There is a distinctly Titanic-like feel to the Obama presidency and it’s not hard to see why. The most left-wing president in modern American history has tried to force a highly interventionist, government-driven agenda that runs counter to the principles of free enterprise, individual freedom, and limited government that have made the United States the greatest power in the world, and the freest nation on earth.This, combined with weak leadership both at home and abroad against the backdrop of tremendous economic uncertainty in an increasingly dangerous world, has contributed to a spectacular political collapse for a president once thought to be invincible. America at its core remains a deeply conservative nation, which cherishes its traditions and founding principles. President Obama is increasingly out of step with the American people, by advancing policies that undermine the United States as a global power, while undercutting America’s deep-seated love for freedom.
Middle East
The Anatomy of Defeat – Rasmussen Reports™
CBS, meanwhile, reported: “The Obama administration is giving different explanations of its July 2011 deadline for the start of an Afghanistan troop withdrawal, assuring foreign officials that it applies only to the 30,000 to 35,000 additional U.S. troops that President Barack Obama is sending next year (2010), but suggesting to Congress that it covers all U.S. forces.
“The conflicting versions suggest that the administration is trying to reassure U.S. allies in the region and elsewhere that the U.S. won’t cut and run, while telling a concerned American public, Congress and Democratic Party that it has an exit strategy.”
That last CBS observation gets us to the essence of the White House’s strategic communications blunder. The president and his men have confused the effect of “political spin” — when heard as such — on domestic public opinion with its effect when heard as formal pronouncements of state by enemies, allies and institutional forces such as the Pentagon.
The American public has become accustomed to discounting the spin of politicians — even of presidents. The public views political spin the way it does professional wrestling: It’s fun to cheer or boo, but don’t take it seriously.
Unfortunately, what the president and his political operatives meant as a little useful spin for their domestic base was taken as formal policy by foreign players — and they have acted accordingly. Our two allies in the Afghan War — Pakistan and Afghanistan — having heard the “spin” as policy have irrevocably taken the strategic action of discounting America as a reliable force in theater. And, as the president’s strategy relied on gaining and keeping their trust and loyalty, his strategy has necessarily collapsed. In the coming months, we should expect many more words of explanation in Washington and many more failures in Afghanistan. Alea iacta est (the die is cast).
Even the greatest chef cannot unscramble an egg. Even the president of the United States cannot unspin his words.
Amir Taheri: Iran’s Democratic Moment – WSJ.com
Most significantly, the movement that started as a protest against the alleged rigging of the election that gave a second term to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been evolving. The crowds’ initial slogan was “Where Is My Vote?” and the movement’s accidental leaders, including former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, tried hard to keep the protest confined to demands such as a recount of the votes and, ultimately, a runoff in accordance with the law.The slogans of the protestors are no longer about election fraud. Today they include “Death to the Dictator,” “Freedom Now,” and “Iranian Republic, Not Islamic Republic!” One slogan is a direct message to President Barack Obama: “Obama, Are You With Us or With Them?” In short, the protestors no longer regard the present regime as the legitimate government of the country.
read the rest here… Amir Taheri: Iran’s Democratic Moment – WSJ.com.
Ex-CIA chief: Obama risks national security – CNN.com
Hayden said he called several senior White House officials to express his opposition before the president released the documents. Hayden also noted that four previous CIA directors, as well as current agency director Leon Panetta, opposed the release.
Obama & Crew: Excellence Versus Nothing – HUMAN EVENTS
It is no wonder to me why President Obama believes and does what he does: he has zero experience in the private sector, zero executive experience, and even very limited experience in government.
Islam: a Religion of Peace?
“Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and receive no hurt, and those who strive and fight in the cause of God with their goods and their persons. God hath granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who sit (at home). Unto all (in faith) hath God promised good, but those who strive and fight hath he distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a special reward – ranks specially bestowed by Him and forgiveness and mercy. For God is oft forgiving, most merciful.”
– Koran, Sura 4:95,96
“Only those are believers who have believed in God and His Apostle [Mohammad], and have never since doubted, but have striven [jihad] with their belongings and their persons in the cause of God.”
– Koran, Sura 49:15 (True believers spend all in God’s cause.)
“Do ye make the giving of drink to pilgrims, or the maintenance of the Sacred Mosque, equal to (the pious service of) those who believe in God and the last day, and strive [jihad] with might and main in the cause of God? They are not comparable in the sight of God, and God guides not those who do wrong. Those who believe, and suffer exile and strive [jihad] with might and main in God’s cause with their goods and their persons have the highest rank in the sight of God. They are the people who will achieve (salvation). Their Lord doth give them glad tidings of a mercy from Himself, of His good pleasure, and of gardens for them, wherein are delights that endure. They will dwell therein for ever. Verily in God’s presence is a reward, the greatest (of all).”
– Koran, Sura 9:19-22 (Jihad is greater than other service, and of the highest rank in the sight of God)
“O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors. They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily God guideth not a people unjust.” [In the early days in Mecca the enemies were the pagan Quraish while Jews and Christians were respected. In Medina, after the Jews rejected Mohammad’s claim of prophet-hood, the enemies of Islam grew to include the Jews and Christians.]
– Koran, Sura 5:54
THE LAW OF ABROGATION: [According to the Quran itself (Sura 2:106, 13:39 and 16:103) God sometimes substitutes a “better” verse or passage for one previously given, thus superceding the first one. Sura 2:106: “None of our revelations (verses) do we abrogate or cause to be forgotten, but we substitute something better or similar. Knowest thou not that God hath power over all things?”; Sura 13:39: “God doth blot out or confirm what he pleaseth. With Him is the Mother of the Book.”; Sura 16:101: “When we substitute one revelation for another, – and God knows best what He reveals (in stages), – they say, ‘Thou are but a forger’ but most of them understand not.” Although all Muslim scholars believe that God replaced some earlier verses by substituting later verses, there is a great difference of opinion among them as to which verses supercede which verses. Nevertheless, most are agreed that Sura 9:5, (called “the verse of the sword”) supercedes most of the previous verses regarding jihad. Some believe it supercedes as many as 111 previous verses. In spite of this general agreement, many today quote the previous replaced verses in order to validate their perception of Islam being a peaceful religion. Thus modern, liberal Muslim leaders, especially here in the west, are teaching what could be called “the Islam of Mecca” with its emphasis on non violence and tolerance. At the same time, “the Islam of Medina,” with its more aggressive, totalitarian nature is what is being practiced and taught by orthodox, fundamentalist Muslims in most parts of the Muslim world.]
This is not an inspired religion. By it’s own book, it is a religion of cultural unification in violence against those who rejected them. That is not what God wants.
See all of the jihad verses in a through study by Rev. Richard P. Bailey here…
German View of Islam
There’s an email going around that, while anonymous, has some really good points. Nothing we haven’t heard necessarily, but something we should hear on a regular basis. Well put.
A German’s View on Islam by Paul E. Marek
A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates.. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.
“Very few people were true Nazis, ‘ he said, ‘ but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen.
Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come .My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories”.
We are told again and again by ‘ experts ‘ and ‘ talking heads ‘ that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace.. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectra of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.
The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder or honor-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.
The hard quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the ‘ silent majority, ‘ is cowed and extraneous…
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.
China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a war mongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.
And who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were ‘peace loving’?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don ‘ t speak up, because like my friend from Germany , they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.
As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on! Let us hope that thousands, world wide, read this and think about it, and send it on before it ‘ s too late.
The first thing the fanatics will do to the silent majority is to disarm them.
President Bush’s resignation speech
Some time ago there was an email going around about what a Bush resignation speech might sound like. I found it very fitting and though I should reproduce it here. If you wrote this or know who did, please let me know and I’ll credit it.
Normally, I start these things out by saying, “My fellow Americans.”
Not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don’t know who more than half of you are anymore.
I do know something terrible has happened, and that you’re really not fellow Americans any longer.
I’ll cut right to the chase here: I quit. Now before anyone gets all in a lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution or something, let me assure you: There’s been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office.
The reason I’m quitting is simple: I’m fed up with you people.
I’m fed up because you have no understanding of what’s really going on in the world – or of what’s going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too damn lazy to do your homework and figure it out.
Let’s start local. You’ve been sold a bill of goods by politicians and the news media. Polls show that the majority of you think the economy is in the tank. And that’s despite record numbers of homeowners, including record numbers of minority homeowners. And while we’re mentioning minorities, I’ll point out that minority business ownership is at an all-time high. Our unemployment rate is as low as it ever was during the Clinton administration. I’ve mentioned all those things before, but it doesn’t seem to have sunk in.
Despite the shock to our economy of 9/11, the stock market has rebounded to record levels, and more Americans than ever are participating in these markets. Meanwhile, all you can do is whine about gas prices, and most of you are too damn stupid to realize that gas prices are high because there’s increased demand in other parts of the world, and because a small handful of noisy idiots are more worried about polar bears and beachfront property than your economic security.
We face real threats in the world. Don’t give me this “blood for oil” thing. If I were trading blood for oil, I would’ve already seized Iraq’s oil fields and let the rest of the country go to hell. And don’t give me this “Bush Lied; People Died” crap either. If I were the liar you morons take me for, I could’ve easily had chemical weapons planted in Iraq so they could be “discovered.” Instead, I owned up to the fact that the intelligence was faulty.
Let me remind you that the rest of the world (including most of you) thought Saddam had the goods, same as me. Let me also remind you that regime change in Iraq was official U.S. policy before I came into office. Some guy named Clinton established that policy. Bet you didn’t know that, did you?
You idiots need to understand that we face a unique enemy. Back during the Cold War, there were two major competing political and economic models squaring off. We won that war, but we did so because fundamentally the Communists wanted to survive, just as we do. We were simply able to outspend and out-tech them.
That’s not the case this time. The soldiers of our new enemy don’t care if they survive. In fact, they want to die. That’d be fine, as long as they weren’t also committed to taking as many of you with them as they can. But they are. They want to kill you, and the bastards are all over the globe.
You should be grateful they haven’t gotten any more of us here in the United States since Sept. 11. But you’re not. That’s because you’ve got no idea how hard a small number of intelligence, military, law enforcement and homeland security people have worked to make sure of that. When this whole mess started, I warned you that this would be a long and difficult fight. I’m disappointed how many of you people think a long and difficult fight amounts to a single season of “Survivor.”
Instead, you’ve grown impatient. You’re incapable of seeing things through the long lens of history, the way our enemies do. You think that wars should last a few months, a few years, tops.
Making matters worse, you actively support those who help the enemy. Every time you buy the New York Times, every time you send a donation to a cut-and-run Democrat’s political campaign, well, dang it, you might just as well FedEx a grenade launcher to a jihadist. It amounts to the same thing.
In this day and age, it’s easy enough to find the truth. It’s all over the Internet. It just isn’t on the pages of the New York Times or on NBC News. But even if it were, I doubt you’d be any smarter. Most of you would rather watch “American Idol.”
I could say more about your expectations that the government will always be there to bail you out, even if you’re too stupid to leave a city that’s below sea level and has a hurricane approaching.
I could say more about your insane belief that [some opaque nanny-entity called] “the government”, not your own wallet, is where the money comes from. But I’ve come to the conclusion that were I to do so, it would sail right over your heads.
So I quit. I’m going back to Crawford; I’ve got an energy-efficient house down there (Al Gore could only dream) and the capability to be fully self-sufficient. No one ever heard of Crawford before I got elected, and as soon as I’m done here pretty much no one will ever hear of it again. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to die of old age before the last pillars of America fall.
Oh, and by the way, Cheney’s quitting, too. That means Pelosi is your new president. You asked for it. Watch what she does carefully, because I still have a glimmer of hope that there are just enough of you remaining who are smart enough to turn this thing around in 2008.
So that’s it. God bless what’s left of America. Some of you know what I mean. The rest of you, kiss off.
As you can see, instead of Pelosi we got his majesty the socialist savior of motivational speaking via teleprompter.
My flourishes were in [ ].
The President Ties His Own Hands on Terror – WSJ.com
It makes me so thrilled to know that the new administration is doing everything in its power to make us less safe. Idiots.