Obama cracks down on free speech.

Obama cracks down on free speech.

In order to spare themselves the sort of critical scrutiny to which they are unaccustomed, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have fallen in with the absurd claim that violence has broken out in eleven Muslim countries, and terrorists armed with RPGs and (reportedly) mortars carried out a military operation to assassinate a U.S. ambassador, as a result of a 14-minute YouTube video. As always, Obama’s first priority is to point the finger of responsibility elsewhere.

So the Obama administration cracked down on the Christian who made the film–essentially an amateur production–which is critical of Islam, but no more so than many Hollywood productions have been of Christianity. The federal government sent Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies to bring the filmmaker into custody on the pretext that his uploading the movie trailer to YouTube may have violated the terms of his probation on a bank fraud conviction. That led to the famous photo of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula being taken into custody.

Shameful, disgusting, and inexcusable. The Obama administration is essentially attacking American citizens for the evils committed by Islamic radicals half a world away.

The Obama administration has delayed deployment of 50 Marines to protect its embassy in Khartoum because of objections of the Sudanese government.

The Obama administration has pulled back the deployment of 50 Marines to protect its embassy in Khartoum because of objections of the Sudanese government.

In other words, the Obama administration is more willing to obey the orders of the Sudan government than it is willing to protect the lives of U.S. citizens abroad.

Disgrace in Benghazi.

Disgrace in Benghazi.

The men who organized this attack knew the ambassador would be at the consulate in Benghazi rather than at the embassy in Tripoli. How did that happen? They knew when he had been moved from the consulate to a “safe house,” and switched their attentions accordingly. How did that happen? The United States government lost track of its ambassador for ten hours. How did that happen? Perhaps, when they’ve investigated Mitt Romney’s press release for another three or four weeks, the court eunuchs of the American media might like to look into some of these fascinating questions, instead of leaving the only interesting reporting on an American story to the foreign press.

For whatever reason, Secretary Clinton chose to double down on misleading the American people. “Libyans carried Chris’s body to the hospital,” said Mrs. Clinton. That’s one way of putting it. The photographs at the Arab TV network al-Mayadeen show Chris Stevens’s body being dragged through the streets, while the locals take souvenir photographs on their cell phones. A man in a red striped shirt photographs the dead-eyed ambassador from above; another immediately behind his head moves the splayed arm and holds his cell-phone camera an inch from the ambassador’s nose. Some years ago, I had occasion to assist in moving the body of a dead man: We did not stop to take photographs en route. Even allowing for cultural differences, this looks less like “carrying Chris’s body to the hospital” and more like barbarians gleefully feasting on the spoils of savagery.

“Those who produced the movie should be tried and killed.”

Islamic tolerance and justice: “Those who produced the movie should be tried and killed.”

Notice he didn’t simply say “Put them on trial,” which would have been bad enough, arresting someone for something he said. He wants them “tried and killed.” In other words, no trial in an Islamic nation is worth the electrons we use to read about it. They are merely kangaroo courts. If an Islamic preacher declares that you are guilty, you are guilty.

Which makes his other statements calling for peaceful demonstrations completely worthless and absolutely bullcrap. What is really going on is that they are now terrified that all that good U.S. money is going to be cut off, and want to placate the naive idiots in the U.S. To quote Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky):

“My position is not one penny more for Libya or Egypt or Pakistan until they act like our allies,” Paul said on the Senate floor Thursday. “Some say we’ve got to keep sending it. Fine. Let’s send it when they act like our allies. Let’s send it when they start behaving like civilized nations and come to their senses.”

As they used to say in the 1960s, “Right on!”

The murder of four Americans in Libya, including the ambassador, appears to have been the result of failed security.

Focused like a laser: The murder of four Americans in Libya, including the ambassador, appears to have been the result of failed security.

Sensitive documents have gone missing from the consulate in Benghazi and the supposedly secret location of the “safe house” in the city, where the staff had retreated, came under sustained mortar attack. Other such refuges across the country are no longer deemed “safe”. Some of the missing papers from the consulate are said to list names of Libyans who are working with Americans, putting them potentially at risk from extremist groups, while some of the other documents are said to relate to oil contracts.

According to senior diplomatic sources, the US State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and “lockdown”, under which movement is severely restricted.

This is a disaster, and suggests incompetence at all levels of the State Department and the White House.

An American professor of religious studies has called for the arrest of a filmmaker because his film insults Islam.

Words fail me: An American professor of religious studies has called for the arrest of an American filmmaker because his film insulted Islam.

The most revealing moment in this disgusting op-ed is when Butler explains that somehow this filmmaker’s free speech rights are less valuable than the filmmaker who made The Last Temptation of Christ.

Bacile’s movie is not the first to denigrate a religious figure, nor will it be the last. The Last Temptation of Christ was protested vigorously. The difference is that Bacile indirectly and inadvertently inflamed people half a world away, resulting in the deaths of U.S. Embassy personnel.

So in other words, free speech is only allowed when it offends Christians or Jews. Offend a Muslim, however, and you must go to prison.

As I said, words fail me. Though I might add that you can reach the head of Anthea Butler’s Department of Religious Studies here. It might be worthwhile to politely ask him what he thinks of his associate professor’s interpretation of freedom of speech.

The White House has disavowed the apology to the Muslim protesters issued by its embassy in Egypt.

The White House has disavowed the apology to the Muslim protesters issued by its embassy in Egypt earlier today.

“The statement by Embassy Cairo was not cleared by Washington and does not reflect the views of the United States government,” an administration official told POLITICO.

In other words, the Obama State Department isn’t cowardly, it’s simply incompetent. What a relief!

The U.S. Embassy in Egypt, response to the attack by Islamic protestors today, has apologized to them.

That’s telling ’em! The U.S. Embassy in Egypt, in response to the attack by Islamic protesters today, has apologized to the protesters because their feelings might have been hurt by a film critical of Mohammad.

The full embassy statement is beyond belief:

The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.

Freedom of speech means you have the right to offend others, with no apologizes. Considering the violence continually perpetrated by Islam, it is perfectly justified to criticize this hateful religion. In fact, to its face I say Islam is a stain on the Earth which oppresses millions while killing hundreds of innocents on a daily basis.

For the Obama State Department to apologize for our country’s belief in freedom of speech, on this day of all days, September 11, is unspeakable. What kind of cowards are these people?

Cairo protesters today scaled the U.S. Embassy wall in Egypt and pulled down the American flag to protest a film they say is insulting to the prophet Mohammad.

Feel the love! Cairo protesters today scaled the U.S. Embassy wall in Egypt and pulled down the American flag to protest a film they say is insulting to the prophet Mohammad.

In related news, a television station has canceled the airing of a documentary on Islam because of threats it and the filmmaker have received.

Several points:
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The Obama administration has extended the power of the ATF to “seize and administratively forfeit property involved in controlled-substance abuses.”

Theft by government: The Obama administration has extended the power of the ATF to “seize and administratively forfeit property involved in controlled-substance abuses.”

In other words, if the ATF thinks a drug crime has occurred, it now has the right to seize any property involved, without due process. The article gives a particularly pointed example:
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Children are refusing to eat the Obama administration’s lower calorie school lunches.

Losing the youth vote: In a boycott that began in Pennsylvania and has now spread to Minnesota, children are refusing to eat the Obama administration’s lower calorie school lunches.

Starting this year, there are strict limits on calories, sodium and meat portions. Whole milk is off the menu altogether, and kids are required to take a fruit or vegetable. As parents with fussy eaters might guess, some student’s aren’t salivating over those options.

In the halls of Rockford High School, a food fight over some simple things — cookies, condiments and milk — has started taking off after seniors Adam Anderson and Zach Guthrie set up a Facebook group encouraging a brown bag boycott. Bags were prepared in advance, bearing messages like, “Where’s the ranch?” and “We want our cookies.” By Thursday, the school served about 150 fewer lunches than it had the day before, and students promise the movement will only continue to grow even though there may be no resolution.

I think it a travesty that modern parents think the federal government should provide their kids lunch. This is the parent’s responsibility, not the government’s.

FAA officials in Seattle have been accused of pressuring employees to vote for Democratic candidates in the November election

FAA officials in Seattle have been accused of pressuring employees to vote for Democratic candidates in the November election, a violation of the law.

“We write respectfully to request that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) initiate an investigation into Deputy Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety John Hickey and Deputy Director of Flight Standards Field Operations Ray Towles,” Epstein wrote. “We have been informed that during mandatory meetings of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees, Mr. Hickey and Mr. Towles encouraged employees to vote for Democratic politicians in upcoming elections, explaining their jobs may very well depend on a Democratic victory.”

The encouraging thing about this story is that it appears that the FAA is taking this allegation very seriously and appears willing to do something about it.

We have a choice

A website, ScienceDebate.org, submitted a wide range of questions to Barack Obama and Mitt Romney about their plans for science and technology, and the answers, shown in a side-by-side comparison, are interesting, though in general they demonstrate the ability of politicians to speak for a long time without saying much.

This ability to blather is especially apparent to their answers to the question 12: “What should America’s space exploration and utilization goals be in the 21st century and what steps should the government take to help achieve them?” Neither candidate adds much to what was said in the Republican and Democratic party platforms, making it obvious that neither really cares or knows that much about this subject.

Overall, however, the answers do reveal the basic and fundamental differences between the two candidates, which can be seen in their answers to the very first question about encouraging innovation:
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“[Medical] services provided to individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens are not basic and should not be guaranteed.”

“[Medical] services provided to individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens are not basic and should not be guaranteed.”

Words written by one of the writers of Obamacare, who is expected to be appointed to Obamacare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board, a panel of fifteen unelected officials whose job it will be to decide what treatment is affordable and what treatment is not and should therefore be denied. The problem with the above quote however is that this person is advocating denying treatment not because of cost but because in his opinion some individuals are simply not worth very much to society.

We have got to repeal this monstrosity.

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