Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood President Makes First Visit by an Egyptian Leader to Iran in Decades

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Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi arrived in Tehran on Thursday in the first visit by an Egyptian leader to Iran in decades.

The Egyptian president was attending a summit of the Nonaligned Movement, and is supposed to transfer leadership of the 120-nation bloc to Tehran.

Iran’s state TV in a live broadcast showed Morsi being received by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the summit conference hall in Tehran.

Tehran cut diplomatic relations in 1979 because of Egypt’s peace accord with Israel. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran has considered Israel as its arch foe.

Iran’s leadership welcomed the 2011 uprising in Egypt that ultimately brought Morsi, an Islamist, to the presidency.

Read more from this story HERE.

Global Food Prices Soaring, Result of Crop Failures in US, Russia, ethanol

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Photo credit: CraneStation

Global food prices have leapt by 10% in the month of July, raising fears of soaring prices for the planet’s poorest, the World Bank has warned.

The bank said that a US heatwave and drought in parts of Eastern Europe were partly to blame for the rising costs.

The price of key grains such as corn, wheat and soybean saw the most dramatic increases, described by the World Bank president as “historic”.

The bank warned countries importing grains will be particularly vulnerable.

From June to July this year, corn and wheat prices each rose by 25% while soybean prices increased by 17%, the World Bank said. Only rice prices decreased – by 4%.

In the United States, the most severe, widespread drought in half a century has wreaked havoc on the corn and soybean crops while in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, wheat crops have been badly damaged.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Rules Forced Through By Boehner in Tampa Would Prevent a Reagan Presidency Today

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The game play at the GOP Convention in Tampa has far-reaching implications for the future. Watch this news report on the little-known impacts of yesterday’s sham vote:

The words “Tea Party” banned from GOP Convention?

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Tuesday’s theme at the Republican National Convention was “We Built It,” but the night’s speakers did not reference or mention the Tea Party movement that built the current Republican majority in the House during the 2010 midterm elections and infused a party that seemed all but moribund after the 2008 elections and the latter part of George W. Bush’s presidency with enthusiasm, life, confidence, money, manpower, purpose, and a little swagger.

On Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who, like his father, Ron, is one of the most prominent symbols of the Tea Party movement that revolted in part against the spending habits of Republicans and Democrats during the last decade, addressed the RNC.

But even Paul did not explicitly mention or make note, by name, of the Tea Party movement.

This has left many Tea Partiers to wonder if the Romney campaign and the RNC are deliberately trying to disassociate the Republican and Romney brands on the national stage from the Tea Party brand that has given them momentum against Obama. Tea Party members were also perturbed, to say the least, that the RNC passed rules concerning delegate selection and convention rules that stripped power away from the grassroots on Tuesday.
“Their words and their actions speak for themselves,” Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the influential Tea Party Patriots wrote. “The term ‘tea party’ appears to have been banned from the convention.”

The strategy is risky for Romney and Republicans . . .

Read more from this story HERE.

Romney working toward a landslide?

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Photo Credit: davelawrence8 Creative Commons

At time of writing, polls show the race for the presidency to be tight. General consensus seems to be that whoever wins, the 2012 election will be won by a bat squeak.

Yet to many, especially those of us on the right, it seems peculiar that Obama is still remotely in the race. With high unemployment, minimal GDP growth, a 100% increase in food stamp costs, and out-of-control spending, many conservatives are asking how just under half of the American population can possibly want more of the same.

While it is not possible now to get into the many reasons certain people will vote Democrat in November, I propose that all polls, not just left-leaning polls, may be being strongly misled by their data, and Romney/Ryan may actually have a huge lead not seen in polls.

It is my contention that this is due to a mix of the infamous Bradley effect and what is known in Britain as “the Shy Tory Factor,” with both coming together to exaggerate just how popular Obama is in America.

The Bradley effect is a much-debated polling distortion that is easy to demonstrate but difficult to prove. The idea that when a black or minority candidate is on the ticket against a white candidate, certain voters may lie under pressure from a pollster, worried about being seen as a racist for choosing the white candidate over the minority, sounds highly plausible. The consequence, should the Bradley effect be in play, would be a skewed poll indicating that the minority candidate is in better political shape than his or her opponent.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Teleprompter Reveals that the Tampa Vote on Controversial Rules Change was Fixed?

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A GOP delegate took video of the convention teleprompter suggesting that the GOP hierarchy, even prior to hearing the “Aye’s” and “No’s”, had already decided the outcome of the vote on the controversial rules change.

Here’s a transcript of the rolling teleprompter, seen before the speaker spoke the words and before the vote was cast:

All those in favor signify by saying “aye.”

All those opposed say “No.”

In the opinion of the chair, the “ayes” have it and the resolution is adopted.

Click HERE for an excellent local Fox New’s Report on the vote.

Political Correctness Running Amok: State Department Says “Holding Down the Fort” is Racist

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John M. Robinson, the Chief Diversity Officer at the U.S. Department of State, wants America’s diplomats to know that common phrases and idioms like “holding down the fort” are, in fact, deeply racist.

Robinson, who also serves as director of the Department’s Office of Civil Rights, used his “Diversity Notes” feature in the July/August issue of the official “State Magazine” to examine the hateful roots of everyday sayings. In one recent public relations kerfuffle at Nike, Inc., he wrote, the company torpedoed a sneaker called the “Black and Tan.”

“What a wonderful celebratory gesture and appreciation for Irish culture. Not!” wrote Robinson, an adult.

Robinson notes that “Black and Tan,” in addition to being an enjoyably robust alcoholic concoction, can refer to the brutal Protestant militiamen who ravaged the Irish countryside in the early 20th century — which is why Irish bartenders always get so upset when you order one.

In an effort to avoid offending those notoriously fragile Irish sensibilities, Nike pulled the shoe from stores.

Read more from this story HERE.

The “Supreme Leader of Iran” Praises US Occupy Movement

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Photo credit: indigoprime

The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – the “supreme leader” of Iran – praised America’s “Occupy Wall Street” movement on Thursday, calling it a reflection of people around the world who are “losing their patience” with the dominance of the United States and Israel in the international community.

“Everybody has become tired of this faulty international structure,” Khamenei said in his inaugural address to the Non-Aligned Summit, a gathering of 120 nations now taking place in Tehran.

“The 99-percent movement of the American people against the centers of wealth and power in America and the widespread protests of the people in Western Europe against the economic policies of their governments show that the people are losing their patience with this situation,” Iran’s Fars news agency quoted him as saying.

(The Occupy movement, born in lower Manhattan one year ago, claims to speak for the “99 percent that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1 percent. During the fall of 2011, the Occupy movement was charged with antisemitism after several videos showed protesters denouncing Jews.)

“It is necessary to remedy this irrational situation,” Khamenei said, adding that “firm” bonds between NAM member states “can play an important role” in minimizing U.S.-Israeli influence.

Read more from this story HERE.

Clint Eastwood makes Mitt’s Day (+video)

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Transcript of Clint Eastwood’s speech to GOP Convention in Tampa:

I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, what’s a movie tradesman doing out here? You know they are all left wingers out there, left of Lenin. At least that is what people think. 

That is not really the case. There are a lot of conservative people, a lot of moderate people, Republicans, Democrats, in Hollywood. It is just that the conservative people by the nature of the word itself play closer to the vest. They do not go around hot dogging it.

But they are there, believe me, they are there. I just think, in fact, some of them around town, I saw Jon Voight, a lot of people around.

Jon’s here, an academy award winner. A terrific guy. These people are all like-minded, like all of us.

So I’ve got Mr. Obama sitting here. I was going to ask him a couple of questions.  I remember three and a half years ago, when Mr. Obama won the election. And though I was not a big supporter, I was watching that night when he was having that thing and they were talking about hope and change and they were talking about, yes we can, and it was dark outdoors, and it was nice, and people were lighting candles.

They were saying, I just thought, this was great. Everybody is trying, Oprah was crying.

I was even crying. And then finally — and I haven’t cried that hard since I found out that there is 23 million unemployed people in this country.

Now that is something to cry for because that is a disgrace, a national disgrace, and we haven’t done enough, obviously. This administration hasn’t done enough to cure that. Whenever interest they have is not strong enough, and I think possibly now it may be time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem.

So, Mr. President, how do you handle promises that you have made when you were running for election, and how do you handle them?

I mean, what do you say to people? Do you just – you know – I know, people were wondering, you don’t handle that OK. Well, I know even people in your own party were very disappointed when you didn’t close Gitmo. And I thought, well closing Gitmo, why close that, we spent so much money on it? But, I thought maybe as an excuse.

What do you mean shut up?

Read more and see the video HERE.

Fed’s Driving Youth Unemployment to Record Levels while GDP Stagnates

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Photo credit: clementine gallot

Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor released its Employment and Unemployment Among Youth—Summer 2012 report. While many youths (ages 16-24) found a summer job this year, many did not even try. Fully 39.5 percent of the youth population neither worked nor looked for work this summer. This number has trended upward over time—it is almost double the rate (22.5 percent) from July 1989.

Of those who looked for work, many could not find it. The youth unemployment rate in July 2012 was 17.1 percent. By comparison, it was only 12.4 percent in July 2000 and 10.8 percent in July 2007. For men, blacks, and Hispanics, the youth unemployment rates in July 2012 were worse—at 17.9 percent, 28.6 percent, and 18.5 percent respectively.

Why are fewer youth participating in the labor force, and even fewer working? In part, because a bad economy always hits younger workers harder. The central problem with the labor market right now is a dramatic slowdown in job creation. While job losses rose at the start of the recession, they have since returned to pre-recession levels.

Hiring, meanwhile, has not recovered. Unemployment remains high because employers are creating fewer new jobs. This makes it much harder for those without jobs—like the youth—to find them. It also allows employers to become more selective in the people they do hire. That often means hiring older and more experienced workers.

Government policies have made this difficult labor market even worse for younger Americans. In 2007, Congress voted to raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. Half of minimum wage earners are between the ages of 16 and 24. Raising the minimum wage, in addition to employer paid Social Security, workers compensation, and unemployment insurance prices many young workers out of the job market. An inexperienced high school student may not produce enough to be paid $7.25 per hour plus Social Security, workers comp, and unemployment insurance. As a result, since an employer is not allowed to pay her less by law, she is not hired and misses out on the job experience she needs to get a higher paying job: two-thirds of minimum wage workers earn a raise within a year.

Read more from this story HERE.

Click HERE for article regarding GDP’s 1.7% growth.