Donald Trump is speaking for Americans who've been denied a voice for decades

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4/26/11, "The Chord Donald Trump Strikes," American Thinker, Kyle-Anne Shiver

"According to everyone who's anyone in the entire Country, on every stage, from both sides of the aisle, in every news outlet, from every prominent mouth this side of Timbuktu, Donald Trump has no business whatsoever even considering a presidential run.

Why, the nerve of this Donald Trump! It's positively galling. It's The Audacity of Hope on steroids. It's a national embarrassment, I tell you.

So there.

As President Eloquent himself might opine -- with drooling faux sophistication, no doubt -- Donald Trump certainly has the whole commentariat class all "wee-weed up." Honestly, I don't think I've seen this many oh-so-prestigious people wet their pants since Romper Room went off the air.

Trump's a "clown," a "joke candidate," a "vulgarity," and the "Al Sharpton of the Republican Party." Trump's just throwing a "publicity stunt." Trump is a "sideshow." Trump is making everyone who's anyone "somewhat uncomfortable."

But, wait, it gets better. According to Glenn Beck's new author sidekick, Dr. Head-Shrink Albow, Trump's candidacy could be "psychologically debilitating for the American people." Now folks, even the most sophisticated among you must admit that's rich. That's pushing the we-prominent-people-know-what's-good-for-you envelope just a bit far for me to stomach without a barf bag.

So, please allow me to enlighten the oh-so-sophisticated crowd.

Donald Trump is striking all-American chords during an anti-American presidency, and the supposedly very smart people don't get that? Oh, I think they do get it, but are scared down to their little woolies over what national calamities might ensue if The Donald

• is "allowed" to continue rattling the presidential goal posts.

Sentient observers have known since Election Day 2008 that Barack Obama is the pinnacle affirmative-action statement. Mickey Kaus finally came right out and said this in the Daily Caller, while parrying Jay Cost's column on Obama's outright failure at American politics:

Cost doesn't go into why Obama managed to get to the top of politics without being all that good at it. The answer is distressingly obvious: Obama's the biggest affirmative action baby in history. When other pols are trying, failing, learning, while climbing up the middle rungs of the ladder, he got a pass.

Well, of course, he got a pass. Actually Obama got far more than a pass. He was allowed by an ideologically-driven, white-guilt-motivated media to hop, skip, and jump his way to the pinnacle of world power without ever producing one single shred of verifiable evidence that he could do anything whatsoever but run his full-of-utter-BS mouth -- even that, constantly enabled by a teleprompter. And Republicans winked and nodded and permitted the whole Orwellian spectacle due to their fear of being forever outcast as racists.

Now, in any real world, that is not just affirmative action, folks. That's rolling the dice on the future of civilization, which is exactly what Bill Clinton told them it would be. Clinton made this prescient observation in 2007, long before the current die was cast.

The whole 2008 election is being experienced by the vast American middle-class as a huge, cruel joke, one that has dire consequences to our standard of living and our standing in the world. But the media elites on both sides of the aisle seem to believe that having turned American politics into a joke of a fools' parade, they can now somehow bring the whole thing back to a level of respectability by circling the wagons around Barack Obama and uniformly denouncing the guy now rattling the cage with increasing popularity.

One thing the political class seems to have forgotten is that there are few living white Americans who have not had some personal experience with an affirmative-action co-worker and/or collegiate peer. For decades now, we Mainstreet dwellers have borne the brunt of this liberal two-wrongs-really-can-make-a-right folderol, and now we stand, mouths agape at those who still pretend this isn't what happened in 2008.

Awarding the pinnacle of world power to a guy on the basis of eternally-aggrieved skin color is quintessentially anti-American and the people know it. It was playing with fire and we're getting burned. The people know this. The people are saying it in private.

Black voters are saying it, too. They own small businesses and pay income taxes and raise families and go to church every Sunday and are not the one-size-fits-all underclass herd imagined by the condescendingly-racist liberal media. Congressman Allen West says it best.

Those who honestly believe they can squelch the people's demand to know all the things hidden until now by this cosmic-joke president are just whistling Dixie and whizzing in the wind -- which does not really strike me as intelligent.

The truth will out eventually. And mounting this wholly anti-American gambit of shaming those seeking the verification, which was so childishly foregone by the media "verifiers" in 2008, is itself anti-American. Trump strikes this chord among the people with pure aplomb.

Secondly, there is Trump's unabashed America-first barrage.

Trump's resonance has far less to do with his actual ideas than with his stand-up-straight pride of our Country, and his willingness to say "America First!" loudly, proudly, and without an ounce of apology.

At the very least, Trump does seem to realize that our Republic is genuinely on the line. He seems to understand that the affirmative-action presidency may have temporarily made Americans feel better about themselves, but that it has been very destructive for our economy and for the overall safety of the entire world. Trump may have outside-the-box ideas for how to reestablish America's preeminence after the American-apology presidency, but people have the sense that outlying bad guys would be really scared of what Trump might do if his crazy finger were on the nuke buttons. And they know that

• bad guys scared of you are better than bad guys running roughshod over you.

Trump has done one thing that no other presidential contender has, in my oh-so-humble opinion. He has tapped into decades of pent-up frustration among the vast middle-class of the taxpaying public.

Among the businessmen I know -- most of them socially liberal, but fiscally conservative -- Trump's willingness to talk straight is striking a genuine chord. These men identify with Donald Trump on what seems a quite visceral level. They, too, have forged similar, albeit smaller, paths through America's growing quagmire of federal regulations and strangleholds on entrepreneurs. These men have grown sick and tired of seeing metrosexual foreign policy (Peter Schweizer's brilliant phrase) that leaves them holding the bag on expense, but getting sucker-punched by nations they've financed. They are fed up with hearing how greedy and unfair they are, after giving so much of their incomes to alleviate the pain of the lower classes.

As those who actually pay the government bills and create more than half of all the jobs in this country, small-business owners hear Donald Trump's willingness to declare that our mealy-mouthed politicians have made us the "laughingstock" of the world and cheer him on. They've believed this for ages now, but have been

• denied the public platform to say so.

Which brings us to another all-American chord Trump is striking with pure agility. Trump is in-your-face, unapologetically and aggressively manly. Even the ridiculous, vanity-inspired comb-over seems to shout "I couldn't care less what you think of me." This itself strikes a welcome off-tune macho chord in a political-class orchestra playing in pure metrosexual harmony.

Trump is giving voice to the all-male side of our collective American psyche. Our John-Wayne genes have been shoved into an outlying corner of socially-unacceptable shame for a long time now. Despite G.W. Bush's being labeled the "cowboy," his collegiate style was anything but pure macho.

Trump has brought one heck-of-a-lot of yang into this all-yin modern political class. And believe it or not, most Americans prefer their presidents to be somewhat more pit-bull or mama grizzly than likeable lapdog -- especially in perilous times. General Patton is still beloved in the heartland.

Love him or hate him, Trump's style is hitting a huge nerve among a had-it-up-to-here public.

Those who refuse to read the angry American tea leaves, at this point, ought be called

• anything but "smart."

Ignore this reality to your peril, Republican and Democrat hot-shots. You're starting to look like King George,

• and we all know how that one unfolded."

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Record number of Americans now disapprove of Obama handling of Afghanistan-ABC News

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4/25/11, "New Low for Obama on Afghanistan," ABC News, Gary Langer

"A record 49 percent of Americans now disapprove of President Obama’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan, up 8 points since January. And those who disapprove “strongly” outnumber strong approvers by nearly a 2-1 margin....

The change follows an ABC/Post poll last month in which a new low, 31 percent, said the war in Afghanistan has been worth fighting. Sixty-four percent said it is not worth fighting, with 49 percent feeling that way “strongly,”

• both record highs in ABC/Post polls.

The spike in disapproval in the latest survey, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates, is almost entirely due to a slide in support on the right. Compared to January, disapproval is up by 21 points among Republicans (from 48 percent to 69 percent), by 12 points among conservatives (from 51 percent to 63 percent), and by 11 points among Tea Party supporters (from 55 to 66 percent).

Views on the war could impact Obama’s fortunes in the next election: Among those who disapprove of his handling of the situation,

• 70 percent say they
  

• will definitely not vote for him for re-election in 2012."

via Drudge Report

EU fat cats fear Tea Party spirit across Europe, see bailouts at risk

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4/25/11, "Rise of Populist Parties Pushes Europe to the Right," "Brussels fear of the True Finns," Der Spiegel

"The success of the True Finns in last week's Finnish elections has shocked Brussels. They are just one of a number of right-wing populist parties currently flourishing in Europe.

• Their rise could threaten the euro bailout....

The successes of right-wing populists could indeed exacerbate the smoldering euro crisis. Tensions between the wealthy countries in the north, who are contributing most to the bailouts, and the ailing debtor nations in the periphery already threaten to destroy the monetary union. If a European version of the American Tea Party movement develops, it could very well become the

• kiss of death for the euro....

As a wave of skepticism about Europe sweeps across the continent, the political elites in the continent's capitals are reacting precipitously and inconsistently. To neutralize the populist movements and score political points at home, European leaders are seeking conflict with one another, arguing about such issues as accepting North African refugees or participation in the Libya mission. Markus Ferber, a member of the European Parliament for Germany's conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), warns that solidarity among European countries is waning,

• a situation he calls "extremely dangerous." ...

(It's only dangerous for EU fat cats. ed.)

via Drudge Report

Obama pal Tim Geithner claims US will never lose AAA rating

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Geithner has been junk status all along, it's just official now.

4/25/11, "US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner downgrades his own credibility to junk," Bloomberg, via Economic Times

"FOX Business reporter Peter Barnes began his televised interview with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner two days ago with this question: "Is there a risk that the United States could lose its AAA credit rating? Yes or no?"

Geithner's response: "No risk of that."

"No risk?" Barnes asked.

"No risk," Geithner said.

It's enough to make you wonder: How could Geithner know this to be true? The short answer is he couldn't .

All you have to do is read the research report Standard & Poor's published on April 18 about its sovereign-credit rating for the US, and you will see it estimated the risk of a downgrade quite succinctly. "We believe there is at least a one-in-three likelihood that we could lower our longterm rating on the US within two years," said S&P , which reduced its outlook on the government's debt to "negative" from "stable ." There you have it: Geithner says the chance of a downgrade is zero. S&P says the odds it will cut its rating might be greater than one out of three. So who are you going to believe? Geithner? Or the people at S&P

• who actually will be deciding what S&P will do about S&P's own rating of US sovereign debt?

It would be one thing to express the view that a downgrade would be unwarranted, or that the chance of it happening is remote. Either of these positions would be defensible. Geithner went beyond that and staked out an absolutist stance that reeks of raw arrogance: There is no risk a rating cut will occur. He left no room for a trace of a possibility, ever.

Battling Barney

The mystery is why Geithner would say such a thing. What's he going to do if S&P or some other rating company winds up disagreeing with him? Send Barney Frank to beat them up? The problem for leaders who make indefensible claims like this one is that, after a while, nobody knows whether to believe anything they say. Just remember all those government officials in Greece, Ireland and Portugal who kept saying their countries didn't need bailouts, long after it became clear they did.

Perhaps Geithner would be well-positioned to make such assessments if he were the only person on the planet with the authority to grade sovereign debt -- and if there were zero risk that he would ever die. Not only is Geithner mortal, he doesn't even work for a nationally recognised statistical rating organisation.

Great Error...

The raters showed they could be corrupted when they put their AAA marks on countless subprime mortgage bonds that quickly turned sour. Unlike the companies that bought those labels, though, the US government didn't solicit S&P's ranking of its debt. Trying to predict with certainty what the raters may do next is a fool's game.

Sure, it's conceivable the government might threaten to strip the raters of their officially recognised franchise as retaliation if they dared to downgrade the US We can only hope this isn't what Geithner had in mind when he made his bold prediction. A move like that would risk a major scandal, and it might not even work.

Unwilling leaders

Nothing the raters say should matter, of course. The markets are well aware the US debt is on its way to surpassing the country's annual gross domestic product, and that

• few leaders in Washington

are willing to get federal spending under control again."...



via Lucianne.com

500 in Kandahar jail break, built a tunnel in past 5 months while Obama golfed, partied with Seinfeld, McCartney, Oprah. Another mockery of the US

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4/25/11, "Taliban break more than 450 out of Afghan prison," AP, via Fox News

"Taliban insurgents dug a more than 1,050-foot (320-meter) tunnel underground and into the main jail in Kandahar city and whisked out more than 450 prisoners, most of whom were Taliban fighters, officials and the insurgents said Monday.

The massive jailbreak overnight in Afghanistan's second-largest city serves as a reminder of the Afghan government's continuing weakness in the south, despite an influx of international troops, funding and advisers. Kandahar city, in particular, has been a focus of the international effort to establish a strong Afghan government presence in former Taliban strongholds.

The 1,200-inmate Sarposa Prison has been part of that plan. The facility has undergone security upgrades and tightened procedures following a brazen 2008 Taliban attack that freed 900 prisoners. Afghan government officials and their NATO backers have regularly said that the prison has vastly improved security since that attack.

But on Sunday night, around 475 prisoners streamed out of a tunnel dug between the prison and the outside and disappeared into Kandahar city, prison supervisor Ghulam Dastagir Mayar said.

• He said the majority of the missing were Taliban militants.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said insurgents on the outside dug the 1,050-foot (320-meter) tunnel to the prison over five months, bypassing government checkpoints and major roads. The tunnel finally reached the prison cells Sunday night, and the inmates were ushered through it to freedom by three prisoners who had been informed of the plan, Mujahid said.

He said more than 500 inmates were freed, and that about 100 of them were Taliban commanders."...

via Lucianne.com

Communist China arrests Christian worshippers for holding services outdoors after being prevented from using their indoor premises

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Communist China's police state may be loved the NY Times Tom Friedman and NASA's James Hansen, but it is not suitable for ordinary humanity.

4/24/11, "China detains Protestant Shouwang devotees," BBC

"At least 20 Chinese Protestants have been detained as they tried to gather for an

• Easter service in Beijing.

The worshippers, from the Shouwang church, were trying to hold an outdoor service because they are

• prevented from using their own premises.

Police have recently arrested dozens of people from the church.

The authorities have also been carrying out a wider suppression of dissent - harassing foreign reporters and detaining lawyers and activists....

There are an estimated 70 millionM Christians in the country, about 20 million of whom attend government-approved churches.

• The rest worship with unregistered groups known as "house" churches....

The BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing says police personnel were on every street corner in the area where the worshippers were due to meet on Sunday morning.

He says the authorities rounded up anyone suspected of being a member of the Shouwang church and loaded them on to buses to be

• driven to police stations."...

============================

Arrests are ongoing in April. A NY Times photographer was even briefly detained. Communist Chinese authorities cut off cell phone networks.

4/11/11, "China detains Christian worshippers," News.com.au

"CHINESE security forces detained dozens of worshipers from an underground Protestant church.

• The group had organised an outdoor service on Sunday in the capital Beijing.

The New York Times said dozens of people were herded onto buses while leaders of the church were prevented from leaving their homes. A photographer from the newspaper was briefly detained.

Christian rights group ChinaAid said more than 100 worshipers were detained and two dozen church leaders forced to stay in their homes. It said police cut off cell phone networks in the district where the service was due to take place, and more than 1,000 worshippers attended.

The worshipers were from the Shouwang Church, one of China's biggest underground congregations which was last week evicted from its rented church, The Times reported."...

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4/24/11, "China detains church members at Easter services," NY Times, Andrew Jacobs

"Founded 18 years ago in a private home, Shouwang insists that it has no political agenda and seeks only government forbearance that would allow it to occupy the $4 million space it bought in 2009. Church leaders say the owner of the space, under pressure from the authorities, has refused to hand over the keys. Last week, a Foreign Ministry spokesman defended the government’s stance, saying that Shouwang had “no legal basis” to operate."...

==================================

1/17/11, "China-style dictatorship of climatologists," Washington Times, Patrick J. Michaels

'NASA's Hansen prefers rule by decree to fight 'global warming''

• "Here's what he blogged on Nov. 24:

"I have the impression that Chinese leadership takes a long view, perhaps because of the long history of their culture, in contrast to the West

• with its short election cycles.
  

At the same time, China has the capacity to implement policy decisions rapidly. The leaders seem to seek the best technical information and do not brand as a hoax that which is inconvenient."

Has this guy ever heard of the Gang of Four? Or the Cultural Revolution, which killed those who were inconvenient?"...

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Dunce cap wearer at posh Obama fundraiser, 'I voted for Obama'

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"Dunce" counter protester at Obama posh fund raising gala April 20, 2011, San Francisco.
photo Nina Pelligrini, via Pajamas Media, "Obama Visits the S(lush) F(und) Bay Area," 4/23/11, by Zombie


via Gateway Pundit

911 Memorial Koran burner fired from Transit job is rehired via court judgment

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4/23/11, "Koran-burning transit worker re-hired, receiving monetary damages," American Thinker, Thomas Lifson

"Derek Fenton, the New Jersey Transit worker who was fired after he burned a Koran, has been ordered re-hired, paid back wages, with a $25,000 solatium payment from the public agency. Larry McShane of the New York Daily News reports:

"Fenton, a train conductor, will return to work next week if he completes a physical and a drug test on Monday, said Deborah Jacobs, New Jersey executive director

• of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Fenton was not working when he arrived at the site of the controversial Islamic center to mark the ninth anniversary of the

• attacks on the World Trade Center.

The father of two burned three pages of the Koran to protest the planned center's proximity to the site of the attack by Muslim terrorists who flew planes into the twin towers.

• He was led away by police and never identified himself as a NJ Transit employee. Yet two days later, Fenton was fired.

The ACLU filed suit on Fenton's behalf, and the deal was brokered before the case went to trial. The state also agreed to reimburse the ACLU for a $25,000 legal tab.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had backed Fenton's firing, saying the transit worker's behavior was "unacceptable."

The typically talkative governor's office did not return a call for comment."...

There are a couple of shockers here:

1. The ACLU stood up for him;

2. Chris Christie supported his firing.

What's next? Trump winning the presidency? Strange things are happening.

No word yet on what, if any, penalties the morons who ordered him fired will receive. They cost the State of New Jersey $50,000 cash, extra labor cost (to replace Fenton, their own attorneys' fees, and a ton of bad publicity). Most likely, they will not suffer at all, as public employees tend to be immune to the consequences of failure."




9/14, "Koran burner Derek Fenton booted from his job at NJ Transit," NY Daily News


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