And Another One Bites the Dust.

Don’t you just hate it when this happens?

There was my day, all planned out as of very early this morning. I was going to do laundry and write a new post for this Blog. 90% of that was already in my head but I know the content would have really hacked off one of my non-contributing contributors. So be it!

But then, stuff happened and I went back to scurrying through my notes and clippings in order to present, in my small way, a scandal of gigantic proportions.

It seems only yesterday that Obama stood in front of his teleprompter and announced the bailout for the automobile industry. According to him, we could not let that industry fail. It was vital to the economy of the country. Bankruptcy was not an option. Never was. Isn’t now and …….. Never will be. For to do so, he announced, would destroy its commercial viability. After all, who wants to buy a car from a bankrupt company?

Instead he insisted that he proposed pumping billions of dollars into the Big 3. Well, it turned out to be the Big 2 because Ford told him to stick it. And, he added that it had to happen now as time was of the very essence. So between ‘em, GM and Chrysler got the best part of 100 billion dollars. Then came the carrot and the stick! The carrot was that there was more where that came from and the stick was, or else!

Today Obama announced that Chrysler was going into bankruptcy which, at once triggered a thought in my mind. If they went broke and they effectively owed me money via my tax dollars, do I have standing in a Bankruptcy Court? Fat chance.

This is a huge failure for Obama because, demonstrably, his strategy did not work. Remember he claimed less than 100 days ago that only the government could solve that crisis? Well, it failed, the unthinkable became the reality. But stay with me for a moment. Maybe Obama did get today what he’d wanted all along. He detests the private sector. Clearly he wants to crush it. So what better way than to gain a controlling interest in banks, reject any plans the auto makers could come up with and force bond holders into accepting cents on the dollar? As a result the UAW owns 55% of Chrysler and Obama has paid off many of the thugs who got him elected.

In the mind of most Americans the economy is at the top of their list. And yet, Obama held a press conference yesterday and, against my better judgment, I listened. He was asked 13 questions. Only one even held a hint of things economic and that was from a guy from BET who asked him to comment on the effect on Blacks in New York City. I guess, the message is if you’re White or Hispanic or Asian then screw you! The rest were on his 100 day honeymoon, torture and the latest G-d sent non-event, “Swine ‘Flu”. And this gets reported as breaking news by breathless reporters with tingly legs

All that probably goes to explain why MSNBC cannot pay the rent on its premises and why Keith Olbermann has a national audience of 70,000 viewers and why little KFYI here in Arizona draws more than 310,000 listeners.

No wonder they are whining for the “Fairness Doctrine”.

Oh, almost forgot. What bit the dust?

Actually two. A once proud American car company and one more promise of an already discredited president.

Not close to Halloween yet!

Now this is spooky stuff!

In the first half of 2008, most taxpayers got some of their own money back from the previous administration. I think I got $500 or so and I spent it on a new shower enclosure for the master bath. However, President Bush’s name was never mentioned.

Now, fast forward to today’s mail. In it was a letter from the Social Security Administration telling me that “President Obama” had signed Congresses’ bill and, as a recipient of Social Security, I have $250 coming sometime in May. I assume that’s the retiree equivalent of the $13 per week for wage-earning Americans under the much-vaunted tax cut.

Two things concern me and they should concern you.

For a start the action is an insult because I’m simply getting my own money back again. Yes, I know that as soon as I file my tax return its public record. You wanna go look at it, I’ll save you the stamp because I have it on line. But, I’ll also save you some more time; I paid way more than that last year so I know it’s my money. Trust me!

The Inuit call money “Paper with a face on it”. And, now Obama wants to personalize me getting my money. He, Lord Obama, the Most Merciful is going to give me $250. Thank you, O Lord!

The sad thing is that some people will see it that way.

This man is a joke and I suspect that some Americans are getting twinges. Now they may not admit it quite yet but think about this. You meet a really neat lady or man and you check into the Wynn in Las Vegas and you tie the knot. 2 or 3 months later, you wake up to go to work and, in those sweet moments between sleep and the real world, you know you’ve made a terrible mistake.

But, you do shower and go to work and you grab a coffee on your way in through the door and a colleague you haven’t seen in months asks you, “How’s marriage going?”

“It’s just great”, you respond automatically.

But you know it’s not and you hate yourself with all kinds of mixed emotions.

I suspect that is why, in today’s Rasmussen poll, the Republicans are favored 41 to 38 percent in the 2010 off-season elections.

A British friend mentioned yesterday that he was starting to hear questions raised there about Obama and what he’s actually done in these past 100 days.

I’ve been asking that question for years.

Then, later, by an unabashed Obama fanatic, I was wished, “Happy 100 Days!”

And this is isn’t a cult?

Fore!!

If I harp on it, it’s because it needs a damned good harping.

Now, I’ll glue on my Andy Rooney eyebrows and pose the following:-

“Imagine, if you will, that it’s a couple of years ago and imagine if you can a world where America is fighting a couple of wars in which real Americans are being killed, where North Korea and Iraq are about to become nuclear-weapon powered, where American hostages are being held in Iraq and where a Swine Flu’ pandemic is being threatened.”

Now, imagine also that President George W, spent 5 hours yesterday playing golf while all this was going on

Please ignore the fact that, to me, it’s a stupid game and ignore the fact that, of course, President Bush could have been summoned at any time to deal with a new twist. Ignore all that and then still imagine how he would have been skewered and roasted by the Left and their media lackeys?

The most restrained skewering would have described him as “Uncaring” or “Disconnected”. The more strident would have been screaming for impeachment.

Well, Obama did just that yesterday and the only comment from the drive-by sycophants was to describe his khaki shorts, his short-sleeved golf shirt and his light-beige baseball cap. Oh, and they did also mention his sunglasses and his cell phone.

Does anybody but me and 52 million other people who voted against this lazy man see a double standard here?

So, we approach 100 days. Tell me, what got better?

Well, he was going to fix Detroit. Against all kinds of advice he poured billions in there and now we learn that Washington is advising bankruptcy for Chrysler and GM cannot be far behind. In the meantime, GM is proposing to lay off another 21,000 workers and discontinue the Pontiac line. Then, this summer they propose a 9 week shutdown which wouldn’t be all bad except for the fact that the company is still under contractual obligation to pay their labor force.

So, Obama was going to save the auto industry and create or save 3 million jobs. Folks, what do you think so far?

With his track record in Chicago and then in the Illinois Senate, then the US Senate, his presidency is perfectly consistent.

Promise everything! Deliver nothing!

Par for the course I guess.

I don’t know who he was playing against yesterday and I don't know what he shot but I’ll bet his card says he won!

Because that is Obama. Perception, Perception, Perception!

The AfPak Affair

100 days in and one thing is clear, or putting it another way, many things are not clear.

Obama is naïve. The man is stupid. The man is a liar. Or, all of the above or, maybe a combination of two or more including other possibilities I guess. I have my suspicions but let me present a case and you decide.

From the very first time it became clear that he was going to take a run for the Presidency, I remember two things. He promised “change” and he promised to end the deployment of American troops in Iraq.

Now, perhaps the “change” he promised was no more than a “change” from President Bush. Well, let’s be magnanimous, he did that. He detests this country and apologizes for it wherever he goes to anybody who will listen and sometimes to nobody in particular. He embraces our enemies and snubs our friends. He detests our Constitution and, as I noted in my last post he, and his lawyer friends feel constrained by it. Good! That was the idea from the get-go. But, about that, either he’s naïve or he’s stupid …………

The next recurring theme was that “we need a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq”. Well that doesn’t seem to be happening either as Hillary was in Baghdad yesterday proclaiming the opposite. So, about that, he was naïve or stupid or, to use a Winston Churchill expression, he was guilty of a terminological inexactitude. For any readers from Rio Linda, that translates into lying.

But, Obamaniacs, take heart. Now you could have your very own war. For a start the C-in-C has ordered more troops into Afghanistan and make no mistake, they’ll be our troops. The Europeans et al turned him down flat. And now add the surge by the Taliban to within 60 miles of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. And the Taliban has offered Osama bin-Laden safe haven in the area of Pakistan they control. So will Obama pursue him there? So now we’ll have an "AfPak War", Obama’s war? A war where no “collateral damage” occurs? A war where no innocent men, women and children die? No dismembered babies? Naturally, because this will be an Obama war.

Where is the outrage from the liberal media? Where are the marchers chanting, "One, Two, Three, Four. We don’t want your bloody war”. But this is Obama’s war and while he’s fighting it with troops he detests and while he’s cutting their funding as much as he can in order to fund his domestic plans. He also wants to talk to the “moderate” Taliban…….. Now that would be a great idea except for the unfortunate fact that there is no such critter according to the people in the region.

OK. I’ve convinced myself all over again.

Obama is all of the above …………

Let Freedom Ring!

Sometimes I sit at this keyboard and screen and I have two themes screaming for my attention. On happier days I can somehow ignore one and concentrate on the other. On ecstatic days I find a way to combine both but on bad days, I wind up forgetting both.

So let’s see what kind of a day it’s going to be?

As far as I know Magna Carta in 1215 CE was the first attempt to rein in the absolute powers of a monarchy and thereby grant to the “non-monarchs” some semblance of self-determination. It was a model with obvious merit. The monarch kept his or her head and the fortune that went along with it but gave up the power of life or death. Many countries followed the example, some sooner like the French in 1791, some much later like Spain and some never at all like Somalia.

Every one of these and the intervening attempts had a common and overriding premise. This was/is, “We the Government/ King/Queen/Junta grant you these rights ……. Or, words to that effect.

Yes, I know. I missed out 1776 and our precious and timeless document. What a jewel it is? And a unique jewel too because this one does not grant rights to anyone except to the people. Here, the Constitution pronounced, “You the Government is granted the right to do these things ……….. And no more! That is what is meant by “American Exceptionalism”.

Obama and his liberal lawyer friends see this splendid affirmation of human endeavor as a hindrance. It stops them doing what they want to do. They talk about “Negative Rights”. The Constitution to them is a constraint.

To me, and countless Americans before me, it is the very essence of liberty itself.

May Freedom forever ring!

Oops, today I didn't get to either issue but there's always tomorrow .......

The Last Refuge of the Scoundrel

I cheered when Obama nominated “Crappy Nappy” to head up the Department of Homeland Security and I did so for two reasons. Firstly, it meant she had to resign from her post as Governor of the State of Arizona and, because I knew she was incompetent, it was only a matter of time before she would embarrass herself and, therefore, her boss, the Lord Obama, the Most Merciful.


Well, the “matter of time” turned out to be a “matter of weeks”.

First there was the document sent to law-enforcement agencies across the country which this Blog discussed days and days ago and I will not bore return readers by gloating. Instead, I’ll simply insert some other opinions:-

Richard Thompson with the Thomas More Law Center called this DHS security assessment "a diatribe against those who oppose the policies of the Obama administration. It is a declaration of war against the American people and our constitution. It is a prelude to extreme gun control legislation and hate speech laws targeting Christian churches and others who oppose abortion and same sex marriage."

Michael Reagan asked: "Have we really come to this? Has Adolf Hitler's propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels been reborn and recruited by the Obama administration to scare the heck out of the American people with absurdities such as this whacked-out document?"

And then Michelle Malkin summed it all up: "What and who exactly are President Obama's homeland security officials afraid of these days? If you are a member of an active conservative group that opposes abortion, favors strict immigration enforcement, lobbies to protect Second Amendment rights, protests big government, advocates federalism, or represents veterans who believe in any of the above, the answer is: You."

If this wasn’t enough for Nappy to be fired now we have the embarrassment of her interview with a guy from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

In that interview she claimed that “entering the US as an illegal was not a ‘criminal’ act”. Then she went on to affirm that 911 happened because some of the perpertrators came via Canada.

Now the Secretary must have spent too much time in the sun of Arizona or too much time sampling the more exotic mushroom dishes of New Mexico tribes as she prepared her case on behalf of Anita Hill. The fact is, the 911 Commission dismissed that claim years ago. The Commission knew it, I know it and the interviewer knew it and so he probed some more.

Then, even the Secretary knew she’d screwed something up but she wasn’t quite sure what or where. But, ever the politician, she did what all politicians do, she carried on talking and hinted darkly that she couldn’t talk about it. Boswell once reported a quotation of Samuel Johnson where he announced that “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel” or, in the Secretary’s case the “scoundreless”. Anyway, she resorted to the following blather, “But I can talk about the future and the future is we have borders”.

No wonder Anita Hill lost.

Nappy has to go!

And that’s all good news too because, at least, she can’t come back here to her post in Arizona.

Here’s a quiz for American readers. Do you know what a “nappy” is? After that it’s not too long a stretch to imagine what it’s often filled with.

The Commander-in-Cheat

Russian Proverb:-
“Words are like a sparrow. Once released, they cannot be recaptured.”

I first came across the following story several days ago. To me it was so controversial that I dare not post it until I had checked it out. Well, now I can tell you that four separate sources have confirmed the entire essence, if not every detail and acronym, it contains. I will not jeopardize those sources by naming them but you, of course, are welcome to do your own research.

Anyway here goes with the real story of Obama's 'Decision-Making' with respect to the pirates and their hostage.

According to some Navy SEALs from Virginia Beach this is why it dragged out for 4 days.

1. Barack Hussein Obama (BHO) wouldn't authorize the SEAL teams to go to the scene for 36 hours against the OSC (on scene commander) recommendation and request.

2. Once they arrived, BHO imposed restrictions on their ROE (rules of engagement) that they couldn't do anything unless the hostage's life was in "imminent" danger.

3. The first time the hostage jumped into the sea, the SEALS had the pirates all sighted in, but could not fire due to ROE restriction

4. When the navy RIB (rigid-hulled inflatable boat) came under fire as it approached with supplies, no fire was returned due to ROE restrictions. As the pirates were shooting at the RIB, they were exposed and the SEALS had them all dialed in.

5. BHO specifically denied two rescue plans developed by the Bainbridge-based authority and SEAL teams.

6. The Bainbridge’s Captain and the SEAL team CDR (commander) finally decide they have the OpArea and OSC authority to solely determine risk to hostage. 4 hours later, 3 dead pirates.

Those are the bare bones; now read a fleshed out account and in the interests of accuracy I have made no attempt to clean up the typos.

“Philips' first leap into the warm, dark water of the Indian Ocean hadn't worked out as well. With the Bainbridge in range and a rescue by his country's Navy possible, Philips threw himself off of his lifeboat prison, enabling Navy shooters onboard the destroyer a clear shot at his captors and none was taken.”

“The guidance from National Command Authority, the president of the United States, Barack Obama had been clear: a peaceful solution was the only acceptable outcome to this standoff unless the hostage's life was in clear, extreme danger.”

“The next day, a small Navy boat approaching the floating raft was fired on by the Somali pirates and again no fire was returned and no pirates killed. This was again due to the cautious stance assumed by Navy personnel, thanks to the combination of a lack of clear guidance from Washington and a mandate from the commander in chief's staff not to act until Obama, a man with no background of dealing with such issues and no track record of decisiveness, decided that any outcome other than a peaceful solution would be acceptable.”

“After taking fire from the Somali kidnappers again Saturday night, the on-scene commander decided he'd had enough.”

“Keeping his authority to act in the case of a clear and present danger to the hostage's life, and having heard nothing from Washington since yet another request to mount a rescue operation had been denied the day before, the Navy officer, unnamed in all media reports to date, decided the AK47 one captor had leveled at Philips' back was a threat to the hostage's life and ordered the NSWC team to take their shots.”

“Three rounds downrange later, all three brigands became enemy KIA and Philips was safe.”

“There is upside, downside, and spin side to the series of events over the last week that culminated in yesterday's dramatic rescue of an American hostage.”

“Almost immediately following word of the rescue, the Obama administration and its supporters claimed victory against pirates in the Indian Ocean and declared that the dramatic end to the standoff put paid to questions of the inexperienced president's toughness and decisiveness.”

“Despite the Obama administration's (and its sycophants') attempt to spin yesterday's success as a result of bold, decisive leadership by the inexperienced president, the reality is nothing of the sort. What should have been a standoff lasting only hours, as long as it took the USS Bainbridge and its team of NSWC operators to steam to the location, became an embarrassing four day and counting standoff between a ragtag handful of criminals with rifles and a U.S. Navy warship.”

Further comment from me would be superfluous and unhelpful.