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Obama's "Audacity of Hope" slogan goes back to the French Revolution, now mainly remembered for its bloodthirsty guillotine executions of the French aristocracy. As Edmund Burke wrote in his classic work Reflections on the Revolution in France, the French Revolution was all about destroying the Old Regime in pursuit of a utopian dream, while the American Revolution was about constructing a new, practical style of government. The American Constitution survives two centuries later. The French Revolution collapsed into anarchy, and was transformed by Napoleon into the first European imperial conquest since the Romans. Napoleon went on to kill tens of...

By readopting his arrogant professor persona and likening Republican stonewalling on the budget to Sasha and Malia procrastinating on homework, the president is putting himself on dangerous ground for 2012. When President Obama used the example of his daughters finishing their homework on time to scold Republican lawmakers for putting off tough decisions about the budget, you may have realized, with some horror, that the president had become narrative-challenged. The story of The One, the Messianic Figure, the Soulful Black Man Come to Redeem a Fallen America, the Quintessential Stranger Who Was Thus the Quintessential Figure of American Democracy—the thrilling,...

A ship flying US colors and carrying 34 passengers is set to joint this year's Gaza-bound, IHH-sponsored “Freedom Flotilla 2” in June, the New York Times reported. So-called “peace activists” on the first IHH flotilla in May 2010 ambushed Israeli naval commandos who boarded the ship in accordance with international law, attempted to take them captive, and seriously injuring several. The commandos were forced to kill nine aggressors in order to rescue their imperiled comrades. This year's American vessel, named The Audacity of Hope after US President Barack Obama’s best-selling book, is being organized by an American group called “US...

A few days ago President Obama had an editorial published in the Wall Street Journal. The piece titled “Toward a 21st-Century Regulatory System” has Obama all but sounding Republican. Sometimes, those rules have gotten out of balance, placing unreasonable burdens on business—burdens that have stifled innovation and have had a chilling effect on growth and jobs.The President’s piece tries to please his left leaning supporters by reminding them that his executive order is far from deregulation. At the same time President Obama points to glaring examples of the utter stupidity that can be our overly intrusive regulatory system. The best...

The world's foremost experts on psychiatry have decided to eliminate narcissistic personality disorder from the 2013 edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. When asked by reporters why they decided not to include the disorder any longer, members of the panel cited the existence of two case studies of extreme narcissism with which the Manual could never compete. So they gave up. One is Dreams of My Father. The other is The Audacity of Hope. Useful Info Nation

Americans opposed to Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip are organizing a ship from the United States to take part in an international flotilla. The flotilla, set to sail to Gaza in September or October, will be made up of ships from India, Europe, Canada, South Africa and the Middle East. The organizers hope to name the American ship The Audacity of Hope, after President Obama's second autobiographical book.

To quote the great Dennis Miller, "now, I don't want to get off on a rant here..." but while I may get a big kick out of calling the guy President Amateur Hur, and its one of those "haha, but not really" types of jokes, I'm starting to get worried. Obama is starting to make George W. Bush look like James Bond. Worse yet, I'm starting to think I can be president. Since when do leadership skills matter anyway? All you have to have is a pulse and proof of citizenship and you're all set! I don't blame him...

I am using Audacity to edit an audio file. Within this file, I would like to select a portion and add an effect. I want the effect to begin no earlier and no later than what I want. Similar to the ending. Right now,I am selecting a portion of the file based on an educated guess. Then I listen to the whole selection, and adjust the beginning and ending of the selection accordingly. The problem is, doing it this way takes a long time, because I have to listen to the whole selection. I thought I could just jump to...

Supporters of obamacare claim the president simply delivered what he promised during the campaign, so the American people should stop demanding the law's repeal. But that isn't true. As a candidate, Obama actually campaigned against many of the law's most important provisions. Obama's biggest policy switch came on the mandate that all Americans buy health insurance coverage. The health care plan Obama unveiled to great fanfare in 2007 and henceforth campaigned on contained no mandate. Hillary Clinton's plan did. Obama attacked Clinton's mandate relentlessly. He said the right reform was not to pass a mandate, but to lower costs. "The...

Here's some art I made for a blog post from early March (before I joined up here). If you'd like you can read the full post here The Looking Spoon is a conservative humor/satire/art/commentary blog, visit www.thelookingspoon.com to see more posts!

Massachusetts’ largest newspaper, the Boston Globe, urged voters to elect Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) to the senate seat vacated by the death of Senator Ted Kennedy last Fall. The paper characterized the Republican candidate for the seat, state senator Scott Brown, as “an enemy of the Obama Administration and, by inference, an enemy of the hope and change themes of our newly elected President. The challenging times in which we live call for audacity, a quality possessed in great measure by the late Senator Kennedy.” “While it is true that Attorney General Coakley, unlike like Senator Kennedy, hasn’t had...

COPEN­HA­GEN — The top Amer­i­can envoy to cli­mate talks here flat­ly re­ject­ed argu­ments Wednes­day by diplo­mats from poor lands that the Unit­ed States owes a debt to de­vel­op­ing na­tions for decades of Amer­i­can emis­sions that con­tribut­ed to glob­al warm­ing. It was not the first time that the Amer­i­can ne­go­tia­tor, Todd D. Stern, had dis­missed the no­tion. But his words high­light­ed the di­vide that per­sists between the poor and the wealthy as near­ly 200 na­tions try to sketch the out­li­nes of a new pact on cli­mate change here. Asked about argu­ments by diplo­mats and some protesters that the Unit­ed States should...

Analyses of classic authors' works provide a way to "linguistically fingerprint" them, researchers say. The relationship between the number of words an author uses only once and the length of a work forms an identifier for them, they argue. Analyses of works by Herman Melville, Thomas Hardy, and DH Lawrence showed these "unique word" charts are specific to each author. The work is published in the New Journal of Physics. Researchers also suggest each author pulls their works from a hypothetical "meta book". One description of this concept might be a framework for the way an author uses language. It...

At the Museum of Science and Technology Monday afternoon, President Obama took questions from a docile audience of more than 400 Chinese university students handpicked by officials of eight different Chinese universities. The town hall meeting was one of the few unscripted moments on the president's trip. It was supposed to be carried live on Chinese state television but at the last moment, the Chinese government changed its mind and only local stations in Shanghai, and the White House Web site, carried it live. **SNIP** **SNIP** FULL LIES MIXED WITH AUDACITY-Quote of the day! "The White House said it wanted...

From the White House web site entry page, on two of the rotating banner announcements: "A staggering new report indicates that under the status quo, around half of all Americans under 65 will lose their health coverage at some point in the next ten years. The President pledges not to allow this future to unfold." "The President looks back at how we managed to avoid a depression, and looks forward at how we will help the economy recover and ensure the financial industry never again drags our economy down with reckless behavior." http://www.whitehouse.gov

Speak for yourself, Mr. President . . . Addressing the troops at Camp Lejeune today to announce his plans to withdraw all but about 50,000 troops from Iraq, Pres. Obama praised the success that has been achieved there. Among other things, he said: “The men and women of the United States military have served with honor, and succeeded beyond any expectation.” Any expectation? You, Mr. President, opposed this war from the beginning, claiming it could not succeed. Back in 2006 you called for surrender and withdrawal. You opposed the surge, and even after it succeeded said you still were right...

Obama said today that the Pork-filled "Stimulus" package is a Major Milestone in his presidency. You've got to be kidding me! Is Obama seriously trying to say that it is a Major Milestone in his presidency when he consigns the next generation of Americans to slavery? I thought Lincoln (who Obama tries to compare himself to) was trying to take us away from slavery. Does Obama honestly think that taking away Americans' freedom is a Major Milestone in his presidency? I thought Lincoln's intent was to secure our freedom. How can Obama look Americans in the face...

Any politician who has taken on Bill and Hillary Clinton's national political machine and won should not be underestimated. Yet Republicans as well as many Democrats persist in underrating Barack Obama's electoral talents and, above all, his soaring political ambition. His writerly mind, professorial bearing, and effortless self-control make it difficult to take his measure as a politician. He can seem cool, detached, unusually introspective. As a wag at the Financial Times put it, if John McCain's life story is the stuff of Hollywood movies, Obama's is like an off-Broadway play—it lacks action but is full of internal monologues. Raised...

In his Saturday remarks during his campaign train ride, President-elect Barack Obama issued some soaring rhetoric about the state of the country today. At least the Old Media thought it was soaring rhetoric, anyway. Typically, the media was overawed by his mellifluous tones, of course. But during these remarks in Baltimore Obama made a startling suggestion. He said we need a "new Declaration of Independence." Apparently the original one isn't good enough for the new president, but it also seems a silly rhetorical flourish. After all, what is it that we are declaring independence from this time? Recall that the...

***This column was first published on Aug. 8, 2004*** ### When Barack Obama was only 33, he wrote a memoir, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. I remember Obama telling me about his book when he visited my office in Washington back in 1999, when the Democrat was making what turned out to be a failed run for the House of Representatives. Dan Shomon, Obama's aide, sent me a copy of the book. I tucked Shomon's letter, dated Aug. 13, 1999, inside the cover and stuck the book on a shelf. There it sat until last...