Even if it isn’t true the irony of anti-American propagandist Michael Moore being used as anti-American propaganda is too much.

TEHRAN — An Iranian official has announced once again that U.S. filmmaker Michael Moore plans to visit Iran in autumn.

“He has asked [for permission] to travel to Iran, and we are trying to invite him to the Cinéma Vérité,” Deputy Culture Minister for Cinematic Affairs Javad Shamaqdari said during a meeting at the Documentary and Experimental Film Center (DEFC) in Tehran on Wednesday.

The Cinéma Vérité is an Iranian international festival for documentary films, which is organized by the DEFC.

“Michael Moore has said that he has watched some Iranian films, which were very special for him,” Shamaqdari said.

“He said that he has never had such an image of Iran as was shown in the films, and that he was astonished to see Iranian youth skiing and going to coffee shops,” he added.

“He has said that he wants to visit Iran to do research about the country. In addition, he is an opponent of U.S. government policies and he wants to show his objection by traveling to Iran,” Shamaqdari stated.

Lapdogs.

(USA Today) — ESPN is coming down on Paul Azinger for mocking President Barack Obama on Twitter. The golf analyst tweeted Friday that the Commander-in-chief plays more golf than he does — and that Azinger has created more jobs this month than Obama has.

ESPN has ‘reminded” Azinger his venture into political punditry violates the company’s updated social network policy for on-air talent and reporters issued yesterday.

“Paul’s tweet was not consistent with our social media policy, and he has been reminded that political commentary is best left to those in that field,” spokesman Andy Hall told Game On! in a statement.

ESPN’s Hall would not comment on whether Azinger, who won the 1993 PGA Championship, will be fired, suspended or punished in some way. “We handle that internally,” he said.

President Obama has a good relationship with ESPN. He’s appeared several times on the network to fill out his March Madness brackets for both the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments.

Actually, they should worry, the House controls the purse strings and they’ve made it clear U.S. aid will be on the chopping block if the Palestinians decide to go through with their statehood bid.

(Politico) — American officials are dismissing a top Palestinian leader’s claims on Friday that the U.S. warned it will take “punitive measures” and cutoff aid if the Palestinians move forward on their statehood bid.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat released a statement Friday quoting U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem Daniel Rubinstein as saying the U.S. would veto the statehood recognition resolution at the United Nations Security Council in September and would stop aid if Palestine continued to seek statehood at the full General Assembly meeting.

“The American Congress will take punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority including halting American assistance,” Erekat quoted Rubinstein as saying, according to the Associated Press.

The U.S. currently grants Palestinians $470 million in an annual aid package.

“The U.S. sees no benefits from the Palestinian efforts to get membership at the U.N. and it’s better to reach peace agreements through negotiations,” Erekat quoted Rubinstein as saying. “If the Palestinian Authority insists on going to the Security Council, then the U.S. will use the veto.”

The U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem released a statement in response on Friday, saying that the quotes attributed to Rubinstein were not accurate.

“While we cannot get into private diplomatic discussions, this report is not an accurate portrayal of the U.S position, nor did Consul-General Rubinstein make the comments reported in the media,” the statement said.

National day of mourning.

(ABC News) — President Obama will return to Washington, D.C., tonight, one day earlier than originally planned, White House officials said.

The president made the decision to cut short his family vacation on Martha’s Vineyard shortly after addressing the nation about the impending danger of Hurricane Irene, which he said has the potential to be “historic.”

Obama is expected to arrive back at the White House on Friday evening. His family will remain on the Vineyard through Saturday morning.

The family had been scheduled to return to Washington together tomorrow afternoon.

Via Human Events:

CNBC reports the already dismal economic news from the second quarter just got worse:

The U.S. economy grew much slower than previously thought in the second quarter as business inventories and exports were less robust, a government report showed on Friday, although consumer spending was revised up.

Gross domestic product growth rose at annual rate of 1.0 percent the Commerce Department said, a downward revision of its prior estimate of 1.3 percent. It also said after-tax corporate profits rose at the fastest pace in a year.

Economists had expected output growth to be revised down to 1.1 percent. In the first quarter, the economy advanced just 0.4 percent. The government’s second GDP estimate for the quarter confirmed growth almost stalled in the first six months of this year.

The second Recovery Summer has been just as exciting as the first one!

The United States is on a recession watch after a massive sell-off in the stock market knocked down consumer and business sentiment. The plunge in share prices followed Standard & Poor’s decision to strip the nation of its top notch AAA credit rating and a spreading sovereign debt crisis in Europe.

While sentiment has deteriorated, data such as industrial production, retail sales and employment suggest the economy could avoid an outright contraction.

Keep reading…

Sick.

(Ynet) — American pop star Katy Perry has been verbally attacked by pro-Palestinian supporters after sending a tweet on Monday asking her followers to pray for Israel in light of the recent escalation in the south, The Blaze website reported.

“My prayers are for you guys tonight, Shalom!!! Please pray with us,” Perry wrote.

Angry responses were quick to follow. “Katy Perry prays for Israel but spits on Gaza and its murdered children,” one of the singer’s followers wrote. “Go to hell with Israel,” another one said.

Some of the opponents used harsh words against the singer, calling her a “whore” and a “heartless lesbian”. One of them even wrote that he hoped her private jet would “crash land in Palestine so they can stamp on you like the whore you are. See if Israel come help you.”

Shortly afterwards, the pop star apparently decided to retract her original message. “A kid asked me to pray for him and I did. I don’t support any side of violence in any side for any reason,” she tweeted.

What a miserable joke: this guy is the friggen Vice President of the United States and he’s throwing out wild, baseless conspiracy theories about rogue businesses pressuring S&P.

(Reuters) — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Friday the U.S. economy needed more stimulus to get it moving, putting in a plug for government measures shortly before the White House unveils new proposals to boost job growth.

Concluding a trip to Asia that focused primarily on China, Biden also said a final decision had not been made on whether Washington would sell Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan and noted Beijing knew America viewed its one-child policy as “abhorrent.”

Reacting to a leadership switch at the top of ratings agency Standard & Poor’s after it downgraded the United States, Biden said his “instinct” was that pressure from disgruntled businesses may have influenced the change, though he made clear that he did not know the agency’s internal workings.

Winning hearts and minds.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somali Islamist rebels have beheaded at least 11 civilians in the capital in the past two weeks, a campaign of terror that residents said Friday is designed to show the insurgency can still act in Mogadishu after withdrawing from their bases there earlier this month.

“We wake up with beheaded bodies on the streets every day,” said Abdinur Marwan, who lives in a district of Mogadishu called Hewila. “They call themselves Muslims while doing what Allah banned! Everyone is trying to leave here because people are being killed like goats.”

The Islamist al-Shabab militia withdrew from their bases in the Somali capital after being steadily pushed back by more heavily armed African Union forces supporting the U.N.-backed Somali government. The Islamists described the withdrawal as a “tactical retreat” and said they would still carry out operations in the capital.

Resident Afrah Abdikhayre said five decapitated bodies were found in his Suqa Holaha area last week. He says two beheaded men in Somali government uniforms and another three headless bodies were found this week.

Resident Nur Sugow said al-Shabab beheaded a donkey cart driver in the Yaqshid district. Al-Shabab frequently carries out beheadings and amputations.

The militia also executed two men and a 16-year-old boy by firing squad on Tuesday after accusing them of spying.

Unlike his predecessor, Obama has been given a free pass by the lapdog MSM. Secondly, the way he’s been treated by his critics has absolutely, positively, nothing to do with racism and everything to do with incompetence and his reliance on failed Keynesian economic policies.

(RCP) — “There’s another thing the press seems to not get. A lot of African-Americans that I’ve talked to, most of them say that they ‘feel this President has been treated unfairly.’ They believe he has done every single thing in his power to try to create jobs, to try to make sure this economy moves forward. He’s gone against just fierce opposition. I think, I mean if you look at the evidence, that’s true. He’s accomplished a lot in the short time he’s been President. But the fact is, it has not been easy and will not continue to be easy,” Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) said on “Morning Joe” this morning.

Video here…

The one sure-fire way to turn your child into a lobotomized lefty is to send them to one of these tree-hugging liberal arts colleges. They’re a dime a dozen up here in the Northeast.

Via OTB/NBC Sports:

Goshen College (Ind.) is a Mennonite institution, and as such, committed to nonviolence. Its sports mascot, in fact, is the least threatening item found in nature — the leaf. But even some of its alumni must have been taken aback last year when college President Jim Brenneman banned the lyrics to the National Anthem at sporting events.

It was actually March 23, 2010 when Goshen played an instrumental-only version of the National Anthem before two sporting events — the first time since intercollegiate athletics began at the college in 1957 that the anthem was played. This month the college has taken it a step further, banning the Anthem altogether and choosing a new song.

The school’s board told Brenneman to “find an alternative to playing the National Anthem that fits with sports tradition, that honors country and that resonates with Goshen College’s core values and respects the views of diverse constituencies.”

“I am committed to retaining the best of what it means to be a Mennonite college, while opening the doors wider to all who share our core values,” Brenneman said. “And I invite others to join us at Goshen College as we make peace in all of its forms, even with the national anthem.”

Now let’s get out there and win!

Keep reading…

Never let a crisis go to waste.

VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. (AP) — The White House says President Barack Obama will make a statement Friday on Hurricane Irene from his vacation rental on Martha’s Vineyard. It comes as rain from the storm’s outer bands begins to hit the Carolinas.

Obama has been getting regular briefings from federal officials about the storm, and the White House has warned the public to follow emergency officials’ instructions.

The president is not expected to change his schedule as a result of the storm. He was already scheduled to leave Martha’s Vineyard Saturday.

The presidential statement may head off questions about Obama’s decision to keep his vacation on track even as the storm bears down on the East Coast.

Shockingly, the locals aren’t happy.

(Daily News) — Harlemites have had enough of a local pastor posting signs at his prominently located church spewing hateful messages about President Obama.

Pastor James David Manning has put up “Obama Is Evil” and “He Used Black Vote to Uncle Tom For Wall St.” on the towering sign outside the ATLAH World Missionary Church on the bustling corner of Lenox Ave. and W. 123rd St.

A church next to Manning’s was so put off by the signs, officials posted their own — to make sure nobody thought their church had anything to do with ATLAH.

“This church is not affiliated with the church on the corner. We Support President Barack Obama,” reads a sign above the front door of Greater Bethel A.M.E. Church.

The controversial sign at ATLAH, which Manning changes from time to time, has targeted Obama since he took office — and has become an attraction for pedestrians, as well as tourists passing by on double-decker buses.

“It’s not something that represents this community,” said Belynda M’baye, 53, who lives near the church and walks past the sign every day. “It sends out a message that all of Harlem is not supporting [Obama] and that’s not true. I don’t think that’s the case in Harlem.”

M’baye also wasn’t pleased to see tourists snapping photos of the sign. “I just don’t like that it’s so prevalent. He didn’t have anything up about [former President] Bush,” she said. “I would be very happy if it came down. This is actually nicer than what he had before.”

Huntsman is obviously confused, he is running for the GOP nomination, not a primary challenge against Obama.

Well, I would say that there’s going to have to be a shared sacrifice in this country. And I think that people at all levels are going to have to step up, whether it’s recognizing that Medicare is going to be done a little differently; Social Security is going to be done a little differently. And as president, I wouldn’t hesitate to call on sacrifice from all of our people, even those at the very highest end of the income spectrum.

Via Washington Times

Hence the reason Kucinich has been calling for NATO commanders to be tried in International Court.

(Reuters) — The Gaddafi government carried out a lobbying operation to try to stop NATO’s bombardment of Libya, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported on Friday, citing secret documents seen by the newspaper.

The newspaper said the documents in Tripoli showed Libya’s rulers believed NATO forces were likely to launch a full-scale invasion in “either late September or October.”

It said the documents also showed that Tripoli approached key international opinion formers in the United States, including U.S. President Barack Obama.

The paper also said the documents showed the Libyan prime minister wrote a letter to Obama in June, in which he addressed him as “Mr. President,” and politely complained about Washington’s “unprecedented decision” to confiscate Libya’s assets.

It said Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich, a Democratic congressman who voted against NATO military action in Libya, declined a Libyan approach to visit as part of a “peace mission.”

The plan was for Kucinich to meet “senior Libyan officials, including Gaddafi.”

“Because of the efforts I had made early on to bring an end to the war, I started to get calls from Libya, including from the prime minister,” the Guardian quoted Kucinich as saying.

Talk about grasping at straws.

(RCP) — Former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and senior economic adviser to President Obama appeared on FOX News’ “Hannity” to defend the President and the economy.

Earlier in August President Obama cited the earthquake and tsuanmi in Japan and the Arab Spring as reasons why the economy has not improved.

Goolsbee in his own words: “In the year 2010 which is when most of the clips when the president was saying we were going to grow again. We were growing and over that 17 months we added two-and-a-half million jobs.

“Now, at the beginning of this year we get earthquakes, tsunamis, revolutions in the Middle East, European financial crises, now they even have earthquakes out of Washington, D.C. I mean, we’ve had a series of things that have put some heavy blows and slowed the economy back down again. But, I think it’s a little — I don’t think you want to confuse something that is way down and starting to grow out.”

You know, because hurricanes are such a recent weather phenomenon.

Global Warming’s Heavy Cost — Daily Beast/Newsweek

Irene’s got a middle name, and it’s Global Warming.

As she roars up the Eastern Seaboard, everyone is doing what they should — boarding windows, preparing rescue plans, stocking up on batteries. But a lot of people are also wondering: what’s a “tropical” storm doing heading for the snow belt?

Category 3 Storms have rarely hit Long Island since the 1800s; one was the great unnamed storm of 1938, which sent 15-foot storm waters surging through what are now multimillion-dollar seaside homes. Normally, says Jeff Masters of Weather Underground, it’s “difficult for a major Category 3 or stronger hurricane crossing north of North Carolina to maintain that intensity, because wind shear rapidly increases and ocean temperatures plunge below the 26°C (79°F) level that can support a hurricane.” The high-altitude wind shear may help knock the storm down a little this year, but the ocean temperatures won’t. They’re bizarrely high — only last year did we ever record hotter water.

Keep reading…

Their link points to this story:

Although Americans are increasingly tolerant of the open expression of a variety of views, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 have made most Americans reluctant to extend those freedoms to Muslim extremists, research released Aug. 25 by NORC at the University of Chicago shows.

The finding, reported in NORC’s General Social Survey, illustrates a lingering impact of the horrific events from ten years ago, as well as the consequences on American public opinion of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Tom W. Smith, director of the survey.

“These figures are a result of people responding to what they perceive to be a serious threat,” Smith said. The survey found in 2008 that when asked if “A Muslim clergyman who preaches hatred of the United States” should be able to speak publicly, 41 percent of Americans said yes. The percentage remained unchanged in the 2010 survey. When asked if a Muslim extremist should be able to teach, 29 percent of Americans said yes in 2008 and 32 percent said yes in 2010. The survey found that 49 percent of Americans in 2008 would allow a book by a Muslim extremist to be in their local library, while 48 percent approved in 2010.

Yet tolerance has increased for the expression of other non-majority viewpoints. For example, the GSS found that a majority of Americans are no longer opposed to civil liberties for Communists. In 1972, the first year the survey was conducted, 53 percent of Americans felt that Communists should be allowed to speak, compared to 64 percent in 2010. In 2010, 61 percent (versus 33 percent in 1972) said that a Communist should be allowed to teach, and 69 percent (versus 53 percent in 1972) said that a book by a Communist was appropriate for a library collection.

Keep reading…

I have a dream . . . that degenerate race-baiters would no longer be given a national platform to spew their venom.

(USA Today) — Jesse Jackson said Thursday that the Tea Party’s tenets are reminiscent of state’s rights philosophies used in decades past to oppose federally mandated integration.

“The Tea Party is not new,” Jackson said at a luncheon honoring civil rights pioneers on Thursday. “It’s just a new name for an old game.”

The event was one of several taking place this week in conjunction with Sunday’s planned dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall. Organizers announced Thursday night that the dedication had been postponed because of Hurricane Irene.

The luncheon, held in a packed ballroom, cost $85 to attend. It included surviving confidantes of King — Andrew Young, former U.N. ambassador and mayor of Atlanta, and Julian Bond, a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee — along with modern-day civil rights leaders, including NAACP President Benjamin Jealous and National Urban League President Marc Morial, who was emcee.

Several speakers urged the public to use the memorial dedication as a starting point for addressing society’s problems. “We haven’t yet reached the promised land that Dr. King spoke of,” said Attorney General Eric Holder, who added that he and President Obama were results of the civil rights movement.

Jackson, who was with King when he was shot and killed in Memphis in 1968, said modern-day civil rights efforts should focus on issues such as ending “expensive, unnecessary, ungodly wars” and creating a fair tax code where “the wealthiest pay their fair share.” He also called for reversing policies — such as disparities in how crimes involving cocaine and crack are punished — that result in longer prison sentences for African-American men. His voice caught and shook at times during the speech.