Teachers Unions Go to Bat for Sexual Predators

From Campbell Brown, at WSJ:

By resisting almost any change aimed at improving our public schools, teachers unions have become a ripe target for reformers across the ideological spectrum. Even Hollywood, famously sympathetic to organized labor, has turned on unions with the documentary "Waiting for 'Superman'" (2010) and a feature film, "Won't Back Down," to be released later this year. But perhaps most damaging to the unions' credibility is their position on sexual misconduct involving teachers and students in New York schools, which is even causing union members to begin to lose faith.

In the last five years in New York City, 97 tenured teachers or school employees have been charged by the Department of Education with sexual misconduct. Among the charges substantiated by the city's special commissioner of investigation—that is, found to have sufficient merit that an arbitrator's full examination was justified—in the 2011-12 school year...

Continue reading.

And that's just New York.

My union's just as bad. See: "Teachers' unions should be ashamed -- Powerful lobby helped defeat bill to protect children."

Democrat union perverts. That's who you have controlling the schools. Society is FUBAR.

NBC Olympics Delay and Streaming Bring Complaints on Twitter

At NYT, "Olympic Viewers Have a New Reason to Complain, and the Means to Do It."

That's a good piece.

Twitchy has been on top of the controversy, "#NBCFail: Network’s Olympic disaster earns global social media mockery; NBC exec Schiller disses “whining”."

Jordyn Wieber's Tearful Failure in Women's All-Around Gymnastics Final

So much emotion. It's more fascinating than sad, frankly.

At the New York Times, "Americans Excel, but Wieber Is Out for All-Around":

When the 17-year-old Wieber — who has been described on different occasions as steady as a rock, as sure as a machine and as mentally tough as the great Nadia Comaneci — learned she was the odd woman out, she burst into tears.

“When this kind of disappointment happens, you can’t say anything,” said Martha Karolyi, the United States women’s national team coordinator. “It’s almost like when someone passes away. What to say? Anything you say, the situation is the same.

Watch here: "2012 Trials Day 2: Jordyn Wieber Key Routines."


BONUS: From Robert Stacy McCain, "The Olympic Princess Fantasy."

University of Colorado Stands by Dr. Lynne Fenton, Psychiatrist Who Treated Aurora Suspect James Holmes

At the Los Angeles Times, "Colorado school officials stand by Holmes' psychiatrist's record."

And check Robert Stacy McCain, "Did University of Colorado ‘Student Mental Health Service’ Director Blow It?"

Mitt Romney Takes Aggressive Stand Against Iran Nuclear Weapons

I checked yesterday for Maeve Reston's report, at Los Angeles Times, and it wasn't up yet. Here it is now, "Romney takes hard line on Iran in Israel speech":

PHOTO CREDIT: Bonney Kapp on Twitter.

Dennis Prager on Left's Fascist Attacks on Chick-fil-A

This ran a few days ago.

If you disagree with progressives, they will try to destroy you:

And in case you missed his book: Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph.

Theo's Sunday Hotties

You'll be taking your eyes off the Olympic Games with these ladies.

See: "Sunday Totty..."

Plus, "Bonus Babe..." and "Bedtime Totty..."

In Israel, It Was the Way Romney Said It

From Barry Rubin, at PJ Media, "Mitt Romney Captures Jerusalem":

Speaking to an often-cheering group of about 400 people in Jerusalem, Governor Mitt Romney gave a speech less notable for what he said than for the fact that the audience believed he was sincere in saying it.

At a beautiful outdoor setting with the Old City in the background, Romney declared his strong support for Israel, using phrases often heard from American presidents. He also proclaimed his view that Jerusalem is Israel’s eternal capital. The difference, of course, is that those listening were less inclined to think that when President Barack Obama said similar things to AIPAC meetings he was describing his own views and policies.

Continue reading.

Enjoy the Sports, Expose the Politics: How to Enjoy the Olympics

Here's an entry at Astute Bloggers: "I DON'T THINK THIS YEAR'S OLYMPICS ARE MUCH FUN TO BOTHER ABOUT."

And along the same lines, blogging on the anti-Semitic politics of the IOC, Glenn Reynolds wrote: "I don’t care about the Olympics. They’re a sham and a scam, a mixture of corruptocrats and worse."

So I thought about it. I do care about the Olympics. As a boy, the Olympics helped build my love of sports and the spirit of competition. I have really strong memories, especially of 1972, when so many athletes just rocked the world with their performances. I was mesmerized by it. And of course, the murder of the Israelis was my introduction to Middle East politics. I was only twelve, but the image of the Black September terrorist, looking over the ledge at the Olympic gardens, is indelible. Stormbringer has thoughts on that, "I REMEMBER THE MUNICH OLYMPICS":

I remember looking at the image of Palestinian terrorists in the Munich Olympic village, on TV and on the covers of the news magazines. The Munich Olympics were supposed to be a celebration, another step further in the rehabilitation of Germany's standing as a member of the world community.

Instead we got horror. We saw the face of international terrorism, and an atrocity against humankind unfold before our very eyes.

We could barely comprehend what we were looking at. It was to the 1970s what 9/11 was to the 00's - a game-changer...

Keep reading.

Stormbringer casts shame on the IOC, as we all should.

But I keep thinking back to the great athletic moments of 1972. Mark Spitz, especially, but also others, like Olga Korbut, who captured the world's heart with her performance and emotion during competition --- and frankly showed us the human side of the Soviet Union during a high period of Cold War conflict:

And there are other memories, from other Olympics, that stay with you. I think Greg Louganis at Seoul in 1988 is one of those, a spectacular sports achievement. So I can't completely dismiss the games, despite all the horrible political correctness and anti-Semitism. I just try to enjoy the sports and, now more than ever, expose the hatred and double-standards the drive the politics behind the scenes.

Note: As this post goes live, NBC just broadcast American Dana Vollmer's world record swim in the 100m butterfly. The smile on her face summarizes the joy of the competition for so many. More on that at the New York Times, "American Swimmer’s Four-Year Comeback Is Completed in Last Stretch."

Newsweek Circles its Final Swirls Down the Drain

The 1988 presidential campaign is memorable for how the MSM attacked George H.W. Bush as a wimp. Could he beat the "wimp factor," a Newsweek cover story proclaimed in 1987? Bush went on to win the election, over a candidate who perfectly demonstrated Democrat wimpiness by staging a photo-op in a tank: "Compared with the dashing WWII pilot Bush, the little Dukakis came off a clown, and the photo op blew up in his face."

And for some reason, the bright lights at Tina Brown's Newsweek thought it'd be a good idea to do it again, featuring a Michael Tomasky cover story, "Mitt Romney: Too Wimpy for the White House?" (Via Memeorandum.) And clearly, reading the article, the wimp analogy doesn't work. Indeed, Tomasky ties himself into contortions trying to make the comparison to Bush 41. Soon he's reduced to admitting that Romney's "more weenie than wimp," which is followed by a gratuitous reference to WaPo's bullying hit piece from May --- which reported the hugely important news that Romney cut off a classmates locks decades ago. Yeah, I know. The Newsweek wimp factor attacks are just plain lame --- lame in 1987 for Bush 41, and lame for Romney now. Polls already show that most people won't change their personal perceptions of the candidates. And for the undecided, a rash hit piece is frankly going to make jack's worth of difference. Mostly, by now we're just being made to watch Newsweek take its last breaths, something Ed Driscoll notes quite well, "Newsweek Pretty Much Just Phoning It In Now." (Via Memeorandum.)

It's too bad too. At one time I used to enjoy reading Newsweek, but it jumped the shark a long time ago. Sad.

PREVIOUSLY: "Newsweek Projected to Lose at Least $22 Million This Year."

FLASHBACK: "Newsweek's Arizona Shooting Cover Story Wraps 'Assassin' in American Flag."

It's a death rattle for this magazine, not worth the $1 that businessman Sidney Harman paid for the rag.

Mitt Romney in Israel: Stopping Iran Nukes 'Must Be Our Highest National Security Priority'

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Romney's Remarkable Speech in Jerusalem."

It's remarkable, indeed.

The New York Times reports, "In Jerusalem, Romney Delivers Strong Defense of Israel."

Also at the Right Scoop, "FULL SPEECH: Mitt Romney Speaks in Israel."

Plus more at Memeorandum.

Syria's Lightly-Armed Rebels No Match for Armed Forces of Bashar al-Assad

At Telegraph UK, "Syria's rag-tag rebels will be mauled by President Assad's firepower, but they can fight an effective guerrilla war":

Like rebels in Libya, the poorly armed Syrian fighters who are attacking President Assad's armoured forces can learn from their mistakes and become a fearsome force.

RNC 'Again' Advertisment Hammers Obama on 'Stimulus' Programs

Via Right Wing News:

And the press release from the RNC: "Republican National Committee Airs TV Ad “Again”."

BONUS: Just scroll through Michelle's archives for "stimulus." What a Democrat boondoggle.

13th Victim: Ashley Moser, Mother of 6-Year-Old Victim Veronica Moser-Sullivan, Miscarries After Being Shot in Colorado Massacre

At Telegraph UK, "Colorado Batman shooting claims its 13th victim."

The Colorado cinema massacre has claimed its 13th victim as a pregnant mother who survived the attack suffered a miscarriage following surgery.

Ashley Moser, 25, was eight weeks pregnant when she was hit once in the stomach and twice in the neck during the mass shooting.

Her six-year-old daughter Veronica Moser was among the 12 people killed and 58 injured when gunman James Holmes opened fire during a screening of Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colorado on July 20.

Miss Moser, who is expected to be paralysed, lost her baby after undergoing surgery related to her injuries.

In a statement her family said: "Ashley is recovering from an additional surgery she had this morning. Tragically, the extreme trauma she sustained also caused a miscarriage.

That's an unfathomable amount of pain and tragedy.

Continue reading at the link.

Also at Newsmax, "Unborn Baby Is Latest Victim of Theater Shooter." And the Los Angeles Times, "Colorado shooting victim miscarries; her 6-year-old girl was killed."

RELATED: Robert Stacy McCain has more, "Did University of Colorado ‘Student Mental Health Service’ Director Blow It?"

Mayor Edwin Lee Warns Chick-fil-A on Coming to San Francisco — Lying Fascist Repsac3 Denies It, Shills for Left's Anti-Free Speech Thugs

So far all the reports out indicate that San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee has warned Chick-fil-A about opening a store in the city.

See the San Franscisco Chronicle, "Mayor Ed Lee warns Chick-fil-A against coming to San Francisco":

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has joined in the growing chorus condemning Chick-fil-A for the national chicken chain’s much-publicized anti-gay views.

After mayors in Boston and Chicago recently expressed their disapproval with Chick-fil-A and its intolerance, Lee followed suit and took to his Twitter account late yesterday, firing off two successive tweets. The first one conveys his disappointment with the chain’s lack of values, and the second one takes it up a notch, suggesting that Chick-fil-A don’t even think about opening in San Francisco.

The mayor's tweets are embedded at the report.

It's clearly threatening. And the Los Angeles Times agrees, "San Francisco is the third city to tell Chick-fil-A: Keep out":

First Boston. Then Chicago.

The next city to tell Chick-fil-A to keep out? San Francisco.

Edwin M. Lee, mayor of the progressive city, tweeted Thursday night: "Very disappointed #ChickFilA doesn't share San Francisco's values & strong commitment to equality for everyone."

He also added a warning to his subsequent tweet: "Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer."

Until Thursday, San Francisco had stayed mum on the debate, which began when Chick-fil-A's president, Dan Cathy, went on the record as saying his Atlanta-based chicken chain operated on biblical values and opposed same-sex marriage.

Pretty straightforward, obviously.

But not for fascist hate-blogger Walter James Casper III, a.k.a Repsac3, who attacks Aaron Worthing on Twitter with denials of the threat:

@AaronWorthing not seeing the def of threat (other than cite of "true threat" which is about bodily harm). More of a pointer?
— J. Casper (@repsac3) July 27, 2012

@zanshi1 what the mayor said wasnt a threat. It was speech. There was nothing official or threatening about it. Boston & Chi, threats
— J. Casper (@repsac3) July 27, 2012

The despicable hater Repsac3 is lying again, no surprise.

A threat does not have to warn of physical harm. "Threat" could be financial injury, for example. In other words, a threat is any kind of caution, as Dictionary.com points out:

threat   [thret]
noun
1. a declaration of an intention or determination to inflict punishment, injury, etc., in retaliation for, or conditionally upon, some action or course; menace: He confessed under the threat of imprisonment.
2. an indication or warning of probable trouble: The threat of a storm was in the air.
3. a person or thing that threatens.

There's nothing there about a threat requiring violence. But that doesn't matter to Walter James Casper III. He lies about everything.

And he organizes his hate campaigns with others online:

@EvanHurst Just occurred to me you may need an e-mail address to pass along the Chickfila article: repsac3blogs@gmail.com Thanks again...
— J. Casper (@repsac3) July 29, 2012

That's something I've mentioned previously, regarding Repsac's intimidation and stalking campaign against this blog. See: "Intent to Annoy and the Fascist Hate-Blogging Campaign of Walter James Casper III."

He's a liar and an Internet predator. People should avoid him, block him on Twitter, and report him to the proper authorities.

PREVIOUSLY: "Repsac3, Hate-Addled Internet Predator, Screams 'Liar' at Virtually Entire World on Politicization of Colorado Shooting."

Just Half of American Voters Identify Obama as Christian

And the number of Americans identifying Obama as Muslim has increased since 2008.

See Pew Research, "Little Voter Discomfort with Romney’s Mormon Religion: Only About Half Identify Obama as Christian":

The new survey on religion and politics finds that nearly four years into his presidency the view that Barack Obama is Muslim persists. Currently, 17% of registered voters say that Obama is Muslim; 49% say he is Christian, while 31% say they do not know Obama’s religion.

The percentage of voters identifying Obama’s religion as Christian has increased since August 2010, from 38% to 49%, while there has been little change in the percentage saying he is Muslim (19% then, 17% today). Still, fewer say Obama is Christian – and more say he is Muslim – than did so in October 2008, near the end of the last presidential campaign. The increase since 2008 is particularly concentrated among conservative Republicans, about a third of whom (34%) describe the president as a Muslim.

Overall, 45% of voters say they are comfortable with Obama’s religion, while 19% are uncomfortable. Among those who say Obama is Christian, 82% are comfortable with Obama’s religious beliefs. Among those who describe him as a Muslim, just 26% are comfortable with his beliefs.

RELATED: "The Obama Administration Has Lost its Senses on Muslim Brotherhood."

Caroline Glick argues the administration's selling out U.S. interests to the Islamists.

Also at Atlas Shrugs, "'HALF OF AMERICANS DO NOT KNOW THE PRESIDENT’S RELIGION' .... DUH."

BONUS: At Politico, "Eric Cantor defends Michele Bachmann."

Rosie Jones Kicks Off London Summer Olympics for 'Loaded' Magazine UK

That's the spirit.

See: "Forget the Olympics, Loaded gets Rosie Jones to celebrate the summer."

Also at Egotastic, "You Know Who Knows How to Celebrate the Olympics Properly? Rosie Jones..."

Hope Solo Bashes Brandi Chastain on Twitter

Fox Sports has screencaps.

And see Christine Brennan, at USA Today, "Hope Solo wrong to criticize Brandi Chastain TV commentary":

LONDON – U.S. soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo has had the most bizarre couple of weeks. She simply cannot stay out of the headlines.

After a positive drug test that was explained away as an honest mistake and some risqué quotes appearing in a national magazine about sneaking celebrities into the Beijing Olympic Village, Solo now has outdone herself by unleashing a Twitter barrage against American soccer icon Brandi Chastain, the hero of the 1999 World Cup.

Chastain, now an NBC commentator at the Olympics, was critical of the U.S. defense and goalkeeping in the Americans' first game, a 4-2 come-from-behind victory against France. As the USA fell behind 2-0, she definitely was not alone in her commentary about what appeared to be a confused U.S. defensive effort at the beginning of the game.

On Saturday in the USA's 3-0 win against Colombia, Chastain singled out U.S. defender Rachel Buehler, who had committed a first-half turnover. Solo didn't like it, not one bit. So she told her 471,673 followers on Twitter all about it, taking four different shots at one of the great names in U.S. soccer history, who happened to just be doing her job commentating on the team she helped to make famous.

It all seems so silly...

Continue reading.

I feel bad 4 our fans that have 2 push mute, especially bc @arlowhite is fantastic.@brandichastainshould be helping 2 grow the sport #fb
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) July 28, 2012

More at Google.

Obama Runs 'The Choice' Ad During London Olympic Games

This clip ran yesterday around Noon while I was watching the London games. I wouldn't have seen it otherwise.

But it's boilerplate Democrat class warfare. O slams Romney's plans for "tax cuts for the wealthy," what else? And doesn't say a word about his failed policies for the past four years. There's the lame talk about helping the "middle class," as well, as if his administration even cares about them. Folks like that are frankly "clinging" to their guns and religion, as polls show over and over again. For some reason, though, people like O personally, while disliking his policies. He's like a snake charmer I guess. See LAT, "Obama outranks Romney on likability, polls show":

WASHINGTON — The economy is in the tank and hopes for quick improvement are dim. Most people don't like the direction the country is headed and many blame President Obama. And his GOP rival scores better on the top issues. So why isn't Obama doing worse in the polls?

One likely reason: Voters like him more than Mitt Romney.

Obama's job approval ratings long ago plummeted from his halcyon postelection days. But the president's favorability — the catchall measure that pollsters say reflects voters' gut feelings about a politician — has been resilient. Despite a recession, a sluggish jobless recovery, an oil spill, an unpopular healthcare law and a string of ugly tussles with Congress, Obama's favorability is 54%, according to a recent USA Today-Gallup poll. Respondents were essentially divided on Romney, who had a 46% favorability rating. When asked about likability, respondents favored Obama, 60% to 30%.

Included in that barometer is a group of personal traits more consequential than just being nice. Obama gets high marks on honesty and trustworthiness. And most voters say he shares their values and cares about people like them.

And, by some accounts, voters really like the president. Two-thirds of voters surveyed recently by the Wall Street Journal and NBC said they liked Obama personally.

Romney, the unofficial Republican nominee, was personally liked by 47%.

"Basically, it looks like Romney's personality is holding him back and Obama's likability is helping him," said Jeffrey M. Jones, managing editor for the Gallup Poll. "It seems frivolous, but it matters."

Well, maybe that'll help him.

I personally like someone who doesn't mind putting his hand over his heart during the national anthem, but hey, O's got that soulful smile and down home swagga, so that's something, at least.

The Obama Administration Has Lost its Senses on Muslim Brotherhood

Well, it's lost its senses on just about everything involving decency and common sense, so it's no surprise.

See Caroline Glick, "The Muslim Brotherhood's American Defenders."

RELATED: At FrontPage Magazine, "Caroline Glick Joins David Horowitz Freedom Center."

And Glick is speaking Monday in Los Angeles, "Caroline Glick: Israel on the Eve of U.S. Elections."