Obama picked out of this one sentence that made it appear as if the Qur'an was simply counseling one to speak the truth, mindful of the divine presence. In reality, the passage is about the necessity to wage jihad warfare against unbelievers, and not to fail to perform this duty. He took a passage about warfare and division and passed it off as part of a call for us all to come together and sing kumbaya. Yet neither Honest Ibe Hooper of CAIR nor any other Muslim spokesman is complaining today that Obama quoted the Qur'an out of context. How strange!
In the end of course it was never the point of the speech to be accurate. And probably there is no point in Robert Spencer actually doing a careful reading of a speech written with such a careless disregard for accuracy.
After a Navy official spotted Canadian pipe fittings in a construction project at Camp Pendleton, Calif., they were hauled out of the ground and replaced with American versions. In recent weeks, other Canadian manufacturers doing business with U.S. state and local governments say they have been besieged with requests to sign affidavits pledging that they will only supply materials made in the USA. Outrage spread in Canada, with the Toronto Star last week bemoaning "a plague of protectionist measures in the U.S." and Canadian companies openly fretting about having to shift jobs to the United States to meet made-in-the-USA requirements. This week, the Canadians fired back. A number of Ontario towns, with a collective population of nearly 500,000, retaliated with measures effectively barring U.S. companies from their municipal contracts -- the first shot in a larger campaign that could shut U.S. companies out of billions of dollars worth of Canadian projects.
I am impressed neither by the US action nor the Canadian response, even in that context. Moreover the US provisions are so fatuously written (why does this not surprise me) that utterly perverse behaviors are arising.
"You need to tell me how inhibiting business between two companies located one mile apart is going to save American jobs," said Bob Miller, Duferco Farrell's executive vice president. "I've got 600 United Steel Workers out there who are going to lose their jobs because of this. And you tell me this is good for America?"
Even worse, we are not finished. This is just the very beginning.
Last week, Obama unveiled a series of proposals aimed at increasing taxes by nearly $200 billion over the next decade on U.S. companies doing business abroad. At a White House event, Obama said the measures were designed to "close corporate loopholes" that permit companies to "pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo, N.Y."
This is one sorry direction, and it's another example of Obama's ignorance of history and economics, as well as Congress,. Of course it might be great politics because nobody will recognize the bad economic impact (the seen and the not-seen). h/t Phil Miller
The collectivism implicit in this rhetoric is pretty creepy. Evidently all of us have a duty to optimize our educations so we can maximize our earnings and give our country the full benefit of our talents. "Every American will need to get more than a high school diploma," Obama decrees. But why stop there? If someone with strong mathematical and spatial reasoning abilities majors in sociology instead of engineering, it's plain that he will not be giving his country as much value (and tax revenue) as he could. What about the potential doctor who decides to play the violin or the writer who could have been a software developer? Given Obama's premise, it's hard to see why such choices should be permitted, especially when the country is so generously subsidizing higher education.
There really should be no surprise about the creepiness - recall that his work on education in Chicago was done at the side of the extremely creepy Bill Ayers.
In his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial 45 years ago, Dr. King said "I have a dream that one day my children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." Let us now take pride that Tuesday we Americans proved that neither thing matters anymore.
To be honest, I laughed during this ad from the McCain team.
It seemed to me it catches exactly Obama's pomposity. The Charlton Heston bit is perfect, as a reflection of the stupidity of what he said in his self-declaration as the primary winner. Imagine my shock to discover Sunday morning from David Gergen that I was signing up with irredeemable Southern whites. Well, B.S., David!
And then I heard that Obama supporters were offended by the comparison to Paris Hilton in a previous ad. And Newsbusters discovered this comparison was old.
This is going to be a fun campaign. McCain has to learn to stop confusing Sunnis and Shias, re-inventing no longer existent countries, and bumbling in other ways. Obama has to stop comparing himself to Jesus. My guess is the latter task is easier.
And my vote, unwanted, is still Obama.
But quick question - you know all about Obama's kids. What do you know about McCain's? I would guess if you watch standard media, rather little.
It amazes me that the Obama campaign has the gall to put on its site and article ending with this howler.
Obama added, "I will not question the patriotism of others in this campaign."
The language is hilarious, and of course a little sleazy. "Others in this campaign". Huh? Who else is in this campaign? Oh right, the guy who spent years in the captivity of the Viet Cong. Very noble not to challenge his patriotism. And let me get it right, somebody's wife is only now finding pride in the country? Great.
It reminds me of this lovely spoof.
(My favorite bit is "Involved with Torture".)
(Disclosure - had I a vote today, I would lean to Obama - his stated policies so far are marginally less stupid than those of McCain and I have faith he would produce a better body of advisers, as Clinton certainly did compared to Bush, in most policy areas - Clinton was of course hopeless on national security. And I have no particular expectation of honesty from these candidates - I view Obama as a standard Richard Daley type Chicago politician who has found a slick way to engage the naive - this does not mean he would be a disaster - on the contrary.)
