Well deserved.

(Rasmussen) — Voters continue to dislike the top leaders in Congress which is one reason support for term limits remains high. Voters still express more dissatisfaction with the Democratic leaders than their GOP counterparts.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remains the least popular congressional leader, with 57% who view her unfavorably. Twenty-nine percent (29%) share a favorable opinion of the San Francisco Democrat. These findings include nine percent (9%) who view Pelosi Very Favorably and 44% who view her Very Unfavorably.

Pelosi’s latest unfavorable rating is only a slight improvement from her worst rating ever (64%) measured in July and February.

For House Speaker John Boehner, 34% have a favorable opinion of him while 46% view him unfavorably. That includes eight percent (8%) who have a Very Favorable view of the Ohio Republican and 27% who have a Very Unfavorable impression of him. When Boehner took the reins as speaker from Pelosi, he enjoyed a 45% favorable rating and a 34% unfavorable rating.

Twenty-four percent (24%) of voters share a favorable impression of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, including just seven percent (7%) who view him Very Favorably. Forty-nine percent (49%) view the Nevada Democrat unfavorably, with 31% who have a Very Unfavorable opinion of him. In late May, Reid’s favorable rating hit an all-time low of 21%.

Sergeant RuPaul orders you to be fabulous!

(WaTi) — With homosexuals now able to serve openly in the military, the gay rights movement’s next battleground is to persuade the Obama administration to end the armed forces’ ban on “transgenders,” a group that includes transsexuals and cross-dressers.

“Our position is that the military should re-examine the policy, the medical regulations, so as to allow open service for transgender people,” said Vincent Paolo Villano, spokesman for the 6,000-member Center for Transgender Equality.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), which pushed to end the military’s gay ban, is urging President Obama to sign an executive order prohibiting discrimination based on “gender identity.”

It had wanted the order to happen on Sept. 20, the official date “don’t ask, don’t tell,” as the gay ban was called, ended via repeal legislation signed by Mr. Obama.

Keep reading…

Hands off the U.N.

(The Hill) — The Obama administration is telling Democrats to stay away from a GOP bill to reform the United Nations, according to the Republican chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) says the Obama administration is pressuring House Democrats not to co-sponsor her legislation, which would cut off U.S. funding for the U.N. unless it ensures at least 80 percent of its programs are funded through voluntary contributions.

“We have no Democrat co-sponsors, and as far as I have heard . . . they have been asked to stay away from the bill,” Ros-Lehtinen told The Hill this week. “And of course, if you ask administration officials, they will tell you, ‘Of course we don’t do that.’”

Ros-Lehtinen said the opposition won’t stop her from pushing forward next month with the legislation, which she casts as a response to an organization that allows countries like China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and others to control the Human Rights Council.

The bill, which has 98 GOP co-sponsors, threatens to withhold half of the $3 billion the U.S. contributes to the U.N. every year until 80 percent of all U.N. programs are funded through voluntary contributions. It is meant to allow countries to only fund the U.N. programs that they support.

(Yahoo! News) — In a potentially bad sign for President Obama’s re-election chances, nearly half of Democrats say they are not exactly excited about voting in the upcoming 2012 elections.

A new Gallup Poll finds Democrats literally split in their feelings about next year’s elections: 45 percent are “more enthusiastic” to compared to past elections while 44 percent say they are “less enthusiastic.”

By comparison, roughly 6 in 10 Republicans are excited about the upcoming elections, compared to just 30 percent who say they are “less enthusiastic.”

According to Gallup, the current disparity between Democrats and Republicans on election enthusiasm is the largest they’ve measured in more than a decade.

Keep reading…

Evil incarnate.

Via Newsbusters:

A new course on Islam designed for journalists tries to minimize the impact and importance of “jihad” by comparing it to the number of murders in America each year. That same course claims “right-wing activists” tried to tie American Muslims to terrorism and doesn’t mention examples of Islamic attacks on press freedom.

That’s the way a prominent news organization is teaching journalists in a three-hour online course. The Poynter News University, part of the Poynter Institute, launched the free course “Covering Islam in America” to guide the media on their coverage of Muslim communities.

The George Soros-funded Social Science Research Council, which received $50,000 from the Open Society Institute “For Initiative on HIV/AIDS and Social Transformation,” is one of the groups behind the initiative, along with the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University. That fits with a theme for liberal financier Soros, who has spent more than $52 million on influencing the media. The Islamic course also links to another Soros-funded entity, the well-financed Center for American Progress.

In about 30 pages of text with links to other reports and articles, journalists can go through and read about the history of Islam, Muslims in America, and how to cover stories on Islam. Besides learning basic facts about Muslims and their history, the course adds ways to put “jihad” into perspective, attack conservatives, and provide a list of liberal groups that can be contacted for expert advice and quotes.

The pre and post-assessments give a hint as to the nature of the course. One question asked, “What grievances might sources associated with ‘Political Islam’ hold against Western journalists?” The answer is that “Western journalists are seen as all of the following: “hostile to Islam,” “focus too much on Islamic violence,” “viewed as water carriers for Western government agendas,” and “thought to be unable to understand Islam unless they embrace Islam.”

Keep reading…

Now He’s Blaming Europe
On Monday, during a fundraiser in California, President Obama declared that Europe’s debt problems and their inability to solve them was “scaring the world.” He went on to explain that Europeans “have not fully healed from the crisis back in 2007 and never fully dealt with the challenges that their banking system faced” and that “they’re trying to take responsible actions, but those actions haven’t been quite as quick as they need to be.”

This of course is coming from a President who has done nothing to deal with our own country’s enormous debt crisis and who is in fact eager to incur even more debt with another useless stimulus bill (now called a “jobs bill” though the last stimulus failed to produce the jobs it promised, which is perhaps why Harry Reid doesn’t seem too eager to bring this new bill to a vote despite the President’s demands to “pass this bill”). Yes, Europe has serious debt problems, but for President Obama to be lecturing our allies about not being “quite as quick” in dealing with a debt crisis is downright hypocritical.

(more…)

How very treasonous of him.

(Beltway Confidential) — President Obama held an “Open for Questions” question and answer session today with an Hispanic audience in which he rejected the idea that his Administration decreased deportations compared to President Bush’s and explained that he has pursued the Dream Act goals through administrative measures.

When a questioner suggested that Obama has kicked up deportations of illegal immigrants compared to the Bush era, Obama corrected that notion, saying that “the statistics are actually a little deceptive” on that issue because arrest-and-returns at the border have produced an exaggerated deportation number. “We’ve been much more effective on the borders,” he said, “But we have not been more aggressive when it comes to dealing, for example, with DREAM Act kids.”

With respect to the Dream Act, Obama said that he has to enforce the current laws until the DREAM Act is passed. But then he seemed to explain how he is avoiding enforcing the laws. “We are doing everything we can administratively,” he said. “We’re not going to go chasing after this young man or anybody else who’s been acting responsibly and would otherwise qualify for legal status if the DREAM Act passed.”

Keep reading…

Calling Obama “stupid” is being kind.

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) — Fidel Castro is mocking U.S. President Barack Obama for saying he’s open to changing U.S. policy toward Cuba if there is change on the island first.

Castro writes sarcastically: “How kind! How intelligent!” He adds that such goodwill has not led Washington to end its five-decade-old economic embargo against the island.

Castro says many things will change in Cuba, but it will happen organically and in spite of pressure from Washington.

The ex-leader says “perhaps that empire will fall first,” referring to the U.S. Later he calls Obama “stupid.”

Keep reading…

I love the smell of sulfur in the morning.

(Fox News) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was admitted to the emergency room in the Military Hospital in Caracas Wednesday night, and reportedly is in serious condition as his recovery appears to have taken a turn for the worst, sources tell El Nuevo Herald.

Sources, “who spoke on the condition of anonymity,” said the President was in “bad shape” as he was escorted by his own security team from the presidential palace to the Hospital, according to the Miami newspaper.

Another person from the Military Hospital said Chávez was showing signs of kidney failure after an intense cycle of chemotherapy. The source said the president had shown signs of aplastic anemia — the disappearance for blood production in the bone marrow.

Doctors are now considering the possibility of transferring him to the private Hospital Clinicas Caracas, where he could be better treated for renal problems, according to those close to the situation.

The Venezuelan President’s health is considered a state secret which is only fueling speculation about his recovery since he first underwent surgery in Cuba in June to remove a tumor from his pelvic region.

This woman is certifiably insane.

“Well, I will say this. First of all, you’re absolutely right. There were those who cheered when Jesus was crucified, and we have found that despicable from the beginning of history to this time.”

Via Tip Sheet

Washington (PTI): The US confronted Pakistan with “concrete evidences” of links between the ISI and extremist organisations like the Haqqani network and LeT, before it launced [sic] a frontal attack on the spy agency for its terror ties, Pentagon officials have said.

“They (ISI) provide financial support (to extremist organisations). It provides technical support. It provides physical support. They (Pak officials) are allowing the safe heavens [sic] to operate,” a defence official said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Another defence department official said that Pentagon has been providing such evidences to Pakistan “since ages” but it is only after the recent attack on a hotel in Kabul and the US Embassy in Kabul that this crossed all limits and the Defence Department decided to go public.

But the senior defence official maintained that these evidences gives concrete proof of the relationship between ISI and the extremist organisations including Haqqani network and LeT.

The senior defence official familiar with it refused from giving further details of the type of evidences that the US has provided to Pakistan, based on which Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a key Congressional committee, last week that the Haqqani network “acts as a veritable arm” of Pakistan’s ISI.

Officials said Mullen shared his thoughts and text of his remarks with Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, before he went to make such a strong comment against Pakistan in a public hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

HT: Second Fiddle

Hilarious, I can almost hear her ego deflating from here.

(NYDN) — The Wall Street demonstrators might want to brush up on their history: Some didn’t recognize protest veteran Susan Sarandon when she showed up to support them Tuesday.

“Who is she?” some of the young agitators asked each other as the Oscar-winning actress gave their cause a little star power.

“I’m just here to be educated,” the “Bull Durham” star told reporters and protesters in Zuccotti Park.

Sarandon, 64, stopped by the Occupy Wall Street encampment on her way to catch a flight to Italy and was peppered with questions about climate change and the economy.

“It helps to focus on one thing to be accomplished,” she advised. “Is everyone here registered to vote? Are you having people sign petitions?”

Sarandon has a long history of participating in marches, rallies and civil disobedience for liberal and humanitarian causes. She was arrested in 1999 during a protest outside Police Headquarters.

On Monday, filmmaker Michael Moore visited the protesters, who clashed with police over the weekend.

Looks like he took that off-the-record meeting with Obama to heart.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Rev. Al Sharpton said he will lead a march in Washington next month in support of President Barack Obama’s jobs plan — and he dismissed blacks who criticize Obama over high black unemployment as having backed Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2008.

As Sharpton announced plans Wednesday for the Oct. 15 March for Jobs and Justice, he was asked whether there is a double standard in failing to hold Obama accountable for joblessness among blacks. The leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., has said there is and that had President Bill Clinton failed to do the same, black leaders would have marched on the White House.

The double standard, Sharpton said, is that most black politicians who publicly criticize Obama did not initially back his 2008 presidential bid — they supported Hillary Clinton, who is now secretary of state.

“We did march when (Bill) Clinton was president. I led the march on racial profiling. They weren’t in the march, so maybe the reason they didn’t think nobody marched on Clinton was because they missed it,” Sharpton said.

“Punk faggots” not welcome.

Only the ones that matter.

(ABC News) — For Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney today responded head-on to critics who say he flip-flops on issues, telling a crowd at a New Hampshire town hall that “it’s not that every single issue I’ve looked at my entire life I’ve never changed my view on.”

While Romney never mentioned chief rival Texas Gov. Rick Perry by name, he certainly seemed to be referencing him in answering a question from a voter asking how to respond to those who question Romney’s candidacy.

Romney at first joked, “Let me give you some brass knuckles, that should help.”

“In the private sector, if you don’t change your view when the facts change, you’ll get fired for being stupid,” Romney added.