Obama tacks right on abortion now?

Chief Justice of England: It’s shari’a time

The most senior judge in England yesterday gave his blessing to the use of sharia law to resolve disputes among Muslims.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips said that Islamic legal principles could be employed to deal with family and marital arguments and to regulate finance.

He declared: 'Those entering into a contractual agreement can agree that the agreement shall be governed by a law other than English law.'

In his speech at an East London mosque, Lord Phillips signalled approval of sharia principles as long as punishments - and divorce rulings - complied with the law of the land.

But his remarks, which back the informal sharia courts operated by numerous mosques, provoked a barrage of criticism.

You'll notice Barack Obama is now wearing a flag pin. Again. During the primary campaign, he refused to, explaining that he'd worn one after 9/11...

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One of the hardest things for reporters to do is to distance themselves when they become part of a story. That's precisely the problem with journalists covering the U.S. economy.

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"We can't drill our way out of our energy crisis."

Actually, we can. As we've noted before, conservative estimates put the total amount of recoverable oil in conventional deposits at about 39 billion barrels. Offshore, we have another 89 billion barrels or so. In ANWR, 10 billion barrels.

"Oil companies are sitting on 68 million acres of oil leases and refuse to drill."

This is yet another slander of "Big Oil" by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — one that has become a major talking point for Democrats in Congress. It's completely dishonest.

"Even if drilling works, it'll take a decade or more for the oil to flow."

This is quite an argument coming from the Democratic Party, which has made keeping oil off the market a linchpin of its energy policy for decades.

If President Clinton hadn't vetoed the idea of drilling in ANWR back in 1995, we'd have that oil on the market today. Ditto if Congress had approved ANWR drilling in 2002, when President Bush requested it.

Even so, the larger point is false anyway. New oil will be flowing in some cases within three to four years, according to industry estimates. But the impact on prices will be immediate. Why? Because markets would suddenly have to discount future oil prices for the expected gain in oil supply. That would cause oil prices, especially in futures markets, to drop.

"Record profits by big oil companies are the reason for soaring prices."

It's true that oil company profits have never been higher. But put into perspective, oil company profits are high because the price is high. As a share of revenue, profits aren't so high.

The average profit, as we've noted before, is around 8 to 9 cents to the dollar. That compares with about 7 cents to the dollar for manufacturers and more than 15 cents to the dollar for computer makers.

In short, oil profits aren't out of whack with the rest of industry.

In the meantime, let us suggest that if you think more oil will help, you should tell your local members of Congress. They're easy to find at the government Web site thomas.loc.gov. The only problem is, on this topic, many won't want to be found.

First things first. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Jaxon Van Derbeken has done excellent work this past week exposing the abject stupidity, recklessness, and fecklessness of SF Mayor Gavin Newsom’s open-borders administration. Van Derbeken’s reporting was so devastating and so solid that the p.c. editors at his newspaper who initially refused to call the illegal alien drug-dealers illegal (they were referred to as “migrants”) finally relented and used the forbidden word in the headline of Wednesday’s story on Newsom’s finger-pointing news conference. Amazing.

It’s only a matter of time, of course, before the multiculti mob fights back and demands its quota of sympathetic sob stories from the SFChronicle to make amends for–gasp–reporting on illegal alien criminals and the government officials who aid them. As sure as day, Geraldo and company will find and fixate on one poor “undocumented youth” to excuse San Francisco’s felonious harboring, aiding, and abetting of illegal alien crack dealers.

To which you should respond: Meet Erlan Colindres and spare us your bleeding hearts.

According to Van Derbeken, “The city has spent $2.3 million just to house illegal immigrants in juvenile hall rather than turning them over to federal authorities since 2005.” In the wake of national outrage over San Fran’s illegal alien drug dealer shuttle service and open-door group housing subsidies, Newsom is retreating slightly from the city’s longstanding policy of deliberate non-enforcement of immigration laws. Honduran illegal alien crack dealers won’t be getting publicly-subsidized escorts and transportation or refuge anymore. But make no mistake and don’t believe the MSM hype (the current headline on the WaP story is “San Francisco to Halt ‘Sanctuary’ Policy”):

Sanctuary remains the standing policy for the vast majority of illegal immigrants in SF. There is no effort underway to rescind the ordinance. There is no effort underway at the White House to punish outlaw sanctuary cities..

Hoping for change? A sanctuary nation doesn’t become a sovereign nation with taxpayers sitting on the sidelines.

It’s your choice.

New York’s Chuck Schumer (D-Blabbermouth) leaks to the press a letter he wrote demagoguing bank regulators and singling out IndyMac’s financial instability.

It’s not just industry types who are shocked at Schumer’s lack of discretion. The Money and Co. blog at the LA Times notes:

Schumer sent letters to the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, saying he was “concerned that IndyMac’s financial deterioration poses significant risks to both taxpayers and borrowers.”

IndyMac, which has suffered huge losses on defaulted mortgage loans, “could face a failure if prescriptive measures are not taken quickly,” Schumer wrote.

Uh, wait a minute — how could Schumer know that? And since when are regulators supposed to tell the public in advance that a particular institution has been earmarked for failure? All that would do is guarantee a collapse. If depositors are within FDIC insurance limits they have nothing to worry about, anyway…

…John D. Hawke, the U.S. comptroller of the currency (regulator of national banks) from 1998 to 2004, had more pointed words for Schumer in a story in the American Banker newspaper today.

“If Schumer continues to go public with letters raising questions about the condition of individual institutions, he will cause havoc in the banking system,” Hawke said.

“Leaking his IndyMac letter to the press was reckless and grossly irresponsible. I don’t see how he can be trusted with confidential information in the future. What this incredibly stupid conduct does is put at risk the willingness of regulators to share any information with the [congressional] oversight committees. After this, you’d be crazy to share information with Schumer.”

Democrat leadership: Not to be trusted with confidential information.

When Chuckie talks, markets balk.

Put those on bumper stickers and don’t forget it.

The San Diego City Council will vote next Tuesday to declare July 8 “National Council of La Raza Day.”

Well, they already gave their blessing to “Happy ACLU Day” despite the litigious group’s long-standing efforts to take down the Mount Soledad cross.

Might as well put their weight behind the ethnic supremacist group fighting against assimilation, funding reconquista schools, advocating speech suppressiong, and promoting lawlessness, too!

The La Raza Twins, Obama and McCain, approve.

***

From the PDF of the draft resolution (hat tip - readers Jeff and Edgar):

Flashback: Top 10 reasons McCain should repudiate La Raza/The Race

Might be worth forwarding that list to the San Diego City Council. Contact them here.

Obama: I’m willing to “refine my policies” on Iraq; Update: “Quagmire,” says ABC