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Why Europe Feels Rejected by Obama By JOHN VINOCUR Why would an American president not come to a celebration marking the fall of the Berlin Wall, and with it, the triumphant end of the Cold War — one of the high points of the United States’ and Europe’s common 20th-century history? Whatever the exact answer — and it could be that a fatigued Barack Obama didn’t want the physical strain of a trans-Atlantic trip days before a weeklong tour of Asia — his absence from the Nov. 9 ceremonies in Germany has reinforced Europe’s fear that it has become an...

WASHINGTON--Michelle Obama, the wife of the U.S. president, will not be joining him on his visit to Japan starting Friday. Instead, she is giving priority to her duties as a mother. The couple's daughters Malia and Sasha are sixth- and third-graders, respectively, at a private school in Washington, D.C. They have classes during the president's week-long tour of Asia. The girls, along with their mother, joined President Barack Obama on part of his tour of Europe and Turkey between the end of March and April, as well as trips to Europe, Russia and Africa in July, while on school vacation....

The President of leisure has a pretty slow day Monday, highlighting the point that no pressing business kept him from celebrating the fall of communism 20 years after the Berlin Wall fell. Jim Gerraghty of The Campaign Spot on National Review goes over the official schedule for our leader yesterday: Just look at the man's schedule: He had a 10 a.m. daily briefing from the intelligence community, a 10:30 a.m. economic daily briefing, an 11 a.m. meeting with senior advisers . . . and then, right after that, at 6:45 in the evening, he had to sign an executive...

President Barack Obama has brushed aside a sharp rebuke at the polls on the first anniversary of his historic election, saying his administration had saved the nation from economic ruin. Just hours after rival Republicans gleefully ousted Democratic candidates in two key gubernatorial races, the White House dismissed suggestions that the results were a referendum on Obama and his policies. Republicans trumpeted Tuesday's victories in New Jersey and Virginia as a conservative comeback one year to the day after Obama vowed before a tumultuous crowd in Chicago that change had come to America. But Obama reminded a school audience in...

Here's a curious turn in the White House vs. Fox News fight. On Monday, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow were among several people who attended an off-the-record briefing with Pres. Obama at the White House. Sources tell us other attendees at the two-and-a-half hour chat included Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post, Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, Gwen Ifill of PBS and Gloria Borger of CNN. Perhaps not surprisingly, no one from Fox News was in the room.

POLITICO's Mike Allen and Josh Gerstein wrote today on the White House strategy of trying to delegitimize Fox News. Now MoveOn.org is getting involved. The liberal activist organization has started a petition aimed at Democratic members of Congress, urging them not to appear on the network as long as Obama stays away.

Those morons at Jeff Zucker's company have stepped in it yet again. It's bad enough NBC can't get anyone to watch its piss-poor network primetime shows, but now NBC is making sure the American public can't watch other networks' shows as well. (This follows an earlier report that NBC doesn't want the Jay Leno Show to book rival networks' TV stars.) The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is known for annually including "cultural touchstones of the moment" in its broadcast, from every American Idol winner since the 2nd season (a Fox show) to the stars of High School Musical (a Disney...

What’s the significance of this, aside from it being your daily reminder that Wallace was right? Go watch the clip of Anita Dunn whining on CNN or just skip ahead here to 2:25. Kurtz specifically asked her whether The One would sit for an interview with one of Fox’s news shows this year. Her weaselly response was to say that he would — eventually — while neglecting to mention one tiny fact revealed below by Rosen: She’d already given Fox a hard no for the remaining three months of this year and pretty obviously didn’t want to acknowledge it on...

Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize Is Snub To Bill Clinton Many feel that Bill Clinton, right, deserves the prize more than Obama Christina Lamb Although the award of the Nobel peace prize to President Barack Obama was widely interpreted as a repudiation of the Republican era of George W Bush, the real snub may have been to Bill Clinton. The former Democratic president is widely held to be overdue for the prize. He helped to promote peace in Northern Ireland and devoted more time to achieving a Middle East deal than any other president, although the effort was unsuccessful. Since...

Barack Obama's Nobel peace prize is snub to Bill Clinton Many feel that Bill Clinton, right, deserves the prize more than Obama Christina Lamb Although the award of the Nobel peace prize to President Barack Obama was widely interpreted as a repudiation of the Republican era of George W Bush, the real snub may have been to Bill Clinton. The former Democratic president is widely held to be overdue for the prize. He helped to promote peace in Northern Ireland and devoted more time to achieving a Middle East deal than any other president, although the effort was unsuccessful. Since...

PARIS (AP) - A French gay soccer team says its members were victims of homophobia when a team of Muslim players refused to play a match against them. The Paris Foot Gay team says Tuesday it received an e-mail from the Creteil Bebel club canceling a match scheduled for last Sunday. "Because of the principles of our team, which is a team of devout Muslims, we can't play against you," the e-mail said, according to Paris Foot Gay. The e-mail received Saturday said, "Our convictions are much more important than a simple football match."

Another first by lord Obama, defender of the tyrants. He has no time or intention to honor a man of God and a champion of freedom. Obama also has no time for a national day of prayer. Obama is too busy courting tyrants and pushing his socialist Obamacare on everyone. Apparantly freedom loving people are a threat to cult Obama and his one world godless government.

The last time the Dalai Lama visited Washington, President George W. Bush presented the exiled Tibetan leader with the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony on Capitol Hill. Now the Dalai Lama cannot even get a private meeting with President Obama. The only winner in this rebuff is communist China.

President Barack Obama has broken with presidential precedent and has refused to meet with the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is the chief of the Buddhist faith and is also the acting head of state for Tibet, which China invaded in 1950. The Dalai Lama is well-seen in many parts of American life and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. Obama is the first President not to meet with the religious leader since 1991.

President Obama would have the time to meet with the worse dictators, but he does not have the time to meet with a very spiritual man and a true person of peace? Is it because he doesn’t look like him, or has a funny name, or maybe because he doesn’t quite fit into the young President’s circle of brutal dictators and tyrants? My guess is … it’s the latter.

President Barack Obama will not meet the Dalai Lama during his five-day trip to the U.S. capital beginning on Monday, the first time in 18 years the exiled Tibetan leader has visited Washington without seeing the president. Obama instead intends to wait until after his November summit with Chinese leader Hu Jintao before meeting the Dalai Lama, possibly sometime in December, officials said. The decision to break precedent and delay any meeting was conveyed to the Dalai Lama last month when Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and State Department Undersecretary Maria Otero traveled to Dharamsala, India, to explain the administration's...

Good grief. You begin to wonder if the man has a list of Friendly Leaders I Still Need to Offend. The Washington Post is reporting that the Dalai Lama went to Washington this week – apparently expecting to be received at the White House – only to find that his meeting with the president has been “postponed… until after Obama’s summit with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, scheduled for next month.” According to the Post, this is the “first time since 1991, the Tibetan spiritual leader will visit Washington this week and not meet with the president.” The snub could...

US newspapers offered various takes Saturday on Chicago's spectacular Olympic flameout, but when it came to President Barack Obama's last-minute lobbying bid, the message was loud and clear: What was he thinking? Obama joined his wife Michelle in Copenhagen Thursday just hours before the International Olympic Committee voted out Chicago in the first round, eventually awarding the Games to Rio de Janeiro in a landslide. The White House was quick to downplay suggestions that the snub was a repudiation of Obama himself, and insisted the presidential dash to the Danish capital was "absolutely" the right decision, despite a host of...

Reporting from Washington - Chicago has been eliminated from the contest to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, a surprise development in the decision-making process by international Olympic officials. The city was a heavy favorite at least to make it through the first round of voting, and to be a serious contender in the final round of voting for the coveted Games. The decision dashes the hopes of U.S. boosters -- President Obama chief among them -- who had put their reputations on the line to help win the games for Chicago. The announcement came as the president and first lady...

October 2, 2009 Olympic Snub For Obama As Chicago Eliminated From 2016 Bid (John Gichigi/Getty Images) Both the Obamas had thrown their diplomatic skills behind Chicago's bid President Barack Obama learnt a harsh lesson about the politics of sport today after Chicago made a shock early exit in the race to become the host of the 2016 Olympics. The members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) delivered a clear message to the American President and his wife that their 8,000-mile journey to court their vote in person had been a waste of time. In the first round of voting in...

At the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, and at the UN Security Council meeting before that, Barack Obama continued his administration's new policy toward Great Britain: declare that the "special relationship" between the U.S. and the U.K. is as strong as ever, and then act as if there is no such relationship at all. The British papers were filled with the news that the president would not grant Prime Minister Gordon Brown a one-on-one meeting. "Mr. Obama had refused five separate requests from the prime minister for a private meeting during his U.S. trip for the UN summit in New York,"...

Barack Obama snubbed five separate requests from UK PM Gordon Brown for a private meeting during his U.S. trip. Instead, the Prime Minister was reduced to meeting the President in a bizarre 'kitchen summit' at the UN building after Mr Obama turned down British plans for a series of joint announcements between the two leaders. Washington's snubs are in stark contrast to planned one-on-one meetings with the leaders of China, Russia and Japan. Diplomats revealed that Downing Street had to 'beg' for a meeting with Mr Obama to secure high profile backing for his economic and climate change plans. But...

Iran Snubs Barack Obama's Nuclear Talks Iran has dealt a blow to one of President Barack Obama's most ambitious diplomatic initiatives by dismissing demands to put its nuclear programme at the heart of direct talks with the United States. By Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem 13 Sep 2009 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Iran dealt a blow to one of President Barack Obama's most ambitious diplomatic initiatives by dismissing demands to put its nuclear programme at the heart of direct talks with the US Less than 48 hours after Washington and its allies reluctantly accepted an offer of face-to-face negotiations from Tehran,...

Google is well known for the clever logos it often drapes over its home page on holidays and some anniversaries, such as the Internet behemoth's own birthday. But on the solemn eighth anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks, while rivals including Ask.com and Microsoft's Bing.com offered prominent commemoration displays, it was just another day for the biggest search engine of them all. Whereas Google made special note when Luciano Pavarotti died, the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in history went unnoticed

Google remembers Ghandi, astrology, the first day of spring, Dr. Seuss birthday but nothing about honoring the lives lost and the sacrifice given. Bunch of shmucks.

Google always commemorates special days like Independence Day and Thanksgiving Dayand the all powerful Earth Day. However, I checked their site solely to see what they had up and sadly it was as plain and stark with nothing to remember the hateful attack against our country 8 years ago. Maybe they will get something up later today or maybe I am being routed through a foreign server but it just made me a little sad to be honest. Anybody else notice?

Angry parents get schools to shun Obama speech to students Dublin, Hilliard, Olentangy districts decide not to show president's TV address Tuesday Thursday, September 3, 2009 11:22 PM By Bill Bush THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH School districts across central Ohio learned today that the list of things parents want their children protected from -- drugs, predators, violence -- now includes the president of the United States delivering a "stay in school" message. Faced with phone calls from angry parents who don't want their children to view the Tuesday address to the nation's students by President Barack Obama, several districts have decided...

As some of the most prominent Republican women across the country gather next week in Orlando, arguably the most well-known of them will not be in attendance. Despite an invitation to speak at the conference, Sarah Palin, former vice presidential candidate, and until recently Alaska governor, decided not come to the National Federation of Republican Women's 35th Convention, according to the organization. An estimated 1,200 Republican women leaders will attend the three day conference, and some of those are want Palin to reconsider. "It is disappointing," says Barbara Davis, who heads the Melbourne, Fla. chapter." We were hoping that she...

Kennedy Coverage Not Made for Prime Time Rash Report: Two Perspectives Join Cable Saturation by John Rash Published: August 27, 2009 MINNEAPOLIS (AdAge.com) -- Political pundits on both sides of the aisle (and the radio dial) lauded the legislative accomplishments of Sen. Edward Kennedy, with some, including conservative columnist George F. Will, calling him "the most consequential" Kennedy. CBS 'Ted Kennedy: The Last Brother' With the news breaking after most went to bed Tuesday night, morning news shows were the first source for many to learn of Mr. Kennedy's death, and cable news networks went wall-to-wall with coverage. And perhaps...

Michelle Malkin's book "Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies" has been at #1 on The New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Bestseller list for the past 4 weeks, but The New York Times has still not written a review of it. First week at #1Second week at #1Third week at #1 Fourth week at #1

Rep. Louise Slaughter said she will not host in-person town hall meetings to discuss reform of the health care system, but will hold giant conference calls with constituents instead. “I think it’s a way to disseminate misinformation,” Slaughter said. “They’re not debating things that are in the bill.” By discussing the bill, H.R. 3200 over the phone, she can reach as many as 9,000 constituents, including those who couldn’t make a meeting or those who lack child care, she said. Slaughter’s absence at town hall meetings has caused some residents to ask where she is, and “Where’s Louise?” buttons have...

The New York Times is generally loathe to dignify conservative-leaning books with an official review. That stance is getting dicier these days, especially since the newspaper’s own nonfiction bestseller chart is chockablock with conservatives luminaries like Michelle Malkin, Dick Morris and Mark Levin. President Barack Obama has only been in office for roughly eight months, but he’s already inspired multiple conservative bestsellers. Malkin’s Culture of Corruption sits atop the list, followed by Levin’s Liberty and Tyranny in the two slot and Catastrophe by Morris and Eileen McGann at number four. Marji Ross, president and publisher of Regnery Publishing, isn’t surprised...

Something we have always known, animals are smarter than people.

In the last news cycle there were a lot of stories written about Obama’s visit to Russia. But one story that didn’t appear anywhere in the American media (that I saw) was about the Russian leaders refusing to shake Obama’s hand. http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/what_the_media_didnt_report_russians_refused_to_shake_obamas_hand/

What The Media Didn’t Report: Russians Refused To Shake Obama’s Hand In the last news cycle there were a lot of stories written about Obama’s visit to Russia. But one story that didn’t appear anywhere in the American media (that I saw) was about the Russian leaders refusing to shake Obama’s hand.

I know that the Russians have characteristically been less than hospitable to American Presidents, but I don't recall them ever openly disrespecting (yeah, I KNOW it's a made-up word) a US President like this before... or maybe it's just that previous presidents have been savvy enough not to put themselves in such a position. Who knows? Maybe I'll figure it out when I stop laughing.

Obama supporters definitely can't claim that this is a still shot from a video that is being blown out of proportion and context. While in Russia President Obama is totally snubbed in a receiving line by a group of individuals who refuse to shake his hand, but gladly shake the hand of Russian President Medvedev.

Here is video from President Obama's trip to Russia last week where it appears there were several Russian officials who refused to shake hands with Obama. In the video, you see Obama extending his hand without most of the officials being willing to shake hands with him. I have heard nothing on this story. It would be interesting to hear Obama be asked a question about this. . . . . (Watch Video)

Wait a minute, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, ABC, CBS, NBC never reported this! But surely, they would afford George W. Bush the same courtesy. Oh wait…

See the video.

Pulled from Youtube.

Barack Obama, Kenya’s most famous son, may have a deep attachment to his ancestral homeland but he is not letting emotions rule his head. On his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since his election, he has snubbed his father’s birthplace by choosing to go to Ghana. The Kenyan Government and its notoriously corrupt and quarrelsome ministers are not happy... Kenya has been left to ponder what might have been. In the heady days of Mr Obama’s ascent to the White House, politicians — particularly those from the Luo tribe of his late father — had envisioned an African-style “special relationship”....

After passing on dinner with the French president to take a date in the City of Light with his wife last month, President Obama took leave of his Russian hosts on Tuesday night to seclude himself in his Moscow hotel with Michelle and their daughters. The decision to brush off the Russians on one of his two nights here miffed some in the Moscow government who did not understand why he would not devote the scarce time to his hosts. Mr. Obama has seemed tired here, several times fumbling the pronunciation of Mr. Medvedev’s name and Mr. Putin’s title. Beginning...

More than 100 MPs appear to have snubbed an invitation to celebrate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election win, local press reports say. All 290 MPs were invited to the victory party on Wednesday night but 105 did not turn up, the reports say. A BBC correspondent says the move is a sign of the deep split at the top of Iran after disputed presidential polls. Meanwhile, Mr Ahmadinejad has told the US not to interfere in Iranian politics, the Fars news agency reports. "I hope you [US President Barack Obama] will avoid interfering in Iran's affairs and express regret in...

It should be interesting to see which gay leaders the Obama White House blacklists for next Monday's big gay bash to, ironically, commemorate the kind of gays who, if they were around today, would likely be on that blacklist. (I've already heard of three big gay groups reportedly being snubbed). Of course, the White House is refusing to say who they've invited, and who is now on the civil rights blacklist. It's almost as if somebody spooked the leader of the free world. PS For those who have asked, no, Joe and I weren't invited.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors has declined President Obama’s invitation for a meeting at the White House on June 29. The mayors have not determined when, or even if, they will accept the invite an administration extended after Obama and Vice President Joe Biden skipped the mayors' annual meeting in Providence, R.I., earlier this month due to a local labor dispute involving firefighters. The White House cancelled plans for senior staff and Cabinet officials to attend the meeting the week before its kickoff, angering some of the nation’s mayors. The administration responded by inviting the mayors to Washington for a...

Cavuto: Obama Was Everywhere Except FOX Today Neil Cavuto, Managing Editor & Anchor FOXBusiness Mr. President, what's the deal? Ok, big guy, I’m talking to you. I know you say you don't watch FOX. Don't like FOX. If you had things your way, you'd probably shut down FOX. So you're doing the next best thing. Refusing to talk to FOX. Or have any of your top guys talk to FOX either. You were everywhere yesterday, except here. Your economic Svengali Larry Summers everywhere today, except here. Your call, Mr. President. A stupid call. But your call. Stupid when your people...

Britain was left scrambling to assert the vestiges of its colonial authority yesterday after Bermuda welcomed in four former Guantánamo detainees under a secret deal with the United States. British officials knew nothing of the arrangement until the men, all ethnic Uighurs from western China, were already airborne en route from Guantánamo to the British island territory, better known as a haven for tourists and tax exiles than former terrorist suspects. Alarm bells sounded in London when Ewart Brown, the Bermudian Premier, welcomed the men as “landed in Bermuda in the short term, provided with the opportunity to become naturalised...

Where are the complaints about Obama slighting Europe? He's stiff-armed every major European leader except Russia's new czar, Vladimir Putin -- the one quasi-European figure the administration hastened to embrace. Our relations with Europe were better in Bush's second term than today. The Obama administration bullies allies on economic policy, favors Muslim immigrants in internal disputes, insists (against the wishes of Europe's voters) that Turkey be admitted to the European Union and excludes traditional partners from foreign-policy initiatives. In the past, our policy often has been too Euro-centric. But we need a useful balance, not a trans-Atlantic Cold War. Obama...

Britain was left scrambling to assert the vestiges of its colonial authority yesterday after Bermuda welcomed in four former Guantánamo detainees under a secret deal with the United States. British officials knew nothing of the arrangement until the men, all ethnic Uighurs from western China, were already airborne en route from Guantánamo to the British island territory, better known as a haven for tourists and tax exiles than former terrorist suspects. Alarm bells sounded in London when Ewart Brown, the Bermudian Premier, welcomed the men as “landed in Bermuda in the short term, provided with the opportunity to become naturalised...