A Crack In The Facade

With the Muslim world in flames Nick Kristof uses his space at the Times to assure us that Mitt Romney is a foreign policy fumbler. However, we do note this crack in the facade:

Presidential candidates always have microphones in their faces, and it’s not surprising that periodically they say inane things. President Obama himself blew it a few days ago by mistakenly asserting that we didn’t consider Egypt an ally. But Obama then had the good sense to have the White House clarify that “not an ally” in that context meant “an ally.”

Obvi. Juan Cole and Michael Tomasky are still waving the pom-poms for Obama as a bold diplomatic genius. Uh huh - Obama delivers an utterly implausible threat the US will never carry out without consulting with the National Security Council, State,the Pentagon, or any or our allies. If Bush did that, he'd be a reckless unilateral cowboy; when Obama does it, he's a genius. Got it.

Comments

[PaulV`]

Stuck on Stupid. Both the Obama media as well as Obama.

[matt]

A financial web site I frequent ran a long piece called "Blowback" by someone named Aziz saying it is all our fault.A friend sent it to me, so I tried to explain:

In 1802, there were a bunch of terrorists called the Barbary Pirates. They had actually been terrorizing the Mediterranean for 300 years. They were the sea borne shock troops of the Ottoman Sultan who had already conquered places like Greece and Macedonia and Bulgaria and what was Yugoslavia, all the way to the gates of Vienna (1682).

The Barbary Pirates were in the 1400's & early 1500's led by a dude named Barbarossa, who was one of the greatest terrorists ever. He and his fleets would roll up to various and sundry towns in Spain, Italy, France, Ireland, etc and kill all the men, grab all the loot, and take everyone else into slavery. Yep. White slaves existed in Islam probably until 1914 or so. May still in places like Saudi Arabia.

So all of this pirating was going on and they were terrorizing and raping, murdering and raping some more and the Sultan in Constantinople was seriously pissed at the Knights on the island of Rhodes. So they took Rhodes, and then Crete, and they tried to take Malta as well. The Venetians were playing both sides against the middle because they were traders, but finally the Sultan turned on them as well.

So the King of Spain and the Pope and the various and sundry Italian kingdoms and then finally even the Venetians realized that the Barbary Pirates were terrorizing them, and the Ottoman Empire, who the Barbarys swore loyalty to, was going to take Rome itself eventually, which was their goal as Muslims.

To snuff Christianity and ensure the complete dominance of the world by Islam in general, and in particular, the Sultan.

So the fleets gathered and feinted and ducked, but finally the Ottomans decided, in error, to confront the Coalition at a place called Lepanto. The Turkish fleet was destroyed, and the Barbary fleet was pretty badly mauled as well. Barbarossa was long gone at that point, but there plenty of other Barbary Pirates to take his place. That was @ 1571. A lot of the loot from the Americas conquest funded the defense of Christianity.

So the Barbary Pirates went back to Tripoli and Algiers and Benghazi and Tunis. Recognize those names? Where they continued to terrorize as much as they could for another 200 years. They also set up a protection racket with a number of countries, including the UK. Pay them tribute, and they wouldn't enslave too many of your citizens and steal your shit and kill you in the hed.

Back to 1802. Thomas Jefferson wasn't having any of this. The whole freedom of the seas, and he actually hated slavery in countries other than his own. So he sent Stephen Decatur and a small fleet. A couple of the ships, including the USS Philadelphia, were captured and the crews imprisoned. Decatur was another American hero. He went in, burned the Philadelphia to the waterline, killed a lot of pirates, and then generally messed the Caliph's shit up. He did this up and down the coast until the Pirates sued for peace.

Fast forward another 10 years and while we were fighting the War of 1812, the Barbary Pirates started doing the samething again. Decatur went over there, freed our slaves and everyone else's, and kicked their asses.

The point is; It. Is. Not. Our Fault.

[mikey]

Isn't this the makings of a political disaster? It is obvious why the president's spokespeople lie so blatantly about Benghazi not being premeditated . But it is so farfetched it strains credulity even for these people. I guess admitting the truth about the attacks would open them up to severe criticism about lax security, unheeded warnings, missed briefings and excessive campaigning . On the other hand sticking to their story opens them up to other attacks. The political press had this wrong from day one.

[Danube of Thought]

Obama lead at Gallup down to three, 48-45.

[PaulV`]

DOT, registered voter and not likely voters?

[mikey]

Is it possible that the Romney won the week? Cant be, we Americans dont appreciate clarity of thought because according to the MSM, timing is everything.

[Danube of Thought]

I think so, Paul. At some point Gallup will go to LV, but I don't know when.

[Threadkiller]

Will Obama have the good sense to clarify "more flexibility after the election"?

[centralcal]

Yay - is this the steve-free thread?

Mikey, agree with your 1:19 PM comments.

[maryrose]

This is the beginning of the end for Obama. Not only did they manufacture a bump from the Dim convention by weighting the polls to favor more dem respondents but now we have the Rice dog and pony show doing a full Ginsberg on the networks to cover up their idiocy. I can just see Axelplouffe screaming at Carney and Rice to "lie or say anything" to get us off the hook. I can't wait for Romney and Ryan to bring this up in the debates and ask why they lied about these attacks. Make them personally defend this nonsense. Methinks Biden and Bambo will say "they were not speaking for us"

[Barbara]

Matt @1:03pm

Great comments. History has a way of creeping up and kicking your behind lest you forget.

[narciso]

Well there's also the example of the Serenissima's (Venice) campaign against the Ottomans, over a period of three hundred years, they lost their trading posts, as far interior as the Crimea, the last was Heraklion in 1683, this is all in 'city of fortune'

[matt]

tomorrow's lesson will be the Islamic subjugation of North Africa and Spain. Tours, anyone?

[rse]

jimmyk-I will answer your comment on CoR over here. The behavioral sciences changes that have been factored into ed all over the world were originally premised on the horrific population growth. In the 70s you find a list of potential catastrophes that are extranational.

As with AGW, anytime the facts get in the way of the models they lie. It's the back door way of a global nomenklatura controlling people and economies and they do mean to have it.

[Cecil Turner]

DOT, registered voter and not likely voters?

RVs. And just in case I have to point out the obvious: if Obama gets 48% in an RV poll, he loses. Badly.

[Barbara]

tomorrow's lesson will be the Islamic subjugation of North Africa and Spain. Tours, anyone?

I'm in. :)

[Frau Unglaublich]

Any prog scraping the "Voter for a New Foreign Policy" off the car? Probably not.

[Porchlight]

At some point Gallup will go to LV, but I don't know when.

October, I think. Rather late in the game IMHO.

[Extraneus]

At some point Gallup will go to LV

Is that because it's more expensive to poll LVs

[MAM]

RR held serve over the weekend in Ras which typically swings a bit to Obama. Gallup, with the RV sample has contracted. RR won the week. Now I do believe that Romney has to be a bit more specific with his plan for the economy and continue to act presidential regarding the Middle East. Regardless what the MSM says, Romney was right on target last week - why else would the WH rescind the embassy's statement about "hurting feelings." Ryan should attack more and fire up the base like he did this week again - and like he did when first selected. The problem in Ohio is that the conservatives are not completely int he fold for Romney and RR needs to bring them home to win the state. Rice was disgraceful this morning. Who can believe anything this administration says???

[Rick Ballard]

"Is that because it's more expensive to poll LVs"

No. Gallup is sampling 9K+ per week. Pulling a valid 1500 LV sample out would cost practically nothing. Aside from the cost of defending additional DoJ lawsuits, of course.

[Cecil Turner]

October, I think. Rather late in the game IMHO.

Gallup has a history of volatility in its LV screen (e.g., from 2006):

Almost all polling organizations use some sort of likely voter screen to measure voting intentions shortly before an election. This is especially critical in a midterm election in which, historically, only about 40 percent of eligible voters go to the polls. However, the Gallup likely voter screen is more complicated than most—it involves a series of seven questions including one that measures current political interest. As a result, while it appears to work quite well in the last day or two before an election, it can produce highly volatile results when applied several weeks before an election. During the 2000 election campaign, for example, Gallup’s presidential preference results sometimes gyrated wildly over the course of only a few days—on October 4th, Gallup showed an 11 point lead for Al Gore. Three days later, on October 7th, they showed an 8 point lead for George Bush. However, much of this apparent volatility was caused by the likely voter screen rather than actual shifts in candidate preference among voters. [emphasis added]

They've taken considerable heat for this in the past, and I concur they'll probably stay with RVs until fairly late in the game.

[maryrose]

I repeat as CH has already said: Obama will not carry Ohio.The college kids are disgusted with him, the conservatives are going to turn out in droves and Cuyahoga County voters are shrinking. Husted is fighting the good fight against voter fraud and once again our yellow journalism Plain Dealer has him on the front page this morning.Their goal-24-7 voting until election day and you can vote absentee also. We are fighting for Mandel and Brown is not well loved on the West Side.At least we don't have to deal with Kucinich this election.

[jimmyk]

Is that because it's more expensive to poll LVs

Maybe too hard to gauge "likely" until closer to the election. But even LV could still be weighted too heavily D depending on their methodology. All I could find on their pages was this:

Gallup's "traditional" likely voter model, which Gallup has employed for past elections, factors in prior voting behavior as well as current voting intention. This has generally shown a closer contest, reflecting the fact that Republicans have typically been more likely to vote than Democrats in previous elections.

Since Ds turned out heavily in '08, they might still skew LVs toward D, common sense and clear evidence notwithstanding.

[Extraneus]

Wow. Now I know what you guys were barfing about. The pic at Drudge is disgusting!

[Jim Eagle]

Speaking of football.

This was bound to happen with replacement refs.

[jimmyk]

Actually here's more info on Gallup's LV model. Looks like they don't necessarily use party ID to weight.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/111268/how-gallups-likely-voter-models-work.aspx

[JM Hanes]

matt:

"tomorrow's lesson will be the Islamic subjugation of North Africa and Spain. Tours, anyone?"

Several years ago, I was working with a specialist touring outfit to design a dual-purpose trip across N.Africa. I have always wanted to trace my father's WWII footsteps during Operation Torch, and hoped to combine that excursion with visits to archaeological sites extending all the way into Libya, which remain largely undisturbed by hordes of casual tourists.

Making that journey by land, instead of cruising along the coast, was always going to be a little dicey, but alas, I missed the one narrow window of relative stability which opened all too briefly, and I now doubt that such an opportunity will come again in my lifetime.

[daddy]

One's a gaffe, the other's simply an understandable "mistaken assertion."

Nice how they works at the Times.

[rse]

JMH-my parent spent 3 weeks in Morocco about 5 years ago including the Atlas Mtns and several days in desert and somewhere on Atlantic coast with surfing on top of the usual sights. Not something they would do now.

My mom thought Western Civ was more history than she had in mind but there were so many dynamic cultures there. She actually asked me to tell her the history when she got back. (i am a bookworm like both my parents brothers but unlike them). Very unusual to come back wanting to know more.

They are off to Wales next week which should be interesting.

[hit and run]

bio mom a couple days ago:
The press riot against Romney is exactly what they did during his foreign trip.

Off we go...

Media: Behead All Campaigns Who Insult The Prophet Obama

[matt]

I would go with you on that trip, jm. My uncle dropped at a place called Youks les Bains in Algeria and fought for 6 months in North Africa. I have always been fascinated with the ruins of Leptus Magna as well, and there are other ruins that are virtually unexplored in modern times. The Italians grabbed a lot of stuff in the 20's and 30's, but there is a lot that remains.

[Ignatz]

Sign me up too. My pop was in Tunis and Libya for a couple of years with the 15th AF.

[daddy]

Clever Hit,

You have to enlarge the picture above to see their faces proper.

OT,

Last night we got hit with a massive windstorm. Wx Service says gusts peaked at about 110 MPH. Our entire house was shaking, and big dog was so scared that even tho' I took him out at 01:30 AM, I had to take his out again at 05:00 AM to repoop. Wind was so strong it was walking sideways time.

It's calmed now, but then momma loaded up the girls and dogs for Tennis and a walk, and as she backed out of the driveway she ran over some blown off shingles from our roof and got a flat, so she immediately woke me up, stole my car, and I now have to haul out the jack and change her tire. Carp.

So only time to say Excellent Pieces Clarice! Time to get my hands greasy. I will never catch up.

Later.

[Jim Eagle]

daddy,

Cross posting this. Good article in Popular Mechanics on Shell and drilling in the Chukchi.

Note the size of the BOP. Hope they bench tested it under triple pressure.

[Danube of Thought]

I remember that 19-point shift in 2000 at Gallup very well, and have never ubderstood it. And how could the LV model cause volatility?

[Jim Eagle]

When I was a kid and living in Reykjavik my Dad told us that he might have to take an assignment at Wheelus AFB in Tripoli, Libya. But we got sent down to the Azores instead. A much better locale.

[(A) nuther Bub]

"Is that because it's more expensive to poll LVs"

Sure it's more expensive, and I speak as one who bore the costs (or my clients did). You have to have, at minimum, at least two additional questions as screeners. Registered voters who fail to pass the LV screen are dropped, even though the polling company has spent the time reaching them and having the interviewer read the introduction and ask several questions. There's a large cost difference when you sum the hours of effort against the final yield.

[Jim Eagle]

DoT,

Do you and others here that follow polls agree with the Feiler Faster Thesis? If so, isn't it possible that it can explain sudden changes in polling results.

[daddy]

Carp.

Just lost power again. Oh well.

[pagar]

NFL pulls ref because he
is a Saint fan.

CNN leftist propaganda spreader urges:

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/09/figures-cnn-reporters-now-asking-twitter-followers-to-donate-to-obama/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

CNN should be declared an arm of the DNC.
CNN publishes nothing but leftist propaganda.

[pops]

Romney should simply say is he understands why the media had to spend the last few days attacking him.

We had a successful terroist attack on an American Ambassador the fault for it lies directly at the feet of the medias two darlings...Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

They failed to protect Americans in a country that Obama is directly responsible for because he overthrew the government and Hillary was respnsible for State Department security. They both failed and four Americans died on September 11th.

This is was an utter disaster, so the media POUNCED right on Mitt Romney to cover for the debacle.

[pops]

You can't underestimate the impacts of Obama and Hillary getting our peope killed in Libya.

I would certainly look for an American attack on a group of Libyan extremists in the next couple of weeks, followed by a Prime Time Obama address to the Nation where he announces in a joint Libyan/Americans attack, the killers of our Ambassador were brought to justice.

Remeber these words!@!

[bio mom]

Sad to say, I agree. Obama believes his oratory can deflect any criticism. And for sure he will do something just like what pops suggested.

[Danube of Thought]

JiB, I've neve seen that knid of volatilty anywhere else, Feiler or no.

[Jane - It's gonna be a Tsunami in November]

Janet, are you here?

[pops]

If I was BiBi, I would have smack that Gregory schmo this morning. Can't you just wait, can't we contain Iran.How dare you let the incineration of tens of thousands of Isrealis get in the way of Obamas second media coronation!!

Hey Gregory, Islamic radicals are going to fly jetliners into the twin towers...should we do anything? Maybe just contain them??
seriously?? How stupid are you truly?

[pops]

I am pretty sure our folks who died in Libya, kinda wish we had a Secretary of State who had some experience prior to being appointed to that job.

Her only accomplsihments were baking cookies and standing by her rapist husband.

[pops]

I can hear Obamas speech now:

Today I am announcing in a joint Libyan/American operation, we identified and brought to justice those extremists who took the lives of our Consulate personnel.

America has never been a country that shoots first and asks questions later, but when we do shoot, we make sure we bring evil men to justice.

Biden in background: Now thats a big fu-king deal..

Chris Mathews swoons and passes out.

[Jim Eagle]

PoPs,

The believe George Keenan and Paul Nitze had it right with the Soviets by using "containment" so why shouldn't work with the Iranians.

Santayana once said "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". He also said "Only the dead know the end of war".

OT: What a barnburner in the Meadowlands.

[pops]

Maybe if Islamic extremists would stop killing innocent people in the name of their prohphet...people would stop saying their prophet is a bad dude.

Apparently this is all cover for Obamas coming fatwa for the death of Dinesh D'Souza.

[Jim,MtnView,Ca,USA]

For you tv watchers... No mention of YouTube on fox news Sunday interview of Susan rice?
http://polipundit.com/?p=42083

[Janet]

Yeah, Jane. I just set up a Twitter account. I retweeted something of yours...but I don't know what I'm doin' yet. I've got you, glasater, ChaCo, & Sara.
I just need to play with it for awhile. I wish my daughter was here. :)

[pops]

""The believe George Keenan and Paul Nitze had it right with the Soviets by using "containment" so why shouldn't work with the Iranians.""

Last I checked the Iranians aren't planning to come through the Fulda Gap into Isreal. Your not containing them from entering a ground war where they would get their asses kicked.

Your not containing the Iranians by allowing them to build a bomb.
Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968 and ratified it in 1970.

They know they are violating the treaty and subject to punishment.

[pops]

And Reagan defeat of the Soviets was not due to containment, it was due to his direct action. Not just the defense build up, the fomenting of uprising in the Eastern block, the arming of militias to stop the Soviet aggression, but Reagn did every little thing he could to bring down the Soviet empiure, even to holding out for a quarter percent increase on loans to further damage their economy.

It was containment, it was very aggressive confrontation that brought them to their knees.

[Janet]

Pops, Did you see this about HIllary - Hillary Clinton Holds Belated End Of Ramadan Celebration At State Department With Libyan Ambassador…

This was on Thursday the 13th.

"“Although I am many weeks overdue in saying it: Eid Mubarak,” Clinton said. “No matter how belated we are honoring Eid and the end of Ramadan, this is a cherished tradition here at the State Department.”"

a cherished tradition. I wrote on FB - Is there any kind of "cherished tradition" of planning for & providing adequate protection for our ambassadors?

[Frau Techno-Faulpelz]

Janet - let me know when you understand Twitter. Poor AliceH was following me and I have never gone anywhere.

Twitter slacker, alas.

[Janet]

I'll follow you right now Frau. I was just adding Iowahawk & Dennis Miller! Is it under Frau or your real name? Mine is under my name...I think or Janet2BWS (Janet 2cents, Buttinski, Wisenheimer, S...)

[daddy]

Just turned on CNN

Ron Brownstein talking to the hostess.

"Romney attacks Obama Foreign Policy"

"Criticized by Many including many Republicans."

are the 2 headers under Brownstein.

Unclicking mute, I hear the hostess ask Beownstein, "Does this tell us anything about who is behind Romney possibly controlling him, and advising him, causing him to attack Obama this way?"

I hear Brownstein mention something about "Netanyahu."

I turn back on "Mute."

Shortly thereafter the Brownstein segment ends, followed by the following segment:

"Film Insults Islam, Violence Erupts" is the next header.

Off to take the removed flat to the tire store for a leak repair. Bye

[Captain Hate]

NFL pulls ref because he is a Saint fan.

Goodell continues to run a multi-billion dollar organization like a sandlot league.

[Janet]

never mind...I found ya.

[Jane - It's gonna be a Tsunami in November]

Janet,

If you go to twitter and click on your followers - then click on me (profile) you can see who I follow and pick any you want to follow. That will give you start. Twitter makes suggestions (every day they tell me to follow Ezra Klein) but that will get you started so you aren't all alone out there.

[Jane - It's gonna be a Tsunami in November]

Actually it looks like you are getting the hang of it.

[Jim Eagle]

I know Clarice won't be here much today but if she pops in: Happy Rosh Hashanah!

[Clarice]

Thanks, JiB

Zeleney NYT says Administration silly to peg it all on the movie trailer and in retrospect Obama's speech in 2009 looks naive and foolish.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P4pId8leus

[pops]

I think we have approached this Islamic radical thing all wrong. Their entire point is they want to die a martyr fighting the great Satan for their prophet.

So we should tell them we are going to pick 30 Mosques every Friday afternoon and we will publish the list so they know which mosque to go to be blown to pieces. We will continue to pick 30 mosques each week until no Islamic radicals remain.

This way, we don't offend their religion, we give them exactly what they have been rioting for and we can then all get along.
---------------------------------------

Now to be fair to me, I only thought this up after watching a film about the Sept 11th attack on YouTube.So its not my fault.

[JM Hanes]

matt & Ignatz:

What fantastic traveling companions you would be! My Dad came into Oran with the 1st Armored Div. I've been transcribing his journals, but haven't started putting them up on the web yet, because I've been skipping around. Right now he's heading into the Kasserine Pass operations.

I think he spent most of his time scouring the country for parts, which included begging from the Brits and pleading w. HQ to let his guys set up shop closer to the tanks they were charged with picking up and repairing. I plotted out his crisscrossing tracks during what I call "Dad's Bad Week" (a sequence which I've never planned to recreate in all its particulars!). The border between Algeria & Tunisia pretty much bisects the map.

[pops]

If tens of thousands of people in my religions name were bombing schools, killing girls for reading, blowing up buses, knifing babies, etc. etc, I would have a hard time even showing up on Sunday, let alone throwing a big celebration.

For a religion of peace, they sure do believe their founder liked them to kill alot.

[matt]

how about mirror fatwas? If they declare a fatwa or jihad on one of us, we wax the jihadi declaring the fatwa?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

If tens of thousands of people in my religions name were bombing schools, killing girls for reading, blowing up buses, knifing babies, etc. etc, I would have a hard time even showing up on Sunday, let alone throwing a big celebration.

As someone whose relatives were "savages" "Christianized" through massacres, murders, and the Removal in not so distant times, I'd suggest you be careful what you ask for.

[sailor]

pops, add to that--stoning until death for committing adultery, cutting off hands of someone stealing something, honor killings of girls who dare to date someone non Muslim, killing homosexuals--the list goes on.

[Ignatz]

People acting in the name of Christianity contrary to the principles of Christianity do not seem to me to be analogous to people acting in the name of Islam in accordance with its principles.

[JM Hanes]

rse:

"She actually asked me to tell her the history when she got back.... Very unusual to come back wanting to know more."

I was planning to start out in Morocco, myself, even though Dad came in through Algeria. With the exception of this one trip, though, I've always found that my interest expands as I go, and I end up reading a great deal more about where I've traveled after I get home.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

People acting in the name of Christianity contrary to the principles of Christianity do not seem to me to be analogous to people acting in the name of Islam in accordance with its principles.

There were an awful lot of missionaries who thought they were acting in accordance with Christianity's principles. And there are an awful lot of Moslems (Sufis for example) who think peacefully living among your neighbors is good Islam.

[cathyf]

Yeah, pops, google the English Reformation and "draw and quarter" if you are interested in a tiny sample of what Christians are capable of doing to each other...

[Clarice]

JMH, Although Libya seems out of the question now, should you care to go to Morocco, I've a wonderful fellow to plan your trip with. He lived there for some years working in the Peace Corps and the trip I had thru there with him was one of the greatest trips I've ever taken. [email protected]
Piotr Kostrzewski

If other places in North Africa seem safe I am positive he can help there, too.

[DrJ]

Piotr Kostrzewski

He's Irish, right?

:)

[PaulV]

My sister-in-law was born in Krakow. I informed her that the King of Poland kicked the Turks out of Vienna on a September 11th. Some say OBL picked that day for that reason. History lesson on that and El Cid?

[Ignatz]

--There were an awful lot of missionaries who thought they were acting in accordance with Christianity's principles.--

Those who forcefully converted or otherwise coerced anyone were mistaken in their beliefs. Christ's principles in this regard are not complicated.

--And there are an awful lot of Moslems (Sufis for example) who think peacefully living among your neighbors is good Islam.--

They are to be commended for disavowing or ignoring the significant portion of their faith's foundational documents and founder's beliefs which are the cause of so much misery in the world. Were they to reform or disavow their corrupt and tyrannical faith altogether the world would be even better off.

[derwill]

We were at a BBQ last night with about 20 other people. Everyone was talking about the embassy attacks and not a single person there had bought the "video made 'em do it" story the administration is trying to peddle. Now, this is a red state, but the people at the BBQ were all just average Joe the Plumber types, not hyper-partisans.

I wonder if the Obama camp and their court eunuchs in the media are making a mistake, if the lie is so blatant that even the muddle is seeing through the bull. But then, they've got to keep on trying to pound home the lie, because the truth hurts them even more.

[Janet]

For a religion of peace, they sure do believe their founder liked them to kill alot.

That's the big issue nobody talks about. What does Islam teach? I don't think the MFMers have any idea what Islam teaches.

[Clarice]

TM says Kristof tiptoed off the reservation. Zeleney did so today. When you're losing people from the NYT.........

[Clarice]

I see from his website, he know also does tours to Libya and Tunisia, JMH--though probably not just this minute.http://crossculturaladventures.us/morocco.html

[Janet]

I think we have approached this Islamic radical thing all wrong. Their entire point is they want to die a martyr fighting the great Satan for their prophet.

To participate in jihad & die a martyr is a guaranteed way to paradise...otherwise in Islam there is no guarantee. A Muslim kinda sorta hopes they've fulfilled everything, but they do not know for certain that they will get to paradise. It is very different from Christianity.

[Barbara]

Everyone was talking about the embassy attacks and not a single person there had bought the "video made 'em do it" story the administration is trying to peddle.

derwill,

Thanks for the input. I love these personal snapshots of what people are thinking, doing and saying about the issues and the election. They are the kind of thing that Reagan used so effectively, and perhaps more informative than a mass of jumbled polls produced by competing interests.

[Clarice]

* he NOw also does tours*

[daddy]

"tomorrow's lesson will be the Islamic subjugation of North Africa and Spain. Tours, anyone?"

Keep 'em coming, charles MATTell :)

[daddy]

Thanks JiB for that Shell Drilling Mechanics story linked at 03:19.

Just got to it. Very informative, and yes those look like some massive Blowout Preventers.

[Janet]

Just got an email with this link - Beware of the "Al Qaeda Did It" Gambit

"The problem is Islam. The evil Al Qaeda is not some alien graft onto the Islamic body. It is part and parcel of the way Islam is preached and practiced. I am a broken record on this, but until Islam reforms and recasts itself, until it gets tired of defeat after defeat at the hands of the West, the attacks on the West will continue."

[glasater]

Hey Janet! I will track you down on twitter. I follow Naomi and sent her a direct message but she didn't respond.

I wrote to her that we have a family friend whose name is Naomi also and our nickname for her is "Nummy" :-)

[Janet]

She hasn't responded to me either! She is at her boyfriend's ranch this weekend helping (?) with the calving.

[glasater]

And MarkO is a naughty boy...kinda ;-)

[Sara]

Janet: Jane's suggestion to look at who others are following is the best suggestion for getting started on Twitter. I got your follow and responded. A search on #tcot will also give you a list of top conservatives on Twitter. Also, Twitter is much easier if you use a program like TweetDeck to post, downloadable for free.

[centralcal]

derwill - thanks for sharing your bbq story. Gives me some hope.

Janet, I am following you now and retweeted you - keep tweeting, and I'll keep retweeting.

Again, I ask - what is our goal with the moderators? Schieffer (sp) and Lehrer are old codgers and quite unlikely to change their ways. I think maybe Raddatz and Crowley might feel some pressure, since this is their first foray as moderators. Do we simply want to expose their bias (pretty easy to do) or do we want to (attempt to) nudge them to some fairness in their questioning?

I ask, because I am not sure how to word my tweets - crucify 'em or try to simply push 'em! ha!

[JM Hanes]

Clarice:

Thanks for the pointer. Morocco seems to be the only N. Aftrican bright spot, and even though it was an add-on to my WWII trip, it almost seems worth going just to support them with some tourist $$. Maybe they can pick up some of the former Egyptian traffic!

Jennifer Rubin has been following developments in Morocco for some time now, and has actually posted some interesting interviews. Ironically, on Sept. 11th, she was reporting on a “'strategic dialogue' that will be opened and hosted in Washington, D.C., by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton."

[Sara]

SHANNAH TOVA to all our Jewish friends.

[Sara]

GO CHARGERS!

[Jane - It's gonna be a Tsunami in November]

When you're losing people from the NYT.........

Everyone on Fox News is saying the race has totally changed and Romney is losing badly.

Go figure.

Raddatz is getting endless pressure to ask about climate change.

[centralcal]

Yep, and according to Drudge, Politico is setting up an infighting story about the Romney camp.

Told ya - media is in full battle regalia and our side is ....... is what?

[daddy]

An OT Question just for my personal interest.

Does anyone recall either Bill Clinton or one of Bill Clinton's former Teachers or Supporters saying something about him like this:

After listening to a lesson about the collapse of the Roman Empire he said "If I had been in charge I could have prevented that collapse from happening."

That vaguely sticks in my mind but I can't seem to find it.

I ask because on a previous catchup thread someone commented on Obama's deluded sense of self brilliance; thinking he could easily step in and easily fix the problem between Islam and the West. That struck me as equally deluded as Clinton's comment, but at least in Clinton's case he continued to mature in the world of Geopolitics, whereas I don't think Obama ever progressed beyond such Grade School immature hubris.

But it also has me now reconsidering another Clinton comment, that he was, in so many words, sorry that 9/11 or something like it did not happen on his watch so he could have dealt with it instead of Bush.