MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD IN EGYPTIAN ELECTION

The Muslim Brotherhood is not following through on its promises to run for only 50% of the seats and its candidates do not seem to include any moderate elements.. It looks like they are making every effort to win the next Egyptian election.

THE VIOLENCE OF TEA BAGGERS

From the Daily Kos. If I get a chance I will put up some links on the violence of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement. From 2009.

Occupy Wall Street protest disrupts a mass. In Oakland the protestors pelt police. Shoot a cop? Problems at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

RELIGIOUS FAITH IN THE US

An interactive map at USA Today giving the breakdown of various faith commitments in each state.

OBAMA & BUSH, II

I remember when the press was going after George W. Bush for not wanting to say he had made any mistakes in office. Now Obama has essentially said the same thing: . . .even though I believe all the choices we’ve made have been the right ones, . . .

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE SUMMARY

A compilation of postings on the problems facing higher education.

THE LEFT IS TURNING ON OBAMA

A discussion of the strategy of the "Occupy Wall-Street" protestors. Obama's jobs stimulus is in trouble even with Democrats on Capitol Hill.

The left got what it wanted in 2008: a liberal president with a sweeping agenda and big Democratic majorities capable of enacting it. The result has been a great and failed experiment in progressive politics and governance. In due course, one hopes, the left will absorb some lessons--but for now, they seem to be suffering a nervous breakdown.



What's their slogan going to be, "Smash the system--re-elect the president"?

OCCUPY ATLANTA

The protestors won't even let a liberal Democrat congressman speak.

Instead of giving the floor to a man who is not just a longtime U.S. representative but a revered civil rights icon, the protesters employed a tangle of parliamentary procedures to ultimately prevent him from speaking.

Sounds like the anti-Vietnam protestors of my day.

WHICH POLITICAL PARTY IS MORE ANTI-SCIENCE?

Read the article. A fight has broken out in the blogosphere over whether Team Blue or Team Red is more “anti-science.” Microbiologist Alex Berezow, editor of RealClearScience, struck the first blow in the pages of USA Today. "For every anti-science Republican that exists," he wrote, "there is at least one anti-science Democrat. Neither party has a monopoly on scientific illiteracy."

DONKEY CAUGHT IN A HOLE

I kept wondering if this is where the Democrats are right now as they try to dig out of the economic mess the country is in.

MAPPING THE CENSUS

An interesting interactive map. Put in your zip code and you can find data for the last three censuses on population make-up.

ON AMERICA GOING SOFT

President Obama recently said America was going "soft"--here is a response from Vodkapundit.

A CONSERVATIVE IN CHICAGO

A bit of a pariah at parties.

CHRISTIANS IN POLITICS

An interesting interview with Tim Goeglein (advisor in the Bush White House and an evangelical Christian). He plagiarized in a column he wrote and had to resign. It is a case of ethical failure and how he and President Bush responded to it.

OBAMA'S STIMULUS PLAN, 2011 VERSION

From the Chicago Sun-Times--his numbers just don't make sense. But what caught my attention was the following: . . .the Department of Energy’s program of $40 billion in loan guarantees to promote green energy. Half the money has been spent to create a total of 3,545 direct jobs, according to a Washington Post analysis, That’s $5.6 million per job. But rest assured, the DOE says once the full $40 billion in financing is disbursed, 60,000 jobs will be found — more than $666,000 for each new worker.

2012 ELECTION PREDICTION

Steve Forbes predicts Rick Perry will win the Republican presidential nomination and the election in 2012. I am not so sure. You can say Steve Forbes has a feel for politics in the past given his failed campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in past years.

NEW WAR STRATEGY IN MIDDLE EAST

The Obama administration is finally doing something that I think the Bush administration should have implemented. The use of drone bases: Overall, officials said, the cluster of bases reflects an effort to have wider geographic coverage, greater leverage with countries in the region and backup facilities if individual airstrips are forced to close.

THE TEXAS ECONOMY & RICK PERRY

There has been a debate on whether Texas has done as well economically under Governor Rick Perry as his now budding presidential campaign is touting. This article shows that on the whole Texas has done better than the rest of the US. . .and it comes from a Democrat.

REZA KAHLILI ON IRAN

Reza Kahlili (a pseudonym) became a spy for the CIA following Khomeini's takeover in Iran. He has written a book on his work with the CIA called "Time to Betray." I find it an excellent read which gives a lot of insight into what was happening. I also did some research on him because some believe that his information has been inaccurate or they think he has a political agenda.

Since then he has published articles on what is happening in Iran. The CIA has challenged some of his predictions, but it looks to me that his information and predictions on what is happening in Iran is more accurate than what the CIA or Obama administration's State department is saying about Iran.

Michael Totten has an excellent interview with him. The Shiite regime in Iran is expecting the return of the 12th Imam or Mahdi. This belief plays a role in Iranian foreign policy which I am not sure secularists understand.

US MILITARY RESPONSE TO 9/11

An interesting story about a female pilot who was sent up to take down United Flight 93, but she had no ammunition on the plane. She would have had to ram the United flight with her F-16--in effect she would have been a suicide pilot.

COMMENTS ON OBAMA'S 9/8/11 SPEECH

It doesn't look like it overwhelmed liberals or conservatives.

Mickey Kaus reacts with some good evaluation of the speech style.

AP Factcheck finds some problem with truth-telling.

Andrew Sullivan liked it.

From WAPO columnist Jennifer Rubin. President Obama tonight seemed simultaneously angry and nervous as he rushed through a speech that was transparently not worthy of a joint session of Congress. His great idea: Cobble together a mish-mash of old ideas (infrastructure spending, a payroll tax cut) and pay for it later, by asking the debt commission to come up with additional deficit reductions later, preferably by hiking taxes on the rich. The second half of the speech was a heated campaign rally aimed at a cartoon version of his future opponent.

Ira Stoll. The problem was that Mr. Obama couched all this in a speech so preachy, insistent, and divisive that it makes the whole thing repellant, no matter what the policy merits. "You should pass it right away," he said, repeating "right away" so often he managed to sound like a cross between a truculent child and an impatient parent.