A List of Lettermans Advertisers

If you want to hit this creep where it hurts here are a list of Letterman's advertisers. This site advocates a letter writing campaign against Mars, Best Western, and Embassy Suites. If I was Mars I would pull my sponsorship right now. Don't they sell a lot of candy to 14 year old kids? I would hate to be tied to a guy that jokes about raping their best customers.

Main Advertisers:

Mars Candy

Best Western

Lexus

Capitol One

eBay

Other advertisers:

TV.Com

On the Border Restaurants

Intel

CBSsports.com

JohnFreida.com

DiTech

Earn My Degree

True Credit by Trans Union

Lifelock

Bowflex

ancestry.com

Yahoo Tries to Excuse Letterman's Willow Palin Rape "Jokes"

I love how the liberal media all tries to ban together when one of them "jokes" about A-Rod raping a 14 year old girl.

It all started on Monday when David Letterman told some off-color jokes about Alaskan governor Sarah Palin and her daughter. Dave made some cracks about one of the Palin girls having to fend off Eliot Spitzer and getting knocked up by Yankees star Alex Rodriguez during a recent trip to the Big Apple.

Off-color? Yahoo thinks it is merely off-color to "joke" about a Yankee ball-player raping a teen girl? That has to be the worst cover for Letterman's atrocious actions you could possibly have thought up. Calling teen rape "off-color" or just "cracks" is inexcusable by Yahoo or anyone else.

Hell, come to think of it, even A-Rod got slandered by that "joke" as well. I wonder why Letterman hasn't apologized to him also?

Sarah Palin Hits Back at David Letterman Saying A-Rod Should Rape Willow Palin

Now David Letterman joins the liberal hate and rape train just like Playboy before him by trying to make a "joke" about raping a 14 year old girl. I'm glad Sarah hit back with both barrels:

In an e-mailed statement, the Republican governor said: “Laughter incited by sexually perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl is not only disgusting, but it reminds us some Hollywood/N.Y. entertainers have a long way to go in understanding what the rest of America understands — that acceptance of inappropriate sexual comments about an underage girl, who could be anyone's daughter, contributes to the atrociously high rate of sexual exploitation of minors by older men who use and abuse others.”

Well that will do it for David Letterman for me. I think Conan is far funnier anyway so it is no big loss. I so think people need to boycott his sponsors though. Hate speech and advocating the rape of a 14 year old girl and pretending it is a "joke" needs to carry some ramifications.

Does Jazz Pharmaceuticals Have a Fibromyalgia Blockbuster on their Hands?

It sure might if their Phase 3 Trials pan out. The company is presenting at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) 2009 Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington.

At APSS on June 11, 2009 at 9:00 am in Ballroom 6E, Dr. Swick will also deliver an oral presentation entitled "Sodium Oxybate Improves Pain, Fatigue, and Sleep in Fibromyalgia: Results from a 14-week Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Study."

You would think that Fibromyalgia would be quite a market because it is a chronic illness and hits from 0.5% - 5% of adults worldwide. That means that as many as 326 million people could have their symptoms lessened by this drug. If they can pull in even a 10th of that number then that will equate to several billion in revenue per year.

On looking over their financials this is the main thing that jumped out at me:

Jazz Pharmaceuticals' cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2009 were $17.0 million. On March 31, 2009, Jazz Pharmaceuticals did not pay $5.1 million in interest due to the holders of the $119.5 million principal amount of its senior secured notes due June 2011, and Jazz Pharmaceuticals remains in default on the notes. The total overdue interest due on the notes through March 31, 2009 is $9.6 million.

This precarious cash position sounds like something that could be a big problem in the next few quarters. So if these Phase 3 Trials don't pan out (or if there is any kind of delay with the FDA) then they probably won't be able to roll this debt over. If that happens then they might not be a going concern unless they seriously cut costs.

Dendreon always had a decent cash position when they were going through all their troubles. This company does not have that luxury. So it really is a gamblers stock any way you look at it.

Qualcomm's New Mirasol Display Screen Could Mean Big Profits

Now this is an interesting twist on a trying to get away from an LCD cell phone display that sucks up so much power that you have to recharge it twice a day.

Qualcomm's power-saving trick is straightforward: Instead of using the LCD method of shining a backlight through a color filter, a strategy that wastes as much as 95% of the screen's energy on light that never reaches the user's eye, Mirasol will merely reflect ambient light. The result is a screen that's not as bright in most situations--particularly indoors. But Mirasol screens use somewhere between 1% and 10% of an LCD's power, depending on the device, and are far easier to read in bright sunlight.

Now this display isn't such a big deal in the US right now. However here is the part where you see the stock price shoot up if they seriously start pushing these things out the door.

Last February, Chinese handset manufacturer Hisense launched an ultra-simple low-power phone using a two-color Mirasol display. That phone, Qualcomm says, will be one of several power-sipping handsets subsidized by the Chinese government in a program it is calling "Going Country," designed to give rural farmers access to cellphones.

You might see this Mirasol display on a few billion more cell phones in rural China. These are some of people that make up the half of humanity that still doesn't have a cell phone. I would be willing to bet that you will see these displays on cheaper phones in India and South America as well.

I'm sure Nokia can't wait to build a raft of those cheap phones that they seem to churn out that have these Mirasol displays on them. Any way you slice it this display could be a big seller. Qualcomm will be opening a new plant in Taiwan in the next couple of days to start rolling these things out in big numbers. I have QCOM on my watch list right now.

Ahmadinejad Accuses Rival of using Nazi tactics

I though Ahmadinejoke figured the Nazis were all about sweetness and light with his Holocaust denials. Here is incoherent statement:

"They applied the methods of (Josef) Goebbels, propaganda minister of Hitler," Ahmadinejad told thousands of Iranian-flag waving supporters. "They used this method of psychological war against our nation."

Um, Ahamadinejoke was the one to pull a Goebbels with his "Israel wiped off the map" talk. Also Iran wanting to build a "wonder-weapon" in the form of a nuke is also pretty Goebbels-like as well. I really want to see Mir Hossein Mousavi to win the Iranian election and send Ahmadinejoke and his Members Only jacket back to where it is he came from.

Red Chinese to Obama: Reign in the Spending Right Now!

At least they are saying it in private.

Senior Chinese leaders have privately voiced fear over the soaring US budget deficit and are increasingly looking to diversify from the dollar, a Republican congressman said.

"We heard across the board -- in private -- substantial, continuing and rising concern," Representative Mark Kirk said after a trip to China that included talks with government officials and central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan.

"It's clear that China would like to diversify from its dollar investments," the lawmaker said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think-tank.

Maybe we will see this runaway debt train pull into the station now that the Red Chinese are cutting off the debt fuel supply. It sure seems strange that the Chinese Communists are actually trying to reign in the spending of the so-called capitalist United States. Hey, they would be devastated as badly as we will if that $700 billion in debt gets defaulted on by Obamanomics.

10 Banks Get to Pay Back the TARP

All told $68 billion is going back into the Treasury.

All eight banks that took TARP money and last month passed government "stress tests" confirmed they received permission to repay the bailout funds. They are: JPMorgan Chase & Co., American Express Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., U.S. Bancorp, Capital One Financial Corp., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., State Street Corp. and BB&T Corp.

Morgan Stanley did not pass the government test, but on Tuesday said it had raised enough capital quickly and was approved to repay its TARP money.

Northern Trust Corp. was not among the 19 banks subjected to stress tests, but the company said it also had received permission to repay the bailout funds.

Now they won't have the US Government dictating terms or telling them how much they can pay their employees. Now the regulation fight begins so that these "good banks" get punished yet again for the crimes of the dead banks.

Supreme Court Rules Against Secured Debt Holders: Chrysler Deal Goes Through

I guess they didn't want to wade into the bankruptcy process to settle the question once and for all.

The court issued a brief, unsigned opinion explaining its action. To obtain a delay, or stay, someone must show that at least four of the nine justices find that the issue raised is serious enough to warrant hearing a full appeal and that a majority of the court will conclude the lower court decision was wrong.

I think the idea of unsecured union members getting more of a share of the new company then secured debt holders is going to come back to haunt the Court in years to come. They might have another chance with GM but I doubt they will do anything.

Boston Globe Circles the Drain

Well it looks like we might see the end of a 137 year old newspaper because their union will not budge on pay cuts. I think this statement is indicative of their problems:

The union in question, the Boston Globe Newspaper Guild, represents mostly reporters, editors and business-side administrators and ad salespeople. The Globe's other six unions -- for pressmen, delivery truck drivers and mailers, among other groups -- had already agreed to concessions.

Yes, this company has 7 different unions representing their employees. Welcome to a "progressive" America if card check is passed.

Evidence that Lamar Alexander is the Best Senator in Congress: He Wants to Give Shares of GM Stock to Taxpayers!

Now this is why Lamar Alexander needs to run for President in 2012.

After GM comes out of bankruptcy, the — the government will own about 60 percent of it, and about 8 percent of Chrysler. And taxpayers have paid $50 billion for that GM stock. So, I'm introducing legislation, along with some other senators, that say, within a year, give the stock to any American who paid taxes on April 15. So, you would end up with a few shares of GM stock, and the government would stop meddling.

I am damning GM as Government Motors but Alexanders plan will make it into Taxpayer Motors. Suddenly, we would *all* have a stake in seeing GM succeed since we will all be actual shareholders in the new company. Senator Alexander's plan is to think of that $50 billion of bailout money as an investment made by the US Government on behalf of the US Taxpayer.

Lets say they issue these New GM shares to tax payers at $.10 par value (so that we don't have trillions of shares out there.) That would mean that every American will receive 1,380 shares of GM stock. Round that down to 1,250 shares and use the excess to pay to setup and administer these investment accounts (I can see Blackrock doing it.)

We should also receive shares of the relaunched versions of AIG, Citigroup, Fannie and Freddie that would be proportionate to the amount of bailout cashola that was paid out to the company. Suddenly all 380 million Americans will enter the investment class.

If you attach a decent dividend to the shares it will act as an immediate stimulus to the tune of a few hundred dollars a quarter. Also if GM again reaches its 52 week high of $38.27 a share (which it hit in summer of 2007) Americans will suddenly be $47,837 richer if they sell the stock. That is enough for a brand new Cadillac SRX. Lamar Alexander in 2012 is "Change I can believe in (and get paid dividends for as well.")

GOP Catch Dems on Economy For First Time in 2 Years

Now this is an interesting development and should put the Obama people on alert. Also Hotair doesn't understand why there was a big move on government ethics and corruption:

What I don’t get is the spread on ethics. Why the huge swing? Murtha’s been in trouble lately for his lobbyist sleaze but that’s hardly a major national story. Pelosi’s hedging about waterboarding probably hurt but that would seem to speak more to national security than to a classic ethical issue. Smells like Rasmussen simply might have gotten a bum sample here. Am I wrong?

I think the Pelosi saying the CIA lied to her about water boarding was what flipped these numbers. I think many Americans understand that the CIA is one of the main groups out there that is literally fighting day and night to keep us safe and we will never know what they did until decades later.

And to have Pelosi drag their name through the mud for the sake of political ass covering just went too far beyond the ethical pale. I think she might be damaged goods and could be ousted if she makes another mistake.

Hugh Hewitt Calls for Boycott of General Motors: I Tend to Agree

Hey I seem to be out in front of trend again. In this case it is a brewing boycott of General Motors and the unfair bailout where secured bondholders were robbed so that the US Government, Canada, and the UAW could control a private company.

But there isn't any alternative, every dollar spent with GM is a dollar spent against free enterprise. Every car or truck purchased from Government Motors is one not purchased from a private car company that competes fairly against all other car companies. Many are rightly afraid that the government will do to automobile production what it has done for Amtrack and the Postal Service, but the risk is much greater than a federally mandated lemon.

I agree that anyone that wants to buy an American car while GM is majority owned by the Feds should buy a Ford. It is just that simple. If you object to the idea of a Government Motors then it is time to "Drive the Ford Difference." That also means when you rent a car you ask for a Ford as well. Buying or even driving a government-made GM is dooming Ford and making the auto choice in the US only between foreign cars (which will still be well made) and government cars (which will be like Amtrack.)

The Soviets didn't have a choice of what government owned car company to buy a car from. We still have Ford. They are one car company that isn't controlled by Unions, Canada, some 31 year old kid with his first government job named Brian Deese, or some other Beltway insider that doesn't know a balance sheet from a bed sheet.

You wouldn't really be hurting the workers at GM because they are now employees of the US government and are thus basically exempt from firing. About the only thing you will have to worry about is the inflation caused by the government shoveling more money into GM to keep churning out the Chevy Amtrack or new Dodge SPA (Socialist People's Automobile.)

Plus owning a GM car might doom you to going to the Department of Motor Vehicles for parts and service. Now that is a dystopian future that will keep me in a Ford or a Import car for the rest of my life.

Kennedy Healthcare Bill Will Be a Disaster

Good thing this thing is only a draft because it sounds like the worst bill ever put forth by Congress. It probably takes all of the worst parts of health care and lumps it all into a package that no country can afford.

This would have severe effects on the more than 100 million Americans who have private health insurance today:

• The government would mandate not only that you must buy health insurance, but what health insurance counts as “qualifying.”
• Health insurance premiums would rise as a result of the law, meaning lower wages.
• A government-appointed board would determine what items and services are “essential benefits” that your qualifying plan must cover.
• You would find a tremendous new disincentive to switch jobs, because your new health insurance may be subject to the new rules and would therefore be significantly more expensive.
• Those who keep themselves healthy would be subsidizing premiums for those with risky or unhealthy behaviors.
• Far more than half of all Americans would be eligible for subsidies, but we have not yet been told who would pay the bill.
• The Secretaries of Treasury and HHS would have unlimited discretion to impose new taxes on individuals and employers who do not comply with the new mandates.
• The Secretary of HHS could mandate that you provide him or her with “any such other information as [he/she] may prescribe.”

The highlights (or lowlights) are: you either buy health insurance or you are taxed some unspecified amount. You might get your care rationed by some board of health care bureaucrats. Healthy people will have to pay for risky and unhealthy people. It subsidizes health care costs for half of Americans but doesn't tell you where that money comes from.

It also lets the Treasury and the HHS impose unspecified taxes for noncompliance and force you to provide “any such other information as [he/she] may prescribe.” In other words government bureaucrats will have the ability to look at your colonoscopy results if they choose to.

I will be willing to bet you $100 that Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives will have their medical histories leaked on the Internet a week after this bill is passed. Especially if that information is embarrassing or damaging.

This health care reform bill has the potential to strait-up wreck the US health care system in one fell swoop and needs to be opposed by every right thinking American.

Obama Pounds the Table on Stimulus: Just So Much Hot Air

That is what happens when you have Pelosi and Reid write the "stimulus" bill instead of doing it yourself.

"I know that they are some who, despite all evidence to the contrary, still don't believe in the necessity and promise of this recovery," Obama said. "And I would suggest to them that they talk to the companies who, because of this plan, scrapped the idea of laying off employees and in fact decided to hire employees. Tell that to the Americans who received that unexpected call saying, `Come back to work.'"

The only company that I can think of that is doing that is Wal-Mart there might be others but not enough to really make a difference. This is the reality of what the "stimulus" did.

Obama has claimed as many as 150,000 jobs saved or created by his stimulus plan so far, even as government reports have shown the economy has lost more than 1.6 million jobs since Congress approved funding for the program in February.

Even if by some magic accounting trick 150,000 jobs were actually saved it still means we are down another 1.45 million jobs since the "stimulus" was passed. We are also well above the 8% unemployment that the "stimulus" was supposed to prevent. I can say that something that cost 700 billion dollars should be doing more then simply losing another 1.45 million jobs.

Now he is trying to outsource Healthcare reform to the same failures that gave us the "stimulus." Good luck Obama since you can't trust Pelosi and Reid to do anything right.

"Green" Transport Might Not Be So Green

It seems that taking the bus or train instead of driving may not as eco-friendly as you might think.

The pair give an example of how the use of oil, gas or coal to generate electricity to power trains can skew the picture.

Boston has a metro system with high energy efficiency. The trouble is, 82 percent of the energy to drive it comes from dirty fossil fuels.

By comparison, San Francisco's local railway is less energy-efficient than Boston's. But it turns out to be rather greener, as only 49 percent of the electricity is derived from fossils.

The secret is to shut down every coal fired power plant in the nation and replace it with a nuclear plant. Solar and wind are not at the technological level where they will make up for all of the coal plants that we would be losing. Nuclear plants, however, will be an actual bridge technology that will last us the 25-50 years it will take to build out enough solar and wind to take its place. If you are serious about climate change but are anti-nuclear then you are a fool.

Senator Richard Lugar Likes Obama's Middle East Speech

Hey the Senator and I both liked the content of Obama's Middle East speech.

The speech was important and necessary, said Lugar, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noting a “lack of sympathy for our country” in many Muslim nations.

“We probably as Americans need to give a lot of speeches in the Arab world,” the Indiana senator said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing this weekend. Obama’s language on Iran was tough enough and was meant to reassure Arab countries, which also are concerned about Iran’s quest to acquire nuclear weapons, Lugar said.

It isn't just a lack of sympathy but a sheer hatred of our ideals and way of life. Maybe if more Americans respected Muslim nations they will start to come around. It certainly worked for China.

Penske Looking to Snap Up Saturn

This seems like a fairly interesting idea depending on how the Saturn brand is run.

Roger Penske is inventing a new business model on the ruins of General Motors Corp. The auto racing magnate and mega dealership owner is snapping up Saturn and opening his expanded sales network to foreign automakers looking to sell cars to Americans.

If Saturn returns to its roots as the no negotiation car company that is customer-centric then I think they may live for years to come. They have the opportunity to perhaps make Saturn into the Apple of car makers since they had quite a big following in the 80s-90s.

I would just worry about Penske absorbing the manufacturing plants that make Saturn. After all Penske is mostly an auto retailer and not a car builder so hopefully they come over from GM fairly whole. Also I wonder if Penske will be able to outsource the new car designs profitably or not. Maybe some of that racing heritage will come in handy to give some of the new Saturns some cool-power.

This should be good for the companies stock (PAG) depending on what choices they make going forward. It certainly did pop the stock 5.8% after hours. It will certainly be interesting to see how well the Hummer and Saturn are doing in a few years out from under their dinosaur former owners.

Obama's Muslim Doctrine: The 7 Tensions of Islam vs. the West

I think one of the main highlights of the speech in Cairo was Obama's 7 "tensions" that he mentioned in his speech. Here are a paraphrasing and some commentary

1st Tension: The Battle Against violent extremism.

In Ankara, I made clear that America is not - and never will be - at war with Islam. We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security. Because we reject the same thing that people of all faiths reject: the killing of innocent men, women, and children. And it is my first duty as President to protect the American people.

This should be a given but we seem to keep going to war in Muslim countries ever since the end of the Cold War. It was nice for Obama to actually point out that this isn't a war with Islam but with violent extremists that want to kill Americans. It would have been nice to hear some more anti-Al-Quida rhetoric thrown in.

2nd Tension: Israelis vs. Palestinians and the Arab world

Too many tears have flowed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in prayer.

This is basically for the Palestinians to give up violence and form a state and for Israel to stop building settlements in the West Bank. It is a kind of a simplistic solution on the surface but you have to have some kind of goals in mind. Getting Hamas to not kill Israeli's and having the IDF force settlers out of the West Bank (after forcing settlers out of Gaza only to have it turn into a rocket shooting gallery) will have to be the heavy lifting part.

3rd Tension: Nukes in the Middle East

I understand those who protest that some countries have weapons that others do not. No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons. That is why I strongly reaffirmed America's commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons. And any nation - including Iran - should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That commitment is at the core of the Treaty, and it must be kept for all who fully abide by it. And I am hopeful that all countries in the region can share in this goal.

Obama repeats his negotiations without precondition with Iran. So I think we might have an Almadinijoke (assuming he wins the election) vs. Obama debate on the radar in the next few years. It is interesting to have him endorse a Iran's (and anyone else for that matter) "right to access peaceful nuclear power." That just put a major burden on the UN to not have these nations tricking them into okaying nuclear power plants with a side-order of secret bomb work. Israel needs to ramp up their new nuclear power plant ASAP. Let the peaceful (hopefully) nuclear power race in the Middle East begin because America seems to be all for it.

4th Tension: Democracy and Islam

No matter where it takes hold, government of the people and by the people sets a single standard for all who hold power: you must maintain your power through consent, not coercion; you must respect the rights of minorities, and participate with a spirit of tolerance and compromise; you must place the interests of your people and the legitimate workings of the political process above your party. Without these ingredients, elections alone do not make true democracy.

It is good to see him break out elections from democracy. Democratic societies are more about placing the interests of the people in front of the interests of the rulers. There are just too many cleptocracies in the Middle East and it seems that Obama wants that to end.

5th Tension: Religious Freedom

Among some Muslims, there is a disturbing tendency to measure one's own faith by the rejection of another's. The richness of religious diversity must be upheld - whether it is for Maronites in Lebanon or the Copts in Egypt. And fault lines must be closed among Muslims as well, as the divisions between Sunni and Shia have led to tragic violence, particularly in Iraq.

Wow, now that is something to see an American president say the Muslims need to close the Sunni vs. Shia devide. That fight has been going on since after Mohammed died and probably won't end in my lifetime. It is good to see Obama giving a shout out to helping religious minorities in the Muslim world as well.

6th Tension: Women's Rights

Our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons, and our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity - men and women - to reach their full potential. I do not believe that women must make the same choices as men in order to be equal, and I respect those women who choose to live their lives in traditional roles. But it should be their choice. That is why the United States will partner with any Muslim-majority country to support expanded literacy for girls, and to help young women pursue employment through micro-financing that helps people live their dreams.

Now this is a real break with past tradition of America keeping their mouth shut about the plight of women in the Muslim world. The idea that America is going to teach women to read and *gasp* run businesses should make every Mullah tremble. A woman's revolt in Iran or Saudi Arabia would strait-up change the world and shake the pillars of power. Maybe US feminist groups should be all over this cause instead of smearing Sarah Palin. The World Sisterhood needs to be formed by the left to help Muslim women.

7th Tension: Economic Development

But I also know that human progress cannot be denied. There need not be contradiction between development and tradition. Countries like Japan and South Korea grew their economies while maintaining distinct cultures. The same is true for the astonishing progress within Muslim-majority countries from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai. In ancient times and in our times, Muslim communities have been at the forefront of innovation and education.

At one time Muslim nations were some of the richest and most innovative in the world due to trade, education, and the wise movement of capital. Obama lays out a host of new programs to push entrepreneurship in the Middle East (perhaps by starting an America-led micro-credit organization.) He also advocates bringing more Muslim students to the US to go to school. The intriguing part is sending American students to the Muslim world. They better not be thought of as spies and jailed. That would strait-up suck.

Also the idea of starting some kind of online network that connects Muslim and American kids is great idea. This would be a great way to deprogram some of the death cult of anti-American zealots that keep coming out of the Middle East. It will also allow American kids to be a little more aware of the other people living in the world and their cultures. I think more emphasis on cultural exchange that goes beyond our troops in their countries or their crazy zealots in ours is good for America.

The Muslim science and technology fund sounds like something to be proud of if it is executed right. I mean one of the best ways to get Muslim world to really shine is to focus them on the pursuit of science and technological understanding. After all the Golden Age of Islam wasn't marked by backwards education and cleptocracies. Now the part the Muslim world will really be waiting for. We heard Obama's words now they are waiting for Obama's actions.

Obama's Speech to the Muslims: A Homerun!

I think this speech may have been even more important then the so-called speech on race during the campaign. Here is a transcript. These parts I found especially good IMO.

I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum.

Yup, there are quite a few Muslims living in the Great Satan after all.

I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America's story. The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco. In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President John Adams wrote, "The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims." And since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States. They have fought in our wars, served in government, stood for civil rights, started businesses, taught at our Universities, excelled in our sports arenas, won Nobel Prizes, built our tallest building, and lit the Olympic Torch. And when the first Muslim-American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers - Thomas Jefferson - kept in his personal library.

The bad part is we actually fought Morocco in our first war as a nation with the Barbary Coast pirates. That Jefferson with the Koran remark however was genius.

I think this part might be the best part of the speech because no American president that I remember has tied together the Muslims, Jews, and Christians so succinctly and for the cause of "peace in our time." I mean all three religions have caused quite a bit of bloodshed in history but they are all founded on a tradition of peace.

The Holy Koran tells us, "O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another."

The Talmud tells us: "The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace."

The Holy Bible tells us, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."

The people of the world can live together in peace. We know that is God's vision. Now, that must be our work here on Earth. Thank you. And may God's peace be upon you.