Both sides of the Ground Zero Mosque Debate, or Obamamosque, as some have called it, squared off in duelling demonstrations yesterday.

The now-national debate centers on plans to build an Islamic center (i.e., mosque) at Ground Zero, the site of the September 11, 2001 attacks by al Qaeda, which killed 3,000 people.

The debate is not helping the Democratic party.  Republicans against the mosque are using it to attack Democratic President Barack Obama a little over two months ahead of midterm elections, where his party is fighting to keep their phony baloney jobs in Congress.

Opponents of the Cordoba Initiative, renamed Park51, say its proposed location is insensitive and fear it will be a haven for Muslim Extremists. Those who back it cite the right to religious freedom and a need to promote tolerance and understanding.

Hundreds of opponents on Sunday showed up chanting “No Mosque,” singing patriotic songs and waving photographs of violent attacks by Islamic extremists.

One sign read:

Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all the terrorists were Muslim.

Around the corner, supporters chanted:

We don’t care what bigots say, religious freedom is here to stay.

I thought it was supposed to be:  We don’t care what the people say, rock ‘n roll is here to stay.  Funny how the Libs love religious freedom, as long as it does not apply to Christianity.

Demonstrators tried to shout each other down, however, no violence or arrests were reported.  Uniformed police and rows of barricades kept many in the crowds apart. Police officials said extra forces were deployed but did not say how many officers were at the demonstration.

Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg have given their support  to the right of Muslims to build the center near Ground Zero, while Republicans, including former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, oppose it.

Others suggest it be moved to a less controversial spot.

Ali Akram, a local doctor who supports the project, said:

The people who say the mosque is too close to Ground Zero, those are the same people that protest mosques in Brooklyn and Staten Island and Tennessee and Wisconsin and California. What radius will they go for? There’s no end to it.

A lot of those  in the crowd opposing the center were firefighters and construction workers, who carried signs reading:

This is Sacred Ground to New Yorkers.

One sign read:

Everything I Ever Needed to Know about Islam I Learned on 9/11.

Plans for the project that have been revealed to this point include a 13-story building to house an auditorium, swimming pool, meeting rooms as well as the prayer space. The structure is fairly plain and, so far, does not include a minaret, dome or other motifs often associated with mosques.

Some that are opposed to the mosque, err, cultural center, have taken legal action, seeking to void a ruling that would allow construction to proceed, while some construction workers have launched a Hard Hat Pledge, vowing not to work on the project.

Daisy Khan, wife of Cordoba Initiative Leader Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, compared opposition to the project to the persecution of Jews, in comments that could add to the controversy over the Cordoba Initiative Project (Park51).

Ms. Khan, who is spearheading the project with her husband, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, said:.

We are deeply concerned, because this is like a metastasized antisemitism.  It’s beyond Islamophobia. It’s hate of Muslims.

A Muslim comparing righteous indignation to antisemitism.  How…ironic.

She appeared on ABC News’s “This Week” on Sunday and vowed to push ahead with plans to build a 15-story complex two blocks from the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in lower Manhattan, saying there was “too much at stake.”

Yeah, Miss Daisy.  If they make you move the mosque, it won’t be an Islamic symbol of victory any longer.

Several politicians, including New York Governor David Paterson, have called for the project to be moved away from Ground Zero. On Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) also suggested the mosque’s location should be changed:

McConnell said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday:

I hope the people of New York, who can actually make the decision, will take into account public opinion not only locally but around the country.

Ms. Khan said that they weren’t going to move it, but (like a cat playing with a mouse) she didn’t rule out the option.

Right now it’s not (being considered) until we consult with all our stakeholders.

Appearing with the head of the Jewish Community Center in New York, on which her project is modeled, she said a prayer space would only be part of a broader center:

There will be schools, you know, small education forums, conferences, and it’s basically become a place where ideas can be exchanged, but tolerance, mutual respect can also be extended.

The project’s backers are holding talks with the families of those who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in an effort to calm the controversy around their project, Ms. Khan said.

The imam behind the project is described by Liberals as a moderate Muslim leader who has long called for reconciliation between religions. But comments that he has made before and after shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, prove that he is not as moderate as his supporters say.

On of the comments made by Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf was that, while the U.S. didn’t deserve what happened on 9/11, its policies were “an accessory to the crime.” Asked on Sunday about those comments, Ms. Khan said they had been part of a wider interview that addressed support by the Central Intelligence Agency for Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban in the 1980s – when the U.S. was fighting a proxy war against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

That was a very weak explanation, Ms. Kahn.

For supposedly very learned people, Iman Rauf, his wife Daisy Khan, and the people behind The Cordoba Initiative (Park51), do not seem to be able to grasp the meaning of the word inappropriate.  That obtuseness alone presents a very clear and compelling argument that there is more to their desire to build the Ground Zero Mosque than they are revealing. 

According to government officials, lawyers from the Pentagon  believe that online whistleblower group WikiLeaks acted illegally in disclosing thousands of classified Afghanistan war reports and other material, and federal prosecutors are exploring possible criminal charges.

There is a joint investigation by the Army and the Federal Bureau of Investigation still in its early stages.  They are trying to decide what course the Department of Justice is going to take.

Government officials have previously said that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had not been named by the FBI as a target of the probe.

In late July, WikiLeaks posted some 76,000 classified military documents on its website, the largest such disclosure since the release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971. It has promised that there are another 15,000 documents coming from the cache it obtained. The disclosure made the Pentagon’s collective heads spin around.  The Pentagon warned that the release could endanger allies in Afghanistan and undercut the war effort.

Defense and Justice departments are exploring legal options for prosecuting Assange and others involved on grounds they encouraged the theft of government property.

Bringing a case against WikiLeaks would be a complicated matter.  It would potentially alienate Obama from his Far-Left voter base through the fact that Scooter and his administration would be pursuing not just government leakers, but organizations that disseminate their information.

The Pentagon is ratcheting up their tone in an effort to dissuade WikiLeaks from posting online the remaining documents.

Defense Department General Counsel Jeh Charles Johnson sent a letter this week to a WikiLeaks lawyer.  In it he wrote:

It is the view of the Department of Defense that WikiLeaks obtained this material in circumstances that constitute a violation of United States law, and that as long as WikiLeaks holds this material, the violation of the law is ongoing,” The letter did not spell out what those circumstances were.

People in-the-know said investigators and government lawyers were looking at whether WikiLeaks pressured army intelligence analyst Pfc. Bradley Manning to leak the Afghan war logs after the soldier provided the group with a classified Iraq video.

It that is the case, prosecutors will certainly pursue charges against WikiLeaks, legal experts said.

The head of the project on government secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, Steven Aftergood, said U.S. law gives prosecutors a number of tools they could use to prosecute WikiLeaks, for instance, alleging the group was an accessory to a crime or had unlawfully taken possession of stolen property.   He said if WikiLeaks actively encouraged the transfer of classified documents, the government could allege the group was part of a conspiracy,

The big question is whether WikiLeaks should be given the same legal protections as a “traditional” media outlet.

According to legal experts, the government may treat WikiLeaks differently because of the way it gathers and publishes information.  Its website actively solicits classified material and promises leaking is “safe, easy and protected by law.”

Traditional news organizations rarely publish information wholesale without first consulting the government to authenticate the information and to ensure it doesn’t compromise national security. WikiLeaks’ conveniently ignores that prudent step.

Mr. Aftergood said:

If WikiLeaks thought it would make the last move and the government would not respond, they may be mistaken .   But it would be a terrible new precedent if these legal options were actually employed against a publisher, even a disreputable one. Once such measures were used against WikiLeaks, it would only be a matter of time until they are used against other media outlets and individuals.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said:

We believe at a minimum that WikiLeaks has behaved in a reckless and irresponsible manner.

WikiLeaks lawyer, Timothy Matusheski, said he had been told by a member of the Army Criminal Investigative Division unit investigating the case that Mr. Assange, an Australian national, “was not a subject or target of any investigation.”

The U.S. law-enforcement official said that Mr. Assange was not a target, but Mr. Johnson’s letter may signal a shift, at least in terms of the Pentagon’s thinking.

Mr. Matusheski said:

They accuse him [Assange] of breaking the law.  But they haven’t said what law.

22 year-old Pfc. Manning worked in intelligence operations in Baghdad.  His job was to examine intelligence relevant to Iraq, but defense officials said Pfc. Manning used his “Top Secret/SCI” clearance to tap into documents around the world.

Pfc. Manning was charged by the military in July with illegally taking secret State Department files and disseminating the classified video, later released by WikiLeaks, showing a U.S. military helicopter firing on a group of people in Baghdad. Two Reuters journalists and seven other people were killed in the 2007 incident.

Michael Moore, the Oscar-winning filmmaker and embarrassing slob, announced in his own attention-seeking way, that he will contribute $5,000 to Manning’s Defense Fund. 

Moore told The Associated Press in a telephone interview he also hopes to make the public understand that Pfc. Bradley Manning exposed what Moore called “war crimes.”:

He did a courageous thing and he did a patriotic thing.

Manning faces up to 52 years in prison if convicted.

Meanwhile, Julian Assange is suspected of rape in Sweden, where authorities have issued a warrant for his arrest, officials said yesterday.

The 39-year-old Assange denied the allegations on WikiLeaks’ Twitter page, saying they “are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing.”

Assange, who has sought Swedish legal protection for his website, is suspected of molestation and rape in two separate cases, according to Karin Rosander, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Prosecution Authority.

Rosander told The Associated Press:

He should get in contact with police so that he can be confronted with the suspicions.

She said a prosecutor in Stockholm issued the arrest warrant on Friday. That means that means police are ordered to seek his arrest as part of an investigation but doesn’t necessarily mean that criminal charges will be filed.

Regarding the war documents, if the United States Government goes after WikiLeaks or  Assange personally, things are going to get complicated.  Not only is Assange not an American, according to Mr. Matusheski:

I don’t know [if] WikiLeaks has a presence in the United States except for a website.

The classified documents cover the Afghan war from 2004 through 2009. The Pentagon this week told WikiLeaks to go jump when they boldly requested  help in reviewing the remaining documents.  They demanded that WikiLeaks instead return all of the logs to the U.S. government.

The Pentagon said the 15,000 additional documents, like the initial batch, contained the names of Afghans who have helped the U.S. war effort and who could be targeted by the Taliban if their identities were made public.  Officials have continued to play down the impact of the leak on military strategy, saying they did not reveal anything new.

Have you ever looked at someone, and the first word that pops in your head is weasel?  When I saw  the pictures of Assange and Pfc. Manning, that word popped into my head.  When I watched Fox News and read about this life-threatening publicity stunt, other words and phrases popped into my head, also:   phrases like enemy of America, publicity hound, and playing at being a journalist, and words like traitor, treason, and hanging.

Like other Progressives, Assange is too wrapped up in his own self-righteousness to be worried about what effect his actions will have on others’ lives.   Hmmm..now, who does that remind you of?

UPDATE:   The warrant against Assange for rape has been withdrawn.   Chief prosecutor Eva Finné said in a statement explaining her decision:

I do not consider there to be any reason to suspect that he has committed rape.

Then why did the Swedes issue the warrant in the first place?  Hmmm.

 UPDATE 2:   Karin Rosander, spokeswoman for the Swedish Prosecution Authority, said that after a new prosecutor looked at the allegations, the arrest warrant was withdrawn because the severity of the case does not require an arrest at this stage.

Stranger and stranger.

The Obama administration, touting evidence of continued troubles inside Iran’s nuclear program, has been trying to persuade Israel that it would take roughly a year, maybe longer, for Iran to complete their quest for a nuclear weapon, according to administration officials.

Today’s news from Iran will not help.

Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi announced on Friday that Iran has test fired a surface-to-surface missile, Qiam, and screened footage of the event on state television.

This announcement comes a day before Iran is scheduled to go on line with its Russian-built first nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.

The television images showed the sand coloured Qiam (Rising) blasting into the air from a desert terrain, amid chants of “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).

The words “Ya Mahdi” were written on the side of the missile, referring to Imam Mahdi, one of the 12 imams of Shiite Islam, who disappeared as a boy and whom Muslims believe will return one day to bring redemption to mankind.

Vahidi, speaking during Friday prayers in Tehran, would not reveal when the launch took place nor the precise range of the missile.

He did say on state television that the missile was of a new class:

The missile has new technical aspects and has a unique tactical capacity.  Since the surface-to-surface missile has no wings, it has a lot of tactical power, which also reduces the chances of it being intercepted.

Vahidi had announced on Tuesday that Qiam was to be test fired during the annual government week, the period when Tehran shows off  its achievements in various fields.  This year government week begins on Monday.

The third generation Fateh 110 (Conqueror) missile is also scheduled to be test fired during this period. Iran has previously paraded a version of Fateh 110 which has a travel range of 150 to 200 kilometres (90 to 125 miles).

Also during government week, the production lines of two missile-carrying speedboats, Seraj (Lamp) and Zolfaqar (named after Shiite Imam Ali’s sword) are going to be unveiled long with a long-range drone, Karar.

The firing of Qiam comes days after a top commander from the Revolutionary Guards said Iran will mass produce replicas of the world’s fastest boat, the Bladerunner 51, , and equip them with weapons to be deployed in the Gulf.

On August 8, Iran took delivery of four new mini-submarines of the home-produced Ghadir class. Weighing 120 tonnes, the “stealth” submarines are aimed at operations in shallow waters, notably in the Gulf.

Iranian officials frequently brag about the Islamic republic’s military capabilities and the latest missile launch comes at a time when local officials have been warning against any attack on the Islamic republic.

While Iran is thumping its chest and bragging about its military might, the authors of Smart Power!, Obama and his administration, were certain that their assessment of Iran’s nuclear program has somehow dimmed the prospect that Israel would pre-emptively strike against the country’s nuclear facilities within the next year, as Israeli officials have suggested in thinly veiled threats.

For years, Israeli and American officials have gone back and forth on whether Iran is on a quest toward a nuclear bomb and, if they are, how long it would take to produce one.   What is the unknown factor is how long would it take Tehran to convert existing stocks of low-enriched uranium into weapons-grade material, a process commonly known as “breakout.”

Israeli intelligence officials believe that Iran could complete such a race for the bomb in months, while American intelligence agencies have come to believe in the past year that the timeline is longer.

Gary Samore, Obama’s top adviser on nuclear issues, said:

We think that they have roughly a year dash time.   A year is a very long period of time.”

Administration officials believed international inspectors would detect an Iranian move toward breakout within weeks, leaving a considerable amount of time for the United States and Israel to consider military strikes.

These assessments were based on intelligence collected over the past year, as well as reports from international inspectors.  It is not known whether the problems that Iran has had enriching uranium are the result of poor centrifuge design, difficulty obtaining components or accelerated Western efforts to sabotage the nuclear program.

American and Israeli officials have believed that Iran’s quest for nuclear power will not be over anytime soon. For one thing, Iran, which claims it is interested in enriching uranium only for peaceful purposes, would be forced to build nuclear bombs from a limited supply of nuclear material, currently enough for two weapons. Second, such a decision would require kicking out international weapons inspectors.  That would be a clear signal that even Obama and his administration could recognize.

Even if Iran were to move in this direction, the administration says it would probably take Iran some time to reconfigure its nuclear facilities to produce weapons-grade uranium and ramp up work on designing a nuclear warhead.

Israeli officials have warned that if they saw a race for the bomb under way, they would probably take military action and encourage the United States to join the effort.  A spokesman for Israel’s embassy in Washington declined to comment for this article. In interviews, Israeli officials said their assessments were coming into line with the American view, but they remain suspicious that Iran has a secret enrichment site yet to be discovered.

Meanwhile, Israelis and Palestinians seem to be closer to beginning direct peace talks.  

An official statement calling for direct talks to begin is expected to be released soon by the Quartet, a group composed of the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and Russia.

Israeli and Palestinian officials told Fox News that they are waiting for the Quartet statement first before announcing anything formally.

Saeb Erekat, Palestinian negotiator said:

I have not seen the statement and we will wait to see what the Quartet releases before making any announcements. 

 A Washington summit led by Obama to formally launch talks is expected to follow, likely before the Jewish holidays begin on Sept 9.

American officials said the White House set very early on a tentative deadline of 2011 for the creation of a Palestinian state.

Both Israeli and Palestinian governments are expected to consult with their leaders before agreeing to direct talks.

Israeli officials are concerned that the Quartet statement will call on the Jewish state to freeze construction in West Bank settlements. A construction freeze is set to expire on September 26 and the government has already said it will not renew it.

Palestinians have said they will not enter direct talks unless Israel agrees first that a future Palestinian state would follow the 1967 borders– the border between the two territories as it was on the eve of the 1967 Six Day War.

These proposed talks would cover the same issues as previous talks:  the outline for borders of a future state, Jerusalem’s status, Israeli security, and whether Palestinian refugees would be allowed to return to the homes they had before Israel’s creation.

While domestic issues involving America’s economy and the nation’s perception that Obama is, at best, a Muslim sympathizer, have seemingly monopolized our country’s attention, the area of the world known as The Middle East, continues to be minefield where the next next miscalculated step could lead to an explosion.  Unfortunately, the same waffling, Far-Left leadership that this administration has demonstrated concerning America’s domestic issues, in very evident in its bungling Foreign Policy initiative, ironically named Smart Power.

It is not comforting to Americans to know that The Middle East remains a powder keg waiting to explode, and this administration is holding the match.

President Barack Hussein Obama (Peace be unto him), on his ninth visit to Ohio and third to Columbus, tried to convince Americans in a backyard discussion that, despite the worst economy that most of us have seen in our lifetimes, his policies have actually got America on the right track.

According to Gallup, Scooter’s poll numbers, as of yesterday, break down thusly:

JOB APPROVAL       APPROVE  41%     DISAPPROVE  52%

U.S.  WORKFORCE    UNDEREMPLOYED  18.1%    EMPLOYED 81.9%

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS  EXCELLENT/GOOD  9% POOR 48%

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK  GETTING BETTER  32% GETTING WORSE  61%

With these kind of numbers hanging over his head, Obama returned to Ohio, a battleground state he won handily in 2008, to try to, as he said about Republicans,  bamboozle voters by saying that his economic policies are beginning to pay dividends in the form of new jobs and to plead with Democrats to turn back an expected GOP juggernaut at the Nov. 2 midterm election.

Obama told a group of about 40 in the backyard of Rhonda and Joe Weithman’s home, a Cape Cod on quiet E. Kanawha Avenue in Clintonville:

Slowly but surely, we are moving in the right direction. We’re on the right track.

Hey, Scooter, that light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train.

The president had to admit that times remain tough. Ohio’s unemployment rate of 10.5 percent is a full percentage point above the national rate.  Obama said:

We’ve made progress, but let’s face it, the progress hasn’t been fast enough.

As usual,Obama blamed Boooosh for  the economy, whining about how bad it was when he took office, saying it “really suffered a big trauma” and comparing the recovery to improving from an illness by getting “a little bit stronger each day.”

Later, at a Downtown luncheon fundraiser for Gov. Ted Strickland and the Ohio Democratic Party, Obama continued to blame Boooosh saying that the recession already had swept away 8 million jobs before “we had any opportunity to put in our economic policies.” His policies: the $787 billion stimulus package, health-care overhaul, domestic auto industry bailout and tighter regulations on Wall Street are helping to rebuild the economy, Obama said.

Scooter told 700 of the cheering faithful at the fundraiser in the Athenaeum:

After 18 months, I have never been more confident that our nation is headed in the right direction.

And, every day, he goes outside to feed the unicorn grazing on the South Law of the White House.

Obama’s visit, particularly his gloves-off rebuke of congressional Republicans : “This year, their slogan is, ‘No we can’t'”, was intended to boost the spirits of local Democrat politicians who dominate statewide offices and are feeling voters’ wrath against incumbents.

Mayor Michael B. Coleman called the speech “a motivator” for the state’s Democratic base:

It had some new energy for the party and showed how far we’ve come in a relatively short time, and going back to where we were is just not an option acceptable to Ohio.

Then he went and drank another glass of Kool-aid.

Scooter’s theme of remember the past so we don’t relive it was woven through every speech delivered at the fundraiser by members of the statewide Democratic ticket, who warned those attending that electing Republicans would mean resurrecting the policies that ignited the recession.

Sen. Sherrod Brown said after the fundraiser:

This is going to be a hard year, as we know.  We’ve got to make the contrast between what we are doing versus what they (Republicans) did, and what they did is what they want to do again.

Obama received a few chuckles when he reiterated a story he’s been making at every campaign, err, fund-raising, stop:  saying Republicans “want the keys back” after putting the economy in the ditch:

When you want your car to go forward, what do you do?  You put it into ‘D.’ When you want it going backwards, what do you do? You put it into ‘R.’

Auditor Mary Taylor, the running mate of John Kasich, Strickland’s GOP challenger, said in a conference call that jobs are the only issue in Ohio, and that both Strickland and Obama have failed to create them.

The president has a lot to answer for because more than 130,000 jobs have been lost in Ohio since February 2009, when the president’s ‘stimulus’ spending bill became law and helped explode the national debt to $13 trillion.

Obama arrived at the Weithmans’ home around 10:30 a.m. and spent about 15 minutes trying to bamboozle the family at their kitchen table about how the federal stimulus bill helped them.  Rhonda was able to maintain the family’s health insurance after losing her job last year, and the small architectural firm Joe runs was able to keep two employees with a project funded in part by stimulus funds.

Scooter then pontificated for nearly an hour in the backyard, taking nine questions from guests seated on a semi-circle of picnic tables in front of the few stalks of corn in the family vegetable garden.

The questions included whether Social Security would be privatized (Obama said not as long as he is president), as well as concerns about health care, education and pensions.

When a reporter had the temerity to ask a question after the “backyard bash” about whether Scooter has any regrets about his controversial comments about a proposed mosque at Ground Zero in New York City, the president paused for a picture (of course) and then answered:

The answer is “no regrets.”

The president kept the mood informal, telling the guests to ignore the throngs of photographers standing on risers and tried to schmooze with the “little people”, asking Columbus firefighter Joe Richard:

Did you used to play for Ohio State, man? You look like we could put you on the line right now.

Obama also said the Weithmans “made me be the ‘O'” in an O-H-I-O for a keepsake photo.  How droll.

The neighborhood was abuzz with curiosity as people gathered outside the police barricades to watch the hubbub before the president arrived on their street.

Although she was glad to have the president visit her neighborhood, Mirka Biggs, 60, a Republican who lives a street over from the Weithmans, said she’s skeptical about where the job market is headed:

The economy is not going right.

As the Gallup poll numbers that I posted earlier show, the majority of Americans feel the same way that Ms. Biggs does.  Unfortunately for Obama and the Democrats, with Midterm Elections a little more than three months away, all the flowery rhetoric and Boooosh-blaming in the world will not be able to rescue them from the consequences of  their failed Economic Policies.

Will they or won’t they?  That’s the question everyone’s asking regarding whether the people behind the Ground Zero Victory Mosque will agree to move their “bridge-building” project to another location.   

So will the mosque be moving?  Don’t bet on it.   

New York Gov. David Paterson has announced plans to meet with developers of the controversial Ground Zero mosque some time this week to offer them state land , at another location, for their cultural and religious center. Paterson told Congressman Peter King about the meeting, and King said the governor asked him to make it public.    

From 1934 to 1940 , severe drought ravaged an area twice the size of Pennsylvania covering parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. When the drought destroyed the crops, there was nothing to hold the soil of the wind-swept and treeless plains. The area became known as “The Dust Bowl.”

By 1935, winds reaching 60 miles per hour whipped the dirt into gigantic clouds as high as 1,000 feet blocking the sun. Dust reached the president’s desk in Washington and even reported by ships 500 miles out to sea. Storms blanketed highways in impenetrable clouds of swirling dust stranding motorists. With the land literally blown away, farmers left the area. By the end of the decade almost half the population, an estimated 300,000 from Oklahoma alone, migrated. Most headed to California in hopes of finding work and a better life. John Steinbeck immortalized the hardships and misery of these “Okies” in his 1939 novel “The Grapes of Wrath.”

The federal government moved to reclaim the land by strategically planting trees throughout the area that reduced the effect of the wind and by promoting scientific farming methods. The effort was successful. When the drought ended in 1940, the land could successfully be farmed again.

While hundreds of House members and dozens of senators hit the campaign trail in a fight to save their jobs with help from President Obama, more than 2 million out-of-work Americans are faced with being lost in a “Dust Bowl” of  unemployment obscurity by the end of the year. 

Even though Congress passed a jobless benefits extension in July, the boost only lasts until Nov. 30, meaning  a  backlog of recipients will lost their benefits all at once come December.  Between the end of August and the end of the calendar year, approximately 2.37 million Americans will stop getting unemployment checks, according to Labor Department statistics. 

The looming cessation of benefits is not going to help consumer spending among a depressed citizenry where the economy already ranks as the top issue for voters in poll after poll. 

According to Gallup Daily, 47 % of Americans believe Economic Conditions are poor and 62 % believe that the Economic Outlook is worse.

So, while President Obama is on a three-day, cross-country jaunt, doing the only thing that he is semi-competent at:   fundraising, Congress must now turn its focus from legislation to re-election.  Somehow, they have to convince Americans that their constituents’ fiscal well-being matters more to them than their own phony baloney jobs. 

Republicans criticized the president’s fundraising trip Monday. They used this fund-raising trip to show that his priorities are not in order.

The Republican National Committee has posted a new web video highlighting the five states Obama is visiting, along with the local unemployment rate for each. 

Obama will be making fundraising stops in Wisconsin, California, Washington, Ohio and Florida.  Most are states the president will have to carry in 2012 if he runs for re-election, and he is using his visits this week to campaign  for Democrats caught in tight races this November. 

Paul Lindsay, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee said:

Every day that the president is not talking about jobs and the economy is a day that Democrats continue to show how out of touch they are with the problems of the American people.

The NRCC premiered a website Monday, titled “The West Swing,” mocking Obama’s scheduled fundraiser with party leaders in Los Angeles Monday night. 

“Don’t let Democrats mislead voters — the economic mess is a result of THEIR failed agenda,” the site says, urging supporters to contribute to “offset” the Democratic money raised in California. 

Republicans, who were against the jobless benefits extension because they said they wanted it to be paid for, claim other action can be taken to lift up the economy.  Lindsay said Republican candidates in the months ahead are going to draw increased attention to the possible expiration of the Bush tax cuts. 

While Democrats argue that most of the tax cuts should be extended for all but the textbook wealthy, Republicans say they should be extended across the board. Lindsay said letting the cuts lapse ensures job growth will continue to stagnate.   He said:

This is the small business tax.

Democrats, in a hypocritical bit of political subterfuge, proclaim that taxes should go back up for those making more than $200,000 in order to start plugging the deficit.  They falsely claim that they’ve been able to stop an economic crisis from becoming considerably worse and are proud of their efforts providing short-term relief with repeated jobless benefits extensions , even though the federally funded cushion is deflating rapidly. 

White House spokesman Bill Burton whined on Monday that while Obama is “not satisfied with the pace of this recovery,” Republicans offer only obstructionism: 

We have been able to make some progress. What you see here is the Democratic vision, which is continue to make progress, keep on with the policies that are moving us out of this crisis. Republicans, he said, want to “obstruct the progress we’ve been able to make. 

Burton used the Wisconsin energy plant Obama visited Monday as an example, saying the plant was adding 80 jobs “as a result of new investment and the fact that they’re manufacturing something that people abroad and domestically are interested in buying.” 

Obama, stopping by the Wisconsin firm on his way to a fundraiser for state Democrats, said ZBB Energy Corp. is showing how “manufacturing jobs can come back.” He described the clean energy industry as one area where job growth can be fueled. and added:

We expect our commitment to clean energy to lead to more than 800,000 jobs by 2012. 

And I expect Joy Behar to turn into Florence Henderson any day now.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said the president is playing a vital role by hitting the campaign trail.  Reed said on “Fox News Sunday”: 

I know the president will be campaigning throughout the country. He’ll be campaigning in many, many districts .  I think his ability to talk about what his administration has accomplished in terms of health reform, in terms of stabilizing a terrible situation. … To go back to the Bush policies would be a disaster for the country. And many candidates will be wanting that message. 

Right, Sen. Reed.  That’s why Democratic candidates are all running away from the president.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader John Boehner on Monday requested that the Obama administration provide a complete list of new federal rules projected to cost the economy $1 billion or more. 

Boehner said:

The Obama administration owes the American people a full accounting of the degree to which its policies may be negatively impacting  job creation in our country.

Congressman, considering that, according to Gallup:

More than 6 out of 10 Americans in Gallup polls conducted this year have consistently said “most members of Congress” do not deserve re-election. These are the highest numbers in Gallup’s history of asking this question.

I would say that both parties have a lot of work to do to regain Americans’ trust.  If Republicans rise to power in a November Mid-term electoral sweep as predicted, they have the opportunity to make a difference in their constituency’s lives.  Or they can sit on their stools at the Beltway Country Club, drinking chocolate martinis, while more and more Americans are consumed by this economic “Dust Bowl”. 

According to President Barack Hussein Obama (Peace be upon him) on Saturday, he did not express an opinion at the WH Ramadan Dinner Friday Night on whether a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero is appropriate:

Per “The World’s President”:

My intention was simply to let people know what I thought.

 

In this country, we treat everybody equally and in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion. I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there 

I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding.

The president’s remarks come after a forceful proclamation made Friday at the Iftar dinner, when he wholeheartedly endorsed the idea of building a mosque and Muslim community center near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack in New York”.

As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country.   And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable.

However, deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton said in a statement Saturday:

Just to be clear, the President is not backing off in any way from the comments he made last night.

It is not his role as President to pass judgment on every local project.
 But it is his responsibility to stand up for the Constitutional principle of religious freedom and equal treatment for all Americans.  What he said last night, and reaffirmed today, is that If a church, a synagogue or a Hindu temple can be built on a site, you simply cannot deny that right to those who want to build a Mosque.

The problem, Bill, is that is appears to the vast majority of Americans that Obama is ducking the real issue, which is whether it is appropriate or wise for the Muslim group who wants to build the mosque and community center – the Cordoba Initiative – to do so right beside Ground Zero.

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin addressed the matter late Saturday afternoon on her Facebook page:

Mr. President, should they or should they not build a mosque steps away from where radical Islamists killed 3000 people? Please tell us your position. We all know that they have the right to do it, but should they? And, no, this is not above your pay grade. If those who wish to build this Ground Zero mosque are sincerely interested in encouraging positive “cross-cultural engagement” and dialogue to show a moderate and tolerant face of Islam, then why haven’t they recognized that the decision to build a mosque at this particular location is doing just the opposite? Mr. President, why aren’t you encouraging the mosque developers to accept Governor Paterson’s generous offer of assistance in finding a new location for the mosque on state land if they move it away from Ground Zero? Why haven’t they jumped at this offer? Why are they apparently so set on building a mosque steps from what you have described, in agreement with me, as “hallowed ground”? I believe these are legitimate questions to ask.

News comes out this morning that the sponsors of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero are not slamming the door on Gov. Paterson’s idea to build the center someplace else.

“We are open to a conversation to find out more on what the governor has in mind,” the center, Park51, formerly named the Cordoba Initiative after a famous Muslim victory,  said in a Twitter post yesterday.

While mosque opponents charge the chosen site is insensitive to 9/11 victims, NY Governor Paterson (D) doesn’t oppose the planned location.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a useful idiot, is all for the mosque.  He said Obama’s remarks reminded him of George Washington:

Two hundred and twenty years ago this week, the Father of Our Country penned his famous letter to the Jewish Community of Newport Rhode Island or, as he called them, ‘the Children of the Stock of Abraham.’  President Obama’s words tonight evoked President Washington’s own August reminder that ‘all possess alike liberty.

Paterson and Bloomberg aren’t speaking for the majority of New Yorkers.

Rick A. Lazio, a Republican candidate for governor and a former member of the House of Representatives, said late Friday that the president was still “not listening to New Yorkers”:

With over 100 mosques in New York City, this is not an issue of religion, but one of safety and security.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., agreed. “President Obama is wrong,” he said:

It is insensitive and uncaring for the Muslim community to build a mosque in the shadow of ground zero.  While the Muslim community has the right to build the mosque they are abusing that right by needlessly offending so many people who have suffered so much.

But, hey, Liberals, don’t worry.  You’ve got back-up for your position.

A Hamas leader says Muslims “have to build” a mosque near ground zero.

Mahmoud al-Zahar said Muslims “have to build everywhere” so that followers can pray, just like Christians and Jews build their places of worship.

Al-Zahar spoke Sunday on “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio” on WABC-AM. He is a co-founder of Hamas and its chief on the Gaza Strip.

Be proud, Liberals.  Be proud.

White House aides would respond to questions about whether the president decided to backtrack on  his remarks Saturday based on feedback from any particular person or organization.  But you can bet that immediately after his proud proclamation of support for the Cordoba Intiative at the White House Ramadan Dinner,  Axlerod, Rahmbo, and all sorts of advisers and Democratic leaders, were pressuring him to “clarify” his remarks in an effort to save their progressive backsides from the upcoming political massacre in November.

Unfortunately for you and your political party, Mr. President, just like your 27 hour phony photo op from this weekend, where you and Sasha were actually swimming in St. Andrews Bay, not the Gulf of Mexico, Americans aren’t buying your forced “clarification”.