If at first you don't succeed...: Obama to renew Muslim outreach

The Wall Street Journal: WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama is preparing a fresh outreach to the Muslim world in coming days, senior U.S. officials say, one that will ask those in the Middle East and beyond to reject Islamic militancy in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death and embrace a new era of relations with the U.S.

Mr. Obama is preparing to deliver that message in a wide-ranging speech, perhaps as early as next week, these officials say. The president intends to argue that bin Laden's death, paired with popular uprisings sweeping North Africa and the Middle East, signal that the time has come to an end when al Qaeda could claim to speak for Muslim aspirations. [MORE]

Here we go again with reaching out to the Muslim world. From day one in office Obama has tried to reach out to the Muslim world. Heck, Obama even turned NASA into a Muslim outreach program, but to date we have yet to see any results. 

Yes, there has been uprising in the Middle East, but no where in those uprising can we definitely point to anything that is leading to a Western style democracy. There is ample evidence that extremists are gaining footholds.

It would be beyond wise for Obama to examine what the payoff has been for his first round of Muslim outreach before he embarks on a new one.

Via: Memeorandum
Via: The Wall Street Journal
Via: Bild.de
Via: Gateway Pundit

Barbarism! Afghans kill 12 at UN compound over Florida Koran burning

The New York Times: MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan — Stirred up by three angry mullahs who urged them to avenge the burning of a Koran at a Florida church, thousands of protesters on Friday overran the compound of the United Nations in this northern Afghan city, killing at least 12 people, Afghan and United Nations officials said.

The dead included at least seven United Nations workers — four Nepalese guards and three Europeans from Romania, Sweden and Norway — according to United Nations officials in New York. One was a woman. Early reports, later denied by Afghan officials, said that at least two of the dead had been beheaded. Five Afghans were also killed. [...]

Unable to find Americans on whom to vent their anger, the mob turned instead on the next-best symbol of Western intrusion — the nearby United Nations headquarters. “Some of our colleagues were just hunted down,” said a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Kieran Dwyer, in confirming the attack. [MORE]

There is only one word to describe this and the word is barbarism! As expected some on the left are blaming that crazy pastor Terry Jones for provoking this.

Absolute nonsense!

Whatever you want to think about the crazy Koran burning pastor, in America he was well within his free speech rights doing what he did. There is no difference between his Koran burning sideshow and some hack artist making feces smeared pictures of the Virgin Mary. Both seek the limelight by shocking and offending.

What is different between Jones and the hack artist are the people they offended. For the hack artist, he only offended a bunch of passive Christians who only fume, fuss and boycott. Terry Jones on the other hand, offended a group that has long ago embraced a culture of death and intolerance, and they act out on both with alarming regularity.

Many in Western civilization want to put on their moral equivalence glasses and see Islam as no better or worse than Christianity or Judaism. This my friends is nothing but wishful thinking taken to the nth degree. Pick up a newspaper on almost any given day and somewhere in the world Muslims are killing each other or someone they disagree with, all in the name of Islam. Even their women and children have embraced a culture of death.

When I think of all the national treasure we spend to give the Afghans a shot at freedom and then read about these killings, I cannot help but feel we have completely wasted efforts. How can true democracy with and passion for individual freedom ever take hold in a place like that? Methinks not.

Via: Memeorandum
Via: The New York Times
Via: Jewish World Review
Via: YouTube
Via: National Geographic

A self-inflicted wound: Herman Cain and Muslim appointees

Last week Herman Cain attended the Conservative Principles Conference in Iowa (see video of his speech here). After the event someone from the lefty site Think Progress asked Cain if he was comfortable appointing Muslims to his cabinet or the Supreme Court. Herman Cain gave a very straight up answer.

Needless to say, a mini firestorm erupted. Herman Cain then went on Neil Cavuto's show and again stood by his words.

I understand where Cain is coming from. Because of Muslim extremists, a certain amount of caution must be used when dealing with Muslims. Failure to do so is both foolish and dangerous. However, given the way Cain has handled the question, it is all too easy for the left to twist his words into something else.  It would have been far better to answer the question in the positive rather than the negative.  For example: Yes, I would appoint a Muslim to my cabinet or the Supreme Court, but only after I was 100% sure they were not a closet extremist trying to push Sharia Law.

As I have stated on this blog several times, distractions are going to highly sought after by Obama and the left in 2012. They have little choice but to look for distractions given Obama's abysmal performance on the economy, jobs and the debt. Any candidate who provides Obama with distractions, will find themselves struggling to stay on message when it comes to those three big issues. Gingrich has destroyed his 2012 chances by setting up several distracting topics for the left. Cain's Muslim answer fits this bill as well.

Herman Cain also has another problem. He is relatively unknown outside conservative circles. Therefore it is crucial that he gets to define himself before the left defines him. Cain's blunt answers to this Muslim question makes it very easy for the left to define him as a bigot. For independents who are just casual followers of politics, the bigot charge can really stick.

Fortunately for Cain it is still early enough to repair this self-inflicted wound. However, Cain must understand that he cannot afford to give the left another opening like that again. If he does, he will make himself a sure loser just like Gingrich did.

Disclosure: I still like Herman Cain and he is still one of the few I am considering for 2012. One of my chief concerns about him is how he acquits himself against a left wing onslaught. How he handles this issue going forward will be quite telling for me.

Via: The Blaze
Via: The Blaze
Via: Just a Conservative Girl