Stand Up Notes From Flyover Country: Dithering on Afghanistan

The situation in Afghanistan is like a poker game. There are only three options for action: raise, call or fold.  The President seems to be unable to pick one that doesn’t have Americans on both sides of the debate pulling out their hair.

During his campaign for the White House President Obama said, “We have seen Afghanistan worsen, deteriorate. We need more troops there. We need more resources there… I would send two to three additional brigades to Afghanistan.”

He promised to send another ten to fifteen thousand troops to help those already there. He also declared that the war in Afghanistan was the proper front in the war against terror. Now that he is Commander-in-Chief, his vision seems to be less clear.

The military commanders gave the President four troop deployment options earlier this week but he refused all four. Not for military reasons but because of some hooey about the corruption of the government in Kabul and their inability to run a fair election. Mr. President, if our support for governments was based on whether they are corrupt or not and could run a fair election, we would have pulled federal funding from Chicago years ago. The problem with pulling out of Afghanistan, or Chicago for that matter, is that they would fall into violent anarchy. We have already seen that happen in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. (more…)

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Tags: ACORN, Afghanistan, Al Queda, chicago, iran
Posted Nov 18th 2009 at 4:44 pm in Military, News, Politics | 26249055 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjena/2009/11/18/get-in-the-game-mr-president/Stand+Up+Notes+From+Flyover+Country%3A+Dithering+on+Afghanistan2009-11-19+00%3A44%3A47Jeffrey+Jena

So, Now You Tell Us?!

I have always been fascinated and frustrated by the phenomenon in our public dialogue that when we get new information after a “debate” is deemed to be over, that the original dispute is never “reopened.”

For instance, when Barack Obama threw Rev. Jeremiah Wright “under the bus” a month after he was praised lustily by the media for not having done so in his famous “race” speech, the history of that event was never rewritten. Similarly, the dramatic positive impact of the surge in Iraq never came close to altering the media’s premature conclusion that the war there was a “disaster,” and the most recent data on the global temperature drop has done next to nothing to change the notion that the debate of global warming is “over.”

In the past week we have seen two classic examples of this quirk in the unwritten rules of media history.

The Obama/Oprah led flameout for Chicago’s hopes to host the 2016 Olympics certainly fits in this category. Much has already been said about the disastrous nature of this development from the economic and political perspectives. However, not nearly enough has been stated about how this event seems to prove that one of the basic foundations of the argument for Obama’s election was a complete lie.   (more…)

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Tags: Barack Obama, chicago, David Letterman, Jeremiah Wright, Megyn Fox
Posted Oct 7th 2009 at 6:44 am in Entertainment, Politics | 241538141 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jziegler/2009/10/07/so-now-you-tell-us/So%2C+Now+You+Tell+Us%3F%212009-10-07+13%3A44%3A58John+Ziegler

‘NewsBusted’ 10/06/09 — Comedy News from the Right

(more…)

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Tags: 2016 Olympics, chicago, Dan rather, David Letterman, Dow Jones
Posted Oct 6th 2009 at 6:35 pm in Media Criticism, Political Humor, Video | 2414862 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/newsbusters/2009/10/06/newsbusted-comedy-news-from-the-right-2/%E2%80%98NewsBusted%E2%80%99+10%2F06%2F09+%E2%80%94+Comedy+News+from+the+Right2009-10-07+01%3A35%3A50NewsBusters

Daily Gut: An Olympic Fail

So while chuckleheads like Jesse Jackson and Senator Roland Burris hilariously blame George Bush for Chicago losing the 2016 Olympics, whiny columnists like Mike Lupica are up in arms that conservatives might be gloating over President Obama’s big screw-up. Apparently laughing at all this is somehow anti-American, because Obama is our President, and he was doing this for all of us.

You know… kind of like when Bush was trying win a war in Iraq – and all those left wingers stood behind him.

And that’s my first point: The right has every right to gloat over Obama’s humiliation, because, thankfully, NO ONE DIED. Unlike, say during the Iraq war, where, whenever there was a roadside bombing, the progressives did their own special victory dance – using the consequences of war to gloat over an embattled president and an unpopular country. I didn’t hear much of the smarmy press calling them out. (more…)

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Tags: 2016 Olympics, chicago, Cuba, george bush, iran
Posted Oct 5th 2009 at 2:38 pm in Daily Gut, News, Politics | 241042114 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2009/10/05/daily-gut-an-olympic-fail/Daily+Gut%3A+An+Olympic+Fail2009-10-05+21%3A38%3A34Greg+Gutfeld

Daily Gut: Obama’s School Plan

Now if you’re like me, you know children are evil. They’re thieving, selfish creatures whose primary agenda includes spreading germs and smearing mucous on your belongings. So naturally you’d think I`d be in favor of President Obama`s plan for longer school days and shorter summer vacations. After all, that means less brats on the streets, defacing my tree fort made from discarded copies of Oui.

But on the contrary – I think Obama is off base, for three reasons:

First: When it comes to education, more doesn’t mean better. When something blows – ordering more of it doesn`t solve the problem. Fact is, we don`t need more school, we need better schools. Sadly, teachers unions have created a lock on jobs for even the most moronically incompetent – and the only way for a teacher to lose a job these days is if she gives one to a student. Worse – for a lot of kids, sending them back for three more hours of daily schooling in places like Chicago or Baltimore is like an academic version of stop-loss. They learn more about running for their lives than reading for enjoyment. (more…)

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Tags: Baltimore, chicago, kids, Obama, schools
Posted Sep 29th 2009 at 1:24 pm in Daily Gut | 237382151 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2009/09/29/daily-gut-obamas-school-plan/Daily+Gut%3A+Obama%27s+School+Plan2009-09-29+20%3A24%3A38Greg+Gutfeld

Daily Gut: Frommer = Tool

So the king of the travel guide racket, Arthur Frommer, has come out against Arizona. Yes, he claims he’ll no longer visit the state because it permit “thugs” to openly carry guns. He revealed this on his blog, after witnessing a protester carrying a rifle outside a building where the President was speaking.

Frommer says he’ll consider whether “tourists should safeguard themselves” by avoiding the crime-ridden hellhole that is the Grand Canyon. After I read about this, I decided to do a search to see if Frommer ever made similar pronouncements about other cities or states. I wondered if he had ever told people to avoid Washington DC, where, according to a US Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2004 report – that place topped the entire country in crime. (more…)

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Tags: Arizona, Arthur Frommer, chicago, crime, Detroit
Posted Aug 24th 2009 at 2:09 pm in Daily Gut, News, Politics | 210526113 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2009/08/24/daily-gut-frommer-tool/Daily+Gut%3A+Frommer+%3D+Tool2009-08-24+21%3A09%3A20Greg+Gutfeld

The Frank Capra of Gen X Has Died

Iconic filmmaker John Hughes is dead of a heart attack at 59.

Anyone who came of age in the 80s and early 90s can’t help but remember the John Hughes era thanks to the many, many hours of warm, hilarious and unforgettable memories that sprung from the great man’s Midwestern mind.

John Hughes: 1950-2009

As producer, writer and director, Hughes created timeless stories that teenagers and parents alike will continue to discover a hundred years from now. Rich in universal theme, populated with lovable, relatable outcasts, and told by a creative genius who understood us and never talked down to us, John Hughes enjoyed nearly two decades of Hollywood success before retiring to private life in Chicago sometime in the 90s.

Long before today, we were missing John Hughes. (more…)

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Tags: Andrew Breitbart, chicago, Christmas Vacation, Deat at 59. Some Kind of Wonderful, John Hughes
Posted Aug 6th 2009 at 3:35 pm in Classic Hollywood, Featured Story, News | 20131874 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/08/06/john-hughes-has-died/The+Frank+Capra+of+Gen+X+Has+Died2009-08-06+22%3A35%3A37Big+Hollywood

Pardon the Obama Media Hypocrisy!

When writing my book Censorship: The Threat To Silence Talk Radio, I included one of the Obama campaign’s most hypocritical moments.  After reading this, you’ll have no question why the “Teleprompter of the United States” needs one.  John McCain was no challenge in the debates but Obama avoided this confrontation. An excerpt from my book which Simon & Schuster will publish May 5th:

In late August, 2008, Obama supporters unleashed their venom on Chicago’s WGN radio for allowing a critic of Barack to come on the air.  The station had scheduled an interview with Stanley Kurtz, author of an article that linked Obama to 60’s radical William Ayers.  (Ayers – now a professor in the College of Education at University of Illinois – was co-founder of a radical left-wing organization called the Weather Underground that was responsible for bombings of public buildings in the 60’s and 70’s, resulting in injuries to and deaths of several people.)  (more…)

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Tags: ayers, Bob Shomper, Censorship: The Threat to Silence Talk Radio, chicago, Howard Kurtz
Posted Mar 24th 2009 at 11:33 am in Media Criticism, Politics | 8775422 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bjennings/2009/03/24/pardon-the-obama-media-hypocrisy/Pardon+the+Obama+Media+Hypocrisy%212009-03-24+18%3A33%3A42Brian+Jennings

Lion Meat: Coulter vs. Maher

It was a crisp night in Chicago as I ventured down to the Chicago Theater, the Grand Dame of State Street, to catch the final performance of the Bill Maher - Ann Coulter Debate. The ninety year-old movie house dates to a time when they were rightfully called “palaces” because it’s like watching a show inside a giant Faberge Egg. This was the third debate of the series, the other two were held in New York and Boston.

The debate was sold out and people were still trying to buy extra tickets outside the theater. Also out in force were the 9/11: Inside Job protesters, the bane of Bill Maher. I snickered to myself. You would think most people there to be either a Maher or Coulter fan; I forget there are those who can’t stand both of them.  (more…)

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Tags: ann coulter, Bill Maher, chicago, Mark Halperin, Obama
Posted Mar 12th 2009 at 7:48 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, News | 78134115 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tslagle/2009/03/12/lion-meat/Lion+Meat%3A+Coulter+vs.+Maher2009-03-12+14%3A48%3A49Tim+Slagle

Sunday Matinee: Oscar Special… “The Sound of Music”

This week’s Sunday Matinee is dedicated to Hollywood.

Because it’s Oscar Sunday and the whole world is focused on the Kodak Theatre and the red carpet parade about to happen, it seems fitting that Broadway throws Hollywood a bone today.  Also, considering every other Broadway show these days seems to be a staged version of a popular movie, (”Shrek”, “Wedding Singer”… Really?) it seems appropriate to shine a little light on a Broadway Musical that has been adapted to film.  (more…)

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Tags: Andy Griffith, anne bancroft, broadway, Carol Burnett, chicago
Posted Feb 22nd 2009 at 11:40 am in Entertainment | 5707016 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/02/22/sunday-matinee-oscar-special-the-sound-of-music/Sunday+Matinee%3A++Oscar+Special...+%22The+Sound+of+Music%222009-02-22+19%3A40%3A56Stage+Right