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An Ex-Muslim's Letter to the Critics of Pamela Geller This letter was sent to me from an apostate living in Europe. He has asked me to publish it. Dear Pamela, The more I go through the online videos of your media interventions, the more I am astonished by the way many Americans attack you. Being an ex-muslim — ie: a European who converted to Islam in his youth, who lived in the muslim ummah, travelled and studied in depth Arabic and islamic jurisprudence — your arguments are very clear to me, whilst the arguments of your critics fail to make...

Barack Obama speech reopens rift with black criticsBy JOSEPH WILLIAMS | 9/29/11 5:03 AM EDT It was a speech intended to be a rousing call to arms for his 2012 re-election campaign and his jobs bill. But when President Barack Obama told a gala dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus over the weekend that it was time to “stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying” and get to work, he instead gave new ammunition to some prominent African American critics who say the nation’s first black president gets tough only when he’s talking to other black people. **SNIP** By the middle...

Is this the “bad optic” that President Obama’s critics have been waiting for: An Associated Press photo of the president taking a call on the golf course within the hour after the East Coast earthquake Tuesday? When Obama left for a 10-day vacation in Martha’s Vineyard last week, critics and supporters alike warned that the image of him pursuing leisure activities on the tony island might make for an unfortunate contrast with much of the country mired in economic doldrums. Turned out it was a natural disaster, not the economy, which pierced his vacation bubble. But now we have a...

Anti-Mormon literature tends to recycle the same themes. Some ministries are using a series of fifty questions, which they believe will help "cultists" like the Mormons. One ministry seems to suggest that such questions are a good way to deceive Latter-day Saints, since the questions "give...them hope that you are genuinely interested in learning more about their religion." This ministry tells its readers what their real intent should be with their Mormon friend: "to get them thinking about things they may have never thought about and researching into the false teachings of their church." Thus, the questions are not sincere...

"The Oval Office, I always thought I was going to have really cool phones and stuff. . . I'm like, 'C'mon guys, I'm the president of the United States. Where's the fancy buttons and stuff and the big screen comes up?' It doesn't happen." -- President Obama The list of people I feel sorry for is long. It includes not just all of the people I know personally who are suffering from one misfortune or another, but the billions around the world who're having a rougher time than they ought: Japanese earthquake victims, targets of ethnic cleansing, etc. Then there's...

On Friday's Morning Edition, NPR's Mara Liasson conspicuously excluded conservatives who are opposed to "comprehensive" immigration reform proposals, such as those forwarded by former President George W. Bush, during a report on Utah's new and "milder" immigration law. Liasson emphasized the state's "conservative politics," but couldn't find any conservatives who opposed the law. Host Renee Montagne introduced the correspondent's report by highlighting how "Arizona's tough immigration law has received extensive coverage, and there's been a lot of talk about similar measures in other states. Yet, one of Arizona's neighbors, also known for its conservative politics, has taken a very different...

Joe Miller, Alaska’s Republican nominee for the United States Senate, recently expressed support for an idea that is rapidly gaining steam in Tea Party circles: the repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment. Miller subsequently backtracked from his statement, but he shouldn’t have: Repealing the Seventeenth Amendment would go a long way toward restoring federalism and frustrating special-interest influence over Washington. Ratified in 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment replaced the election of U.S. senators by state legislators with the current system of direct election by the people. By securing the Seventeenth Amendment’s ratification, progressives dealt a blow to the Framers’ vision of the...

Critics of the Tea Party movement suffer from the delusion that the lack of specific complaints means there isn't really anything wrong. Have you ever had a craving for something, but couldn't decide exactly what you wanted to eat? Perhaps you remember the Star Trek episode in which Mr. Spock was temporarily in command and Scotty was complaining that the ship "didn't feel right" even though he couldn't say what specifically was wrong. Do you sometimes feel sick, but have trouble describing exactly what is wrong with your body? Many of the Tea Party participants are in such a situation....

The surprise box-office boom for the cartoon "Despicable Me" is making it clear again to Hollywood this sum mer that family films are the most likely to be top-grossing films. "Toy Story 3" is No. 1 for 2010, not only among the critics, but among the people as well. "Despicable Me" already has broken into the top 10 box-office hits for the year to date with almost $130 million in ticket sales. It happens over and over again. And still the "executives" are caught off guard. It shouldn't be that hard to figure out. Nobody needs a graphing calculator. Bring...

<p>Instead of quelling a growing outcry for more information on an alleged political bargain, the White House has raised more questions and calls for an investigation after its shocking revelation on Friday that it recruited former President Bill Clinton to pitch a possible administration role to Rep. Joe Sestak if he would sit out the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary.</p>

Governor Deval Patrick, even as he decried partisanship in Washington, said today that Republican opposition to President Obama’s agenda has become so obstinate that it “is almost at the level of sedition.” The Democratic governor, who is close to the president, made the comments at a forum at Suffolk Law School's Rappaport Center, where he was asked by an audience member about partisan battling in Congress.

Yesterday, Howard Kurtz wrote a sad-sack column about the death of the legitimate entertainment critic. “It can be revealing to find out what people like you, uncredentialed as they may be, think about the new Meryl Streep movie, Philip Roth novel or noodle joint down the street. But why does that supplant the need for full-time reviewers?” Kurtz’s column follows hot on the heels of a smiley-weepy piece by A.O. Scott in the New York Times, entitled “A Critic’s Place, Thumbs And All.” His conclusion is that arts criticism will always be around, since “The future of criticism is the...

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—The Schwarzenegger administration has removed appointees from two oversight bodies that must sign off on its plan to sell California state office buildings, replacing potential critics of the move with people who support it. The appointees—to building authorities in San Francisco and Los Angeles—were replaced quietly in recent weeks as the state began taking bids on the properties, and their removal likely quashes any dissent or independent financial studies that might have emerged as the property sales move forward. In both cases, the replaced board members had questioned whether the administration's plan is in the best long-term interests of...

TWO weeks ago I went to Atlanta to give a talk at a conference devoted, in part, to “The Future of Criticism.” The gist of my remarks was that there is one. This was a contrarian, and perhaps also somewhat self-serving, position to take. After all, the countervailing evidence is hard to avoid.

In a recent combination basketball practice/softball interview with CBS's Harry Smith, President Barack Obama sought to blame certain media personalities for the low opinion many Americans have of him and his policies. "Well, I think that when you listen to Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck, it's pretty apparent, and it's troublesome, but keep in mind that there have been periods in American history where this kind of vitriol comes out." This moment from the otherwise snoozer of an interview shows not only this president's knee-jerk reaction to blame someone else for any bad news, but also the cowardly way he...

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama stepped carefully when talking for the first time about the conservative tea party movement, acknowledging it has legitimate concerns about federal reach and spending, but he contended the core of the loose anti-government network is "on the fringe." The latest political phenomenon, barely a year old, has leaders on both sides of the political spectrum puzzled. Republicans want to co-opt the passion -- and votes -- of tea party disciples to help them oust Democrats from congressional control in the fall midterm elections, without losing other voters in the process. As for Democrats, they have...

Henry Waxman is peeved. He expects corporate America to swallow health-care reform without a peep of protest — and, apparently, without revealing new costs to shareholders or the Securities and Exchange Commission....He has called the CEOs of AT&T, Caterpillar, and Deere to testify before his committee, accompanying his summons with a far-reaching document request lest the corporations miss the point: This is naked political harassment.

<p>Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is grateful that actor Sean Penn has defended him against his critics within the U.S. media.</p> <p>In an appearance on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" last week, Penn slammed Chavez critics who refer to the socialist leader as a dictator.</p>

NEW YORK (AP) — Film critic Roger Ebert lost his ability to speak nearly four years ago, when he underwent a tracheostomy, a procedure that opens an airway through an incision in the windpipe, after surgery for cancer in his jaw. In an interview in the new issue of Esquire magazine, the 67-year-old film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times uses pen and paper and text-to-speech computer software to communicate. He's developed a kind of rudimentary sign language, and he sometimes draws letters with his finger on the palm of his hand.

Hey Obama constituencies! How’s that “HOPE” and “CHANGE” working for ya? Labor: Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 12-4-2009: National unemployment has risen from 7.6% in January 2009 to 10% in November 2009. Among the major worker groups, unemployment rates for adult men (10.5 per-cent), adult women (7.9 percent), teenagers (26.7 percent), whites (9.3 per-cent), blacks (15.6 percent), and Hispanics (12.7 percent) showed little change in November. The unemployment rate for Asians was 7.3 percent. African Americans: Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Money.CNN.com reports:

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Critics heaped scorn on Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn on Monday over a secret prison program that allowed hundreds of inmates — some violent offenders — to be released early, including some who only spent 11 days behind bars. An Associated Press report released Sunday showed that more than 850 inmates — including repeat drunk drivers, drug users and even people convicted of battery and weapons violations — were released early under the program since September. This happened because the Corrections Department abandoned a policy that all prisoners serve at least 61 days and gave inmates months of...

San Rafael -- Al Gore and his crusade against global warming landed in the Bay Area this week with a call to arms and a message for those who still think the former vice president is tilting at windmills. The solution to climate change includes windmills, along with solar and geothermal energy, Gore told The Chronicle in an interview Monday. He also defended himself against attacks by critics who accuse him of pushing the green agenda so that he can personally benefit from investments he has made in green technology. "I have made some investments in the last few years...

For eight years Democrats pounded at the doors of D.C., throwing their own fecal matter around, and claiming that it was only a matter of time until Bush had them all rounded up for being unpatrotic. And like the frenzied mob at a Black Friday sale waiting for the doors to open, shoving and shoving against the glass, until the doors finally open, and the mob bursts through stomping over any store personnel in the way, Democrats have been completely unable to let go of the attack dog politics of the last 8 years and actually govern. Instead what we’ve...

Don't be tempted to believe in an organized conspiracy to race-bait Rush Limbaugh. That's not how things work in politics. To understand how DeMaurice Smith, head of the NFL players' union and politically connected Obamite, could be the center of an attempt to destroy the reputation of Rush Limbaugh you only need to recall the complaint of English King Henry II about Thomas Becket. "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" the King is supposed to have said. Immediately four knights set off to Canterbury to deal with Archbishop Becket (See Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral; Anouilh, Becket). Here's...

In perfect detail the Chief Officer explains his success...

Republicans have been ready with criticism for President Barack Obama's overnight journey to Copenhagen, where the president today pressed Chicago's case for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games -- playing booster, as the Republican National Committee put it this morning, for Obama's "Chicago Fat Cat Friends.'' RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri and then House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio all have questioned the president's priorities.

Over in the States, a phrase has been coined that sums up the “white-Americans-must-be-racist-because-they-oppose-President-Obama” accusation repeated ad nauseam by the BBC – Liberal McCarthyism. On Pajamas Media, via Fivefeetoffury: What we’re hearing is the liberals’ McCarthyism, which is, when in doubt, blame people for racism. Litigators have an old argument: When the law’s on your side, argue the law. When the facts are on your side, argue the facts. When neither’s on your side, pound the table. This amounts to pounding the table. I have yet to see evidence, is there — does evidence even intrude in this conversation? Is...

Venice, Italy - At one point during a news conference with Michael Moore at the Venice Film Festival, it was alleged that in some countries, distributors of his latest film were charging journalists hefty fees for the privilege of interviewing him. The US director, whose assault on corporate greed Capitalism: A Love Story, has made waves since its first screening at the festival, offered a poignant

President Obama said illegal immigrants would not be part of the health care overhaul, taxpayers would not be mandated to fund abortions and he does not intend a government takeover of health care -- all claims that critics have made at town hall-style meetings with members of Congress.

The effort of some Notre Dame alumni to discourage donors from supporting the university because of its commencement invitation to Barack Obama is bearing some fruit. The alumni leading the effort just sent out this release:

Pundits escalate attacks against Obama Carla Marinucci,Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writers Thursday, April 9, 2009 PRINT E-MAIL SHARE COMMENTS (1905) FONT | SIZE: It took fewer than 100 days for conservative critics to start lobbing the F-bomb at President Obama. "F" as in "fascist." Take Glenn Beck, the bombastic Fox News host, who in recent weeks has repeatedly used the term - along with references to Mussolini and pictures of Hitler and Lenin - to describe Obama's efforts to revive struggling banks and automakers. The American Spectator, a conservative publication, earlier this month ran an essay on Obama titled "Il...

It could take years to fully comprehend the environmental toll of border fencing, but critics say it is bound to create problems for the land and wildlife. The attempts by environmentalists and public-land managers to address their concerns were brushed aside early on by former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who invoked a provision of the 2005 Real ID Act that allowed a waiver of environmental and other federal regulations for border projects. And it wasn't long after that problems began cropping up. In testimony last year, Tohono O'odham Chairman Ned Norris Jr. told a House subcommittee that near Douglas...

President Obama on Saturday struck back aggressively at critics of his $3.6 trillion budget proposal, casting himself as a populist crusader whose "sweeping change" has angered Washington's entrenched special interests, and promised to fight them. "I realize that passing this budget won't be easy. Because it represents real and dramatic change, it also represents a threat to the status quo in Washington," Mr. Obama said in his weekly video and radio address. Mr. Obama's language was combative and confrontational, as he promised to fight for "American families." "I know these steps won't sit well with the special interests and lobbyists...

MOSCOW – A new law drafted by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's Cabinet would allow authorities to label any government critic a traitor — a move that leading rights activists condemned Wednesday as a chilling reminder of the times under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. The draft extends the definition of treason from breaching Russia's external security to damaging the nation's constitutional order, sovereignty or territorial integrity. ...

Palin denounces her critics as cowardsFriday, November 07, 2008 | 8:14 PM ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called her critics cowards and jerks Friday for deriding her anonymously and insisted she never asked for the expensive wardrobe purchased for her use on the presidential campaign. "I never asked for anything more than a Diet Dr. Pepper once in a while," Palin said... **SNIP** "Those are the RNC's clothes. They're not my clothes. I never forced anybody to buy anything," she said. Republican Party lawyers are still trying to determine exactly what clothing was purchased for Palin at such...

ABC’s Kate Snow reports: A longtime aide to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is lashing back at anonymous critics within the McCain-Palin presidential campaign, telling ABCNews they are attacking the former vice presidential candidate with distortions. Meg Stapleton offers an explanation of some of the more stinging criticisms that have come out in recent days since the McCain-Palin defeat.

A unanimously negative media response to the political slapstick movie American Carol reinforces my theory that humor -- and satire in particular -- is an accurate litmus test of one's political and ideological convictions, even if one insists on having no convictions at all. If you want to check your friends' politics, take them to see this conservative comedy and watch the reaction. Committed liberals won't laugh at conservative humor and vice versa. If they don't agree on the joke's basic philosophical premise, the sting will miss the spot and the joker will be shrugged off as a pathetic fool...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline)-A Wall Street Journal opinion article that claimed California Attorney General Jerry Brown had waged "war on the suburbs" continues to reverberate around rural and suburban towns in California. Critics of Brown's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow urban sprawl have another target, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who rekindled the debate when he signed pro-environmental bills earlier this month. Editors at the Sun-Herald in rural Colusa, Calif., which lies 90 minutes north of Sacramento, became the latest to rebuke the Republican governor for acting too much like the Democratic attorney general. "In his zeal to battle...

The American Idol candidate September 10, 2008 By Roger Ebert I think I might be able to explain some of Sara Palin's appeal. She's the "American Idol" candidate. Consider. What defines an "American Idol" finalist? They're good-looking, work well on television, have a sunny personality, are fierce competitors, and so talented, why, they're darned near the real thing. There's a reason "American Idol" gets such high ratings. People identify with the contestants. They think, Hey, that could almost be me up there on that show! My feeling is, I don't want to be up there. I want a vice president...

** EXCERPT ** ST. PAUL, MINN. (AP) - Republican presidential nominee John McCain began his final drive for the White House on Thursday with a boost from running mate Sarah Palin while Democratic opponent Joe Biden declared her family "off limits" and suggested that some news media coverage of her had been sexist. Palin and her husband, Todd, announced this week that their 17-year-old unmarried daughter was pregnant and would be marrying her boyfriend, saying they were making a private matter public because of Internet rumors. Biden said the Democratic campaign was not attacking Palin over her family. "It is...

Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection By ETHAN BRONNER JERUSALEM — A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days. If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus...“This is the sign of the son of Joseph. This is the conscious view of Jesus himself. This...

Lisa Miller defends Hillary Clinton against critics of her marriage in the latest from Newsweek. Although admitting that Hillary has brought the focus onto the marriage herself because of the nature of her claims to “experience”, Miller scolds people for speculating on the nature of the relationship. However, Miller doesn’t explain how to separate that from the nature of Hillary’s experience: Cindy McCain is a grown-up woman who has suffered her share of personal and marital setbacks—including an addiction to prescription painkillers that she hid from her husband—but she knows that what America wants in a First Marriage is something...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's elections were supposed to usher in democracy after eight years of military rule, but for Talat Hussain life doesn't look much different. Every time his TV station tries to air shows critical of President Pervez Musharraf, the screen goes black. Pakistan's main opposition parties announced they would form a coalition government to bring civilian rule after voters delivered a crushing blow to the pro-Musharraf ruling party in Feb. 18 parliamentary polls. Two days after the vote, Aaj, the privately owned station where Hussain is news director, was knocked off the air. Its signal has been jammed...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - An e-mail sent by local immigration officials to their agency head the day after the city adopted an ID program for illegal immigrants suggests that the timing of a raid soon thereafter was not coincidental, the city's mayor said. Regional Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers told agency Director Julie Myers in a June 5 e-mail that New Haven's Board of Aldermen had voted 25-1 the previous night to make the city the nation's first to offer illegal immigrants ID cards. City officials said the cards would help immigrants better integrate into mainstream culture by allowing them...

On the Paul Harvey Radio Show a few minutes ago, it was reported that in Uganda, a number of actors pretending to be bank robbers, were filming a movie in front of a bank recently. Apparently the Ugandan police then showed up, unaware that this was a movie set, and opened fire on the actors, killing 2 and wounding 3 more. Further complicating the tragedy, was the Freerepublic revelation that the police officers turned out to actually be, in reality, movie critics pretending to be policemen. This is playing to the fears of Hollywood that their actor-activists who show up...

People for whom indignation is a way of life — and there seem to be an increasing number of such people — repeatedly have outbursts of outrage whenever the police fire a lot of shots at some criminal. People who have never fired a gun in their lives, and have never had a split second in which to make a decision that could mean life or death for themselves or others, are often nevertheless convinced that the police used excessive force. As someone who once taught pistol shooting in the Marine Corps, it has never seemed strange to me that...

The Number Of Professional Music, Dance And Movie Reviewers Is Shrinking. Are They Missed? When Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert sat across from each other in a semi-darkened theater and discussed movies it was more than a handy way to figure out how to spend your movie bucks. It was an education. Their conversations were often more entertaining than the movies. Anyone who cared to listen learned a new language. The fact that a movie's future might depend on whether it got the most magical of critical endorsements — "Two thumbs up" — illustrated the power of their opinions. Looking...

WASHINGTON - Even some critics of President Bush's Iraq war policies are conceding there is evidence of recent improvements from a military standpoint. But Bush supporters and critics alike agree that these have not been matched by any noticeable progress on the political front. Despite U.S. pressure, Iraq's parliament went on vacation for a month after failing to pass either legislation to share the nation's oil wealth or to reconcile differences among the factions. And nearly all Sunni representatives in the government have quit, undermining the legitimacy of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite. Still, there have been signs of...

San Joaquin Valley dairies should keep cows in enclosed barns and use special waste collectors to reduce air pollution, say critics of existing dairy air standards. The Fresno Healthy Dairy Commission, an advocacy group including doctors, business and religious leaders, says dairies cause harmful emissions in Fresno County, which has some of the nation's worst air pollution. The group said Friday a proposed county dairy ordinance needs tougher air quality regulations. The commission cited recommendations for enclosing dairy barns and cattle waste in a report it requested from the California Institute for Rural Studies, based at the University of California,...

WASHINGTON - The fragile coalition that produced this week's immigration deal risks being picked apart by forces across the political spectrum as the measure begins moving through Congress. Lawmakers want to revise key elements, such as letting millions of illegal immigrants stay in the U.S., favoring skills and education over families and setting out the terms of a new temporary worker program. Any one of the changes has the potential to sink the whole measure, which was unveiled with fanfare Thursday but was still being drafted late Friday. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, who helped negotiate the compromise, called it "very...