• Bell’s Latest Disgrace.
• Outgoing USMC Commander Says Obama Deadline Aids Taliban
• Turkey Intell Chief “Too Close” To Iran
• Outlaw Sudan Now Says It Will Join Iran In Nuke Club
• Dan Quayle’s Son Wins; McCain Skates to Win Too
• Obama’s Jewish Support Has Collapsed.
• LA’s $578 million K-12 School Most Costly Anywhere.
• Safest and Most Dangerous Cities For Children
• Can Obama Restore Israel’s Faith?

The Rasmussen Reports Media Meter shows that media coverage of President Obama has been 50% positive over the past week.

 In a book released earlier this year, Scott observed that, “The gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and politicians who want to rule over them may be as big today as the gap between the colonies and England during the 18^th  century.” 

 Only 25% of Americans strongly support the job OPbama is doing while 45% strongly disapprove.

The nincompoop Bell council members earned tens of thousands of dollars over the last four years as members of city commissions that rarely met, for instance:  

Bell’s Surplus Property Authority, for example, met once between January 2007 and July 2010, according to city minutes. The Public Finance Authority met only three times during that period. The Housing Authority met four times in 2008. And the Solid Waste and Recycling Authority has not met since January 2005.

The findings add a new twist to the Bell salary scandal, which has sparked several investigations and prompted the resignations of three top city administrators. Until they cut their pay last month amid public outcry, the council members were earning about $97,000 a year, making them among the highest-paid part-time council members in California.

An example of misconduct was the combined city council and commission meetings of July 31, 2006. The Planning Commission met from 8 p.m to 8:03 p.m. The Redevelopment Agency followed from 8:03 to 8:04, the Surplus Property Authority from 8:05 to 8:06, the Housing Authority from 8:06 to 8:07 and the Public Finance Authority from 8:07 to 8:08. Each council member received full pay for each meeting.

David Demerjian, head of the Los Angeles County district attorney’s Public Integrity Division, said it is illegal for council members to be paid for meetings that don’t take place or that last just a few minutes. He said his office is investigating Bell’s practices.

Maybe it is time for some parts of Sharia law - then these asses could be horsewhipped.

Americans suffering some of the worst flooding in decades in Iowa are being almost entirely ignored. Spike Lee is not claiming the government blew up levies; Michael Moore is nowhere in sight and mainstream media is acting like nothing happened while scampering around Haiti and still popping off about Katrina.

Charges of reverse racism have surfaced there amid charges that Iowans are too “white” to be helped. Most there are just hunkered down and boot-strapping for themselves.  Questions about  why FEMA is denying funds for Iowa’s recovery efforts are going unanswered.

Retiring four star USMC Commandant Jack Conway, 63, said yesterday Obama’s pullout deadline in Afghanistan is giving the Taliban “sustenance.” He said he has intercepted messages saying holdout and hold on the Americans are leaving in July 2011. He did not comment on how if at all this has contributed to increased attacks, deaths and injuries there.

Many, including the general, say Afghan’s forces are years away from being able to defeat the Taliban and take care of themselves. Some think such unified, sustained operation in the largely tribal and disjointed country is possible at all.

Early this year Conway made news and controvesy joining his Navy counterpart in opposing a moratorium on discharges of openly gay military personnel admonishing Congress to either make a law or forget it.

An open question is will Conway be treated like McChrystal who was cashiered and forced to retire after he made candid comments critical of Obama to Rolling Stone magazine?

Orison (OR-uh-suhn, -zuhn) noun: A prayer. Etymology via French from Latin oration (speech, prayer), from orare (to speak, pray), from os (mouth). USAGE:”David Carlin’s brilliant title, Our Father Who Wasn’t There, mingles orison and lament. It is the apparent opening of a prayer for an absent or lost father.”

Turkey’s new espionage chief is uncomfortably close to Iran and could relay Israeli military and technological data to the Teheran regime.

Fidan, 42, was appointed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan to increase Turkey’s intelligence ties to both Iran and Syria, allies against Israel.

Turkey has been realigning itself recently raising angst throughout the region and world.

Fidan was appointed intelligence chief on May 27. He had served as undersecretary of foreign affairs as well as Turkey’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Ankara has been the only NATO state to support Iran’s nuclear program and oppose United Nations sanctions.

Fidan is believed linked to the Turkish-sponsored flotilla to the Gaza Strip in May 2010. Fidan approved the passage of the seven-ship flotilla, including Hava Marmara, which contained about 100 trained Islamic fighters. The Israel Navy intercepted the flotilla and nine passengers, eight of them Turks, were killed.

Turkeys changing alliance is raising concerns among Kurds in northern Iraq who find themselves surrounded by hostile borders raising fears of violence that could spread. Anxiety is rising as Obama withdraws U. S. combat forces and Iran increase it interference and infiltration.

The embattled Chief of Police of San Jose, California is retiring, he is barely 50 years old.  If he lives to an average US male age of 78, he will receive $6,000,000 dollars in pension benefits plus lifetime health insurance for himself and his dependents. His retirement package is potentially worth $7 to $8 million over his expected lifetime.  He’s now applying for the Chief of Police’s job in Dallas, Texas.

Hidden in the shadows as163 uranium fuel rods supplied by Russia are installed in Iran’s reactor’s core work that will be completed by Sept. 5, comes Sudan’s announcement it too will go nuclear. Iran’s $1 billion  reactor would not produce energy until around November 2010, officials said. It is designed to operate for 60-years.

Apparently encouraged by Iran’s success Sudan’s outlaw regime, deemed a terrorist sponsor - like Iran, has announced its own nuclear program. The Khartoum regime said it would acquire and install a nuclear reactor

by 2020. Like Iran Sudanese officials said the reactor would be used for the generation of electricity.

Khartoum began drafting nuclear plans in early 2010.

The State Department has designated Sudan a terrorist sponsor, and the International Criminal Court charged Sudanese President Omar Bashir with three counts of genocide.

“We don’t give our criminals much punishment, but we sure give ‘em plenty of publicity.”  ~Will Rogers

Tuesday was primary election day in Florida, Arizona, Alaska and Vermont ; Lousisiana has its primary 8-28.

Incumbent GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s stunning setback in Alaska sends a powerful message to political insiders in both parties: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is now the GOP’s clear No. 1 kingmaker.Upstart candidate Joe Miller, who made a lightning-fast rise in the polls following Palin’s endorsement and robo calls, credited Palin for his primary shocker. 

Mark Rubio easily won the Republican nomination for Florida Senate.

Former H. W. Bush VP Dan ” Potatoe” Quayle’s son Ben Quayle, 33, (R) won the Republican nomination for Congress in Arizona’ 3^rd District in Tuesday’s primary election among a dozen other Republican candidates. Ben’s campaigning under the banner of THE NEW GENERATION.  Knowing he could noy effectively run against twelve others he ran against one - Barack Obama. Ben’s TV ads attacked Obama as “the worst President ever.”

ABC News tried to link Ben to his Dad’s infamous 1992 potato misspelling when he added an “e” at the end. Aabout a week ago ABC tried to link him with a sleazy blog But, he won despite ABC’s attacks.

Also in Arizona Senator John McCain handily won 45-32% renomination having found himself in a competitive primary race on election eve McCain was ahead 59-29%. He’s running against Tea Party supported J. D. Hayworth who has taken positions far to the right of McCain.

Arizona’s Republican Governor Brewer easily won renomination. She is the focus of attacks because of her support and even authorship of Arizona’s tough new immigration law.

NFL fans pick the Indianapolis Colts and the Dallas Cowboys as the teams most likely to win Super Bowl XLV according to a Rasmussen poll. Twelve percent (12%) of NFL fans pick each of those teams to win. The only other team to reach double digits is the defending Super Bowl Champions, the New Orleans Saints.

Eight percent (8%) think the winner will be the Minnesota Vikings, 6% say the New England Patriots, and 6% the Green Bay Packers. Meaning - absolutely nothing..

Obama won nearly 80 percent of the historically liberal Jewish vote in 2008, but his support among Jews has been declining in part because of concerns over his Israeli policies. Now only 42 percent of respondents would support Obama’s re-election, while 46 percent said they would support another candidate.

Among Orthodox Jews, 69 percent would likely support another candidate, and just 17 percent would back Obama. Among those affiliated with Conservative Judaism, only 38 percent would support Obama, as would a slim majority of Reform Jews, 52 percent.

Overall, 50 percent said they approved and 39 percent disapproved of Obama’s handling of American relations with Israel.

“We are not only witnessing a sharpening of the divide within the community, but a radicalization of the Jewish political right, accompanied by a corresponding disengagement of the Jewish liberal sector from the Israel discourse,” The Jewish Journal observed in an Aug. 10 article.

That divide is the result of several factors. A new generation of voters includes significant numbers of Orthodox Jews and a growing presence of Russian, Iranian and Israeli activists, “who generally reflect a more conservative political bent,” according to The Journal.

Also, male baby boomers (55 to 64 years of age) have shifted to the right, and “this political transition is particularly significant among Jewish voters, as this age cohort dominates the Jewish population base,” The Journal reports.

“Not only worried about their own economic status, this constituency is deeply concerned by what they observe as the erosion of support for Israel.”

Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, tells Newsmax: “The majority of Jews now realize that this guy is bad for Israel, let alone bad for America.”

Senator Harry Reid (D) NV. averages a tie with arch conservative Republican Sharron Angle 47% - 47% in his November reelection bid. Reid is ahead of Angle in three of four recent major polls. But all polls are within the margin of sampling error.

Critics have pounced on the $578 million price tag for the RFK (Robert F. Kennedy) community school opening in Los Angeles this week. Called the most extravagant K-12 school in the nation it features a manicured park, hand painted murals and swimming pool at the same time the LA Unified School District faces a $600 annual deficit and California is in a $19 billion hole. Two other public schools there have each soaked up nearly as much money.

The cost per classroom is the highest ever for any public school anywhere.

At the same time the State legislators wants to impose a 1% surtax to close the budget deficits while hundreds of thousands are fleeing the state taking an estimated $25 billion in annual production with them. Most are economic refugees from the State citing high costs of living, taxes and over regulation.

Sidereal (sy-DEE-ree-uhl) adjective: 1. Relating to the stars. 2. Measured with reference to the apparent motion of the stars. For example, sidereal time.  Etymology From Latin sidus (star).  Usage- “The silvery, coarse grain of Maisel’s prints in negative makes it hard to tell whether they present day or night views. In several, a darkness looms different from that of sidereal night.”  Kenneth Baker; ‘Home Movies’ Not Like the Ones Your Dad Made; San Francisco Chronicle; Apr 14, 2007.

Men’s Health magazine has rated the safest and most dangerous American cities for children based on: accidental death rates for kids ages 5 to 14 ( Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ), number of car-seat inspection locations per child ( National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ), sex offenders per capita ( state and national registries) , percentage of abused children protected from further abuse ( U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ), and the strength of child-restraint laws and bike-helmet laws (I nsurance Institute for Highway Safety ).

Those that failed getting rated “F” are: Baltimore, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Bakersfield, Modesto, Tulsa and Grand Rapids. Fresno, Oklahoma City, and Corpus Christi received a D-; Bulrington, Pittsburgh, Colorado Springs and Jersey City received a B+. The safest and A rated cities include: Providence, Spokane, Virginia Beach and San Francisco.

New York City has a problem with bedbugs. When I check into a hotel here, I always wear a flea collar.- LETTERMAN

EDITORIAL

Charles M. Blow’s Op-Ed in The New York Times titled, “Oy Vey, Obama” began, “Is President Obama good for the Jews? For more and more Jewish-Americans, the answer is no.”

Blow pointed out that “in 2008, the ratio of Democratic Jews to Republican Jews was far more than three to one. Now it’s less than two to one.”

I have condemned the president’s orchestrated campaign to reduce the standing of Israel in the world, he says.

That dangerous and ill-advised campaign has included the denunciations of Israel by Vice President Joe Biden when he recently visited that country, the tirade leveled at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a 43-minute telephone call, as well as the discourteous treatment Obama accorded Prime Minister Netanyahu at a White House meeting. 

I said at the time, once the trust between Israel and the U.S. has been breached, like Humpty Dumpty, it can never be put together again. 

Obama’s pressure for Israel to give up its nuke warheads is silly; given Pakistan’s bomb and that Iran soon will have it.

Blow asks, “Why did President Obama succumb (the first time an American president has) to the pressures of the Muslim world with Egypt in the lead and thereby threaten Israel’s security?”

Blow referred to a statement Ed Koch made in April: “I have been a supporter of President Obama and went to Florida for him, urged Jews all over the country to vote for him, saying he would be just as good as John McCain on the security of Israel. I don’t think it’s true anymore.”

What should President Obama do to try to restore trust between the U.S. and Israel?

Visit Israel as he should have done when he first took office. Instead, his first international trip was to Cairo in 2009 where, in his first major speech on international affairs, he sought to establish a new and closer relationship with the Muslim world.

Blow thinks “It is not too late for him to make a trip to Israel and to personally reassure the Israelis and their supporters that he means it when he says that Israel’s security will never be breached.”

Personally I am not so sure that Obama has irreparably damaged the trust and faith upon which strong alliances are based. After all who can trust a man so given to such a weird brand of messianic - narcissism.