A Flotilla, a Frog-Choker, and a Forewarning

Pro-Palestinian “Activists” on board a six-ship flotilla, supposedly carrying aid to the Gaza Strip,  tried to capture and hang the Israel Navy commandos who boarded their boat flying under the flag of Turkey early Monday.   At least nine people were killed and several more were wounded in the ambush.

The commandos intercepted the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara after it ignored orders to turn back from its course to Gaza  encountered violent resistance from the men on the ship who were armed with sticks and knives. These “activists” threw one of the soldiers from the upper deck to the lower after they boarded. The Pro-Palestinian organizers of the flotilla claimed that the troops opened fire first.

Per an Israeli military spokesman, some of the commandos were equipped with paintball guns.   However, they proved to be insufficient against the “activists” who had batons.

“They had pistols with live ammunition as back-up, to defend themselves,” he said. The IDF said it had confiscated two pistols from the boat.

One of the commandos told reporters:

They beat us with metal sticks and knives.  There was live fire at some point against us.

Per the IDF,  the “activists” took some of the soldiers’ helmets and equipment and tossed several from the top deck to a lower deck, forcing them to jump into the sea to escape.

Another commando said:

They jumped me, hit me with clubs and bottles and stole my rifle.   I pulled out my pistol and had no choice but to shoot.

The  Israeli soldiers were forced to open fire after the activists bashed one of their comrades in the head and trampled on him. A senior IDF field commander ordered the soldiers to respond with gunfire.

The IDF said its rules of engagement allowed troops to open fire in this “life-threatening situation”.

Elite troops from Shayetet 13, a naval commando unit, boarded the protest boats at around 4:00 A.M. Al Jazeera claimed Monday morning that the Gaza aid flotilla had changed course to avoid any trouble with the Israeli warships.

There were 700 pro-Palestinian activists on the boats, including 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland, and European legislators. The boats were  officially carrying 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid and supplies to Gaza.

The flotilla would not turn around, so Israeli troops were prepared to board the ships to steer them away from the Gaza shores toward the Israeli port city of Ashdod.

One of the flotilla organizers, Huwaida Arraf,  said the convoy began the journey from international waters off the coast of Cyprus on Sunday afternoon, after two days of delays.  The flotilla had been expected to reach Gaza, about 400 kilometers away, on Monday afternoon, and two more ships had been expected to follow later.

After the raid, Israel’s top officials began the process of defending their actions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled his meeting with President Barack Obama to head back to Israel from North America, while the UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting in New York.

Israeli ambassadors around the world began explaining the incidents to their host governments.   The Foreign Ministry held a briefing with all foreign ambassadors in Israel.

There were protests against Israel in Jordan, Turkey, Beirut, Greece and Pakistan.

Activists clashed with police near the Israeli Embassy in Paris. Many in the throng shouted, “Israel, assassin!” and “We are all Palestinians,” while young people near the front tried to break through the police line to break into the Israeli Embassy.   There were protests in London also.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said:

I am shocked by reports of killing of people in boats carrying supply to Gaza. I heard the ships were in international waters. That is very bad.

 He called for a “thorough investigation.”

The European Union’s foreign affairs chief, Catherine Ashton,wants Israel to launch an investigation into the incident.  The holder of the EU presidency, Spain, said Israel’s storming of the flotilla was “unacceptable.”

Netanyahu spoke by telephone with Obama, and they agreed to reschedule their meeting at the first opportunity.  The White House was notably cautious and understated in their press release about the raid:

The president expressed deep regret at the loss of life in today’s incident, and concern for the wounded, many of whom are being treated in Israeli hospitals. The president also expressed the importance of learning all the facts and circumstances around this morning’s tragic events as soon as possible.

 Netanyahu strongly reaffirmed the policy of intercepting the flotilla and firmly backed the conduct of the IDF itself.

“I fully support the IDF action,” said Netanyahu. He  proceeded to explain to reporters, after a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, that Israel needed to check the cargo that the flotilla was bringing to Gaza, to make sure that it did not contain any weapons.  They had already inspected 5 ships, but the sixth had not cooperated, said Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama’s Memorial Day observance was stopped in its tracks Monday afternoon by a frog-choking downpour featuring bolts of lightning and booming thunder.

Obama’s pontificating was overruled by a Higher Court.

Obama had just enough time before the storm to quietly lay a wreath at another part of the cemetery, and then stood, his head bowed, as a bugler played “Taps.”

The president last year laid the traditional wreath on the tomb of The Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetary.  But this year he visited a cemetery about 50 miles southwest of Chicago, so that his Presidential duty would not interrupt the long holiday weekend at his private home with his wife and daughters.

Genesis 12:  1-3 (English Standard Version)

 1Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Sources:  jerusalempost.com, haaretz.com, drudgereport.com, yahoo.com, bible.com

Basketball, Barbeque, and Lip Service

One day after playing with tar balls on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, Barack Obama started his Saturday by shooting some hoops with First Dawg Reggie Love in the gym located at the University of Chicago Lab School.

While he was hanging with Reggie, working on his jump shot, his pre-recorded lip service to our Armed Forces and the Memorial Day Holiday played on televisions and radios throughout the land.

At 4 p.m., he and his family left their Chicago home to attend a barbeque and watch the Blackhawks game at a buddy’s house.

An interesting stand-off happened while Scooter was partyin’ down, between followers of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on one side and members of the press and the U.S. Secret Service guarding the president on the other.

Not far from Obama’s home in the Kenwood/Hyde Park neighborhood, Obama’s long-time friend Marty Nesbitt lives across the street from the ornate yellow-gold home where “Calypso Louie” Farrakhan lives.

When Obama has brought his family over to Nesbitt’s home the last two years, the press pool bus parks near Farrakhan’s house. This usually does not cause a problem, but Saturday night, there was almost a throwdown on Woodlawn Avenue.

As a dozen reporters and photographers following Obama stood on the sidewalk in front of Farrakhan’s home, someone’s foot touched the publicly owned curbside grass.

Like a flash, a polite man in jeans and T-Shirt came out of the compound to ask the press to stay off the grass.   He began pacing and talking on his cell phone.  He went inside the mansion’s black wrought iron fence, crossed the well-landscaped yard, lifted a water bucket behind rose bushes and retrieved a walkie-talkie. The reporters heard him referring to “the CIA.”  Evidently, this paranoid genius did not realize that the Secret Service guards the president, not the CIA.

He then went to the secret service agent watching the press and asked him to move the van and its occupants.

“How is this a security breach?” the agent asked. He asked if the house was government property.  Since Obama ascended to the throne, err, presidency, neighbors all over Hyde Park and Kenwood have become accustomed to dealing with streets being blocked off and having to show ID to approach their own homes .

The Fruit of Islam member said something else and at that point the agent stuck out his hand to shake hands and introduced himself as Secret Service. He added, “Sir, I can assure you that we will do nothing to interfere with whatever is going on in there.”

The Farrakhan guard paced again and talked on his cell phone, walkie-talkie in the other hand.  Three more men in T-Shirts reading “Wide or Die!’’ joined the man from the Nation of Islam.  A reporter asked one of the men if this was Farrakhan’s house. The man just glared back.  Asked again, he said, “I don’t have no comment.”

Eventually, a dozen Fruit of Islam members made the scene.   As each casually dressed man arrived, he exchanged elaborate handshake/hug/double air-kisses with others. Two of them walked by a reporter, chanting “Islam.”

The men filmed and photographed the reporters, the van and its license plates with their cell phones.

One of the guards came and stood close to reporters and the secret service agent.  The secret service agent asked if he could help him.  The man did not answer the agent. He politely asked  him again.  The guard said, “No.”  The agent said, “Secret Service, please move away from this group of people.”

The Fruit of Islam member complied.

The Secret Service agent asked the reporters to go back into the press bus, and they did.

Before they did, some of them asked the Nation of Islam crowd if they could use the rest room in Farrakahn’s home.

They were met with silence.

A Baptist minister from Detroit named Rev. Gary Hunter, who writes and blogs for the Detroit Times, told reporter Jackie Calmes of the New York Times that he personally called Calypso Louie and his son and asked them to have their Private Army(the Fruit) stand down: “I told him you were good people . . . He said he didn’t know you all were just waiting for the president.’’

Yeah, right.  You had better believe Farrakhan knew exactly what was going on.

The Blackhawks won the game around 10 p.m., and Obama and his family were driven home at 10:43 p.m., the press bus following behind them, ending the stand-off.

Today, Obama is scheduled to make remarks at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery.  He will miss the usual tradition of presidents speaking at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day and laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Instead,  he’s sent Vice President Biden and his wife to handle those duties,  The Bidens will also host a breakfast for Gold Star families, families whose loved ones died in military service, at the White House earlier that day.

According to The Washington Post. Obama excuses this ill-timed vacation as addressing one of the great broken promises of his administration: his early pledge to return home to Chicago every six weeks or so.

Presidents Reagan, Bush 41, and Bush 43 also missed the ceremony during their time in office.  But, there was not the wide-spread public perception of anti-American leanings hanging like a cloud over their presidencies, like there is over Obama’s. 

This president has gone out of his way to apologize for America to world leaders and to disrespect the military by floating a trial balloon suggesting they pay for their medical benefits.  And that’s not even mentioning the yet-to-be realized repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.

Mr. President, with all due respect, sir, I wish you possessed the courage, conviction, faith, and patriotism of our Best and Brightest, America’s Armed Forces.  These brave men and women sacrifice themselves on a daily basis to protect and defend our sacred land.  We honor them, their families, and the legacy they have given us on this special day.   As the following video reminds us, Freedom is not Free.

John 15:13:

   13Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

UPDATE:  President Obama’s appearance at the small cemetary today was cut short because of a thunderstorm.  He was not able to speak, just deliver a wreath.  God is good.  All the time.

 Sources:  drudgereport.com, suntimes.com, newsmax.com, youtube.com

A Tale of Two Protests

As 10-20,000 bussed-in protesters from several states clogged up the streets of Phoenix on Saturday to march against Arizona’s federally based anti-illegal immigration law, Gov. Jan Brewer relieved the state’s attorney general from her legal team defending the law.

Gov. Brewer believes Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has been  conspiring with the Obama administration as it considers whether to sue her state.

Brewer issued a statement late Friday night saying her legal team will defend the state against lawsuits challenging the measure. She has cited a provision in the law that allows private attorneys to represent the state. The attorneys are already representing her in some of the legal challenges to the law in which she is named the defendant.

However,  Arizona AG Goddard says Brewer can’t kick him off the case. Goddard’s top aide, Tim Nelson, said Saturday that the Governor can’t invoke the provision because it hasn’t taken effect yet.  He also claimed that there are questions about its’ constitutionality. 

Wha’ choo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?   She’s the Governor.  She’s in charge.  70 % of Arizona’s population support the law, per Rasmussen.

Gov. Brewer’s decision came after Justice Department officials met with Arizona’s AG.  Goddard is a  Democrat who will likely be challenging Brewer, a Republican, in her re-election bid.  U.S. AG Eric Holder’s people met with Goddard before meeting with her legal team.

Also, in a blatantly arrogant snub, President Obama  turned down Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s request to meet while she’s in Washington next week. 

She will be in Washington to meet with other governors.  Brewer announced Friday that she had asked to meet with Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to discuss border security and immigration.  White House spokesman Adam Abrams claimed that Obama’s schedule “doesn’t allow for a meeting” with her but promised that the president “does intend to sit down with the governor in the future.”  Uh huh.

After Scooter returns from his Chicago vacation on Tuesday, he is supposed to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Peru President Alan Garcia.  On Wednesday, Obama is meeting with Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.  Then he’ll head to an event in Pittsburgh and host a concert at the White House to honor Paul McCartney.

Meeting with Peru’s President and honoring Sir Paul is certainly more important than meeting with Gov. Brewer about the out-of-control illegal immigration issue, isn’t it, Scooter?  Wait, there’s more.

On Thursday, Obama is speaking at Hillary’s reception for a new partnership between U.S. and India. On Friday, the president will welcome the Major League Soccer men’s championship team, Real Salt Lake, to the White House.

And all this pomp and circumstance is more important than dealing with the situation that has led to violence and death against your own citizens, like Mr. Robert Krentz, Mr. President?  Just how shallow and uncaring are you?

Regarding the Pro-Illegal Immigration Rally in Phoenix yesterday,  I have a question.   Who provided the money to get those protesters there?  Who is funding the “National Day of Action”?  Illegals normally send a bunch of the cash they make, back home to their families in poverty-stricken Mexico.  Did the money come from certain “friends of Scooter” whose 4-letter acronym begins with “S” and ends in “U”?  Enquiring minds want to know.

More “artists”  have joined illegal immigration supporters, trying to display their inestimable intellectual prowess.  Zack De La Rocha, from “Rage Against the Machine”, has formed the organization “Sound Strike” to side with Obama’s Far Left Machine against the citizens of Arizona.   He’s recruited intellectual giants to join his group like Conor Oberst, Kanye West, Rage Against the Machine, Rise Against, Cypress Hill, Serj Tankian, Joe Satriani, Sonic Youth, Tenacious D (Jack Black), Street Sweeper Social Club and Michael Moore.

De la Roza compares the illegal immigration situation to Rosa Parks:

When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, they arrested her. As a result, people got together and said we are not going to ride the bus until they change the law. It was this courageous action that sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. What if we got together, signed a collective letter saying, ‘We’re not going to ride the bus?’ “

The group’s website includes a petition urging President Barack Obama to take action.

Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

 

The Ballad of Obama’s Gulf Coast Tour

Read this blog and you’ll know a tale,

A tale of a PR trip.

That started from O’Hare Airport,

To save a sinking Ship.

The Prez left his family in Chi-town,

Starting their Vaca,

He met Big Sis on the Gulf Coast,

Coming there to save the day!

The oil slick had been coming in,

Ravaging the coast.

Scooter knew that if he did not go there,

His poll numbers were toast.

(His poll numbers are toast.)

He walked down the shores a bit,

And spoke to us a while,

“This is high priority,

on that you can rely!”

“My Ship of State will handle this,

In charge here since Day One.

Never mind that five weeks have gone by,

And nothing has been done.”

“And, now to Chi-town, I must return,

With my family I must sup,

BIll Ayers is having a barbeque,

And the darned thing might blow up.”

So, join me here each day, my friend.

And we’ll try and make some sense,

Of the actions of this Socialist,

The worst of Presidents.

**Based on The Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle…with apologies**

The Sleazy Sestak Caper

Making the rounds of the Sunday morning talk shows after his May 18th primary win, Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania answered questions about his claim that the White House offered him an administration job if he would clear the field for ex-Republican, incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter.

Sestak acknowledged that he had been offered a job, but he would not discuss it any further.   He said that he only acknowledged the job offer in an interview in February because he was asked the question.

Sestak said on “Meet the Press” on May 23rd:

I was asked about something that happened months earlier, and I felt I had to answer it honestly, and that’s all I have to say about it, because anything beyond that gets away from what we just talked about, what are the policies.

That was the match that started a forest fire.  Since then, Fox News has been all over this.  Republicans in Congress have called for AG Eric Holder to appoint a Special Prosecutor.  Yesterday, in his first Press Conference in 309 days, President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) said:

There will be an official response shortly on the Sestak matter.   I mean shortly — I don’t mean weeks or months. … I can assure the public that nothing improper took place. 

At Thursday’s scheduled Press Briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert “Baghdad Bob” Gibbs also said nothing improper happened, but would not make any additional statements, even though he was peppered with questions about the situation.

Today, the White House issued the long-awaited statement that Scooter promised yesterday

The memo released today states that President Obama’s chief of staff used former President Bill Clinton as a go-between in order to see if Representative Joe Sestak would drop out of Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate primary if they bribed him with  a prominent, but unpaid, advisory position, the White House said on Friday.

Waitaminute…they wanted him to give up an opportunity at a $174,000 plus per year prestigious Senatorial seat for a prominent, but unpaid, advisory position?  Isn’t that like offering someone a penny for a dollar?

Chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel asked his former boss,  President Clinton, last summer to explore “options of service” on a presidential or senior government advisory board with Mr. Sestak, per the White House’s statement.  Mr. Sestak said no and went on to defeat Snarlin’ Arlen Specter.

Per White House counsel Robert F. Bauer, there was nothing illegal or sleazy regarding this bribe:

There was no such impropriety.  The Democratic Party leadership had a legitimate interest in averting a divisive primary fight and a similarly legitimate concern about the congressman vacating his seat in the House.

Mr. Bauer went on to write that offering a bribe like this administration did  was a common practice:

There have been numerous, reported instances in the past when prior administrations – both Democratic and Republican, and motivated by the same goals – discussed alternative paths to service for qualified individuals also considering campaigns for public office.  Such discussions are fully consistent with the relevant law and ethical requirements.

Representative Darrell Issa of California, the senior Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, stated that: 

It is abundantly clear that this kind of conduct is contrary to President Obama’s pledge to change ‘business as usual’ and that his administration has engaged in the kind of political shenanigans he once campaigned to end.

Federal law makes it a crime for anyone:

who directly or indirectly, promises any employment, position, compensation, contract, appointment, or any other benefit” to someone else “as consideration, favor, or reward for any political activity or for the support of or opposition to any candidate or any political party in connection with any general or special election to any political office.

 It is also illegal for a government official to use “his official authority for the purpose of interfering with, or affecting, the nomination or the election of any candidate” for Senate.

While speculation has been rampant that the White House offered to appoint Mr. Sestak as secretary of the Navy, Mr. Bauer claims that the White House did not offer Mr. Sestak a full-time paid position because Mr. Emanuel wanted him to stay in the House rather than risk losing his seat, so he considered “uncompensated advisory board options.”

The White House will not say what those options were, but those in-the-know say that one option was an appointment to the president’s Intelligence Advisory Board, a panel of prominent Americans outside government who provide independent oversight of the nation’s spy apparatus and advise the president.  But White House officials scratched that idea because Rep. Sestak could not serve on the board while still serving in Congress.

To quote The Man who inspired a lot of regular people to become aware of American Politics, Mr. Rush Hudson Limbaugh (Yeah, buddy!):

I guess now we know why, ladies and gentlemen, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton had lunch yesterday. They had to get their stories straight.

As I write this, Rep. Joe Sestak has not yet responded to the White House explanation.  His response will be interesting to behold.  He has to somehow stay in the good graces of  Barrack Hussein Obama (all graft, err, peace be upon him) and the Democratic Party minions, err, leadership, while at the same time, try to portray himself as sinless as he can in order to be successful in his Campaign for Specter’s Senate Seat.

Meanwhile, watch the Democratic Party’s spin.  Right now, they are flailing about, saying:

 BOOOOSH did it, too!

Representatives from President Bush’s administration, including Press Secretary Dana Perino, have already been on Fox News to refute that allegation.

To wrap this caper up in a neat little package, allow me to quote former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin:

So, how’s that hopey-changey thing workin’ out for ya?

Update:  3:35 p.m Central – Sestak just conducted  a staged “casual” (jacket  jauntily draped across his shoulder) Press Conference on the steps of  the Capital Building, where he professed his undying respect for President Clinton and dancing around everything else in a performance that could have been coached by ballet master Rahm Emmanuel .  Remember what I wrote earlier about the Democratic spin?  It will continue.

Sources:  drudgereport.com, nytimes.com, yahoo.com, rushlimbaugh.com

The Petulant President’s Press Conference

Today, the President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) held his first Press Conference in 309 days.   After watching the dog and pony show, it actually seemed like some of the press were actually trying to portray themselves as journalists on television.  The only one that truly succeeded was Fox New’s Major Garrett.  Here are the main points to Scooter’s Guest Lecturing gig yesterday, summed up in a brief synopsis.  I wouldn’t want you to fall asleep.  Everybody watching it almost did.

1.  There since day one 

Scooter said that his administration was “in charge” of the effort to stop the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, trying to combat popular opinion that his leadership has been less than sterling and his response was tepid, at best. 

Obama made sure that the public knew who was The Man, saying his people  ordered BP to drill two holes instead of the single one executives proposed.

Per Obama:

BP is operating at our direction.  Every key decision and action they take must be approved by us in advance.

He was sure to make the point that if the Coast Guard commander orders BP to do something, “they are legally bound to do it.”

2.  BP’s Fault

Obama insisted that BP will pay “every dime” for the damage it has done to the Gulf Coast:

BP is responsible for this horrific disaster and we will hold them fully accountable on behalf of the United States. 

Excuse me, Mr. President (Lt. Columbo impression…Google him, kids.)  If it’s BP’s fault, why did this occur, per Fox News?

Elizabeth Birnbaum, director of the embattled U.S. Minerals Management Service, was fired Thursday in the wake of reports of mismanagement in the agency responsible for oversight of oil companies like BP, which is trying to clean up a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

When asked about this during the Presser, Obama claimed she resigned and he did not  know the specifics.  I thought you were in charge, Mr. President?

By the way, are you giving BP back all the money they gave you?

As a Senator from Illinois and during his Presidential Campaign, Obama received a total of $77,051 from the oil giant and has garnered the prestige of being the top recipient of BP PAC and individual money over the past 20 years, per financial disclosure records.
 
3.  Boooosh’s Fault
 
Obama blamed practices of the Bush administration for the poor regulation, and in a Pee Wee Herman defensive moment (I know you are, but what am I) claimed they had a “cozy and sometimes corrupt relationship” between oil companies and regulators.

Obama further said that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar instituted changes in the agency after taking over, but the “culture had not fully changed” at Ms. Birnbaum’s former agency by the time of the spill.  Uh huh.

 
4.  Shut up, Helen
 
Someone woke up Julius Caesar’s Press Secretary Helen Thomas.  She launched in on Obama, asking when we were going to get out of Afghanistan.  The President talked down to her, clearly uncomfortable.  He dismissed her like he was speaking to a child or a senile old woman.
 
5.  Arizona bad, Illegal Aliens Good
 
Scooter said the decision to boycott Arizona over its tough new law cracking down on immigration is for private citizens to decide, not him. He further said he doesn’t approve or oppose the boycotts that some cities and groups have called for in response to the Arizona law, which makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally.  Can you say “Tacit Approval”, boys and girls?

Obama stated once again his opposition to the law, claiming  it’s the wrong approach. He has asked the Justice Department to review the law to determine whether it violates civil liberties.  How can non-citizens have “civil liberties”?

Obama says he will continue to push lawmakers to work on a bipartisan approach to “comprehensive immigration reform (otherwise known as amnesty).

6.  Don’t ask me about Sestak

Major Garrett of Fox News asked him in the very last question of the Press Conference about the alleged bribe of Democratic Senatorial Candidate (current Representative) Joe Sestak.  It has been alleged that the White House offered Rep. Joe Sestak a job to drop out of the Democratic primary race against Sen. Arlen Specter.   

Obama said:

There will be an official response shortly on the Sestak matter.   I mean shortly — I don’t mean weeks or months. … I can assure the public that nothing improper took place. 

White House Press Secretary Robert “Baghdad Bob” Gibbs has also said nothing improper happened, but would not make any additional statements, even though he was asked repeatedly about the charge at today’s scheduled Press Briefing. 

I am not a crook.

7.  Poor, Poor Pitiful  Me

This notion that somehow the federal government is sitting on the sidelines and for the last three or four or five weeks we’ve just been letting BP make a whole bunch of decisions is simply not true.

My job right now is just to make sure that everybody in the Gulf understands this is what I wake up to in the morning and this is what I go to bed at night thinking about – the spill.

8.  Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?

In an effort to garner empathy from Americans, Obama said that his daughter Malia stuck her head in the bathroom door and asked him that this morning.

He then spoke this tribute to the goddess Gaia:

I think everybody understands that, you know, when we are fouling the earth like this, it has concrete complications not just for this generation but for future generations.

I grew up in Hawaii, where the ocean is sacred. And when you see birds flying around with – with oil all over their feathers and turtles dying and – … that doesn’t just speak to the immediate economic consequences of this. This speaks to, you know, how are we caring for this incredible bounty that we have?

This Press Conference was a set-up.  It was an excuse to give something back to his Liberal base.  Obama announced that he was imposing an additional six-month moratorium on exploratory deepwater drilling, suspension of planned exploration of two locations off Alaska’s coast, and the cancellation of oil-lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off Virginia’s coast.  That cha-ching sound you heard was Jerry Immelt, Al Gore, the Chicago Climate Exchange, and all those who will make obscene profits from the selling of “clean energy” counting their money already.

America’s economy is tanking.  People are out of work.  Obama claims there will be jobs in clean energy.  There won’t be.  The Politboro and his friends will control it.  Obama seems to be piloting this ship of state directly into an iceberg.

Heckuva job there, Barry.

Sources:  latimes.com, drudgereport.com, foxnews.com, politico.com, forbes.com

 

The Definition of Inappropriateness

Confession is good for the soul.

Sunday morning on “Meet the Press”, Rep. Joe Sestak  admitted to  David Gregory that the White House offered him a job in the administration. Sestak has claimed that Democratic officials put pressure on him to not run for the U.S. Senate.  Last week, White House Press Secretary Robert “Baghdad Bob” Gibbs appeared very uncomfortable in answering questions about possible bribery by the White House.
 
Their official stance changed Sunday as the White House basically confirmed that Obama and his minions had some kind of conversations with Representative Joe Sestak, as the  Pennsylvania Democrat was making headway in his challenge to Senator Arlen Specter. However, they claim that the conversations were not inappropriate.

Mr. Sestak has been saying that the White House, which was pushing Snarlin’ Arlen Specter, attempted to bribe him with a job in exchange for dropping out of the race. He refused and subsequently defeated Specter last week for the Democratic nomination.

In an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs,  said Sunday that “nothing inappropriate happened.”

Host Bob Schieffer pressed Gibbsy about the alleged bribe.

His response?

I’m not going to get into it.  But people who have looked into it assure me the conversations were not inappropriate in any way.

Who looked into it, Gibbsy?  You, Obama, and Axlerod?  I’m shocked that you did not find any inappropriateness.  Shocked, I tell you.

Then Mr. Schieffer asked Joe Sestak, next on the program, if  the White House had offered him a job to leave the race.

Mr. Sestak said that when he was asked that question several months ago, “I said yes.” But he declined to provide further details, saying that doing so would be getting into politics.

Now that Mr. Sestak is the party’s nominee, it’s a whole different story.  Obama and his minions have  switched their support to him. President Obama was the first person to call to congratulate him the other night, according to Sestak, also offering to help with Sestak’s campaign.

Mr. Sestak responded, saying  he would be “honored” if Scooter came to Pennsylvania to campaign for him.

All the while, praying that he wouldn’t.

This little tale of Chicago-style Politics brings to mind the curious story of  Michael Posner.  Does his name sound familiar?  Just last week, this Assistant Secretary of State apologized to China for the new Illegal Immigration Law that the state Arizona has enacted and that the majority of Americans support.

Who is this guy and how did he find himself in this important position?  Allow me to provide a brief biography of this genius.

From Discover The Networks:

Michael Posner has been the executive director of Human Rights First since its founding in 1978. HRF describes itself as a group that “works in the United States and abroad to create a secure and humane world by advancing justice, human dignity and respect for the rule of law.” In practice, HRF is an open borders group that opposes all government efforts to control illegal immigration and strengthen American national security. Posner received his B.A. in history from the University of Michigan and his J.D. from UC Berkeley; before coming to HRF, he worked for the law firm of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal. He has taught at Yale Law School and is a visiting Lecturer at Columbia Law School.

Boasting an $8.3 million budget in 2005, HRF is funded by the Open Society Institute (George Soros’ organization), the MacArthur Foundation, New York University, the Ford Foundation ( who is also going to help fund the proposed mosque at Ground Zero), American Express Company, Citigroup, and the District of Columbia Bar Foundation. 

Also, in 2005, he was instrumental in George Soros’ efforts to turn the sight of the worst Terrorist attack ever on American Soil, Ground Zero, into a blame-America monument.

Posner was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor on September 23, 2009.

Political Cronyism was practically invented in Chicago.  It is very evident that Chicago-style Politics are the model for how the Obama Administration handles its’ business.  With Rahm “Locker Room Shower Intimidator” Emmanuel, David “The Rod” Axlerod, and the puppet master himself, George Soros, backing up Obama, the bribery and political payoffs are not going to stop anytime soon.

Delmarie Cobb, a longtime Chicago political operative, said this about Obama during the Presidential Campaign concerning his involvement with the Chicago Political Machine:

I don’t think he was naive by any means, and I think people are beginning to discover that there is nothing naive about him.  We always say there is a little bit of gangster in everybody who’s from Chicago.

Indeed.

Sources:  youtube.com, dailycaller.com, michellemalkin.com, ngo-monitor.com, discoverthenetworks.org, npr.org,

Obama at West Point

President Obama previewed  his new national security strategy (same as the old policy) naively based on the hope of diplomatic engagement and a change in international alliances in his speech  Saturday at West Point.  While there, he trashed as ineffective George W. Bush’s strategy of  unilateral American power and the right to wage pre-emptive war that had kept Americans safe since 9/11…until Obama took office.

Eight years after President George W. Bush came to the United States Military Academy to set a new security doctrine after the Sept. 11 attacks, Obama used the commencement address to vow no retreat against enemies while seeking “national renewal and global leadership”:

Yes, we are clear-eyed about the shortfalls of our international system.  But America has not succeeded by stepping out of the currents of cooperation. We have succeeded by steering those currents in the direction of liberty and justice, so nations thrive by meeting their responsibilities and face consequences when they don’t.

…This engagement is not an end in itself. The international order we seek is one that can resolve the challenges of our times.

As in One World Government?  Uh oh.

When President Bush spoke to an earlier class, he had toppled the Taliban  and was turning his attention to Iraq. “If we wait for threats to fully materialize,” he said then, “we will have waited too long.”

As Obama took the stage on a mild, overcast day, the American war in Iraq was winding down, but Afghanistan had flared out of control and terrorists were making a fresh effort to strike inside the United States.

Per Scooter:

This war has changed over the last nine years, but it’s no less important than it was in those days after 9/11.

Proudly detailing that he announced at West Point six months ago to send 30,000 reinforcements to Afghanistan, Obama said difficult days were ahead, but added, “I have no doubt that together with our Afghan and international partners, we will succeed in Afghanistan.”

Obama all but declared victory in Iraq, praising the military, but avoiding giving any credit at all to President Bush for turning it around. “A lesser Army might have seen its spirit broken,” he said. “But the American military is more resilient than that.” (With God’s Grace, they’ll even survive you, Scooter.)

About the two botched terrorist bombing attempts recently, Scooter claimed:

These failed attacks (because the bombs malfunctioned) show that pressure on networks like Al Qaeda is forcing them to rely on terrorists with less time and space to train.

And he managed to give a plug to the people he seems to reach out to the most:

Terrorists want to scare us, but New Yorkers go about their lives unafraid. Extremists want a war between America and Islam, but Muslims are a part of our national life, including those who serve in our Army (like Major Hasan?).   Adversaries want to divide us, but we are united by our support for you — soldiers who send a clear message that this country is both the land of the free and the home of the brave.

By the way, Muslims only account for 1 % of America’s population.

The speech offered a glimpse of his first official national security strategy, to be released this week, including four principles:

To build strength abroad by:

 1.  Building strength at home through education – We’re all going to meet on a hillside with the Jihadists and have a kumbaya moment.

2.  Clean energy and innovation – Because if there is something that is going to keep the Terrorists from killing all of us, it’s those windmills that Jeffery Immelt and G.E. have invested in.

3.  To promote “the renewed engagement of our diplomats” and support international development – Hey!  There are a bunch of wealthy donors’ sons that need jobs and Protocol will be perfect for them, just like it was for Goldie Hawn in that movie. ..Support international development of what?  Iran’s “Nuclear Energy” Program?

4.  To rebuild alliances –  Have enemy, will bow.

5.  To promote human rights and democracy abroad – Like Posner telling China that the Arizona law is an affront to Human Rights and a mistake.  That sure helped.

But even as he unveiled this dangerously naive strategy,  Obama had the face the facts and admit:

This is a different kind of war.  There will be no simple moment of surrender to mark the journey’s end, no armistice or banner headline.

The cadets already knew that , Scooter.  The same way they already knew that their lives are subject to forfeiture as political expediencies with you as their CIC.  That is why you received such a lukewarm response, punctuated by polite applause.  You see, Mr. President, even though you have been shown to be prone to pettiness and sarcastic, immature remarks, the men and women you spoke to yesterday are our best and brightest. 

They will always make us proud. 

Sources:  nytimes.com, washingtonpost.com, cnn.com, adherents.com

Arrogance Against Arizona

Newsflash for cities and states considering boycotting Arizona over its new immigration law, be advised:  68% of Americans say in a recent Rasmussen poll that it’s a bad idea.

Also, according to Rasmussen:  Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters nationwide favor passage of a law like Arizona’s in their own state.  Sixty-nine percent (69%) of voters believe a police officer should be required to check the immigration status of anyone stopped for a traffic violation or violation of some other law if he suspects the person might be an illegal immigrant.

One would think that the Obama Administration, the Democrats in Congress, and their advisors would be conscious of these poll numbers.  Nope.  They’re too blinded by the radiance coming from their own glory.

Example of Arrogance #1:  California Congressional District 43  Rep. Joe Baca’s campaign against Arizona’s new anti-immigration law appears to be picking up steam.

As part of his self-serving boycott of Arizona — which includes his silly refusal to fly through Phoenix on his weekly trips to and from Washington — Baca is distributing wristbands inspired by the Lance Armstrong LiveSTRONG craze.

Baca has ordered 2,500 of his version, which will be red, yellow and blue — the colors of Arizona’s flag — to be worn as a show of solidarity against the Illegal Immigration law currently supported by 71 % of Arizona’s population.

You might as well make them red, white, and green, like Mexico’s flag, Joe.  Calderon will be so proud.

So, while he’s waiting for the official rubber wristbands to come in, Baca has given out hundreds of stand-by models made from laminated colored paper.

He passed out hundreds in San Bernardino during a May 1 rally for immigration reform.  Baca encouraged Californians to avoid spending money in the state unless the law is repealed.

In Washington, Baca has gotten House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and most members of the Democratic leadership to wear them, as they did — along with golfing legend Chi Chi Rodriguez (You disappoint me, Chi Chi.) at a recent fundraiser for Baca.  Baca claimed his office was fielding calls from people inquiring how they can get one of the wristbands:

Everyone wants them.  They’re going like hot potatoes.

Baca has approached professional baseball, hoping star players in the sport with increasing numbers of immigrants will wear them. This clueless Liberal has even written a letter to the Major League Baseball Player’s Association asking them to join his cause.

Here’s a tasty tidbit, courtesy of rasmussenreports.com:

Forty-one percent (41%) of voters say that a group of people randomly selected from the phone book would do a better job than the current Congress. Thirty-eight percent (38%) disagree.

Example of arrogance #2:   A top Department of Homeland Security official has said his agency may not process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities.

Assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement John Morton, made the comment during a meeting on Wednesday with the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune.

Morton said:

I don’t think the Arizona law, or laws like it, are the solution.

The best way to reduce illegal immigration is through a comprehensive federal approach and not a patchwork of state laws.

He probably has not even read it.

The law, which actually springs from a federal law already on the books, is not “good government,” Morton said.

When asked about Morton’s comments, DHS officials said President Obama has ordered the Department of Justice to examine the civil rights and other implications of the law.

DHS spokesman Matt Chandler told Fox News on Friday:

That review will inform the government’s actions going forward

Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said ICE does not have to process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities.

ICE has the legal discretion to accept or not to accept persons delivered to it by non-federal personnel.  It also has the discretion to deport or not to deport persons delivered to it by any government agents, even its own.

Morton, per his biography posted on ICE’s website, began his federal service in 1994 and has held numerous positions at the Department of Justice, including as a trial attorney and special assistant to the general counsel in the former Immigration and Naturalization Service and as counsel to the deputy attorney general.

So it’s taken him a while to become this big of a blockhead.

Unfortunately for Americans, he’s not the only member of the Administration that is arrogantly ignorant.  In two separate appearances before Congress, Attorney General Eric Holder and Janet “Big Sis” Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, both came out strongly against the Arizona law.  Then they both were forced to admit that they had never read the 16 page document.

Finally, what would a study of arrogance against Arizona be without hearing from the Aristotle of Arrogance himself, the self-proclaimed smartest person in any room he walks into, The President of the United States, (God protect us.) Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm).  Here he is speaking in the Rose Garden this week after his little tete-a-tete with fellow Socialist, Mexican President Felipe Calderon:

Barack Obama and his sycophantic legion are totally ignoring the wishes of the American people.  They truly believe that they are America’s parents and they know what is best for us.  These arrogant imbeciles are going to find out just how brilliant they are in the upcoming 2010 and 2012 election, when they are ridden out-of-town on a rail.

Meanwhile, Gov. Jan Brewer and the people of Arizona have a request for them (Don’t worry.  It’s a clean one.).  Everybody sing along:

Sources:  pe.com, foxnews.com, rasmussenreports.com, youtube.com

Reality Changes From Washington to West Memphis

On Thursday morning, Mexican President Felipe Calderon chastised America for having the impertinence to pass a law in the state of Arizona  clamping down on illegal immigrants.  The foreign President chastised members of Congress to pass “comprehensive immigration reform.”

As the first foreign national leader  to address Congress this year, Calderon said that the two countries must cooperate to improve security along the often-violent border and control the flow of immigrants into the United States.

While Calderon whined about Arizona’s new law and instructed our lawmakers as to how to fix our immigration system, Republicans jeered and Democrats gave their fellow Socialist a standing ovation.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told Fox News:

I think it’s inappropriate for him to come in and criticize our law.  When we go down to Mexico, we don’t do that to the Mexicans.

The Arizona law is not the problem.  The problem is the growing violence down the border and securing the border and the Obama administration enforcing federal law.

 The ranking member on the Judiciary Committee’s immigration, refugees and border Security subcommittee,Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, blasted Calderon saying  it was “inappropriate” for the Mexican President  to “lecture Americans on our own state and federal laws.”

Arizona’s immigration law has been amended to make clear it does not authorize racial profiling by law enforcement.

 Calderon also said he is “convinced comprehensive immigration reform is crucial to securing our border.” 

But I strongly disagree with the recently adopted law in Arizona.  It’s a law that not only ignores reality, but also introduces racial profiling as a basis for law enforcement.

Calderon tried to cover himself by saying that his “government does not favor the breaking of the rules” and that he respects the right of any country to “enact and enforce its own laws.”

But what we need today is to fix a broken and inefficient system. We favor the establishment of laws that work and work well for all.

Calderon also claimed that more than 80% of the 75,000 guns and assault weapons that came across the border in the last three years were a result of America lifting the assault weapon ban in 2004, further saying that:

Today these weapons are aimed by the criminals not only at rival gangs but also at Mexican civilians and authorities.[There are] more than 7,000 gun shops along the border with Mexico where anyone can purchase powerful weapons. 

Shortly after this presumptious foreign leader instructed Congress as to how to handle our problem with illegal immigrants, border violence, and drug trafficking brought in to America from his country, the small Memphis, TN suburb of West Memphis, Arkansas  possibly experienced the reality of the situation firsthand.

It all began innocently enough, as West Memphis Police Officers Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans made a routine traffic stop on Airport Road, near the I-40 bridge across the mighty Mississippi River.  Two men opened fired on the officers, riddling their car and these two brave men in a hail of high powered gunfire from assault rifles.  Officers and Sheriff deputies arrived on the scene to find Officer Paudert, 39-year-old son of West Memphis Police Chief Bob Paudert, dead and Officer Evans critical.  Officials immediately shut down both the I-40 and I-55 bridges over the Mississippi River between West Memphis, Arkansas and Memphis, TN.  Officer Evans soon died as a result of his injuries.  The suspects, in a White Dodge Caravan with Ohio plates, were cornered by law enforcement officers in a Walmart parking lot.  The officers sideswiped the van and surrounded the suspects.   Sheriff Dick Busby of Crittendon County and his Chief of Patrol W.A. Wren were injured by gunfire in the subsequent shootout.  The murderers were killed.  They will not take another life. 

Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans were members of the  Drug Interdiction Team.  They were cousins.  They were husbands.  They were Fathers.

The FBI has sealed off any information concerning the two murderers.  The White, actually Plymouth, Caravan has been traced by WMC-TV 5, the NBC affiliate in Memphis, to a church in East Vienna, Ohio.  The only problem is, the church was a front for a White Supremacist operation that was infiltrated and closed down by the FBI 10 years ago.  Locals say that they have not seen anyone around the church since. 

I-40 is a notorious route taken by drug runners.  If these murderers were just your average run-of-the-mill drug-running scum, their names would probably have been released by now.  This silence leads me to speculate that the reason that the FBI has dropped the Cone of Silence over this case is one of two possibilities:  the killers are former members of the group they busted in Ohio or they are drug runners from our neighbor to the South, who either bought the van for cash or stole it.

You see, what you’re not hearing around the country is this:  In the original police radio call after Paudert and Evans were gunned down in cold blood, officers were advised to be on the lookout for two Hispanics in a White Dodge Caravan. 

As of 7:40 a.m., May 21, 2010, the killers’ identities have not yet been released.  I will keep you updated as I get further information.  If I am wrong about my theory, I apologize now.  But, my instincts are usually pretty good.

UPDATE: Per WMC-TV5 Memphis, TN:

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) – The suspects in a double shooting Thursday that left two West Memphis police officers dead have been identified by relatives as Jerry Kane, 45, and his son Joseph, 16, both of Ohio.

Despite the their van’s connection to New Vienna, Ohio, the Kanes were traveling to Florida – most likely the St. Petersburg or Clearwater area – where Kane’s widow, Donna Lee, lives.

Kane and his son toured the country, holding seminars on debt consolidation and foreclosure rescue that were heavy on anti-government sentiment.

In a video posted to YouTube, Jerry and Joe Kane can been seen at one of their seminars.  They would teach that all debt contracts are the responsibility of the U.S. government, not the debt-holders because, they teach, American currency really doesn’t exist.

Web sites touting the two Kanes reinforce their teaching that only debt exists, and the U.S. government is responsible for it because it really holds all gold and property.

In fact, at one seminar posted on YouTube, Kane says a driver’s license is a debt contract with the federal government.

“It’s a promise to pay,” Kane says in the video. “It’s a bond…You’ve committed, uh, you’ve already guaranteed, uh, confessed guilt on anything they want to charge you with.”

Last month, Kane was pulled over in New Mexico for driving without a license.  Tonight on Action News 5 at 5pm and 6pm, learn more about a radio broadcast where Kane details the arrest and talks about the arresting officers.

Why did they open fire?  What was in that van that they had AK-47s to protect it with?  How did they wind up with the van?  So many questions to be asked and so many answers remain to be discovered.

 

Sources:  foxnews.com, usatoday.com, wmctv.com