Our Smart Aleck-in-Chief

Daniel Henninger, of the Wall Street Journal, wrote an excellent piece about Obama's bad mouthing his domestic critics:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704423504575212232624277058.html?mod=rss_opinion_main

Comrade Karla says:

I get the feeling the Prez spends more time demonizing Glenn Beck then he does thinking about stopping Iran’s nuclear program, assuming he hasn’t decided to let them get one. As the old magic 8 ball used to say, “signs point to yes.”

Obama's behavior towards his critics, most of them private citizens, is unbecoming and undignified for the Office of the President of the United States.

El Bote de Llamar el Caldero Negro*

*"The Pot Calling the Kettle Black" (From Bing Translator)

With special interest groups, the "lamestream" media, President Obama and even the government of Mexico bashing Arizona's attempt at enforcing its own immigration laws, Michelle Malkin takes a peek at Mexico's "enlightened" policy on illegal immigration:

http://michellemalkin.com/2010/04/28/police-state-how-mexico-treats-illegal-aliens/

I'm with Michelle on this one.  I don't have any sympathy for those who criticize our country, and specifically one of our nation's states, for enforcing its own laws.  Especially when our laws ar mild in comparison with those south of the border.

Besides, Mexico's thugish treatment of immigrants does nothing to solve the rampant narco-terrorism, which is a more serious problem:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/border_disorder_rfy8ccTuYvAzNeDzP7qmsM?sms_ss=email

And to highlight both points, the news today is of an Arizona deputy shot by drug smugglers:

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0410/731479.html

Uproar Over Arizona Enforcing it's Immigration Law

Funny you don't see this picture in the "lamestream" media (taken from Verum Serum):

http://www.verumserum.com/?p=14216 

Now if something like this occurred at a Tea Party rally, then it would be plastered 24/7 on every network, newspaper and their websites.

Five days ago, the State of Arizona decided to take action against its illegal immigration problem, since the Federal Government  is failing to do so.  Of course, Mexico's upset over all this:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100428/wl_time/08599198547600 

Of course they don't mention that Mexican immigration law gives illegal aliens one of two choices:  2 years in prison or deportation.

There is some good news:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100429/ap_on_re_us/us_immigration_day_labor_3

Which, as a friend pointed out, is what the law is suppose to do.

Liberal and immigration groups try to paint this as a racist issue.  It is not.  Arizona is simply trying to enforce it's own law.  Nor is this an "anti-immigration" issue.  It is an anti ILLEGAL immigration issue.

"It's All Clear to Me..."

I received this story via e-mail from a friend and copied the title of his message.

The above chart is an example of PowerPoint overload.  Here's the full story form the Daily Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1269463/Afghanistan-PowerPoint-slide-Generals-left-baffled-PowerPoint-slide.html

Comrade Karla responded:

Well…this was true in the 90s and it’s only gotten worse...

While you were making your slides, we would be killing you."


- Russian Officer


Submitted by C.M. Coglianese


In a discussion between US and Russian officers serving in Bosnia as to who would have won if we had ever actually fought in Western Europe.

From the 24 March 1997 edition of US News and World Report

The good comrade also attached the following link to more PowerPoint parodies:

http://www.nbc-links.com/powerpoint.html

Rolling-in on Comedy Central's Cowardice

Mark Steyn skewers Comedy Central caving in to intimidation against free speech, along with rebuking those trying to demonize the TEA Party movement:

http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/tea-245567-comedy-clinton.html

Here are the enemies of freedom:

Not here:

Jihad Watch also rolls-in on Comedy Central:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2006/04/comedy-central-fears-islamic-violence-chooses-dhimmitude.html

I agree with Robert Spencer on this one.  So what if Comedy Central spent the past 15 years trashing other religions, especially Christianity.  When it came down to the real fight against an assault, by intimidation against our nation's 1st Amendement by 1 thuggish website, Comedy Central wussed out.

Standing by South Park

I'm not a regular fan of South Park.  Sometimes I even find their programs over-the-top and out of line.  But most of the shows I've managed to see I found to be laugh-out-loud funny.  And the producers of the show pride themselves on being "equal opportunity offenders."

That is, until the subject turns to Islam and its prophet Muhammed:

http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/04/south-park-censorship-.html

Even the non-conservative, LA Times had some tempered criticism over the bleeping controversy:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-south-park-20100423,0,5940860.story

The irony is that some of the group's postings could be construed as hate speech and therefore raise their own free-speech issues.

Hmm.  Ya think?

While the network bleeped out "Muhammed," the creators aren't backing down and stand by their work:

http://www.southparkstudios.com/news/3878

I'm really sad to see an American network caving in to such intimidation. Since 9/11 our enemies have learned that if they launch a massive attack against us, we'll respond in kind. (Maybe even this administration would be forced to respond).  This only reinforces in their minds that we're unwilling to defend our basic principles and are completely vulnerable to a "death of a thousand cuts."

Other comments by friends:

South Park was one of the last bastions of the freedom to be truly offensive to any and all. This is a dark day...

Needless to say, bashing all other religions is still OK.

A lot of people say that this conflict or war or whatever you want to call it will not be won militarily. Well, I guess that same logic applies to the bad guys as well and in the sphere of non-military victories, they just won a big one....

SEC Staffers "Looking Elsewhere" as Economy Collapsed

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? 

Loosely translated from the Roman poet Juvenal, the above phrase means:  Who guards the guards?

Back in 2008 as the economic crisis was unfolding, SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) staffers, weren't exactly "sleeping on the job."  Nope their keen eyes were too busy roving elsewhere:  Internet porn sites.

http://www.komonews.com/news/national/91877389.html 

So, while Bernie Madoff had his hand in the cookie jar, several of these SEC staffers' hands were too preoccupied to stop him.

I can only imagine that we can expect more of this when taxes are increased in order to pay for a larger government bureaucracy.

Unless of course, this is some backdoor method of subsidizing the porn industry.

You Can't Escape History

I was reading the May 2010 issue of The Writer today, which featured an interview with Bosnian-American author Aleksandar Hemon.  His response, in another interview with Deutsche Welle, on what motivates him to write, really struck a chord with me:

Living outside of history is a priviledge that comes to people who live in affluent societies, and affluent people can protect themselves from history.  But of course one day airplanes fly into the high-rise buildings somewhere and then everything changes.  It's a delusional priviledge or it's a priviledge of delusion to think that you can live outside history. Where I come from, nobody can really afford that kind of illusion and even if you are able to temporarily delude yourself, reality still comes crashing down with certain regularity.

(Rescued by Language, by Sarah Johnson, The Writer, pg 19, May 2010 Issue).

Unfortunately, despite the 9/11 attack Mr. Hemon alludes to, a large percentage of our population--not to mention our key leaders--are still living in the confines of their deluded world.

For more information on Aleksandar Hemon:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandar_Hemon

Peace in Our Time--The Sequel

Last week representatives of over 40 nations gathered for the Nuclear Security Summit.  However, nations sowing the most of the world's insecurity, Iran and North Korea, just to name two; weren't invited, nor does it seem their actions were discussed.

Mark Steyn rolls-in with some excellent points, along with another 1930s comparison, on last week's photo-op:

http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/nuclear-244432-obama-summit.html

Some of my favorite comments:

The mound of corpses being piled up around the world today is not from high-tech nuclear states but from low-tech psycho states.

So virtuously proclaiming oneself opposed to nuclear modernization ensures a planet divided into civilized states with unusable weapons and barbarous regimes happy to kill with whatever's to hand.

Speaking of  "...whatever's to hand..." remember the "I" in IED stands for "Improvised."

Volcanic Ash from Iceland Grounds European Air Travel

Ash from Mount Eyjafjallajokull (pronounced EYE-a-fyat-la-jo-kutl), Iceland halts air travel throughout northwest Europe.

From the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/world/europe/16ash.html?hp 

From National Geographic:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100415-volcanic-ash-cancels-flights-airports-airline-europe-iceland-volcano/

The Tax Man Cometh!

Image from:  The Wizard of Id, by Parker and Hart, 15 April 2010

The Arab saying, "A dying camel attracts a thousand knives," can apply to the perception world leaders may have of our new Nuclear Posture Review.

Today's Wall Street Journal  (WSJ) ran this story about Syria transferring SCUD missiles to Hezbollah:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052702304604204575182290135333282.html

I attribute this directly to our new wishy-washy Nuclear Posture.  Rogue nations are sensing they have nothing to fear from America.

The Weekly Standard discusses how deterrence worked in the past:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/our-nuclear-posture 

Ralph Peters rolls-in on the deterrence tools this administration threw away, especially in favor of the bellicose Russians:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_bad_nukes_myth_FdlnLjZQ8ZQ8LHBrbJRNVM

How Fitting...

(Image from Shoe, by Chris Cassatt, Gary Brookins and Susie MacNelly, 10 April 2010)

It sounds like our lawmakers should have read the healthcare bill afterall:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/us/politics/13health.html 

Well the good news--such as it is--may be that all those new IRS agents will have 535 of the "usual suspects" to investigate.

"Our Man" in Afghanistan--the Animated Versions...

(Cartoon by David Horsey)

(Cartoon by Mike Keefe)

"Our Man" in Afghanistan

Maybe.  But for how long?

One of my friends sent us this story from AP/Washington Post, along with an open-ended question about what to do with the dapper corruptocrat:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/05/AR2010040503228.html

My response earlier was:

From everything I've heard, Karzai's up to his fez in corruption, especially since he's sitting on top of 90% of the world's opium. I'm not sure what the best course would be since all the options suck. Some sort of containment strategy maybe?

Comrade Karla then responded:

He may still remain the best of a bunch of bad options. I think we should have perhaps known this going in--maybe we did, I'm not really sure based on what I've been seeing.

Then his dad had this to say:

The price of opium, said to be the principal crop of the farmers in Kandahar, seems to be of critical economical importance. Important to the farmers and to Karzai himself. As long as that remains so, even if it applies only in Kandahar, I see no prospect of changing anything. Does the economic factor apply throughout the country? If it does, then the UN/US have two simple choices for military success in Afghanistan. Find a suitable replacement for Karzai or nuke the entire country back to the Stone Age and live with the consequences. Of course, the US/UN could also opt to forgo military success and withdraw in disgust, but the situation and the threat would persist. Another option might be artificially boosting the price of coffee or other suitable crop so the farmers would not lose a significant part of their livelihood if given a choice between that and the very profitable opium industry. But that doesn’t seem to stand up under much scrutiny. How does the US government deal with the narcotic industry as it applies in the US? Brute force? No, that doesn’t seem to be working. Ignore it? That seems, essentially to be what is happening at present. Has that been successful? Who benefits from the situation at present? Who would benefit in Afghanistan if there were no opium?

More questions than answers swirl around about what to do with "our ally."

"I'm shocked! SHOCKED!..."

(Image from the movie Casablanca)

...to hear that some Democrats openly admit that one of the primary goals of Obamacare was the redistribution of wealth. 

One of my friends posted this article, from the Washington Examiner, on Facebook:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Obamacare-was-mainly-aimed-at-redistributing-wealth-89725302.html

And, no I'm not really shocked either.  I just love using Claude Rains' famous line in situations like this.

Most of us like-minded folks were able to see through the smoke & mirrors.  Making healthcare more affordable for the 15% of folks without adequate coverage shouldn't involve organizations like the Internal Revenue Service to enforce compliance on the other 85% who have, and are happy with their healthcare coverage.

The "Troublesome" Media

Once again, Obama snipes at some "troublesome" media personalities:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1437

Comments such as the ones Obama's made in the past is fine and of course, protected under the First Amendment, if they're made by private citizens, or even political candidates.  But these kind of remarks coming from the Office of the President of the United States, is undiginified at best and creepy at worst.  It implies a threat of official sanction.

Obama finally did speak with FOX New's Bret Baier on 17 March, but it took nearly a year, after the White House's "War on FOX News."

Brushing Up on Ship Recognition

A handful of Somali pirates attacked a US Navy frigate.  Sounds like the pirates need more updated ship recognition manuals:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100401/ap_on_re_af/af_piracy