Monday was the fourth day of straight overcast and/or rain and/or snow in Washington, D.C. Even so, thousands of anti-abortion activists flooded the National Mall to protest the anniversary of the decision of Roe v. Wade . Campus Reform put together a video of the younger participants expressing their thoughts on the issue. Watch:
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VIDEO: students talk abortion at annual March for Life in Washington
Here’s yesterday’s interview with Mayor Bloomberg, whose decision to exclude clergy from official events is stirring controversy: And from Matthew Franck & William Simon, Jr., at National Review : This Sunday is the tenth anniversary of the al-Qaeda attacks on our country that left nearly 3,000 dead, the great majority of them in the ashes and rubble of the World Trade Center in New York City. As Americans pause on September 11 in mournful remembrance of that dreadful day, many of them will mark the moment with a prayer for the dead, for the loved ones from whom they were taken, and for their country. And such praying would be a normal part of any such commemoration even if the anniversary were not on a Sunday. It’s just what countless Americans do. But there won’t be any praying at the City of New York’s official anniversary ceremonies this Sunday. At least, there won’t be any voiced at the microphones by invited speakers. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has decided to invite no clergy to be speakers at the event. It turns out that this omission of clergy participants has been a normal pattern of annual commemorations of 9/11. But on this tenth anniversary, the decision has finally been noticed, and it has become hugely controversial. According to the Wall Street Journal, the mayor said this week on his radio show, “It’s a civil ceremony. There are plenty of opportunities for people to have their religious ceremonies. . . . Some people don’t want to go to a religious ceremony with another religion. And the number of different religions in this city are [sic] really quite amazing.” He went on to deny the explanation that his own aides had been using to defend his decision — that it would just be “too difficult” to choose among so many faiths for the limited number of clergy who could be invited to speak. No, the mayor said, “It isn’t that you can’t pick and choose, you shouldn’t pick and choose. . . . If you want to have a service for your religion, you can have it in your church or in a field, or whatever.” I understand, and I only fault Bloomberg to the extent that he personifies this country’s banishment of religion from the public square. Folks no doubt would be able to grieve, commemorate and pray at an inter-denominational event. The logistics could have been worked out. Most of all, the day calls for spirituality. It’s too bad we’ve come to this. Continue reading, ” Mayor Bloomberg and the Soul of American Politics .”
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Mayor Bloomberg and the Soul of American Politics
Let’s see: he’s planning on giving a non-primetime speech to a joint session of Congress regarding jobs creation next week, one which has already been reduced to being an idea to release a notion of a plan over the next few months (in between campaign fundraisers). We have the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 coming
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Obama Uses Weekly Address To Discuss…..Transportation
At Long Island Press , ” D-Day Marks its 67th Anniversary .” And Weasel Zippers , ” Today Is The 67th Anniversary of D-Day… ” On Memorial Day I was trolling around for videos and ended up watching some long clips from “Saving Private Ryan” on YouTube. After a few minutes I checked over at my Facebook page and Marooned in Marin had linked the video. Anyway, here’s the first few minutes. It’s still my favorite movie:
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67th Anniversary of D-Day
Big news from the Middle East. At Haaretz , ” Dress rehearsal: The Palestinians are gearing up for more protests in the wake of their Nakba Day successes .” June is shaping up to be one big dress rehearsal for the tsunami in September. On Sunday, Palestinians will mark the anniversary of the 1967 Six-Day War with processions and demonstrations in the territories and along Israel’s borders. Toward the end of the month, a new flotilla to Gaza is planned, with the declared aim of breaching the blockade – which in practice has long since been lifted. In the meantime, the Palestinians will continue pressing their initiative for a unilateral declaration of a state come September. From the Golan Heights to the West Bank, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman’s suggestion to the Palestinians will continue to resonate: to march en masse to Jerusalem. The idea is to create a popular, nonviolent demonstration along the lines of Tahrir Square, which would leave Israel unable to mount an effective response. More details, and then: Without ignoring the plans for Naksa Day, the country’s leaders are now primarily concerned with blocking the Gaza flotilla, which is scheduled to depart on June 20. Currently, the plan is to have 15 boats carry about 1,500 Islamic and European left-wing activists who are seeking a bloody clash with the IDF. So far, only four boats have been recruited. Gantz promised the MKs that the IDF would block all attempts to breach the maritime blockade of Gaza, and added the self-evident: that the flotilla is a provocation, not an actual attempt to assist Gaza’s residents. Maj. Gen. (res. ) Giora Eiland, who headed the internal IDF inquiry into last year’s flotilla episode, offered an interesting hypothetical proposition this week. If it were possible to get the Turkish government (as opposed to the organizers, who are from the extremist Islamic organization IHH ) to promise to examine the boats in advance, and ensure that they are not carrying weapons, he said, then Israel should consider letting the vessels into Gaza. Yeah. Weapons. See Ynet , ” IDF has photos of armed flotilla activists ” (via Memeorandum ) Also at Israel Matzav, ” IDF has photos of armed Mavi Marmara terrorists… but won’t release them?!? ” RELATED : At CSM , ” Israel’s navy trains for second major Gaza flotilla .”
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Palestinians Ready Major Action Against Israel
See Kathy Shaidle, ” Leftists strangely silent about Peter Fonda’s death threat against Obama .” Well, actually Joe Gandelman sees an opening to slam the “fringe” right-wing: ” Further Proof that Not All Nuts are in Stores or on the Right .” Full story at Telegraph UK , ” Cannes 2011: Peter Fonda encourages his grandchildren to take up arms against President Barack Obama ” (via Memeorandum ). Says Fonda: “I’m training my grandchildren to use long-range rifles,” with Barack Obama in mind. Well, at 1:30 minutes, Fonda (Wyatt) gets trained from a short-range scattergun: BONUS : An amazing flashback. Exactly two years ago, I attended a 40th anniversary screening. Hey, great flick, ” ‘Easy Rider’ in 40th Anniversary Screening at L.A.’s Nuart Theatre .”
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‘The Best Part of Easy Rider is the Last 20 Seconds’
The Astute Blogger’s been doing some heavy reporting, for example, ” TRUCK JIHADIST MURDERS ONE IN TEL AVIV .” Also, at Atlas Shrugs, ” ISRAEL UNDER ATTACK: SYRIAN INVASION, LEBANON AND GAZA TOO, TRUCK ATTACK IN TEL AVIV, MUSLIM VIOLENCE ERUPTS IN ISRAEL .” And Ynet,” Deadly clashes on Israel’s borders with Syria, Lebanon ” (via Memeorandum ). Background at Time , ” A Third Intifadeh? Deadly Nakba Protests Spark Fears of Israel-Lebanon Border Escalation .” Also, at Christian Science Monitor , ” Palestinian refugees call for third intifada during deadly clashes at Israel-Lebanon border ,” and ” ‘Nakba’ clashes: Iran, Syria trying to turn Arab Spring fury into attacks on Israel? “: Israeli officials have warned in recent weeks that “radical” Islamist groups and Iran are trying to leverage the unrest in the Middle East to expand their influence and pull Israel into the conflict. Now, the unprecedented breadth of Sunday’s border protests, which marked the anniversary of Israel’s independence in 1948 – known to Palestinians as the “nakba’’ or “catastrophe” – are likely to strengthen Israel’s anxiety that the so-called Arab Spring will destabilize its neighborhood. And that will make the Jewish state less likely offer concessions for peace, security and political analysts say. “For decades, the Arab leaders used Israel as an alternative focus. In my view, this is a return to the era of trying to divert internal dissent into attacks against Israel,” says Gerald Steinberg, a professor of political science at Bar Ilan University. “It is possible that if Egypt and Syria were replaced by more open, pluralist regimes, they would be more focused on dealing with the internal issues, and less capable of diverting the population to targeting Israel, but this is still a long way off.’’ ***** Israeli analysts speculated the incident occurred with the blessing of the Syrian government, but was actually a sign of the weakness of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, which has maintained a quiet border for decades. On Sunday, the chief spokesman of Israel’s military, Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, argued that the border protests in Lebanon and Syria bore the “fingerprints of Iranian provocation.” Plus, at New York Times , ” Israel Clashes With Protesters on Four Borders .” RELATED : At Jerusalem Post, ” Abbas: Those killed in Nakba Day clashes are martyrs ,” and ” Syria condemns Israel’s ‘criminal acts’ against protesters .” Naturally …
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Nakba Violence Erupts in Middle East — Analysts: Iran, Syria Leveraging Arab Spring to Destroy Israel (VIDEO)
AFP – US President Barack Obama marked Saturday the anniversary of the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, calling for a “full” acknowledgment of the killings hotly contested by Ankara.
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Obama shuns ‘genocide’ label for Armenian killings
(AFP)
You can’t make this stuff up. Barack Hussein was planning to tour some Mayan ruins? No doubt that’ll play well across the shores of Tripoli, to say nothing of the American midwest. At New York Times , ” Obama to Head Home a Bit Early “: For Mr. Obama, who was traveling with his wife, daughters, mother-in-law and a family friend, Wednesday was to be mainly a day of sight-seeing — to Mayan ruins and to the cathedral where Archbishop Oscar Romero is buried, on the anniversary of his assassination during the nation’s civil war of the early 1980s. And at USA Today , ” Global crises overshadow Obama’s 2011 agenda “: President Obama returns to the White House today after a six-day trip to Latin America that was intended to focus on jobs, trade and the economy — but the world just wouldn’t cooperate. A partial nuclear meltdown in Japan, a U.S. military operation in Libya, a looming budget showdown in Washington and more have overwhelmed Obama’s agenda, raised risks for the nation’s fragile economic recovery and opened him to criticism from not only the emerging Republican presidential field but also some congressional Democrats. Welcome home, Mr. President.
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Obama Cuts Short Latin American Sight-Seeing Tour
