Global warming conspiracy turns into taxpaper robbery

God help us, Congress is in session and no taxpayer's wallet is safe. This time the scam is the trillion-dollar "cure" for the disease that never was, Al Gore's global warming pyramid scheme.

Wesley Pruden nails what today's vote in the House is all about, despite Nancy Pelosi's two-step.

You can't blame the Democrats for hurrying to enact their hot-air legislation. The public is finally paying attention, recognizing the global warming crisis for what it is, a giant scam that will cost every American plenty. The globe isn't warming - it's actually cooling, in fact - and there's no crisis.

The only "crisis" Thursday in Washington was what to do with Al Gore. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had invited the ex-veep to Washington to appear Friday with senior Democrats to make a last-minute appeal for votes for the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Note there's not a word about "global" or "warming" in the title of the legislation. Once you stink up perfectly good words, you have to find new ones. (That's why liberals now call themselves "progressives.")

And since images are always more powerful than words, check out this video on "cap and trade."

What would Jesus carry? The Sword of Truth!

There's a former Marine who's pastor of a church in Kentucky who embodies my own personal love of God, guns and grits. If I wasn't leaving for vacation at Oh-Dark-30 in the morning, I might make a trek to Louisville to attend his "Bring Your Gun To Church Day."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Ken Pagano, the pastor of the New Bethel Church here, is passionate about gun rights. He shoots regularly at the local firing range, and his sermon two weeks ago was on “God, Guns, Gospel and Geometry.” And on Saturday night, he is inviting his congregation of 150 and others to wear or carry their firearms into the sanctuary to “celebrate our rights as Americans!” as a promotional flier for the “open carry celebration” puts it.

“God and guns were part of the foundation of this country,” Mr. Pagano, 49, said Wednesday in the small brick Assembly of God church, where a large wooden cross hung over the altar and two American flags jutted from side walls. “I don’t see any contradiction in this. Not every Christian denomination is pacifist.”

The bring-your-gun-to-church day, which will include a $1 raffle of a handgun, firearms safety lessons and a picnic, is another sign that the gun culture in the United States is thriving despite, or perhaps because of, President Obama’s election in November.

Now there's a man who practices that I have heard called "muscular Christianity," which is the authentic kind. Jesus Himself is our role model as Christians and one day he took at look at what was going on in what was supposed to be the House of God. It made him so mad, he calmly sat down, braided together some cords into a whip and drove the infidels out of the Temple.

There's gonna be a lot of surprises on the day that milk-toast Christians see the real Jesus, face to face.

Iranian mullah rejects Obama's back-channel peace message

Now we know why President Obama was silent for three long days while protesters died in the streets of Tehran, Iran. He thought his so-called silver tongue would work magic with the Iranian mullahs and bring about world peace. Today we learn Obama sent a letter to the head mullah himself prior to the election that sparked the current protests, offering some sort of peaceful overture, according to a Washington Times exclusive report this morning. And Ayatollah Khamenei bit a bloody chunk out of Obama's extended hand of peace.

In a lengthy sermon Friday that reaffirmed the disputed re-election of Mr. Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Khamenei made an oblique reference to a letter from the U.S. but embedded the reference in a diatribe against purported U.S. interference in Iranian affairs.

"The American president was quoted as saying that he expected the people of Iran to take to the streets," Ayatollah Khamenei misquoted Mr. Obama as saying, according to a translation by Mideastwire.com.

"On the one hand, they [the Obama administration] write a letter to us to express their respect for the Islamic Republic and for re-establishment of ties, and on the other hand they make these remarks. Which one of these remarks are we supposed to believe? Inside the country, their agents were activated. Vandalism started. Sabotaging and setting fires on the streets started. Some shops were looted. They wanted to create chaos. Public security was violated. The violators are not the public or the supporters of the candidates. They are the ill-wishers, mercenaries and agents of the Western intelligence services and the Zionists."

Obama sounded outright indignant at yesterday's news conference when he commented that the Iranians had "misquoted" him. Why Obama is surprised shows what a rank amateur he is with not only foreign affairs -- supposedly his strong suit due to his "multi-cultural background" -- as well as domestic affairs. (So how's Obama's economic stimulus plan for working for you so far? Same here. It sucketh.) The Iranians and all the rest of the Arab world have been blaming all the ills of the universe on the Jews since Abraham's sons Ishmael and Isaac began feuding, so why should anybody expect them to do any different now? The only modern update to that ancient feud is adding CIA spies in particular and the United States and Western allies into the mix.

The Washington Times offer a sober reassessment of U.S. vs. Iran relations in today's editorial.

Engagement is dead

Even if the regime in Tehran decides for some reason to extend an unclenched fist, President Obama would be shaking a bloody hand. The human-rights violations shown on America's computer screens make it impossible for the president to engage in some 1970s-style detente with Iran. Even the realists realize that is now unrealistic.

The diplomatic climate necessary for the Obama administration's engagement policy is gone. The subtle signaling dance of the last few months is impossible now. The Obama team's original timetable, calling for progress by the end of the year, has been overcome by events.

Iran's bomb now can't be ignored

Iran's quest for nuclear weapons now worries more Americans than ever. If the regime is willing to be this cruel to its own people, could the American soldiers or Israeli citizens living within reach of Iran's missiles expect any mercy? United Nations nuclear overseer Mohamed ElBaradei said last week that he had concluded the regime was seeking atomic weapons to send a message to the rest of the world: "Don't mess with us." With the frailty of the regime broadcast worldwide, its sense of insecurity will have increased and, with that, the need to have a nuclear insurance policy. It is extreme folly for the United States to continue the official charade that the Tehran regime is not actively seeking such weapons. Politicizing this intelligence must end. The Obama administration should take this opportunity to demand an immediate halt to Iran's bomb program.

The time has come to face the Islamic Republic without the comfortable blindfolds we have worn over the past few decades. The reality of Neda Soltan, dead with her eyes open, should open our eyes too.

Perhaps Neda's death will not be in vain. Perhaps Obama will wake up and smell the coffee burning on his "multi-cultural background" rangetop. But I suspect he's much too vain and egotistical to ever admit his rookie mistakes and start acting like the leader of the free world.

God help the people of Iran and God save America and Israel from this gathering storm.

The death seen around the world from Tehran

So the Noo Yawk Times has not completely forgotten how to do journalism. I'm astonished. Maybe their Tehran reporters didn't get the memo about checking with the Obama White House before writing anything. Whatever. From Tehran we get more news about Neda, the lovely young woman who died in the street at the hands of an Iranian thug in the employ of the mullahs, a Basij hitman. The NYT article calls Neda's murder The Death Seen Around the World.

TEHRAN — It was hot in the car, so the young woman and her singing instructor got out for a breath of fresh air on a quiet side street not far from the antigovernment protests they had ventured out to attend. A gunshot rang out, and the woman, Neda Agha-Soltan, fell to the ground. “It burned me,” she said before she died.

The bloody video of her death on Saturday, circulated in Iran and around the world, has made Ms. Agha-Soltan, a 26-year-old who relatives said was not political, an instant symbol of the antigovernment movement.

Her death is stirring wide outrage in a society that is infused with the culture of martyrdom...

Ms. Agha-Soltan’s fate resonates particularly with women, who have been at the vanguard of many of the protests throughout Iran.

“I am so worried that all the sacrifices that we made in the past week, the blood that was spilled, would be wasted,” said one woman who came to mourn Ms. Agha-Soltan on Monday outside Niloofar mosque here. “I cry every time I see Neda’s face on TV.”

...Her singing instructor, Hamid Panahi, offered a glimpse of her last moments.

He said the two of them decided to head home after being caught in a clash with club-wielding forces in central Tehran. They stepped out of the car. “We heard one gunshot, and the bullet came and hit Neda right in the chest,” he said. The shot was fired from the rooftop of a private house across the street, perhaps by a sniper, he said. On a Facebook posting along with the video, an anonymous doctor said he tried to save her but failed because the bullet hit her heart.

“She was so full of life,” said a relative who spoke on condition of anonymity. “She sang pop music.”

The relative said the government had ordered the family to bury Ms. Agha-Soltan immediately and barred family members from holding a memorial service.

Mehdi Karroubi, an opposition candidate for president in this month’s election, called her a martyr on his Web site. “A young girl, who did not have a weapon in her soft hands, or a grenade in her pocket, became a victim of thugs who are supported by a horrifying intelligence apparatus.”

A woman called Hana posted a comment on Mr. Karroubi’s Web site: “I am alive but my sister was killed. She wanted the wind to blow into her hair; she wanted to be free; she wanted to hold her head high up and say: I am Iranian. My sister died because there is no life left; my sister died because there is no end to tyranny.”

God help the people of Iran, because it's certain Obama will not.

Her name is Neda, the face of unrestrained evil in Iran

The face of evil in Iran has a name. Neda. A beautiful young woman who died on the streets of Tehran, Iran, the victim of an Iranian thug on a motorcycle, a Basij, as the people call the hit men who carry out the will of the mullahs to keep the people in chains.

Allahpundit at Hot Air has the details.

Word on the street via one Iranian tweeter is that her name was Neda Agha Soltan. That’s also the name circulating on a few websites and now being attributed to her in a hastily arranged Wikipedia bio. The rumor — and it’s all rumor until some newspaper tracks down her family — is that she was 27 years old and a philosophy student. I hope to god this isn’t really her photo because the thought of her being so beautiful and dignified makes the murder somehow that much more obscene.

... this blogger is claiming that Neda was at the protest with her professor and several other students and that the fatal shot was fired by a Basij driving by on a motorcycle. No rhyme or reason; I wonder if he even aimed. The burial, reportedly, was today — and her memorial service was ordered canceled by the regime.

Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive is mad as hell and has a few choice words about the mullahs in Iran.

I have not had much hope that the nascent revolution in Iran would produce anything more than hundreds, perhaps thousands of nameless victims. The regime holds all the cards, the police, the Basij, the military, but the protesters now they have.......a martyr.

What a beautiful girl, and what a horrifying death. I will not embed the video, but go to Hot Air and watch it if you haven't. Go and watch the life leave her eyes, go and watch the blood from her shattered heart pour from her mouth, go and watch, just f**king go and watch the human face of this revolution.

The Mullahs had everything and then they did this. The one thing that will speak to all decent people, the ruthless and mindless slaughter of an innocent, especially in a culture so attuned to martyrdom. Iranian women have begun to chafe under the yoke of oppression and now this perfect example of the deadly wrongness of this. I am sick that she died, sick that she had to, sick that a power-mad, Islamic state killed her, sick that we legitimize that state, sick that she is one of so many victims of oppressive evil around the world.

But hopeful that martyrdom is powerful, hopeful that iconic images inspire, hopeful that her death can help topple the Mullahs. Persia deserves better than the backwards, uncivilized, barbaric bastards who currently govern it. Free Iran, for Neda.

Amen, Uncle Jimbo, amen. Pray for the people of Iran. Pray that Neda's death will spark a true revolution that will force the mullah's feet off the necks of the people of Iran.

Here's the awful, horrible video of Neda's last moment on earth, shortly after being shot.

Day 200: Obama's approval rating finally goes negative

Where's the 200-day headlines about President Obama's approval rating going into negative territory? There were none and I missed it until I ran across the latest chart and stole it from Gateway Pundit.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 32% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-four percent (34%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -2. That’s the President’s lowest rating to date and the first time the Presidential Approval Index has fallen below zero for Obama (see trends).

And over at the Contentions blog at Commentary, there's another poll report that Israelis are finally waking up and smelling the coffee about whose side Obama is on. And it is not Israel's.

The White House is atwitter after a new poll revealed a dramatic shift among Israelis regarding the administration’s policies towards Israel. The poll, conducted by Smith Research and commissioned by the Jerusalem Post, shows that only 6% of Israelis consider Obama “pro-Israel,” while 50% see him as “pro-Palestinian.” Compare this with the same poll from a month earlier, in mid-May, which had 31% responding that the Obama Administration is pro-Israel, and just 14% saying pro-Palestinian. What has changed in the last month? Not much, other than Obama’s dramatic Cairo speech, which described Israel as the product of centuries of Jewish suffering and the Holocaust; and Netanyahu’s no less dramatic response, which described Israel as the product of thousands of years of Jewish attachment to their ancient homeland.

There is a political calculus for the President here: As much as American Jews may have supported Obama without caring too much about his record on Israel, at the end of the day, American Jews tend to care deeply about Israel, and their sense of what’s happening with Israel is highly informed by what Israelis think (or, at least, Israeli elites). In other words, so dramatically lopsided a view of American policy towards Israel will not be lost on American Jewish voters. Midterms are not that far off.

What's going on? Is the kool-aid wearing off? Are voters finally waking up from the November nightmare? I sure hope so. One reason for the shift in polls -- in addition to the biggest reason, which is Obama's own performance, or lack thereof, as President -- is the law of unintended consequences. Obama got elected on the "Bush did it!" strategy. And since taking office, he has continued the "Bush did it!" excuse for all the ills of the world and his own administration.

And guess what? Former Bush administration officials, President George W. Bush himself and even his mild-mannered father, President George H.W. Bush, have finally responded after former Vice President Dick Cheney showed the way. All I can say is it's about time.

The Washington Times tells us who's on first among the Bush administration members who have finally found their voice after Cheney led the charge.

It's not just former Vice President Dick Cheney.

As former President George W. Bush offered his first public - though veiled - criticisms of his successor's administration last week, a growing number of his senior aides and advisers are also speaking up to defend Mr. Bush's record and take on the Obama White House.

A few of them are marrying their insider's policy knowledge with modern technology to critique, in detail, President Obama's economic program.

The day Mr. Obama left for the Middle East earlier this month, former Bush official Tony Fratto launched a broadside against the White House claim that it had "created or saved" 150,000 jobs with economic-stimulus money.

"What causes the jaw to drop is not just the breathtaking deception of the claim, but the gullibility of the Washington press corps to continue reporting it," Mr. Fratto, an economist who served in the Treasury Department and the Bush White House press office, wrote on a blog run by CNBC, where he is now a paid contributor.

When Mr. Obama returned from his trip, the jobs "created or saved" claim was front and center. The White House message of the day - that the stimulus would "create or save" 600,000 more jobs in the next 100 days - ran into a public relations buzz saw.

Perhaps I was wrong when I predicted President Obama's "Bush did it!" strategy would work well enough to see him through his first term and into his second. I sure hope so. C'mon 2012! And perhaps we won't have to wait for the inauguration of President Sarah Palin's first term to see some "change you can believe in." Midterm elections in 2010 would be a fine time to take the reins of power from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and return it to the sick-and-tired voters.

Obama issues 'foreceful statement' on murders in Iran

Tongue-tied President Obama finally found a few words for the murderous regime clinging to power in Iran while people die in the streets, seeking freedom.

Then, when his "forceful statement" is recorded, he goes out for ice cream.

I'm sure Martin Luther King Jr., who he quoted, went out for ice cream right after his historic march for freedom across the Birmingham bridge. Or maybe he went to jail, I forget.

Whatever. This is just one more sign that the rookie in the White House really has no clue about what it means to be the President of the United States and the leader of the free world. If the faces at Mt. Rushmore were made of something other than stone, they would all be shedding tears today. Pray for the people of Iran.

Pau Ferro and .38 Super go to the range and have fun

Pau Ferro and .38 Super went to the range and (stop me if you're heard this one) had a fine old time. That's Pau Ferro on the right, my new grips for my Sig P229, center is my CZ P07 9mm and left is my EAA Witness-P Compact with its new .38 Super slide.

Actually the range is closed until August because it's at at Millstone 4-H Camp which is overrun with kids. How inconsiderate, that kids would want to use their 4-H camp and shut us old farts out of the firing range. I mean why wouldn't a bunch of kids want bullets flying around all over the place while they have fun camping and boating and hiking and riding horses and doing kid stuff at 4-H camp? What is this younger generation coming to!

Where was I? Oh yeah, since the range was closed I went to my fallback spot nearby, an area known to locals as "the claybank." It's a 10-12-foot-high bank of clay alongside the highway. I have no idea what's on the other side of the claybank, but it's been used for a free shooting range for a long time and the only folks who seem to object are hunters who lease the land and don't want the deer scared off during hunting season. It's out of season here in the by-God-it's-hot-already! South, so today was no problem, other than being 97 in the shade and there won't no shade at the claybank.

So I shot my three pistols for the day and got out of there and came back home to the air-conditioning. First up was my EAA Witness P-Compact with its new .38 Super slide, which shoots great. The first target is about 65 rds. of .38 Super FMJs, all I had with me. At first I thought it was shooting pretty far right, but the more I shot it the more the pattern seemed to move toward the center, as you can see from where the ragged hole appeared. Close enough.

Now to order some more mags, a smooth trigger and an ambi safety from EAA. The milled trigger surface is still slapping my left trigger finger just as it did with .45 ACP, which was the original slide that came with the pistol. It's not slapping as hard as it did with .45 ACP, but still an irritation. I'm hopeful EAA has a smooth trigger I can get to replace it but haven't checked yet. Maybe that will make it a pleasure to shoot in .45 ACP, which at present it ain't.

The EAA did fail to lock the slide today with an empty magazine, but it the slide did lock when shooting .45 ACP, so it's probably just the magazine. Not a really big deal but another irritation. Hopefully when I get some new mags, that problem will go away. Generally speaking 12 rds. of .38 Super or 9x23mm ought to be sufficient to solve most problems I could get myself into that need percussion to end. But slides are supposed to lock when the pistol is empty. In a deadly situation, that could cause a really bad day.

Lastly I shot my CZ P07 9mm and the P229 .357 Sig to check the grips of the latter and some more hollowpoints with the former. I was shooting both rapid fire just to check function. And the Sig P229 did something unexpected. It has the Short Reset Trigger and I've shot it fast before, but today I had an unintentional double-tap. The trigger reset so fast I squeezed off a second round right on the heels of the first, bam, bam! It surprised me. I think the hole in the bottom edge of the black is the double-tap but I didn't stop to check at the time, I just kept on shooting to slide lock.

The Pau Ferro Sig grips shoot great and I ran a mag of hollow-points through the P07 in rapid fire, also just to check function. The last three holes in the upper left of the bottom target are three rounds of the new Winchester Bonded PDX1 147-grain loads which I bought after I did the initial JHP testing with the P07. I was aiming at the small cross at upper left. Close enough for standing at 7 yards, which is how I shot today.

Did mention how much fun it is to shoot holes in stuff on a hot Saturday the day before the official start of summer? Life is good.

A scary bedtime fairy tale for your grandchildren

Once upon a time, long, long ago in a land far away, a Democrat candidate for President was honest. He announced early in the campaign, "I will raise your taxes." For those who have forgotten about those olden days, or were born since, the candidate was a man named Walter Mondale. Who?

Most people have forgotten about Walter Mondale, but he was Vice President under President Jimmy Carter, perhaps the most forgettable President of recent history, so a memory lapse is understandable.

Mondale also suffered the indignity of running against a Republican nominee who was not only wise but also had a terrific sense of humor and a great gift of comedic timing, Ronald Reagan. And Reagan was wise enough to recognize an error when he heard Mondale's tax-hike promise and countered with a promise of his own that he would not raise taxes if elected.

In the first televised debate, Mondale put in an unexpectedly strong performance, questioning Reagan's age and capacity to endure the grueling demands of the presidency (Reagan was the oldest person to serve as president — 73 at the time — while Mondale was 56). However, in the next debate on October 21, 1984, Reagan effectively deflected the issue by quipping, "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."

In the election, Mondale was defeated in a landslide, winning only the District of Columbia (which has never been won by a Republican candidate) and his home state of Minnesota (and even there his margin of victory was less than 3,800 votes^[4]), thus securing only 13 electoral votes to Reagan's 525. The result was the worst electoral defeat for any Democratic Party candidate in history, and the worst for any major-party candidate since Alf Landon's loss to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936.

So the joke was on Mondale, the Democrat who told the truth about his plan to raise taxes. But enough of fairy tales. Wait, let me tell one more. Once upon a time there was a Democrat candidate for President who promised again and again that he would not raise taxes. The people believed him and he got elected. Now some 120 days since, reality has begun to set in.

Who is Pau Ferro? And why can't he spell "Paul"?

When the boss lady at the gun shop where I work ordered a Sig Sauer P229 SAS Gen 2 .357 Sig pistol for me, I asked her to see if the Sig factory rep would get me a pair of those nice Rosewood grips that Sig put on the SAS Gen 1. He said he'd try to get me a set. It's been about two months now and no Rosewood grips have yet appeared and I got tired of looking at those black plastic grips on my P229. That's it in the top photo at right.

So I googled around online a bit and found some nice Hogue wood grips I liked and could afford called Pau Ferro. Which raised my curiousity. Who is Pau Ferro? Some grip designer who can't spell Paul? Not really. Wikipedia sez:

"Pao ferro" or "pau ferro" (Caesalpinia ferrea or Machaerium scleroxylum Tul.) is an exotic tree found in Brazil and Bolivia. Its wood is often used for making fingerboards for electric basses and guitars. It has a similar feel and similar tonal attributes to rosewood, but is harder and has a slightly lighter colour. The wood may also be used for flooring, fancy furniture, and handgun grips. It is also known by the names morado, palo santos, caviuna, Brazilian ironwood, and Bolivian rosewood, though it is not actually rosewood.

I read a little further and found that "Stevie Ray Vaughan's Signature Fender Stratocaster comes with a Pao Ferro fingerboard."

Hey, if it's good enough for the best rock guitar picker since Jimi Hendrix, surely Pau Ferro is good 'nuf for me. They're quite lovely on my new Sig and I'll give them their baptism of fire at the range tomorrow.

Another candidate for blasting tomorrow is my new-to-me EAA Witness P-Compact, which I purchased as a .45 ACP. The previous owner glued some Mahogany panels to the grip, so it looks OK. But I've been wanting a .38 Super pistol for some time, so I ordered a .38 Super conversion slide and mag from EAA last week. I ordered a blue-steel slide to match the frame, but they sent me a matte-stainless-finish slide instead. Hey, it's even better looking than a blue one for the same price. I'll take it gladly.

So I've rounded up some .38 Super ammo and the Witness P-Compact will get its baptism of fire tomorrow, too. And if it is shoots .38 Super good, then I'll order some 9x23mm ammo in FMJs and hollow-points and that will be my carry load in the Witness P-Compact. IMHO, faster ammo with more foot-lbs. of energy delivered is better than slower ammo with less foot-lbs. of energy put on target. And .38 Super is about identical to 9mm +P while 9x23mm is right there with .357 Sig, if not a bit ahead of it in both departments.

Caliber	Grains	Type	Mfg.	FPS Muzzle	Ft.Lbs. Muzzle
357 Sig	125	JHP	Gold Dot DoubleTap	1450	584
9mm	124	JHP	Gold Dot DoubleTap	1301	473
.38 Super	125	JHP	Winchester	1240	427
9x23	124	JHP	Winchester	1460	587
10mm	180	JHP	Gold Dot DoubleTap	1300	676
.45 ACP	230	JHP	Gold Dot DoubleTap	1010	521

Here's a little comparison table I put together of my favorite pistol calibers with the hottest loads I could find data on, trying to keep the grain weights as close as possible for comparison purposes.

I had an "experiental" .38 Super barrel from Lone Wolf briefly for my Glock 20 10mm. I shoulda known a guy who can't spell experimental is not a good candidate for trying out a new product. It was experiential indeed, as it jammed about half the time with .38 Super and about a third of the time with 9x23. The two rounds are virtually identical in dimensions except that .38 Super has a small rim, called semi-rimmed, while 9x23 is a true rimless. And that semi-rim does tend to cause feeding problems with .38 Super. But 9x23 not only feeds smoother, it's also hotter.

My daddy always said I lived by the philosophy that if a little bit was good, a whole lot was more better. He was right. I guess that's why I have a love for all those oddball pistol calibers like 10mm, .357 Sig, .38 Super, 9x23 and also the true 9mm Magnum, 9x25mm. I swapped the "experiental" .38 Super barrel for a 9x25 barrel from Lone Wolf and lived happily ever after.

Range report coming tomorrow if the Good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise.

Obama fiddles, Iran burns, MSM applauds his "calm"

Obama should buy himself a fiddle. At least he'd have something to play with while the whole world burns down around his shoulders and he stays "calm." That's how the so-called mainstream media terms his nonengagement during the so-far biggest international crisis of his young administration. Sad note is his policy of hiding under the bed when the brown stuff hits the fan has worked out pretty well for him. When during the presidential campaign the economy suddenly collapsed into the continuing credit crisis, what did Obama do? Absolutely nothing.

He just continued on campaigning as if nothing had changed. What did John McCain do? Stopped campaigning and went to Washington to try to lead an effort to solve the crisis. And what did McCain get for his efforts? Ridicule by the MSM when the crisis wasn't solved and MSM praise for Obama's "calm" in the midst of the storm. Calm hell! He was "voting present" like he's always done when there's any small threat to his "political viability," just like President Bill Clinton.

Hey, I think I see a pattern here. President Jimmy Carter yanked U.S. support from the Shah of Iran and backed Khomeni's return to Iran for the revolution that put the mullahs in power. And what did President Clinton do when he had a chance to blow away Osama? Voted "present."

So President Obama is just following in the footsteps of the two most recent Democrat "leaders." Which certainly explains why this run-on-at-the-mouth-about-anything-and-everything president was so strangely quiet about the crisis in Iran for three long days before finally coming forth with his plan: to keep "dialogue" going with the mullahs who stole the Iranian election.

Hey, that's Obama's only executive experience, as Jesse Jackson said, because he's never run nothing but his mouth. So don't expect him to do anything but keep talking while Iran burns.

Sir Charles Krauthammer, as usual, sees through the crisis to its two inevitable conclusions, one good to very good to fantastic for freedom in the Middle East and one bad, very bad to worse.

This revolution will end either as a Tiananmen (a hot Tiananmen with massive and bloody repression or a cold Tiananmen with a finer mix of brutality and co-optation) or as a true revolution that brings down the Islamic Republic.

The latter is improbable but, for the first time in 30 years, not impossible. Imagine the repercussions. It would mark a decisive blow to Islamist radicalism, of which Iran today is not just standard-bearer and model, but financier and arms supplier. It would do to Islamism what the collapse of the Soviet Union did to communism -- leave it forever spent and discredited.

In the region, it would launch a second Arab spring. The first in 2005 -- the expulsion of Syria from Lebanon, first elections in Iraq and early liberalization in the Gulf states and Egypt -- was aborted by a fierce counterattack from the forces of repression and reaction, led and funded by Iran.

Now, with Hezbollah having lost elections in Lebanon and with Iraq establishing the institutions of a young democracy, the fall of the Islamist dictatorship in Iran would have an electric and contagious effect. The exception -- Iraq and Lebanon -- becomes the rule. Democracy becomes the wave. Syria becomes isolated; Hezbollah and Hamas, patronless. The entire trajectory of the region is reversed.

All hangs in the balance. The Khamenei regime is deciding whether to do a Tiananmen. And what side is the Obama administration taking? None. Except for the desire that this "vigorous debate" (press secretary Robert Gibbs' disgraceful euphemism) over election "irregularities" not stand in the way of U.S.-Iranian engagement on nuclear weapons.

Even from the narrow perspective of the nuclear issue, the administration's geopolitical calculus is absurd. There is zero chance that any such talks will denuclearize Iran. On Monday, Ahmadinejad declared yet again that the nuclear "file is shut, forever." The only hope for a resolution of the nuclear question is regime change, which (if the successor regime were as moderate as pre-Khomeini Iran) might either stop the program, or make it manageable and nonthreatening.

That's our fundamental interest. And our fundamental values demand that America stand with demonstrators opposing a regime that is the antithesis of all we believe.

And where is our president? Afraid of "meddling." Afraid to take sides between the head-breaking, women-shackling exporters of terror -- and the people in the street yearning to breathe free. This from a president who fancies himself the restorer of America's moral standing in the world.

God save America and the world from the "I vote present" leader in power in Washington.

Ralph Peters at The New York Post (yes, Virginia, there is a real newspaper left in NYC) likens the current crisis in Iran to one of the most shameful incidents in recent history, 1956 in Hungary.

Of all our foreign-policy failures in my lifetime, our current shunning of those demanding free elections and expanded civil rights in Iran reminds me most of Hungary in 1956.

For years, we encouraged the Hungarians to rise up against oppression. When they did, we watched from the sidelines as Russian tanks drove over them.

For decades, Washington policymakers from both parties have prodded Iranians to throw off their shackles. Last Friday, millions of Iranians stood up. And we're standing down.

That isn't diplomacy. It's treachery...

And Obama's treachery, Peter says, is giving the green light to the mullahs to do to the Iranian people what the Russians did to the Hungarians in 1956: send in the tanks and crush heads.

Obama's ignorance of history is on naked display -- no sense of the brutality of Iran's Islamist regime, of the years of mass imprisonments, diabolical torture, prison rapes, wholesale executions and secret graves that made the shah's reign seem idyllic. Our president seems to regard the Iranian protesters as spoiled brats.

Facts? Who cares? In his Cairo sermon -- a speech that will live in infamy -- our president compared the plight of the Palestinians, the aggressors in 1948, with the Holocaust. He didn't mention the million Jews dispossessed and driven from Muslim lands since 1948, nor the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Christians from the West Bank.

Now our president's attempt to vote "present" yet again green-lights the Iranian regime's determination to face down the demonstrators -- and the mullahs understand it as such.

If we see greater violence in Tehran, the blood of those freedom marchers will be on our president's hands.

Actions have consequences. Obama's vote "present" could have deadly consquences in Iran.

Secret Diplomacy: Obama twitters to people of Iran

One of my favorite preachers is Ravi Zacharias and I'm not sure whether it was in a sermon or a book of his, (I listen to him regularly on radio as well as read his books) but he made a very perceptive statement about Islam.

He was quoting an Islamic man he met in one of the countries under Islamic rule, or Sharia Law as the 14th century legal system is known, and the Muslim said this: "If the mullahs ever take their foot off our necks, they'll find out how many us are really true believers in Islam."

The mullah's foot seems to be slipping a bit from their perch on the necks of the people of Islam, as Michael Totten says a genuine revolution is now under way and the people continue to protest the stolen election.

And what is President Obama's public response to date? He's continuing to "vote present."

But perhaps he's taking a brave stand behind the scenes? Iowahawk has the inside scoop on a special secret message President Obama has sent by Twitter to the people of Iran in their hour of trial.

A Special Message to the People of Iran

By Barack Obama
President of the United States

Greetings. As president of United States -- or, if you prefer, the Great Satan -- I have have been following with keen interest the vigorous post-election debate and vibrant political dialogue which has been taking place in your great and noble Islamic Republic of Iran over recent days. It has been both educational and fascinating, and as a sports fan I have thrilled to the pageantry, the suspense, and the fast-paced, hard-hitting action. I have to say It's been as exciting as a double overtime game seven NBA final between the Lakers and Celtics! Like millions of others around the world, I can't wait for the exciting conclusion of your distracting nail-biter so I can finally focus on my big health care project at the office.

(Now that's what I call a real crisis!) But no matter who prevails in your hard-fought contest, you can rest assured that I will be out there in the stands watching, and ready to congratulate the team who brings home Tehran's coveted Golden Centrifuge Cup.

The Red Phone Rings... and Obama has no answer

The red phone rang at 3 a.m. in the White House, just as Hillary said it would, and nobody was home. Or maybe President Obama did answer when the brown stuff hit the fan in Iran. Then muttered "WTF?" and hung up and rolled over the went back to sleep. That deafening silence we've heard from the White House about the stolen election in Iran is rookie Obama repeating "WTF?!"

As Victor Davis Hanson notes, Obama answered the phone and said "I vote present."

But Wesley Pruden says there's a possibility something good may come from this SHTF incident.

Silver linings are deceptive and often hard to find, but that might be a tiny sliver of silver in that dark cloudbank over Iran. Barack Obama got notice from the election results that his tongue, golden and honeyed though it may be, is no match for reality.

If Iranian voters had thrown Mahmoud Ahmadinejad into the street, the American president would have assumed that he was the One who did it, and the American press would have led the hosannas for the messiah from the south side of Chicago. Just a few more speeches, a few more respectful bows toward Mecca, and all the rough places would be made smooth and plain. But now even Mr. Obama must wake up and smell the tear gas.

The prospect that a victory by the Iranian moderates would cure what's wrong in the Middle East was a hookah dream from the start, a tale of the Arabian night indulged by those unable to bear the sight, sound and responsibility posed by reality. Iran is not ruled by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but by the head ayatollah, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and his pigsty of brutal mullahs. Mr. Ahmadinejad never misses an opportunity to pay craven tribute to these unelected agents of harsh Islamic rule, always with a bending of the knee and a kiss for every outstretched holy hand.

And what did Obama finally say when he got through muttering "WTF?"

There was all but silence from the White House, where Mr. Obama said he was pleased with the "robust debate" in Iran, proving only that he's easily pleased and eager to get back to what he does best, wrapping appeasement of the enemy in the sticky warmth of mere words. The "robust debate" Mr. Obama admired featured the opposition candidate smeared as both inspired by Hitler and a creature of the Jews, with skeptical newspapers shut down and Internet sites closed. Foreign observers were forbidden to watch and listen to the "robust debate." Given that nobody voted secretly - voters are easily identified and the naughty ones often punished - the 33 percent who voted for the opposition were brave, indeed.

"Robust debate" indeed. Sorta like the robust debate that occurred on Tiananmen Square, complete with blood, guts and tears and dead protesters in the streets of Iran. The international incidents have already come in bunches, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan and more and so far all we've heard from the White House is the same old "blah, blah, blah... I'm the greatest."

Pruden says maybe this will be the wakeup call that transforms the rookie into a real president.

But Mr. Obama will have to do better than admire "robust debate" and hope that once the evildoers hear the sound of his voice they will straighten up and fly right. Iranians, like everybody else, have a right to elect whomever they want, and even to steal elections without outside interference. The reality that President Obama must deal with goes beyond whether the election was free and fair. The mullahs who guide the hand of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have made it abundantly clear that they have an agenda, and intend to enforce it with the clenched fist Mr. Obama imagines he can unclench with a teleprompter.

Some people in the West - particularly in Washington - are tempted to dismiss the Iranian president as a clown and a fool, given to writing checks ("Israel must be wiped off the map") he could never cash. But these skeptics are the fools. President Obama must now rise to the occasion to deal with Iran as it is, and not as he wishes it to be. This is the job he said he wanted.

Right now, I suspect Obama is saying the same thing Bill Clinton did when he got elected. He said he felt like a dog who chased a car and caught it and then asked himself, "What do I do now?"

I suspect what's happening in Iran is the mullahs are stuck in the 14th century and had no idea that in the age of youtube and the Internet, you can't completely muffle your own people. Perhaps Obama will turn on the TV in the White House and "smell the teargas" as Pruden said.

Montana zigs while Obama zags: Fed gun laws challenged

How about a little Monday morning irony to start your day? While President Obama is rewriting the constitution for socialists and mass murderers at Gitmo yearning to breathe free, the great state of Montana -- and several other states -- are challenging federal gun laws.

A new Montana gun law puts the state at the forefront of a national bid to restore states' rights by attacking up to a century of federal court decisions on Washington's power.

Two other states - Alaska and Texas - have had favorable votes on laws similar to Montana's, declaring that guns that stay within the state are none of the feds' business. More than a dozen others are considering such laws, and more-general declarations of state sovereignty have been introduced this year in more than 30 legislatures.

The federal courts may not respond well to these laws in the short term, but backers who acknowledge this say that regardless, they intend for the laws to change the political landscape in the long term. They hope these state laws will undercut the legitimacy of contrary federal law - as has happened with medicinal marijuana - and even push federal courts to bend with the popular wind.

"What's going on is that people all over the country have decided, 'Enough is enough,' " said Kevin Gutzman, a professor at Western Connecticut State University and the author of "Who Killed the Constitution?" "This is supposed to be a federal system, but instead Congress seems to think it can legislate anything it wants."

In May, Montana became the first state to approve the Firearms Freedom Act, which declares that guns manufactured and sold in the Big Sky State to buyers who plan to keep the weapons within the state are exempt from federal gun regulations.

According to the act's supporters, if guns bearing a "Made in Montana" stamp remain in Montana, then federal rules such as background checks, registration and dealer licensing no longer apply. But court cases have interpreted the U.S. Constitution's Interstate Commerce Clause as covering anything that might affect interstate commerce - which in practice means just about anything.

So if this law sounds ripe for a court challenge, well, that's the idea, said Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Sports Shooting Association, the state's largest pro-gun group.

"The Interstate Commerce Clause has grown and grown until the government asserts authority over everything under the sun," said Mr. Marbut, who wrote the original firearms legislation. "How much water you have in your toilet. Almost all environmental laws. Maybe one-third of all federal regulations are asserted under the Commerce Clause."

Go Montana! And Alaska and Texas and any other state considering anti-fed gun laws.

Advice to Sarah Palin; Remember Lincoln on pig wrasslin'

Last night on Fox News, Sir Charles Krauthammer had some sage advice for Sarah Palin about David Letterman's publicity-seeking slurs against her and her daughters: Ignore him. Letterman wants publicity because his show is down in the ratings. And Palin lowers herself as a political leader and governor of the great state of Alaska by even responding to his ridiculous "jokes."

Reminds me of a quote that I think is from Abraham Lincoln, another political leader who had to endure many outrageous slings and arrows from his opponents: "Never wrestle with a pig. You'll just get dirty and the pig will enjoy it."

Am I saying Letterman is a pig? Certainly. Perhaps Todd Palin should visit New York and mug Letterman in a dark alley. But Sarah Palin is probably wise enough to ignore him henceforth.

Carter-Clinton Redux: 'The Hollow Superpower' returns

Mark Steyn, a Canadian journalist, is becoming the Elijah of our times, warning America of our pending collapse, our fall from grace, our twilight as we become 'The Hollow Superpower."

Steyn draws an uncomfortable paralell between the decline of GM and the decline of our nation.

As recently as last summer, General Motors Corp.'s filing for bankruptcy would have been the biggest news story of the week. But it's not such a very great step from the unthinkable to the inevitable, and by the time it actually happened, the market barely noticed and the media were focused on the president's "address to the Muslim world."

As it happens, these two stories are the same story - snapshots, at home and abroad, of the hyperpower in eclipse. It's been a long time since anyone touted GM as the emblematic brand of America - what's good for GM is good for America, etc. In fact, it's more emblematic than ever: Like GM, the U.S. government spends more than it makes and has airily committed itself to ever more unsustainable levels of benefits. GM has about 95,000 workers but provides health benefits to a million people. It's not a business enterprise, but a vast welfare plan with a tiny loss-making commercial sector. As GM goes, so goes America?

But who cares? Overseas, the coolest president in history was giving a speech. Or, as the official press release headlined it on the State Department Web site, "President Obama Speaks To The Muslim World From Cairo."

Let's pause right there: It's interesting how easily the words "the Muslim world" roll off the tongues of liberal secular progressives who would choke on any equivalent reference to "the Christian world." When such hyperalert policemen of the perimeter between church and state endorse the former but not the latter, they're implicitly acknowledging that Islam is not merely a faith, but a political project, too...

At a stroke, the administration has endorsed the view of "the Muslim world" of those non-Muslims who find themselves within what it regards as lands belonging to Islam: The Jewish and Christian communities are free to stand still or shrink, but not to grow. Would Mr. Obama be comfortable mandating "no natural growth" to Israel's million-and-a-half Muslims? No. But the administration has embraced commitment of "the Muslim world" to one-way multiculturalism, whereby Islam expands in the West but Christianity and Judaism shrivel remorselessly in the Middle East.

And so it goes. Like GM, America is "too big to fail." So it won't, not immediately. It will linger on in a twilight existence, sclerotic and ineffectual, declining into a kind of societal dementia, unable to keep pace with what's happening and with an ever more tenuous grip on its own past but able on occasion to throw out impressive words, albeit strung together without much meaning: empower, peace, justice, prosperity - just to take one windy gust from the president's Cairo speech.

There's better phrase-making in the current issue of Foreign Affairs, in a coinage of Leslie H. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Gelb is a sober, judicious paragon of torpidly conventional wisdom. Nevertheless, musing on American decline, he writes, "The country's economy, infrastructure, public schools, and political system have been allowed to deteriorate. The result has been diminished economic strength, a less vital democracy, and a mediocrity of spirit."

That last is the one to watch: A great power can survive a lot of things, but not "a mediocrity of spirit." A wealthy nation living on the accumulated cultural capital of a glorious past can dodge its rendezvous with fate, but only for a while. That sound you heard in Cairo is the tingy ping of a hollow superpower.

Steyn is the author of the surprise Noo Yawk Times best-selling book America Alone: The End Of The World As We Know It.

I hope he's wrong, but I lived through the "hollow military" of the Jimmy Carter administration and the "peace dividend" military and defense spending cuts of the Clinton administration, so it's not a stretch to see we're entering into even more perilous times with Obama in power. If it had not been for the Reagan years of restoring America's power in between Carter and Clinton, our nation might well have not survived those two downturns in security. And now comes Obama and we start the same sorry cycle all over again, cut defense and buy voters with socialism.

Closing Gitmo and turning the terrorists loose on American soil is just the opening act for his reign. After all, they're no longer terrorists, they're just poor misunderstood Muslim "victims."

And while I'm quoting one of the few wise heads in today's media, Victor Davis Hanson is another. He writes there's one sure way to tell when Obama lies. His lips will be moving.

When our President talks about his relatives’ war experiences, his own family’s Muslim connections, or anything much about the past, I expect it to be flat-out ahistorical, misleading, or contextualized by an aide over the next two months. So yes, I do not believe that any of this relatives liberated Auschwitz or knew those who freed Treblinka. I do not believe any of his numbers concerning, or analysis about, Muslims in America. I do not think he has a clue about the Renaissance and its relationship to the flight of Greek-speaking scholars to Western Europe from the fear of Turkish Muslims, or the Enlightenment’s interest in a Greece suffering under the yoke of an oppressive Ottoman fundamentalism.

And how can I quote wise men and leave out Sir Charles Krauthammer? In this Fox News clip, he sums up Obama's foreign policy adventures thus far, turning Iran loose to build its nukes with no fear of intervention and doing more to delegitimize Israel than any president in history.

God help us and save us from Obama.

Obama's 'I' trouble can't be fixed by an optometrist

President Obama's got "I" trouble. Stanley Fish, a Noo Yawk Times op-ed blogger (seriously. He assumed the role of the token rightwinger after they kicked Bill Kristol out) gives us the chronology on how Obama has advanced from the "Yes we can" of the campaign, presumably inclusive of the voters who he was humbly seeking to include in his ascent to power, to the "royal we" once he assumed power, into the current "I" which is his just plain naked narcissistic hubris.

Everything alters in the inaugural address (Jan. 20, 2009). The promises are now made to an America that is asked only to stand by while they are fulfilled. “Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. “But know America” — or, in other words, “hear me” — “…they will be met.” And later, when he says, “We will build the roads and bridges… We will restore science to its rightful place… We will harness the sun and winds,” the “we” is now the royal we: just you watch, “All this we will do.”

By the time of the address to the Congress on Feb. 24, the royal we has flowered into the naked “I”: “As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress.” “I called for action.” “I pushed for quick action.” “I have told each of my cabinet.” “I’ve appointed a proven and aggressive inspector general.” “I refuse to let that happen.” “I will not spend a single penny.” “I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves.” “I held a fiscal summit where I pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term.” That last is particularly telling: it says, there’s going to be a second term, I’m already moving fast, and if you don’t want to be left in the dust, you’d better fall in line.

There’s no mistaking what’s going on in the speech delivered last week. No preliminary niceties; just a rehearsal of Obama’s actions and expectations. Eight “I”’s right off the bat: “Just over two months ago I spoke with you… and I laid out what needed to be done.” “From the beginning I made it clear that I would not put any more tax dollars on the line.” “I refused to let those companies become permanent wards of the state.” “I refused to kick the can down the road. But I also recognized the importance of a viable auto industry.” “I decided then…” (He is really the decider.)

And perhaps at long last the voters are beginning to awaken from their long slumber and as the late Sen. Jesse Helms would say, smell the coffee. And guess what? It's burning on the stove. Thomas D. Johnson at the Weekly Standard Blog reports Obama's numbers rising and falling.

It looks like good opinion and bad opinion are starting to meet in the middle for Obama. Rasmussen reports that the President’s "strongly approve" rating has fallen from roughly 42 percent to roughly 32 percent since Inauguration Day, while his "strongly disapprove" rating has risen from roughly 14 percent to roughly 32 percent. Seems like faith in rhetoric is being replaced by frustration with reality.

About time, is all I got to say. But my fear is we won't have a country left come Jan. 20, 2012.

Testing JHPs for .357 Sig and 9mm carry pistols

Fun at the range for me is taking my pistols, setting up targets and blasting away, shooting fast or slow, drawing and firing, shooting with either hand, a pistol in each hand, or two-hand strong-hand and weak-hand alternately, et c.

I do almost all of the above every time I go, but yesterday was work. I had a fairly wide selection of jacketed hollow points to test in .357 Sig and 9mm, which means bench-rest shooting.

The carry pistols I used for testing are, from left, S&W M&P .357 Sig, CZ 75 PO7 Duty 9mm, S&W M&P Compact .357 Sig and Sig P229 .357 Sig.

Hollow points tested included four loads in .357 Sig, all 125 grain, Speer Gold Dots, Winchester Ranger, Winchester white box JHPs and Hornady JHPs. And eight loads in 9mm, Gold Dot +P 124 gr., Gold Dot 115 gr., Hornady FTX and XTP, both 115 gr., Cor Bon +P 115 gr., Remington Golden Saber 147 gr. and two Winchester loads, Silver Tip 115 gr. and WWB 147 gr. JHP.

I was shooting groups of three because I'm cheap. At a buck a shot, I do the bare minimum of testing JHPs. And I was shooting at 7 yards from bench rest, to take as much human error out as possible, of which I have an abundance. So take a wild guess what were the best groups of three I shot in both .357 Sig and 9mm?

Would you believe Winchester white box in both cases, which you probably know is the cheap stuff? A box of 50 WWB JHPs is about the same cost as a box of 20 or 25 of the premium loads.

Anyway, the P229 delivered the tightest three in .357 Sig, those two holes in the orange corner of the 8" bull, where three shots went. I know you think I'm lying, but there was no other hole anywhere nearby, so those two holes show a group of 3 .357 Sigs.

And in 9mm, again the WWB 147 gr. delivered the best group of three, with the next closeup group shown, three holes touching each other. Go figure.

Of course the dominant factor in this shooting is not the ammo or the pistols. It's me and my fuzzy eyes.

When I'm shooting standing, with both arms extended, I can see the sights clearly enough with my prescription glasses to shoot fairly well. And if I want to cheat, I put my 2.5X reading glasses on and I can see the sights sharply in focus. But I usually shoot with the prescription glasses as that's what I wear all the time. Gotta practice for reality because I can't walk around wearing my reading glasses all the time. I only put those on when I've really gotta see what I'm doing.

And sitting down at a bench with the front of the pistol on a rest and both elbows on the bench is pretty steady, but it doesn't allow me to extend my arms. So even with my reading glasses on, the sights were still fuzzy. So I just did the best I could.

Last photo shows my improvised target when I got tired of using orange 8" bulls. As you can see, they're all pretty similar groups. With the Speer 9mm +P 124 gr. I pulled one shot down to the next cross, where I circled it. Otherwise, they're as good as I can shoot with fuzzy sights.

Results of the testing: load up any of the premium loads or the cheap WWB, it don't matter. They all fed with no errors and when push comes to shove, they will all deliver as good or better accuracy than I can shoot. And I have confidence they all will expand and do their job if I put them on target.

The new Hornady Critical Defense will likely be my carry load for the P07, just as they have been for my Kel-Tec PF-9 backup pistol and for my Steyr M9-A1, just because I believe their advertising about being "guaranteed to expand" even in the most adverse conditions.

But there's also no reason not to trust any of the other premium loads or the WWB cheap JHPs. With yesterday's testing, the P07 is ready to join my carry rotation, along with the three .357 Sig pistols, M9-A1, PF-9, Glock 29 10mm and Charter Patriot .327 Fed. Magnum.

I'm so ticked at Obama's idiocy I can't write a headline

If you're among my handful of faithful readers (3 or 4 total last time I tried counting heads) you may have noticed that when Obama gets on a roll, I hush. I guess I'm afraid if I verbalize what I'm feeling I'll ruin my keyboard with the contents of my stomach. This so-called leader of our nation literally makes me queasy when he starts strutting around like a skinny backyard bully.

Case in point, his current apologize-for-ugly-Americans-in-Arabian-lands tour. And after his "historic" speech in Cairo (it must be historic because the empty-headed blonde on Fox Morning News called it that) our first non-veteran president will be traipsing over to France for D-Day celebrations where he'll very likely make a speech that will make me queasy all over again.

As usual Wesley Pruden's analysis of the Cairo speech is spot on.

Now it's on to Normandy, to apologize to the Germans. It's the least an American president can do after the way the Allied armies left so much of Europe in rubble. There's a lot of groveling to do for what America accomplished in the Pacific, too.

This prospect should appeal to Barack Obama, who relishes the role of Apologizer-in-Chief. Apologizing for manifold sins against civilization is not always easy, but it's simple enough: "Blame America First." You just open a vein and let it flow. In Cairo, Mr. Obama opened an artery.

America, unlike the president, is guilty of hubris, arrogance and cant. All that must change. "Change" is what the smooth-talking Chicago messiah says he is all about...

Big talkers don't know when to stop when they're on a rhetorical roll because they can't remember which facts are actually facts and which "facts" they're making up. Mr. Obama even attributed the Golden Rule, from the teachings of Christ, to "every religion." In an interview before the Cairo speech, he called the United States one of "the largest Muslim countries," based on its Muslim population, and he later put the number of Muslims in America at 7 million, more than even most Islamic advocacy groups claim. The most reliable estimate, by the nonpartisan Pew research organization, is 1.8 million. That would make the United States the 48th "largest" Muslim nation, just behind Montenegro. Mr. Obama often has trouble with numbers, big and small; he once boasted of having campaigned in 57 states.

Mr. Obama described himself as "a Christian, but," and offered a hymn to the Muslim roots he insisted during the late presidential campaign he didn't have. He invoked his middle name, "Hussein," as evidence that he was one of "them." The Obama campaign insisted last year that anyone who uses the middle name was playing with racism...

Mr. Obama's revelation of his "inner Muslim" in Cairo reveals much about who he is. He is our first president without an instinctive appreciation of the culture, history, tradition, common law and literature whence America sprang. The genetic imprint writ large in his 43 predecessors is missing from the Obama DNA. He no doubt meant no offense in returning that bust of Churchill ("Who he?") or imagining that a DVD of American movies was appropriate in an exchange of state gifts with Gordon Brown. Nor did he likely understand why it was an offense against history (and good manners) to agree to the exclusion of the Queen from Saturday's commemoration of the Anglo-American liberation of France. Kenya simply routed Kansas.

The great Cairo grovel accomplished nothing beyond the humiliation of the president and the embarrassment of his constituents, few of whom share his need to put America on its knees before its enemies. No president before him has ever shamed us so. We must never forget it.

Amen, brother Pruden. I for one will never forget what this traitorous idiot in the highest office is doing to my beloved country. How many days left until Jan. 20, 2012?

And as bad as sucking up to Arab enemies is, Obama tops that by declaring himself the enemy of the only tried and true friend our nation has in the Middle East, Israel.

Charles Krauthammer points out that choice bit of hypocrisy from the Cairo speech.

In his much-heralded "Muslim world" address in Cairo Thursday, Obama declared that the Palestinian people's "situation" is "intolerable." Indeed it is, the result of 60 years of Palestinian leadership that gave its people corruption, tyranny, religious intolerance and forced militarization; leadership that for three generations -- Haj Amin al-Husseini in 1947, Yasser Arafat in 2000, Abbas in December 2008 -- rejected every offer of independence and dignity, choosing destitution and despair rather than accept any settlement not accompanied by the extinction of Israel.

In the 16 years since the Oslo accords turned the West Bank and Gaza over to the Palestinians, their leaders -- Fatah and Hamas alike -- built no schools, no roads, no courthouses, no hospitals, no institutions that would relieve their people's suffering. Instead they poured everything into an infrastructure of war and terror, all the while depositing billions (from gullible Western donors) into their Swiss bank accounts.

Obama says he came to Cairo to tell the truth. But he uttered not a word of that. Instead, among all the bromides and lofty sentiments, he issued but one concrete declaration of new American policy: "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements," thus reinforcing the myth that Palestinian misery and statelessness are the fault of Israel and the settlements.

Blaming Israel and picking a fight over "natural growth" may curry favor with the Muslim "street." But it will only induce the Arab states to do like Abbas: sit and wait for America to deliver Israel on a platter. Which makes the Obama strategy not just dishonorable but self-defeating.

I just hope and pray there's enough of America left standing to survive when 2012 arrives.