Including, and I’m not making this up, peas arranged in the shape of the Jewish Star of David. You know, because Jews are so widely loved in the Muslim world.

(Haaretz) — A British animal rights organization has asked the Pakistani government for permission to promote peace by decorating the compound where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was killed last month, the organization announced Thursday.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said they had written to President Asif Ali Zardari, asking him to allow them paint the compound walls with slogans reading, “Give Peas a Chance – Go Vegan” and “Nonviolence begins on your plate.”

“The art work will feature images of peas arranged to represent different religious symbols, including the Christian cross, the Muslim star and crescent, the Hindu Aum, and the Jewish Star of David,” said PETA president Ingrid Newkirk.

Remember, the only good Red is a dead Red.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he underwent a second surgery in Cuba that removed a cancerous tumor.

Chavez says in a televised address to his countrymen that the second operation removed a tumor in which there were “cancerous cells.”

The polar bear retains the unique distinction of being the only animal ever to be placed on the endangered species list because of “global warming.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. judge on Thursday backed a finding by government scientists that global warming is threatening the survival of the polar bear.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that a May 2008 decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to place the bear on the endangered species list as threatened because of melting sea ice was rational given the facts and best available science.

Environmental groups had sued, saying the polar bear needed more protection under the Endangered Species Act. The state of Alaska, under the leadership of then-Gov. Sarah Palin, and hunting groups argued that the listing was unnecessary. They say the bear is protected by other laws and that the scientific case is shaky when it comes to predicting global warming’s toll on the mammal.

Doesn’t matter, the left will still claim this is a concentration camp.

(CNS) — Former Army Gitmo prosecutor Kyndra Rotunda told CNSNews.com that some prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have asked to stay there in U.S. custody rather than be released to return to their home countries.

“Interestingly, some detainees were offered release, and asked to stay in Gitmo. They prefer captivity in Gitmo to freedom in their own countries!” Rotunda told CNSNews.com by e-mail.

Far from being tortured, as some protestors outside the White House alleged last week, Rotunda said prisoners at Gitmo are allowed to take classes (with some even receiving “home-schooling”), can read Harry Potter books in Arabic and are given their choice of athletic shoes for playing sports.

What’s more, the Defense Department has even flown in special fruits and nuts for detainees to observe Ramadan, Rotunda said, although the detainees’ request for a goat to be sacrificed was declined–in deference to PETA.

“Most Gitmo detainees live in group housing with open bays and about 10 people to a bay,” she said.

“They are outside of their housing bays for up to 12 hours a day. During that time, they can take classes, visit the library — which has over 5,000 titles, including the Harry Potter series translated into Arabic, which are very popular — exercise, check out movies or games, play sports — detainees can chose from a selection of athletic shoes — or even visit the computer lab.”

Keep reading…

End of an era.

(Marine Corps Times) — For at least a decade, factions of the Marine Corps have pushed for replacement of the legendary 5.56mm M249 Squad Automatic Weapon in infantry fire teams.

Weighing more than 22 pounds with a 200-round drum, the belt-fed light machine gun slows down Marines while patrolling and maneuvering under fire, critics said. It isn’t accurate, it’s temperamental and takes too long to get working after jams, they added.

Beginning this year, the critics will get their way.

Commandant Gen. Jim Amos has approved the full fielding of the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, a sleek, 5.56mm weapon that will become the new standard for automatic riflemen. There will be one IAR in virtually every four-man fire team, with three per squad, 28 per company and almost 4,476 across the Corps.

“After a rigorous testing process, both in garrison and deployed environments, and in-depth consultation with weapons experts through the Corps, the commandant approved the fielding of the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle,” said Maj. Joseph Plenzler, a spokesman for Amos. “The fielding of the IAR will significantly enhance the ability of our infantrymen to gain and maintain fire superiority, reduce their fighting load and provide them a more ergonomic and accurate weapons system that can keep up during the assault.”

Keep reading…

HT: Big Peace

Ever notice when the left can’t get their way they start referring to whatever is in their way as “unconstitutional?”

(Yahoo! News) — As both major parties debate their conditions for raising the nation’s debt ceiling, some Senate Democrats and constitutional scholars are questioning whether the limit is constitutional in the first place.

Delaware Sen. Chris Coons told The Huffington Post this week that he’s part of a group of lawmakers now examining whether, in the case that debt negotiations fail, the Treasury could ignore Congress and continue paying its bills on time.

“This is an issue that’s been raised in some private debate between senators as to whether in fact we can default, or whether that provision of the Constitution can be held up as preventing default,” Coons told Huffington Post reporters Ryan Grim and Samuel Haass. “[I]t’s going to get a pretty strong second look as a way of saying, ‘Is there some way to save us from ourselves?’”

Critics of the debt limit cite the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which states: “the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.”

Of course, the Fourteenth Amendment is open to wide, and varying, interpretation and debate. The most basic question here is, does a limit on debt “question” the “validity” of the debt?

Neglets to ask Michele Bachmann one substantive question.

Via Brietbart

They really don’t think the rules apply to them.

A Judicial Watch investigation has found that the Obama Administration recently violated the ban on federal funding for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) by giving the famously corrupt group tens of thousands of dollars in grants to “combat housing and lending discrimination.”

Congress passed a law (Defund ACORN Act) in 2009 to stop the huge flow of taxpayer money that annually went to ACORN after a series of exposés about the leftwing group’s illegal activities. Judicial Watch has been a leader in investigating ACORN by requesting public records and taking legal action to uncover details of its fraudulent voter registration drives, involvement in the housing market meltdown and its close ties to President Obama. Read all about it here.

This week a JW probe uncovered that Obama’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently awarded a $79,819 grant to an ACORN reincarnation called Affordable Housing Centers of America (AHCOA). Incredibly, the government’s federal expenditure website openly describes the recipient as ACORN Housing Corporation Inc. and lists the group’s New Orleans address at 1024 Elysian Fields.

HUD’s press release announcing the award is more discreet, however. It lists the recipient of the $79,819 grant as Florida-based Affordable Housing Centers of America, even though it’s the same ACORN offshoot. In all, HUD awarded 108 “fair housing organizations” more than $40 million to educate the public and combat discrimination. The allocation represents a $13.2 million increase over last year’s allotment to end housing discrimination against minorities.

Keep reading…

You guys tell me, does he have a shot?

(USA Today) — Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich. will launch his presidential campaign on July 2, making him the third sitting member of the House to run for the White House in 2012.

McCotter will make his bid official in his home state of Michigan, according to a knowledgable source in the campaign who declined to be identified.

The five-term congressman has made stops in several of the early primary states and participated in the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans earlier this month. He joined the Iowa Tea Party bus tour this week during a stop in Ottumwa, Iowa.

During the stop, he told the Des Moines Register that he thought there was room for more conservative candidates like him in the race.

The NYT wants you to “atone” for your carbon sins this 4th of July.

(NY Times) — FOOD is responsible for 10 to 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. By many estimates, cooking represents more of a meal’s carbon footprint than transport. For certain vegetables, it accounts for more emissions than agriculture, transport and disposal combined.

Fourth of July, the national celebration of combustion, presents an opportunity for atonement.

I’m not advising you to forsake grilling this holiday and join the ranks of raw-foodists. Nor do I believe that we can reverse climate change by eating burgers rare instead of well done. But a little creative thinking can reduce this year’s Fourth of July carbon emissions without gustatory sacrifice. And maybe that awareness will carry into other days and other parts of our lives. . . .

Charcoal is made of wood, so the carbon it releases upon combustion is approximately equal to the carbon the tree it came from once removed from the atmosphere. In theory, charcoal should be less damaging than propane, which releases carbon that has been sequestered harmlessly underground for hundreds of millions of years.

It’s far more complicated in practice, though. We get most lump charcoal from cutting down mesquite trees, and in addition to the deforestation effect, it takes more fuel to produce and transport charcoal than it does propane. As a result, according to a 2009 study in the journal Environmental Impact Assessment Review, propane is nearly three times as efficient as lump charcoal.

Charcoal briquettes, however, are a different story. The compressed round briquettes are made from scrap wood that would otherwise go to waste. The better manufacturers build their plants near construction centers and use recycled heat from those centers to power their briquette kilns. If you take that into account, charcoal briquettes are ahead of lump charcoal and propane as the best option in terms of climate change. (Any kind of charcoal, however, releases more particulate matter than propane, which makes charcoal a greater contributor to air pollution. There are few easy choices in environmental analysis.)

Very effective vid released by Team ObamneyCare on the day Obama returned to Pennsylvania, where the leading GOP candidate conspicuously kept his mug off the screen.

Most critics of Obama would consider it an understatement.

(WaPo) — I happened to be interviewing top Obama adviser David Axelrod this morning on another topic, so I got a chance to quickly ask him for a response to Mark Halperin’s claim that Obama was “kind of a dick” at yesterday’s presser — a crack that has now earned Halperin an indefinite suspension.

Axelrod condemned the remark, but he also took the high road, suggesting it was likely a “mistake” that shouldn’t be seen as representative of Halperin’s career.

“What he said was obviously stupid and tasteless, and he exercised poor judgment,” Axelrod said. “I think he’d be the first to acknowledge that. I strongy disagree with his analysis. But I’ve known him for decades. he’s a decent person and a good journalist. I’m sure that no one regrets this more than he does.”

CPUSA chief Sam Webb tells us why they will continue to support Obama and the Democrats in 2012. Hint: It’s because Republicans are more evil.

(People’s World) — It is obvious that there is a growing feeling of frustration and even anger among supporters of the Democratic Party with its performance over the past two years.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, speaking for the labor movement, strongly expressed this unhappiness in some recent speeches.

I am disappointed too with some aspects of the Obama administration’s domestic and foreign policy.

But I don’t forget that this administration governs in a very hostile political environment in which the right is laboring overtime to wreck its initiatives at every step of the way.

In addition, there are the structural pressures of governing in a capitalist economy and state.

Then there are conservative pressures coming from some congressional Democrats and members of the administration.

But the main question from a strategic point of view is this: Does it make any difference, from the standpoint of the class and democratic struggles, which party gains political ascendency?

Some — though not the labor movement nor other mass organizations of the American people — say no, it doesn’t.

Some even go a step further and say a Democratic victory creates popular illusions, which in turn weaken the people’s struggles. And the only way out of this vise is to form a third party now.

Communists don’t agree with either one of these views. In our view, the differences between the two parties of capitalism are of consequence to class and democratic struggles. . . .

As for the wisdom of a third party, we have always advocated the formation of an independent people’s party at the core of which are the working class and labor, racially and nationally oppressed people, women, youth, immigrants, seniors, gay and straight, etc. It is essential for any deep-going social change. But its realization depends on more than our desire, more than our political-ideological attitude. Millions who have to be at the core of this party still operate under the umbrella of the Democratic Party, albeit increasingly in an independent fashion.

Moreover, to separate ourselves at this moment from these forces would be contrary to our strategic policy of building maximum unity against right-wing extremism now and in next year’s elections.

HT: New Zeal via Brian

Obama Regime: Like children at an amusement park playing with fake money.

(CNSNews.com) — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner oversaw the largest increase in the national debt of any Treasury Secretary in American history, presiding over a $3.7 trillion increase in the debt.

According to data from the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Public Debt, the national debt has increased $3,723,575,990,130.10 from Jan. 26, 2009 until June 30, 2011, Geithner’s entire tenure to date as Treasury secretary.

When Geithner took office the total national debt stood at $10.6 trillion. As of June 30, 2011, it had risen to $14.3 trillion.

In fact, the debt accrued under Geithner is greater than all federal debt accrued in the first 204 years of the nation’s history. The national debt did not reach $3.7 trillion until October 1991, according to historical Treasury data that reaches back to 1791.

Geithner, who reportedly may step down from his position soon, has overseen the accrual of more federal debt (in only 2.5 years) than every Treasury secretary combined from Alexander Hamilton to Nicholas Brady, who was Treasury secretary in October 1991 when the national debt reached $3.7 trillion.

Since then, the federal debt has increased by historically large amounts under each Treasury secretary since Brady but not to the level it is today under Geithner. The debt increases under those secretaries are presented below.

Keep reading. . .

(Reuters) — President Barack Obama will hold a “town hall” meeting on the U.S. economy and jobs on July 6, the White House said on Thursday, but it will be in the virtual world of Twitter, not a brick and mortar building.

The White House used Twitter to announce the event on Thursday and invite potential participants to submit questions.

The White House Twitter account, which has 2.2 million followers, invited questions to a new account “@townhall” marked with the hashtag “AskObama.”

Americans’ pessimism about the sluggish U.S. economy, especially the 9.1 percent jobless rate, may be the biggest obstacle to Obama’s hopes of winning re-election next year.

Just yesterday he said he wanted to meet with Republicans about the debt limit and the economy, then today he says no to their invitation. You couldn’t make this stuff up.

(Reuters) — The White House effectively turned down an invitation by Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell for President Barack Obama to visit his members on Capitol Hill on Thursday to discuss raising the debt limit.

White House press secretary Jay Carney, while not directly saying the invitation had been rejected, said Obama did not need to hear Republicans tell him what they would not support.

That, Carney said, was “not a conversation worth having.”

Is he accusing the GOP of treason?

(Politico) — A bill to create construction jobs and fund new highway infrastructure. A clean-energy jobs program. Reforming the immigration system for high-skilled workers. And a variety of tax cuts and credits.

None are new ideas, but they’re all part of Senate Democrats’ jobs agenda Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) laid out in greater detail Thursday as he portrayed his party as proactively trying to spur economic growth and accused the GOP of deliberately trying to undermine the recovery for political gain. . . .

“And we need to start asking ourselves an uncomfortable question — are Republicans slowing down the recovery on purpose for political gain in 2012? . . . [N]ow it is becoming clear that insisting on a slash-and-burn approach may be part of this plan — it has a double benefit for Republicans: It is ideologically tidy and it undermines the economic recovery, which they think only helps them in 2012.”

Republicans have scoffed at that notion, arguing that Democrats’ solution to the broken economy is tax increases and a continuation of failed stimulus spending. This week, the GOP renewed its push for a constitutional amendment that would require the government to balance its budget each year.

How amazingly pathetic. What is this, elementary school? Carney runs to the teacher to cry because little Barry was called a mean name.

If Halperin called Bush a “dick” he would have been given his own show on MSNBC before they even went to commercial break.

I can only imagine the chilling effect this must have on the CIA operatives working in the field trying to stop the next jihadist terror attack.

(Fox News) — The Justice Department is moving forward with criminal investigations relating to CIA interrogations of two detainees who died in the agency’s custody.

The decision, announced Thursday by Attorney General Eric Holder, is the result of a nearly two-year preliminary review into the Bush-era interrogations by prosecutor John Durham. Though the secretive probe has drawn fierce criticism from Republicans since it began, Holder reiterated Thursday that he will not abandon it.

In a statement, Holder said the review looked mostly at “whether any unauthorized interrogation techniques were used by CIA interrogators, and if so, whether such techniques could constitute violations of the torture statute or any other applicable statute.”

Though the review now triggers a full investigation into two deaths, Holder indicated Justice would drop its review of the other cases.

“Mr. Durham and his team reviewed a tremendous volume of information pertaining to the detainees. . . . Mr. Durham has advised me of the results of his investigation, and I have accepted his recommendation to conduct a full criminal investigation regarding the death in custody of two individuals. Those investigations are ongoing,” Holder said. “The department has determined that an expanded criminal investigation of the remaining matters is not warranted.”

The investigation into CIA practices, first announced in August 2009, outraged some lawmakers concerned about the precedent the Obama administration could set by investigating the war-time actions of its predecessor. Republican lawmakers revived calls to drop the probe altogether after Usama bin Laden was killed in a CIA-led raid in Pakistan, claiming Bush-era interrogations played a part in tracking him down.

Class warfare fail.

(CNSNews.com) — President Barack Obama’s approval has hit an all-time low among the poorest Americans, according to the Gallup poll. Meanwhile, when compared to the other income brackets reported by Gallup, Obama’s approval is highest among the richest Americans.

In the week of June 20–26 — the most recent week published by Gallup — only 45 percent of Americans in the lowest income bracket reported by the polling company (those earning less than $2,000 per month) said they approved of the job Obama was doing as president.

Gallup publishes the president’s weekly approval numbers among Americans in four income brackets: those earning less than $2,000 per month, those earning between $2,000 and $4,999 per month, those earning between $5,000 and $7,499 and those earning more than $7,500.

In Gallup’s most recent survey, Obama had majority approval in none of these income brackets.

However, of the four, his approval was highest — 47 percent — in the richest bracket, those earning more than $7,500 per month.

His approval rating last was 42 percent among those earning $2,000 to $4,999 per month and 43 percent among those earning $5,000 to $7,499 per month.