Barack Obama -- June 18, 2009

June 18, 2009

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"Islam has always been a part of America’s story"

Barack Hussein Obama

event	description
Obama's Silence Favors The Mullahs	Silence is complicity. Obama's refusal to take a forthright moral stand on the side of the Iranian freedom marchers is read in Tehran as a blank check for the current regime. The fundamentalist junta has begun arresting opposition figures, with regime mouthpieces raising the prospect of the death penalty. Inevitably, there are claims that dissidents have been "hoarding weapons and explosives." Foreign media reps are under house arrest. Cellphone frequencies are jammed. Students are killed and the killings disavowed. And Obama is "troubled," but doesn't believe we should "meddle" in Iran's internal affairs. (Meddling in Israel's domestic affairs is just fine, though.) We just turned our backs on freedom. Again. Of all our foreign-policy failures in my lifetime, our current shunning of those demanding free elections and expanded civil rights in Iran reminds me most of Hungary in 1956. For years, we encouraged the Hungarians to rise up against oppression. When they did, we watched from the sidelines as Russian tanks drove over them. For decades, Washington policymakers from both parties have prodded Iranians to throw off their shackles. Last Friday, millions of Iranians stood up. And we're standing down. That isn't diplomacy. It's treachery. Continue reading here . . .
Obama World	Victor Davis Hanson, writing in RealClearPolitics.com, asks if you are you confused by all that has changed since Barack Obama took office in January? If so, you're not alone. Perhaps, though, this handy guide to Age of Obama "logic" might be of some assistance. 1. The Budget: Wanting to cut $17 billion from the budget, as Obama has promised, is proof of financial responsibility. Borrowing $1.84 trillion this year for new programs is "stimulus." The old phrase "out-of-control spending" is inoperative. 2. Unemployment: The number of jobs theoretically saved, or created, by new government policies -- not the actual percentage of Americans out of work, or the total number of jobs lost -- is now the far better indicator of unemployment. 3. The Private Sector: Nationalizing much of the auto and financial industries, while regulating executive compensation, is an indication of our new government's repeatedly stated reluctance to interfere in the private sector. 4. Race and Gender: Not what is said but who says it and about whom reveals racism and sexism. For example, an Hispanic female judge isn't being offensive if she states that Latinas are inherently better judges than white males. 5. Random violence: Some assassinations represent larger American pathologies, but others do not. When a crazed lone gunman murders someone outside the Holocaust Museum or shoots an abortion doctor, we should worry about growing right-wing and Christian extremism. But when an African-American Muslim convert brags about his murder of a military recruitment officer or an Islamic group plots to kill Jews and blow up a military jet, these are largely isolated incidents without larger relevance. 6. Terrorism: Acts of terror disappeared about six months ago. Thankfully, we live now in an age where there will be -- in the new vocabulary of the Obama administration -- only occasional "overseas contingency operations" in which we may be forced to hold a few "detainees." At the same time, ongoing military tribunals, renditions, wiretaps, phone intercepts and predator-drone assassinations are no longer threats to the Constitution. And just saying you're going to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay is proof that it is almost closed. 7. Iraq: The once-despised Iraq war thankfully ended around Jan. 20, 2009, and has now transformed into a noble experiment that is fanning winds of change throughout the Middle East. There will be no need for any more Hollywood cinema exposés of American wartime crimes in Iraq with titles like "Rendition," "Redacted," "Lions for Lambs" and "Stop-Loss." 8. The West: Western values and history aren't apparently that special or unique. As Obama told the world during his recent speech in Cairo, the Renaissance and Enlightenment were, in fact, fueled by a brilliant Islamic culture, responsible for landmark discoveries in mathematics, science and medicine. Slavery in America ended without violence. Mistreatment of women and religious intolerance in the Middle East have comparable parallels in America. 9. Media: The media are disinterested and professional observers of the present administration. When television anchormen and senior magazine editors bow to the president, proclaim him a god or feel tingling in the legs when he speaks, it is quite normal. 10. George W. Bush: Bush did all sorts of bad things to the United States that only now we are learning will take at least eight years to sort out. "Bush did it" for the next decade will continue to explain the growing unemployment rate, the most recent deficit, the new round of tensions with Iran and North Korea, and the growing global unrest from the Middle East to South America. Once we remember and accept the logic of the above, then almost everything about this Age of Obama begins to make perfect sense.
An Obama Doctrine	J. G. Thayer writes, it’s still very early in the Obama administration, but a pattern is beginning to emerge in how Obama deals with foreign nations. And it isn’t a very pretty one. Thus far, it seems that the guiding principle of this administration is summed up in a single, concise phrase: "Treat your enemies like friends, and your friends like enemies." It’s doubtful the plan was envisioned as such, but that is the impression they’re giving so far. Others here have already discussed at length how the Obama administration is dealing with Israel, so no recap is necessary -- but the statements made thus far on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict do fit quite nicely into the theme. Regarding North Korea and China, Obama seems almost eager to offer a hand in friendship to those who have wasted no time in offering insults, offenses, and threats against the U.S. On the other hand, Obama seems almost eager to alienate Great Britain. And at one point, Obama’s rush to boost the American economy led him to push for some very protectionist, almost jingoistic measures -- which royally irritated Canada, who pointedly reminded him that such measures violate long-standing trade agreements with our neighbor to the north. There is a plausible -- if simplistic -- explanation for this. Our relations with hostile nations need a great deal of attention and effort in order to improve. On the other hand, our friends already like us; they don’t need much hand-holding and reassuring. This gives the impression that we take our friends for granted and don’t care about slighting them in favor of those who have been -- to put it mildly -- far less obliging and amicable. Do we really want to lose some of the affection and respect we enjoy from some nations in exchange for the dim prospect of others not hating us quite so much? That’s a very, very poor trade-off.
Obama's Rules Of War	The Justice Department confirmed last week that FBI agents in Afghanistan are reading Miranda warnings to suspected terrorists captured there, a practice that Republican congressmen this week branded as "crazy" and "stupid." Miranda warnings were mandated by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that said domestic law enforcement agencies must inform criminal suspects arrested in the United States of their rights under the 5th Amendment. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law," says the typical Miranda warning. "You have the right to an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights?" The Obama administration's decision to make this statement to terror suspects captured on the battlefield in a foreign country has sparked outrage among several Republicans Congress who spoke with CNSNews.com. It also contradicts what Obama said in March, when he indicated that Miranda rights did not apply to terror suspects captured overseas. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), as first reported in The Weekly Standard, said he was recently in Afghanistan and personally witnessed FBI agents reading the Miranda warning to captured combatants. "I was a little surprised to find it taking place when I showed up because we hadn’t been briefed on it, I didn’t know about it," said Rogers. "We’re still trying to get to the bottom of it, but it is clearly a part of this new global justice initiative." "Anytime that you offer confusion in that environment that’s already chaotic and confusing enough, you jeopardize a soldier’s life," said Rogers. Continue reading here -- with video . . .
It's the Constitution, Stupid!	I am so glad Texasdarlin reposted this blog's conclusion regarding Obama's birth certificate, because it IS a warning not to get distracted by this part of the 'blood and dirt' debate. Obama is ineligible for POTUS because of the 'blood' part -- admittedly his father was never an American citizen, and regardless of where he was born, his dual foreign citizenship at birth disqualifies him instantly. This should have been the end of his candidacy. But this endless disruption and rapid change initiated by Obama is really about the Constitution -- his antics and pronouncements thinly disguise his contempt for our founding documents and its principles. After three 'America Sucks' tours, where it is obvious to the world he disdains America, it is part of Obama's mission to once and for all defeat those documents and change forever the relationship between the people and government in the United States. In 1992, Candidate Bill Clinton's 'war room' had a sign up that said, 'It's the economy, stupid!' Our war room right now must carry the banner, 'Its the Constitution, stupid!', because as we wade through this economic disaster for our lives and our children's lives, we are distracted from the assault on the Constitution of the United States of America. Continue reading here . . .