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US to Iran: ‘In Case of Israeli Strike, Please Don’t Fire on Our Bases’

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The United States has no intention of joining in a preemptive Israeli strike on Iran and expects the Islamic Republic to refrain from attacking US targets in the case of such an attack, senior Washington officials told their Iranian counterparts, according to a report in Yedioth Ahronoth on Monday.

In recent days, senior administration officials reportedly sent messages to Iran, through diplomats from two European states, addressing the possibility that Israel would launch a unilateral strike and establishing that the US expects Iran to not draw it into a conflict by firing on American army bases and aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf.

Monday’s report came amid widespread debate over the level of coordination between Israel and the US on halting Iran’s nuclear program, which — despite assurances by US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro on Sunday that the relationship is as good as ever — appeared to be strained.

While Israel has warned that the Iranians are quickly approaching a potential weapons capability and that the use of force must be seriously considered, the US says sanctions and international diplomacy must be given more time to work.

Highlighting the disagreement between the two countries on the use of force were reports of a scaling-down of joint US-Israel missile defense exercises in October, and public comments by the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, who said last Thursday that he did not want to be “complicit” in an Israeli attack on Iran.

Read more from this story HERE.

9 Hilarious Quotes From Clint Eastwood’s ‘Invisible Obama’ RNC Speech

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Even if you’re liberal and you feel like you have to “hate” Clint Eastwood for aligning with the enemy and speaking at the Republican National Convention, you can’t. All that Twitter talk about him sounding crazy and senile last night is ludicrous. That’s just people reacting to the message, not the man. Eastwood was adorable and funny, got his main points across simply but with that endearing edge, like your dad might have if you were debating politics with him. And talk to me when YOU are 82 years old and aren’t slurring at least a few words here and there, K? The “invisible Obama” set-up was a little awkward, granted. But the man pulled it off. The audience laughed and cheered. I laughed and cheered … at these in particular:

[Explaining that there ARE Republicans in Hollywood] “Conservative people by nature of the definition play it a little closer to the vest, they don’t go around hot-dogging it. But they are there.”

“I remember 3-and-a-half years ago, when Mr. Obama won the election, and though I wasn’t a supporter I was watching that thing. And there were talking about ‘hope and change’ and ‘yes we can’ … I thought it was great. Everyone’s crying. Oprah’s crying. Even I was crying. I haven’t cried so hard since I found out there are 23 million unemployed people in this country. That is a national disgrace.”

[Talking to Invisible Obama, who is “sitting” in an empty chair next to the mic] “What do you want me to tell Romney? I can’t tell him to do that. He can’t do that to himself. Your’re absolutely crazy. You’re getting as bad as Biden. Course, we all know Biden is the intellect of the Democratic party. Kind of a grin with a body behind it.”

“I never thought it was a good idea for attorneys to be President anyway. They are always taught to argue everything … and they are devil’s advocating this and bifurcating this and bifurcating that. It’s maybe time for a businessman. How about that? A stellar businessman.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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.

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.

Video: Obamanation, the Painting

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This video-documentary describes the extraordinary painting by American artist Jon McNaughton detailing the harm that Obama has done to our nation. Please read McNaughton’s statement before viewing the YouTube below:

I chose to use an undisclosed studio so I could paint privately, without interruption, to focus on the task of embedding in a single painting all the subtle, mindless, radical and dangerous atrocities of the Obama administration.

I am just one person, a citizen of this country using my first amendment rights to speak out through my art. This is my declaration that we have never had a president do more to harm our country than Barack Obama.

To those who scoff or wish to trivialize this painting, I challenge you… I DARE YOU… study the links of the various symbols and metaphors that you see. There are over 60 in the painting. No person can analyze this image and learn about these facts and still, in good conscience, vote for Obama in 2012.

I do not hate Obama, but I hate the fact that I had to paint this picture. Has the painting gone too far? I knew when I did this that most Obama supporters would reject what I have done. But as a Conservative, I’m fed up with the corruption in Washington. And I’m sick of the political correctness that has derailed our country!

Video: Clint Eastwood makes Mitt’s Day

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Politico called it “unscripted,” a “disaster,” “sad,” and “crazy,” the Washington Post, “rambling.”

But that was not the assessment of the GOP faithful at the Tampa Convention:

Click HERE for a transcript of the speech.

GOP Tampa Convention: Huckabee hits it out of the park (+video)

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Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

I was so very honored to be asked to address one of this week’s themes, “We Can Do Better.” Then I was backstage and I heard some folks say that after hearing me speak, the delegates are going to say, “We sure can do better than Huckabee.” And that’s when they will unanimously nominate Mitt Romney to be the next president of the United States of America.

I want to say that Tampa has been a wonderful and hospitable city. And I’m grateful for all that they’ve done for us. But the only hitch in an otherwise perfect week, was the awful noise coming from the hotel room next door to mine. Turns out it was just Debbie Wasserman Schultz, practicing her speech for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte next week. Bless her heart.

Four years ago, Mitt Romney and I were opponents. We still are, but we’re not opposing each other. No, we are mutual opponents of the miserably failed experiments that have put this country in a downward spiral. The United States of America was originally an experiment. But it was an experiment in recognizing God-given individual liberty and creating a government in which we no one is deemed better than another. And in which all of us are equal. Not equal in abilities, but equal in intrinsic worth and value. It is the essence, not just of who we are, but what we are. Now let me just say to those who question how once rivals can be now united, it’s quite simple, we have Barack Obama to thank.

It was Barack Obama who said, “You didn’t build it.” Translation, “It doesn’t belong to you.” Well no small differences among us in our party approximate the vast differences between the liberty limiting, radical left wing, anti-business, reckless spending, tax hiking party of Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, versus an energized America who knows we can do better.

For four years, we’ve given a chance to a man with very limited experience in governing, no experience in business whatsoever and since taking office, mostly interested in campaigning, blaming and aiming excuses at his predecessor, the Republicans and people in business. Or as Republicans like to call them, “employers.” We’ve stagnated into an economy that has taken all that hope right down the slope and has left millions without jobs.

Forced out of their homes by foreclosure. Herded into dependency upon a government that promises us candy, but gives us cavities. Barack Obama seems intent on enrolling more people on food-stamps. Mitt Romney’s focus is going to be on generating more jobs that will make food-stamps unnecessary for them. We know full well, we can do better.

Read more from this story and see the video HERE.

Actor R. Lee Ermey, the drill-sergeant-therapist, claims Geico fired him for criticizing Obama (+video)

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By FoxNews.com. “Full Metal Jacket” star and Geico’s “Therapist Sarge” R. Lee Ermey said the insurance giant fired him from his commercial spot for speaking out against President Barack Obama, according to a report from TMZ.

Ermey played a former drill sergeant in the commercial, where he called a weeping man a “jackwagon” before throwing a box of tissues at the man in a hilarious and popular commercial for Geico.

But in 2010, Ermey slammed the president’s policies, saying his administration was attempting to “impose socialism” on the American people and, in the process, was “destroying the country,” TMZ reports. Read more from this story HERE.

Here’s the original GEICO video with R. Lee Ermey: