Today, at the Superbowl, there will be a special video played. 

No, it won’t be a music video from Lenny Kravitz, Prince, Usher, Paul McCartney, or The Who.  It won’t even be a self-congratulatory proclamation from the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. 

It will be a tribute to a man who was born in 1911 in Tampico, Illinois, the son of a shoe salesman and a devout Christian Mom, just a regular American guy, who wound up becoming a sports announcer in the Midwest after washing dishes to pay for his college education.

However, that was just the beginning for this fellow.  His good looks, engaging manner, and quick wit got Hollywood interested in him.  He made several movies, in which he played the dashing leading man, like the role of “The Gipper” in The Knute Rockne Story.  He had the privilege of playing a young George Custer to Errol Flynn’s Jeb Stuart, and the adventure of playing second banana to a chimpanzee.

At the age of 50, after serving as president of the Screen Actors Guild, he entered the arena of politics.  He subsequently became Governor of California.  Then, at the age of 69, he became the President of the United States of America, after failing twice to win the Republican Nomination.

I’m sure, by now, that you’ve figured out that I’ve been writing about Ronald Wilson Reagan.   This week, Americans have been celebrating the life and legacy of the greatest American President in our lifetime.

President Reagan has gone down in history as “The Great Communicator”, because of quotes like this:

On Government:

Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.

Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.

Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.

If the federal government had been around when the Creator was putting His hand to this state, Indiana wouldn’t be here. It’d still be waiting for an environmental impact statement.

The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.

On America and his own Christianity:

Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.

Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.

 We are never defeated unless we give up on God.

We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.

We have the duty to protect the life of an unborn child. 

There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.

There are no easy answers’ but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. 

If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

If we love our country, we should also love our countrymen.

In researching the occasion of his 100th birthday,  it has been interesting to read all the Liberal sites.  They are still feverishly trying to “debunk” the “Reagan Mythology”. 

Unfortunately for them, and the Moderate Republicans who carry their water, Americans have all the wonderful speeches that President Regan made, and the memorable quotes, like those listed above, that he left us to refer to, which repudiate their flimsy efforts in trying to recast President Reagan to fit their political ideologies.

It’s only fitting that he be honored tonight during the biggest American sports event of the year.  As The Gipper himself once quipped:

Going to college offered me the chance to play football for four more years.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President.  You are missed.

As we watch events unfold in Egypt, our Progressive friends , including the Obama Administration, are insisting that this is democracy unfolding. That might very well be. However, your humble writer remembers the Iranian Revolution. And, as I’ve written before, this scenario seems all too familiar.

The Egyptian Crisis may not wind up being the idyllic democratic paradise that Liberals wish to paint its future as, with rainbows and unicorns included. There are snakes nipping at the heels of Lady Liberty as she walks through the sands of Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood, or al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun, have their blood-stained fingers on the pulse of the revolution.

The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is Egypt’s oldest and largest Islamist organization.

The group was founded by Hassan al-Banna in the 1920s, and has been at the heart of Muslim activity throughout the world ever since, through its subterfuge of political activism combined with Islamic charity work.

Supposedly, the group started out with a mission to spread Islamic morals and good works. However, they soon became involved in politics, especially the fight to rid Egypt of British colonial control and all Western influence.

The MB has led the fight against the ruling National Democratic Party of President Hosni Mubarak, since he assumed power in 1981.

The MB have always claimed that they support democracy. However, they have stated publicly that they want to create a state ruled by Islamic law, or Sharia.

They are known throughout the world for creating the slogan:

Islam is the solution.

It was during the 1980s that the MB jumped into the mainstream of Egyptian politics.

Their leadership formed alliances with the Wafd party in 1984, and with the Labour and Liberal parties in 1987, thus becoming the main opposition force in Egypt. In 2000, the Ikhwan won 17 seats in the People’s Assembly.

Within five years, independent candidates sponsored by the MB won 20% of the seats.

President Mubarak was not happy about this. He jumped on the MB with both feet, jailing hundreds of them, and put into law a number of “reforms” to try to slow down their resurgence.

Mubarak even re-wrote Egypt’s constitution to stipulate that:

political activity or political parties shall not be based on any religious background or foundation.

Additionally, independent candidates were banned from running for president and anti-terrorism legislation was introduced that gave the security forces sweeping powers to detain suspects and restrict public gatherings.

When these efforts produced a block-out of opposition party candidates from winning elections, Mubarak’s government faced allegations of widespread fraud.

So, here we are. Cairo is on fire, the MB is providing the torches and the kerosene, and American Progressives think that it’s a 4th of July fireworks display.

The MB’s deputy general guide, Mahmoud Izzat, says, hey, we’re all about this liberty thing:

We are part of the people. The people are demanding the basics – mainly the necessities of life – and they have the right to do so. The people also demand their freedom and the dissolution of the fake parliament.

The youths want the demonstrations to be peaceful but the regime uses excessive violence against the youths, such as rubber bullets.

And the Muslim Brotherhood wants to arm the youths with the sword of Allah. 

I say that because word has just surfaced that there was an assassination attempt on the life of Egypt’s Vice-President Omar Sulieiman on January 29th, right after his appointment to his position.  The attempt has been described as an organized attack on the VP’s motorcade.

WH Press Secretary Baghdad Bob Gibbs, when asked about the assassination attempt at a recent press conference, replied:

I’m not going to … get into that question.

Considering the clandestine meetings that this administration has had with the Muslim Brotherhood, as documented in my recent posts, that does not surprise me at all.

As tensions in the Middle East continue to grow, word came out yesterday from, you guessed it, Wikileaks, that Islamic Terrorists groups are farther along in their quest to rid the world of the infidels than the authorities previously thought,

Per vancouversun.com:

Al-Qaida has been gathering nuclear material and having rogue scientists build “dirty” bombs.

It has also been learned and passed along in security briefings that Islamic Terrorist groups are also dangerously close to producing “workable and efficient” biological and chemical weapons. If used, these weapons could kill thousands.

The information was revealed through thousands of classified American Intelligence documents which Wikileaks got a hold of and passed on to The London Daily Telegraph.

It was revealed in a Nato meeting in January 2009, that al-Qaida was planning to use “dirty radioactive IEDs”, makeshift nuclear roadside bombs that could be used against British troops in Afghanistan.

Not only would the “dirty bombs” cause massive explosive damage, they would leave the area contaminated for years,

NATO found out in these same briefings that “greater advances” in bioterrorism had been made by the Islamic Terrorists than they were aware of.

A bunch of documents concerning the smuggling of nuclear material, sent to Washington from foreign U.S. embassies, tell the story of how criminal and terrorist gangs were dealing in large amounts of highly radioactive material across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

These alerts detail how customs guards at remote border crossings used radiation alarms to identify and seize cargoes of uranium and plutonium.

Authorities learned that freight trains were carrying weapons-grade nuclear material across the Kazakhstan-Russia border, highly enriched uranium was transported across Uganda by bus, and a “small time hustler” in Lisbon offered to sell radioactive plates stolen from Chernobyl.

In September 2009, two employees at the Rossing Uranium Mine in Namibia smuggled almost half a ton of uranium concentrate powder – yellowcake – out of the compound in plastic bags.

“Acute safety and security concerns” were brought to light in 2008 concerning the uranium and plutonium laboratory of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the nuclear safety watchdog.

The deputy director general of the IAEA, Tomihiro Taniguchi, has privately warned America that the world faces the threat of a “nuclear 9/11” if stores of uranium and plutonium were not secured against terrorists.

The problem is, according to diplomats who visited the IAEA’s Austrian headquarters in April 2008, there was “no way to provide perimeter security” to its own laboratory because it has windows that leave it vulnerable to break-ins.

And to top it all off, Senior British defense officials have raised “deep concerns” that a rogue scientist in the Pakistani nuclear program “could gradually smuggle enough material out to make a weapon”, according to a document detailing official talks in London in February 2009.

But, hey, no worries.  After all, we have a strong, steel-spined American president who deals firmly and decisively in the arena of America’s foreign policy, don’t we?

According to an article at nytimes.com, 30 minutes before Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak gave his speech announcing that the would not seek re-election, he was in a 30-minute phone conversation with President Barack Hussein Obama.

Per people familiar with the discussion, supposedly Obama was more forceful in insisting on a smooth transition.

Uh huh.

Well, the president sure didn’t show that steel spine in the speech he made to Americans yesterday afternoon.  He praised the Egyptian military for showing restraint and the protesters for remaining peaceful.  However, he did say that “the status quo is not sustainable”.

That’s forceful?

Waitasecond.  I thought Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, that

We’re not advocating any specific outcome.

Wow.  Smart Power! in action.  Nothing like consistency in Foreign Policy.

Do you remember when the powers-that-be in the Administration decided that from now on acts of Islamic Terrorism would be called “man-caused disasters”? That went over like a lead ballon.   However, have you noticed that the Administration and their Main Stream Media sycophants are still extremely reticent to identify guys named Mohammed as Muslim or Islamic Terrorists? 

Why is that?  They had no problem identifying Timothy McVeigh. 

See what playing nice in the arena of Foreign Policy with these barbarians has accomplished in the past two years?  The entire Middle East is on the verge of becoming a Caliphate, surrounding Israel,  (Please pray for Israel, by the way.) and Islamic Terrorists are on the cusp of having nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.

This is Smart Power?

Yesterday, in Florida, Federal Judge Robert Vinson struck down as unconstitutional, the National Health Care Law, known as Obamacare, which was shoved down Americans’ throats by our current president and his sycophantic Democratic Congress.

One of the unique things about the ruling was the fact that Judge Vinson used Obama’s own words from his 2008 Presidential Campaign against him.

Per The Washington Times, Judge Vinson wrote in his 78-page ruling, that:

I note that in 2008, then-Senator Obama supported a health care reform proposal that did not include an individual mandate because he was at that time strongly opposed to the idea, stating that, ‘If a mandate was the solution, we can try that to solve homelessness by mandating everybody to buy a house’.

Obama had spoken these words in a CNN interview, in an attempt to distinguish his healthcare plan from that of fellow Democrat candidate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s. Obama’s plan, at the time, did not call for an individual mandate.

According to Obama and the Democrats’ defense of Obamacare, the individual mandate is the cornerstone of the legislation, and forcing Americans to buy health insurance will provide the funds needed to finance the takeover of America’s Health Care System.

Judge Vinson also discussed in his ruling how the Founding Fathers, including James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, intended congressional power to have limits. Judge Vinson even made the strong point that, according to the Obama administration‘s view of federal power, the government could mandate that all citizens eat broccoli.

The White House called the 2008 campaign quote a “surpassingly curious reading” in an attempt to invalidate Judge Vinson‘s ruling.

According to an anonymous WH official who briefed reporters yesterday:

There’s something thoroughly odd and unconventional about the analysis.

Translation: How dare you hoist the president on his own petard!

Judge Vinson also wrote:

Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire act must be declared void. This has been a difficult decision to reach and I am aware that it will have indeterminable implications.

Regardless of how laudable its attempts may have been to accomplish these goals in passing the act, Congress must operate within the bounds established by the Constitution.

The phrase not severable means  just that.  The individual mandate cannot simply be excised from the present law. 

It’s all or nothing. 

The Democrat-majority Congress, in their almighty arrogance, allowed themselves to be blinded by their own hubris, leaving out a severability clause, which would have saved their precious Healthcare Law from being ruled unconstitutional.

Of course, the government will appeal the ruling and the next step will be a trip to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.  From there, the 26 states involved in the fight against Obamacare and the Obama Administration will take the battle to the U.S. Supreme Court where it will be up to the 9 Judges, 8 if Kagan recuses herself, to decide the fate of the greatest Health Care System in the world.

If Obamacare goes into effect, starting in 2014, anyone who does not carry health insurance will have to pay a penalty.

Per spectator.org:

As for the actual cost involved, the penalty will be the higher of either $695 or 2.5% of income. Effectively, those earning below $27,800 would pay the flat rate, and after that point would begin paying the percentage. Once a person earns more than $40,000, the penalty will exceed $1,000. At $59,000, it would reach $1,475.

The Administration and its minions have been vacillating on whether to call this a tax or a penalty.

In fact, I had a Liberal who was trolling on a Conservative website yesterday, tell me  that it was just like making a donation to charity.

Excuse me. But it’s not a government law that I have to give to charity.  That’s my choice.

As I mentioned earlier, in making his historical ruling, Judge Vinson quoted James Madison, who wrote in The Federalist No. 51 that:

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.

An out-of-control Government? Yep. That describes America’s situation to a tee.

Please allow me to leave you with two quotes from Judge Vinson’s remarkable ruling:

It is difficult to imagine that a nation which began, at least in part, as the result of opposition to a British mandate giving the East India Company a monopoly and imposing a nominal tax on all tea sold in America would have set out to create a government with the power to force people to buy tea in the first place.

It would be a radical departure from existing case-law to hold that Congress can regulate inactivity under the Commerce Clause. If it has the power to compel an otherwise passive individual into a commercial transaction with a third party merely by asserting — as was done in the act — that compelling the actual transaction is itself “commercial and economic in nature, and substantially affects interstate commerce,” it is not hyperbolizing to suggest that Congress could do almost anything it wanted.

Judging from the actions of the Administration and Congress  in 2010, your Honor, I think that was the general idea.

The riots in Egypt continue today, amid calls from the opposition coalition for one million protesters to take to the streets of Cairo tomorrow, in an effort to end the 30 year reign of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in favor of a new unity government composed of ElBaradei and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Oh, boy.

The coalition wants Mubarak to step down as president by Friday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the rounds of the Sunday Morning Talk Shows, trying to show that the Obama Administration and the State Department were on top of this world-changing situation, while pressing for a move to democracy in the largest Arab country.

Here are some quotes from Madame Secretary, from seattlepi.com:

From This Week with Christine Amanpour:

Real stability only comes from the kind of democratic participation that allows people to feel that they are being heard.

She also issued a warning that America would not accept

…democracy of six months or a year and then evolving essentially into a military dictatorship.

On NBC’s Meet the Press she said the US would not accept

…faux democracy like the elections we saw in Iran…where you have one election 30 years ago and the people stay in power and become less and less responsive to their people.

It is not a question of who retains power –that should not be the issue. It is how are we going to respond to the legitimate grievances expressed by the Egyptian people and chart a new path.

We want to see free and fair elections and we expect that will be one of the outcomes of what is going on in Egypt right now.

We continue to urge the Egyptian government, as the United States has for thirty years, to respond to the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people and begin to take concrete steps to implement democratic and economic reforms.

Hillary tap danced like Shirley Temple when CNN’s Candy Crowley on American Morning asked her whether the U.S. is beginning to back away from Mubarak, proclaiming:

[W]e do not want to send any message about backing forward or backing back. What we’re trying to do is to help clear the air so that those who remain in power, starting with President Mubarak, with his new vice president, with the new prime minister, will begin a process of reaching out, of creating a dialogue that will bring in peaceful activists and representatives of civil society to, you know, plan a way forward that will meet the legitimate grievances of the Egyptian people.

She also said that the reports that the administration was using the aid that we send to Egypt for leverage was false:

There is no discussion as of this time of cutting off any aid. We always are looking and reviewing our aid.

On CBS’s Face The Nation, she answered the question about the possibility of a hard-line Islamic regime following Mubarak:

Well, first I’m not speculating about who goes or who stays. And I’m not prepared to comment on what kind of democratic process the Egyptian people can construct for themselves. But we obviously want to see people who are truly committed to democracy — not to imposing any ideology on Egyptians.

Not that there is any pressure on Obama and his Administration from the opposition coalition:

Per breitbart.com:

The United States is “losing credibility by the day” in calling for democracy in Egypt while continuing to support President Hosni Mubarak, leading dissident Mohamed ElBaradei said Sunday.

Nope.  No pressure at all.

So, in the bold spirit of Jimmy Carter, it appears that President Barack Hussein Obama is going to fly under the radar, stepping away from the fray until a victor is declared. 

This hands-off approach that he is taking concerning Egypt is in keeping with his sympathies toward the Muslim world.  However, this theme of encouraging democracy in countries that have never experienced it before has its dangers, as Obama himself said in his speech at Cairo University to the Muslim world on Thursday, June 4th, 2009:

This last point is important because there are some who advocate for democracy only when they are out of power; once in power, they are ruthless in suppressing the rights of others. No matter where it takes hold, government of the people and by the people sets a single standard for all who hold power: you must maintain your power through consent, not coercion; you must respect the rights of minorities, and participate with a spirit of tolerance and compromise; you must place the interests of your people and the legitimate workings of the political process above your party. Without these ingredients, elections alone do not make true democracy.

By the way, according to haaretz.com, in an article posted the day of this famous speech:

U.S. President Barack Obama met with members of Egypt’s Islamist opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, earlier this year, according to a report in Thursday editions of the Egyptian daily newspaper Almasry Alyoum.

The newspaper reported that Obama met the group’s members, who reside in the U.S. and Europe, in Washington two months ago.

According to the report, the members requested that news of the meeting not be publicized. They expressed to Obama their support for democracy and the war on terror.

The newspaper also reported that the members communicated to Obama their position that the Muslim Brotherhood would abide by all agreements Egypt has signed with foreign countries.

That’s nice to know, since once the riots are over, the Muslim Brotherhood will be controlling the government of Egypt.

That could be one of the reasons that Obama is laying back.

Ya think?

The latest news out of Cairo is that the American Embassy is advising citizens to get the heck out of Egypt and is providing helicopters for expediency’s sake.   Turkey is doing the same, as the ancient nation implodes, in a scene all too reminiscent of the fall of the Shah of Iran.

According to Reuters, over 100 people have been killed and around 2,000 wounded in the upheaval so far.

As reported by the Associated Press, leading Egyptian dissident Mohamed ElBaradei proclaimed yesterday that the appointment of a vice president and a new prime minister in Egypt was not enough to end the revolt against President Hosni Mubarak’s rule.

In comments to Al Jazeera television, ElBaradie also said that Mubarak should leave Egypt as soon as possible for the good of the country.

The former UN nuclear watchdog chief warned:

I have respect for Suleiman and Shafiq, but replacing individuals is not enough.

I tell President Mubarak and his regime to leave Egypt as soon as possible. It will be better for Egypt and for you.

Mubarak has ruled Egypt for 30 years.

His two sons have already fled to safety in London, England.

19 private jets carrying families of wealthy Egyptian and Arab businessmen have also left Cairo, according to an official at the city’s airport.

The official said the jets left Saturday carrying dozens of family members of Egypt’s business elite. He said most of the planes were headed for Dubai.

With good reason…

It has also been reported that gangs of armed men laid siege to at least four jails across Egypt before sunrise Sunday, freeing hundreds of Muslim militants and thousands of other inmates as police disappeared from the streets of Cairo and other cities.

Hmmmm…I’m getting that ol’ queasy feeling again.

Widespread looting has been reported, as normal Egyptian citizens form vigilante groups to try to protect their homes, possessions, and families from the rioters and looters.

Where is the strong presence of the Leader of the Free World during this crisis?

Yesterday, he attended his daughter Sasha’s basketball game.

However, there was a two-hour meeting about the Egyptian situation held in the White House.  Whether that accomplished anything at all, remains to be seen.

John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under the Bush administration, expertly sums up the problem that Obama faces:

Let’s be clear what the stakes are for the United States. We’ve got an authoritarian regime in power that’s been our ally. We don’t know at this point what the real alternatives are.

Hey, shouldn’t Obama’s Secretary of State be all over this crisis, advising the president?  Where is the distributor of Smart Power!, anyway?

Hillary Clinton is flying to Haiti to be the mediator in a political crisis there.

The Secretary of State will meet today with President Rene Preval and the three candidates running against him. She will also take the time to visit a treatment center for the cholera epidemic that has killed almost 4,000 people.

The first-round presidential election in November that was marred by fraud, thus prompting Hil’s visit.

The U.S. Administration believes that Preval’s preferred candidate, Jude Celestin, should drop out of the election because the Organization of American States says he had the least support. The creators of Smart Power! have warned Preval that continued aid for Haiti’s reconstruction from last year’s earthquake is at stake.

Nice little country you’ve got there…

The island  nation’s presidential run-off is scheduled for March.

Speaking of putting out fires…as Egypt burns…did you know that the State Department does not even list The Muslim Brotherhood as a Terrorist Organization?

From discoverthenetworks.org:

In recent years, the Brotherhood has attempted to forge a reputation as a moderate and reformist Islamic group that has renounced its violent past. Lending plausibility to this reputation has been criticism of the organization by radical Islamist groups, who have condemned the Brotherhood’s willingness to participate in the political process as heretical. These groups have also criticized the Brotherhood for supposedly abandoning violent struggle as a means of establishing an Islamic empire.

…Even as it is deemed insufficiently militant by some Islamist groups, the Brotherhood has had a discernible influence on contemporary jihadist terrorism. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the architect of 9/11, was a member of Muslim Brotherhood. More prominently still, Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood preacher, was a mentor to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

In May 1991 the Muslim Brotherhood issued to its ideological allies an explanatory memorandum on “the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America.” Explaining that the Brotherhood’s mission was to establish “an effective and … stable Islamic Movement” on the continent, this document outlined a “Civilization-Jihadist Process” for achieving that objective. It stated that Muslims “must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands … so that … God’s religion [Islam] is made victorious over all other religions.”

The Muslim Brotherhood has even met with the Obama Administration over the past year as reported by Richard Pollock at pajamasmedia.com:

Last month [January], U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and her senior staff privately met in Washington, D.C., with a select group of Muslim, Arab, and Sikh organizations. Among the mix were three organizations directly associated with an outlawed terrorist entity — the Muslim Brotherhood.

Secretary Napolitano spent an hour and a half briefing them on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) counter-radicalization and anti-terrorist programs. The intensive briefings spanned two days (January 27 and 28) and were called by the DHS.

Doesn’t that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

The Egyptian Crisis appears to be a lit trail leading to a barrel of gunpowder.  God help us.

The streets of the Middle Eastern nation were full of protesters as its citizens took to the street, enraged over a corrupt leader and his government, whom they blamed for their horrible poverty and unemployment.  Meanwhile, Muslim agitators slinked through their midst, encouraging the overthrow of the government, proclaiming it “the will of Allah”. 

Meanwhile, an ineffectual and weak President of the United States watched the Middle Eastern nation explode in violence, making benign speeches full of empty threats, as he and his over-their-head State Department stood by, like witnesses to an unavoidable train wreck.

I have not been describing the overthrow of the Shah of Iran in 1979.  I was simply relating what I observed on Fox News yesterday…and it continues today.

Per foxnews.com:

Hundreds of anti-government protesters returned Saturday to the battered streets of central Cairo, shouting for Hosni Mubarak to step down and attacking police even as the Cabinet resigned on the orders of the Egyptian president.

The sight of protesters pouring into Cairo’s downtown Tahrir Square and clashing with police for a fifth day indicated Mubarak’s pledges of reform and the dismissal of the government had done little to cool the anger over Egypt’s crushing poverty, unemployment and corruption. In a nationally televised speech after midnight, Mubarak refused to meet the protesters’ ultimate demand — for him to step down.

Over five days of protests — the largest Egypt has experienced in decades — crowds have overwhelmed police forces in Cairo and other cities around the nation with their numbers and in attacks with rocks and firebombs.

Overnight, the government called in military forces and by morning the army had replaced police in guarding government buildings and other key areas around the capital.

Americans who remember Iran and the Hostage Crisis, like me, are getting that ol’ queasy feeling again…and with good reason.

According to an article at nytimes.com:

Iranian “traditional conservatives” (i.e., devout Muslims) in Iran are very satisfied with what has been going on in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, where secular leaders have faced large-scale uprisings.

Mohammad-Javad Larijani, Secretary General of the Iranian High Council for Human Rights,and a very vocal leader among Iran’s “traditional conservatives”, said:

In my opinion, the Islamic Republic of Iran should see these events without exception in a positive light.

He and the rest of Iran’s Muslim hierarchy want the “anti-Islamic” government of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, who was ousted in Tunisia, to be replaced by a “people’s government”.

Sound familiar?

Additionally, he said that the United States and France are

doing everything they can to ride the wave and prevent the people from establishing the (Extreme Islamic) regime that they desire.

Who are the agitators that I refered to earlier?  They are The Muslim Brotherhood.

From discoverthenetworks.org:

Founded in 1928 by the Egyptian activist Hasan al-Banna, the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood is one of the oldest, largest and most influential Islamist organizations. Egypt has historically been the center of the Brotherhood’s operations, though the group maintains offshoots throughout the Arab-Muslim world — including in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, the Palestinian territories (Hamas), Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Sudan — and is also active in the United States and Europe. Islam expert Robert Spencer has called the Muslim Brotherhood “the parent organization of Hamas and al Qaeda.”

The Brotherhood was founded in accordance with al-Banna’s proclamation that Islam be “given hegemony over all matters of life.” Accordingly, the Brotherhood seeks to establish an Islamic Caliphate spanning the entire Muslim world. It also aspires to make Islamic (Shari’a) law the sole basis of jurisprudence and governance. Toward this purpose — encapsulated in the Brotherhood’s militant credo: “God is our objective, the Koran is our Constitution, the Prophet is our leader, struggle is our way, and death for the sake of God is the highest of our aspirations” — the Brotherhood since its founding has supported the use of armed struggle, or jihad. The Brotherhood supports the waging of jihad against non-Muslim “infidels,” and has expressed support for terrorism against Israel, whose legitimacy the Brotherhood does not recognize, and against the West, particularly the United States.

If you noticed, not a word was said yesterday by President Obama, nor his Administration about the involvement of this Islamic Terrorist Organization.  Instead, they referred to it as “the Egyptian people’s right to  protest their government peacefully”.

Yeah, right.  Thank the Lord there are no Tea Partiers over there (sarc).

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the US Administration is handling this situation very poorly:

Events in the Middle East are moving too fast for the Obama administration to think it can get away with Plan A and Plan B reaction strategies according to the regimes or leaders it wants to keep in and out of power.

…By current American thinking it would never do to have Islamists in power in the Palestinian Occupied Territories or in Lebanon and therefore they heed every despot’s warning that the Islamists are waiting in the wings across North Africa and the Middle East.

But lost in the lunge to protect US strategic and commercial interests by propping up the region’s dictator class is any realisation that support is what leaves the youth of the region under-educated and under-employed and, thereby, ripe for the picking by Islamist and other underground movements.

A lot of  us “older” Americans have referred to the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., as Carter on steroids.

Unfortunately, we were right.  God help us.

The Left and their lap-dogs in the media have lost their ever-lovin’ minds.  Their latest message, being sent out in an act of desperation, is that Obama is just like the greatest American president in our generation, Ronald Wilson Reagan. 

 I don’t know what they’re smoking, but they need to put down the pipe.

According to an article published on time.com, Obama is one of the Gipper’s biggest fans.

And I own every Lady Gaga CD in existence.

According to the article, in May 2010, President Barack Hussein Barack Obama invited an intimate cadre of presidential historians to the White House for a working supper in the Family Dining Room. According to historian Douglas Brinkley, Obama clearly had a bromance going on with our late president and can actually be compared favorably to Ronald Reagan:

There are policies, and there is persona, and a lot can be told by persona. Obama is approaching the job in a Reaganesque fashion.

Okay. I’m going to throw up now.

The Time article goes on to erroneously compare Reagan’s call for bipartisanship in his 1983 SOTU address to Obama and the Dems’ current push for “a coming together”.

The difference between the two situations is striking.  Reagan wanted to re-invigorate our capitalistic economy and wanted both parties to help him for the good of the American people.

Obama and the Dems want bipartisanship in order to continue to radically change our country and to cover up their failed economic policies and minority Congressional status.

Obama recently wrote an op-ed for USA Today, praising Reagan, saying:

Ronald Wilson Reagan was a believer. As a husband, a father, an entertainer, a governor and a president, he recognized that each of us has the power — as individuals and as a nation — to shape our own destiny. He had faith in the American promise; in the importance of reaffirming values like hard work and personal responsibility; and in his own unique ability to inspire others to greatness. 

No matter what political disagreements you may have had with President Reagan— and I certainly had my share — there is no denying his leadership in the world, or his gift for communicating his vision for America.

…President Reagan recognized the American people’s hunger for accountability and change — putting our nation on a bold new path toward both. And although he knew that conflicts between parties and political adversaries were inevitable, he also knew that they would never be strong enough to break the ties that bind us together. He understood that while we may see the world differently and hold different opinions about what’s best for our country, the fact remains that we are all patriots who put the welfare of our fellow citizens above all else.

It was a philosophy that President Reagan took to heart — famously saying that he and Democratic Speaker Tip O’Neill, with whom he sparred constantly, could be friends after 6 o’clock. It’s what led him to compromise on issues as contentious as Social Security and tax cuts. And it’s what allowed him to work with leaders of all political persuasions to advance the cause of freedom, democracy and security around the world, including reducing nuclear weapons and imagining a world, ultimately, without nuclear weapons.

But perhaps even more important than any single accomplishment was the sense of confidence and optimism President Reagan never failed to communicate to the American people. It was a spirit that transcended the most heated political arguments, and one that called each of us to believe that tomorrow will be better than today. At a time when our nation was going through an extremely difficult period, with economic hardship at home and very real threats beyond our borders, it was this positive outlook, this sense of pride, that the American people needed more than anything.

When the future looked darkest and the way ahead seemed uncertain, President Reagan understood both the hardships we faced and the hopes we held for the future. He understood that it is always “Morning in America.” That was his gift, and we remain forever grateful.

The article from Time refers to a passage from Scooter’s second book, The Audacity of Hope, where he said about President Reagan:

I understood his appeal. Reagan spoke to America’s longing for order, our need to believe that we are not simply subject to blind, impersonal forces but that we can shape our individual and collective destinies.

Okay.  We get it.  You want Americans to buy the idea that you think that Ronald Wilson Reagan was an extraordinary  American President. 

 Well, duh.

But, President Reagan never said:

I do think that at a certain point you’ve made enough money.

Nor, did he say that the Muslim Call to Prayer is:

…one of the prettiest sounds on Earth.

And I sure don’t remember President Reagan saying anything about his fellow Americans:

clinging to their guns and religion.

However, he did say that:

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.

Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.

I was alive while Ronald Wilson Reagan was President of the United States.  You, sir, are no Ronald Wilson Reagan.

In the Time article, they detail a dinner between Nancy Reagan and Obama:

Obama invited Nancy Reagan to the White House 19 months ago, when he signed legislation creating a commission to plan for her husband’s centennial. The meeting was cordial and generous on both sides. Nancy and Michelle Obama had lunch. Nancy, who in her ninth decade retains a healthy sense of humor, didn’t miss a chance to point out one difference between Obama and her late husband. “You’re a lefty,” she said as Obama inked the Reagan commission into law.

“I am a lefty,” Obama replied. A lefty who wants to be remembered just like Ronnie.

And that ain’t happenin’.

Like a little kid playing baseball by himself, last night President Barack Hussein Obama threw up the ball, swung at it….and missed by a mile.

If the State of the Union Address last night was the Prom (i.e., Date Night) that the Democrats furtively tried to make it, then the band stank up the place.

In front of a joint session of Congress, sitting together in a manufactured show of civility, Obama delivered an address that had all the electricity of a Pat Paulsen Presidential Campaign. (At least Pat Paulsen was funny, God rest his soul.)

In a speech that seemed Bi-polar in nature and a repeat of last year’s SOTU Address, Obama called for more spending and a spending freeze in the same 62 minute speech.

In his opening remarks, Obama said:

Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik¸ we had no idea how we’d beat them to the moon. The science wasn’t there yet. NASA didn’t even exist. But after investing in better research and education, we didn’t just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs.

This is our generation’s Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven’t seen since the height of the Space Race. In a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal. We’ll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology – an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people.

Lofty words, sir.  But, Mr. President, your Democratic Congress never passed last year’s budget!

The president went on to sound like a broken record, speaking, once again,  about improving infrastructure, research, education, efficient cars, high-speed rail and other pie-in-the-sky Liberal dreams.  He said that we should the “redouble these efforts”, referring to improving America’s infrastructure.  And, at the same time, he issued a call to “freeze annual domestic spending for the next five years.”

Being the Progressive that he is, Scooter gave far more examples of where he would spend, rather than where he would cut.

He refused to back away from the monster he created, called Obamacare, instead claiming:

Health insurance reform will slow these rising costs, which is part of why nonpartisan economists have said that repealing the health care law would add a quarter of a trillion dollars to our deficit.

So far, all Obamacare is doing is causing insurance premiums to rise, agents and office staff to lose their jobs, people to lose coverage as companies drop their health insurance and it has spurred some doctors to form coalitions to charge an annual fee of up to $1,800, just for the privilege of being their patient.

Obama vowed to veto any legislation with “earmarks”.

Which was pretty silly, because the Republicans had already proposed a ban on earmarks.

Scooter also claimed that he will be willing to listen to Republican ideas.

Yeah, buddy. You sure have so far. Pfffft.

Of course, he called for amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Because they need to be in place to vote Democrat in 2012.

He gave a shout out to American Muslims, saying that they are part of our “American Family”.

That’s Funny. I’ve had disagreements with my family, but they’ve never tried to blow me up.

Scooter also lauded the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell calling for American universities to allow the ROTC back on campus, now that Homosexuals can serve openly.

How…noble?  Nope.  Hypocritical.

Black and white ribbons were worn by Congresscritters throughout the audience, signifying the Democrats’ call for a “new civility”, purportedly in honor of Gabby Giffords and the victims of Jared Lee Loughner.

In reality, the Democrat hierarchy can not stand being the minority party and are desperately trying to do anything they can to create the illusion that they still rule Congress.   And a bunch of the Beltway Republicans were stupid enough to go along with this silly exercise in camouflage.

Remember them in 2012.

Rep. Paul Ryan gave the Republican response.  Rep. Michele Bachmann responded on behalf of the Tea Part Express.  Both speeches were short, sweet, and a thousand times better than the lackluster, same ol’, same ol’ address given by the President of the United States.  Here they are.  Judge for yourself:

November 2nd, 2010 was a referendum on President Obama, his policies, Administration, and the imperious actions of him and his political party.

What part of this does he and the Republican Beltway Elite not understand?

Evidently…everything.

While average Americans are struggling to pay their bills and provide for their families, President Barack Hussein Obama will deliver his annual State of the Union Address before a Joint Session of Congress tonight.

Per an AP story provided to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Obama is supposed to call for targeted spending in order to jumpstart his failed economic policies. At the same time, the president will also propose budget cuts.

Huh?

The address begins at 7:00 p.m. Central.

While tens of millions of Americans watch, Obama will bring his laser-like focus (since his party no longer controls the House of Representatives) to America’s job crisis. Tonight’s speech will concentrate on America’s economic mess, barely emphasizing Afghanistan and Iraq, terrorism and foreign affairs.

Obama will offer proposals on improving America’s educational system and infrastructure.  He will also encourage innovation (government-funded?) in order to improve America’s failing economy.  (Didn’t he propose all this stuff last year?)   At the same time he proposing massive spending, he will also propose budget cuts in order to reduce the government’s debt, which, thanks to the effects of his administration and a Democratically-controlled Congress, now exceeds $14 trillion.

The rallying cry from the Administration tonight will be “Win the Future!”

The president and his administration are trying to put forth proposals that will entice Moderate Republicans to reach across the aisle. Obama’s aides have announced that they hope that the SOTU Address will appeal to both workers and business executives and bind the political parties.

Funny, how the Midterm Elections on November 2nd, 2010 inspired the Administration and the Democrats to change their political rhetoric, isn’t it? It’s easier to call for an end to harsh rhetoric when you no longer have the political power to push though Congress whatever radical change that you want to.

The political parties are still miles apart in their philosophies.( Thank goodness.)  The State of the Union Address will be delivered just hours after the House votes on setting spending for the rest of the year at 2008 pre-recession levels. This mostly symbolic resolution puts House Republicans on the record as being in favor of a $100 billion budget cut from Obama’s budget for the current year as the party promised in last year’s campaign.

Sitting with Michelle (ma belle) Obama tonight will be several of the people involved with the tragic mass murder in Tucson, Arizona. Those attending include Daniel Hernandez, the intern who rushed to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ side and put pressure on her wounds until medical personnel arrived, and the family of 9-year-old victim Christina Taylor Green. Rep. Gabby Gifford’s — trauma surgeons Peter Rhee and Randall Friese, neurosurgeon Michael Lemole, and nurse Tracy Culbert will attend as well. Giffords’ husband, Mark Kelly, will not attend, choosing instead to stay close to his wife in Houston.

May God bless them and all the victims of the actions of the psychopath, Jared Lee Loughner.

Obama is expected to use the tragedy to call for civility, an apparent code word used to squelch political dissent, since the Democratic Party can no longer limit debate by the dictate of their former majority.

Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin will be giving the Republican response tonight. He is usually the party spokesman on budgetary issues because of his knowledge and focus on spending cuts. He is the chairman of the Budget Committee and severs as the point man for the GOP drive to reduce the national debt by slashing government spending.

Rep. Michelle Bachmann is scheduled to reply to the address also, representing the Tea Party Express. This will be available on the Internet, only.

Mr. President, sir, may I offer a humble suggestion? The majority of Americans don’t want Government interference in our lives. We simply want you to get out of the way and let us work. Don’t punish our American entrepreneurs. Get our of their way. Quit raising taxes on businesses. Drop the corporate tax rate to 10 % and you’ll have every corporation in the world begging to come to America to do business, not to mention freeing up our own American corporations to start creating jobs again and, possibly, quit outsourcing jobs to the Bay of Bengal.

It seems pretty simple to me. But, then again, I believe in America.