† Is Obama Already A Lame Duck?: According to this Der Spiegel headline Obama is a capon: “The War in Afghanistan Reveals Obama's Impotence.”

† Never Mind Marxism. Will An Obama Administration Be Totalitarian?: Part II: In an interview with radio station KCBS (740 AM-San Francisco), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “There is no question that there is a concerted effort to make [the Ground Zero mosque] a political issue by some. I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded? How is this being ginned up?"

Debra Burlingame - whose brother Charles "Chic" Burlingame III was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, by al Qaeda terrorists - responds to Pelosi’s threat to shut down opposition to the Ground Zero mosque:

For the last four months, 9/11 families, first responders, survivors and concerned citizens have been asking where developers are getting funding for a $100-million dollar mosque and Islamic center planned for Ground Zero. The imam who is heading the project has refused to identify the source of the $5 million cash that was used to purchase the building, and told an Arab newspaper that he will get funding for the project from Arab and Muslim countries. …

Today we learn that instead of taking our concerns seriously, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi suggested that the opponents of the Ground Zero mosque should be investigated. This comment is clearly intended to intimidate those of us who are speaking out to preserve the sanctity of Ground Zero, where more than 20,000 human remains have been recovered, 1,845 in the last five years. We can assure Ms. Pelosi that whatever funds we have spent to get our message out, they pale in comparison to the price we have personally paid since that day, and continue to pay as a result of the mosque project.

This, folks, is what they mean by “San Francisco values.” For their part, NYers are overwhelmingly opposed to the mosque being built within eyeshot of Ground Zero, reports The Associated Press:

The Siena College poll showed 63% of New York voters surveyed oppose the project, with 27% supporting it. That compares with 64% opposed and 28% in favor two weeks earlier, results that are within the polls' sampling margins. …

In a new question, the latest poll found that many New Yorkers believe the project is protected by the Constitution, even if they oppose the plan.

Nearly two-thirds of voters, 64%, say the developers have a constitutional right to build the mosque. Twenty-eight% say they do not. …

Nearly a quarter of voters questioned said the issue will have a major effect on which candidate for governor they support. Thirty-seven% say it will have some effect, while about 40% of voters say it won't matter.

President Barack Hussein Obama demonstrated that he cannot hold two opposing thoughts in his mind at the same time when he stated something so obvious as to be platitudinous (“Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country”) yet could not rise to the occasion to explain to those Muslim community who don’t understand the controversy – not all of them are as willfully obtuse as imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, and his wife, Daisy Khan - that with that right comes the responsibility to compromise so as to co-exist with your fellow Americans when competing interests collide (“I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there"). NYers clearly understand that the Constitution allows the building of the mosque, but that decency forbids it.

† Chicago On The Potomac: So, after nearly three months of testimony and two weeks of deliberations one holdout juror refused to convict former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) of trying to sell Sen. Barack Obama’s (he wasn’t using his middle name back then; only “racists” were) seat for whatever the market would bear. Prosecutors are already planning a do-over, because they think they can get a conviction on the bribery, fraud, conspiracy, and racketeering charges with a different jury. Maybe so, but they have to make a better case, say the jurors. The Associated Press reports:

[T]he next round could also look different if prosecutors adjust their strategy after listening to jurors who deadlocked on all but one charge against Rod Blagojevich. And despite their defiance after the verdict, defense attorneys could offer a few surprises too - if they are still on the job. …

"They have to listen to what jurors are saying," said Jeff Cramer, a former federal prosecutor. "If they're saying it's not clear … prosecutors may need to lay out a clearer road map."

They may also want to simplify the overlapping, interlocking counts, Cramer said. Other prosecutorial changes may be more far-reaching, like calling witnesses who, like [White House Chief of Staff Rahm] Emanuel, were not summoned for the first trial.

Another witness who was not called in the first trial is convicted political fixer Tony Rezko, who prosecutors say was a key cog in Blagojevich's schemes. …

Cramer, for one, says he has little doubt prosecutors will prevail.

He notes that federal cases have more than 90 percent conviction rates - in part because the government is always prone to try someone again if a jury's hung. …

And if a Blagojevich jury is hung after a second trial?

Said Cramer: "There's a good chance they'd do it again - a third time."

Comments like that lend credence to Blago’s claim that the government is persecuting him (“This jury shows you that the government threw everything but the kitchen sink at me.”)

† Living In These Mad, Mad, Madoff Times: In his movie “Play It Again, Sam,” Woody Allen observed that “New York is full of people who are crazy till Labor Day.” That’s because shrinks traditionally take their vacations in August – except for this year, Thanks to the tough economy – no patient, no income - and instant gratification becoming the norm thanks to 24/7 access to online banking, shopping, and other services, “[t]his summer, it's actually possible to get a therapy appointment,” reports The Wall Street Journal. So if the script for "What About Bob?" was being written today, Bill Murray’s character would not feel compelled to follow his shrink to NH and ruin his family vacation.

† TSA (Thieving Security Agent): This time, the errant airport security agent is Randy Pepper, 50, a former supervisor who pleaded guilty to stealing $20,000 worth of jewelry and other items from checked luggage at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, reports The Associated Press: “Pepper was fired in July 2009 after another TSA worker saw him removing items from checked luggage. Surveillance video confirmed it, and investigators discovered Pepper had pawned the items.”

† The Right To Bear Arms Belongs To Us All: Part II: Reflecting Western sensibilities – which The Washington Post devotes several hundred words to explain to Easterners - Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Jon Tester (D-MT) proposed a law to loosen the overly restrictive regulations imposed by the D.C. Council after the Supreme Court struck down the city's 32-year ban on handguns:

In the District, a person who wants to obtain a handgun must file forms with the D.C. police, take a five-hour safety class, undergo two criminal background checks, pass a multiple-choice exam, endure a 10-day waiting period and take the newly registered handgun to police headquarters for a ballistics test. And that's just to keep the gun at home. Except for retired law enforcement officers, private residents cannot legally carry open or concealed weapons in the District. The ATF lists only nine federally licensed firearms dealers, and the nearest public shooting range is the Maryland Small Arms Range eight miles away. …

[G]un rights advocates say that the District's gun control laws - not to mention prohibitions against murder - did not prevent a drive-by shooting in March that involved illegal weapons. They also say that despite having nearly 158,000 people with concealed weapons in Arizona, their homicide rate of 6.3 per 100,000 is lower than the District's, 31.4. That's true of Phoenix, too, where the homicide rate is 10.5 per 100,000.

† Updates To Previous Posts (fourth item, A To Z Approach On Illegal Immigration In AZ): Gov. Jan Brewer's (R-AZ) suggestion that state lawmakers consider making “tweaks” to SB 1070 in response to U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton putting implementation of several provisions on hold is not going anywhere for now, reports The Associated Press:

Legislative aides said Tuesday the idea has been shelved, at least temporarily, mainly because of the state's pending appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"Everyone agreed … that it would have been acting in haste to act at this point," said Victor Riches, chief of staff for the House's Republican majority.

There's still a possibility that lawmakers could take up the issue in the future but nothing is in the works now, Riches added.

† Updates To Previous Posts (penultimate item, Obama’s Family Values: Part V): Thanks to a Freedom of Information request, The Boston Globe learned why Judge Leonard I. Shapiro decided to grant President Barack Hussein Obama’s 58-year-old aunt, Zeituni Onyango, asylum in May:

[A] federal law enforcement official’s public revelations about her confidential case catapulted Onyango into the spotlight in a “highly publicized and highly politicized manner’’ just days before Obama’s historic election in November 2008. The publicity and her status as Obama’s aunt are the crux of his 29-page decision.

Shapiro, a veteran immigration judge and Republican appointee, wrote harshly of the anonymous Bush administration official’s leak to the Associated Press for using confidential information for political purposes and said it was a “clear violation of federal regulations.’’

“Moreover,’’ he wrote, “the disclosure  … was a reckless and illegal violation of her right to privacy which has exposed her to great risk.’’ …

Shapiro agreed with Onyango’s assertion that she had been singled out for publicity and, unlike her relatives in Kenya, would be a “target.’’ He also outlined “serious interethnic conflict’’ that had consumed Kenya in recent years and resulted in hundreds of deaths. She belongs to the minority Luo ethnic group and said that she feared for her life if she had to return to Kenya. …

He also acknowledged Onyango’s illegal status but did not hold it against her because there was no evidence that the federal government had ever pursued her deportation.[Emphasis, The Stiletto]

Some disputed the basis of Shapiro’s decision yesterday, and reiterated calls to release the full case to the public.

“The fact that she is the aunt of the president of the United States does raise questions of whether she received any special treatment,’’ said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

† Updates To Previous Posts (third item, Is This Why We Fight?): The Taliban sentenced a young couple who had eloped to be executed by stoning and instead of ignoring the order or running them out of town, several hundred of their male neighbors – and at least two family members - in a village in northern Kunduz Province (AKA “innocent Afghan civilians”) picked up stones and hurled them at a 25-year-old Khayyam and his 19-year-old wife Siddiqa until they were dead, reports The New York Times:

The stoning deaths, along with similarly brazen attacks in northern Afghanistan, were also a sign of growing Taliban strength in parts of the country where, until recently, they had been weak or absent. In their home regions in southern Afghanistan, Mr. Nadery said, the Taliban have already been cracking down. …

Perhaps most worrisome were signs of support for the action from mainstream religious authorities in Afghanistan. The head of the Ulema Council in Kunduz Province, Mawlawi Abdul Yaqub, interviewed by telephone, said Monday that stoning to death was the appropriate punishment for an illegal sexual relationship, although he declined to give his view on this particular case. An Ulema Council is a body of Islamic clerics with religious authority in a region.

And less than a week earlier, the national Ulema Council brought together 350 religious scholars in a meeting with government religious officials, who issued a joint statement on Aug. 10 calling for more punishment under Shariah law, apparently referring to stoning, amputations and lashings.

Failure to carry out such “Islamic provisions,” the council statement said, was hindering the peace process and encouraging crime.

In an interview with The Washington Times Lyric Thompson, senior policy analyst with Women for Women International points out that, “[a] lot of the discussion, particularly in Washington, has attempted to draw a line that in the south everything is Taliban-controlled and in the north we have made progress.” She adds that the stoning in Kunduz disproves the conventional wisdom: "It is basically Kabul, and then there is everything outside of Kabul."