Ken Berwitz

Two days ago I wrote about the dumbass pastor, Terry Jones, and his intention to burn korans.

Today I read a piece by C. Edmund Wright at American Thinker that gives another perspective on the incident, the massive reaction to it and what it says about us. 

I can't say I agree with everything Mr. Wright says, but I agree with enough to post the following excerpts.  Read them and decide for yourself:

Is it just me, or does Islam's repeated threats of violence and mayhem at every provocation -- real or imagined -- strike anybody else as the actions of a spoiled child's tantrums? And if they're such a religion of peace, what is it we have to fear from their tantrums in the first place?

(Then again, they are protesting the notion of thirty people burning a few Qurans with hundreds of Afghans actually burning American flags and actually shouting "death to the Christians." Can we have a little proportionality here?)

 

Moreover, does our continued feckless caving into this religion of peace's repeated threats strike anyone else as the misguided actions of a wimpy, enabling parent? Sure looks that way to me.

To be clear, I have no interest in -- or support of -- Pastor Terry Jones' Quran burning exercise. To me, it's like the balloon boy stunt -- just not as cute. Conversely, I get queasy with all of our opinion and political leaders feeling the incessant need to line up and make sure that they denounce this action the first, the loudest, and with the most self-righteousness. There is quite a competition going on for this, by the way -- yet none of them have breathed a peep about what the Afghan protestors have already done.

 

Truth be told, the only part of this story that is newsworthy is how it illustrates a continued Neville Chamberlain-style appeasement policy on the part of our leaders towards Islam (that well-known religion of peace). It is nauseating and self-defeating. This is nothing more than an extension of the American left blaming us for the attacks of 9-11.

 

That we are not perfect is merely an obvious fact that joins us to every other society in world history -- including the Soviet Union and every Muslim nation. If one of the imperfections of our freedom is that our people have the legal right in our country to be grossly inappropriate, so be it. So we have an aberrant preacher and a handful of followers in Florida who plan to burn a few Qurans. Big deal. The entire church congregation wouldn't fill up the underwear aisle at Wal-Mart.

 

We have a president who spent twenty years in a Chicago mega-church led by a pastor running down our very own nation and palling around with folks of your faith while claiming to be a Christian. Our free society allows that -- and it allows for Terry Jones to do what he will do, too. 

 

This does not excuse any retaliation on the part of any Muslims for whatever does or does not transpire at Terry Jones' church on 9-11. Moreover, it does not excuse the continued cowering in fear of this peaceful religion from any of our political or opinion leaders.

 

Mr. Wright makes some pretty interesting points, wouldn't you say?  

I urge you to use the link I've provided and read his entire commentary.  Again, I do not agree with everything he says.  But, as food for thought, this is a pretty substantial helping.

Ken Berwitz

"The nation mourned…I had a lot of people who came up to me and were not as upset as I was – but were definitely upset. I did feel a sense of responsibility, because I knew that people had a certain idea of how I was and who we were … But on your deathbed, it's not really going to matter how those people felt."

That is a deep, emotional statement. And coming, as it does, from the current issue of a major magazine on the week of 9/11, it must be from then-President Bush or Mayor Giuliani, or someone who lost a loved one, maybe a brave firefighter, or.......

Well, forget it.

According to People Magazine, this quote is from New York Magazine's latest issue.  It's source is susan sarandon, talking about her breakup last year with Tim Robbins. 

This was "important" enough to publish the same week as 9/11.  What unbelievably bad editorial judgment.

Regarding sarandon:  if they ever run a contest to pick the movie industry's most self-important, egomaniacal twit, there will be plenty of competition.  But this definitely puts her in the running. 

susan sarandon thinks the way lady gaga looks.

Ken Berwitz

It is clear that Democratic candidates - a great many of them - intend to run for re-election this year without seeking President Obama's support and, in some cases, specifically running against his policies.

Why, you might ask, would they do such a thing?

Here are the past week and a half''s data from Rasmussen's presidential tracking poll.  Maybe they will provide a bit of insight:

Date	Presidential Approval Index	Strongly Approve	Strongly Disapprove	Total Approve	Total Disapprove
9/09/2010	-24	23%	47%	41%	58%
9/08/2010	-18	26%	44%	45%	54%
9/07/2010	-18	27%	45%	45%	55%
9/06/2010	-20	26%	46%	45%	54%
9/05/2010	-23	24%	47%	42%	57%
9/04/2010	-21	24%	45%	42%	56%
9/03/2010	-16	27%	43%	44%	55%
9/02/2010	-13	29%	42%	47%	52%
9/01/2010	-12	29%	41%	48%	51%
8/31/2010	-14	27%	41%	48%	51%
8/30/2010	-12	28%	40%	46%	52%
8/29/2010	-12	28%	40%	46%	52%

As you can see, President Obama's "passion index" (the difference between those who strongly approve and strongly disapprove of his performance) is now at -24%.  The lowest ever in this poll. 

And his total approval is 41%.  That also is the lowest ever in this poll.

If these data are accurate, or anywhere close, they should give you a pretty good idea of why Democrats are deserting Mr. Obama in droves.

Do you blame them?

Ken Berwitz

As you certainly know by now, there is a church in Gainesville, Florida that intends to commemorate 9/11 by burning copies of the koran, which they describe as evil. 

This has caused a huge ruckus, with national politicians weighing in on how terrible it is.  General David Petraeus is on record as saying that it will put our troops in danger.  There already have been large demonstrations in Muslim countries over it, complete with burning of the USA flag.

Barrett Kalellis, writing for dailycaller.com, has an interesting take on the proposed koran-burning.  Here are a few key excerpts:

When Gen. David Petraeus weighed in against a nutty evangelical Florida preacher who wants to have a Quran burning on September 11, an international incident was born.  Petraeus apparently thinks this insulting symbolic gesture will push hyperexcitable Muslims into a murderous frenzy and add to the dangers our soldiers already face in Islamic countries.

 

In a country where flag, bra and draft-card burning was once commonplace, and where UAW workers used to bash Japanese cars with sledgehammers — all forms of emotional and symbolic protest — it seems strange that a yokel pastor

 

in the bowels of Gainesville would warrant media attention at all, no matter what he said he was going to do.

 

In the jerkiest of knee-jerk reactions, news anchors and pundits have castigated the pastor, Terry Jones, as the vilest sort of ignorant bigot, regardless of his rationale for wanting to burn the Islamic holy book. Most claim he is just being stupid by succumbing to unnecessary provocation.

 

As usually understood, a bigot is someone who is intolerant of the beliefs of others.  But only an uncritical mind would claim that all beliefs deserve tolerance.  Some clearly do not.  Is Christopher Hitchens a bigot because he writes books and gives speeches vilifying religion in general and Christianity in particular?

 

That brings us to Islam.

 

Jones wants to burn the Quran because he believes Islam is an evil religion.  Islam’s central texts command Muslims to either kill infidels, force them to convert to Islam, or make them pay a punishing tax. In particular, Jews and Christians should be singled out for murder.  The texts also mandate that Muslims institute Sharia law anywhere and everywhere that conditions are ripe, according to Allah, or Muhammad or whomever.

 

Excuse me, but should thinking persons anywhere countenance the commands of this belligerent “religion” uncritically, when it has brought so much warfare, savagery, rapine, backwardness and human suffering to millions for the past 1,300 years?  Are we to remain silent, simply because of an unwritten law that inveighs against criticizing another’s religious beliefs, regardless of how noxious they may be?

 

The hapless pastor in Gainesville is protesting in the only way he knows how.  Burning the Quran may be stupid, but it’s similar to things the “Arab street” does on a regular basis — like trampling on or burning the American flag, burning Uncle Sam in effigy, or shouting “Death to America. Death to the Great Satan.”

 

But ask yourself, how does burning a Quran compare to the filming of the beheading of Daniel Pearl and other Americans, Britons and anyone else that Al-Qaeda or the Taliban doesn’t like?  What about the stoning of women or the hanging of homosexuals?

 

The stakes are high.  Just last week, Iranian cleric Mesbah Yazdi said, “Democracy, freedom, and human rights have no place” in Islam. Call me a bigot, if you will, but we have to do whatever it takes to keep such a system off our shores. After all, what are we fighting for?

My personal opinion is that the pastor, Terry Jones, is a classic dumbass, and his congregants are fools if they go along with him. 

The old and new testament are loaded with violence and genocide against specific groups.  That doesn't make every Christian and Jew a murdering hater.   Your religion is how you practice that religion, not the literal narratives of every passage in the bible or the koran.

Burn a koran and you are not getting back at people who hate other people's religious beliefs.  You are joining them. 

When you burn a koran you are attacking not just the lunatics who want every infidel either Islamic or dead, you are attacking every Muslim whose practice of Islam is entirely peaceful; who want nothing other than to "live and let live".

And before you tell me I'm being naive about this, keep in mind that for many yeas there have been millions and millions of Muslims living in the United States.  If they all were bloodthirsty radicals, we would be subjected to terrorist attacks throughout the country every day.  Are we?

Ok, point made.

But there is another point to be made as well. 

The stupid actions of one dumbass Pastor in one small church in one city amount to nothing in the great scheme of things.  If it weren't for media deciding this was some kind of major news event and treating it as such, no one would even know about the dumbass preacher and his followers, let alone care about them.   

This demonstrates the power of media to turn nothing into something.

And, very importantly, it shows that, my earlier comments notwithstanding, there are a great many Muslims who hate us, wish us death, and will project even a minuscule provocation by a handful of people into an affront to Islam by all of us. 

These are the Islamic nutjobs we do have reason to worry about.  Let's never forget they're out there too and absolutely must be dealt with.

Ken Berwitz

A lot has been written, here and elsewhere, about what passes for "diversity" at college campuses.  I thought you might like to see a recent example.

Excerpted from an article at the (obviously very supportive) Orlando Political Press:

(Lake Worth, FL) On Tuesday September 7, 2010 at around 11:00am one Palm Beach State College (PBSC) student and two Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) members, state chairman Daniel P. Diaz and state vice chairman Eddie Shaffer, were shut down and had campus police called on them after tabling and recruiting during club rush at the College. The PBSC student, Christina Beattie, had received prior permission from college administrator Olivia Ford-Morris to promote her organization on campus via telephone and email communication. 

On the day of club rush, officials approached the group and after seeing information about the organization and its ideals criticizing Barack Obama’s economic policy. Ms. Ford-Morris was visibly disturbed by the material presented, published by the Heritage Foundation, criticizing President Obama’s administration. College officials then called the campus police to assure the group left campus. Ms. Ford-Morris denied having ever talked to Ms. Beattie about giving permission to the organization to be a part of PBSC club rush.

“I was shocked and offended by her dishonesty. She outright denied giving me permission to table at Club Rush simply because she disagreed with my beliefs! The fact is, she was using her administrative power to silence the conservative opposition.” said Christina Beattie. 

Christina Beattie, a student at PBSC has been the lead organizer of a weeklong recruitment event for YAF. Christina saw a need for a conservative club on campus and decided to create a YAF Chapter. Beattie inquired with college Student Activities Coordinator, Ms. Olivia Ford-Morris, via email about being allowed to recruit at the college rush. To Christina’s surprise Ms. Ford-Morris called her and allowed the group to table at the event. Other groups on campus attended the event and tabled, but had not registered with the student activities coordinator. These groups remained untouched and were allowed to recruit even without permission. The Film Club, one of the groups not authorized to participate in the event, declined to comment for fear of reprisal from college administration.

Are you surprised?  You shouldn't be.  Things like this happen at campuses all over the country all the time.  They are chronicled by a number of web sites, such as Students for Academic Freedom, which are well worth reading.

College diversity.  A great concept.  Wouldn't it be nice to, someday, see it in practice?

Ken Berwitz

al sharpton - or, more accurately, al sharlatan - is at it again.

From yesterday's article in the New York Post:

An accounting firm hired by Al Sharpton's National Action Network found the civil-rights group in such financial disarray that it flunked its record-keeping -- and may not even survive, The Post has learned.

The scathing critique was spelled out in a hard-hitting internal audit of NAN's books, a copy of which was obtained by The Post.

"The organization has suffered recurring decreases in net assets -- and has been dependent upon advances from related parties and the nonpayment of payroll tax obligations -- to maintain continuity," the firm KBL concluded in an April 2 audit of NAN's 2008 financial records, the most recent available. The audit, which was submitted to NAN's board of directors, warned, "These circumstances create substantial doubt about the organization's ability to continue."

KBL said it was "unable to form an opinion" on the accuracy of NAN's financial figures "because of inadequacies in the organization's accounting records."

In 2008, federal prosecutors decided to drop a criminal probe into the finances of Sharpton and NAN. But Sharpton -- who also has a lucrative syndicated radio show and a speech-making and consulting business -- agreed to pay back more than $2 million in overdue personal and NAN taxes.

The audit said NAN still owed $1.348 million in delinquent city, state and federal taxes and penalties at the end of 2008. The IRS has filed dozens of liens against NAN over the past decade, including one as recently as April of this year.

Last year, the Federal Elections Commission slapped Sharpton with $285,000 fine, in part for illegally using NAN funds to cover the costs of his 2004 presidential campaign.

Sharpton, the founding president and CEO of NAN, said NAN's finances have improved since the recent audit of its 2008 records.

"We determined not to file bankruptcy but to make NAN solvent, which we clearly have done and will be reflected in [upcoming reports]," said NAN spokeswoman Rachael Noerdlinger.

Sharpton and NAN's board of directors put up "over seven figures" to begin paying down tax arrears, she said.

"By the end of the calendar year 2010, there will be no tax liabilities as per our agreement in '08 with tax authorities," the spokeswoman added.

Meanwhile, the audit found that NAN was a defendant in five lawsuits:

* Alpha International Travel accused the group of failing to pay $50,000 in outstanding bills. NAN settled the case.

* The Peabody hotel in Memphis, where NAN held its 2008 convention, accused NAN of stiffing it out of $70,000. NAN is contesting the charges.

* NAN's Arizona chapter is accused of being a deadbeat tenant. The organization is fighting the claim.

As a nonprofit group, NAN is required to file its financial report with the state attorney general's charities bureau as well as the IRS. NAN has requested an extension to file its 2009 report.

Ken Berwitz

I have decided to rename the Department of Justice.

My reason is that, under the thumbs of President Obama and his disgraceful toady sock-puppet of an Attorney General, eric holder, law enforcement has devolved into whatever holder's boss wants it to be.

Thus it is the Department of Obama.

You already know about the refusal to accept a default judgment on the black panther voter intimidation case.  You already know about the lawsuit against Arizona for daring to do what the DOJ will not - protect our borders and remove illegals.

Well, here is the latest one.  It comes to us from J. Christian Adams, the former DOJ lawyer who resigned over the voter intimidation case.  Here is the key excerpt of his accusation:

As the saying goes: if you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself. If Americans don’t want dead and ineligible felons participating in elections, they will have to clean up the mess themselves, as Attorney General Eric Holder won’t do his job by enforcing the integrity protections in the “Motor Voter” law passed in 1993.

Motor Voter struck an important balance — it sought to increase voter registration, as well as ensure voter integrity. Welfare offices and motor vehicle offices became voter registration centers. But the law also required states to conduct list maintenance to ensure ineligible names don’t pollute the voting rolls. Dead people, ineligible felons, and people who moved away must be removed from the rolls by state election officials.

The attorney general was given the power to enforce both provisions of Motor Voter, yet Eric Holder is only interested in enforcing one. This attorney general simply won’t do his job and enforce the list integrity requirements.

During the Bush administration, the Justice Department enforced both Section 7 (the welfare office registration provisions) as well as Section 8 (the list integrity provisions). Section 7 cases were investigated and brought against multiple states, including Illinois and Arizona. Section 8 cases were investigated and brought against multiple states, like Missouri and Maine.

The decision of the Holder DOJ to ignore the integrity provisions of Section 8 is deliberate and corrupt. In November 2009, political appointee Julie Fernandes told the entire assembled DOJ Voting Section that the Obama administration would not enforce the list maintenance provisions of Section 8. Section 8 “doesn’t have anything to do with increasing minority turnout,” Fernandes said. “We don’t have any interest in enforcing that part of the law.” End of story.

At the same time, Fernandes stressed that the DOJ would vigorously enforce the welfare agency registration provisions of Section 7.

She made these lawless instructions in front of me and dozens of other shocked Voting Section lawyers. The DOJ has never once denied that Fernandes gave these instructions, nor has the DOJ countermanded them.

Could the Department of Justice be more partisan?  More corrupted?

Now:  Where are our wonderful "neutral" media on this obviously major scandal?  Have you seen or heard a word about it, other than right here?

Mr. Obama and his party are poised to take a huge hit in the coming midterm elections.  Behavior like this - with media covering for them every step of the way - is a major reason why I am rooting for it to happen.

Ken Berwitz

God I hope this is true.

From London's Daily Telegraph:

Fat men enjoy longer lasting sex scientific research show

From: The Daily Telegraph

September 06, 2010 12:00AM

FAT men last longer in bed, while lean gym jocks are prone to premature ejaculation, a new study has found.

The scientific research, from Erciyes University in Turkey, found that men with excess body fat develop more female sex hormones that influence their sexual performance.

 

Men with high fat levels were found to have higher levels of the female sex hormone oestradiol, which disrupts the chemical balance in their body, making them last longer during sex.

 

The survey’s results found fat men could last an average of 7.3 minutes during love making, while others only lasted 1.8 minutes.

 

To find the results, researchers spent a year recording the body mass index (BMI) of more than 100 patients referred for specialist treatment.

 

They compared these results with 100 other male patients who lasted longer during sex.

 

Results concluded that the men needing treatment for premature ejaculation had lower BMI scores, meaning they were fitter.

 

"We found that premature ejaculators were leaner," the report stated.

To my wife:

See?  I TOLD you so.

Ken Berwitz

Rich Lowry of National Review has written an excellent commentary on just how bad the situation is for Democrats at this moment and just how bad President Obama's response to it has been so far.

Here are a few key excerpts:

September 8, 2010 12:00 A.M.

Deep in the Obama Bunker
Amidst a potentially historic revolt against the status quo, the former agent of change offers only more of the same.

Who is trapped in a deeper, more inaccessible bunker? The 33 Chilean miners getting food, water, and messages from the outside world through a tiny borehole, or Rahm Emanuel and the fellas at the White House who have apparently not yet received word that the American public is summoning itself for a shattering rejection of the administration’s spending?

Pres. Barack Obama floated another $50 billion in infrastructure spending in a Labor Day speech in Milwaukee to union supporters as part of his highly touted, long-delayed “pivot to jobs.” But this is not a pivot, let alone to jobs, and makes you wonder if the Obama team realizes it’s not February 2009 anymore.

 

During the past week, the entire political-media establishment awakened to the catastrophe awaiting Democrats in the fall. A CNN poll found that among voters who dislike both parties — one in five voters — Republicans now lead by 38 points. That’s a landslide, among voters who don’t even like them!

Among independents, according to CNN, Republicans lead by an outlandish 62 to 30. Polls are routinely picking up unheard-of GOP leads of roughly ten points in the generic ballot. To give you an idea of the scale of that advantage, if Republicans lead the generic ballot by “just” five points, Alan Abramowitz of Emory University forecasts a Republican pickup of 49 House seats, ten more than what’s needed to take the majority.

To beat back the coming wave, Obama is resorting to tactics and arguments that will only augment it. He wants to write George W. Bush’s name onto the 2010 ballot, even though he’s been safely retired back to Texas for two years. In a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey, 58 percent think Republicans will pursue different policies from Bush. Obama’s insistence otherwise smacks of backward-looking blame-shifting.

The other day, Obama congratulated himself on his campaigning ability. But his signature strength on the stump is derision. He doesn’t just say that Republicans drove the proverbial car into the ditch; he says they’re sipping a proverbial Slurpee while Democrats work to get it out. In Milwaukee, he said his opponents have been talking about him “like a dog,” a line that both demeaned the arguments of the opposition and revealed an unflattering flash of self-pity.

Amidst a potentially historic revolt against the status quo, the former agent of change offers only more of the same.

 Look, there are still almost two months until election day.  Anything can happen.  And even minor things can be magnified into major things that could change the political calculus (don't dismiss the prospect; our wonderful "neutral" media have done this on behalf of Democrats before).

But as things now stand? 

There is a tsunami heading towards shore, and ready to hit on November 2nd.  So far neither President Obama nor his fellow Democrats have found any answers other than incessantly blaming George Bush.  And that isn't working.

Are they in big trouble?  That's like asking if joran van der sloot is a liar.

Ken Berwitz

From the Jerusalem Post:

Abbas: We will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state

By JPOST.COM STAFF AND YAAKOV LAPPIN 
09/07/2010 11:30
 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told interviewers that he would not recognize Israel as a Jewish state, Israel Radio reported on Tuesday.

Abbas reportedly said that his position is no different from those Arafat present in previous negotiations, and that his staff is the same as Arafat's.

He also hinted that the PA may fall apart if there is no hope for a solution in the near future. He then repeated that the PA will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

  Israel is again expected to give something tangible, in return for..........nothing.  Not even basic recognition of its legitimate existence.

Now, nothing that is discussed will in any way be meaningful, no matter what kind of spin President Obama or Prime Minister Netanyahu or Abbas puts on it.

Game.  Set.  Match.