So little time these days to post, and frankly annoyed with the state of Maryland and the O’Malley Annapolis mess, so here is just a short bit of good news!  Rasmussen asked voters about Islam and here is what they said (hat tip: Judy).  By the way, the author of this piece at American Thinker, Andrew Bostom, is an expert and scholarly author on the history of Islam.  You can follow him at his own blog, here.

Yippee, most of you (except maybe those guys over at Maryland Juice!) are “Islamo-realistic!”

A survey of 1,000 Likely Voters nationwide conducted on May 10-11, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports has revealed the following key findings:

* 63% total-80% of Republicans and 62% of  Independents, but only (or even?) 46% of Democrats-believe there is a conflict between Islamdom and Western civilization. What the report terms the “Political Class”-a group held in low esteem by “Mainstream Voters”-remains “evenly divided on the question,” and “more supportive of U.S. efforts to encourage democracy in the Islamic world,” compared to the Mainstream. However, 73% of the latter, i.e., Mainstream Voters,  recognize the conflict.

No wonder there is such a disconnect between our “leaders” and the country class on the threat of Islam/Shariah Law to our way of life.  That reminds me—it’s Mr. political class himself, Grover Norquist, who pronounced Shariah Law compatible with the US Constitution and called anyone who disagreed “Islamophobic”, here.  And, yet he gets invited to be the big kahuna at Reagan Day Dinners like this one!  Go figure!

For more on the Americans who do get it, and to follow links, visit American Thinker.

Update May 16th:  I see today that Politico has reported on the 100 most important members of the Washington political class—-check it out here to see all those held in low esteem by the average American voter.  Of course Norquist made the list.

Is Valerie Jarrett the Rasputin of the Obama White House?

I can’t wait for Edward Klein’s The Amateur to arrive on my kindle today!   Apparently the long-knives in the media are already out to diminish sales of another in a line of books about the inner workings of the Obama White House and this time they have set out to destroy sales (by destroying Klein, google him and see what I mean) in advance of the book instead of waiting as they did with Jodi Kantor’s The Obamas to destroy Kantor after the book was released.

Kantor, as I wrote here previously, did a pretty fine job of telling us about Valerie (Rasputin) Jarrett, and Klein appears to pick up the theme in The Amateur as this excerpt at the New York Post yesterday tells us.

Not long ago Rush Limbaugh mentioned how Oprah’s TV show was destroyed as ratings plummeted after she endorsed Obama early in his Presidential campaign.  I never watched Oprah, but I heard from family and friends that she was someone that most women appreciated until she ‘got political’ on them.   I had also wondered why after that initial endorsement hoop-la and the Obamas moved into the White House we didn’t see much of the Obamas with Oprah.  Klein tells us why in this excerpt entitled, ‘Michelle Obama’s ‘jealousy’ and ‘resentment’ led to rift with Oprah’:

Shortly after the 2008 presidential election, Oprah Winfrey traveled to Washington, DC, to nail down an interview for O, The Oprah Magazine with Michelle Obama. Oprah expected the president-elect and his wife to give her a reception fit for visiting royalty, and for the occasion, she took along Gayle King, the magazine’s editor-at-large and her constant companion.

More than a year and a half had passed since Oprah announced that she was throwing her support behind Barack Obama in his primary race against Hillary Clinton. The endorsement had represented a calculated risk for the queen of daytime television. It was one thing for her to recommend a book or launch the career of Dr. Phil, but it was quite another for her to back a political candidate.

As it turned out, a sizable chunk of her audience took offense and stopped watching her show.

However….

Two economists at the University of Maryland, College Park, estimated that Oprah’s endorsement netted Obama 1,015,559 votes and decided the primary election.

She helped him get elected, but, according to Klein, the trouble began for Oprah before the Obama’s even moved into the White House.

LOL! You can take the girls out of high school but you can’t take high school out of the cool girls:

OPRAH had tried to ignore the ominous change in tone coming from the Obama transition team. As Barack Obama’s inauguration drew near, Oprah’s calls to Michelle went unreturned.

[.....]

It soon became apparent that something had gone wrong between Oprah and the new administration — or, more precisely, between Oprah and Michelle Obama.

The problem seemed to originate from two of Michelle’s advisers, Valerie Jarrett and Desirée Rogers, the new White House social secretary. They resented Oprah’s meddling in their bailiwick.

[.....]

As the person who controlled access to the first couple, Valerie Jarrett saw Oprah as a potential threat to her power. If Oprah went unchecked, she would bypass Valerie and go directly to the president and first lady. What good was it being the gatekeeper if you couldn’t lock the gate when you wanted? And so Valerie set about turning Michelle against Oprah. Oprah was too close to the president . . . Oprah was acting like she was the first lady . . . Oprah didn’t know her place . . . Oprah was a bad influence . . . Valerie advised Michelle to “distance herself” from Oprah and cut her out of the White House inner circle.

Oprah is too rich (and too fat!) for Michelle!

As far as Michelle was concerned, Oprah’s billions and her elite lifestyle disqualified her as an adviser to Barack, who had no truck with wealthy people, except as a source of campaign contributions….

[.....]

“Oprah only wants to cash in, using the White House as a backdrop for her show to perk up her ratings,” Michelle was quoted as telling her staff. “Oprah, with her yo-yo dieting and huge girth, is a terrible role model. Kids will look at Oprah, who’s rich and famous and huge, and figure it’s OK to be fat.”

[.....]

“Michelle makes it clear to her inner circle, and this certainly includes Valerie, that she wants women around Barack watched and wants info about who he has an eye for and gets touchy with,” this person continued. “The thing is, she knows, like everybody, about JFK’s shenanigans, and she thinks, hey, JFK was young and good looking like my guy.

Read it all, here!

Update May 15th:  There is a good article by Ed Lasky at American Thinker about The Amateur, here.   I see very little this morning about the book except HuffPo having a hissy-fit over some quote Klein apparently took from a Huff Po story three years ago.   I’m enjoying the book and will have more to say later!

Update May 15th:  Here is a report from WHAG-TV (Hagerstown) which interviewed Tonya Tiffany of MD CAN.

I know it’s short notice, but check out the details here at the Maryland Conservative Action Network website!  No new taxes!

Earlier this past week, Attorney General Eric Holder’s shop (with Thomas Perez, Maryland’s gift to Obama) filed a civil lawsuit against Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, here:

The Justice Department, which first targeted Sheriff Joe Arpaio four years ago in his suspected mishandling of illegal immigrants arrested in the Phoenix area, filed a civil lawsuit in federal court Thursday accusing the sheriff and his office using “unconstitutional and unlawful actions” in their handling of Hispanics.

Undaunted, Joe parries within hours with a legal demand for the original microfilm of Obama’s supposed 1980 draft registration form.  Actually, if you haven’t looked closely at the evidence supporting Sheriff Arpaio’s Cold Case Posse’s concern about a possible forgery of the form, have a close look at this article at World Net Daily.

Providing proof that Sheriff Joe Arpaio intends to continue his investigation of President Obama’s eligibility, his Cold Case Posse has pressed the director of the Selective Service System not to destroy any microfilm records that may yet exist of Obama’s 1980 draft registration form.

In an emergency letter Wednesday to Selective Service System Director Lawrence Romo, Mike Zullo, the lead investigator in the Cold Case Posse, asked for reassurance that the microfilm records still exist.

“We would like to be assured of the disposition of the microfilm reel or reels containing President Obama’s Selective Service registration form,” Zullo wrote. “Please indicate whether or not you have possession of the microfilm reel or reels containing President Obama’s records or access to them.”

The concerns were raised after Arpaio’s office received official confirmation from the Selective Service System that Obama’s paper draft registration records have been destroyed after being microfilmed.

Please visit WND and see Joe’s evidence about that fishy draft card’s fishy date stamp.

Incidentally, the year Obama was supposed to register with the Selective Service was 1980.  For a laugh have a look at Obama in his freshman year (1980) at Occidental College where I will bet you he was enrolled as a foreign (Indonesian) student and not bothered one bit by any draft registration requirements.

If you are a new reader and don’t know Joey ‘the silencer’ Sandler who most recently represented CASA de Maryland in its legal pursuit to keep you from having an opportunity to vote on the Maryland Dream Act, check out our Sandler category here.   And, here is a list of his attempts to silence your voices and others with whom he disagrees.

Sandler is one of those Washington, DC “fixer” types who doesn’t make the news often, but when he does we will let you know.

This week he made the Wall Street Journal reportedly as a sort of corporate bundler for the Democrat National Convention scheduled in North Carolina (scheduled there at the moment at least since the progressive heathen are raging over the state’s overwhelming vote against gay marriage last week).

Sandler as bag man!

Here is what the Wall Street Journal reports on Sandler (posted at this progressive website “Common Dreams”—they love that ‘dream’ word):

Democrats have trumpeted their ban on corporate donations to their national convention this summer, saying that it shows they are free from the influence of special interests. But through a special fund, [the host committee is] accepting millions of dollars in corporate contributions to help pay for many of the activities outside the convention hall … Donors include Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Duke Energy Corp., all significant employers in Charlotte, N.C., where the convention will be held in early September. The fund, called New American City Inc., plans to raise more than $10 million to cover convention expenses, including salaries for convention workers, promotional materials and overhead. Costs also include entertainment for delegates and others, such as a welcoming party for the media that will feature celebrity performers and as many as 10,000 guests.  [So will Wells Fargo and other big banks! be paying for the fake Greek columns?---ed]

[....]

[T]he fund was established by … Joseph Sandler, a former DNC campaign-finance lawyer who is counsel to the host committee; and Will Miller, who is on the board of the host committee. Anthony Foxx, Charlotte’s mayor and the co-chairman of the host committee, is president of the New American City fund.

As silly as it sounds someone is out polling for the 2016 Presidential race and no-surprise Hillary tops the list with 62% (probably a lot of people wanting to make up for what they did in 2008 when they voted for Obama instead of Hillary).

Our very own Governor Martin O’Malley was on the list of possible contenders but finds himself at 1% in the poll and that is even below that nut from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren, who apparently got ahead in her career by claiming Native American blood.  What could O’Malley do to top that?  Claim a relationship to that little fellow on the Lucky Charms box*?

From the Los Angeles Times (hat tip: Jeff):

The remaining Democratic candidates mentioned in the poll failed to even reach double digits, with Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo taking 4%, former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer taking 2%. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley ended up with 1% of the vote, while Virginia Sen. Mark R. Warner took 0%.

This is all meaningless because the Iowa Caucus has done pretty badly in recent memory as a predictor of who will win the nomination.  Nonetheless, the Republican list is very interesting:

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Romney’s chief primary rival, Rick Santorum, top the list with 16% each, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie takes 15%, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sarah Palin are tied at 10%, while Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) andMarco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep.  Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) all have at least 5%.

Sarah Palin does as well as Jeb Bush (an establishment favorite) and the Republican ‘rock star’ (according to the media) Marco Rubio is only at 5%—hummm!

* Oh geez, I’m digressing, but did you know that filmmaker James O’Keefe (of ACORN fame) got his start at Rutgers Univ. (my alma mater) when he spoofed officials there by saying that Lucky Charms cereal should be banned from the cafeteria because it demeaned the Irish.  Watch the clip for a laugh, here.

Because you gotta keep laughing….

Here is a story from of all places, USA Today, about The Daily Caller‘s “find”—a discarded skit depicting Obama announcing the establishment of “Killing Osama bin Laden day.”  It is hilarious.   By the way, I wondered how the Obama campaign could be so dense as to promote the anniversary as enthusiastically as they did because it surely inflamed many throughout the Middle East.

From USA Today:

Saturday Night Live apparently developed a skit mocking President Obama for excessive celebration of Osama bin Laden’s death, but it did not air.

According to a script obtained by the conservative website The Daily Caller, Obama — as portrayed by actor Fred Armisen — delivers a speech wishing all Americans a happy “Killing Osama bin Laden Day.”

“I hope you had a safe and joyous first anniversary of his killing, and that you were able to spend it with those you love,” said the faux Obama, according to the script. “This is a special time of year, when we gather together with family and friends, to commemorate the shooting of this terrorist, and the gutsy decision that made it possible.”

Here is just one bit that apparently was included in the script—suggestions on how you might commemorate the day:

But you can also add your own ideas. For example, I’ve already promised Michelle and the girls, for the 10th anniversary, I’m taking them to Orlando.

One more thing: I want to remind us all that, when sending a Killing of Osama bin Laden anniversary card, or offering best wishes on Killing Osama bin Laden Day to a friend who happens to be Muslim, we should be considerate of Islamic cultural tradition. To many Muslims, phrases like Osama bin Laden “went dirt-napping,” or “assumed room temperature,” or “sleeps with the fishes,” can be offensive. Especially the last one, since, as we all know, he was buried at sea.

And of course, let’s all remember that heavy drinking, and Killing Osama bin Laden Day, are never a good combination. So please celebrate Killing Osama bin Laden Day responsibly. After all, it’s the”gutsy” decision.”

Read it all, and laugh!

Also, you might want to check out the latest discussion about that “iconic” photo supposedly taken in the situation room in the White House now known as the “chipmunk in the small chair” photo, here at Gateway Pundit.

Be sure to read Jim Simpson’s latest investigative report at Accuracy in Media.  This one is about Voter fraud!  Readers will recall that Simpson (an expert, by the way, on the Cloward-Piven strategy) is also the author of that detailed report on CASA de Maryland back in September of last year.

It is abundantly clear that the Left needs fraud in its arsenal or why would Asst. Attorney General Thomas Perez (formerly of CASA!) be working so hard to kill as many state Voter ID laws as he can get his hands on.  Simpson begins his report on Voter fraud as follows:

This report reveals the Left’s vote fraud strategy for the 2012 elections. Like a KGB operation, it is thorough, multi-faceted and redundant. It has overt and covert, illegal and legal elements, the latter of which are designed, at least in part, to facilitate illegal activities later. It is a deliberate, premeditated, comprehensive plan to win the 2012 presidential election at all costs, and is in keeping with the organizational methods, associations and ethics of the Community-Organizer-in-Chief, Barack Obama.

The Left seeks fundamental structural change to our entire form of government. In keeping with their amoral, means-justifies-ends philosophy, they will register any voters, dead or alive, legal or illegal, who will then vote as many times as possible, in order to establish a “permanent progressive majority.” As two New York Democrats recently caught in a vote fraud scandal told police, “voter fraud is an accepted way of winning elections…”

Read it all!

To learn what you can do to help stop the fraud, contact Election Integrity Maryland (here is a post I wrote about their work earlier this year).

They tell us that the Cloward-Piven strategy works.  Here the author argues that the plan is coming to fruition in the wrong countries—not in the US (so far), but in Europe.  Let’s thank God that we can now see in advance what will happen and stop it before it’s too late for us.

From Pajamas Media (hat tip: Cathy):

The now-infamous “Cloward-Piven Strategy” outlined by Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven in 1966 proposed a clear roadmap to socialism: get so many people addicted to government entitlements that the economic system collapses, and in the resulting chaos the populace will demand and vote for a new economic system in which everyone is supported by the state.

[.....]

…..once you get 50+% of the population hooked on “free” government money, there’s no turning back — they will vote for socialists every time.

[.....]

The message is clear: Once enough voters are on the dole, regardless of your party’s ideology or what label it has, you will win elections if you promise to to keep the free money flowing. This was Cloward-Piven’s point, and they turned out to be frighteningly correct.

Read it all, it’s very persuasive and learn how a conflicted Obama keeps our economy in limbo.

By the way, Obama surely knew Francis Fox Piven while he was at Columbia.  In fact, he probably knew Richard Cloward too since the old socialist only died in 2001.

Cloward and Piven were also fans of Saul Alinsky who said you had to keep the ‘have-nots’ fighting with the ‘haves.’  Indeed it’s also why some (US Sate Department’s Refugee Resettlement Program* is just one example) are pouring large numbers of destitute immigrants into the country—to expand the welfare rolls and continue the class warfare in hopes of bringing on a socialist revolution.

* Check out this post I wrote yesterday about how the demographics of Western New York are changing dramatically with the Catholic and Jewish populations declining as the Muslim population increases due largely to refugee resettlement of mostly impoverished people—Somalis and Bosnians.

A defense lawyer for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others accused of crafting and carrying out the 9/11 atrocity on America wore a hijab at the opening of the Guantanamo trial Saturday in order to show respect for their faith. They might get dirty sexual thoughts if they see some leg!  Give me a break!

From Fox News (hat tip: Janet):

The defense attorney who wore a traditional Islamic outfit during the rowdy arraignment of the accused Sept. 11 terrorists is defending her courtroom appeal that other women in the room wear more “appropriate” clothing to the proceedings — out of respect for her client’s Muslim beliefs.

Cheryl Bormann, counsel for defendant Walid bin Attash, attended the arraignment Saturday dressed in a hijab, apparently because her client insisted on it. She further requested that the court order other women to follow that example so that the defendants do not have to avert their eyes “for fear of committing a sin under their faith.”

At a press conference Sunday at Guantanamo Bay, Bormann said she dresses in a hijab at “all times” when she meets with her client “out of respect” for his beliefs. Asked why she requested other women do the same, Bormann said, “When you’re on trial for your life, you need to be focused.”

Bormann, who is not Muslim, claimed the issue came up several years ago, when a paralegal wore “very short skirts” and it became a distraction for the defendants. She said that on Saturday, “somebody” was also dressed “in a way that was not in keeping with my client’s religious beliefs.”

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed—the one we should blow away!

Obama got bin Laden, but the most evil Muslim is alive and well and still practicing Jihad.   Last week when our dear leader was chest-beating about his daring raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound and blowing away bin Laden (as if that ended all of our troubles with Islam), I thought about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) sitting there all fit and trim and smug in Guantanamo Bay still doing his evil best to make fools of us.  This trial will be bad but just imagine what it would be if Attorney General Holder had gotten his way and given the terrorist a trial in New York City!

Everyone should read Richard Miniter’s Mastermind, the best book I’ve read this past year.  Truly the US-educated Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind of most of the worst atrocities visited on the world over more than ten years in the name of Islam.  He personally beheaded Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.    He had to work hard for years to convince bin Laden that flying planes into buildings would be a master stroke.  And, if you wonder why terrorist acts in recent years have largely been foiled, it is because KSM is sitting in a cell in Cuba and the new crop of Jihadists don’t have his brains or blood lust.

So when Obama tries to assure us that he is the macho man who killed our greatest enemy it’s a bunch of B.S.  KSM is being coddled and allowed to pull tricks on idiots like this lawyer in her hijab and the average American is told to rest easy—we got him!    By the way, note in this passage that KSM throws off his Arab-translating head phones.  Who the hell cares, he speaks English, he graduated from a US college after all.

Back to the hearing and “jihad in the courtroom:”

The court hearing for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants should have taken a couple of hours at most. Instead it lasted almost 13 hours, including meal and prayer breaks, as the men appeared to make a concerted effort to stall Saturday’s hearing.

They knelt in prayer, ignored the judge, wouldn’t listen to Arabic translations over their head sets and one even insisted on having the more than 20 pages detailing the charges against them read aloud, rather than deferred for later in their case as the judge wanted, which added more than two hours to the proceedings.

[.....]

“They’re engaging in jihad in a courtroom,” said Debra Burlingame, whose brother, Charles, was the pilot of the plane that flew into the Pentagon. She watched the proceeding from Brooklyn.