The Obamas...Spain, then Florida...

DAMAGE CONTROL ...

A French kid touched my heart

When we lived in Paris, Mr. Z and I became friends with the Vice President of Mr. Z's company and his wife, both native-born French. They have five children and we met them when they were very small; four boys and a girl. I received an email from the Dad some weeks ago telling me that their third son, Alban, would be interning at a marketing job in Los Angeles and I asked him to give Alban my phone number.
Alban called the other day and we arranged to have lunch today. He'd sounded a tad awkward on the phone, shy and maybe socially less outgoing than some, so I wasn't expecting too much other than being a good friend and filling my friends' son's Saturday with something to do for lunch.
Boy, was I wrong.
I tell you about him because he embodied something you don't see too much of anymore. I have great nephews, so I shouldn't be too surprised, but this kid was amazing. 19 years old, handsome, smart, funny, very insightful, thoughtful, a boy of faith, and pretty politically conservative.... I can't believe what a pleasant time I had with him. We talked about politics, faith, families, values, culture and sex! (okay, just two minutes on sex and it wasn't gratuitous, I assure you!!)
He said he was ashamed of the French World Cup soccer team (as any Frenchman should be!) because they seemed not to care about France....he said he knew it sounded racist but the minority players just didn't seem to put their love for France above their egos (and he added "that isn't racist, though, is it...we're just programmed now to think it is" !) . It touched me that a kid cares about his country so much BUT did show a good amount of understanding for the immigration problem and wasn't at all xenophobic.
He's just finished reading ANNA KARENINA and talked about how his friends ribbed him for reading a book on his own time (other than school) but how much he enjoyed the story. He told me his brothers and he have talked recently about what to tell their sister about guys and sex when she's old enough to date "we want to protect her," he said. That really touched me. He talked about baby sitting and how the parents these days let their kids do anything they want to and how glad he was that his parents had been strict with him and his siblings and "...I really should thank my dad and mom for this some day soon..." A 19 year old kid, pretty amazing, huh? He sounds like a 'goody two shoes' here but he wasn't at all.....Like he said "I do the cool things, too, with my friends, but I like to read and I like to stay on top of politics and......"
Other than his native French, he speaks excellent English and German and hopes to learn Chinese or Spanish next. He's starting his MBA program soon and even talked about how the elitist French school system rewarded the upper class kids (he's in it) but that maybe it should change to give every kid a better chance at a good job later.......
So, I wanted to tell you about him......I have to admit I felt badly because the world we're leaving these great kids isn't quite what we got, but it was sure nice to know there are kids like this out there. I just emailed his dad and mom.......and raved about him.

They deserve it.
z

OBAMA: Ramadan and Christmas Messages

COMPARE AND CONTRAST!?

The White House Office of the Press Secretary - For Immediate Release August 11, 2010

Statement by the President on the Occasion of Ramadan

On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I want to extend our best wishes to Muslims in America and around the world. Ramadan Kareem.

Ramadan is a time when Muslims around the world reflect upon the wisdom and guidance that comes with faith, and the responsibility that human beings have to one another, and to God. This is a time when families gather, friends host iftars, and meals are shared. But Ramadan is also a time of intense devotion and reflection – a time when Muslims fast during the day and pray during the night; when Muslims provide support to others to advance opportunity and prosperity for people everywhere. For all of us must remember that the world we want to build – and the changes that we want to make – must begin in our own hearts, and our own communities.

These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings. Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity and racial equality. And here in the United States, Ramadan is a reminder that Islam has always been part of America and that American Muslims have made extraordinary contributions to our country. And today, I want to extend my best wishes to the 1.5 billion Muslims around the world – and your families and friends – as you welcome the beginning of Ramadan.

I look forward to hosting an Iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan here at the White House later this week, and wish you a blessed month. May God’s peace be upon you. (Z: and then, of course, you've all heard he's backing the NYC mosque now....man)

In contrast, here is THE 2009 CHRISTMAS MESSAGE from the President and Mrs Obama........the rest of it, HERE, is about our servicemen being away and what a tough time they and their families are going through, and the recession, etc.

PRESIDENT: Hello everyone, and Merry Christmas. As you and your families gather to celebrate the holidays, we wanted to take a moment to send greetings from our family—from me, from Michelle, from Malia and Sasha—and from Bo.

FIRST LADY: This is our first Christmas in the White House, and we are so grateful for this extraordinary experience. Not far from here, in the Blue Room, is the official White House Christmas Tree. It’s an 18-foot tall Douglas-fir from West Virginia and it’s decorated with hundreds of ornaments designed by people and children from all over the country. Each one is a reminder of the traditions we cherish as Americans and the blessings we’re thankful for this holiday season.

PRESIDENT: That’s right, especially as we continue to recover from an extraordinary recession that still has so many Americans hurting: parents without a job who struggled to put presents under the Christmas tree; families and neighbors who’ve seen their home foreclosed; folks wondering what the new year will bring.

But even in these tough times, there’s still so much to celebrate this Christmas. A message of peace and brotherhood that continues to inspire more than 2,000 after Jesus’ birth. The love of family and friends. The bonds of community and country. And the character and courage of our men and women in uniform who are far from home for the holidays, away from their families, risking their lives to protect ours.

Z: Quite a contrast, isn't it. Such celebration of Islam and such wonderful attributes associated to it! Well, we have 2000 years of Jesus mentioned, that's something. WOW. You know, come to think of it, this really kind of breaks my heart.

Gutfeld..a GAY BAR near Ground Zero? What do you think!?

This made me laugh too hard not too post it...thanks to my NYC cousin who alerted me to it!

MONDAY'S GREGALOGUE: MY NEW GAY BAR (next to the NYC MOSQUE!)

So, the Muslim investors championing the construction of the new mosque near Ground Zero claim it's all about strengthening the relationship between the Muslim and non-Muslim world.

As an American, I believe they have every right to build the mosque - after all, if they buy the land and they follow the law - who can stop them?

Which is, why, in the spirit of outreach, I've decided to do the same thing.

I'm announcing tonight, that I am planning to build and open the first gay bar that caters not only to the west, but also Islamic gay men. To best express my sincere desire for dialogue, the bar will be situated next to the mosque Park51, in an available commercial space.

This is not a joke. I've already spoken to a number of investors, who have pledged their support in this bipartisan bid for understanding and tolerance.

As you know, the Muslim faith doesn't look kindly upon homosexuality, which is why I'm building this bar. It is an effort to break down barriers and reduce deadly homophobia in the Islamic world.

The goal, however, is not simply to open a typical gay bar, but one friendly to men of Islamic faith. An entire floor, for example, will feature non-alcoholic drinks, since booze is forbidden by the faith. The bar will be open all day and night, to accommodate men who would rather keep their sexuality under wraps - but still want to dance.

Bottom line: I hope that the mosque owners will be as open to the bar, as I am to the new mosque. After all, the belief driving them to open up their center near Ground Zero, is no different than mine.

My place, however, will have better music.

For investment information, contact me at dailygut.com

The Left and bad news.............

What is with the Leftwingers?
Remember THIS regarding Tony Snow?
How about THIS regarding Dick Cheney?
Now, as our blogger-buddy Chuck so rightly brought to our attention, we have THIS.

Have you seen Rightwingers say anything CLOSE to those kinds of things?

What's WITH these people? And what do you suppose would have happened in the media had a Republican wished that Barbara Boxer had gone down in a private plane crash (God FORBID)?
(by the way; check out the pictures below...some happy news always feels good!)
z

President Bush greets some soldiers

I thought THIS was pretty darned great and was fairly sure you didn't see it on the news...

Sherrod and Breitbart...where'd it go?

It was all the RAGE, remember? Liberal America's media was REELING and the Obama White House was SO angry, too! MY GOSH, Breitbart had REALLY DONE IT NOW!

But, then.....Ms. Sherrod's husband's video came out and stories like THESE came out.........and Sherrod doesn't look quite so wonderful anymore, does she.

And, suddenly.........END OF STORY. Where is the media on THIS? Are they happy again? Is Shirley on vacation in the South of France? Is the media with her? Where'd this story GO?

I care less about the story, frankly, than I do about the zeitgeist and "how quickly we forget" when the tables get turned again. They sure were ON IT when everybody was so angry at the Conservative!
z

The RICH.....Tax MORE?

THIS ARTICLE should interest you all, it did me.......here are some (italicized) clips from the link:

Who cares how the rich spend their money? Well, perhaps everyone should these days. Consumer spending accounts for roughly two-thirds of U.S. gross domestic product, or the value of all goods and services produced in the nation. And spending by the rich now accounts for the largest share of consumer outlays in at least 20 years. By contrast, the bottom 80% by income account for 39.5% of all consumer outlays.

What is surprising is just how much or our consumer economy is now dependent on the rich, and how that share has increased as the U.S. emerges from recession. In the third quarter of 1990, the top 5% accounted for 25% of consumer outlays. That held relatively steady until the mid-1990s, when it started inching up past 30%. It dipped in 2003 and again in 2008, but started surging in 2009 amid the greatest bull market rally in history, with the Dow Jones Industry Average rising nearly 50% in the last nine months of the year.

Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics, cites two main reasons for the increase. First, the wealthy panicked during the financial crisis and stopped spending. When markets rebounded, they came out of their shells and started spending again. "I think that pent-up demand was unleashed," he said. "It was an unusually high rate of spending."

In fact, the recent spending of the wealthy may be unsustainable. Their savings rate has gone from more than 26% in 2008 to a negative 7% in the first quarter of 2010, according to the Moody's Analytics data. They still have lots of savings. But the massive draw on that in the past two years is unlikely to continue at the same pace.

So, the rich have been SO maligned by leftwingers, including the Obama Administration (I guess his wife's trip to Spain doesn't count as "something only the rich do"), that people could see this information and just PILE IT ON THE RICH! But, CAN WE? What's WRONG with people working hard and investing, spending, playing $?

Is this the time to tax MORE? Is this the time to make vulnerable those people who hire and buy? (To say nothing about their PAYING MOST OF THE TAXES, of course.)

"I think we're already seeing a slowdown in spending by this group," Mr. Zandi says. Yes! Why SHOULD they, how CAN they spend when they can't depend on the economy and hear nothing but HIGHER TAXES COMING?

z

Do you like the new DOJ website look?

The bottom image is the older Department of Justice website masthead...the black one at the top is the new one. Strange, don't you think? Gone are the stars and stripes...........The screen shot below is from 2008. The new top website information has this quote: "The common law is the will of mankind, issuing from the life of the people." (except in the case of Prop 8 in California, of course) It's a quote from C Wilfred Jenks, who was a leading proponent of the international law movement of the 1930's, which had as its goal the imposition of a global common law and which backed global workers' rights. SURPRISE!
WHAT IS GOING ON, folks? And what exactly was wrong with the original masthead?
z

Muslim Surprises?

HERE is an article worth reading.......
FrogBurger's terrific wife just emailed it to me..........QUITE worthwhile reading.
What do YOU think?

z