Some in Hollywood have some sense: this from Big Hollywood (Andrew Brietbart)

Pop Culture vs. America: This Round Goes to Sarah Palin

by John Nolte

He may have further burnished his left-wing bona fides, but when it comes to winning elections David Letterman did his side no favors this week ‘joking’ about the statutory rape of Governor Palin’s 14-year old daughter. From the looks of this interview, She Who Strikes Terror In Leftist Hearts wants to turn the unsavory affair around into a push back against all of pop culture, which is certain to resonate, especially if we keep pushing back. Just compare the bitter, sour, twilight-of-his-increasingly-pathetic-career Letterman to this intelligent, poised, cheerful, vibrant woman with her horizons still open to everything. It’s kind of a no contest.

Most heartening is that unlike some on our side, the Governor seems to get it. If this unfortunate episode proves anything, it’s that Sarah Palin understands that a Republican is up against more than just their Democrat opponent and the mainstream media; pop culture is also waging ideological war on all things conservative and traditional. This is a reality we ignore at our own peril, and this week Governor Palin (and Carrie Prejean, for that matter) fought back and won wielding truth, good humor and dignity.

Matt Lauer deserves credit for behaving himself. Tough but fair made a Haley’s Comet-like appearance at NBC this morning. But I am curious about the consequences Lauer expects Letterman to face. Other than in Hell, what could Lauer possibly mean? Letterman just savaged Sarah Palin’s family. If there’s a faster, safer, easier way to enhance your mass media/pop culture resume, I’m unaware of it.

Lauer certainly can’t be naïve enough to be talking about Letterman’s ratings. When it comes to the culture war, ratings, box office - you know, that pesky bottom line stuff - means absolutely nothing in Pop Culture-dom. Air America lives, MSNBC gleefully keeps digging and Iraq War movies are still scheduled to hit theatres. This isn’t business, this is hardball politics.

Letterman knows his legacy as an entertainer vanished years ago, and so all he’s got left is what’s in his elitist Manhattan bubble. Ratings-shmatings, this “warped, frustrated old man” now lives only for big smiles from the Julia Roberts’ crowd and, as they pass on the street, a bow from Brian Williams. No doubt those needs are being fulfilled just fine even as the little man inside Letterman wonders when things went so horribly wrong.

But bravo, Governor. The Lettermans of the world are nothing to be afraid of. In fact, they’re less than nothing. Pop Culture is wholly owned by bullies. The American people understand this and are not impressed by them, but they’re also not impressed with politicians who don’t fight back, either.

Sarah Palin and Carrie Prejean. I like our chances.

(emphasis mine)

I belive Dr. Hanson is one of the most eloquent and clear-thinking people we have on the right. I thank God for him.

here for Dr. Victor Davis Hanson's Just Make Stuff Up for National Review Online

Preview: In the first six months of the Obama administration, we have witnessed an assault on the truth of a magnitude not seen since the Nixon Watergate years. The prevarication is ironic given the Obama campaign’s accusations that the Bush years were not transparent and that Hillary Clinton, like her husband, was a chronic fabricator. Remember Obama’s own assertions that he was a “student of history” and that “words mean something. You can’t just make stuff up.”

Yet Obama’s war against veracity is multifaceted.

Again: The problem in the next four years will be not just that the president of the United States serially does not tell the truth. Instead, the real crisis in our brave new relativist world will be that those who demonstrate that he is untruthful will themselves be accused of lying.

I don't like Bill O'Reilly, but I do like this column by him

As you may know, we are independent thinkers here. Looking out for you requires that discipline.

That being said, the state of liberalism in America is confusing to say the least, especially in the human rights arena. For example, the record shows that after the 9/11 attack, the USA waterboarded three — three — high-ranking Al Qaeda bigshots, getting lifesaving information from them.

Yet some liberals still insist that America is a torture nation. The New York Times and others continue to paint the USA as a consistent human rights violator under the Bush administration. No matter how much evidence is presented to prove that is a gross overstatement, the myth is still being perpetuated, even by President Obama.

But when a liberal cause is shown to be brutal, left-wing reaction is quite something else. Investigators in Kansas have presented strong evidence that late-term abortion doctor, George Tiller, who was murdered by a domestic terrorist, destroyed viable fetuses for trivial reasons. The former head of the psychiatric school at the prestigious Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Paul McHugh, says flat out that Tiller used a so-called mental health provision to brutally terminate fetuses for just about any reason.

But The New York Times, The Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star and other liberal newspapers have no problem with that. In fact, The Times actually called Tiller a hero.

Now think about this. The waterboarding of heinous terrorists who participated in mass murder is called barbaric. But the destruction of thousands of late-term fetuses for casual reasons is called heroic. Now if that's liberalism, I will never be a part of it.

There is no question that what Tiller did was brutal and had nothing to do with Roe v. Wade, as the liberal media would have you believe. Thirty-six states outlaw or severely restrict late-term abortion. Four others have fought the courts that long because it is rarely necessary and always lethal.

And then there's Jessica's Law. Again, very few liberal media outlets support mandatory minimum sentences for convicted child rapists, even though more than 40 states now have it. But the liberal media doesn't want it, although they're inflamed over Guantanamo Bay.

Column Archive

• Liberalism and Human Rights
• War on Terror Gets Real for President Obama
• President Obama Speaks to Muslim World
• President Obama in the Muslim World
• The Murder of Private William Long

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Finally, let's go back to Private William Long, assassinated last week in Arkansas by an American Muslim terrorist. Now I criticized the network news and CNN for basically ignoring the story while ginning up the Tiller murder. As I reported last Friday, I didn't misspeak about CNN. They did cover the story dayside, but their prime-time coverage was scant. In fact, up to the point where I mentioned the Long-Tiller comparison, CNN had devoted approximately 190 minutes, more than three hours to Tiller while giving about 36 minutes to Private Long. That's about a six to one margin. So there you go.

There's no question the liberal media doesn't much like reporting on deadly Muslim terrorism or gruesome late-term abortions where babies are extracted from the womb and a medical instrument driven into their skulls. No, those realities are ignored by many liberals. So who is really looking out for human rights here: The New York Times and their acolytes, or those of us who want to save as many lives as we can, both inside and outside the womb?

And that's "The Memo."

No Comment Needed, except I will: I like Sarah Palin!

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: You know, folks, it's funny how Sarah Palin's future is so much brighter than Katie Couric's. Katie Couric's CBS Evening News ratings have fallen to an all-time low. Since Nielsen began taking television ratings, CBS Evening News has fallen to an all-time low. Sarah Palin was the center of attention at the big Republican dinner last night where Newt Gingrich was the keynote speaker. CNN very, very approvingly reports, "Newt Gingrich was the keynote speaker at Monday night's fundraising dinner for the Senate and House Republican campaign committees, but it was Sarah Palin who stole the show." She was invited to speak and accepted. She was disinvited to speak and said, "Okay." They invited her to speak again then disinvited her and she showed up anyway but did not speak. People were afraid I guess that she would steal the show from the podium. Sarah Palin's future is bright.

Susan e-mails Rush!

I did something today I have never done before, and that is e-mail Rush Limbaugh. I was so taken--so moved--by a portion of his monologue today that I wanted to tell him so (I am not that easily moved, believe me.) I have copied it below. If he or his screeners respond to my request, I will let you all know.

Dear Rush,

First time writer.

I try to listen most every day, at least to part of the program. I have been listening for about 4 years. (Someday I want to tell you more about how I came to the point of listening regularly but that is not why I wrote today.)

I am not a sentimental person and it takes alot to engage my emotions to the point of wanting to weep. But you brought me to that point today. It was the 15-20 minutes (if I remember correctly) after the half-hour during the first hour. (1:30 Indiana time, up to the 1st break, again if I am remembering correctly.)

It was when you were (correctly) excoriating Obama for his continually blaming Bush for the economic crisis. I liked your line, "it is time to act like a man". And you are correct when you call his behavior babyish.

But what really got to me was your beautifully phrased and utterly impassioned delivery of "what Obama inherited", when you listed--item after item and aspect after aspect--those things of America's greatness that it is Obama's utter privilege to inherit. It was absolutely moving, Rush.

There was alot of (nonsense) talk during the campaign about Obama's "soaring rhetoric". Today, you defined soaring rhetoric. Your magnificent recital of those gifts given to Obama by America almost stunned me (I am a crusty old biddy!) by its beauty. I almost cried! Thank you.

I am not a member of Rush 27. At the age of 58, I lost my full-time employment and am trying to live on about 2/3rds employment now without benefits. So I have to choose carefully where my money goes. However, I am wondering if it is possible to have a transcript of this particular segment of your show? I want to keep it to myself as a gift and reminder to me. I also will send it to several friends who will enjoy it greatly. (There is a small but very faithful group of women and married couple friends of mine here in my small community who communicate regularly--usually through e-mail [see the CC box above]--about the Obama presidency and the damage it is doing. I know for sure I would share it with them.)

If there is a better way to communicate my appreciation for your show to you, please let me know what it is.

God bless you for what you are doing. Thank God someone is that strong and intelligent and willing to put themself out there.

Sincerely,
Susan Hanscom (Rev.)
susan.hanscom@comcast.net
609 E. Harrison
Martinsville, IN 46151
(765) 318-1423

Obama's misinterprets middle east history, continued

here for Toby Harden's Barack Obama's 10 Mistakes in Cairo for the UK Telegraph

excerpt: There's been lots of breathless commentary today about the "historic" moment and the power of Obama's oratory. In time, however, the speech will probably be remembered, at best, for its high-flown aspirations rather than the achievements it laid the foundations for. Or, at worst, for the naive and flawed approach it foretold. (Emphasis mine)

Obama's distortion of American history, continued

2 excerpts from "Inner Muslim" at work in Cairo by Wesley Pruden for the Washington Post
here for the article; emphases mine

"Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail," he told the Muslim elites Thursday at Cairo U. "So whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners of it." It's not "a world order" that elevates America, but events. No other country is as generous, as forgiving, as willing to sacrifice blood and bone when the world calls for help. If not America, who? Hasn't the president heard?

Mr. Obama's revelation of his "inner Muslim" in Cairo reveals much about who he is. He is our first president without an instinctive appreciation of the culture, history, tradition, common law and literature whence America sprang. The genetic imprint writ large in his 43 predecessors is missing from the Obama DNA

Thank God for Dr. Victor Davis Hanson

I have included some very good comments, I think, on Victor Davis Hanson's America's First Post-Modern President in Pajamas Media. We have had, more then once, in my Sunday School class, discussions on the meaning of post-modernism. Dr. Hanson's article goes along way in explaining it, using both the President's actions and the words of supreme court nominee Sonia Sotamayor as examples (damning examples, I might add.)

here is the article; below are some of the comments (emphases are added by me)

1. Dr. Hanson:

A very interesting analysis. Its fascinating that we invent all manner of ways to explain what Obama (and those like him) mean and are doing. In the not too distant past, if someone said they had no intention of running a car company, but everything they did indicated to any sentient being they were doing exactly that, we would have simply called them a liar and behaved toward them as we would toward anyone whose word could not be trusted. Or if they said that the country was broke, but continued to try to spend the nation into oblivion, we would have simply called them a fool and behaved toward them as we would toward anyone who had no sense or self restraint.

And regarding Judge Sotomayor, a wise Latina would not think a she does, and surely would not have said what she said. It would seem that she has made a prima facie case for her own utter lack of wisdom. Wisdom teaches us to judge people by who they are now, but what they can accomplish now, not by an interesting life story. Wisdom–to say nothing of humility–also tells us to avoid hubris lest the gods take offense. One can only image the god’s wrath toward Obama and Sotomayor.

2. Thanks VDH…after reading your post I now can name that strange, unsettling aura that surrounds Obama. It is the moral anarchy, or perhaps moral vacuity, of the postmodern mind. Fine, glib, gilded words coupled to….nothing. A hollow man with no guts, no internal organs to give him substance. He has a vague program grown from his campaign rhetoric, but nothing beyond feel-good catch phrases to which he adheres. Bright but without “pre-postmodern” values or deeply felt and enacted ideals. A perfect politician for these days!

3. Relativism is inherently anti-intellectual. There is no reason to do any serious reading and studying if everything is ultimately relative. This explains why Barack Obama is such an intellectually shallow and poorly read man. He is unlikely able to read a halfway difficult book if his life depended on it. There are numerous adults in their middle twenties far more knowledgeable than our forty seven year old president. It’s not a question of I.Q. Obama is not mentally retarded. On a gut level, however, he doesn’t sense a need to get his act together. Obama on a daily basis says one dumb thing after another. The general public is reluctant to face this blatantly obvious fact because he graduated from Harvard Law. This is inherently supposed to mean that Obama is another John Adams. Nothing could be further from the truth. It only indicates that Obama can probably pass the typical state board exam. I always urge people to pretend that Obama instead graduated from someplace like “North Dakota Tech College.” After only a few days—the blinders start to fall off.

Obama learned to take advantage of white guilt during his teen years. Why study if all you have to do is learn to jack the system? Networking, on a practical level, is far more important than sticking your head in a book. Obama is a creature of his environment. The politically correct culture of the Ivy League schools gave him a pass. On top of that, it tacitly told Obama that his skin color provided him with a special wisdom far superior to the “dominant white truth.” He already knew more than his reactionary professors.

4. Victor is indeed correct in placing the onus of our decline squarely at the doors of our wretched postmodern universities.While the radicals were busy co-opting entire faculties, most Americans were asleep at the switch. Sound familiar?

I never thought I would say this because I groomed my sons from the time they could read to aspire to the height of higher education. I must honestly state that the only reason why I am pleased that they recently completed their university studies is because they chose engineering disciplines. Had they decided to opt for humanities degrees I would have directed them (gently of course) to the best vocational schools around. The humanities are nothing like they used to be. Nothing.
It’s infinitely healthier/saner to steer ones progeny into the art of refrigeration, auto mechanics, electronics techs etc, than into what passes for most US higher education indoctrination courses.
The postmodern university has become such a joke, and indeed a travesty, that it should be renamed LOWER education.

A leftist gets Obama (and misunderstands Bush and the right, but that is the definition of a leftist)

here

Ted Rall--virulent anti-Bush and the right--political cartoonist authors:

It's increasingly evident that Obama should resign for the Springfield (Ill.) Journal.

While I couldn't disagree more with his comments about Bush and his followers, or with his comments about the anti-terrorism methods used, I couldn't agree more with his conclusions that Obama is a self-serving liar. The real problem with this article, however, is that many, if not most, on the right, understood from the beginning (a year and 1/2 ago) that Obama would say and do anything to gather power to himself (and to no-one else). Common sense made that abundantly clear...

Dr. George Tiller's death

I am, along with many, many anti-abortion people, agast that Dr. George Tiller would be shot down in cold blood, in church, no less, worshipping and serving as an usher. My sympathies to his wife and family and my utter fury at the perpetrator, who makes a good cause all that much more difficult with his senseless actions.

There will be a backlash from the left. They will make every attempt--and much of the MSM will play along--to paint all people who hate abortion, particularly late-term abortion (Dr. Tiller was one of the few high profile doctors who openly performed later-term abortions) as ignorant and murderous, as this perpetrator obviously was.

This heinous act does not represent the vast majority of those on the right who despise abortion and this administration's (Obama's) legislative actions in relation to it.

here for Kansas abortion doctor killed in church at Yahoo news

Also, here is a comment from National Review Online, a stalward conservative publication, with which I agree completely:

Gravely Wicked [Robert P. George]

Whoever murdered George Tiller has done a gravely wicked thing. The evil of this action is in no way diminished by the blood George Tiller had on his own hands. No private individual had the right to execute judgment against him. We are a nation of laws. Lawless violence breeds only more lawless violence. Rightly or wrongly, George Tilller was acquitted by a jury of his peers. "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord." For the sake of justice and right, the perpetrator of this evil deed must be prosecuted, convicted, and punished. By word and deed, let us teach that violence against abortionists is not the answer to the violence of abortion. Every human life is precious. George Tiller's life was precious. We do not teach the wrongness of taking human life by wrongfully taking a human life. Let our "weapons" in the fight to defend the lives of abortion's tiny victims, be chaste weapons of the spirit.

— Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University.

Obama goes on a date at taxpayer expense

Can you imagine the outrage if George and Laura Bush had done this?

example: Taxpayers footed the bill for the big night on the town, which included a total of at least $24,000 for the three aircraft used to ferry the Obamas, aides and reporters to New York and back. Dinner costs and orchestra seat tickets -- at $96.50 apiece -- were paid by the Obamas.

here for Obama wows the First Lady with Dinner and a Broadway Show. (And might I add that he stiffs the taxpayers) for the New York Post.