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Increasingly unloved and ridiculed from both sides, a new and embittered President Obama is emerging this Christmas season as he begins a badly needed vacation in Hawaii. In an interview on the eve of yesterday's health-care ram-through, Obama expressed his deep frustration over the legislative process. The president accused Republicans of abuse for employing the very rules that make the Senate the "world's greatest deliberative body." "If this pattern continues, you're going to see an inability on the part of America to deal with big problems in a very competitive world, and other countries are going to start running circles...

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Former President Bill ClintonBill Clinton attends an unveiling of a statue of himself.

If you want to understand why some conservatives were gleeful over Chicago's fourth-place finish in its bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games - after President Obama and the first lady flew to Copenhagen to pitch the American city to the International Olympic Committee - consider this quote in the New York Times from Anita DeFrantz, an IOC member from the United States: "I hate the fact that these elegant people were here, and then our country got treated that way." These elegant people? So the other folks who didn't win for their cities are what? Slobs? You see...

President Obama is following the advice of that great philosopher Woody Allen, who once said that “eighty percent of success is showing up.” In health care legislation, foreign relations and, now, the Olympics, Obama believes his very presence is enough to bend the world to his whim. But even Allen allowed for 20% of something else. I’m guessing good ideas and effort. The decision by the International Olympic Committee must have particularly stung. On behalf of his hometown of Chicago, which had invested $50 million in its bid, Obama traveled halfway around the world to swoon IOC officials in Copenhagen.

Obama received a nasty rebuff and a stern reminder that the rest of the world doesn’t necessarily care what he thinks. Chicago is out of the Olympics bidding process–in the first round. Why did Obama invest so much personal capital and time for this? Well, he simply can’t help himself. It’s the same force of ego that drives him on to those TV talk shows again and again and that imagines that a grand speech with no content and no appeal outside his base will be a game changer on health-care reform.

With four months left to meet its self-imposed deadline for closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Obama administration is working to recover from missteps that have put officials behind schedule and left them struggling to win the cooperation of Congress...Today, officials are acknowledging that they will be hard-pressed to meet that goal. The White House has faltered...because of the legal, political and diplomatic complexities involved in determining what to do with more than 200 terrorism suspects at the prison. But senior advisers privately acknowledge not devising a concrete plan for where to move the detainees and...

Sometimes the hubris of Barack Obama is astounding. He believes that there is simply no way America would reject his Obamacare health care legislation. After all anything his does is covered with brilliance. At first the when the public began to turn against his plan, he blamed the Republicans, he had to drop that claim because it was the Democrats holding up the passage of his bill out of Congress. Next he blamed it on the Insurance Companies and special interests, that didn't work either, because in the next breath he would mention all the special interests that backed his...

"The grand delusion of contemporary liberals is that they have both the right and the ability to move their fellow creatures around like blocks of wood -- and that the end results will be no different than if people had voluntarily chosen the same actions." - Thomas Sowell "The minute the president signs a health care reform bill, his approval will go up. Secondly, within a year, when all those bad things they say will happen don't happen, and all the good things happen, approval will explode." - Bill Clinton "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a...

Taking the stage for a town hall meeting on health care the other day, President Obama emerged from behind a curtain in a fake jog. He pumped his arms in an exaggerated fashion, but his smile looked forced as he waved and shook hands with a few audience members. It all seemed a campaign ritual, dulled by time and beleaguered by circumstance, prompting a flashback in my head to the Paul Simon song about Joe DiMaggio.

Being a member of the “elite” has many advantages. But being in touch with the opinions of ordinary people is not among them. In the end, being a member of the “elite” becomes self-defeating. From my point of view, this is a very good thing. We no longer believe that extreme arrogance angers the gods, but it surely does irritate the voters.

If ever the history of this current administration is honestly written, it will probably reflect that the Obama administration and the Democratic party leaders seriously blundered. They had it all, huge majorities in the legislative branches, and the executive branch. They had astronomical poll readings, almost too unbelievable. But then, the arrogance and hubris, which almost always accompanies those drunk on power, reared its ugly head. For the party which showed tremendous discipline, and foresight, they appeared to be blind to public opinion polls, and the effects these polls would have on moderate members of their parties. They rushed a...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsGR83Imoto

Barack Obama spoke at the National Archives last Thursday on the war on terror (not that he used that term). After paying tribute to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and before turning to a defense of his policies, the President of the United States said: I stand here today as someone whose own life was made possible by these documents. My father came to our shores in search of the promise that they offered. My mother made me rise before dawn to learn of their truth when I lived as a child in a...

Does the Speaker really think that she can accuse our spies of lying, stand by that statement providing absolutely no evidence, and then say that's all you're going to answer about that situation? Frankly, I am a bit disappointed that I didn't point out this hubris in my previous piece on her.

Bubbling with self confidence, President Barack Obama gave himself a laudatory assessment of his first 100 days in office. “I would have to say that, in my view, this has got to be the most outstanding performance ever for a new administration,” Obama boasted. “I’ve assembled a top notch team that has helped me make strides in every important sector. I’ve calmed the troubled waters of foreign policy. I’ve set in motion initiatives that will restore the economy to health. I’ve begun the steps necessary to achieve social justice.” The president acknowledged that it is possible that “the depths of...

That everything surrounding the so called torture memos has become a toxic political football should surprise no one. What should surprise everyone is why the White House, upon releasing the memos, thought that anything but what is happening now. According to Politico, privately administration officials thought that releasing these selected memos would allow the country "to move forward". Was the administration really that obtuse and full of hubris that they thought that releasing selected memos that painted their predecessors in a bad light would end the story? I can only assume that this line of thinking is the result of...

Tea parties reveal Left’s quick descent to hubrisBy Chris Stirewalt Political Editor 4/13/09 It hasn’t taken long for Democrats to succumb to the same arrogance that helped tank Republicans last year. Just as conservatives once mocked the online wave that helped Barack Obama surf into the White House, liberals are now heaping scorn on the tea party movement. This Web phenomenon may bring tens of thousands of small-government conservatives to tax day rallies across the country Wednesday. They Twitter. They Facebook. They blog. They mail tea bags to Congress. It’s an outgrowth of the tax-revolt movement that has been simmering...

The bankers struggled to make themselves clear to the president of the United States. Arrayed around a long mahogany table in the White House state dining room last week, the CEOs of the most powerful financial institutions in the world offered several explanations for paying high salaries to their employees — and, by extension, to themselves. “These are complicated companies,” one CEO said. Offered another: “We’re competing for talent on an international market.” But President Barack Obama wasn’t in a mood to hear them out. He stopped the conversation and offered a blunt reminder of the public’s reaction to such...

The Mexican president has blamed US "corruption" for hampering his nation's efforts to combat violent drug cartels. Felipe Calderon also told the AFP news agency that the main cause of Mexico's drug gang problems was "having the world's biggest consumer [of drugs] next to us". "Drug trafficking in the United States is fuelled by the phenomenon of corruption on the part of the American authorities," he said on Wednesday. The Mexican president launched a massive assault on drug cartels after entering office in late 2006 but the cartels have responded with campaigns of violence and intimidation that left 6,000 dead...

Hubris is the word that comes to mind as I listen to President Obama lay out his plan to rescue the economy, create 4 million jobs, halve the deficit in four years, and give quality health care to every American. The man has big ambitions and an even bigger ego. It has been one of the most troubling aspects of his character as it has emerged on the national scene in the last two years. He seems, almost literally, to believe he walks on water. No one — no matter how talented — could accomplish a fraction of what Obama...

In classical Athens, hubris was a crime and considered the greatest sin in Greek society. In American society it is simply defined as an arrogant self-confidence, an overweening excessive pride. As most Americans know by now, you’re most likely to see it displayed on Wall Street, in Hollywood, or in the nation’s capitol where Wall Street and Hollywood collided with a vengeance during the most recent election. As we’ve now seen with “the stimuli,” including the current bill in Washington, there are a great many people in D.C. who want all our money and that of future generations to use...

The Pattern Arnold Kling   Actor The Promise The Reality Financial Executives Brilliant Risk Management Catastrophic Losses Eliot Spitzer Mr. Clean, Financial Reformer Celebrity Prosecutions, Real Abuses Untouched, and Not So Clean Sarbanes-Oxley Financial Responsibility Large Costs, No Apparent Benefits Basel Capital Standards International Coordination, Sound Banks Worldwide Banking Collapse Fannie, Freddie Stable Mortgage Credit Fed the Boom, Stuck Taxpayers with the Bust TARP Unclog the Financial System Zombie Banks Big Fiscal Stimulus Put the Economy on a Better Path Wait and See The pattern is big egos, big money, and big power offering big promises, getting big media...

One of life's greatest mysteries is how it began. Scientists have pinned it down to roughly this: Some chemical reactions occurred about 4 billion years ago — perhaps in a primordial tidal soup or maybe with help of volcanoes or possibly at the bottom of the sea or between the mica sheets — to create biology. Now scientists have created something in the lab that is tantalizingly close to what might have happened. It's not life, they stress, but it certainly gives the science community a whole new data set to chew on. The researchers, at the Scripps Research Institute,...

President-elect Barack Obama said Monday a review by his own lawyer shows he had no direct contact with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich about the appointment of a Senate replacement, and transition aides "did nothing inappropriate." Obama said he is prepared to make the review public, but decided to hold off because prosecutors asked for a delay and "I don't want to interfere with an ongoing investigation." Controversy has swirled around the president-elect and his incoming White House chief of staff, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, following Blagojevich's arrest last week on charges he schemed to trade Obama's Senate seat for personal gain....

Those of you not familiar with Mike's work should go here to read prior excerpts from his upcoming novel. Those of you who have will enjoy this piece. Please pass it along as you can.

Though the campaign is over, President-elect Barack Obama is still soliciting contributions to help fund his move into the Oval Office, Politico reports. The Obama team has created the Obama-Biden Transition Project, a non-profit corporation set up under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Service code, to help supplement the $6.3 million he will receive in taxpayer funds. Contributions of up to $5,000-per-person can be made to the non-profit, and a source close to the situation told Politico Obama will not accept contributions from lobbyists or corporations.

"FAIRFAX, Va. - Gerry Connolly's election to the House of Representatives may spark two more elections. Connolly intends to stay in his current position as chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors until he is sworn in to Congress. At that point, the Board of Supervisors will have to get a judge to set the day for a special election to replace Connolly. Should one of the current board members run for his post and win, another election would have to be called to fill the new chairman's old job."

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama paid a German company nearly $700,000 for staging, sound and lighting services at a time he delivered a speech this summer in which he declared himself a “citizen” of both the U.S. and the world. Billed as a highlight of Mr. Obama's July trip to Europe, the speech - to hundreds of thousands of people in front of the historic Victory Column in Tiergarten - was organized by the Berlin-based company Mediapool, opening much like a rock concert, with warm-up performances from the band Reamonn and reggae singer Patrice. The German company, whose Web...

Presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill) confided to a close group of Democratic supporters that it has been revealed to him that he is a “symbol of hope for all mankind.” “The world has been stumbling in the darkness,” Obama proclaimed. “I am the doorway to a brighter future. I am the light of the world for these troubled times.” In support of his claim, the Illinois senator told of how “everywhere I go, the children sing my virtues. They have a wisdom untainted by a corrupt society. It is a model for the rest of humanity.” Obama said he...

A FEARSOME mutant fish has started killing people after feeding on human corpses, scientists fear. They reckon that a huge type of catfish, called a goonch, may have developed a taste for flesh in an Indian river where bodies are dumped after funerals. Locals have believed for years that a mysterious monster lurks in the water. But they think it has moved on from scavenging to snatching unwary bathers who venture into the Great Kali, which flows along the India-Nepal border. The extraordinary creature has been investigated by biologist Jeremy Wade for a TV documentary to be shown on Five....

This is my first vanity post, after over a year. We are all watching with great interest the developments in Washington and financial capitols around the world. Corrections in the market are not uncommon, and this one is long overdue. What is unsettling is this one is being thrashed about as an election ploy, and with it the fortunes and destinies of many. At the heart of this is a person who has had a quest for power, and reaching it, has spared no effort in twisting and contorting it to do the bidding of a political animal. We all...

ABC News GIBSON: Governor, let me start by asking you a question that I asked John McCain about you, and it is really the central question. Can you look the country in the eye and say "I have the experience and I have the ability to be not just vice president, but perhaps president of the United States of America?" PALIN: I do, Charlie, and on January 20, when John McCain and I are sworn in, if we are so privileged to be elected to serve this country, will be ready. I'm ready. GIBSON: And you didn't say to yourself,...

When I saw this picture of Barack Obama posing in front of Superman, words failed me. I had seen enough of all that crap with the halos on him and light surrounding his head and all of those Jesus poses... but this one actually made me laugh. So have fun with this, we should make a nice new Obama image with a caption like the three I have suggested.

Looking at the pictures of Obama's "Temple of Dumb", it struck me that it looked a great deal like the Lincoln Memorial.Then I heard that Obama's speech is on the anniversiary of Dr. King's speech from 45 years ago today.Where did Dr. King give that speech? He gave it in front of the Lincoln Memorial.So we got it wrong. Obama does not think he is a Greek God, he really thinks he is Dr. Martin Luther King!The sweet irony of a Democrat who divides people on race, speaking on the anniversiary of the Dr. King speech, and in front of...

Holy Moley....did you know Kerry supports our Veterans??? Get the Tums...

This week may mark a turning point. Dana Milbank at the Post thinks Barry may be getting just a little ahead of himself. Gotta love the sarcasm. Inside, according to a witness, he told the House members, "This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for," adding: "I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions." As he marches toward Inauguration Day (Election Day is but a milestone on that path), Obama's biggest challenger may not be Republican John McCain but rather his own hubris. Some say the supremely confident...

John McCain and Barack Obama seem to occupy different universes. In McCain's universe, the planets rotate around the sun in a predictable pattern. In Obama's universe, he is the sun -- and we are but minor planets revolving around his brilliant countenance. Rarely have the different orbits of these two men been more vivid than last week. While Obama was enacting the rapture before 200,000 worshipers in Berlin, McCain was grinding out economic policy with fellow earthlings at Schmidt's Restaurant and Sausage Haus in Columbus, Ohio. Its motto: "The Best of the Wurst!" One is a Sun God -- a...

Barack Obama has long been his party's presumptive nominee. Now he's becoming its presumptuous nominee. Fresh from his presidential-style world tour, during which foreign leaders and American generals lined up to show him affection, Obama settled down to some presidential-style business in Washington yesterday. He ordered up a teleconference with the (current president's) Treasury secretary, granted an audience to the Pakistani prime minister and had his staff arrange for the chairman of the Federal Reserve to give him a briefing. Then, he went up to Capitol Hill to be adored by House Democrats in a presidential-style pep rally. Along the...

Spitzer "actually enjoyed destroying people," said a former NYSE managing director, Richard Riker. "Spitzer's legacy is tarnished and trashed because of [the prostitution scandal that led to his resignation] and the Richard Grasso lawsuit suit." "[The Court of Appeals decision upholding Grasso's pay package] becomes part of the realization that Spitzer was no more than a legal lightweight who bullied and slashed his way through Wall Street using the power of his office," Riker said. Spitzer's personal reputation was already in tatters. Revelations that Spitzer had a years-long addiction to high-priced prostitutes - and that he might be indicted himself...

Mexico, who allows hundred of thousands of its citizens ("immigrants") to illegally cross over into the United States each year, has shown its "compassionate" side. The Mexican government has appealed to the World Court to "take urgent measures" to get the U.S. to stay all executions of Mexicans on Death Row in American jails. Amazingly, President Bush had already agreed with the World Court back in 2004. The court, which resides at the Hague in the Netherlands, ruled that the trials of some 50 Mexicans on Death Row were in violation of the 1963 Vienna Convention. It was then that...

The Air Force Tanker Deal By Thomas Lifson The next generation of Air Force in-flight filling stations is slated to ride on the wings of an airplane designed in France. A consortium of Northrop-Grumman and Airbus beat Boeing for the contract to supply the next generation of Air Force tankers. Critics decry a job loss from outsourcing, fret at dependence on foreign suppliers for the capacity to fuel our strategic global reach, and don't want their tax dollars heading toward Europe. But it is worth at least considering the view that the brass are planning a canny game of strategy, looking...

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This hu·bris /ˈhyubrɪs, ˈhu-/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[hyoo-bris, hoo-] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation–noun excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance. I don't think I remember an example of hubris in the political arena that could possibly exceed this. Even for Hillary, this is a remarkable clip. YOUTUBE - HILLARY'S HUBRIS

The British newspaper, The Guardian, recently ran the following headline, “I am creating artificial life;” a quote from scientist Craig Venter regarding his latest research. Venter is working with over twenty “top scientists” and is trying to incorporate a synthetically made chromosome into the genetic code of a bacterial cell, intending to change the species of the cell and thereby create artificial life. What Venter calls “an important philosophical step in the history of mankind” proves, the immorality of man in his quest to try to be god...

Another anniversary of 9/11 is near. It's been nearly six long years since a catastrophic attack on our shores, and we've understandably turned to infighting and second-guessing - about everything from Guantanamo to wiretaps. But this six-year calm, unfortunately, has allowed some Americans to believe that "our war on terror" remedy is worse than the original Islamic terrorist disease. We see this self-recrimination reflected in our current Hollywood fare, which dwells on the evil of American interventions overseas, largely ignoring the courage of our soldiers or the atrocities committed by jihadists. Our tell-all bestsellers, endless lawsuits and congressional investigations have...

One of the world's most prestigious health journals has lashed a fast-growing trend in the United States and Britain for "designer vaginas," the tabloid term for cosmetic surgery to the female genitalia. The fashion is being driven by commercial and media pressures that exploit women's insecurities and is fraught with unknowns, including a risk to sexual arousal, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) says. Known as elective genitoplasty, the surgery usually entails shortening or changing the shape of the outer lips, or labia, but may also include reduction in the hood of skin covering the clitoris or shortening the vagina itself....

"Imus also foolishly assumed that the parade of liberal politicians and friends who clamored to get on his show might offer him politically correct cover." "Then he met Nemesis, long lying in wait. And the more America learned about the past rantings of this talk-show bully, the more it wondered why such a banal fool ever had an audience in the first place, much less was courted by politicians and celebrities." "At the heart of both the Imus and Duke scandals is arrogance. Overweening conceit inevitably led bigheads like Imus, Nifong, Sharpton, Jackson and many at Duke University to go...

Researchers have discovered that Apple's new operating system, codenamed Leopard, will create 0 new jobs when it is launched early next year. This research (which was not commissioned by Apple) stands in sharp contrast to the findings of an industry report (commissioned by Microsoft) that Vista's release will create 100,000 new jobs in tech support and help desk positions. Commenting on the impact Vista will have, Senior Vice President of Software Engineering at Apple Bertrand Serlet was not surprised: "...underneath it's still Windows. It still has the registry at its core. It still has DLL hell and it still has...

WASHINGTON: Former US President Jimmy Carter has said the Iraq war was one of the "greatest blunders" ever made by a US leader. Carter however, said on CNN he believed the raging sectarian violence wracking the US-occupied country so far fell short of a civil war. "I think that the original invasion of Iraq, and all of its consequences were a blunder," Carter said. "It's going to prove, I believe to be one of the greatest blunders that American presidents have ever made." Asked whether the Iraq war would prove to be a bigger mistake in the annals of US...