Comrade Hugo channels Comrade Michelle. Red minds think alike.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez urged Venezuelans on Sunday to cut their calories to avoid obesity — the latest lifestyle recommendation by the self-proclaimed socialist crusader.

Chavez has lobbied in recent weeks against what he calls the evils of capitalism, including alcoholism, breast implants and violent television programs.

“Be careful with weight gain!” warned Chavez on Sunday, speaking during his weekly television and radio program. “We are eating better, that’s been proven. We’re leaving malnutrition behind. It no longer exists in the country, but be careful with obesity.”

Chavez — who often dispenses advice to supporters during his marathon speeches — said he’d start a campaign to urge Venezuelans to consume less fatty foods and eat in a healthier fashion.

Jack Cashill has been on Obama’s case for the last three years. Last week Ayers spoke at Montclair University and was confronted with the question from someone in the audience about the book’s authorship.

(American Thinker) — With his final comment, the Ayers-friendly audience laughed in relief. The media will laugh nervously upon seeing the video as well. The White House will not.

Barack Obama knows what I know and what the people who have read my book, “Deconstructing Obama,” know: Bill Ayers is the principal craftsman behind Dreams. The evidence is overwhelming.

Ayers also established, as I have contended from the beginning, that he is not the author of Audacity of Hope. Although Obama claims unique authorship of this book too, it was, as Ayers suggests, a disingenuous feint to the center written by committee.

Worse for Obama still, Ayers knows that the story he and Obama contrived in Dreams is false in many key details. The fact that Donald Trump has proved willing to challenge that story has got to make the White House even more apprehensive.

As was obvious in his speech at Montclair, Ayers does not like the application of force in Libya, and this may have been his own way of retaliating. Consider it a shot across Obama’s bow. The White House will.

I’m not saying I want America to intervene in Syria, but no reasonable person would consider the Iranian-puppet and jihadist-supporting Bashar al-Assad a “reformer.” If anything, you could make a case for Gaddafi after he gave up his WMD program during the Bush-era. Assad, however, allowed al-Qaeda to funnel foreign fighters into Iraq, where Hamas’ leadership is based, and every Palestinian terror faction under the sun has a welcome presence in Syria. I could go on and on but you already know the facts.

U.S. Won’t Intervene in Syria as Assad Differs From Qaddafi, Clinton Says — Bloomberg

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. won’t enter into the internal conflict in Syria the way it has in Libya.

“No,” Clinton said, when asked on the CBS “Face the Nation” program if the U.S. would intervene in Syria’s unrest. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s security forces clashed with protesters in several cities yesterday after his promises of freedoms and pay increases failed to prevent dissent from spreading across the country.

Clinton said the elements that led to intervention in Libya — international condemnation, an Arab League call for action, a United Nations Security Council resolution — are “not going to happen” with Syria, in part because members of the U.S. Congress from both parties say they believe Assad is “a reformer.”

Shockingly, the Soros-funded toolbags at Think Progress are losing their marbles over Cain’s comments.

KEYES: You came under a bit of controversy this week for some of the comments made about Muslims in general. Would you be comfortable appointing a Muslim, either in your cabinet or as a federal judge?

CAIN: No, I would not. And here’s why. There is this creeping attempt, there is this attempt to gradually ease Sharia law and the Muslim faith into our government. It does not belong in our government. This is what happened in Europe. And little by little, to try and be politically correct, they made this little change, they made this little change. And now they’ve got a social problem that they don’t know what to do with hardly.

The question that was asked that “raised some questions” and, as my grandfather said, “I does not care, I feel the way I feel.” I was asked, “what is the role of Islam in America?” I thought it was an odd question. I said the role of Islam in America is for those that believe in Islam to practice it and leave us alone. Just like Christianity. We have a First Amendment. And I get upset when the Muslims in this country, some of them, try to force their Sharia law onto the rest of us.

Money quote:

Our military has a wonderful euphemism called “national command authority”; it’s a legitimate military target. In Libya, Muammar Gaddafi is “national command authority,” and I think that’s the answer right there. — John Bolton

No more plausible deniability.

(MacIver Institute) — The heated rhetoric and aggressive attitude of some Democratic lawmakers in Wisconsin has surprised many, even revolutionaries, says a leader of the Communist Party USA.

CPUSA Vice Chairman Scott Marshall says he’s never seen such radicalization of legislators. Marshall indicates it’s imperative that the Communist Party USA seize upon the unrest.

Interesting analysis of the situation in Syria. Note: Normally I don’t use Debka as a source but this piece seems pretty straight forward and accurate.

(Debka) — The protest against Bashar Assad’s regime is swelling. From its first epicenter in the southern town of Deraa it spread Friday, March 25, to new cities, Homs, Aleppo, Latakia and parts of Damascus. It has quickly attained the scale unforeseen by the regime of

a popular uprising by the majority Sunni population (74 percent) against Allawite-dominated (15 percent) rule.

Army troops gunned the protesters down in what witnesses described as a massacre of scores and hundreds injured, raising calls from the opposition for international intervention.

The authorities were caught unawares by the upsurge of street rallies that followed preachers’ sermons in hundreds of Sunni mosques calling on their congregations to go out and drive the Assads and the minority Allawite sect from power. The Syrian secret service missed the Muslim Brotherhood’s hand in organizing this mass street eruption. The strongest rallying cry came from the influential radical Egyptian television preacher Yussuf Qaradawi who called on Syria’s Sunni community to stand up for its rights as a majority.

Because the army’s 4th Division commanded by Bashar’s brother Maher Assad, the only unit to be manned by Allawites, is tied down in suppressing riots in the southern town of Deraa and most of the troops in all other units are Sunnis, Assad is short of trusted contingents to defend his regime. He figured that fresh outbreaks in Deraa would inflame the rest of the country and therefore kept the 4th Division in place.

But the outbreaks spread to other key cities anyway under slogans calling for solidarity with the martyrs of Deraa and threatening his power centers in Damascus and beyond.

Neither the conciliatory measures announced on Thursday nor the security crackdown against protesters has succeeded in stifling dissent and defusing the crisis.

Defiancecontinues in Deraa itself even after demonstrators were gunned down with live bullets. The al-Omari mosque, which was stormed by security forces on Tuesday night, was reported to be back in the hands of protesters.The mosque has been the focal point of dissent in Deraa.

The tipping point for the 11-year old Assad regime (which followed the one his father established after a military coup) is therefore not far off unless he makes the right decision or receives outside help.

He can either opt for the Qaddafi option, for instance, or follow the example of the King of Bahrain.

From the outset of the Libya revolt in February, Muammar Qaddafi opted for abandoning the east and focusing his military effort on preserving his centers of power in Tripoli and its outlying towns. After stabilizing his rule, he planned to set out and wrest the rest of the country from the rebels opposing his regime.

So far, his gamble has succeeded. The rebels backed by international forces have not unseated him.

Will Assad decide after Friday that he has enough loyal military strength to buttress his rule over all of Syria, or choose to pull in his horns and concentrate on saving Damascus?

Since much of his army is unreliable, the Syrian ruler may have to opt for the Bahrain remedy – namely, calling for outside help as did King Hamid al Khalifa who asked Riyadh for Saudi forces to prop up his throne against a Shiite-led uprising.

The allies who come to mind in the case of Assad are Iran, the Lebanese Hizballah, pro-Iranian Palestinian groups with bases in Damascus – Hamas, Jihad Islami and Ahmad Jibril’s Popular Palestinian Front-General Command.

It would take Tehran no more than a few hours to fly Revolutionary Guards units into Damascus. An Iranian command structure is already positioned at Syrian armed forces headquarters in Damascus. Also available to Tehran is an Iraqi Shiite militia, the Mehdi Army of the radical cleric Moqtada Sadr, a good personal friend both of Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah and Assad.

Saturday, there was widespread speculation that Tehran would do its utmost to rescue the Syrian ruler who only recently opened the port of Latakia for an Iranian base.

Giving Hizballah a foothold in Syria is more complicated given the unstated competition between him and the Syrian ruler and the latter’s reservations about the former’s rising military strength and effective secret and terrorist capabilities. Assad would undoubtedly take into account that once Hizballah gained a foothold in Syria, it would be hard to dislodge.

Putting the fate of the Assad regime in the hands of radical Palestinian organizations would be equally imprudent and, worse, a humiliation.

It would give Palestinians their second open door to an Arab uprising, the first of which gave Hamas undreamed of leverage in Egypt.

Assad may even stage an attack on Israel as a desperate diversionary tactic from his troubles.

HT: Roger Simon

A 9/11 truther, a junk scientist and the Obama administrations. . . sounds about right.

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore will join 10,000 youth activists at Power Shift 2011 as the opening keynote speaker on April 15, 2011.

Gore, who is chairman of the Alliance for Climate Protection, will be speaking about climate change and how we can take action to solve the climate crisis.

For four days, young leaders will come together for Power Shift 2011 — a historic summit where activists will get the skills they need to create clean and just energy solutions in communities around the country and around the world.

“I’m coming to Power Shift because I truly believe we must lead the world to a clean energy future, and young leaders are the driving force behind the movement that will make it happen,” Gore said today.

Sponsored by the Energy Action Coalition, Power Shift 2011 will feature a range of prominent voices. In addition to Al Gore, leaders such as Van Jones and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson will join the conference.

HT: GWP

The developmentally arrested twit tweeted this one:

(more…)

Feel good story of the day.

(INN) — The IDF scored direct hits on Islamic Jihad terrorists preparing to attack the Negev with more rockets Sunday morning, killng two terrorist and wounding two others.

On Saturday, terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza fired three rockets on the western Negev, causing damage but no injuries.

Hamas has offered another ceasefire on condition that the IDF does not strike. Several ceasefire declarations by Hamas over the past four years have been short-lived. The latest offer already has been rejected by Islamic Jihad terrorist leaders. Hamas, as the de facto ruler of the region, is responsible for all attacks from Gaza.

The Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency, which is linked to the Palestinian Authority, reported Saturday that factions in Gaza agreed “to commit to a truce with Israel if its military stopped attacking the coastal enclave.” However, the list of those agreeing to a ceasefire omitted Islamic Jihad. Half a dozen other terrorist groups, including Fatah’s terrorist wing, did not attend a meeting with Hamas leaders Saturday.

The lack of unity in Gaza reflects a statement by the head of the IDF Southern Command, Tal Russo, who said Saturday, “Gaza’s terror organizations are in a state of anarchy, and that includes Hamas. They don’t really talk to each other; they speak in artillery fire.”

Responding directly to the ceasefire offer, military spokespersons said Saturday night, “The Israeli defense system is pleased with the agreement of the Palestinian factions to stop the firing at Israel but emphasizes that the test of the agreement is in the field. A military source emphasized that Israel will not initiate an escalation of the situation if the quiet is maintained.”

Sunday’ morning’s attack on the terror cell preparing to fire rockets is a signal clear that Israel will not allow a ceasefire to prevent the IDF from stopping terrorist attacks.

The Islamic war on free speech continues.

NEW YORK — Reposing complete confidence in Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, the OIC decided that the Ambassador of Pakistan along with Ambassadors of Tajiskistan (OIC chair), Morocco (OIC Coordinator for Human Rights), Iran and Egypt would meet with the UN Secretary General to convey OIC’s strong condemnation and ask him to take the lead towards promoting inter-faith harmony.

It was decided in OIC ambassadorial meeting which convened here the other day to discuss the recent desecration of the Holy Quran in Florida last week.

The meeting approved the proposals of Ambassador Haroon and his Iranian counterpart that OIC Chair and Observer Mission will draft a strong condemnatory letter on behalf of OIC with the assistance of Pakistan and Morocco to be sent to the UN Secretary General, President UN General Assembly, High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) with the request to circulate it as an official document.

Here the lying manipulator waxes eloquent as he condemns Clinton for violating an oath but ignores his violation of his marriage vows.

(POLITICO) — Pressed on “Fox News Sunday” about his adulterous past, Newt Gingrich said it was not hypocritical for him to impeach Bill Clinton while he cheated on his own wife because he never lied under oath.

“I don’t know what you would have had me do,” he said, getting a little testy, “because . . . the president of the United States [was] committing perjury. Remember, he’s a lawyer! This was not some accidental thing. And I thought the outcome was about right.”

The all-but-official candidate for the Republican presidential nomination granted that his own extramarital affairs will be an issue in the coming campaign, but he sounded hopeful that voters will, if they don’t forgive or forget, at least look the other way.

“We’ll find out six months or a year from now whether people are forgiving and whether they put in context events that are 10 and 15 years old,” Gingrich said.

The former House speaker from Georgia said it didn’t bother him that he was throwing rocks at Clinton as president while living in his own metaphorical glass house. He said he would have resigned his leadership post if he didn’t think he could go after Clinton for breaking the law.

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Tide turning?

(JPost) — Libyan rebels have entered the oil-exporting town of Ras Lanuf after routing Muammar Gaddafi’s troops further east, a rebel fighter told Reuters on the road to Ras Lanuf.

“There is no Gaddafi army in Ras Lanuf,” said the fighter, Walid al-Arabi, quoting rebels who had returned from the town.

He said he believed the front line was now west of Ras Lanuf.

Earlier Sunday, An Al Jazeera correspondent said the rebels had reached Uqayla, more than 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Ajdabiyah and the last town traveling west before the major oil exporting terminal of Ras Lanuf.

This is what Obama had to say yesterday:

(AFP) — President Barack Obama gave a staunch defense of the US role in the international military mission in Libya Saturday, as he comes under pressure to explain US goals to a public exhausted by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama’s weekly radio and online address was his most detailed review of the UN-sanctioned action so far, and comes ahead of an address to the nation Monday on the US strategy in Libya.

“Make no mistake, because we acted quickly, a humanitarian catastrophe has been avoided and the lives of countless civilians — innocent men, women and children — have been saved,” Obama said.

When innocent people are brutalized by a leader like Kadhafi who was threatening a “bloodbath,” and when nations are prepared to respond together, “it’s in our national interest to act,” he said. “And it’s our responsibility.”

And here’s Gates today:

David Gregory: Is Libya in our vital interest as a country?

Robert Gates: No, I don’t think it’s vital interest for the United States, but we clearly have interest there and it is a pat of the region which is a vital interest for the United States.

So which is it?

On October 23, 2008, WFTV (Orlando) news anchor Barbara West interviewed VP candidate Joe Biden, asking him pointed questions about his running mate:

One day later, Team Obama announced a “non-negotiable” blackout of WFTV:

(Orlando Sentinel) — WFTV-Channel 9’s Barbara West conducted a satellite interview with Sen. Joe Biden on Thursday. A friend says it’s some of the best entertainment he’s seen recently. What do you think?

West wondered about Sen. Barack Obama’s comment, to Joe the Plumber, about spreading the wealth. She quoted Karl Marx and asked how Obama isn’t being a Marxist with the “spreading the wealth” comment.

“Are you joking?” said Biden, who is Obama’s running mate. “No,” West said.

West later asked Biden about his comments that Obama could be tested early on as president. She wondered if the Delaware senator was saying America’s days as the world’s leading power were over.

“I don’t know who’s writing your questions,” Biden shot back.

Biden so disliked West’s line of questioning that the Obama campaign canceled a WFTV interview with Jill Biden, the candidate’s wife.

“This cancellation is non-negotiable, and further opportunities for your station to interview with this campaign are unlikely, at best for the duration of the remaining days until the election,” wrote Laura K. McGinnis, Central Florida communications director for the Obama campaign.

McGinnis said the Biden cancellation was “a result of her husband’s experience yesterday during the satellite interview with Barbara West.”

Here’s a link to the interview: www.wftv.com/video/.

WFTV news director Bob Jordan said, “When you get a shot to ask these candidates, you want to make the most of it. They usually give you five minutes.”

Jordan said political campaigns in general pick and choose the stations they like. And stations often pose softball questions during the satellite interviews.

“Mr. Biden didn’t like the questions,” Jordan said. “We choose not to ask softball questions.”

Jordan added, “I’m crying foul on this one.”

What did you think of the interview?

Quick update on Joe Biden’s Staffers Held Pool Reporter in Closet at High-Powered Florida Democrat Fundraiser. Here are both of Scott Powers’ posts from March 23, 2011:

Waiting for Joe and Bill

Not looking for sympathy here, but the life of a political reporter isn’t all champagne and canapes. Consider our man Scott Powers, who was sent over to the Winter Park home of Alan Ginsburg this morning as the designated “pool reporter” — aka scribe — for the fundraiser where Vice President Joe Biden is appearing on behalf of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

Turns out the veep hadn’t arrived, but about 150 guests (minimum donation $500) were already in the house. So to prevent Scott from mingling with the crowd, a member of Biden’s advance team consigned him to a storage closet — and then stood outside the door to make sure he didn’t walk out without permission.

Scott e-mailed us this photo from his temporary prison. “Sounds like a nice party,” he wrote.

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The entire left side of the political spectrum in the United States seen nodding in approval.

Via NIJ:

The SV annual convention goes to vote. The deranged junior partner in the current government coalition will among other proposals vote on a motion to use armed force against Israel should it attack Gaza.

The motion is the blood money required to pay off SV card carrying members who find it hard to accept that they have taken the nation to war, again. Last time it did so was back in 1999, when the party backed the NATO bombing of Serbia. As a result, we got ourselves involved in a war crimes probe because of  high number of civilian casualties and bombing illegal targets.

Therefore, the only way it can be palatable to bomb Libya for these morally deranged people is if Israel can be bombed too.

Here is the less than lucid reasoning behind the motion:

— The credibility of the world community in its confrontation with the Gadafi regime is undermined when there is no reaction against other states in the region who commit injustices against civil population. The greater world community must therefore also react against Israeli air attacks on the Gaza strip.

Keep reading…

HT: Tundra Tabloids

How many overwhelmingly leftist PETA members actually read the Bible?

(Gothamist) — After they heard that the latest translation of the New International Version of the Bible will now use gender- inclusive language such as “he or she” instead of just “he”, PETA saw an opportunity to change one other thing.

The organization has petitioned the Committee on Bible Translation to suggest that its next translation remove”speciesist” language, by referring to animals as “he or she” instead of “it.” “When the Bible moves toward inclusively in one area . . . it wasn’t much of a stretch to suggest they move toward inclusively in this area. Language matters. Calling an animal ‘it’ denies them something. They are beloved by God. They glorify God,” Bruce Friedrich, PETA’s vice president for policy, told CNN.

PETA said it hopes the switch to include more gender-inclusive language will spark translators to readdress the ways animals are referred to in the Bible.

“Updating the Bible’s language regarding animals would not only reflect modern writing trends but also reinforce the idea that animals are living beings valued by God, not inanimate objects. Jesus taught us the importance of mercy and compassion, and this update would encourage mercy and compassion for all God’s creatures — including those who have feathers, fins, and fur,” Friedrich wrote.