camp. So much for multi-tasking....

Stan Allen | 7.8.10 @ 6:52PM

You know what's the most nauseating thing about all this? The fact that once Obama's term (hopefully singular) is done, the lamestream media will spend the rest of its days talking about Obama's "Great Achievements", especially his "Historic outreach to the Muslim world", and what a terrific guy he was for doing so.
There will not be the slightest consideration of what all that so-called diplomacy actually accomplished, other than some fuzzy feel-good rhetoric.
I'm sure the trolls here will actually defend this outreach, but hey, if you enjoy living in a fantasy world, go for it. Just explain to me one thing: if all this muslim outreach is such a good idea, then why are women being honor-killed, stoned to death, and all the other lovely developments of Sharia law? Would Nate or the others care to blame that stuff on America, too?

Dave Trapped in NYC| 7.8.10 @ 9:12PM

Advice for the week:

Stop being friends with liberals.

Believer| 7.8.10 @ 9:24PM

Doesnt matter now if he's a natural citizen or not, by the time we get him out the U.S. debt will be 19 Trillion dollars. And because Americans are too stupid to vote we'll get another loser in to replace him that will spend 900 billion over budget instead of one Trillion. Is it time to suspend the Constitution and get someone in who knows how to budget a country? The only real answer to Americas problems is to repent and turn to the faith of Her fathers, but thats not going to happen.

canuckistani| 7.9.10 @ 11:39AM

Are you suggesting a new country? We were born of insurrection by slave owners and tax cheats, and a cabal quite willing to abandon their oaths to pander to commercial interests.
The founders got rich under the old regime, got uppity and thought they were kings as well. That's America. I love it, but I choose not to delude myself with fantasies that the founders were anything other than men - who had no more foresight than a cornerstore psychic.

Osamas Pajamas| 7.9.10 @ 2:25AM

OhBummer's holy book --- the Koran --- conveniently authorizes lying to infidels, apostates, heretics, and unbelievers.

Usama (Nate's Pal)| 7.9.10 @ 4:13AM

Hakka hakka hakka der der hakka hakka, Nate!

Nate!

Nate?

Nate| 7.9.10 @ 6:46AM

Sorry for calling everyone names. Mom says I have to apologize. It's just that I feel so lonely down here in the basement, and none of the girls in my madrassah like me, and I need to lose weight, and my face is breaking out again. And the older boys tease me and call me "Nates" (buttocks).

Believer| 7.9.10 @ 9:56AM

Reading the comments of Nate and his rivals is more fun than anything i can think of, keep it up Nate it keeps my mind off our troubles.

Purpleguy| 7.9.10 @ 4:32PM

The comment of someone who has lost the argument.

Purpleguy| 7.9.10 @ 5:01PM

What a misguided, irrational invective! It's laughable, except that I'm sure there are many on here who believe all you say... shame on you.

"But once safely ensconced in the presidency, he renewed his Islamophilia. " - And that's bad? He also should be accused of Sinophilia and Russophilia. From the so-called "Russophilia", we have a new treaty on Nuclear Arms with Russia in the works, a swap for spies, and support toward sanctions against Iran. From the so-called Sinophila we've gotten support from the Chinese with sanctions against Iran, pressure on North Korea and a Chinese floating currency (finally).

When will people realize that bullying your neighbors does not work, no matter how big and powerful you are. Treated as partners, if not equals, enables countries to accomplish far more together than rattling sabers and the "Your with us or against us mentality".

Now, Obama has been Islamophilic - which, of course, the less intelligent take as a weakness. Really? Increasing the Afghanistan troop presence, dramatic increases in predator drone strikes in Pakistan and winding down in Iraq (all Islamic countries) doesn't sound like a weakling to me, does it?

As Teddy Roosevelt said, "Speak softly, but carry a big stick"... he was right, and Obama is right. Get off his case, he knows what he's doing in spite of your inability to see it.

"By secularist standards, Obama's Islamophilia constitutes a blatant violation of Church and state." - OMG, are you kidding me? Presidents have often spoken of God and Christianity, not as closely as GW Bush, who talks to God (his admission), but Good Lord, do you have no shame?

""perhaps foremost he wanted to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering." - it is a fact that the Islamic world was far ahead of Europe for centuries in math and science - that's a fact. The only reason to worry about his outreach is if you are so insecure in your own country's accomplishments. Do you really think that little of the United States that you think it hurts us to acknowledge the contributions of others in history? Shame on you.

" And all the while, Obama casts himself as the head of a political party that alone appreciates "science" and slanders Christians as hidebound opponents of it." - Well, if you don't believe that evolution exists or that climate change is real, I guess, yes, he is head of the Democratic Party that does believe these things - however, not at the expense of Christianity or as Christianity's opponent, as you suggest. Isn't it the height of blasphemy for you to even suggest that anyone could understand how God has done anything? Dont' you realize how that disrespects God? Shame on you.

John II| 7.9.10 @ 6:54PM

"When will people realize that bullying your neighbors does not work, no matter how big and powerful you are?"

That's a good question, Purp. Does it apply to your bullying Obamanation--your friends who want to control the internet and the medical system and the news media and, come to think of it, the whole economy?

Becky| 7.9.10 @ 9:50PM

I honestly agree this article. Very good. I believe it is blasphemous for him to be our president. However, do you think people are listening to what he is really saying? I honestly believe the problem with this man is mental illness. He must be one twisted mental case. Why in the world would he suggest this insane idea using NASA as a tool for improving our relationship with Muslims? He does not even grasp his own religion. He must think Christians have no thought process. The Muslim (terrorists) do not want to go up into space with us, Barry, you have to know that... they want to kill us. So, we give them the $$ so they can devise new and different ways of killing us. New space technology perhaps? Could someone just take this lunatic aside and tell him he needs to go away, to Kenya, Indonesia--I don't care---just anywhere but here. Get out of our country, go away, leave, depart, just go! Take Michelle, her mother, the kids, and your aunt, (who is here illegally) and go to your beloved Muslim roots..and you can listen to the sound of prayer call all day. He is pushing Americans too far. We have never been a country that liked to be pushed around. He can read all the Saul Alinsky how-to books he wants, he can push his agenda, but he doesn't know his history any more than he knows religions. Barry, the Axis powers lost. Hitler, and his insane comrades were all losers. Not that I can compare you to them, they were all somewhat successful in their deceit. You have nothing going for you. We all know what you are made of. Clay. Nothing but clay. Don't look now, but your feet are crumbling.

Anwar al-Malarkey (Nat's Imam)| 7.10.10 @ 4:04PM

I want everyone to know that Nate (his full name is Nathan Zulu Shabazz) hates America, Christians, white people, decency, freedom, rationality, democracy, and heterosexuality just as much as I do. Despite the cruel edicts of his mom, Nate will not stop posting here until he has demonstrated the depth of his commitment to jihad, regardless how embarrassing it is for him personally. Selah.

tanarg| 7.10.10 @ 4:59PM

There are many impeachable offenses on the list of things Obama has done since occupying the White House.

Eric Braun| 7.10.10 @ 6:38PM

What does that mean, Doctor Right? Did a raghead sodomize you?

Ryan| 7.10.10 @ 9:12PM

pandering to muslim extremists???

Does mainstream conservatism really, truly in their heart of hearts believe that?

So you people think that not trying to share cultural customs and advances in science in technology with countries like Jordan, Egypt or any other middle East country is a good way to try and expand ideas of freedom and equality?

Let's sum up the lunacy of mainstream right wing ideology.
1. President Obama is a socialist who wants to turn America into a Cuba like country
2. I'm still stuck on the first one, you absolute fools

No wonder this site is counting on 20,000 donations

Ed Burke| 7.11.10 @ 7:52AM

Lunacy?

According to a poll recently conducted for Democracy Corps, which was founded by James Carville and Stan Greenberg, both committed Democrats, 55% of likely voters think Obama's a socialist. Obviously, not only do virtually all conservatives think so, as well as most independents, but even some Democrats have admitted it. The National Review website has an article about the poll.

It might be possible to insist that 55% of likely voters are lunatics for thinking that Obama is a socialist, and perhaps to ascribe the majority’s belief to some sort of mass delusion, if there were no evidence that Obama espouses socialist beliefs. But the evidence abounds. For instance, in October 2008, when Obama was campaigning for the presidency in Toledo, Ohio, he was asked by a plumber named Joe Wurzelbacher whether Obama’s “new tax plan” was going to increase his taxes. Obama famously said, among other things, “It’s not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they’ve got a chance for success, too. . . . My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s gonna be good for everybody. . . . I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” For another instance, in January 2001, when he was an Illinois state senator and a senior lecturer at the law school at the University of Chicago, Obama told Chicago Public Radio, among other things, “[T]he Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth . . . . [O]ne of the, uh, I think, uh, the tragedies of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court-focused, uh, I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and, and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive, uh, change . . . .” The portion of the Chicago Public Radio interview quoted above can be heard on YouTube. The full Chicago Public Radio program can be heard at http://www.wbez.org/audio_library/od_rajan01.asp

There are plenty of other indications that Obama is a socialist, but there are only so many hours in the day.

I see only two explanations for your labeling as lunatics those who think Obama’s a socialist. One is that you are aware of the evidence but nevertheless choose to come here and insult people for believing what most likely voters believe—that a politician who wants to use legislation to bring about “redistributive change” is a socialist. The other is that you are unaware of the evidence. Could you be mistaken?

As for Obama and members of his administration pandering to Muslim extremists, yes, that's what I think they're doing, and I'm not alone in thinking so, either, and I could lay out some reasons but I don't have time to break my other shoe off your backside just now.

RCV| 7.11.10 @ 9:23PM

Ed: If calling President Obama a "socialist" were the extent of the right's excesses, then perhaps lunacy would indeed be unwarranted. After all, the word has long since lost it's precise meaning, so that it now apparently includes someone who favors providing all Americans with access to medical care and returning tax rates to where they were when Reagan was President. Since those of us who enthusiastically elected him President did so precisely because we agree with those positions, perhaps most Americans are socialists now by your definition.

But the term "lunacy" is indeed appropriate when applied to those who believe Obama was born in Kenya, that Bill Ayers wrote his biography, that this communist or that was really his father, that he's really a Muslim who plans to institute Sharia law, that he may be the AntiChrist, that he plans a Marxist coup, etc. Certifiably crazy is about the only alternative term I can think of.

Ed Burke| 7.13.10 @ 3:11AM

I notice that you don’t directly argue that Obama is not a socialist. Instead, (1) you characterize the view that he is a socialist as one of the right’s “excesses,” (2) you say the term lost its precise meaning long ago, (3) you suggest that I have applied the term incorrectly to Obama, “who favors providing all Americans with access to medical care and returning tax rates to where they were when Reagan was President,” (4) you suggest that since “most Americans” voted for Obama “precisely because” they agree with those positions, then perhaps most Americans are socialists now, “by [my] definition.” Finally, (5) you argue that “lunacy” is really the correct term for those who question Obama’s legitimacy in various ways not mentioned in Ryan’s original post or in my reply to it. These points are easily answered.

(1) & (2). It isn’t excessive to call a socialist a socialist. “Socialism” today rarely means the abolition of private property, which is what Marx and Engels wrote was the essence of communism. While its meaning has become fuzzier, the term hasn’t lost so much meaning that it can be regarded as a mere pejorative that people on the right hurl at people on the left. A president who favors government ownership or control of the means of production (e.g., GM), government control of financial markets (e.g., the legislation soon to be voted on in the Congress), redistribution of wealth (see my previous post), centralized economic planning (e.g., Dr. Berwick), helping labor unions at the expense of those who have lent money to or invested money in private companies (e.g., the shameful treatment of bondholders in the Chrysler and GM bankruptcies; SEIU, a major contributor to Obama’s presidential campaign), and who demonizes businessmen and groups traditionally viewed by socialists as enemies of the working class (e.g., insurance executives, bankers, the wealthy), as Obama does, is a socialist.

(3). It is misleading to suggest that I have called Obama a socialist because he favors “providing all Americans with access to medical care and returning tax rates to where they were when Reagan was President.” First, I never said anything about Obama’s health care policy or alleged desire to cut taxes. In my original reply to Ryan I said Obama was a socialist, and in support of that assertion I pointed out that he favors redistribution of wealth. I also made it clear there are plenty of other indications that Obama is a socialist, but I did not cite Obama’s health care policy or any supposed desire on Obama’s part to cut taxes. Those are considerations that you have dragged into the discussion for rhetorical effect, to make Obama sound like a reasonable politician. Ironically, an examination of Obama’s policies in these two areas, health care and taxes, tends to support my assertion that Obama is a socialist rather than undercut it. Second, you have mischaracterized Obama’s policies as to both health care and taxes, as the following paragraphs explain.

Obama saw that some people don’t have health insurance and that many of them can’t afford it. His solution, essentially, was to force others who presumably can afford it to pay the cost of health insurance for those who can’t. (In other words, from each according to his ability; to each according to his needs.) Suggesting that Obama wanted to provide all Americans with access to medical care makes Obama sound good and implies that the opponents of Obama’s health care legislation are bad, as though they wanted to keep poor people from having all those free lunches. But opponents, knowing that there are no free lunches, were concerned about how the proposed massive expansion of federal entitlements would be paid for. Obama and the Democrats answered these concerns with stories of hardship, false claims, and mendacious accounting.

Does Obama really want to return tax rates to where they were when Reagan was president? A scrupulous comparison of tax rates from more than 20 years ago with the tax rates that would apply if Obama’s plans are enacted is a task fraught with difficulties, since there are many different federal tax rates to be considered and since it can be affected by inflation and by differences in tax laws besides marginal rates. In addition, it’s not easy to find out exactly what Obama plans to do, and there’s no guarantee that Obama will get his way. It would certainly take more time than I want to spend to do a careful and thorough job, but it is possible to gain some perspective by taking a quick and dirty look, for example, at the marginal rates of federal income taxation on married couples filing jointly, without attempting to adjust the dollar amounts involved for inflation.

The lowest marginal rate on ordinary income in 2010 is 10%, which applies to taxable income from $0 through $16,750. In 1982 through 1989, the lowest marginal rates were all higher than 10%, ranging from 11% to 15%. (My source for rates is http://www.taxfoundation.org/p.....w/151.html .) Obama supposedly wants to keep the current 10% rate unchanged.

At the other end of the income distribution, the highest marginal rate on ordinary income in 2010 is 35.0%, which applies to taxable income above $373,650. In the Reagan years, the marginal rates on the highest levels of income were sometimes higher and sometimes lower than that. Specifically, in 1982 through 1986, the highest marginal rate was 50.0%, which applied to taxable incomes above $85,600 in 1982, above $109,400 in 1983, above $162,400 in 1984, above $169,020 in 1985, and above $175,250 in 1986. In 1987, the highest marginal rate was 39.5%, which applied to taxable income above $90,000. In 1988 and 1989, the marginal tax rate increased from 15% to 28% to 33% as income increased, then fell back to 28% again for still higher incomes. The purpose of this “33% bulge” was to allow the federal government to get back from high-earning taxpayers the money that they saved from applying the 15% rate. Thus, one should distinguish between the highest marginal rate (33%) in 1988 and 1989 and the rate on the highest levels of income (28%). More particularly, in 1988 the marginal rate on taxable income between $71,900 and $149,250 was 33.0%, and the marginal rate on taxable income above $149,250 was 28.0%; in 1989 the marginal rate on taxable income between $74,850 and $155,320 was 33.0%, and the marginal rate on taxable income above $155,320 was 28.0%. Supposedly, Obama wants to increase the current top marginal rate of 35% to 39.6%, but it isn’t clear to me what amounts of taxable income would be subject to Obama’s planned top marginal rate. Obama has said that he won’t increase taxes on families earning less than $250,000 a year, but then again he said he wouldn’t sign any new health care legislation if it would increase federal budget deficits.

Where does this leave us on taxes? Married couples at the bottom of the income distribution now have marginal rates of federal income taxation that are already lower than during the Reagan years, thanks to the 2003 tax cuts proposed by George W. Bush. Obama wants to extend those tax cuts for the people at the bottom of the income distribution. On the high end, married couples are now paying federal income taxes at a 35% top marginal rate, which is lower than the 50% top rate in effect in 1982 through 1986 and the 39.6% top rate in effect in 1987 but higher than the 28% and 33% top rates in effect in 1988 and 1989. Obama wants to let the Bush tax cuts expire for married couples at the top of the income distribution, which means that their top marginal tax rate will rise to the 39.6% level. In summary, then, the answer to the question whether Obama wants to return tax rates to where they were when Reagan was president (going by the marginal rates of federal income taxation for married couples filing jointly) depends on which people you’re talking about. For married couples who don’t make much money, Obama wants to do better than just restore the rates that prevailed during Reagan’s presidency; he wants to extend the Bush tax cuts. For married couples who make a lot of money, Obama wants to raise the current top marginal rate, so they’ll end up paying income taxes at a top marginal rate that is lower than the top rate in 1982 through 1986, the same as the top rate in 1987, but higher than the top rates in 1988 and 1989.

Suggesting that Obama wants to “retur[n] tax rates to where they were when Reagan was President” creates the impression that Obama wants to cut everyone’s taxes. That impression is false. Obama doesn’t want to help everyone. It is misleading to suggest that Obama wants to return tax rates to Reagan levels. Rather, Obama wants to keep federal income taxes on low-income earners low (they already pay very little in federal income taxes) and raise federal income taxes on high-income earners above current levels and above the levels that prevailed in 1988 and 1989. Is that socialism? Well, on the one hand, we’ve had graduated rates of federal income taxation in this country for many years. On the other hand, when Marx and Engels wrote the “Communist Manifesto,” they said a heavy progressive or graduated income tax was one of the measures that could be employed to deprive the bourgeoisie of property and turn the proletariat into the ruling class. It seems perverse to suggest that Obama’s tax policy is Reaganesque. It is actually another instance of Obama favoring the low-income earners whose cause he champions while adding to the tax burdens on high-income earners. I don’t know whether Obama wants to bring about a dictatorship of the proletariat, but he certainly doesn’t want to move in the same direction as Reagan.

(4). There is some doubt whether most Americans really voted for Obama, given the activities of ACORN and the apparent unwillingness of the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate or prosecute. Even assuming that most Americans did vote for Obama, I disagree with your assertion that they did so “precisely because” they agreed with Obama’s positions on health care and taxes. Obama was elected principally because a lot of people were very unhappy with George W. Bush, who invaded Iraq but could not find any weapons of mass destruction and who was in the Oval Office when the recession hit. Some people may have voted for Obama because of his positions on health care and taxes, but most of those who voted for Obama (he garnered about 53% of the popular vote, I recall) probably did so primarily for other reasons. I haven’t looked up any 2008 exit polls on this, but many people (some polls put it as high as 60%) still oppose Obama’s health care legislation. I don’t know how widespread the public support is for Obama’s tax plans, but if about half the working adults don’t pay any federal income taxes, then I suppose it’s predictable that they will like a plan that that doesn’t raise their taxes and not be vehemently opposed to a plan that raises taxes on people with higher incomes. You raise the possibility that most Americans are socialists now, “by [my] definition.” Actually, I didn’t attempt to define socialism. I said Obama is a socialist. I said so not because most people think he is, but because there are many indications, including those mentioned in my original post and in this post, that he is. The significance of the fact that, at least according to one poll, 55% of likely voters think Obama’s a socialist is that it probably isn’t lunacy to have an opinion that most people share. I doubt that most Americans would call themselves socialists if asked. But Obama is still a socialist, whether or not most Americans are socialists too.

(5). Whether those who believe Obama was born in Kenya and others are really lunatics is neither here nor there. Ryan said it was “lunacy” to think Obama is a socialist. I denied it, and I gave reasons for my denial. For the record, the views you mention are not widely held, so it is dubious to suggest that everyone on the right is crazy because some people on the right hold them. My contention that Obama is a socialist remains unaffected by your opinions of birthers and others.

In short, you don’t make any forthright claim that Obama is not a socialist, and the points you do make are either irrelevancies or distractions. None is convincing, and some are misleading. I’ll say it again—Obama is a socialist.

Lisa| 7.11.10 @ 7:02PM

If anyone cares to Google it, one can see Little Barry's registration application for the Fransiskus Assisi school in Jakarta. Filled out by Lolo Soetoro, it clearly states that Little Barry is an Indonesian citizen, born in Honolulu, AND A MUSLIM! Sorry, Hillary!

WAKE UP| 7.11.10 @ 10:25PM

What religion are Michelle and the kids, I wonder...

Ken Roberts | 7.12.10 @ 8:30AM

It could be Obama was referring to the surgical expertise of the Islamic religion as they had videos showing how to surgically remove a human head from its body . That has to be a first don't you think . What about the videos showing how a human body will die when burnt to a certain degree. Obama is a sap and a muslim. nothing that Obama said about their so called expertise in finding science items is true he made them up and about the printing that was not Islam but Hebrews that did that . Gutenburg comes to mind on the calligraphy . I wonder when we will discover that Islam invented the cotton gin?

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