Glenn Beck Rally Was Interesting to Watch, But the Debate Over How Many People Were at the Rally is Just as Interesting

Fox News commentator Glenn Beck held his rally over the weekend at the Lincoln Memorial; an interesting conflict has broken out in between media outlets as to how many actually attended.

CBS News reported 87,000 people in attendance, with a margin of error of +/- 9,000.

MSNBC reported 500,000 people. The New York Times reported in the neighborhood of 300,000 people. NBC News’s Domenico Montanaro tweeted that he thought the number was around 325,000 people, based on what someone at the National Park Service told him.

Liberal bloggers reported 30,000. They must have been drunk or stoned.

Here’s something else that’s curious. I found this link to the rally, and an event marshal turning people away from the event, saying that the park was at capacity at the 2:00 mark of the video. The capacity of the National Mall is 2.1 million people. What gives?

Two possibilities (out of many): Beck reserved the park for 300,000 people, and the NPS decided to not allow any more to enter as they were at the 300,000 person mark. Or there were 2.1 million people there. I’m more inclined to believe the former. Even Beck said that there weren’t a million people there.

There is a possibility that the Beck rally outdrew the MLK rally of 47 years ago, which liberals are angrily in the process of denying. They’re still in a state of shock.

I don’t have a dog in this particular fight, but I’m really enjoying the bantering going on.

There’s nothing like a liberal belief being shaken to its core by an upstart conservative, especially a lunatic like Beck. The liberals can’t grapple with him; they come up short, even when Beck makes outlandish statements and is forced into minor retreats, like his statement that Obama is a racist, which he did pull back from.

And if liberals are wondering where in the world Beck came from, remember this: he worked for CNN first. Can you imagine what would have happened if he was still working for CNN and managed to pull this off? They’d be having hissy fits and calling for his head.

This is GREAT stuff!

UK and France to Share Their Navy Aircraft Carriers: This Will Never Work

The United Kingdom and France are talking about sharing their aircraft carriers.  Prime Minister Cameron of the UK and President Sarkozy of France are scheduled to meet in November to discuss this idea, which is a bad one.

French and British interests often differ, and the respective navies are no different.  Can you imagine the American and Russian navies sharing three aircraft carriers for the expressed purpose of saving money?  It certainly wouldn’t work for us. 

Does France really need an aircraft carrier?   They don’t throw their military power around without the United States being involved first.  They’d rather keep their military at home.

The Charles de Gaulle was put into service in 2001, but construction began on the ship in 1989.  Work was stopped four times due to funding issues in the French economy.   And the entire French Navy has suffered as well.  French naval specialists have criticized the French government for allowing their Navy to fall into disrepair.

The British have two active carriers, HMS Ark Royal and HMS Illustrious, with one in reserve, with two more under construction (HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Queen Elizabeth).  They’re cutting government spending, and are looking for a way to save money on their carriers. 

What the British ought to do is phase out the two active carriers, and the reserve carrier, and go with the two new ones, and forget about the French.  They are still a maritime power and need their carriers to defend the Falklands, and other British interests around the world, which sometimes conflict with French national interests.

Seriously though, what do the French need more aircraft carriers for?  For them it’s a huge waste of money, if they don’t take care of their Navy.

Commentator Had It Right When He Said That Government Hurricane Response is Different on Two U.S. Coasts: Gulf Coast—Ho Hum, East Coast—FULL ALERT!!

I was online earlier today, and came across a commentator who said that the federal government response to Hurricane Earl’s approaching the eastern seaboard of the United States is radically different than the federal response to a hurricane approaching the Gulf Coast.

Currently, it’s “gee, there’s a hurricane approaching the Gulf states.  Let’s wait it out and see what’s going to happen.”  Compare to the East Coast response taken from headlines today: “FULL ALERT!!  MASS EVACUATIONS!!  CATEGORY 5!!  SIDESWIPE!!”

It should be the same response on both coasts.  The federal government should be springing into action whenever a hurricane approaches our coast, and not just on the East Coast.

There are those who are saying that the government wants to be on top of this approaching storm, given their very slow response to the BP oil disaster in the Gulf, to show that they’ve made improvements to their responses.

If that’s true, it’s cheap theatrics.  I’m not impressed so far.

Religion Questions About Obama Threaten to Sidetrack the Opposition: They Need to Focus Their Attention on the Damage Obama’s POLICIES Are Causing, Not Whether He’s a Muslim or Not

I’ve been watching this debate over whether Obama is a Christian, or a Muslim, or an agnostic, or whatever label he’s choosing to describe his religious beliefs.  And I don’t think it’s helping to defeat his agenda, which is continuing to advance.

In the end, it’s his secular POLICIES that will push us into an unprecedented economic collapse.  The anti-Obama religious stuff isn’t particularly helpful to dealing with all the problems that we have directly in front of us.  He’s spending much more, much faster, on failed economic policies that have long been disproven. 

There is WAY too much to deal with without adding “Obama is a Muslim” to the list.  It’s time to drop this debate and start talking balanced budget amendment, and getting government spending under control, before we’re sold off into economic slavery to the Chinese.

That scares me more than whether Obama is a Muslim or not. 

Look at it this way: our country has survived ALL the religious persuasions (or lack thereof) of all 43 Presidents prior to President Obama.  We’ll survive his religious persuasion as well.

I’d rather see us focused on fixing the government and the economy instead of this debate, which is nothing but a huge distraction and plays squarely into President Obama’s hands, as he continues to push damaging legislation through.

Get focused, people!

Mosque at 9/11 Site Shouldn’t Proceed: Hypocrisy on Display by Politicians and Media Over This Entire Affair

As a country, we have gone out of our way to show that we respect Muslim sensitivities around the world, instructing our soldiers not to enter mosques in Iraq and Afghanistan, or to damage those mosques during combat operations. 

Here at home, we are being told that we have to respect Muslim holidays, to not use offensive terms to describe Arabs and Muslims, and to not associate the word “terrorist” with the word Islam.  In short, we are extending every courtesy to those of the Islamic faith.

We have grown to be very sensitive to Muslim sensitivities.

So why the hell don’t they realize that they’re offending AMERICAN sensitivities, by putting up a mosque and a cultural center on the very doorstep of one of the worst atrocities in American history, carried out by Islamic extremists?

Our idiot politicians aren’t doing enough to protect American interests in this matter, subordinating our interests and our sensitivities to their version of political correctness.

This is like the controversy that erupted in Poland, with the construction of a coventry near the grounds of the Auschwitz death camp.   In that situation, Jewish leaders protested, and the coventry was eventually shut down.  

9/11 is not in the same ballpark as the Holocaust, but the the controversies that erupted after both events aren’t entirely dissimilar. 

The people pushing for the creation of this Muslim shrine in the shadow of the twin towers  should either scale back their plan, or construct this religious institution in a location that isn’t as traumatized or sensitized to it.

The last thing we need is for someone to try to destroy this mosque, should it be built.  We don’t need religious wars starting up here.

This is not about freedom of religion.  This is about freedom of speech, and political attempts to shut down the exercise of that  free speech. 

Shame on us, Mayor Bloomberg, Mr. Cultural Diversity himself, for raising valid viewpoints?  No, no, no.  Shame on Mayor Bloomberg for being a blooming idiot,  for ignoring his oath of office and for trying to silence those who have a differing viewpoint than his own. 

Mr. Thought Cop ought to practice what he preaches—a little MORE diversity.