† You Can’t Make Fun Of Obama? Sez Who?: Although Chicago’s Second City comedy troupe continues to have trouble lampooning Nobel Laureate and President Barack Hussein Obama, comedians seem finally to have overcome their writers’ block and are mocking him with such gusto that CNN senior political contributor Ed Rollins thinks the honeymoon is over and he is “being judged with the same scrutiny as those who have gone before him in the modern era.” 

David Paul Kuhn, chief political correspondent for RealClearPolitics, credits Bill Maher with being the first to land a solid punch(line) back in June: “You don't have to be on television every minute of every day. You're the president, not a rerun of ‘Law & Order.”

For its part, The New York Times notes: “The bits about him are getting harsher. They are no longer just gentle gibes about Bo the dog, big ears, bad bowling and beer summits” – and then reporter Mark Leibovich goes off on a snarky riff about Obama’s “oft-invoked ‘full plate’ of supposedly ‘defining moments’ in his presidency - a ‘defining’ decision on Afghanistan, ‘defining’ legislative battle on health care, among other ‘defining’ things.”

Bob Lichter, of George Mason University’s Center for Media and Public Affairs, tells Leibovich that it remains to be seen whether the “Saturday Night Live” skit is a “harbinger or outlier” in how comics will treat Obama. In that regard, winning the Nobel Prize could be a defining moment.

Editorial Note: Since Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, the same libs and Dems who insist that if you criticize Obama you are a racist are now pushing the party line: “If you laugh at Obama, the terrorists will have won.”

† Garbage In, Garbage Out: There is one little-discussed problem with universal healthcare “reform” that ensures that health outcomes will not improve, no matter how many billions of dollars the bill costs: Study after study shows that people who have poor reading or math skills do not understand the risks and benefits of treatment options, and cannot read well enough to take prescription medication correctly. Public health experts think schools should be doing a better job to prepare people to be active participants in their own well-being, reports HealthDay News.

† Illegals Can Skew Elections – Even When They Do Not Vote Fraudulently: The Washington Times reports that there is a push by Republican Senators to include a question about citizenship in the 2010 census form so that congressional seats are reapportioned based on the number of citizens – not residents – in a district. One Hispanic leader agrees:

The Rev. Miguel Rivera, president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, is calling for a boycott specifically by illegal immigrants.

He said a count can't be accurate with so many people living in the shadows and that counting illegal immigrants inflates numbers in places where many residents can't vote. He said he fears those residents who are counted can't ever get true representation.

"The truth is that counting undocumented immigrants creates what we call ghost electoral districts, and that is completely immoral," he said.

† Deconstructing Obama’s Cairo Speech: Nobel Laureate and President Barack Hussein Obama considers the hijab and niqab a sign of  freedom for Muslim girls and women, but to Sheik of al-Azhar Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, Egypt's top Islamic cleric, it’s a sign of Islamic radicalism and he wants to ban female students wearing head-to-toe veils from class, reports The Associated Press:

While a vast majority of Egyptian women wear the headscarf, only a few wear the niqab, which covers the face and is common in neighboring Saudi Arabia which practices the more conservative form of Wahhabi Islam. The trend seems to gaining ground in the Arab world's most populous country.

There is no uniform religious opinion across the Muslim world about whether a head scarf - much less a face veil - is required.

The majority of Islamic scholars say the face veil is not required but is merely a custom that dates back to tribal, nomadic societies living in the Arabian desert before Islam began.

Sheik of al-Azhar Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi … told a middle school student in a class he was visiting … to take off her niqab. …

"Niqab has nothing to do with Islam. … I know about religion better than you and your parents." 

Islamic scholar Abdel Moati Bayoumi told AP that “Taliban forces women to wear the niqab.”

† In Obamaland Everyone Agrees With Obama – Or Else: Although Nobel Laureate and President Barack Hussein Obama repeatedly claims that doctors support his vision of healthcare “reform” the Republican Party has raised $1.3 million since June from 5,000 doctors who oppose a government-run health care system, reports The Associated Press. Another 10,000 “have lent their names as supporters” of the Physicians' Council for Responsible Reform.

† Mortgage Loan Modification Less Than Advertised: Having gotten used to being showered with accolades for achievements that have yet to be realized, Nobel Laureate and President Barack Hussein Obama has gotten into the habit of giving himself kudos for failures that he’s trying to spin as achievements.

The latest case in point: The $75 billion Making Home Affordable program, which launched in March and was supposed to save 4 million homeowners from foreclosure. The New York Times reports that an analysis by the Congressional Oversight Panel – which is charged with keeping an eye on how taxpayer bailout funds are used – finds that “in the best case” the program will prevent “fewer than half of the predicted foreclosures”:

The report rebuked the administration for failing to shape a program that addressed the most significant engines of the foreclosure crisis - soaring joblessness and exotic mortgages with low introductory interest rates that give way to sharply higher payments over the next three years. Many of those mortgages are too large to qualify for modification under the administration’s plan. People who lose their jobs often lack enough income to qualify for relief.

The administration’s plan appears “targeted at the housing crisis as it existed six months ago, rather than as it exists now,” asserted the oversight panel in its report. “The panel urges Treasury to reconsider the scope, scalability and permanence of the programs designed to minimize the economic impact of foreclosures and consider whether new programs or program enhancements could be adopted.” …

On Thursday, Treasury announced that 500,000 homeowners had … their payments lowered on a trial basis, celebrating this as a milestone.

But the report from the oversight panel directly challenged the administration’s characterizations.

Most prominently, the panel had grave uncertainty about whether large numbers of the trial loan modifications - which typically run for three months - would successfully be converted to permanent terms.

† Living In These Mad, Mad, Madoff Times: The Wall Street Journal reports that “for the first time in a decade, there isn't a seven- or eight-figure price tag” on any of the “fantasy” gifts in the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book catalog:

The most expensive fantasy item for 2009 is a $250,000 "his and hers" two-seater Icon aircraft, which comes with pilot training for two. That's a far cry from the $20 million submarine offered in 2000, the $10 million Zeppelin of 2004 or the $10 million stable of racehorses of 2008.

Such gifts aren't really expected to sell - just one of the $1 million-plus fantasy gifts in the past decade actually found a buyer. But the holiday catalog, which has included a handful of outrageous items since 1959 - when Neiman put a Black Angus steer with a rolling roast-beef cart in its catalog - has long been the last word in luxury, a potent symbol of shoppers' aspirations. …

But the publicity given to, say, a $20 million submarine (2000) had its own value. In 2006, Neiman Marcus, which is owned by private-equity firms TPG Capital and Warburg Pincus LLC, estimated that it would have had to spend at least $9 million to $12 million on advertising to get the television exposure it received from that year's gift list, which included a $1.76 million spaceship ride.

† Updates To Previous Posts (second item, Is Armenian Genocide Denial Good For The Jews?): The Turkish government has excluded Israel from NATO’s Anatolian Eagle military exercise, which had been planned to run from October 12-23, reports CNN:

The United States and Italy - which, along with Turkey, are members of NATO - were scheduled to take part in the exercise. Both countries withdrew their participation from the drill after learning Israel had been excluded, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing foreign ministry sources. …

Turkey is Israel's Muslim ally in the Middle East, and the two nations have enjoyed close military and economic relations over the last decade. But tensions have emerged over strong Turkish criticism of the Gaza offensive in December and January.

Haaretz quotes a senior Israel official speculating that "the reality has changed and the strategic ties that we thought existed have simply ended" and that Israel should “adopt response measures":

Supporters of this approach point out that of the countries with diplomatic ties with Israel, Turkey might be the most hostile. …

The Turkish leader has also called for sanctions against Iran to be lifted, and has called on the international community to focus on Israel's nuclear capabilities instead.

The Israeli government should ponder the old saying, “If you lie down with dogs you will get up with fleas.”

† Updates To Previous Posts (Praise The Lord, And Pass The Ammunition): Pastor Ken Pagano whose congregation hosted a much-commented upon Open Carry Celebration a week before Independence Day has resigned his post at the New Bethel Church in Louisville, KY, to devote himself to church-security issues, reports The Washington Times:

"Churches are very soft targets and very vulnerable to attack from terrorists and other homegrown, disgruntled individuals," Mr. Pagano said. "Unfortunately, most religious leaders are living in denial." …

A handful of companies specializing in church security have sprung up in response. Glen Evans, who runs the Church Security Alliance in Dayton, Ohio, said many churches are eager to improve on basic security, such as locking doors and checking perimeters regularly, but wrestle with the idea of having an armed guard or parishioner within the church during services. …

Mr. Pagano advocates a security team of five church members who have at least 40 hours of training in firearms and other tactics. The advantage of using church members instead of a hired guard is that they're better able to separate the regular attendees from the first-time visitors. …

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence thinks Pagano “should be more concerned about the Fifth Commandment than the Second Amendment.” Noting that “a shepherd [is] the protector of the flock,” Pagano retorts: “[p]eople have this idea that Christians have to turn the other cheek. … I don't think there's anything in the Old or New Testament that requires them to roll over and die if someone attacks them or their family.”

† Updates To Previous Posts (last item, Pearson's Knickers Still In A Knot Over His Pants): Perhaps inspired by former D.C. judge Roy Pearson, who can’t seem to get over a beloved pair of pants that he claims his dry cleaner lost, The Associated Press reports that Brian Spaly and his former roommate Andy Dunn have taken a page from online shoe retailer Zappos and started Bonobos Inc., an online clothing company that sells “the perfect pair of pants”:

Mass-market pants, the kind you find at chain stores, are often baggy and frumpy, with lots of extra fabric around the thigh, Spaly says. He calls this "khaki diaper-butt." High-end designer pants, meanwhile, are expensive and too tight, cut for pencil-legged fashionistas and runway models.

Bonobos aims for the comfy middle ground. Its pants, most of which cost $118, have a curved waistband, less fabric in the thighs than the frumpy pants its founders frown on, and a slight boot cut. They come in classic men's colors like khaki, blue and gray, but also in orange, pale lavender and jungle green with bright flowers.

The company is so confident in its designs it accepts pants for return, free of postage for the buyer, no matter when they were bought and even if they've been washed, worn and hemmed. …

Bonobos, which doesn't sell women's clothing, operates under the assumption that men don't like shopping. Bonobos encourages customers to order pants in several sizes and return the ones that don't fit.