Open Thread

Been such a boring week. I can't imagine there's much to talk about.

Despite the fact that his economic policies have been a dismal failure, President Obama seems to think they're working. Could the reason for his persistence be that he has almost no experience with the regular, private-sector workforce? That is what House Speaker John Boehner thinks, saying that Obama has "never even had a real job, for God’s sake."

Given the arguable truth of the remark and its potency, do you expect liberal journalists to report it to denounce him or will they ignore it while complaining about "civility" generally?

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is being reamed by liberals in the media for a supposed gaffe in stating that Israel is much more successful economically than territories under Palestinian control because of its "culture."

Rich Lowry explains how that is perfectly true in a piece at National Review Online today. The long and short of it is that Western classically liberal values like the rule of law, representative democracy, religious tolerance/diversity, free speech and secure property rights are hallmarks of Israel's civil society that are woefully lacking in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip:

If only there were something to talk about...

Sometimes, the blog posts just write themselves. The city of Chicago is famous for its political corruption, now it's becoming known as a perfect example of liberal hypocrisy.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has made news supporting a city councilman's attempt to block fast food restaurant Chick-fil-A from opening another store in the area, claiming that the chain's beliefs "are not Chicago values." At the same time, Emanuel is welcoming with open arms anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan and his Nation of Islam in an effort to reduce crime.

Let us first so a prayer for the loved and lost in Aurora, Colorado. Our hearts go out to the victims, their families, and their friends.

Anything else you'd like to discuss this weekend?

Over the weekend President Obama once again demonized wealth creators, downplaying the success of entrepreneurs as something that "[s]omebody else made... happen":

There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back.  They know they didn’t — look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.  You didn’t get there on your own.  I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.  There are a lot of smart people out there.  It must be because I worked harder than everybody else.  Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

You know the drill.

It's Friday, so what better way to kick off the weekend than a hilarious trailer promoting an over-the-top pro-Obama movie.  Judging by the 2:30-long trailer for The Obama Effect, the movie, set in 2008, is the fictional account of a man named John (played by Charles S. Dutton) who suffers a heart attack and discovers he's spared death because he has a mission from God: campaigning for Barack Obama.   No, I'm serious. The promoters of the film cast it as a comedy, but it's NOT a satire. It really does appear to be a serious movie. 

Watch the trailer embedded below page the page break and leave your comments behind. For inspiration, you can check out this hilarious collection from Twitchy.

A recent poll conducted by GlobeScan, a market-research firm, shows that 58 percent of Americans believe that the rich are deserving of their wealth. This may come as a surprise to some Americans given President Obama’s consistent efforts to raise taxes on the wealthy, and his continued banter about “fair share” and putting “skin in the game.” This survey shows that the Obama Administration’s attempts to demonize the wealthly are not working.

But what about those who want higher income earners to pay more? Well, our friends at MRCTV took to the streets to interview supporters of Obama’s proposed tax hike on the wealthy. It quickly becomes apparent in the video that while Obama loyalists support tax hikes, they are completely clueless as to what the current tax rate. Many of them think a fair rate would be around 30 percent, which is below both the current tax rate and the Clinton-era top tax bracket. [see video below page break]

Governments worldwide are hard up for cash right now and sadly, more are pushing for tax increases than spending cuts. The United Kingdom is one such country and unfortunately for it, the revenues that were expected from raising taxes just aren't materializing. In a blog post for Townhall.com, the Cato Institute's Daniel Mitchell takes a look at the revenue situation in the UK and then examines the question of why many economists push policies they know are self-destructive:

You know the drill. So drill baby drill!

If only there was something to talk about...

All eyes are on the Supreme Court today. What are your thoughts and predictions?

With all the issues on the table this weekend, there's got to be plenty for you all to talk about.

Be our guests.

So much to talk about, so little time.

With its early retirement age and perpetually striking unions, the idea that the average Greek is lazy has a lot of truth to it. But things are not quite as simple as that. In fact, Greeks are a lot more hardworking than you would think. The stereotype is partially true, however: