Baton Rouge Police Officers Killed

First thing this morning, just after waking up, a family member asks if I knew what happened in Baton Rouge.

I immediately think there was another ISIS attack or law enforcement officers were targeted again.

Actually, I wish it had been ISIS. Muslim terrorists have been at war with us for years before 9/11. They're a known enemy.

But this racial crap that has been promoted by Obama and Democrats, painting the police as the bad guys, is truly disgraceful. They created this. It was a choice.

I'm outraged that Leftist elected officials, celebrities, and professional athletes have demonized police.

Det. Loomis: "How the hell did we ever become the bad guys in this country?" #BatonRouge https://t.co/XjftkDGlmqhttps://t.co/oIyAz8tpCT

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 17, 2016

What is the death toll now in the Left's War on Cops?

Obama needs to end the War on Cops on now.

Obama should address the nation from the Oval Office. He should apologize to police officers and their families for playing up lies and permitting a narrative to take hold that the cops are the bad guys.

No more wishy-washy BS about police officers needing respect yet needing to reform their embedded racist ways.

Obama has been attacking police since he took office. His bias has been clear.



Time for Obama to take responsibility and attempt to turn this around before another cop is assassinated.

Obama Era Race Relations

Have race relations improved in the Obama era?

When Obama was elected in 2008, wasn't America declared to be "post-racial," thanks to savior Obama delivering us from evil?

Well, Obama has done nothing to unite the country. I have no memory of a more intentionally divisive president, stoking flames of racial conflict.

Obama had an incredible opportunity to encourage minorities to take responsibility for the direction of their lives. He squandered that. It's possible he never intended to be a role model, to take his historic position and make things better.

His first summer in office, he revealed that he had far more in common with professional race-baiters Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton than an American leader like Abraham Lincoln. Obama's reckless racially charged statements about an incident in Cambridge resulted in the utterly embarrassing "Beer Summit." Obama stumbled and bumbled, proving he wasn't the brilliant man he was made out to be. He wasn't wise. He was a run-of-the-mill agitator, bent on dividing to hold on to political power.

From MRC TV:

MRCTV's Dan Joseph went to one of the national "Justice for Trayvon' Rallies in Washington DC and asked participants whether they thought race relations in the United State have improved or gotten worse, since President Obama took office.

The consensus seems to be race relations are worse in the U.S., but it's not Obama's fault. He bears no responsibility whatsoever.

His followers give him a pass on absolutely everything. He can do no wrong. Ever.

Obama: Petraeus, Trayvon Martin, Henry Louis Gates

In his news conference, Obama said he doesn't comment on ongoing investigations, like the David Petraeus scandal. That's his policy.

Oh, really?

BS.

Barack "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon" Obama believes one is innocent until proven guilty?

Clearly, Obama breaks his own policy about staying quiet.

Remember the Henry Louis Gates incident, the Beer Summit?

In a July 2009 news conference, Obama admitted he didn't know all the facts but went on to trash the Cambridge Police Department, declaring "Cambridge police acted stupidly."

Again, that investigation was ongoing, but Obama yapped about it anyway.

What a hypocrite!

Walker Cookout: Temperance Union Objects

Governor Scott Walker's post-recall election cookout is being criticized by the Women's Christian Temperance Union.

Good grief.

From the Associated Press:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker can't avoid union troubles, even when he's trying to be bipartisan.

Walker invited state lawmakers to a cookout at the governor's mansion after winning a recall election last week that was spurred by anger over a law he pushed through the Legislature effectively eliminating most public workers' union rights.

Now, he's angered the Women's Christian Temperance Union with his plan to serve beer at the Tuesday cookout designed to help bring Republicans and Democrats together. The WCTU successfully lobbied for Prohibition, which made selling alcohol illegal from about 1920 to the early 1930s, and its 5,000 members continue to spread its anti-drinking message nationwide.

"I don't think it's cool at all," said Rita Wert, president of the WCTU. "It sets a very poor example."

The cookout menu features brats, a local sausage whose name is pronounced "brahts," and beer produced by a number of Wisconsin companies. Root beer from Milwaukee-area brewer Sprecher, which made a special label saying "Moving Wisconsin Forward," also will be served.

Walker pitched the event as a laid-back way to heal political wounds, find common ground and encourage political opponents to work together. Ninety-eight lawmakers, including 37 Democrats, 60 Republicans and one independent, along with about 240 staff members plan to attend the two-hour cookout Tuesday afternoon.

Thirty-four lawmakers have declined the invitation, with at least four publically stating their displeasure with the idea. But their reasons were all tied to politics, not abstinence.

...The group raised similar objections in 2009 when President Barack Obama invited a black scholar and the white police sergeant who arrested him to the White House to share a beer and talk about race relations.

Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said the governor respectfully disagreed with the WCTU's objections.

"In keeping with the bipartisan theme of the event, in this case we agree with President Obama," Werwie said.

Walker and Obama find common ground.

We can all get along.

Beer is a wonderful thing.

Obama Locked Out of White House

Obama had trouble getting into the office after he returned from his Latin American tour.

Video.



Eventually, Obama found an open door and was able to get to work, or maybe look over the implosion of his NCAA brackets.

Breitbart posts video of Obama from back in the summer of 2009, when he was calling out the Cambridge police for acting stupidly in dealing with Henry Louis Gates.



Transcript

OBAMA: Well, I should say at the outset that "Skip" Gates is a friend, so I may be a little biased here. I don't know all the facts. What's been reported, though, is that the guy forgot his keys, jimmied his way to get into the house. There was a report called into the police station that there might be a burglary taking place. So far, so good. Right? I mean, if I was trying to jigger into — well, I guess this is my house now so it probably wouldn't happen, but let's say my old house in Chicago. Here I'd get shot.

Obama admitted he didn't know the facts but that didn't stop him from declaring that the police "acted stupidly."

The infamous "Beer Summit," one of the lamest events of Obama's presidency, would follow.

But back to Obama being locked out--

No shots were fired. That's good.
________________

Another flashback, from January 2009, just days after Obama's inauguration:

OBAMA: WINDOW NOT A DOOR

HAHAHAHA!!!

Can't find the doorknob, Barack? What an idiot!

I'm sure Letterman will mercilessly mock Obama about this one for the next four years.

Barack Obama is such a dunce that he can't even tell the difference between a window and a door!

This guy is so stupid I'm ashamed he's the president. He's not my president. I didn't vote for the dolt.

The entire world is going to look down on Americans because we elected such a numbskull.

I'm amazed he's capable of reading a teleprompter. I'm amazed he can read.

Apparently, Obama believes that as a messiah he can walk through solid matter.

What a twit!

What?

This sounds a little harsh? I'm being disrespectful? Really?

Yeah, I know I'm supposed to support Obama. I'm supposed to want him to succeed. I do want him to succeed... I want him to succeed at finding a door.

Obama is so stupid. Incredible.

And he's Hitler.

Do you think my comments are inappropriate?

If you said yes, then I completely agree with you.

Jay Cutler: Critics and Critics of Critics

The Jay Cutler story will not die.

An explosion of criticism about Cutler's retreat from the NFC Championship game began on the Internet before any facts about his injury were known.

Current and former NFL players blasted him on Twitter.

Deion Sanders and others rushed to judgment and harshly criticized Cutler during the game.

Cutler's teammates came to his defense immediately while speaking to the press following the Bears' defeat. (GO PACK!)

If anything, the Cutler story has been growing in intensity as time passes rather than subsiding.

New reports about Cutler's physical condition continue to emerge.

From the Bleacher Report, Ryan Neiman writes:

In what is already a public relations nightmare, Jay Cutler's image continues to be tarnished.

Instantly after Cutler was removed from Sunday's NFC Championship game against the Packers, the Internet exploded from fans to athletes, claiming Cutler does not possess any physical toughness. Criticism mounted questioning if Cutler had any passion for the game he plays.

On Monday, we all learned Cutler suffered from a grade II tear in his knee, which means it would be very difficult to stabilize his knee, plant his foot and he would not be mobile during a football game.

However, the controversy surrounding Cutler grew full steam today.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting Cutler was dining at Mastro's Steakhouse in Chicago after the game, where he was spotted walking up a flight of stairs. The article goes on to say Cutler was not in crutches, but he "limped a little bit."

The injured Cutler walked up a flight of stairs - proof he's a quitter.

Not necessarily, according to others.

From the Bleacher Report, Ryan Rudnansky writes:

The report has re-ignited a litter of Twitter rumblings ranging from NFL players to fans to the media, apparently reinforcing the notion in their minds that Cutler is the wimp of a quarterback he's been made out to be.

I'm here to say that is flat out wrong.

First of all, Cutler sustained a second-degree sprain of his MCL, an injury that can be extremely limiting out on the field.

Second, walking while limping "a tiny bit" is completely different than planting your foot every time you drop back to throw, not to mention running away from a ferocious Packers' pass rush.

Third, and most important, no one but Cutler knows how that knee feels, and anyone that criticizes him based on an assumption is wrong to do so.

Now a backlash against Cutler's critics appears to be growing.

Charles Barkley and Boomer Esiason are among those defending Cutler.

The critics of Cutler's critics are questioning the manhood of his critics.

Kevin Blackistone writes:

"You're not any less of a man if you don't pull the trigger, you're not necessarily a man if you do." -- A Tribe Called Quest.

Jay Cutler didn't pull the trigger on Sunday, and that doesn't, as some of his brethren charged, make him any less of a real man, whatever our mythology has come to say manliness is.

But the same can't be said for many of Cutler's accusers, those who couldn't muster the chutzpah to say they were wrong, let alone sorry, for summarily dismissing the Bears' quarterback after learning by Monday that there was real reason for Cutler's reticence: a torn knee ligament.

The story about Cutler in the NFC Championship game, in which his Bears fell to the Packers, didn't reveal so much about Cutler. He suffered an injury. He couldn't go any longer, or at least his coach decided he couldn't. We've seen it with plenty of players before.

Instead, the story about Cutler revealed more how confused some athletes are about what it is they do for a living and how that defines their masculinity.

Suddenly we have a national debate about manhood because Cutler left the game.

When Bears fan Obama was asked to give his take on the controversy, he refused. Robert Gibbs, Obama's press secretary, said simply, "I don't want to get into that."

If Obama did weigh in, he might say something stupid. Then, there might have to be another Beer Summit.

Yeah, it's all getting pretty weird.

What's nice from my position is none of it matters. My world isn't shaken because Cutler was spotted walking a flight of stairs.

Of course, I don't want to see anyone unfairly crucified in the media.

I don't know who's right, but I do know Cutler sustained an injury.

I also know Cutler wasn't exactly acting like a leader from the sidelines during the second half. He was oddly detached during a huge game.

But it really doesn't matter to me. I'm enjoying not being in this debate.

Cutler is the Bears' problem.

Just like when the sexual harassment scandal involving the disgraced Vikings quarterback Brett Favre blew up, it didn't impact my team. Favre is the Vikings' problem and the Jets' problem. The Packers are free of Favre. He's history.

So let the Vikings implode. Let the Bears implode.

Whatever. Their seasons are over.

The Packers are going to Super Bowl XLV! SUPER BOWL XLV!

Obama: 'Mongrel People'

When Obama is off the teleprompter, something bad always happens.

Last summer, there was the disastrous prime time press conference when Obama declared:

Now, I've -- I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.

That stupid comment really blew up in Obama's face.

Then there was Obama's infamous Tonight Show appearance on March 19, 2009.

Here's the very, very uncool exchange Obama had with Leno:

MR. LENO: Now, are they going to put a basketball –- I imagine the bowling alley has been just burned and closed down.

MR. OBAMA: No, no. I have been practicing all –- (laughter.)

MR. LENO: Really? Really?

MR. OBAMA: I bowled a 129. (Laughter and applause.)

MR. LENO: No, that's very good. Yes. That's very good, Mr. President.

MR. OBAMA: It's like -- it was like Special Olympics, or something. (Laughter.)

MR. LENO: No, that's very good.

MR. OBAMA: No, listen, I'm making progress on the bowling, yes.

That was absolutely disgraceful.

Of all Obama's many gaffes, I think that one stands as his worst, albeit most revealing.

Today on The View, Obama made another "unfortunate" comment.

From The Hill:

President Obama waded into the national race debate in an unlikely setting and with an unusual choice of words: telling daytime talk show hosts that African-Americans are “sort of a mongrel people.”

The president appeared on ABC’s morning talk show “The View” Thursday, where he talked about the forced resignation of Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod, his experience with race and his roots.

When asked about his background, which includes a black father and white mother, Obama said of African-Americans: "We are sort of a mongrel people."

"I mean we're all kinds of mixed up," Obama said. "That's actually true of white people as well, but we just know more about it."

The president did not appear to be making an inflammatory remark with his statement. The definition of mongrel as an adjective is defined as "of mixed breed, nature, or origin," according to dictionary.com.

Good grief.

He DID make an inflammatory remark.

Who cares what Dictionary.com says?

"Mongrel" has a negative connotation when referring to dogs. It certainly has a negative vibe when talking about people.

You know that if a white politician had called African-Americans a "mongrel people" the liberal usual suspects would get out their pitchforks and demand that the person apologize and resign and be tarred and feathered. The outcry would be deafening. You know it.

What does Obama mean when he says, "I mean we're all kinds of mixed up. That's actually true of white people as well, but we just know more about it"?

What the hell is that?

First, in terms of his family tree, Obama is as white as he is black. I think he disrespects his mother when he dismisses his white background. Being a mother, that bugs me.

Second, on what basis does he assert that blacks "just know more about" having a mixed heritage?

That's false. It also sounds racist. He's making a ridiculous generalization based on skin color.

"Mongrel people."

That's awful.

Can I say, "African-Americans are a mongrel people"? As a white person, am I allowed to say that with impunity?

I don't think so.

Krauthammer: Obama, Beer Summit, and Teachable Moments

Looking back on 2009, Charles Krauthammer, on Special Report with Bret Baier, gives his thoughts on Obama and the Beer Summit.

Video.



Transcript

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: It was a classic example of the Obama style. Here he starts out by making a mistake. He accuses the cops of acting stupidly. It's sort of instinctive, sort of a prejudice against the cops and in favor of a professor. If you're a professor like him, if you live in academia the way he did, it's sort of an instinctual response.

He realized immediately it's a mistake. And what he does is he tries to act the philosopher king and he rises above it and he says, 'And now we're going to teach the nation,' whereas he was the one who made the mistake.

It's the same way with the Philadelphia race speech. It was discovered, of course, in the campaign that he had had a gaffe of twenty years by being in the church of a raving racist, Jeremiah Wright. And then he gives a speech which essentially scolds everyone, including his own grandmother, of latent racism, except himself. And he rises above it. He says it's a teachable moment, and he gives a speech that had liberals feeling thrills up their leg, and comparing it to Lincoln and Cooper Union.

It's a clever pose but I think it wears thin. He makes mistakes like others. They're usual instinctive liberal mistakes, and then he pretends that he's going to now teach us about this. I found it slightly annoying, and I wonder if the rest of the nation over a time won't also.

I found it more than slightly annoying.

Obama screwed up. He required a learning moment. He didn't offer the nation a teachable moment.

Obama executed his knee-jerk liberalism and he received a week of bad press and national humiliation in return.

He does have so much to learn.

Kevin Spacey Gets Waiter Fired

Peter Turner lost his job as a waiter at Clarke Cooke House in Newport, Rhode Island.

He blames Kevin Spacey's boorish behavior.

From RadarOnline:

"Mr. Spacey, you got me fired from my job!" In an exclusive interview with RadarOnline.com, waiter Peter Turner said that's what happened when he told Kevin Spacey he wasn't allowed to smoke in a restaurant.

"You're an aggressive prick," Turner said the Oscar winning actor Kevin Spacey told him after he asked him to stop smoking three times in the high-end restaurant Clarke Cooke House in Newport, Rhode Island in late June. When Spacey's dinner companions lit up their cigarettes Turner was instructed by his boss to tell the group to stop smoking, since it was a violation of state law. In an exclusive interview with RadarOnline.com Peter revealed that it was this direction that got him fired. He said he made a joke to the smokers, saying: "You're not allowed to smoke in here unless you're on fire," but the actor's anger exploded. "I need you to get the f*** away from my table," Spacey snarled to the waiter.

In another incident later the same evening, Turner said a couple asked Kevin Spacey if he would pose for a picture with them and he said no, "I don't do pictures."

Turner told his boss about the incident and was told "If the owner knew you pissed off Kevin Spacey, he'd have me fire you." Three days later Peter Turner was "laid-off" from his job, but a replacement was hired for his position.

...Turner had harsh words for the Usual Suspects star who was the reason he was fired. "You called me an aggressive prick? I could say the same of you."

If Turner's account of events is true, Spacey is quite a jerk.

Why is it OK for him to break the law?

I bet if smoker Obama were asked for his take on the matter, he would say that Turner "acted stupidly."

Then, there would be an uproar from the anti-smoking proponents and restaurant workers.

Obama would have no choice but to invite the two men to the White House for a Cigarette Summit, to resolve their differences.

It would have to be a "no smoking" event but the media would likely spend the week prior to the summit finding out the brands of cigarettes the men would not be smoking.
___________________

Video of Turner telling his story.

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Last Friday, Obama didn't manage to get the International Olympic Committee to award Chicago the 2016 Summer Games.

This Friday, he did score a prize.

From the New York Times:

U.S. President Barack Obama felt humbled to have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, a senior administration official said.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs called before dawn and woke Obama with the news that he had won the prestigious honor which was announced in Oslo at 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT). "The president was humbled to be selected by the committee," the official said.

When told in an e-mail from Reuters that many people around the world were stunned by the announcement, Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod, responded, "As are we."

Why were people around the world "stunned by the announcement"?

"Stunned"?

Stunned as in feeling as if they were hit with a stun gun? "Don't Tase Me, Bro"?

OSLO, Oct. 9 (AP) -- U.S. President Barack Obama has been named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people," the Nobel Foundation said Friday.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has "attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons," the foundation said on its official website.

It is the first Nobel Peace Prize awarded to a sitting head of state since 2000, when then South Korean President Kim Dae Jung received it mainly for his efforts to promote peace and national reconciliation with North Korea.

As a former U.S. president, Jimmy Carter won the honor in 2002.

In a landmark speech in Prague in April, Obama laid out an ambitious vision of a world without nuclear weapons, saying the United States will take the lead on the issue as the only country that has used them.

The vision, a turnaround from the stance of the previous U.S. administration of George W. Bush on nuclear disarmament, "has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations," the foundation said.

Hosting an unprecedented U.N. Security Council summit in September, Obama, the first U.S. president to chair a UNSC meeting, led the 15- nation council to unanimously adopt a resolution to "seek a safer world for all and to create the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons."

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the foundation said.

"For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman," it said.

Citing a revival of emphasis on multilateral diplomacy and dialogue, and negotiations for resolving international conflicts, the foundation praised Obama for having "created a new climate in international politics."

Here's the Nobel Peace Prize 2009 press release:

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

Oslo, October 9, 2009

Congratulations to Obama.

He joins an interesting list of past winners of the prize.

There have been some rather odd recipients.

For example, Al Gore won in 2007.

Anti-Semite Jimmy Carter won in 2002.

In 1994, terrorist Yasser Arafat was awarded the prize.

In 1976, Betty Williams won. This Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, a peace activist, repeatedly declared her wish that President George W. Bush was dead. In 2007, she told a group of school children, "Right now, I would love to kill George Bush."

Needless to say, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is a very political group pushing a very specific agenda.

Sometimes, the Norwegian Nobel Committee gets it right -- Lech Walesa (1983), Mother Teresa (1979), Martin Luther King Jr. (1964). But how could Pope John Paul II have been overlooked?

Sometimes, the Committee gets it very wrong.

Rather than recognizing Obama for his real accomplishments to foster peace, which amount to nothing more than a couple of speeches at this point, this really seems to be a slap at President Bush more than anything else.

What has Obama actually achieved?

Words are cheap, but apparently the Nobel Committee found Obama's words so impressive that it determined he deserved to be singled out for recognition.

Maybe it was the Beer Summit that won over the Committee.

To award Obama with the Peace Prize at this stage in his presidency cheapens the honor.

Frankly, I think this is a mistake. Mistakes happen.

I equate Obama's Nobel Peace Prize 2009 win as similar to Milli Vanilli winning the Grammy for Best New Artist.

Obama and the Lehman Brothers Anniversary

Obama is celebrating the first anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers. He went to New York to mark the occasion.

(Too bad the anniversary didn't fall on 9/11. Then perhaps Obama would have worked a visit to the World Trade Center site into his schedule. Maybe not.)

From Jeff "Enchanted" Zeleny, the New York Times:

President Obama came to Wall Street on Monday to tout how the nation’s economic outlook has improved from a year ago, but he called on Congress to pass stronger financial regulations this year, as he offered a sharp admonition that “there are some in the financial industry who are misreading this moment.”

“Instead of learning the lessons of Lehman and the crisis from which we are still recovering, they are choosing to ignore them,” Mr. Obama said in a speech at Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan. “They do so not just at their own peril, but at our nation’s.”

The president offered no new policy proposals during a lunchtime speech but sought to use the one-year anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers as a moment to mark how the country’s financial system has moved beyond the brink of collapse. As he urged lawmakers to adopt new regulations for Wall Street, he asked executives to accept tougher oversight.

“I want everybody here to hear my words,” Mr. Obama said. “We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess at the heart of this crisis, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses. Those on Wall Street cannot resume taking risks without regard for consequences, and expect that next time, American taxpayers will be there to break their fall.”

Mr. Obama’s appearance on Wall Street comes a year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers touched off a series of extraordinary government interventions in the nation’s business sector. The anniversary also marks the moment that Mr. Obama became steeped in the financial crisis, which dominated the closing chapter of his campaign with Senator John McCain of Arizona.

How dramatic! Obama goes to Wall Street!

I want to know if Obama will mark July 30, 2010, the first anniversary of the Beer Summit.

It was a momentous day in American history.

Obama might not want to acknowledge that anniversary, since it was his inexcusable statement, "the Cambridge acted stupidly," that set the entire Beer Summit in motion.

An anniversary speech would be especially awkward since the White House denied that Obama even made the statement. Robert Gibbs said, "Let me be clear, he was not calling the officer stupid."

Of course, that's positively goofy given the fact that the transcript of Obama's remarks are posted on the White House website. Here.

No. I don't think Obama will be celebrating the Beer Summit anniversary and delivering any lectures. Obama sees the fall of Lehman Brothers as an opportunity to score political points and whip up some class-based outrage.

The Beer Summit, with all its racial baggage, isn't something the allegedly post-racial Obama would want to revisit.


Note to self: Hold a Beer Summit 1st anniversary party on July 30, 2010.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Obama, and the Special Olympics

Eunice Kennedy Shriver passed away yesterday.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 88, a member of a political dynasty who devoted her life to improving the welfare of mentally disabled people and founded the Special Olympics to showcase their abilities, died Tuesday at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Mass. She had had strokes during the past year, a family spokesman said.

Shriver, a sister of President John F. Kennedy and Sens. Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, was credited with playing a major role in changing the perception of mental retardation. When she began her work in the field half a century ago, it was common for mentally disabled people to be placed in institutions that did little more than warehouse them. Through Shriver's programs and hands-on efforts, she demonstrated that with appropriate help, most developmentally disabled people can lead productive and useful lives.

Obama released this statement on the passing of Eunice Kennedy Shriver:

Michelle and I were deeply saddened to learn about the passing of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Eunice was many things to many people: a mother who inspired her children to serve others; a wife who supported her husband Sargent in the Peace Corps and in politics; and a sister to her siblings, including brothers John, Robert, and Edward. But above all, she will be remembered as the founder of the Special Olympics, as a champion for people with intellectual disabilities, and as an extraordinary woman who, as much as anyone, taught our nation – and our world – that no physical or mental barrier can restrain the power of the human spirit. Her leadership greatly enriched the lives of Special Olympians throughout the world, who have experienced the pride and joy of competition and achievement thanks to her vision. Our thoughts and prayers are with Sargent; their children Robert, Maria, Timothy, Mark, and Anthony; and the entire Kennedy family.

I wonder who composed that statement.

It's rather awkward for Obama to praise Eunice Kennedy Shriver for her tremendous work with Special Olympics, given that Obama used Special Olympians as fodder for a "joke" when he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, March 19, 2009.

Here's the very, very insensitive, cruel exchange:

MR. LENO: Now, are they going to put a basketball –- I imagine the bowling alley has been just burned and closed down.

MR. OBAMA: No, no. I have been practicing all –- (laughter.)

MR. LENO: Really? Really?

MR. OBAMA: I bowled a 129. (Laughter and applause.)

MR. LENO: No, that's very good. Yes. That's very good, Mr. President.

MR. OBAMA: It's like -- it was like Special Olympics, or something. (Laughter.)

MR. LENO: No, that's very good.

MR. OBAMA: No, listen, I'm making progress on the bowling, yes.

Absolutely disgusting.

The White House made a bit of an effort at damage control after Obama revealed this incredibly ugly side of himself on national TV.

From Politico:

After comparing his bowling to the Special Olympics on "The Tonight Show" Thursday, President Obama called Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver to apologize before the program even aired.

“He expressed his disappointment and he apologized, in a way that was very moving,” Shriver said on ABC's “Good Morning America.” “It’s important to see that words hurt, and words do matter. And these words that in some respect can be seen as humiliating or a put-down of people with special needs do cause pain, and they do result in stereotypes."

Obama told Shriver he wants to have some Special Olympics competitors over to the White House for basketball or bowling.

More, from USA Today.

It's been five months since Obama told Shriver he would invite Special Olympics athletes over to the White House.

Has Obama made good on that offer?

No.

Here's an interesting update on the matter, from The Guardian, July 9, 2009:

Previously an academic specialising in the social and emotional factors of learning, Shriver probably knows better than most that it can be counterproductive to preach — particularly when addressing your country's new commander-in-chief: "It was a tough experience for all of us in the field of intellectual disability, and Special Olympics in particular, because nobody wants to be in a situation where we're scolding, or perceived to be scolding, the president of the United States or a major political figure."

Obama offered to have some Special Olympic athletes to visit the White House to play his favourite sport, basketball, or bowling, one the president has perhaps had enough of — but to date nothing has happened: "We have not had a specific event yet where the president can interact with Special Olympics athletes yet, but we're hopeful. He has been busy."

So when Obama was in hot water for his disgraceful mocking of the Special Olympics, he made a big deal about how he was going to host the Special Olympic athletes at the White House.

It turns out he just hasn't found the time.

However, on national TV during a prime time news conference, when Obama really stepped in it by declaring the "Cambridge police acted stupidly," he quickly organized that lame Beer Summit, inviting Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley to the White House.

The Special Olympians are still waiting for their invite, promised by Obama all those months ago, to materialize.

It's very nice that Obama released a statement on the passing of Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

But if he really wanted to honor her, he would make good on his promise to have Special Olympics athletes over to the White House.

I hope Obama reflects on his attitude toward people with "intellectual disabilities."

I hope he loses the arrogance and sick perspective he harbors that provided the source for those inexcusable remarks he made about the Special Olympics five months ago.

The best way to honor Mrs. Shriver is by truly respecting the individuals she championed through Special Olympics.

Letterman: Top Ten Things Overheard at the White House Beer Summit

TOP TEN THINGS OVERHEARD AT THE WHITE HOUSE BEER SUMMIT

10. "Don't worry, Biden will clean up the empties"

9. "Guys, stop me if I try to drunk dial Nancy Pelosi"

8. "Smoking, drinking, suddenly our president is Artie Lange"

7. "Let's call Limbaugh and take this party to the next level"

6. "I feel dizzy and confused--just like bush! Hi-Yoo!"

5. "I don't want to freak anybody out, but I just saw Nixon walking down the hall"

4. "Tell Geithner to put his shirt on"

3. "Senator Larry Craig asked if he could have his beer brought to the men's room" (Still a reference, people)

2. "You guys wanna see where Clinton used to get freaky?"

1. "Excuse me while I take a presidential leak"

Obama: The Idiocy of Beer

UPDATE: Jul 30 06:23 PM US/Eastern

The beer is flowing. President Barack Obama has begun his chat with the two men he joined last week at the center of an uproar over race in America: Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley. Obama invited both men to have a beer and listen to each other.

Vice President Joe Biden joined them as they all sat outside near the Rose Garden.

Oh, no!

Not Biden!

What's he going to say?

Note: They're drinking beer out of mugs. I understand that the White House probably doesn't want to provide the chosen beers with more free publicity than they've already been given. That said, these four don't look like regular guys having a beer.

Where are the bottles?

Sgt. Crowley appears to have the orange slice garnish in his Blue Moon.

What's Biden drinking? It looks very light. Maybe it's iced tea. Get a little beer in Biden and that could lead to a real disaster.
________________

UDPATE: AP ALERT

Jul 30 06:14 PM US/Eastern
WASHINGTON (AP) - Obama starts White House meeting with professor, policeman at center of racial uproar.

Unbelievable.
_________________

Forget about the audacity of hope.

Today is about the idiocy of beer.

This is so lame.

CHUCK TODD: Tonight at the White House, the president sits down with Harvard professor Henry Gates and Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley for what may be the most anticipated beer ever.

Some are calling it the "picnic table summit," because the three men will be drinking their beer at the same table where the president has huddled with Secretary of State Clinton.

Todd isn't kidding. His report is not tongue-in-cheek.

The media have lost it.

The story should be about why Obama hasn't met with Special Olympics athletes. Why have the media allowed Obama to get away with his stupidity on that?

Apparently, it's OK for Obama to mock the Special Olympics with impunity.

Maybe at least Obama can ask Gates and Crowley to join him in a toast to honor the efforts of the Special Olympics participants, those he dissed on The Tonight Show.

Here's to acting stupidly! Cheers!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Lucia Whalen: Statement (Video)

Are you proud, rabid Leftists?

Are you proud, self-proclaimed compassionate people?

Are you proud of how you trashed Lucia Whalen?



From FOX News:

The woman who made the 911 call that launched America into a national debate on race said Wednesday that she was unfairly called a "racist" after she reported a possible break-in at the Cambridge, Mass., home of black Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.

A clearly distressed Lucia Whalen addressed reporters at a press conference in an effort to clear her name after the city released the 911 tape. It revealed that Whalen did not identify either of the men she thought she saw trying to break into Gates' home as black, even though an initial police report said she did.

"When I was called racist and I was a target of scorn and ridicule because of the things I never said, the criticisms hurt me as a person, but it also hurt the community of Cambridge," Whalen said.

"Now that the tapes are out, I hope people can see that I tried to be careful and honest with my words," she said. "It never occurred to me that the way that I reported what I saw be analyzed by an entire nation."

...Whalen's attorney, Wendy Murphy, seized the opportunity to criticize President Obama's invitation to host both Gates and Crowley for a beer summit at the White House on Thursday.

"The one person whose actions have been exemplary, will be at work tomorrow in Cambridge," she told reporters. "I don't know. Maybe it's a guy thing."

Murphy said the incident spiraled into a media sensation because of the "overreaction of three men" -- which Murphy said included the response from the president.

"I'm proud to introduce you to the one person who didn’t overreact," she said.

That video is painful to watch.

Lucia Whalen made a simple 911 call. She did what was right. She was a good citizen, looking out for others.

And what did she get for it?

She was labeled a racist. The race-baiters made baseless accusations that severely impacted her.

I'm glad Whalen did make a public statement although it seemed to be very difficult for her to do.

Perhaps people will think twice before they tear a person to shreds.

Talk about a teachable moment!

Gates and Crowley: White House, Beer, Thursday

An Obama administration official has leaked some important information to the Associated Press, on condition of anonymity of course.

WASHINGTON -- A Harvard professor and the police officer who arrested him have agreed to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday.

An administration official tells The Associated Press that Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge, Mass., police department are scheduled to meet Obama on Thursday evening. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting has not been announced.

From the New York Times:

Will it be Budweiser? Or Pabst Blue Ribbon?

Whatever the beer, a senior White House official said Monday night that the Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department will be sharing that promised brewski at the White House with President Obama on Thursday at 6 p.m.

The two men both expressed an interest in a bury-the-hatchet brew last week when Mr. Obama called both of them to try to turn the temperature down on the firestorm created after Sgt. Crowley arrested Professor Gates for disorderly conduct even after determining that Professor Gates was in his own home and not breaking and entering, as originally suspected.

There was a lot of back and forth at the White House on Monday about the promised kiss-and-make-up session — mostly related to what kind of beer that Mr. Obama — who isn’t known for beer-drinking — might serve.

Obama doesn't drink beer? Really?

Does he only do it when the cameras are on him and he wants to look like a regular guy?

Like here:

It doesn't bother me that the Obama White House intends to hold the Beer Summit, with Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley, on Thursday.

What really, really bothers me is that this little stunt was arranged but Obama has yet to have Special Olympics athletes over to the White House to play basketball and to bowl.

After Obama mocked them when he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno back in March, the stunningly cruel remarks by Obama were smoothed over by the promise of an invite. At the time, Obama told Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver that he would have Special Olympics competitors over to the White House for basketball or bowling.

Shriver is still waiting for that to occur.

From The Guardian, July 9, 2009:

Obama offered to have some Special Olympic athletes to visit the White House to play his favourite sport, basketball, or bowling, one the president has perhaps had enough of — but to date nothing has happened: "We have not had a specific event yet where the president can interact with Special Olympics athletes yet, but we're hopeful. He has been busy."

It really ticks me off that Obama made the Beer Summit happen but he hasn't made good on his promise to schedule an event for the Special Olympics athletes.

This lame Beer Summit is really all about Obama. He's selfish. It's damage control for him, nothing more.

Obviously, the race issue really exploded in Obama's face last Wednesday when during his prime time news conference he made the idiotic comment about the "Cambridge police [acting] stupidly." He had to do something.

Obama's cruel comment about the Special Olympics apparently wasn't seen as that damaging to Obama politically. Although the matter was damaging enough that it required Obama to make an apology and extend the vague "Let's do lunch" type of invitation, the White House determined that was enough. Nothing else needed to be done immediately. There was no need for a media-hyped photo op, capturing Obama hanging out with the Special Olympics athletes, because the controversy didn't take on the life of the Gates case.

And to date, Obama has not scheduled an event with them. Clearly, they aren't important to Obama, certainly not as important as Gates and Crowley.

Obama isn't about doing what's right. Obama is about doing what's right for him.

The Beer Summit is a political dance. Obama acting in the role of peacemaker is so, so sickening given that he bears responsibility for causing the national uproar.

Obama, Gates, and Crowley can drink some beer and have a good time Thursday evening. Whatever. What beer will they drink? Who cares?

None of that silliness will make Americans forget what they learned about Obama as a result of this "teachable moment."

Obama is not at all the post-racial figure he claims to be. He's a race-baiter. When he declared that the "Cambridge police acted stupidly" even as he admitted that he didn't know the facts of the case, Obama revealed the sort of racist thoughts he harbors and what he's willing to exploit for personal political gain.

Either Obama just assumed that racial profiling was involved in the case, or he wanted the American people to believe that it was. In any event, Obama's exploitation of race was an automatic response, a reflex. It's clear that sort of racial perspective is deeply embedded in him.

I guess Jeremiah Wright really did influence him.

Getting to know the real Obama is not pretty.

He mocks the Special Olympics, calls police stupid, shamelessly plays racial politics, and breaks his promises.

Not pretty at all.