Ronald Reagan On America

Ronald Reagan About Socialized Healthcare

I Must Be Racist

- I think if its okay to crack jokes about white people then it should be okay to crack jokes about black people as well

- I don't think all Muslims are the same race

- I think its okay to criticize Islam and I also think Islam is not a race

- I don't think there is anything wrong with calling people of African descent "black" just like there is nothing wrong with calling Caucasian people "white"

- I think the non-white population of the world should get over the past and stop blaming the white population for all their problems.

- I think non-whites are racist when they have negative generalizations about white people

I believe all that, I must be racist!

Please help me understand how racist I am by mentioning more facts like that.

Arvo Part

Agnus Dei

BLOGGER USES PICTURES OF OSAMA BIN LADEN FOR TARGET PRACTICE

Oh yes I do.

Hey, if the Somalis can do it, so can I. . .

Don't Try This At Home. . .

Hondurans Vote

"when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security"

I'm posting the article, but really hope Carlos can speak better on it soon.

Wall Street Journal:

Hondurans Pick a Leader to End Limbo
Conservative Rancher Wins Presidential Election, but International Acceptance Isn't Guaranteed

By NICHOLAS CASEY
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- A conservative rancher named Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo took the Honduran presidency in elections Sunday, five months after the country's last elected president was forced out of the country at gunpoint. Now Hondurans must wait to see if the international community, which has been divided over the crisis, accepts the winner as legitimate.

The results gave Mr. Lobo 56% of the vote, well ahead of Liberal Party candidate Elvin Santos at 38%, confirming voters' expected punishment of the Liberals -- party of both the deposed president and the interim government that ousted him.

While the small Central American nation is expected to get crucial support from the U.S., it will likely continue to face opposition from regional heavyweights such as Brazil and Argentina. The U.S., in agreeing to accept the winner, is now in a delicate position -- with Brazil, for example, which is housing exiled leader Manuel Zelaya in its Honduran embassy and recognizes him as president.

Hondurans Head to the Polls
View Slideshow

Associated Press

A soldier stood guard in the door of a polling center during presidential elections in Tegucigalpa, Sunday.
About 61% of Hondurans voted, and turnout, which was up from 2005, was seen as a crucial factor in persuading more countries to back the vote. The turnout was a loss for Mr. Zelaya, who had urged supporters to boycott the election. After the vote, Mr. Zelaya condemned the elections on CNN saying: "Absenteeism triumphed. ... These elections don't correct the coup d'etat."

Mr. Zelaya's removal at gunpoint in June caused a stir in Honduras and abroad, where the global community condemned the ouster as a coup. Honduras's political institutions, including its congress and supreme court, backed the ouster as the legal removal of a president who they said was illegally trying to get himself re-elected -- charges Mr. Zelaya denies.

Honduras's interim government has since struggled to gain acceptance and has cast the election as the obvious answer to the country's impasse. But some nations have said Mr. Zelaya would have to be restored to power to hold a credible election.

Neither of the two men claiming to be president during the past five months -- Mr. Zelaya and interim President Roberto Micheletti -- was on the ballot. The vote hands power to Mr. Lobo, a conservative rancher who was narrowly beaten by Mr. Zelaya four years ago. "It's going to be Pepe this time," said Higenio Garcia Ponce, an agricultural laborer who said he had just voted for Mr. Lobo. "There was a rupture in the Liberal Party over what happened with Zelaya."

In San Angel, a mountain village overlooking Tegucigalpa, three long lines stretched through the town's polling place as voters waited to cast their ballots. "We need change," said Roberto Ponce, 49, who voted for Mr. Lobo. While Mr. Ponce described satisfaction with Mr. Micheletti's tenure, he expressed no interest in supporting the president's party, despite having cast ballots for the liberals in past elections.

Power Struggle
See a timeline of events.

View Interactive

More interactive graphics and photos Further Reading
Honduran Hopefuls Look Past Zelaya The election seemed largely peaceful in the capital. Outside, there were reports of clashes between security forces and pro-Zelaya demonstrators in the second city of San Pedro Sula. Tom Loudon, co-director of the Quixote Center, a faith-based nongovernmental organization focused on social-justice issues, was among the protesters and said about 500 people were dispersed with tear gas and water cannons. Calls to the city's police department weren't returned Sunday.

Others said Zelaya supporters tried to prevent them from voting. Enrique Zelaya, a 54-year-old doctor who works for the United Nations, said he was among people in a group of 25 cars Sunday that was stopped at the border between El Salvador and Honduras by men who said they were trying to enforce Mr. Zelaya's boycott of the election. After five hours, the cars were allowed to pass, he said.

The political crisis began when Mr. Zelaya attempted to hold a referendum to gauge public interest in changing the constitution. Critics of the former president, a leftist known for his ties to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, alleged he was following in Mr. Chávez's footsteps and attempting to change the law to stay past term limits, itself a violation of Honduran law. On June 28, he was apprehended at his home and sent out of the country in his pajamas. Mr. Micheletti, the next in line for the presidency, took office.

Only the U.S., Costa Rica and Panama have said they will accept the winner, though other countries, including Mexico and Canada, appear to be leaning that way as well. The government is betting that U.S. recognition will lead other nations to back down from earlier positions. "They may not recognize the elections Sunday itself, but I believe they will at some point in the future," Mr. Lobo said Saturday.

Mr. Lobo and Mr. Santos offered differing domestic agendas but were light on specifics about how to tackle Honduras's central challenges, including reducing chronic poverty and encouraging foreign investment.

More immediately, the winner will have to deal with concerns related to Mr. Zelaya: whether to instruct Congress to reinstate him temporarily on a vote to be held Wednesday, and how to reassure the international community of the new government's legitimacy.

"Connecting the dots in this fashion would not have been contemplated as recently as one year ago"

Oh, I don't know. Since a bunch of people here and throughout the right side of Infidelphia have been connecting these dots, one way or another, since long before the 2008 Coronation. No one wanted to listen to us then and now, even right side media outlets are wondering how they could have missed this, how they could have not seen it coming.

Must have been all that charisma. . .

American Spectator:

The Plan to Silence Dissent
By Mark Hyman on 11.30.09

There is no shortage of conspiracy theories that elicit a chuckle or the rolling of eyeballs. "September 11th was an inside job." "The war on Iraq was launched to enrich Halliburton." "AIDS was created to annihilate the black community." But should we be alarmed when a theory appears plausible in an age when the previously unthinkable occurs on a regular basis?

"When the heavy hand of the State is imposed on the press, all of us lose," Barack Obama told a group of Kenyan journalists during a 2006 trip to Africa. He continued, "The media does not have a formal role in the Government, but it serves a critical function in providing information to the public so that they can hold the Government accountable."

That was then and this is now. Apparently, a present-day President Obama has a different view -- a wild-eyed view -- of a free press than did a Senator Obama now that some outlets hold him, his administration and his political allies accountable.

The Obama Administration declared war on the minority of media outlets that do not worship the political left's newest false idol immediately after Obama was sworn in. Three days into his presidency Obama warned Congressional Republicans against listening to radio host Rush Limbaugh. Amazingly, the president who offered to sit down with the thug leaders of rogue nations, such as Iran's Holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, without any preconditions believed an immense threat was posed by a radio talk show host originally from southeastern Missouri.

Then the White House launched a jihad against Fox News Channel and its hosts by first boycotting appearances on the cable channel and then second, by engaging in name-calling and leveling baseless allegations.

More recently, the White House brazenly attempted to marginalize Fox News Channel by enlisting the support of the heretofore compliant news media. Fortunately, competing news outlets found the backbone -- if only temporarily -- to put the kibosh on Obama's attempts to blacklist FNC from the White House press pool.

All of the Obama Administration bluster may have been just that. Supporters of talk radio breathed a sigh of relief earlier this year when an amendment introduced by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) passed with an 87-11 Senate vote that seemingly ended an attempt to implement the so-called "Fairness Doctrine." The inaptly named "Fairness Doctrine" is nothing less than government-imposed speech codes. Although the doctrine would not have likely survived Constitutional scrutiny, radio hosts and listeners alike thought a major bullet was dodged.

So, are all threats averted? Perhaps not. There may be another plan afoot to silence dissent.

Instead of having the government decide which program merited "the other side" of the argument, what if there was a plan to shut down the free component of talk radio and broadcast TV?

More than 150 bureaucrats at the Federal Communications Commission are in the final stages of planning how to deliver broadband Internet to the estimated 3-6 million people who do not have access. A formal plan will be unveiled in early 2010 but one proposal being discussed is deeply alarming as it threatens First Amendment freedoms.

The FCC is contemplating the notion that some or all of the electromagnetic spectrum occupied by radio and TV broadcasters is the perfect real estate to launch a national wireless broadband service. The price tag is $350 billion. That is as much as nearly $120,000 per person to be connected. Apparently, the FCC has not heard of the "$99 Triple Play."

Evicted broadcasters would no longer offer free, over-the-air radio and TV, but would instead be confined to subscription platforms such as cable and satellite or the Internet. This aspect of the plan is indeed troubling. The public would be required to pay for their news, information and entertainment services and there would be no free option.

However, it gets worse. Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced a measure this year that would allow the president to disconnect private broadband users during an undefined national cyber emergency.

One provision of S.773 would grant the president authority to "declare a cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic" including that on private systems designated as critical. Not surprisingly, the bill gives the president wide discretion in designating private systems as "critical." Would an H1N1 pandemic qualify as such an emergency allowing the president to shut down voices opposing his socialized medicine plans?

Another provision of the bill is to federally-license certain information technology professionals making it illegal for those not holding such a license to access any IT systems. Obviously, the most efficient way to control the nation's broadband platforms is to control those who operate them.

Connecting the dots in this fashion would not have been contemplated as recently as one year ago. But today, no one is rolling their eyes.

Doubts Mount over Obama's 'Civilian Surge' Strategy for Afghanistan

Newsmax:

Sunday, November 29, 2009 6:38 PM

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is forging ahead with its civilian surge in Afghanistan but some experts say thousands more are needed while others fear the security situation is making the push ineffective.

In unveiling his first Afghanistan strategy in March, President Barack Obama called for increasing the number of experts to 1,000 in order to help the Kabul government serve its people and wean the economy off opium production.

Obama, due to unveil a revamped strategy on Tuesday that is expected to include some 30,000 to 35,000 more troops, stressed again last week the importance of sending civilians to accompany the military push in Afghanistan.

"It's going to be important to recognize that in order for us to succeed there, you've got to have a comprehensive strategy that includes civilian and diplomatic efforts," he told reporters.

Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said earlier this week that some 974 civilians will be deployed by "the early weeks of next year."

A US official told AFP on condition of anonymity the figure could be higher.

Steven Metz, an analyst with the US Army War College, wrote in the New Republic magazine that the civilian surge could only succeed if Washington sent several thousand experts to Afghanistan for years at a time.

But John Dempsey, a specialist with the United States Institute of Peace who has spent the last seven years in Kabul working on reforming the Afghan justice sector, said numbers were not necessarily the key.

If the civilians are stuck mainly on a military base or with armed escorts for security reasons, "the impact of the (planned US) increase will be marginal yet expensive," Dempsey said in an email exchange with AFP.

"On the other hand, if they can recruit qualified civilians who are given proper cross-cultural training and who are able to meet with Afghans regularly in the local communities... then I think there's a real opportunity for development progress to be made."

Senior State Department official Jacob Lew said there were only 320 civilians deployed by the US in Afghanistan in January when Obama succeeded president George W. Bush.

Lew said 388 experts alone will be deployed outside the capital Kabul by early next year, compared to just 67 who served in the provinces in January.

The civilians are either US government employees from the State Department or seven other government agencies, including the Agriculture Department, or have been recruited outside for their special skills, such as language.

They undergo various kinds of training, including in Pashtu and other Afghan languages if they don't know them, learning about Afghan culture and how to interact with the US military.

Civilian workers deployed in Afghan provinces to work on various projects, such as building an airstrip in Helmand, live on US military bases and are escorted by American troops and Afghan security forces to ensure their safety.

However, a handful of civilians are set to be deployed in new US consulates being set up in the cities of Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif by the end of the year.

Anthony Cordesman, a civilian military expert who was in Afghanistan over the summer to advise the US military, is critical of the civilian effort.

"We're not meeting this so-called civilian surge goal, and the quality of the civilians we?re providing isn't meeting the need," he said recently.

The other problem, Cordesman said, is how to coordinate among an alliance of 42 countries which set down different guidelines for its forces. He also accused the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) of poor management.

In a paper published November 19, Cordesman spoke of "the near chaos in managing the overall foreign aid effort within the State Department -- an issue that Secretary (Hillary) Clinton has raised but so far done nothing to address."

It has to be galling to The New York Slimes to have Sarah Palin Number 1 on their bestseller list.

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws be made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.

-- James Madison --

now, read how that aplies to the health care bill here

Lawmakers Probe Science Czar Holdren’s Links to Climategate

Click on the title above to read the whole story at Gateway.

Republican lawmakers are probing Science Czar John Holdren’s links to the Climategate documents.
Obama’s socialist Science Czar John Holdren, who once said that forced abortions were needed to save the planet, is also involved in the Climategate Scandal.

Holdren, another socialist in the White House, was pushing global cooling before he was pushing man-made global warming.
His name is linked to the Climategate scandal.

Minister Who Witnessed Gladney Beatdown Cannot Believe Misdemeanor Charges Filed For Vicious Hate Crime (Video)

From Gateway:

Harris Himes, the minister who witnessed Kenneth Gladney’s beatdown at the Russ Carnahan town hall in August, cannot believe that only misdemeanor charges were filed against the SEIU thugs last week. The Russ Carnahan union supporters beat, stomped on and kicked black vendor Kenneth Gladney.




Click on the title above to go to Gateway for the whole story.

DEAR TROLLS

Let's be clear about this

Wishing, hoping for, describing, inciting etc physical violence or harm to ANY of our elected officials their families or friends

IS (one of the very few things) NOT ALLOWED HERE

KNOCK IT OFF

Edvard Grieg

In the Hall of the Mountain King

My Trip To Melbourne

Well, I am back from my very long trip to Australia and New Zealand. I intend to write about some conversations that I had over there in separate articles but here, I just wanted to share some pictures (click on each image for a better, enlarged view) and thoughts from Melbourne (and maybe Auckland) that I thought were of interest.

I found Melbourne to be very patriotic and unapologetic of its Christian roots. It is a city that tells you the local population is proud and happy and they are not going to apologize for who they are to anyone. This was the feeling I got not only from my conversations but just by looking at the city.


The picture above is of "the golden mile" which takes you to different parts of the city that still have its history preserved in old churches and buildings. Most of these buildings date from the 19th century but they are beautiful to look at, especially because they are presented with a sense of pride and not as a sign of apology to anyone.

It was refreshing to see so many religious symbols spread all over the city. Many of the old churches were refurbished for worship services. There were 14 plaques spread all over the city containing the story of Jesus' final moments leading to his death and the best part was that those plaques were placed there by the financial help of the government of Victoria (Melbourne is in the state of Victoria). Oh and no, they are not debating whether to take them down in the name of secularism and to appease Muslims or not. These images are there tall and proud whether Muslims and leftists like it or not.

[Sorry, some images are sideways. I am still playing around with my first ever camera and have no time or software to fix the images]






The city officials have made sure to include the history of all of the important buildings, whether they be churches or hotels or statues of the "founding fathers" (oh and even though statues are not allowed in Islam, Australia isn't tearing them down--at least I didn't see appeasement on the streets of Melbourne like I do in European cities).





I was walking around the city center and I only saw one Halal store.


What's funny about this picture is that that store is right next to the police precinct--I guess they know who they have to keep an eye on.

This is where I had lunch--(A note to terrorists: Don't blow it up, I ain't there anymore).


All in all, Melbourne is a beautiful city. Beautiful parks and nice architecture. Out of all the things Melbourne had to offer, I especially liked that the people were not apologetic about being patriotic and I could see that on every corner of the street.

Here are a few random pictures of Melbourne:





I had heard a lot about Australians being racists but I found them to be very welcoming once they knew I wasn't there to blow them up or rape their women (remember the Lebanese on the beach?) I guess when the Australian men stood up against those moronic Lebanese who were Muslims, the rest of the world considered that action to be racist because, of course any action against a Muslim, whether he be a criminal or not, is racism!

Finally, on a bad note, I did find a piece of evidence of Australian racism.

They only allowed WHITE bikers that had a red stick going through them...bastards!


Anyway, this article is getting too long I think, so I will close with a Melbourne sunset.


If anyone here wants to reuse these pictures, feel free to do so and I have 650 more pictures of both New Zealand and Australia, if you're interested, I can send them to you. It might take time for me to do it, but I will send them.

I talked to a couple of people there about the state of things. I will be writing articles about those conversations in the same fashion as my "interview" with the cabin crew that I posted before. I am real busy these days so it is going to take me a while to put all of the stuff up that I gathered on my trip.

Nightwish

Nemo

In The Cave. . .

"Listen, Achmed, change of plans. If the dirty infidels find me DO NOT kill me.

I can have a civilian trial now!"

Weasel Zippers:

Assploding Hypocrisy: Obama Still Running "Black Jails" in Afghanistan Despite Order to Close Them Down and Constantly Ripping Bush for Running Similar Sites....

Climategate

The Times of London now reporting on it.

American media? Not so much. . .

Climate change data dumped
Jonathan Leake, Environment Editor

SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based.

It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years.

The UEA’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation.

The data were gathered from weather stations around the world and then adjusted to take account of variables in the way they were collected. The revised figures were kept, but the originals — stored on paper and magnetic tape — were dumped to save space when the CRU moved to a new building.

The admission follows the leaking of a thousand private emails sent and received by Professor Phil Jones, the CRU’s director. In them he discusses thwarting climate sceptics seeking access to such data.

In a statement on its website, the CRU said: “We do not hold the original raw data but only the value-added (quality controlled and homogenised) data.”

The CRU is the world’s leading centre for reconstructing past climate and temperatures. Climate change sceptics have long been keen to examine exactly how its data were compiled. That is now impossible.

Roger Pielke, professor of environmental studies at Colorado University, discovered data had been lost when he asked for original records. “The CRU is basically saying, ‘Trust us’. So much for settling questions and resolving debates with science,” he said.

Jones was not in charge of the CRU when the data were thrown away in the 1980s, a time when climate change was seen as a less pressing issue. The lost material was used to build the databases that have been his life’s work, showing how the world has warmed by 0.8C over the past 157 years.

He and his colleagues say this temperature rise is “unequivocally” linked to greenhouse gas emissions generated by humans. Their findings are one of the main pieces of evidence used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which says global warming is a threat to humanity.

Flash Floods -- In Saudi Arabia -- Kill Hajis

Dr Bulldog:


The Associated Press says that at least 100 have been killed by flash flooding in Saudi Arabia Wednesday that affected the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that is ongoing this week. Given these pictures uploaded this morning from AccuWeather.com Photo Gallery user addhna, I would think that death toll would continue to rise in this terrible tragedy; this article says that 350 are still missing.




The Associated Press says:

“The official says rescue teams were looking for possible survivors from the downpours that caused heavy flooding in the coastal city of Jiddah, the main entry point for the millions of Muslims performing the annual hajj pilgrimage. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media.”

Counterterrorism Blog:

Chechen Mujahideen Claim Sabotage Bombing of Russian Natural Gas Storage Facility
By Evan Kohlmann

The NEFA Foundation has obtained a communiqué issued by a group calling itself “Muwahiidun ar-Rusi” ("The Russian Monotheists") claiming responsibility for the bombing of "the largest subterranean natural gas storage facility in the world" in Stavropol, Russia. The communiqué was posted by Kavkaz Center, the official mouthpiece of the Chechen insurgents. Kavkaz stated that it "does not have reliable evidence about the organization...Let us remind that the same organization announced its participation in the sabotage at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric plant."
The complete text of the communique can be accessed via the NEFA Foundation website.

Iran Approves Building 10 Enrichment Sites

Newsmax:

Sunday, November 29, 2009 11:06 AM

TEHRAN, Iran – The Iranian government approved a plan Sunday to build 10 new uranium enrichment facilities, a dramatic expansion in defiance of U.N. demands it halt the program.

The decision comes only two days after the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency censured Iran, demanding it immediately stop building a newly revealed enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom and freeze all uranium enrichment activities.

A Cabinet meeting headed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to begin building five uranium enrichment sites that have already been studied and propose five other locations for future construction within two months.

In Vienna, spokeswoman Gillian Tudor said the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency would have no comment. But the announcement is likely to stoke already high tensions between Iran and the West over its controversial nuclear activities.

Iran has one industrial-scale uranium enrichment plant near Natanz, in central Iran. The IAEA said earlier this month that about 8,600 centrifuges had been set up in Natanz, but only about 4,000 were enriching uranium. The facility will eventually house 54,000 centrifuges.

The newly revealed enrichment site, known as Fordo, is a small scale site that will house nearly 3,000 centrifuges.

IRNA said the Cabinet ordered that the 10 new sites have a scale equal to Natanz's.

In the enrichment process, uranium gas is spun in centrifuges to purify it. Enriched to a low degree, the result is fuel for a nuclear reactor — but highly enriched uranium can be used to build a warhead. The United States and its allies accuse Iran of secretly seeking to develop a bomb, a claim denied by Iran, which says it seeks only to generate electricity.

Under Iranian law, Iran's nuclear agency has been tasked with providing 20,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear power plants during in the next 20 years. IRNA said the country needs to build enrichment facilities to produce nuclear fuel for its future power plants.

Ahmadinejad told the Cabinet that Iran will need to install 500,000 centrifuges throughout the planned enrichment facilities to produce between 250 to 300 tons of fuel annually.

UK Madness: Use Of The Word 'Youths' To Refer To 'Youths' Is Banned In Youth Facilities Because They're Troubled, Sensitive Youths...Are They Still Allowed To Call Them Young Punks, Bitches, Thugs?

White House Party Crashers Linked to Obama’s Radical Pal Rashid Khalidi

From Gateway Pundit:

From the Polo Contacts Website–
“America’s Cup Polo Pre-Event with President-Elect Barack Obama”

From Left to Right is: Randy Jackson, better known as a Judge on American Idol – his previous life he was a bass player for the Rock band JOURNEY, which also performed at the America’s Polo Cup. Others pictured are Black Eyed Peas Rock Band, Tareq Salahi the President of the America’s Polo Cup, President Elect Obama, Fergie from Black Eyed Peas and Michaele Salahi a former Miss USA and SuperModel.

American Power discovered this on the White House party crashers- They belong to a radical anti-Israeli group:

Tareq Salahi, the polo-playing intruder, is a Palestinian nationalist with ties to the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) , a pro-Palestine lobby demanding the “right of return” for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants. The “right of return” has long been considered the backdoor to Israel’s destruction. But not only that: ATFP President Ziad Asali is an America-basher who blamed 9/11 on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Asali was a lead U.S. official to PLO terrorist Yassir Arafat’s funeral in 2004. And in a position paper in 2007, the ATFP called for a power-sharing agreement at the Palestinian Authority, which would have included the State Department’s designated-terrorist group, Hamas.

And, there’s more…
Canada Free Press reported that the American Task Force for Palestine (ATFP) has airbrushed references to Salahi from its website:

We do know for a fact that among the slew of memberships on charitable boards, Tareq Salahi is a former member of The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP). The only way to know for a fact is because even though ATFP scrubbed all references to Salahi as a board member, he can still be found on Google cache. (Canada Free Press)

Sad that White House Secret Service are looking like Keystone Kops in the aftermath of Obama’s very first state house dinner in the tent.

While the media is fixated on the hitch in Michaele Salahi’s git-along, there can be no doubt that these recently minted “party crashers” really get around.

American Power has more on the Salahi’s leadership role with the the American Task Force on Palestinian, the “moderate” rights groups pushing a thinly-veiled program of Palestinian nationalism and the “right of return” (the backdoor destruction of Israel).

According to Discover the Networks, ATFP’s former vice president is Rashid Khalidi, the Columbia University Middle East Studies professor and militant Palestinian rights activist. Khalidi cites the late Edward Said as his major influence, and according to the entry cited, “As with Said before him, Khalidi’s involvement with the Palestinian cause goes beyond mere support.” And, “Khalidi so strongly identified with the aims of the PLO, which was designated as a terrorist group by the State Department during Khalidi’s affiliation with it in the 1980s, that he repeatedly referred to himself as ‘we’ when expounding on the PLO’s agenda.” Also, according to Campus Watch, ATFP remains in full support Kahlidi, for example, during charges of academic misconduct in 2005, at the time of Senator Barack Obama’s meeting with Tareq Salahi. See, “ATFP EXPRESSES FULL SUPPORT FOR COLUMBIA PROFESSOR RASHID KHALIDI.

Note too that Obama’s ties to the Palestinian community became something of an issue during the 2008 campaign. See, the Los Angeles Times, “Allies of Palestinians See a Friend in Obama.” Plus, from Andrew C. McCarthy and Claudia Rosett, “In Obama’s Hyde Park, It’s All in the Family: Passing Anti-American Radicalism From Generation to Generation.

As you may recall. The LA Times hid the tape of Barack Obama attending a 2003 Jew-bash where he praised and toasted the former PLO operative Rashid Khalidi.

With Barack Obama, it’s always about the radicalism. Always.

It looks like the Salahi security breach is much more than just an “embarassment” for the Secret Service.

Louis Armstrong

Stompin' at the Savoy

The Pathology of Evil in Politics

From the American Thinker:

Do purely evil individuals exist who can hide their true nature from the rest of the world? And are these individuals drawn into politics as a conduit for dominating an unsuspecting and acquiescent populace?

There is a theory that evil is a pathological disorder. The observation that psychopaths, including sociopaths and narcissists, all exhibit chronically evil behavior makes a persuasive argument for that theory. In Andrew M. Lobaczewski's book, Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes, the case is made for equating evil and psychosis in the political arena:

The actions of [pathocracy] affect an entire society, starting with the leaders and infiltrating every town, business, and institution. The pathological social structure gradually covers the entire country creating a "new class" within that nation. This privileged class feels permanently threatened by the "others", i.e. by the majority of normal people.

Lobaczewski also references the following passage from The Sociopath Next Door, by clinical psychologist Dr. Martha Stout:

Imagine - if you can - not having a conscience, none at all, no feelings of guilt or remorse no matter what you do, no limiting sense of concern for the well-being of strangers, friends, or even family members. Imagine no struggles with shame, not a single one in your whole life, no matter what kind of selfish, lazy, harmful, or immoral action you had taken.

And pretend that the concept of responsibility is unknown to you, except as a burden others seem to accept without question, like gullible fools.

Now add to this strange fantasy the ability to conceal from other people that your psychological makeup is radically different from theirs. Since everyone simply assumes that conscience is universal among human beings, hiding the fact that you are conscience-free is nearly effortless.

You are not held back from any of your desires by guilt or shame, and you are never confronted by others for your cold-bloodedness. The ice water in your veins is so bizarre, so completely outside of their personal experience, that they seldom even guess at your condition.

In other words, you are completely free of internal restraints, and your unhampered liberty to do just as you please, with no pangs of conscience, is conveniently invisible to the world.

You can do anything at all, and still your strange advantage over the majority of people, who are kept in line by their consciences will most likely remain undiscovered.

Dr. Stout estimates that this psychosis affects approximately 4% of the population. It seems obvious that many of these will gravitate to politics, where power over others is most attainable. Lobaczewski places the amount of undiagnosed psychopaths who join the pathocracy at 6%:

Approximately 6% of the population constitute the active structure of the pathocracy, which carries its own peculiar consciousness of its own goals. Twice as many people constitute a second group: those who have managed to warp their personalities to meet the demands of the new reality. ...

This second group consists of individuals who are, on the average, weaker, more sickly, and less vital. The frequency of known mental diseases in this group is at twice the rate of the national average. We can thus assume that the genesis of their submissive attitude toward the regime, their greater susceptibility to pathological effects, and their skittish opportunism includes various relatively impalpable anomalies. ...

The 6% group constitute the new nobility; the 12% group forms the new bourgeoisie, whose economic situation is the most advantageous. ... Only 18% of the country's population is thus in favor of the new system of government.

The question is, how do we recognize and ferret out the sociopaths and narcissists currently in power in both political parties? This is an inherently difficult task due to the ability of these psychopaths to disguise their disease. I believe it is possible to isolate them through critically observing and identifying the inconsistencies between their apparent irrational behavior and the image they are trying to present.

For instance, what are we to make of a president who suddenly bursts out laughing while being interviewed on the potential for economic depression in the U.S.? How about a jovial president giving a friendly "shout-out" to a colleague before delivering a listless homily on the brutal murder of thirteen American soldiers by a ruthless domestic Islamist terrorist? Perhaps the picture of Obama striding down the White House steps while his "friend" Professor Gates is helped by Officer Crowley is an indicator of his true personality.

Go read the whole thing.

Dubai Defaulting on Islamic Bonds? GE Goes Where Fools Dare to Tread

From Atlas Shrugs:

They have been saying how wonderful this Islamic finance has been doing. More taqiya. I am glad. Anything to discourage financing the spread of Islam. Bloomberg markets are down big -- but if that's what it takes ............... (hat tip Anthony)

Dubai shook investor confidence across the Persian Gulf after its proposal to delay debt payments risked triggering the biggest sovereign default since Argentina in 2001. (more here)

Meanwhile, Obama's pushing this garbage:Obama's Jiyza: GE Capital Plans 1 Billion Dollar ISLAMIC (sukuk) BOND -- Citigroup, Goldman Sachs lead arrangers.

Who in their right mind would invest in such a death cult?

Western investors watch nervously as worth of Islamic bonds is tested to limit Wall Street Hournal Australia

A DEFAULT by Dubai will put the world of Islamic finance to the test at a time when hard questions are being asked by bankers and lawyers about the protection afforded by financial instruments that are Shariah compliant.

The bond that lies at the heart of the threat of default and financial ignominy for Dubai is a sukuk, an instrument invented by bankers and Islamic scholars to comply with a Shariah (Islamic law) prohibition against the payment of interest on money.

Islamic finance has five pillars: a ban on interest, a ban on speculation, a ban on haram (forbidden) investments, such as pork or gambling, the requirement of partnership or sharing of profit and loss and the requirement of asset backing. Getting round the ban on interest is the problem and opportunity of Islamic finance.

A bond that doesn't (in theory) pay interest sounds unattractive but in the Gulf and Malaysia, Islamic finance has flourished over the past decade.

Typically, interest is expressed as a share in a profit, such as the rent paid for use of a property or asset. According to estimates by HSBC Amanah, the Islamic arm of the British bank, outstanding Islamic finance debt is worth $US822 billion ($902 billion).

Even Western investors have been persuaded to dip their toes in the exotic financial tool, tempted by the deep pool of petrodollars available in the Gulf. Only days before Dubai revealed its bombshell - a threat of possible default on Nakheel's $US4 billion sukuk - GE Capital, the American financial services group, issued the first sukuk by a Western company, raising $US500 million. The underpinning of a sukuk with assets makes it attractive for use in property lending or asset leasing. The sukuk issued by GE this week was a loan for aircraft leasing.

GE's decision to use the Islamic finance market for funds reflected renewed confidence in a market that had almost collapsed after expansion in 2007 when the Gulf was awash with money fuelled by high oil prices.

Demand shrivelled after the collapse of Lehman Brothers with only $US16 billion issued last year. More importantly, fears surfaced that sukuk failed to provide the same legal protection as conventional bonds. To date, the legal structure of sukuk has never been tested in a court.

The Democratic Establishment Is Very Worried

The Obama Administration, the Democratic Party, and the Leftist Establishment are disoriented and they are corner, haning onto the ropes for dear life.

Will it be long before they are down for the count?

Might I be right in my prediction that the Obama Presidency would not last through 2010?

From Dinocrat:

Peggy Noonan says that the Democratic establishment is finally becoming alarmed at the strange priorities and ineptitude of the Obama administration:

From journalist Elizabeth Drew, a veteran and often sympathetic chronicler of Democratic figures, a fiery denunciation of — and warning for — the White House. In a piece in Politico on the firing of White House counsel Greg Craig, Ms. Drew reports that while the president was in Asia last week, “a critical mass of influential people who once held big hopes for his presidency began to wonder whether they had misjudged the man.”

They once held “an unromantically high opinion of Obama,” and were key to his rise, but now they are concluding that the president isn’t “the person of integrity and even classiness they had thought.”

She scored “the Chicago crowd,” which she characterized as “a distressingly insular and small-minded West Wing team.” The White House, Ms. Drew says, needs adult supervision — “an older, wiser head, someone with a bit more detachment.”…

Just as stinging as Elizabeth Drew on domestic matters was Leslie Gelb on Mr. Obama and foreign policy in the Daily Beast. Mr. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and fully plugged into the Democratic foreign-policy establishment, wrote this week that the president’s Asia trip suggested “a disturbing amateurishness in managing America’s power.” The president’s Afghanistan review has been “inexcusably clumsy,” Mideast negotiations have been “fumbling.” So unsuccessful was the trip that Mr. Gelb suggested Mr. Obama take responsibility for it “as President Kennedy did after the Bay of Pigs.”

He added that rather than bowing to emperors — Mr. Obama “seems to do this stuff spontaneously and inexplicably” — he should begin to bow to “the voices of experience” in Washington…

The Obama bowing pictures are becoming iconic…because they express a growing political perception, and that is that there is something amateurish about this presidency, something too ad hoc and highly personalized about it, something…incompetent…You can get tagged, typed and pegged your first year. Gerald Ford did, and Ronald Reagan too, more happily. The first year is when indelible impressions are made and iconic photos emerge.

This fellow Obama does not seem to be in touch with what might be called the Americaness of America. The wiser heads in the Democratic Party are correct to be alarmed. We wish they would have awakened sooner.

He could just become the lamest lame duck of all time.

The Convergence of Global Warming and Healthcare

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

This Just In! [Mark Steyn]

On this Thanksgiving Day, let us give thanks that the two greatest all-purpose pretexts for government regulation of every single aspect of your life - "health care" and "the environment" - have now converged. Forget the global warming, global cooling, all the phoney-baloney tree-ring stuff - who can keep track of all that "settled science"? And fortunately we no longer need it, because we have a new rationale for the massive multitrillion-dollar Copenhagen shakendownen. Drumroll, please!

But slashing carbon dioxide emissions also could save millions of lives, mostly by reducing preventable deaths from heart and lung diseases, according to studies published this week in the British medical journal The Lancet.

Government regulation of health care justifies government regulation of the environment: Ingenious!

Re: Re: This Just In [Jonah Goldberg]

And of course, global warming also causes:

Acne, agricultural land increase, Afghan poppies destroyed, poppies more potent, Africa devastated, Africa in conflict, African aid threatened, African summer frost, aggressive weeds, Air France crash, air pressure changes, airport malaria, Agulhas current, Al Qaeda and Taliban Being Helped, Alaska reshaped, moves, allergy season longer, alligators in the Thames, Alps melting, Amazon a desert, American dream end, amphibians breeding earlier (or not), anaphylactic reactions to bee stings, ancient forests dramatically changed, animals head for the hills, animals shrink, Antarctic grass flourishes, Antarctic ice grows, Antarctic ice shrinks, Antarctic sea life at risk, anxiety treatment, algal blooms, archaeological sites threatened, Arctic bogs melt, Arctic in bloom, Arctic ice free, Arctic ice melt faster, Arctic lakes disappear, Arctic tundra to burn, Arctic warming (not), Atlantic less salty, Atlantic more salty, atmospheric circulation modified, attack of the killer jellyfish, avalanches reduced, avalanches increased, Baghdad snow, Bahrain under water, bananas grow, barbarisation, beer and bread prices to soar, beer better, beer shortage, beer worse, beetle infestation, bet for $10,000, big melt faster, billion dollar research projects, billion homeless, billions face risk, billions of deaths, bird distributions change, bird loss accelerating, bird strikes, bird visitors drop, birds confused, birds decline (Wales), birds driven north, birds face longer migrations, birds return early, birds shrink, bittern boom ends, blackbirds stop singing, blackbirds threatened, Black Hawk down, blood contaminated, blue mussels return, bluetongue, brain eating amoebae, brains shrink, bridge collapse (Minneapolis), Britain one big city, Britain Siberian, British monsoon, brothels struggle, brown Ireland, bubonic plague, budget increases, Buddhist temple threatened, building collapse, building season extension, bushfires, business opportunities, business risks, butterflies move north, carbon crimes, camel deaths, cancer deaths in England, cannibalism, caterpillar biomass shift, cave paintings threatened, childhood insomnia, Cholera, circumcision in decline, cirrus disappearance, civil unrest, cloud increase, coast beauty spots lost, cockroach migration, coffee threatened, coffee berry borer, cold climate creatures survive, cold spells (Australia), cold wave (India), computer models, conferences, conflict, conflict with Russia, consumers foot the bill, coral bleaching, coral fish suffer, coral reefs dying, coral reefs grow, coral reefs shrink , coral reefs twilight, cost of trillions, cougar attacks, crabgrass menace, cradle of civilisation threatened, creatures move uphill, crime increase, crocodile sex, crops devastated, crumbling roads, buildings and sewage systems, curriculum change, cyclones (Australia), danger to kid's health, Darfur, Dartford Warbler plague, deadly virus outbreaks, death rate increase (US), deaths to reach 6 million, Dengue hemorrhagic fever, depression, desert advance, desert retreat, destruction of the environment, dig sites threatened, disappearance of coastal cities, disasters, diseases move north, dog disease, Dolomites collapse, dozen deadly diseases - or not, drought, ducks and geese decline, dust bowl in the corn belt, early marriages, early spring, earlier pollen season, Earth axis tilt, Earth biodiversity crisis, Earth dying, Earth even hotter, Earth light dimming, Earth lopsided, Earth melting, Earth morbid fever, Earth on fast track, Earth past point of no return, Earth slowing down, Earth spins faster, Earth to explode, earth upside down, earthquakes, earthquakes redux, El Niño intensification, end of the world as we know it, erosion, emerging infections, encephalitis, English villages lost, equality threatened, Europe simultaneously baking and freezing, eutrophication, evolution accelerating, expansion of university climate groups, extinctions (human, civilisation, logic, Inuit, smallest butterfly, cod, ladybirds, pikas, polar bears, possums, walrus, toads, plants, salmon, trout, wild flowers, woodlice, a million species, half of all animal and plant species, mountain species, not polar bears, barrier reef, leaches, salamanders, tropical insects) experts muzzled, extreme changes to California, fading fall foliage, fainting, famine, farmers benefit, farmers go under, farm output boost, fashion disaster, fever, figurehead sacked, fir cone bonanza, fires fanned in Nepal, fish bigger, fish catches drop, fish downsize, fish catches rise, fish deaf, fish get lost, fish head north, fish shrinking, fish stocks at risk, fish stocks decline, five million illnesses, flames stoked, flesh eating disease, flies on Everest, flood patterns change, floods, floods of beaches and cities, flood of migrants, flood preparation for crisis, flora dispersed, Florida economic decline, flowers in peril, food poisoning, food prices rise, food prices soar, food security threat (SA), football team migration, footpath erosion, forest decline, forest expansion, frog with extra heads, frostbite, frost damage increased, frosts, fungi fruitful, fungi invasion, games change, Garden of Eden wilts, geese decline in Hampshire, genetic diversity decline, gene pools slashed, giant oysters invade, giant pythons invade, giant squid migrate, gingerbread houses collapse, glacial earthquakes, glacial retreat, glacial growth, glacier grows (California), glacier wrapped, global cooling, global dimming, glowing clouds, golf course to drown, golf Masters wrecked, grandstanding, grasslands wetter, gravity shift, Great Barrier Reef 95% dead, Great Lakes drop, great tits cope, greening of the North, Grey whales lose weight, Gulf Stream failure, habitat loss, haggis threatened, Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, harmful algae, harvest increase, harvest shrinkage, hay fever epidemic, health affected, health of children harmed, health risks, heart disease, heart attacks and strokes (Australia), heat waves, hibernation affected, hibernation ends too soon, hibernation ends too late, HIV epidemic, homeless 50 million, hornets, high court debates, human development faces unprecedented reversal, human fertility reduced, human health risk, human race oblivion, hurricanes, hurricane reduction, hurricanes fewer, hurricanes not, hydropower problems, hyperthermia deaths, ice age, ice sheet growth, ice sheet shrinkage, icebergs, illness and death, inclement weather, India drowning, infrastructure failure (Canada), industry threatened, infectious diseases, inflation in China, insect explosion, insect invasion, insurance premium rises, Inuit displacement, Inuit poisoned, Inuit suing, invasion of alien worms, invasion of cats, invasion of crabgrass, invasion of herons, invasion of jellyfish, invasion of king crabs, invasion of midges, island disappears, islands sinking, Italy robbed of pasta, itchier poison ivy, jellyfish explosion, jets fall from sky, jet stream drifts north, Kew Gardens taxed, kidney stones, killer cornflakes, killing us, kitten boom, koalas under threat, krill decline, lake and stream productivity decline, lake empties, lake shrinking and growing, landslides, landslides of ice at 140 mph, large trees decline, lawsuits increase, lawsuit successful, lawyers' income increased (surprise surprise!), lawyers want more, legionnaires' surge, lives saved, Loch Ness monster dead, locust plagues suppressed, lush growth in rain forests, Malaria, mammoth dung melt, mango harvest fails, Maple production advanced, Maple syrup shortage, marine diseases, marine food chain decimated, Meaching (end of the world), Meat eating to stop, Mediterranean rises, megacryometeors, Melanoma, Melanoma decline, methane emissions from plants, methane burps, methane runaway, melting permafrost, Middle Kingdom convulses, migration, migration difficult (birds), migratory birds huge losses, microbes to decompose soil carbon more rapidly, minorities hit, monkeys at risk, monkeys on the move, Mont Blanc grows, monuments imperiled, moose dying, more bad air days, more research needed, mortality increased, mountain (Everest) shrinking, mountaineers fears, mountains break up, mountains green and flowering, mountains taller, mortality lower, Myanmar cyclone, narwhals at risk, National Parks damaged, National security implications, native wildlife overwhelmed, natural disasters quadruple, new islands, next ice age, NFL threatened, Nile delta damaged, noctilucent clouds, no effect in India, Northwest Passage opened, nuclear plants bloom, oaks dying, oaks move north, ocean acidification, ocean acidification faster, ocean dead spots, ocean dead zones unleashed, ocean deserts expand, ocean waves speed up, oceans noisier, Olympic Games to end, opera house to be destroyed, outdoor hockey threatened, ozone repair slowed, ozone rise, Pacific dead zone, penguin chicks frozen, penguin chicks smaller, personal carbon rationing, pest outbreaks, pests increase, phenology shifts, pines decline, plankton blooms, plankton destabilised, plants lose protein, plants march north, plants move uphill, polar bears aggressive, polar bears cannibalistic, polar bears deaf, polar bears drowning, polar tours scrapped, popcorn rise, porpoise astray, profits collapse, psychiatric illness, puffin decline, pushes poor women into prostitution, rabid bats, radars taken out, railroad tracks deformed, rainfall increase, rape wave, refugees, reindeer endangered, release of ancient frozen viruses, resorts disappear, rice threatened, rice yields crash, rift on Capitol Hill, rioting and nuclear war, river flow impacted, rivers raised, roads wear out, robins rampant, rocky peaks crack apart, roof of the world a desert, rooftop bars, Ross river disease, ruins ruined, Russia under pressure, salinity reduction, salinity increase, Salmonella, satellites accelerate, school closures, sea level rise, sea level rise faster, seals mating more, seismic activity, sewer bills rise, severe thunderstorms, sex change, sexual promiscuity, shark attacks, sharks booming, sharks moving north, sheep shrink, shop closures, short-nosed dogs endangered, shrinking ponds, shrinking sheep, shrinking shrine, Sidney Opera House wiped out, ski resorts threatened, skin cancer, slow death, smaller brains, smog, snowfall decrease, snowfall increase, snowfall heavy, snow thicker, soaring food prices, societal collapse, soil change, songbirds change eating habits, sour grapes, space problem, spectacular orchids, spiders getting bigger, spiders invade Scotland, squid aggressive giants, squid larger, squid population explosion, squid tamed, squirrels reproduce earlier, stick insects, stingray invasion, storms wetter, stormwater drains stressed, street crime to increase, subsidence, suicide, swordfish in the Baltic, Tabasco tragedy, taxes, tectonic plate movement, teenage drinking, terrorism, terrorists (India), threat to peace, ticks move northward (Sweden), tides rise, tigers eat people, tomatoes rot, tornado outbreak, tourism increase, toxic seaweed, trade barriers, trade winds weakened, traffic jams, transportation threatened, tree foliage increase (UK), tree growth slowed, trees in trouble, trees less colourful, trees more colourful, trees lush, tropics expansion, tropopause raised, truffle shortage, truffles down, tundra plant life boost, turtles crash, turtle feminised, turtles lay earlier, UFO sightings, UK coastal impact, UK Katrina, uprooted - 6 million, Vampire moths, Venice flooded, violin decline, volcanic eruptions, walrus pups orphaned, walrus stampede, war, war between US and Canada, wars over water, wars sparked, wars threaten billions, wasps, water bills double, water scarcity (20% of increase), water stress, weather out of its mind, weather patterns awry, Western aid cancelled out, West Nile fever, whale beachings, whales lose weight, whales move north, whales wiped out, wheat yields crushed in Australia, wildfires, wind shift, wind reduced, winds stronger, winds weaker, wine - Australian baked, wine - harm to Australian industry, wine industry damage (California), wine industry disaster (US), wine - more English, wine - England too hot, wine -German boon, wine - no more French , wine passé (Napa), wine - Scotland best, wine stronger, winters in Britain colder, winter in Britain dead, witchcraft executions, wolves eat more moose, wolves eat less, workers laid off, World at war, World War 4, World bankruptcy, World in crisis, World in flames, Yellow fever.

Top 100 Movie Quotes

Great video of AFI's top 100 movie quotes. How many do you recognize?



The complete list is here.

Hat tip: EC

Crossposted at The Dougout

Ella!

Someone to Watch Over Me

Objective Journalism: Michael Gerson Defends a Profession That No Longer Exists

A great post from John Nolte at Big Hollywood (click on the title above to read the whole thing):

Yesterday, Washington Post columnist and former Bush II speechwriter Michael Gerson played a long slow violin solo over the death of the mainstream media. There’s nothing new in his piece. Dazed with panic as the circle of financial ruin closes in, we’ve heard this song many times before from our ink-stained dinosaurs. And true to form, Gerson can’t break the mold. It’s all there, the rose-colored glasses, denial, and a heaping helping of rationalization.

Once again, from that familiar MSM perch where one can look down their nose at the great unwashed who just don’t understand the magnificent tradition of journalism they’re about to lose, Gerson blames We the People for no longer wanting to pay for our news and choosing partisan sources “that reinforce and exaggerate … political predispositions.”

How absurd.

A non-partisan, unbiased news media simply doesn’t exist anymore. All that remains of this once somewhat respectable profession are two kinds of media: those who lie about their agenda and those who don’t – and Mr. Gerson’s employer is one of the liars. Whether it’s Glenn Beck, Arianna Huffington, National Review or MSNBC, tell me your biases upfront and we can at least start a dialogue from an honest foundation. On the other hand, the Washington Post, New York Times, Newsweek, Time, CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS and the like, have spent years making jerks out of us – lying to our faces. We knew this, there just wasn’t any alternative. But now that there is, their time is just about up.

Gerson doesn’t seem to want to face this truth – I don’t mean the truth that Big Media’s dying, that’s undeniable — but the truth that the death of this profession was a suicide. Does Gerson’s waxing of the nostalgic here sound like the MSM we’ve all grown to know and loathe:

I don’t believe that journalistic objectivity is a fraud. I was a journalist for a time, at a once-great, now-diminished newsmagazine. I’ve seen good men and women work according to a set of professional standards I respect — standards that serve the public. Professional journalism is not like the buggy-whip industry, outdated by economic progress, to be mourned but not missed. This profession has a social value that is currently not reflected in its market value.

What profession could he possibly be talking about? Certainly not the same profession who set out to destroy Clarence Thomas, circled the wagons to save President Clinton, summoned all their resources to lose the war in Iraq, told us more about the background of an unemployed plumber than our current President, dragged Sarah Palin’s family through the mud, and on this very day refuse to investigate three of the biggest stories of the year (if not the decade): ACORN, CzarGate and ClimateGate.

President Makes Surprise Trip to Iraq -- Refers to Troops in Korea as "Pretty Good Photo Op"


Ok, so we're talking about two different prsident's here. One with class, one not.

from The Washington Post last week:

Obama arrived on the base 3:19 p.m. local time (1 a.m. Eastern Standard Time) and received a rousing welcome from 1,500 troops in camouflage uniforms, many holding cameras or pointing cellphones to snap pictures.

"You guys make a pretty good photo op," the president said.

Meanwhile, as troops in Afghanistan are dying waiting for dithering Uncle Barry to make ANY kind of decision on what to do there, Dear Leader was busy sending a Hajj message (why the hell didn't he just have his grandmother deliver it in person) while tuckering into

Turkey
Honey-Baked Ham
Cornbread Stuffing
Oyster Stuffing
Greens
Macaroni and Cheese
Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole

Banana Cream Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Sweet Potato Pie
Huckleberry Pie
Cherry Pie

How are those MRE Turkey Dinners, guys?

Human Events:

Obama Violates Osama Oath
by Rep. Steve King

On December 18, 2007, then presidential candidate Barack Obama leveled the first of dozens of heavy criticisms against President George W. Bush. In a speech in Des Moines, Obama blasted President Bush for taking his “eye off the ball in Afghanistan." He continued: "It’s time to…increase our military, political, and economic commitment to Afghanistan. That’s what…I’ll do as president.”

This was Barack Obama’s first “eye off the ball” speech. It was the beginning of a barrage of campaign speeches accusing the Bush administration of “taking our eye off of Osama bin Laden” (Denver, 1/30/08).

On July 15, 2008 in Washington, D.C., then Senator Obama vowed to deploy “the full force of American power to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, the Taliban, and all of the terrorists responsible for 9/11." In fact, Barack Obama specifically used the name of Osama bin Laden at least 40 times in speeches during his Presidential campaign while definitively pledging to focus all necessary resources against bin Laden, al Qaeda and the Taliban in the countries where they live and operate.

On November 3, 2008, the day before his election, Obama delivered for the last time as a candidate his oft repeated promise, “I will finally finish the fight against bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. I will never hesitate to defend this nation.”

More than a year has passed since Obama was elected. Since that date, we have seen a distinct contrast between candidate Obama and Commander-in-Chief Obama. Candidate Obama seldom failed to rail against the war in Iraq - the “war of choice” - and seldom failed to burnish his national security credentials by railing against bin Laden. As he said repeatedly before his election, “I have no greater priority than taking out these terrorists who threaten America, and finishing the job against the Taliban. I will never hesitate to defend this nation!”

President Obama has now hesitated for a full three months since General McChrystal requested more troops in Afghanistan and said failing to do so risked an outcome that “will likely result in failure.” A Commander-in-Chief must be decisive in time of war. The lives of our troops, the destiny of our nation and that of the free world is at stake.

Well before January 20, 2009 when he took the presidential oath of office, Obama swore an oath to defend America at home and abroad. When he became a US Senator, Obama took the Congressional oath which says, “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

In every case, campaign rhetoric and national security policy merge the moment we elect a president. In this case, quite specifically, President Obama’s Congressional oath and campaign promises were merged by his taking the oath of office of President.

A President’s oath of office is set by the Constitution: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” To fulfill that oath, a president must defend our nation against all the enemies of the Constitution. Osama bin Laden is one, beyond any quibble or doubt. And when a president is elected, he becomes accountable for the promises he made.

When he became president, the presidential oath required Obama to recommit to those principles. Thousands of Americans gave him their vote in full faith that Obama would keep faith with them and make good on his solemn vow to defeat bin Laden and al Qaeda.

Today, it has become completely obvious that President Obama has taken his eye off the very ball that he defined as candidate Obama. As President, he has virtually stopped talking about defeating Osama bin Laden.

In the year since elected, during the dozens of speeches and press conferences he has given as president and in dramatic contrast with his own persistent and repetitive warnings about “taking our eye off of Osama bin Laden,” Obama has uttered the name bin Laden only four times. It is even more significant that not once since his election has Obama repeated his oath to “finish the fight against bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists.”

American fighting forces are by far the best fighting forces the world has ever seen. They alone among the troops of the world defend and advance the cause of liberty for the sake of all who yearn to be free. Defeat, retreat or failure is not a political decision for them.

They have written a blank check to the Commander-in-Chief for a value up to and including their very lives. Our troops know they will one day come home, boots on or boots off. They are not deployed to dither.

Their very nobility requires a decision from the President who said, “This is a war that we have to win.”

Climategate: Phil Jones Knows We're Experiencing Global Cooling - Wants To Wipe "Smug Grins" Off Those Who Expose The Truth

From Ace:

The whole email exchange at this link is worth a read. It starts out at the bottom with our illustrious "science czar" John Holdren being CC:'d on the Sulphur Dioxide "plume stacks" cooling scheme that has been floating around, then towards the top morphs into Phil Jones wishing the damn cooling would just quit. Good stuff.

> >From: Phil Jones [mailto:p.jones@xxxxxxxxx.xxx]
> >Sent: 05 January 2009 16:18
> >To: Johns, Tim; Folland, Chris
> >Cc: Smith, Doug; Johns, Tim
> >Subject: Re: FW: Temperatures in 2009
> >
> >
> > Tim, Chris,
> > I hope you're not right about the lack of warming lasting
> > till about 2020. I'd rather hoped to see the earlier Met Office
> > press release with Doug's paper that said something like -
> > half the years to 2014 would exceed the warmest year currently on
> > record, 1998!
> > Still a way to go before 2014.
> >
> > I seem to be getting an email a week from skeptics saying
> > where's the warming gone. I know the warming is on the decadal
> > scale, but it would be nice to wear their smug grins away.