The United Nations has given the go-ahead to begin military action against crazy Libyan leader Muammar Kadhafi.  His threat to storm the rebel stronghold of Benghazi overnight, showing “no mercy, no pity.”, appears to have been the last straw.

Kadhafi announced in a radio address:

We will come, zenga, zenga. House by house, room by room.

As he readied his offensive, Al Jazeera television was showing thousands of Benghazi residents in a central square celebrating the U.N. vote, waving anti-Kadhafi tri-color flags and yelling chants of defiance aimed at their tormentor, of four decades. Fireworks could be seen in the skies about the city.

The madman, Kadhafi, had previously told the citizens of Libya that only those who lay down their arms would be spared the vengeance that he was going to exact on ‘rats and dogs’.

Kadhifi said:

It’s over. The issue has been decided. We are coming tonight…We will find you in your closets.

We will have no mercy and no pity.

The U.N. Security Council’s resolution, which they passed yesterday, calls for a no-fly zone to around 100 km (60 miles) from Benghazi. The resolution also calls for “all necessary measures” (military action) to protect civilians against Kadhafi’s thugs.

However, the flame of Revolution is very close to being extinquished.

According to Libyans, Kadhafi’s air force launched three air raids on the city of 670,000 yesterday. There has also been horrendous ground fighting along the Mediterranean coastal road.

France’s diplomants have announced that the UN attack could come within hours, and may include France, Britain and possibly the United States and one or more Arab states. However, a U.S. military official said no immediate U.S. action was expected following the vote.

Only five of the UN Security Coucil’s fifteen members refused to vote for the attack on Libya. Russia, China and Germany were among the five that refused to vote for the resolution. There were no votes against the resolution, which was co-sponsored by France, Britain, Lebanon and the United States.

According to Rebel National Council head Mustafa Abdel Jalil, Al Jazeera television air strikes are essential in stopping Kadhafi.

We stand on firm ground. We will not be intimidated by these lies and claims… We will not settle for anything but liberation from this regime.

Nobody knows if Kadhafi was just running off at the mouth, or if he was serious in his threat to take over the city.  However, the UN could not take that chance.

A lot of Arabs feel that if Kadhafi were to take the day, it would be a severe blow against “pro-democracy” (their words) movements that have unseated the governments in Tunisia and Egypt and started huge protests in Bahrain, Yemen and elsewhere.

After the vote, Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., proclaimed that the resolution sends a “strong message” to Kadhafi that the violence against his own people must stop:

This resolution was designed to do two important things. Protect civilians as well as strengthen the pressure on the Kadhafi regime through a substantial tightening of sanctions.

Excuse me, Ma’am.  Do you and your boss actually think that a resolution is going to scare a madman?  You had better be prepared to back it up.

Compare and Contrast:

April 5, 1986 – The discotheque “La Belle” in West Berlin, a hangout for US troops, is bombed. Two people are killed, and more than 200 are injured. The CIA suspects Libya is behind the plot.

April 14, 1986 – US war planes bomb military bases in Libya, including the barracks of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi. Two of Kadhafi’s sons are injured. A girl whom he claims was his adopted daughter is killed.

March 17, 2011 – 31 days after a revolution to overthrow the madman, Moammar Kadhafi, begins, President Barack Hussein Obama backs a UN resolution to establish a “no-fly” zone is Libya.

Perhaps Obama’s reluctance is due to the fact that Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s spiritual adviser for more than 23 years, is “buds” with the madman, Kadhafi.

Or, perhaps, it’s because the Libyan dictator also has financed and strongly supported the Nation of Islam and its leader, Louis Farrakhan, another one of Obama Chicago “friends”.

You know, like Bomber Bill Ayers, “just a guy in the neighborhood”.

Jeremiah Wright, traveled with Farrakhan to visit Gadhafi in 1984, Obama’s former Pastor and Mentor said about the trip:

When [Obama’s] enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli to visit [Gadhafi] with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell.”

Farrakhan, a close friend and associate of Wright, has been financed by Kadhafi, including a $5 million interest-free loan in 1985.

Later that year, Kadhafi spoke by satellite to Farrakhan’s Saviour’s Day Convention in Chicago.

Whatever the reason, Obama’s milksoppy dithering, on foreign and domestic issues, sends a horrible message to our enemies.  The only deterrent that our enemies understand is the iron will of a strong American President.

And, right now, they’re grinning like a bunch of Cheshire Cats.

Remember a couple of days ago when the Surgeon General of the United States of America, Dr. Regina Benjamin was asked by a reporter about what she thought about the fact that panic-striken Californians had stripped the state’s pharmacies’ shelves of their supply of iodine, trying to protect themselves from radiation drifting over from Japan? 

Well, now she’s trying to clarify what she said.

Tuesday, while on a visit to California, Benjamin told a Bay-area reporter that:

We can’t be over-prepared — we learned that with 9/11, we learned that with Katrina and we learned that this week with the tsunami. Even if it’s one life we save by being prepared, it’s worth it.

It’s a precaution.

The Surgeon General of the U.S. went on to tell the reporter she had not heard about the iodide panic.

Californians were stocking up on Potassium iodide, or KI, because it can prevent the thyroid from absorbing radioactive iodine.

Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, Los Angeles County’s public health chief, held an opposite view from Benjamin:

We want to urge you not to take potassium iodide unnecessarily.

It’s definitely not recommended as a precautionary medication.

Fielding noted that some people may be allergic and suffer side effects including intestinal upset, nausea and rashes.

Yesterday, Kate Migliaccio, a spokeswoman for the federal Department of Health and Human Services, sent out an e-mail in an attempt to clarify Benjamin’s (and the government’s) position:

She commented that it is always important to be prepared, however she wouldn’t recommend that anyone go out and purchase KI for themselves at this time.

It’s important for residents who have concerns to listen to state and local health authorities.

 So, Who is Dr. Regina Benjamin and why is she Obama’s Surgeon General?

According to the website of the Surgeon General:

Regina M. Benjamin, MD, MBA is the 18th Surgeon General of the United States…Dr. Benjamin oversees the operational command of 6,500 uniformed health officers who serve in locations around the world to promote, protect, and advance the health of the American People.

Dr. Benjamin is Founder and Former CEO of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Alabama, former Associate Dean for Rural Health at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine in Mobile, and immediate Past Chair of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States In 1995, she was the first physician under age 40 and the first African-American woman to be elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees. She served as President of the American Medical Association Education and Research Foundation and Chair of the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA). In 2002 she became President of the Medical Association State of Alabama, making her the first African American female president of a State Medical Society in the United States.

Dr. Benjamin has a BS in chemistry from Xavier University, New Orleans; MD degree from the University of Alabama, Birmingham; an MBA from Tulane University and eleven honorary doctorates. She attended Morehouse School of Medicine and completed her family medicine residency in Macon, Ga. She established a clinic in a small fishing village in Alabama to help its uninsured residents. Dr. Benjamin persevered through Hurricane Georges in 1998, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and a devastating fire, in 2006, often putting up her own money to cover expenses. She also became nationally prominent for her business acumen and humane approach to preventive medicine.

Dr. Benjamin is a member of the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. She was a (1) Kellogg National Fellow and a (2) Rockefeller Next Generation Leader. Some of her numerous board memberships include the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, Catholic Health Association, and Morehouse School of Medicine.

Let’s look at 2 of those awards, shall we?

Per discoverthenetworks.org:

1.  Kellogg  National Fellow – Will Keith Kellogg, founder of the Kellogg cereal company, created the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in 1930. Being a man of principle, he generally opposed most forms of economic assistance, placing greater value on the long-term process of striving to overcome obstacles and become prosperous through hard work. Believing that education was the key to all long-term success, most of Kellogg’s early donations were geared towards helping children.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Foundation moved to the Far Lef and concentrated its focus on funding groups and causes that sought to counteract what they believed were the widespread injustices against minorities in the United States.

Per their website,the Foundation strives “to facilitate and assist in the process of social change for the betterment of people in society, particularly in the interest of the most vulnerable and marginalized populations.

The Kellogg Foundation is chaired by Hanmin Liu, a longtime community organizer who has been a Trustee on the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Board of Directors since 1996. He is also President of the United States-China Educational Institute.

Among  recipients of Kellogg Foundation grants are:

the Tides Foundation; the Tides Center (can you say Soros?); the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN); the United States Student Association; the Waterkeeper Alliance; the Council on Foundations; Save The Children Fund; the American Civil Liberties Union; the Center for Community Change; World Vision International; the National Council of La Raza; the Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund; and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

2.  Rockefeller Next Generation Leader – The Rockefeller Foundation was established in 1913 by John D. Rockefeller, Sr.  Rockefeller was one of the “robber barons”, who gained his vast fortune as the founder and developer of the Standard Oil Company. According to the Foundation’s current President,

RF’s philanthropy is concentrated in 5 main program areas:

• Creativity and Culture
• Food Security
• Health Equity
• Working Communities
• Global Inclusion

The Rockefeller Foundation is a member of the Peace and Security Funders Group, an association of individual philanthropists and foundations that give money to anti-war and environmentalist organizations. They are also a member of the International Human Rights Funders Group, (as is George Soros’ Open Society Institute) a network of more than six-dozen grantmakers dedicated to funding leftwing groups and causes.

Among those RF gives money to, are:

the Tides Foundation; the Tides Center; the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; the National Council of La Raza; the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund; the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund; the American Civil Liberties Union; the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy; the Institute for Policy Studies; the Ploughshares Fund; the Council on Foundations; the Earth Trust Foundation; the Brennan Center for Justice; the American Land Institute; the Center for Community Change; the Islamic Circle of North America; Amnesty International; the Brennan Center for Justice; the Center for Community Change; the Center for Economic and Policy Research; and Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

As I asked you yesterday, Are you beginning to see a pattern here, gentle reader?

Today, the most transparent President evah had 5 meetings on his schedule. Only one was open to the public. In a wonderful moment of irony, this meeting was a ceremony in which President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) accepted an award for being open to the press.

At approxiamately 2:55 p.m., (around 3:20 p.m. Obama Standard Time), the smartest person in the room accepted, according to the White House Propaganda, err, statement “an award from a coalition of good government groups and transparency advocates to recognize ‘his deep commitment to an open and transparent government—of, by, and for the people’ in conjunction with Sunshine Week”.

I don’t know how he responded, but I’ll bet he didn’t say that his administration responded to fewer requests for information last year, than any other recent administration. The sad thing is, they received more requests for information in that period than any other White House.

He also probably didn’t say a mumblin’ word about trying to prosecute federal workers who leak information to shed light on wrongdoing.  And,  I’m positive that he did not talk about his aides’ clandestine meetings with lobbyists away from the White House, so that there is no public record.

The White House identified the award as coming from organizers of the Freedom of Information Day Conference. The award was presented by a curious group of five “so-called” transparency advocates:

1. Gary Bass, Founder and Executive Director of OMB Watch

Per sourcewatch.org,

Gary Bass has been named one of the top 50 most influential people in the nonprofit community by the NonProfit Times.

OMB Watch “was formed in 1983 to lift the veil of secrecy shrouding the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which oversees regulation, the budget, information collection and dissemination, proposed legislation, testimony by agencies, and much more.”

It’s Board of Directors include:

• Edwin S. Jayne, AFSCME
• Ben Jealous, NAACP
• Sylvia Johnson, United Auto Workers
• Bill Kamela, Microsoft Corporation
• Margaret Seminario, AFL-CIO

One of its former Directors is Mark Lloyd of the Soros-funded Center for American Progress.

Funding sources for OMB Watch include:

• AFSCME
• Carnegie Corporation of New York
• Ford Foundation
• Global Fund for Women
• Nathan Cummings Foundation
• Open Society Institute (George Soros)
• Rockefeller Brothers Fund
• Other Anonymous Funders (wouldn’t you like to know?)

2. Tom Blanton, Director of the National Security Archive at the George Washington University

Per sourcewatch.org, this organization is:

An independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University, the Archive collects and publishes declassified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The Archive also serves as a repository of government records on a wide range of topics pertaining to the national security, foreign, intelligence, and economic policies of the United States. The Archive won the 1999 George Polk Award, one of U.S. journalism’s most prestigious prizes, for-in the words of the citation-“piercing the self-serving veils of government secrecy, guiding journalists in the search for the truth and informing us all.”

The Archive’s $2.5 million yearly budget comes from publication revenues, contributions from individuals and grants from foundations such as the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. As a matter of policy, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding.

Funding Sources include:

• Arca Foundation
• Benchmark Fund
• Carnegie Corporation of New York
• Center for Global Partnership (Japan Foundation)
• Central European University
• Cold War International History Project Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
• Compton Foundation
• Congressional Quarterly
• Cox Newspapers
• Dow Jones & Company
• Mike Farrell and Shelly Faberes
• Ford Foundation
• Ford Foundation Program-Related Investment Division
• Freedom Forum (formerly the Gannett Foundation)
• Fund for Constitutional Government
• Fund for Friendship and Justice
• Fundación Ford (Santiago, Chile)
• General Service Foundation
• German Marshall Fund of the United States
• J. M. Kaplan Fund, Inc.
• National Community Funds
• New World Foundation
• New York Times Company Foundation
• Open Society Fund, Inc. (George Soros)
• Open Society Institute (George Soros)
• Partnership for Democracy (formerly the Youth Project)
• Public Welfare Foundation
• Rockefeller Associates
• Rockefeller Family Fund
• Rockefeller Foundation
• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
• Philip M. Stern Family Fund
• Streisand Foundation
• Time, Inc.
• Washington Post Company
• Weiss Foundation

3. Danielle Brian, Executive Director of the Project on Government Oversight

From their website, pogo.org:

Founded in 1981, the Project On Government Oversight is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that champions good government reforms. POGO’s investigations into corruption, misconduct, and conflicts of interest achieve a more effective, accountable, open, and ethical federal government.

Funding sources include:

• The Arca Foundation
• Francis Beidler Trust
• The Herb Block Foundation
• Harold and Stephanie Bronson Fund of the Liberty Hill Foundation
• Carnegie Corporation of New York
• Cavallo Foundation Inc.
• Connect US Fund of Tides Foundation
• Colombe Foundation
• C.S. Fund
• Everett Philanthropic Fund of the New York Community Trust
• The Ford Foundation
• The Fund for Constitutional Government
• HMJS Marks Fund of The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region
• The Lawrence Foundation
• The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
• The New-Land Foundation, Inc.
• Open Society Institute (George Soros)
• Pew Charitable Trusts
• The Purple Lady/Barbara J. Meislin Fund
• Ploughshares Fund
• Revenue Watch Institute
• Rockefeller Family Fund

4. Lucy Dalglish, the Executive Director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

From their website, rcfp.org:

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press was created in 1970 at a time when the nation’s news media faced a wave of government subpoenas asking reporters to name confidential sources.

Their Steering Committe includes:

• SCOTT APPLEWHITE
• The Associated Press
• WOLF BLITZER
• CNN
• DAVID BOARDMAN
• Seattle Times
• ERIKA BOLSTAD
• McClatchy Newspapers
• JESS BRAVIN
• The Wall Street Journal
• MICHAEL DUFFY
• Time
• RICHARD S. DUNHAM
• Houston Chronicle
• ASHLEA EBELING
• Forbes Magazine
• FRED GRAHAM
• InSession
• NAT HENTOFF
• United Media Newspaper Syndicate
• DAHLIA LITHWICK
• Slate
• TONY MAURO
• National Law Journal
• DOYLE MCMANUS
• Los Angeles Times
• ANDREA MITCHELL
• NBC News
• BILL NICHOLS
• Politico
• SANDRA PEDDIE
• Newsday
• DANA PRIEST
• The Washington Post
• DAN RATHER
• HDNet
• JIM RUBIN
• Bloomberg News
• BOB SCHIEFFER
• CBS News
• ERIC SCHMITT
• The New York Times
• ALICIA SHEPARD
• National Public Radio
• PAUL STEIGER
• Pro Publica
• PIERRE THOMAS
• ABC News
• SAUNDRA TORRY
• USA Today
• JUDY WOODRUFF
• PBS/The NewsHour

While they do not publish a Donors’ List, I was able to find out, through research, that Lois Lloyd, their Business Manager, came to them from the Center for Law and Social Policy, which, according to discoverthenetworks.org is: 

…a Washington, DC-based think tank claiming to have approximately 22,000 affiliates nationwide—mostly law students, law professors, practicing attorneys, and judges.

Several foundations have contributed large sums of money to ACS, most notably the Streisand Foundation, the Deer Creek Foundation, the Ford Foundation, George Soros’ Open Society Institute, the Overbrook Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

5. Patrice McDermott, Director of Open The Government.

Per sourcewatch.org, redirected from Open The Government:

OpenTheGovernment.org is a coalition of journalists, consumer and good government groups, environmentalists, library groups, labor and others united to make the federal government a more open place in order to make us safer, strengthen public trust in government, and support our democratic principles.

Funding Sources include:

• Angelina Fund
• The CS Fund
• Educational Foundation of America
• HKH Foundation
• The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
• Open Society Institute (George Soros)
• Stewart R. Mott Charitable Trust (through Philanthropic Ventures Fund)
• Warsh-Mott Legacy Fund
• Fund for Constitutional Government
• National Security Archive
• OMB Watch

Are you beginning to see a pattern here, gentle reader?

Ain’t transparency wonderful?



In a statement released yesterday, a Washington-based think tank, the Institute for Science and International Security, said that the situation at the quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in northeastern Japan ”has worsened considerably,”

The Institute was referring to a series of explosions that happened earlier in the day at the site and problems in a pool storing spent nuclear fuel rods. They went on to say that:

This accident can no longer be viewed as a level 4 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Events scale that ranks events from 1 to 7.

While saying that a level 4 incident involves ”only local radiological consequences,” it also announced that the ongoing crisis is ”now closer to a level 6, and it may unfortunately reach a level 7”. As you’ve probably guessed, a level 7 is a worst case scenario with extensive health and environmental consequences.  The Institute went on to advise that:

The international community should increase assistance to Japan to both contain the emergency at the reactors and to address the wider contamination. We need to find a solution together.

In a related story, Reuters News Agency has reported that:

Japan may seek direct U.S. military help to end a crisis at a quake-damaged nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan, the chief government spokesman said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, on the Left Coast of the United States, Californians have stripped pharmacy shelves of Iodine tablets, reacting to the possibility that a nuclear cloud could float from the shores of Japan to their state.

State and county officials had their hands full Tuesday trying to keep the citizenry calm by telling them that getting the pills wasn’t necessary, but the, Obama’s United States Surgeon General stuck her nose in, saying that thee idea was a worthy “precaution.”

Kelly Huston of the California Emergency Management Agency disagreed. She countered , by saying that state officials, along with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the California Energy Commission, were monitoring the situation and that people don’t need to buy the pills.

So, what is the leader of the Free World going to do about this, you ask?

He and his family are heading to Rio.

Obama will arrive in Brazil on Saturday, where he will mix a little bit of business with a lot of vay-cay.

He’ll be in Brasília first, where he will focus on business of the visit. Globo has reported that Dilma and Obama will sign a bilateral agreement that will allow Brazilians paying Social Security in the US to count their Social Security earnings towards their retirement/Social Security benefits in Brazil, and vice versa for Americans working in Brazil. Obama will have a series of meetings with business leaders, which will also hopefully help ease trade tensions from recent years. They will also probably discuss Brazil’s attempt to land a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

In Rio, the First Family will visit the Christ Statue, and then will visit a UPP (a branch of the Military Police) in the Cidade de Deus favela, which was chosen for security reasons, since it is relatively flat with wider streets than other favelas that were proposed.

And, of course, what would a Foreign Trip by Scooter be without an opportunity to demonstrate how well he can read a teleprompter?

Obama is scheduled to a speech open to the public in Cinelândia, a historic site in Rio’s downtown. Of course, the speech will be aimed at “all Brazilians” and will have been translated into Portuguese.

Scooter will bring along his usual huge entourage and will, by necessity, have an incredible amount of security during the whole trip, particularly during the speech, and will have protection from not only the Secret Service, but the Brazilian Federal, Civil, and Military Police, the Brazilian armed forces, and BOPE (Elite Forces).

Besides his trip this weekend, Scooter tackled the important task of filling out his NCAA Basketball Tournament Brackets yesterday.

And, before that, last week, he and Moochelle hosted a White House Conference on Bullying, attended by an enormous crowd of 100 people.

Then, he had to play his 61st game of golf as POTUS last Saturday, and go entertain all the sycophants at the annual Gridiron Club Banquet that night.

So, you see, he’s just waaay too busy to get personally involved in a little thing like the Japanese Disaster.

After all, a man’s got to have his priorities.

I  have been putting off writing a whole lot about the horrible situation over in Japan, because:  1)  Everybody and their mother are reporting it and 2)  I ain’t no nuclear engineer. 

Jimmuh Carter was, but I digress. 

Having said all that, it is too important not to write about it.

The latest explosions at the Fukushima Power Plant have released low levels of radiation in to the atmosphere, which the wind is taking toward Tokyo. This is causing some people to get the heck out of Dodge and others to go into survival mode, stocking up on essential supplies.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has urged people within 18 miles of the facility north of Tokyo to stay inside their homes, while Japanese authorities try to deal with the world’s most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.

Radiation levels in Maebashi, 60 miles north of Tokyo, and in Chiba prefecture, closer to the city, were up to 10 times normal levels, according to Kyodo news agency. Only small levels have been found in the capital itself, which so far were “not a problem,” according to city officials.

A grim-looking Prime Minister Kan said:

The possibility of further radioactive leakage is heightening. We are making every effort to prevent the leak from spreading. I know that people are very worried but I would like to ask you to act calmly.

There were two explosions on Tuesday at two of the reactors at the nuclear facility. Kyodo news agency has reported that the nuclear fuel pool at the No. 4 reactor may be boiling, which suggests that there is more danger to come.

Per Koji Yamazaki, professor at Hokkaido University graduate school of environmental science, says the atmospheric radiation is no big deal:

Radioactive material will reach Tokyo but it is not harmful to human bodies because it will be dissipated by the time it gets to Tokyo. If the wind gets stronger, it means the material flies faster but it will be even more dispersed in the air.

Tell that to this little girl, Professor.

10-year-old Lucy Niver of Egan, Minnesota, who was on holiday in Japan, said:

I’m scared. I’m so scared I would rather be in the eye of a tornado. I want to leave.

The Japanese Stock Market plunged 10.6 percent on Tuesday (our Monday). The worst two-day drop since 1987 was triggered by reports of rising radiation near Tokyo. This is an indicator that any further deterioration at the Fukushima nuclear plant could trigger more panic selling,led by hedge funds.

The yen dropped due to talk of intervention. At the same time, bond yields rose as scared investors sold debt to offset losses in the stock market. The rate and amount of the equity selloff, set a record volume for a second day running, forcing fund managers to sit on the sidelines.

After Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the risk of nuclear contamination was rising at the Fukushima Daiichi complex on Japan’s ravaged northeastern coast, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo,the Nikkei plunged 14 percent.

The two-day fall has wiped some $620 billion off the market.

Obama’s response?  He’s got top men on it.  Top men. 

U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos is President Obama’s top man on the ground. Shortly after the Tsunami struck, Roos let everyone know that he will be playing a lead public role as the United States determines how best to direct its resources toward saving lives, getting control of the country’s nuclear reactors, cleaning up the devastation and ultimately rebuilding.

Roos said at a press briefing Monday:

This is a time when our country needs to step up for the country of Japan.

So, we can all expect to see Roos as the Obama Administration’s public face concerning the horrible disaster in Japan.  In fact, Roos has been providing round-the-clock updates on disaster response efforts and efforts to track down U.S. citizens.

And his boss?

 Oh, he had a White House Conference on Bullying, a golf game,  the Gridiron Club banquet to attend to last week.  And now, he has a family vay-cay in Rio to deal with.  However, as soon as he gets time in his busy schedule, I’m sure he’ll roll up his sleeves and aim his legendary laser-like focus toward helping one of our greatest allies.

There has been an American “casualty” from this horrible disaster.

Aflac Inc. announced on Monday that it has fired Gilbert Gottfried, the fingernails-on-the-chalkboard-voiced comedian who has made a ton of money as the voice of the world-famous Aflac Duck since 2000.

The Liberal idiot lost the best job he’s ever had by posting a string of offensive, insensitive jokes about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on Twitter over the weekend.

The Amos Family, who own Aflac, canned this clown because he put them in a unattenable position. You see, Aflac does 75 percent of its business in Japan. 1/4th of the Japanese population buys their health insurance from Aflac.

CEO, Daniel Amos, hopped a jet to Japan on Sunday to show support for the company’s employees and agents.

Aflac released a statement yesterday, saying that Gottfried’s jokes do not represent the feelings of the company, which had previously announced that it would donate 100 million yen ($1.2 million) to the International Red Cross to help with disaster assistance.

Aflac Chief Marketing Officer Michael Zuna proclaimed:

There is no place for anything but compassion and concern during these difficult times.

As of yesterday, Gottfried had removed his idiotic jokes from his Twitter Feed.

Instead of Aflac!!!, Gottfried should now be walking around saying: STUPID!!!

Maybe the Amos Family could hire Obama.  He’s not doing anything.

According to authorities, those killed in the largest earthquake recorded in Japan since 1900, an 8.9 magnitude, may exceed 10,000 in the prefecture of Miyagi, alone.

In the meantime, around 800 deaths had been confirmed so far in Miyagi and other areas in northeastern Japan, which were levelled Friday by the quake and a tsunami. there has been no word at all from the 10,000 residents of the town of Minamisanriku.

Am official in Fukushima said that about 90 percent of the houses in three coastal communities had been washed away by the tsunami.

390,000 people have fled their homes, many of them staying at the more than 1,400 emergency shelters set up in schools and community centers.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has doubled the number of soldiers sent to stricken areas. However, rescue workers are having a difficult time reaching some of the affected areas, due to many of the access roads being blocked by debris.

The Prime Minister made an announcement, saying:

I ask for utmost efforts to save the lives of as many people as possible. We will put all-out efforts into rescuing people who have been isolated.

According to a top official, a partial meltdown was already likely under way at one nuclear reactor, as the nuclear plant technicians were frantically trying to keep temperatures down at the power plant’s other units, to prevent an unfathomable disaster.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano reported today that a hydrogen explosion could occur at Unit 3 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex:

At the risk of raising further public concern, we cannot rule out the possibility of an explosion. If there is an explosion, however, there would be no significant impact on human health.

More than 170,000 people had been evacuated as a precaution, but Edano said that the radioactivity released into the environment so far was too small to cause any health problems.

If the nuclear power plant were to experience a complete meltdown, meaning the collapse of a power plant’s systems and its ability to keep temperatures under control, it would release uranium and dangerous contaminants into the environment and pose major, widespread health risks. On the bright(?) side, officials say it would be smaller than the Chernobyl Disaster.

Yikes.

Edano admitted to reporters that a partial meltdown in Unit 3 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant was “highly possible.”

When he was asked if a partial meltdown had already occurred, Edano replied:

…because it’s inside the reactor, we cannot directly check it but we are taking measures on the assumption [that it had.]

Unit 3 at the Fukushima plant is one of the three reactors that had automatically shut down and lost cooling functions necessary to keep fuel rods working properly due to power outage from the quake. The facility’s Unit 1 is also in trouble, but Unit 2 has been less affected.

Yesterday, the walls of Unit 1 were destroyed by an explosion as operators desperately tried to prevent it from overheating and melting down.

Because the plant lost power, and with its pipes and pumps destroyed, authorities had to resort to drawing seawater mixed with boron to try to cool the unit’s overheated uranium fuel rods. Boron disrupts nuclear chain reactions.

Officials said the seawater will remain inside the unit, possibly for several months, rendering it unusable.

Per Robert Alvarez, senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and former senior policy adviser to the U.S. secretary of energy, the seawater was a desperate measure:

It’s a Hail Mary pass.

So, yesterday, as one of our greatest allies faced nuclear peril, where was The Leader of the Free World?

No, not Sarkozy.  Obama.

One word:  Fore!

ABC News’ Tahman Bradley reported:

President Obama just could not wait for spring weather to arrive.

For the second week in a row, the most powerful man in the world stepped away from the White House to hit the golf course.

Even as his administration and the U.S. military help Japan recover from a devastating earthquake, and as the world worries about Fukushima’s nuclear reactor, the president could not resist taking advantage of the 48-degree weather in the Washington, D.C., area.

The president left the White House Saturday afternoon for a short trip to Joint Andrews Base in Camp Springs, Md.

With cloudy skies, it’s not the best weather for golf, but Obama loves to spend his Saturdays on the greens. Last fall, Obama went golfing darn near every weekend.

These are never quick “work on your swing” trips; usually the president plays 18 holes, as he did last week.

And, of course, Scooter never lets a small thing like a nuclear disaster get in the way of a par-tahy.

President Barack Hussein Obama performed at the annual Gridiron Club Dinner last night.

To quote The Washington Post:

Yes, America, it’s one of those Washington dinners: Where top politicians and media elite dress up in their finest — white tie, in this case — to eat, drink and lob passive-aggressive jokes at each other, celebrity roast-style, in a way that seems pointed and mean but only serves to feed the beyond-the-Beltway suspicion that They Are All In Bed Together.

For instance:   Mr. Truce, himself, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels joked that he got his duds from:

…the bearded guy at Men’s Wearhouse. Anyone else notice, you never see him and Wolf Blitzer in the same place at the same time?

Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Mitt Romney:

We have more in common than our hairstyles: We both used to think health care reform would advance our careers.

Al Hunt of Bloomberg feigning surprise that the absent Sen. Chuck Schumer would miss a chance to schmooze reporters:

It’s like Charlie Sheen missing a hooker’s convention.

So, while the world is imploding, our country’s citizens are struggling to feed their families, and Japan is in danger of a nuclear meltdown, the Leader of the Free World was out partying, doing his Rodney Dangerfield impression with the rest of the Beltway Elite.

Obama’s funniest unintentional (or possibly, intentional) snark came when the Marine Band struck up “Hail to the Chief” to welcome the president. Obama waved them off, saying:

Play that song we talked about..

And they did: “Born in the U.S.A.”

The lackadaisical manner in which this poor excuse for a President has been carrying out his duties certainly makes one wonder…

The Saudi Arabian Government is firing on protesters, as is Libya’s Mercenary force hired by Moammar Kadhafi, as the Middle East continues to implode in scenes reminiscent of those in the Book of Revelation.

Back in America, the Wisconsin General Assembly passed Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-trimming measure to make state government union employees actually pay something toward their own retirement plan, as professional protestors, including the Reverhuuund Jacksooooon, had the world’s largest hissy fit, storming the capitol, and sleeping on the marble floor, like they were having a Woodstock flashback. Their temper tantrum was even more out of control than the one Charlie Sheen had.

Remember when former (thank you, Lord) Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, said this?

Where was all that faux concern yesterday, hmmmm?

At the same time, Rep. Peter King opened his hearings on the radicalization of American Muslims. If you listened to the Democrats as they whined and cried when they spoke, you would have thought Rep. King was tar and feathering the entire Islamic Religion.

And the way the Democrats treated the Muslim American parents who spoke out about their children being recruited by Terrorists, was disgusting.

Who do they think they are?

Then, we awoke this morning to find out that the largest earthquake in Jan’s history since 1900, an 8.9 magnitude, has produced a Tsunami which is barreling toward the Aleutians, Hawaii, and the Left Coast of the 57 48 states.

So, where was the Leader of the Free World? No, not Sarkozy. Obama.

He and the First Lady, Michelle (ma belle) were hosting a White House Conference on bullying.

Ol’ Scooter told his captive audience that his large ears and funny sounding name (Barry?) made him a target of bullying.

I have to say, with big ears and the name that I have, I wasn’t immune. I didn’t emerge unscathed.

I suppose his snotty, smart-aleck nature had nothing to do with it at all. But, I digress…

Obama went on to say that torment and intimidation must not be tolerated.

According to the White House, 13 million students, a third of all those attending school, are bullied every year. Academic experts say that puts them at greater risk of falling behind in their studies, abusing drugs or alcohol, or suffering mental or other health problems. Kids who are seen as different because of their race, clothes, disability or sexual orientation are more likely to be bullied.

Gee, Dinozzo.  Ya think?

And bullying is supposed to be something new?

Scooter pontificated:

If there’s one goal of this conference, it’s to dispel the myth that bullying is just a harmless rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up. It’s not.

Bullying can have destructive consequences for our young people. And it’s not something we have to accept.

The Leader of the Free World spent his day speaking to more than 100 parents, students, teachers and others at the conference designed to “discuss the problem and share ideas for solutions”.

The issue of bullying  has become the cause celebre of the Liberally concerned.  Apparently, bullying has found its way to America’s new technology as texting, Facebook, Twitter and other technologies are being used to carry it out. The perceived problem has been named cyberbullying, a term made popular by the media coverage of despondent teens who have committed suicide after someone called them names, or harassed them.

Where were the parents?

Families of some of those youngsters joined Obama at the White House.

Obama proclaimed:

No family should have to go through what these families have gone through. No child should feel that alone.

You’re right, Scooter. But raising a child is the responsibility of family, friends, and the church.  Not the Federal Government.

According to Obama a “national attitude adjustment” is in order, because of the damage that bullying can do.

Obama is trying to make bullying a part of his education agenda. Posters urging students to report bullying can be seen in public schools throughout America.

That noted food and nutrition and education expert, Michelle Obama, said parents need to be more involved in their children’s lives, their schools and their activities since youngsters “don’t always tell us every little detail.” According to Moochelle, her youngest daughter, 9-year-old Sasha, often says “Nothing” in response to questions about her day at school.

That’s when you actually sit down and talk to your daughter, ma’am.

The First Lady also urged adults to set an example by treating others with compassion and respect, and giving each other the benefit of the doubt.

According to Mrs. Obama:

It sends a message to our kids about how they treat others.

Well, duuuuuh!

You know, I was a little, sickly, asthmatic child with parents who were 40 years older than I was.  I was picked on constantly.  Then, one day, in 7th grade, as a bully about twice my size was picking on me, I smacked him right between the eyes with my size 2S drumsticks.  He left me alone after that.

Our Founding Fathers never meant for America to have a Nanny-state government.  Americans instinctively realize that, hence the results of November 2nd, 2011.

Given President Obama’s past history and predilection for wanting others to solve life’s problems for him, it’s no wonder that this Ship of State under Obama’s Capitancy is sailing so erratically.

Following a vote that will lead to Wisconsin Public Service Labor Union members having to contribute to their own benefit plans, a riot broke out in the capitol as an angry crowd of Union thugs threw rocks at the Capitol Building, breaking windows. Some attempted to enter the building itself through an open window, after being turned away at the front door.

Yesterday, in a brilliant maneuver, Gov. Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Republican State Senators bypassed the AWOL Democrat Fleebaggers, hiding out in Illinois, and voted to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from most public workers.

After the bill passes the Republican-controlled State Assembly today, Republican Gov. Scott Walker will gladly put his John Hancock on this piece of legislation, much to the chagrin of the Progressives, Wisconsin’s Public Service Labor Unions’ Management and their allies in the nation’s Organized Labor Unions.

Within hours of the State Senate passing the bill, about 7,000 pouting Union members showed up outside the Senate Chamber, chanting:

The whole world is watching!

Yep.  And a lot of us are wildly applauding.

While most of them grew exhausted by their collective temper tantrum, and went home to their three bedroom, 2 car garage homes in the suburb, some of the oppressed (or bussed in ) wound up sleeping on the marble floor of the Capitol Building.

I wonder if chiropractic is covered under the Union Benefit Plan.

The vote ended a three-week stalemate, caused by the cowardly tactic of fleeing the state by the Democratic Senators. These noble public servants ran like scalded dogs in order to avoid the quorum needed to vote on Gov. Walker’s proposed legislation which would solve a $137 million budget shortfall.

The Senate decided late Wednesday afternoon to take all the spending measures out of the legislation and approved it minutes later, 18-1.

Let the whining begin.

First up, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller.

In 30 minutes, 18 state senators undid 50 years of civil rights in Wisconsin. Their disrespect for the people of Wisconsin and their rights is an outrage that will never be forgotten. Tonight, 18 Senate Republicans conspired to take government away from the people.”

And dereliction of duty doesn’t?

Democratic state Sen. Dave Hansen was surprised:

We didn’t believe that the Republican senators would stay with the governor and rubber-stamp his plan.

Well, I guess you shouldn’t have run away, huh?

Still in the midst of a hissy fit, Senate Democrats met late las night to decide on when they were going to sneak back into town.

According to State Senator Spencer Coggs (D) :

We are going to watch and see how the Assembly unfolds. There will be fireworks. There will be a lot of people at the Capitol and so it will be hard to get in and out of the Capitol.

The Wisconsin Democratic Senators must be working out their schedule with SEIU and the AFL-CIO. Wouldn’t want to interrupt those staged protests, y’know.

Speaking of which, Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin state AFL-CIO, whined about Republicans exercising a “nuclear option”:

Scott Walker and the Republicans’ ideological war on the middle class and working families is now indisputable.

Gov. Scott Walker issued the following statement last night:

I applaud the Legislature’s action today to stand up to the status quo and take a step in the right direction to balance the budget and reform government.

The measure stops most government workers from collectively bargaining for wage increases beyond the rate of inflation unless approved by referendum.   The bill will also make public workers contribute more toward their pensions and double their health insurance contribution, a combination equivalent to an 8 percent pay cut for the average worker.

Police and firefighters are exempt.

Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader, Scott L. Fitzgerald, released the following statement last night:

Before the election, the Democrats promised “adult leadership” in Madison. Then a month and a half into session, the Senate Democrats fled the state instead of doing their job.

In doing so, they have tarnished the very institution of the Wisconsin state Senate. This is unacceptable.

This afternoon, following a week and a half of line-by-line negotiation, Sen. Miller sent me a letter that offered three options: 1) keep collective bargaining as is with no changes, 2) take our counter-offer, which would keep collective bargaining as is with no changes, 3) or stop talking altogether.

With that letter, I realized that we’re dealing with someone who is stalling indefinitely, and doesn’t have a plan or an intention to return. His idea of compromise is “give me everything I want,” and the only negotiating he’s doing is through the media.

Enough is enough. The people of Wisconsin elected us to do a job. They elected us to stand up to the broken status quo, stop the constant expansion of government, balance the budget, create jobs and improve the economy. The longer the Democrats keep up this childish stunt, the longer the majority can’t act on our agenda.

And, as the Democratic Senators found out last night:  If you don’t do your job, somebody will be happy to do it for you.