What’s interesting in the news today?
Harry Reid is delaying what would have been a 9-11 vote on Syria. They’ve lost the battle, and are starting to realize it.
From TheHill “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday delayed a vote on using military force against Syria.
Faced with stiffening opposition from Republicans and skepticism from many Democrats, Reid said he would not rush the vote to begin considering the controversial use-of-force resolution.
He insisted he was not delaying action because of a lack of votes.”
Sure Harry. And Obama never said anything about a red line right? 🙄
_________________________________________________
Next, Assad’s forces have launched an attempt to liberate the Christian villages being attacked and terrorized by Islamic rebels.
From JPost/Reuters “Syrian government forces launched an offensive to wrest back control of an historic Christian town north of Damascus on Monday, activists said.
In the past six days, the town of Maaloula has already changed hands three times between President Bashar Assad’s forces and rebel groups, some of which are linked to al-Qaida.”
More here from WaPo
________________________________________
More bad news for ObamaCare.
From RedAlertPolitics “While much of the public relations campaign for President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has centered around convincing Millennials to buy into the law’s healthcare exchanges, just 11 percent of them now plan to do so according to a new poll by The Morning Consult.
The August National Healthcare Tracking Poll, which was released Wednesday, found that only 11 percent of registered voters were “almost certain to purchase” insurance through the healthcare exchanges, while just 24 percent were “likely certain” to do so. Half of those who responded said they were “about 50-50″ when it came to buying into the healthcare exchanges, while 27 percent were unlikely to do so.
Overall, only 8 percent of registered voters were almost certain to buy into the exchanges and 14 percent were likely certain to do so.”
_________________________________________________
More dirty dealings in Chicago and Illinois. And once again, it involves associates of the President.
From TheChicagoSunTimes “The U.S. attorney’s office in Springfield has been busy the past few years investigating a variety of fraud schemes involving state grants. Thirteen people have been charged so far, six who have pleaded guilty.
Two of them have ties to President Barack Obama. One is the daughter of his controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Another was chief of staff to Obama’s longtime friend Eric E. Whitaker when Whitaker was Illinois’ public health chief.
In all, prosecutors are alleging a total of $16 million in fraud involving state health or commerce department grants and contracts.”
__________________________________________________
It would probably be a good idea to avoid DC on this day. A million muslim march, and a biker counter protest. What could possibly go wrong? 😯
Needless to say the city tried to discourage the bikers by denying their permit. They’re havin’ none of it.
From BizPacReview “The countdown to Sept. 11 commemoration demonstrations by patriotic bikers versus a fringe Muslim “truther” group is taking shape, and despite some confusion about the technicalities, the court of popular opinion isn’t even close:
Let the good guys roll.
Denied a permit by the nation’s capital for a special “non-stop” ride through town with a waiver for red lights, stop signs and other traffic controls, organizers of the “2 Million Bikers to DC” ride to remember 9/11 are undeterred.
Just riding on a public street doesn’t take any special permission after all, even if you have a million people doing it. They just sought the permit to make life easier on the city’s residents and businesses.”
_________________________________________________
And George Zimmerman has new legal problems.
From TheDailyMail “George Zimmerman was today questioned by police after allegedly threatening his estranged wife with a handgun in an altercation sparked by claims he has been having an affair, MailOnline can reveal.”
“Police were called to the Lake Mary, Florida residence owned by Shellie Zimmerman’s parents, David and Machelle Dean, after she made a panicked 911 call at around 2.15pm Monday.”
“‘He’s in his car and he continually has his hand on his gun. He keeps staying “Step closer”. He’s just threatening all of us with his firearm. He’s going to shoot us.”
UPDATE!
Police are now saying there was no gun involved.
From NBCNews “Police now say they didn’t confiscate Zimmerman’s gun
Lake Mary PIO Zach Hudson backtracks during a press conference on initial police reports that George Zimmerman had a gun during altercation with wife.”
_________________________________________________
Wandering Views 
I doubt there will be any trouble in DC. If so, it won’t be from bikers.
But Muslims think they can make converts by force.
In fact, that’s how most of it occurs.
LikeLike
There is a saying about being so open minded that your brains fall out. It is an insult to America to allow a Million Muslim March in DC on September 11th.
Japanese wouldn’t be crass enough to celebrate December 7th om Hawaii
LikeLike
My wife has a teacher friend back in Ohio named Amanda. Her family came from the Christian sect in Syria. Most of her family have fled the country.
AJ. Most of the bikers are Vietnam Vets, like myself. I concur with Chas. They won’t start anything, but I am sure that CAIR and the MB might have instigators who might try to start something. I doubt they would start anything though. Self preservation is a powerful motivator. 😉
LikeLike
Muslims think this is a weakness on our part. They would never permit what they are doing and they think we are weak for permitting it.
Western culture is built on a permise of Justice.
Islamic culture is built on a premise of revenge.
That is a vast difference in concept.
LikeLike
I’m not worried about the bikers. They can take care of themselves. 🙂 But traffic and travel will be a big problem. I find it amusing that bikers are denied a permit. Yeah, that’ll stop ’em. 🙄 Sounds like they may have motivated even more to attend.
LikeLike
I’m wondering how things will go overseas on 9/11 this year …
LikeLike
Joe,
My neighbor has many friends attending, and yes, most are Vietnam vets as well. I’ve met a few of them over the years. Good men, nice bikes, and really loud too. There’s gonna be a lot of windows shaking when they ride thru. 🙂 I think it might be a good day to watch some DC traffic camera footage on-line. 🙂
LikeLike
The president has “no plan” when it comes to Syria — according to Bob Woodward.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/bob-woodward-syria-plan-obama-96534.html?hp=l4
“This is ad hoc. You can’t run something like this. You can’t run anything like this.”
_______________________________
A commentator last night, talking about the latest Russia suggestion, said basically that Putin tossed the football, Kerry caught but immediately fumbled it, Obama tripped and fell on top of it in the end zone and they’re all now declaring “touchdown”!
Talk about an administration that looks like the keystone cops right about now …
LikeLike
It’s downright embarrassing, Donna. 😦
LikeLike
Karen, it is — cringe-worthy. And now Kerry is going to meet with the Russian foreign minister on Thursday. Cringe some more. Wonder what they’ll demand of us?
LikeLike
Bob Woodward is stating the obvious that everyone knows, but no one will say.
We have a community organizer running the country.
Every lesson on leadership starts with the assumption:
A leader has to have an objective.
A leader has to be sure everyone understands the objective.
A leader insures that everyone strives for that objectove.
It appears that Obama has done none of that.
But he has.
He has no foreign policy objective. That was never intended.
His objective is to “fundamantally change the structure of this country”.
He, and his minions have done that exceedingly well.
Foreign policy is just an irritant that keeps getting in the way.
It is only important in that it is keeping real work from being done.
LikeLike
Most Muslims I know don’t want to discuss 9/11 — its like Germans and Hilter, they’re not about to celebrate his birthday anytime soon. Thus a few hundred Muslim truthers are not representative of anything other than all religions have their fringe groups They could’ve been safely ignored but now a couple of thousand of bikers want to drive through Washington DC and ignore traffic rules in order to disturb the truthers. Due to the rank immaturity of a select group, the rest of Washington will have traffic chaos — have we graduated from high school yet?
There’s nothing weak about letting a few idiots stand around (or drive around) revealing their idiocy. In fact, its a strength.
It appears the Russian plan will solve the problem. I’m surprised Obama was public about his plans — he usually unleashes a few drones or sends in some covert operators. He will probably resort to this the next time and avoid the public scrutiny.
There’s nothing ad hoc about Obama’s foreign policy — its typical of all US presidents — operate in the best interests of the US (only Carter did things differently). The overthrow of the Assad regime has been deemed in the interests of the US ever since the Reagan era and the Lebanon debacle. Both Israel and Saudi Arabia want Assad gone. The Bush administration also had plans for Syrian which were interrupted by the Iraqi insurgency and other developments. The only thing ad hoc in the present policy is the means and method to overthrow Assad. The actual policy of overthrowing Assad has been bipartisan and at least 30 years old.
LikeLike
Chas — all religions convert by force. My ancestors were given a choice — Christianity or death. And in some cases even being Christian wasn’t enough, you had to be the right type. Religious wars have declined in the west and not coincidentally has religious adherence.
LikeLike
Well, at least hwesseli is consistent. 🙂
But this is completely ad hoc. And you trust the Russians who basically have the president over a barrel? Good scenario for them.
I have to agree with Medved on the radio today — Obama’s bright and intelligent. But, like Woodrow Wilson, he’s incompetent in this particular job.
LikeLike
And we all agree that horrible things have been done in the name of religion.
When so-called “Christians” do such things, however, it goes completely against their authoritative text and against the example of Jesus himself.
Continue to pray for the Christians in Syria, by the way, they’re being pummeled and worse.
LikeLike
http://theaquilareport.com/the-almost-unremarked-tragedy-of-christians-persecuted-in-the-middle-east/
” … This weekend Lord Sacks, the outgoing Chief Rabbi in Britain, warns that the plight of Christians in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Egypt is a tragedy ‘going almost unremarked’.
“In an interview with The Telegraph Lord Sacks described continuous attacks on Christian believers and churches as “the religious equivalent of ethnic cleansing”.
“The Chief Rabbi said being Jewish, ‘you cannot but feel this very deeply and personally’.
“He likened the violence to the persecution faced by Jews in Arab countries following the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. … “
LikeLike
I have very little trust in Putin. The Russian plan is a means for Assad to stay in power which benefits Russian interests. It is however a way for Obama to avoid domestic political problems. The long game of Assad overthrow and in place a regime more conducive to US/Saudi/Israeli interests is still the plan. UN control of WMD sites compromises the Assad regime and will provide an opportunity for US intelligence services. The Russians secure Assad’s regime for now while the US takes a side step forward. Again, the means and methods are ad hoc but the long term goal and focus has been set a long time ago and is anything but ad hoc.
I only remarked that all religions have been spread through the sword — even Buddhism which some naive westerners think is the pacifist religion. As to the compatibility of the sword with the Christian message …. I’d leave that for Christians to decide while pointing out Christians have a variety of opinions on this issue. And please don’t think I’m blaming religion for all wars …. humans barely need a reason to fight … power, greed, honor the list goes on.
The demise of the Middle Eastern Christian has been going on for some time. The nationalist movements of the decolonization era were secular in nature and Christian Arabs were at the forefront of these liberation movements. Arab nationalism stagnated into dictatorship and proxy battles in the cold war. Populist movements against the corruption of Arab regimes and their USSR/USA sponsors rejected secular ideologies of capitalism, communism, socialism, liberalism etc in favor of a return to fundamental values, hence the dominant religion Islam became a political force. This left Christian Arabs as stalwarts of the old regime and easy targets. In Iraq and Syria, Christian Arabs are part of the old regime but since its been deemed in the best interests of the US along with their allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, that these regimes be deposed, Christian Arabs have been sacrificed in the interests of national security. This occurred over a decade ago in Iraq and now again in Syria. This policy is not new …. the secular PLO with a large contingent of Christian Arabs was deemed the enemy because of US support for Israel. In reaction, Hamas became a political force and Christian Palestinians have left the area. If the US had deemed Christian Arabs to be in their national interest, they would still be there and Palestine would be an independent country. The concern for Christians is too little too late.
LikeLike
A pretty good assessment ahead of tonight’s speech, probably:
http://blogs.wsj.com/peggynoonan/2013/09/10/making-sense-of-syria/
LikeLike
There is a broad agreement among most Christians — based on Scripture — that the civil authorities have the duty to use “the sword” when necessary in the name of justice, protecting the innocent and maintaining order. The church does not have the right to do so in the name of its religion.
There have been (and continue to be) long discussions (and often disagreements) over what constitutes a “just” war.
LikeLike