Laugh Obama, laugh! As you distract & pimp the peoples’ pain

By Larry Pinkney
Online Journal Guest Writer

Aug 27, 2010, 00:20

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“The wolf and the fox are both enemies of humanity, both are canine, both humiliate and mutilate their victims. Both have the same objectives, but differ only in methods.” --Malcolm X (el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz)

“The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” --Steven Biko

Through a steady barrage of unceasing distractions and lies, the waters of informed public discourse in this nation are being deliberately poisoned and manipulated. Barack Obama, the Democrat and Republican parties, and the corporate-stream media engage in these tactics as a means of controlling and manipulating the pain of everyday people.

An example of this poisoning and distraction is the recent public foray by Barack Obama, regarding the possible building of a Muslim mosque near “ground zero” in New York City. Obama claimed that he was merely manifesting his respect for the U.S. Constitution by reminding the U.S. public of the constitutional right to build said mosque. This of course was nothing more than a cynical distraction on Obama’s part. Where is Barack Obama’s constitutional respect as he callously shreds the U.S. Constitution by supporting and extending the unconstitutional police-state ‘Patriot Act’ and the program of U.S. government kidnapping and torture known as ‘Extraordinary Rendition’?! No! Barack Obama, the Democratic Party foxes, the Republican Party wolves, and the ever subservient lap dog corporate-stream media utilized the mosque matter in New York City as a cynical distraction away from the horrors of massive unemployment, home foreclosures, a rapidly deteriorating U.S. infrastructure, a burgeoning U.S. prison gulag population, corporate/Wall Street hegemony, the de facto continued U.S. occupation of Iraq, and the bloody U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. So laugh Obama, laugh! As you distract and pimp the pain of the people! In the paraphrased words of the great Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes: “Wake Up Everybody!. . . . (Listen closely to the words) Politicians stop lying!!!”

It is the year 2010, in the 21st century, and once again it is time to wake up and organize on behalf of ourselves: just plain everyday Black, White, Brown, Red and Yellow peoples!

As Barack Obama spends billions of dollars on overt wars abroad, he and his ilk are also spending billions more dollars conducting bloody, illegal, and secret wars of terrorism allegedly against those who are themselves arbitrarily defined as “terrorists,” all in the name of the ‘American’ people. This of course serves to enhance the bloody cycle of “terrorism,” not stop it. It also simultaneously financially enriches the bulging and bottomless coffers of the U.S. corporate / military elite at the expense of jobs, housing, schools, libraries, education, and the over-all infrastructure of this nation. (See New York Times, August 14, 2010).

How is it that Barack Obama could so cleverly, callously and cynically be leading this nation backwards to economic and social ruin, while in a perpetual state of wars abroad? The answer is not difficult. Consider that there is strong reason to believe that Barack Obama himself was fastidiously groomed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)/corporate complex in preparation for his role as the head of the U.S. corporate / military Empire. Moreover, his family, including his mother, father, step father, and grand father all had very close ties with the CIA and were most probably CIA operatives themselves. (Reference: The Story of Obama: All in The Company Part1 and Part 2).

Barack Obama did not rise from relative national obscurity on his own to become President of the United States. He was aided and abetted by the CIA/corporate complex with the eager and able assistance of the corporate-stream media. The CIA successfully subverted and manipulated so-called democracy in this nation with the blindly euphoric installment of Barack Obama as the first “black” president of this country. This however, is by no means the first time that the clandestine CIA, with its enormous and largely hidden budget, has subverted democracy in this nation and abroad, nor is it likely to be the last. [Remember how the CIA, orchestrated and funded the overthrow of the democratically elected governments of Iran in 1953, and Chile in 1973. Notwithstanding a shredded U.S. Constitution, it is ridiculous to assume that the ‘American’ people would somehow be immune to CIA subterfuge inside the United States itself.]

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, in addition to other so-called “intelligence” agencies have also unscrupulously infiltrated and subverted vast portions of the U.S. “news” media and public institutions in this nation. Thus, it is absolutely no coincidence that some who seek to expose Barack Obama and/or U.S. government lies, often find themselves as the targets of “dirty trick” activities of vicious discreditation, or imprisoned, or mysteriously disappeared, or yes, even murdered. The Obama / Dunham / Soetoro CIA connections stretch from the United States, to Kenya, to Indonesia, to Lebanon and beyond. No one should be surprised that the articulate, double-talking Barack Obama has escalated (for example) the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while enacting repressive legislation such as the “Patriot Act’ that in effect shreds the U. S. Constitution.

It should come as no surprise that the infamous COINTELPRO activities by the U.S. government have now been in essence codified into law within the ‘Patriot Act’ itself. The next time you hear Barack Obama speak or witness his sickly smile---remember well---who and what he really is and whose interests he actually serves. What you don’t know can not only hurt you—it can kill you. WAKE UP EVERYBODY—Wake UP!

Everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people in this nation are in terrible pain and are hurting like never before. Yet, Barack Obama, his congressional colleagues, and the corporate-stream media dare to pontificate about a so-called “economic recovery,” which is in fact nonexistent for the masses of everyday people. The lying rhetoric and smoke & mirror economics of Barack Obama, the Democratic Party foxes, and the Republican Party wolves have served the greedy corporate elite of Wall Street—not the everyday people.(Reference: Deceptive Economic Statistics: While the economists lied the US economy died).

Corporate greed must be addressed and stood up to everywhere. Moreover, the corporate government and its hand maiden corporate-stream media must be organized against just as the people did this past August 10, 2010, in the ongoing struggle against Whirlpool corporation’s greed and corruption in Benton Harbor Michigan. These kinds of people’s struggles are increasingly being organized throughout the United States. Everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people must assert their / our human rights to decent jobs, justice, and a life with dignity.

Educate, agitate, and organize! In the words of Joe Hill, “Don’t Mourn. Organize!!!” Link our issues and concerns together! Even while Barack Obama and his ilk cynically manipulate and laugh at the pain of the everyday people, we must organize!

There remains much work to be done. The time for slumber has long passed. Onward my sisters and brothers! Onward!

SOURCE

Source: http://therebelsincere.blogspot.com/2010/08/laugh-obama-laugh-as-you-distract-pimp.html

»»  read more

Obama, the man of action against al Qaeda becomes a 'decider'

Peter Baker, NY Times:

President Obama rushed to the Oval Office when word arrived one night that militants with Al Qaeda in Yemen had been located and that the military wanted to support an attack by Yemeni forces. After a quick discussion, his counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, told him the window to strike was closing.

“I’ve got two minutes here,” Mr. Brennan said.

“O.K.,” the president said. “Go with this.”

While Mr. Obama took three sometimes maddening months to decide to send more forces to Afghanistan, other decisions as commander in chief have come with dizzying speed, far less study and little public attention.

He is the first president in four decades with a shooting war already raging the day he took office — two, in fact, plus subsidiaries — and his education as a commander in chief with no experience in uniform has been a steep learning curve. He has learned how to salute. He has surfed the Internet at night to look into the toll on troops. He has faced young soldiers maimed after carrying out his orders. And he is trying to manage a tense relationship with the military.

Along the way, he has confronted some of the biggest choices a president can make, often deferring to military advisers yet trying to shape the decisions with his own judgments — too much at times for the Pentagon, too little in the view of his liberal base. His evolution from antiwar candidate to leader of the world’s most powerful military will reach a milestone on Tuesday when he delivers an Oval Office address to formally end the combat mission in Iraq while defending his troop buildup in Afghanistan.

A year and a half into his presidency, Mr. Obama appears to be a reluctant warrior. Even as he draws down troops in Iraq, he has been abundantly willing to use force to advance national interests, tripling forces in Afghanistan, authorizing secret operations in Yemen and Somalia, and escalating drone strikes in Pakistan. But advisers said he did not see himself as a war president in the way his predecessor did. His speech on Tuesday is notable because he talks in public about the wars only sporadically, determined not to let them define his presidency.

Where George W. Bush saw the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as his central mission and opportunities to transform critical regions, Mr. Obama sees them as “problems that need managing,” as one adviser put it, while he pursues his mission of transforming America. The result, according to interviews with three dozen administration officials, military leaders and national security experts, is an uneasy balance between a president wary of endless commitment and a military worried he is not fully invested in the cause.

...

Obama never really grasped the military issues in Iraq, thus he opposed the successful surge. His passive aggressive stance toward the situation in Afghanistan was a gift of valuable time to the enemy. In some areas he has been more aggressive such as Pakistan and Yemen and he deserves some credit for those decisions.

He will get little credit for the situation in Iraq and deserves even less. In Afghanistan, the jury is still out. His deadline for departure was a strategic mistake that is costing us lives this year and is giving the enemy hope. He has also not manage Karzai well.

Source: http://prairiepundit.blogspot.com/2010/08/obama-man-of-action-against-al-qaeda.html

»»  read more

Obama, the man of action against al Qaeda becomes a 'decider'

Peter Baker, NY Times:

President Obama rushed to the Oval Office when word arrived one night that militants with Al Qaeda in Yemen had been located and that the military wanted to support an attack by Yemeni forces. After a quick discussion, his counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, told him the window to strike was closing.

“I’ve got two minutes here,” Mr. Brennan said.

“O.K.,” the president said. “Go with this.”

While Mr. Obama took three sometimes maddening months to decide to send more forces to Afghanistan, other decisions as commander in chief have come with dizzying speed, far less study and little public attention.

He is the first president in four decades with a shooting war already raging the day he took office — two, in fact, plus subsidiaries — and his education as a commander in chief with no experience in uniform has been a steep learning curve. He has learned how to salute. He has surfed the Internet at night to look into the toll on troops. He has faced young soldiers maimed after carrying out his orders. And he is trying to manage a tense relationship with the military.

Along the way, he has confronted some of the biggest choices a president can make, often deferring to military advisers yet trying to shape the decisions with his own judgments — too much at times for the Pentagon, too little in the view of his liberal base. His evolution from antiwar candidate to leader of the world’s most powerful military will reach a milestone on Tuesday when he delivers an Oval Office address to formally end the combat mission in Iraq while defending his troop buildup in Afghanistan.

A year and a half into his presidency, Mr. Obama appears to be a reluctant warrior. Even as he draws down troops in Iraq, he has been abundantly willing to use force to advance national interests, tripling forces in Afghanistan, authorizing secret operations in Yemen and Somalia, and escalating drone strikes in Pakistan. But advisers said he did not see himself as a war president in the way his predecessor did. His speech on Tuesday is notable because he talks in public about the wars only sporadically, determined not to let them define his presidency.

Where George W. Bush saw the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as his central mission and opportunities to transform critical regions, Mr. Obama sees them as “problems that need managing,” as one adviser put it, while he pursues his mission of transforming America. The result, according to interviews with three dozen administration officials, military leaders and national security experts, is an uneasy balance between a president wary of endless commitment and a military worried he is not fully invested in the cause.

...

Obama never really grasped the military issues in Iraq, thus he opposed the successful surge. His passive aggressive stance toward the situation in Afghanistan was a gift of valuable time to the enemy. In some areas he has been more aggressive such as Pakistan and Yemen and he deserves some credit for those decisions.

He will get little credit for the situation in Iraq and deserves even less. In Afghanistan, the jury is still out. His deadline for departure was a strategic mistake that is costing us lives this year and is giving the enemy hope. He has also not manage Karzai well.

Source: http://prairiepundit.blogspot.com/2010/08/obama-man-of-action-against-al-qaeda.html

»»  read more

#5 Reason Why Obama Should be Impeached or Not Re-elected

These are just a few of the dirty tricks Obama and the Democrats are up to in an
effort to steal elections:

1. Democrats have tried to create fake “Tea Party” political parties in multiple states to siphon off conservative and Republican voters who think they are voting for the “Tea Party” movement candidate. Just this week, Jason Bauer, the Political Director of the Oakland County Michigan Democrat Party, abruptly resigned amid
allegations that he created and notarized documents for an Arizona resident to run
for office as a “Tea Party” candidate in Michigan. The Arizona man had no prior knowledge that his name was being used. (A fake 'tea party' was sounded out in Florida, also recently.)

2. In 2008, good politicians on both sides of the aisle realized that our troops overseas, including those in the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan, were being disenfranchised. Legislation with overwhelming support was prepared to ease this problem, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stopped the legislation and disenfranchised thousands of military voters. But not even Pelosi could stop efforts to ensure our military voters get a chance to vote in 2010, as the legislation with small changes passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2009. However,all signs are that the Obama Justice Department, who is charge of enforcing this legislation, won’t do so. This will result in thousands of military voters (the military is perceived to favor Republicans) being disenfranchised. The best number available is that nearly one
third of states have not complied with the law but it is hard to say for sure as Obama’s Justice Department will not even respond to questions on the issue!

3.Everyone has seen the infamous video of voter intimidation by the billy club waving New Black Panther Party members and heard the threats they issued. Most know that the Department of Justice dropped
the case even though they had won a “default judgment.” However, most people do not know that the non-billy club waving talker New Black Panther Party Member in the video, Jerry Jackson, Jr., has been elected a Philadelphia Democrat Party Committeeman and will be at the polls again in 2010 with the endorsement of the Democrat Party!

Source: http://obama-ultimablogspotcom.blogspot.com/2010/08/5-reason-why-obama-should-be-impeached.html

»»  read more

Improving Obama's Image

Not much he can do here -- and this isn't going to help:

“He’s going to be hustling on the road until the November election.... and seek to persuade skeptical Americans.... seize control of the perception.... sway public opinion.... message he wants to convey.... improved its “presidential imagery’’ — the way the president is presented to the American public.’’

As if we are going to be fooled by all that.

"Obama to hit campaign trail after island vacation; President aims to reassure voters on US economy" by Mark Arsenault, Globe Staff | August 29, 2010

OAK BLUFFS — For 10 days, even as dire housing and economic reports continued, President Obama kept to a disciplined vacation schedule....

But now, Democratic Party officials said, a recharged president will hit the midterm election hustings with a message tuned to echo his 2008 campaign theme of “Hope’’ and seek to persuade skeptical Americans that his long-promised economic recovery is real.

That should go over like a lead balloon!

All that will do is REMIND US why we are SO DISAPPOINTED in HIM!

“He is still a very strong energizer of the Democratic vote,’’ said Tim Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. “He’s going to be hustling on the road until the November election and he’ll be relishing the opportunity.’’

Yeah, I'm glad he has time to waste on political campaigns as the country falls apart.

Related: 2006 All Over Again

Looks like he will be ENERGIZING MORE REPUBLICANS!

**********

“This president has a record of accomplishment in the first 18 months unmatched by any administration since FDR,’’ said Kaine.

Why did the word hyperbole just enter my head?

Just last week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the president’s stimulus bill, passed last year with little Republican support, is responsible for creating or protecting between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs. And an economic forecast released last week by the Milken Institute projects an uptick for the US economy, and moderate job growth for the rest of this year and through 2012....

Related: Economy slows; a 2d slump is feared

Also see: Administration Telling the Truth About Stimuloot

Setting AP Straight on the Stimulus

Sick of the lies yet?

Obama’s aim is to seize control of the perception about the economy and make the case that his measures are having their intended impact, even if not as fast as he had hoped. Administration officials, for example, will try to make the case that the jobs picture is improving and would have been worse without the stimulus money....

Translation: He thinks he can bulls*** us!

Obama’s effort to sway public opinion begins with a rapid-fire series of events this week. He is scheduled to leave the Vineyard this morning and fly to New Orleans to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, from which the region is still trying to recover. Obama will deliver a speech at Xavier University, in which he is likely to also defend his administration’s efforts to deal with the BP oil spill.

Then on Tuesday, Obama will mark a milestone in the Iraq war....

All the FALSE PHOTO OPS in the WORLD will NOT HELP!

ACTIONS speak LOUDER than WORDS, s***ter!!!

The president will visit Fort Bliss, Texas, to meet with troops, and will later deliver a speech from the Oval Office. Obama has been planning the address since before his vacation, and has had extensive conversations with staff about the message he wants to convey.

But what the president may find is an American public far more interested in jobs at home than a seven-year war halfway across the world, said Michael O’Hanlon, who specializes in national security and defense policy at the Brookings Institution.

Umm, we can WALK and CHEW GUM at the same time -- especially since the TWO go HAND-in-HAND!

“The American public moved on from Iraq several years ago,’’ said O’Hanlon. “I don’t think Americans are in a celebratory mood.’’

Not until NOT ONE TROOP or CONTRACTOR occupies that land!

What the president’s speech must do, O’Hanlon said, is to look forward and lay out a workmanlike vision for helping the Iraqis establish a workable government. Meanwhile, Obama must deal with the war in Afghanistan and respond to the massive floods in Pakistan.

Which just reminds us of how much a failure he has been.

On Thursday, Obama will host Israeli and Palestinian delegations in an attempt to kick-start talks in search of peace.

Bringing Israel into the mix helps no one!

The string of events allows the president an opportunity for a burst of favorable media coverage, said Steve Rabinowitz, who designed public events for former President Clinton.

Like he isn't already getting that.

“Finally, the calendar and events around the world are working in the president’s favor,’’ said Rabinowitz. He noted that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been capped, the drawdown of US troops in Iraq is on time, despite continued violence, “and the Mideast summit at the very least will start out positive,’’ he said....

He truly believes you will but the lies, Americans.

Related: Netanyahu wants biweekly peace talks

There he goes putting another precondition on things!

Rabinowtiz said the Obama White House team also has recently improved its “presidential imagery’’ — the way the president is presented to the American public. “I’ve been frustrated with the images I saw the first 18 months; all staid stuff at the White House and town meetings around the country. I get the town meeting thing. But it can’t be the only thing that you do. The events all look the same.’’

Can you EAT IMAGE? Does it put a ROOF over your head?

He said Obama has been pictured in more events with what the political world calls “real people,’’ such as gulf-area businesspeople facing hard times. “As valuable as these presidential photo opportunities have been, they’re even more valuable now,’’ as more people begin to pay attention to the campaign, he said.

A year ago, the president returned from a Vineyard vacation to fight for his health care package. Obama got the bill passed, but many voters may not feel the impact for several years.

No, they will be feeling the impact right away.

Related: A Dollar a Day Keeps Obama in Play

Sick of the MSM lies yet?

Jobs and the economy are again the issue this fall, and it’s too late for improvements in the economy to substantially change the fall races, said Morris Fiorina, a political science professor at Stanford University.

Translation: look for a REPUBLICAN ROUT in the fall.

“There’s an old saying that an incumbent president doesn’t need good press, he needs good news,’’ said Fiorina. “He can’t control the flow of events.’’

No, his string-pulling masters do that.

**********

One area where Obama may be able to draw a distinction with Republicans this fall is on the fate of the tax cuts passed under George W. Bush, due to expire this year unless extended by Congress....

Related:

"Lawmakers are expected to quickly resume their fight over whether to renew soon-to-expire tax cuts enacted a decade ago under President George W. Bush, though they may not act until after the November elections"

Also see: Economic panel offers Obama options on tax reform

What did they say about them?

“The tax cuts give him the opportunity to take a more populist tone,’’ said Fiorina....

We are tired of hot air.

Many analysts are predicting that Democrats will lose a number of seats in the House and Senate and possibly control of Congress....

They should at least lose the House in a fair election.

--more--"

They may even take the Senate if Obomber keeps talking this way:

"Obama, in radio address, says ‘the war is ending’

TISBURY — President Obama said the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq means “the war is ending.’’

Related: Occupation Iraq: Obama Out Early

Liar!

Also see: Occupation Iraq: New Day Dawning

You think changing the name will make the turd stink less?

********

“In the months ahead, our troops will continue to support and train Iraqi forces, partner with Iraqis in counterterrorism missions, and protect our civilian and military efforts,’’ Obama said, a day before ending his 10-day Martha’s Vineyard vacation to travel to New Orleans and mark another somber date: the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina....

Doesn't look like an end to me.

And WHY are we STILL SENDING SOLDIERS THERE, huh?

Remaining troops will assume a backup and training role, a shift Obama will underscore with a visit to Fort Bliss, Texas, on Tuesday and then a prime-time speech to the nation from the Oval Office...

A turd, by any other name, still stinks.

At least he had a good vacation!

This time, Obamas were able to relax

EDGARTOWN — President Obama wrapped up a 10-day vacation yesterday that was blissfully free of the news emergencies that have interrupted some of his past getaways.

I guess no August surprise is a good thing.

Grim economic reports cast an inescapable shadow over the first family’s stay in Martha’s Vineyard, and tough tasks on Iraq and the Middle East await the president in Washington.

But during his time on this lovely island, the president never once had to shed his leisure wear to step in front of the podium and address a national emergency or matter of state....

Well, that's nice -- as Americans try to hold on to the shirts on their backs.

--more-"

Source: http://rockthetruth2.blogspot.com/2010/08/improving-obamas-image.html

»»  read more

Improving Obama's Image

Not much he can do here -- and this isn't going to help:

“He’s going to be hustling on the road until the November election.... and seek to persuade skeptical Americans.... seize control of the perception.... sway public opinion.... message he wants to convey.... improved its “presidential imagery’’ — the way the president is presented to the American public.’’

As if we are going to be fooled by all that.

"Obama to hit campaign trail after island vacation; President aims to reassure voters on US economy" by Mark Arsenault, Globe Staff | August 29, 2010

OAK BLUFFS — For 10 days, even as dire housing and economic reports continued, President Obama kept to a disciplined vacation schedule....

But now, Democratic Party officials said, a recharged president will hit the midterm election hustings with a message tuned to echo his 2008 campaign theme of “Hope’’ and seek to persuade skeptical Americans that his long-promised economic recovery is real.

That should go over like a lead balloon!

All that will do is REMIND US why we are SO DISAPPOINTED in HIM!

“He is still a very strong energizer of the Democratic vote,’’ said Tim Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. “He’s going to be hustling on the road until the November election and he’ll be relishing the opportunity.’’

Yeah, I'm glad he has time to waste on political campaigns as the country falls apart.

Related: 2006 All Over Again

Looks like he will be ENERGIZING MORE REPUBLICANS!

**********

“This president has a record of accomplishment in the first 18 months unmatched by any administration since FDR,’’ said Kaine.

Why did the word hyperbole just enter my head?

Just last week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the president’s stimulus bill, passed last year with little Republican support, is responsible for creating or protecting between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs. And an economic forecast released last week by the Milken Institute projects an uptick for the US economy, and moderate job growth for the rest of this year and through 2012....

Related: Economy slows; a 2d slump is feared

Also see: Administration Telling the Truth About Stimuloot

Setting AP Straight on the Stimulus

Sick of the lies yet?

Obama’s aim is to seize control of the perception about the economy and make the case that his measures are having their intended impact, even if not as fast as he had hoped. Administration officials, for example, will try to make the case that the jobs picture is improving and would have been worse without the stimulus money....

Translation: He thinks he can bulls*** us!

Obama’s effort to sway public opinion begins with a rapid-fire series of events this week. He is scheduled to leave the Vineyard this morning and fly to New Orleans to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, from which the region is still trying to recover. Obama will deliver a speech at Xavier University, in which he is likely to also defend his administration’s efforts to deal with the BP oil spill.

Then on Tuesday, Obama will mark a milestone in the Iraq war....

All the FALSE PHOTO OPS in the WORLD will NOT HELP!

ACTIONS speak LOUDER than WORDS, s***ter!!!

The president will visit Fort Bliss, Texas, to meet with troops, and will later deliver a speech from the Oval Office. Obama has been planning the address since before his vacation, and has had extensive conversations with staff about the message he wants to convey.

But what the president may find is an American public far more interested in jobs at home than a seven-year war halfway across the world, said Michael O’Hanlon, who specializes in national security and defense policy at the Brookings Institution.

Umm, we can WALK and CHEW GUM at the same time -- especially since the TWO go HAND-in-HAND!

“The American public moved on from Iraq several years ago,’’ said O’Hanlon. “I don’t think Americans are in a celebratory mood.’’

Not until NOT ONE TROOP or CONTRACTOR occupies that land!

What the president’s speech must do, O’Hanlon said, is to look forward and lay out a workmanlike vision for helping the Iraqis establish a workable government. Meanwhile, Obama must deal with the war in Afghanistan and respond to the massive floods in Pakistan.

Which just reminds us of how much a failure he has been.

On Thursday, Obama will host Israeli and Palestinian delegations in an attempt to kick-start talks in search of peace.

Bringing Israel into the mix helps no one!

The string of events allows the president an opportunity for a burst of favorable media coverage, said Steve Rabinowitz, who designed public events for former President Clinton.

Like he isn't already getting that.

“Finally, the calendar and events around the world are working in the president’s favor,’’ said Rabinowitz. He noted that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been capped, the drawdown of US troops in Iraq is on time, despite continued violence, “and the Mideast summit at the very least will start out positive,’’ he said....

He truly believes you will but the lies, Americans.

Related: Netanyahu wants biweekly peace talks

There he goes putting another precondition on things!

Rabinowtiz said the Obama White House team also has recently improved its “presidential imagery’’ — the way the president is presented to the American public. “I’ve been frustrated with the images I saw the first 18 months; all staid stuff at the White House and town meetings around the country. I get the town meeting thing. But it can’t be the only thing that you do. The events all look the same.’’

Can you EAT IMAGE? Does it put a ROOF over your head?

He said Obama has been pictured in more events with what the political world calls “real people,’’ such as gulf-area businesspeople facing hard times. “As valuable as these presidential photo opportunities have been, they’re even more valuable now,’’ as more people begin to pay attention to the campaign, he said.

A year ago, the president returned from a Vineyard vacation to fight for his health care package. Obama got the bill passed, but many voters may not feel the impact for several years.

No, they will be feeling the impact right away.

Related: A Dollar a Day Keeps Obama in Play

Sick of the MSM lies yet?

Jobs and the economy are again the issue this fall, and it’s too late for improvements in the economy to substantially change the fall races, said Morris Fiorina, a political science professor at Stanford University.

Translation: look for a REPUBLICAN ROUT in the fall.

“There’s an old saying that an incumbent president doesn’t need good press, he needs good news,’’ said Fiorina. “He can’t control the flow of events.’’

No, his string-pulling masters do that.

**********

One area where Obama may be able to draw a distinction with Republicans this fall is on the fate of the tax cuts passed under George W. Bush, due to expire this year unless extended by Congress....

Related:

"Lawmakers are expected to quickly resume their fight over whether to renew soon-to-expire tax cuts enacted a decade ago under President George W. Bush, though they may not act until after the November elections"

Also see: Economic panel offers Obama options on tax reform

What did they say about them?

“The tax cuts give him the opportunity to take a more populist tone,’’ said Fiorina....

We are tired of hot air.

Many analysts are predicting that Democrats will lose a number of seats in the House and Senate and possibly control of Congress....

They should at least lose the House in a fair election.

--more--"

They may even take the Senate if Obomber keeps talking this way:

"Obama, in radio address, says ‘the war is ending’

TISBURY — President Obama said the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq means “the war is ending.’’

Related: Occupation Iraq: Obama Out Early

Liar!

Also see: Occupation Iraq: New Day Dawning

You think changing the name will make the turd stink less?

********

“In the months ahead, our troops will continue to support and train Iraqi forces, partner with Iraqis in counterterrorism missions, and protect our civilian and military efforts,’’ Obama said, a day before ending his 10-day Martha’s Vineyard vacation to travel to New Orleans and mark another somber date: the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina....

Doesn't look like an end to me.

And WHY are we STILL SENDING SOLDIERS THERE, huh?

Remaining troops will assume a backup and training role, a shift Obama will underscore with a visit to Fort Bliss, Texas, on Tuesday and then a prime-time speech to the nation from the Oval Office...

A turd, by any other name, still stinks.

At least he had a good vacation!

This time, Obamas were able to relax

EDGARTOWN — President Obama wrapped up a 10-day vacation yesterday that was blissfully free of the news emergencies that have interrupted some of his past getaways.

I guess no August surprise is a good thing.

Grim economic reports cast an inescapable shadow over the first family’s stay in Martha’s Vineyard, and tough tasks on Iraq and the Middle East await the president in Washington.

But during his time on this lovely island, the president never once had to shed his leisure wear to step in front of the podium and address a national emergency or matter of state....

Well, that's nice -- as Americans try to hold on to the shirts on their backs.

--more-"

Source: http://rockthetruth2.blogspot.com/2010/08/improving-obamas-image.html

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Texas Democrats continue to avoid Obama

El Paso Times:

President Barack Obama will arrive in El Paso at a time of discontent, when the country's economic and labor market looks as uncertain as the future of its foreign policy.

Obama on Tuesday will visit Fort Bliss to mark the end of combat operations in Iraq. He will meet with soldiers in anticipation of a new phase of military action that begins in September with about 50,000 soldiers staying to "advise and assist" the Iraqis.

This emotional moment with historic significance does not mean Democratic candidates in Texas and New Mexico want to stand shoulder to shoulder with the commander in chief. Even in El Paso, where an overwhelming 68 percent voted for Obama in 2008, candidates facing tough races in November will not be on hand for his speech.

Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White will be absent. So will New Mexico's Democratic nominee for governor, Diane Denish.

Two Texas Democrats facing difficult re-election campaigns, state Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso and U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez of San Antonio, said Friday that they had not decided whether they would be at Fort Bliss for the president's appearance.

White, who is challenging Republican incumbent Rick Perry, will campaign Tuesday in Fort Worth.

"His job is to go out every day and meet Texans, earn their votes," said Katy Bacon, a spokeswoman for White.

...

Obama's approval rating has dipped from 67 percent when he took office to 44 percent. More dated figures show that the numbers were lower in Texas, where 35 percent approved of the president's job performance, according to a University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll in February.

Many other administrations have experienced the same sort of slide during the first two years, said U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, who will be at Fort Bliss with the president.

Sophomore slump or not, some Democratic candidates have been critical of Obama.

Bacon said White had criticized Obama for too much federal spending. But White, she said, is focused squarely on state policies, not federal ones.

"The governor's race in 2010 is about the issues facing the future of Texas," she said. "Most Texas voters are less concerned with politics and more concerned with 'Can I pay for my child to go to college?' "

As for Moody, the first-term state legislator might have benefited from Obama's success in 2008, when he defeated Republican Dee Margo. Margo, Moody's opponent again this year, said heavy turnout for Obama carried Moody to victory.

...

White needs to explain how he would deal with all the attacks on the Texas economy by the Obama administration which is strangling offshore oil production and is pushing the EPA to limit Texas industry and drive up its costs.

It does say something about Obama's lack of popularity that he cannot even draw a crowd of Democrats in El Paso of all places.

Source: http://prairiepundit.blogspot.com/2010/08/texas-democrats-continue-to-avoid-obama.html

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Texas Democrats continue to avoid Obama

El Paso Times:

President Barack Obama will arrive in El Paso at a time of discontent, when the country's economic and labor market looks as uncertain as the future of its foreign policy.

Obama on Tuesday will visit Fort Bliss to mark the end of combat operations in Iraq. He will meet with soldiers in anticipation of a new phase of military action that begins in September with about 50,000 soldiers staying to "advise and assist" the Iraqis.

This emotional moment with historic significance does not mean Democratic candidates in Texas and New Mexico want to stand shoulder to shoulder with the commander in chief. Even in El Paso, where an overwhelming 68 percent voted for Obama in 2008, candidates facing tough races in November will not be on hand for his speech.

Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White will be absent. So will New Mexico's Democratic nominee for governor, Diane Denish.

Two Texas Democrats facing difficult re-election campaigns, state Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso and U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez of San Antonio, said Friday that they had not decided whether they would be at Fort Bliss for the president's appearance.

White, who is challenging Republican incumbent Rick Perry, will campaign Tuesday in Fort Worth.

"His job is to go out every day and meet Texans, earn their votes," said Katy Bacon, a spokeswoman for White.

...

Obama's approval rating has dipped from 67 percent when he took office to 44 percent. More dated figures show that the numbers were lower in Texas, where 35 percent approved of the president's job performance, according to a University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll in February.

Many other administrations have experienced the same sort of slide during the first two years, said U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, who will be at Fort Bliss with the president.

Sophomore slump or not, some Democratic candidates have been critical of Obama.

Bacon said White had criticized Obama for too much federal spending. But White, she said, is focused squarely on state policies, not federal ones.

"The governor's race in 2010 is about the issues facing the future of Texas," she said. "Most Texas voters are less concerned with politics and more concerned with 'Can I pay for my child to go to college?' "

As for Moody, the first-term state legislator might have benefited from Obama's success in 2008, when he defeated Republican Dee Margo. Margo, Moody's opponent again this year, said heavy turnout for Obama carried Moody to victory.

...

White needs to explain how he would deal with all the attacks on the Texas economy by the Obama administration which is strangling offshore oil production and is pushing the EPA to limit Texas industry and drive up its costs.

It does say something about Obama's lack of popularity that he cannot even draw a crowd of Democrats in El Paso of all places.

Source: http://prairiepundit.blogspot.com/2010/08/texas-democrats-continue-to-avoid-obama.html

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# 13 Reason Why We Should Impeach or NOT re-elect Obama

Obama thinks it is right for imam Rauf and Islam to build a mosque and community center in New York City near Ground Zero. He needs to understand what moderate Muslims really think.

"It can’t be done without confronting mainstream Islam and its Sharia agenda. ‘Secularism can never enjoy a general acceptance in an Islamic society.” The writer was not one of those sulfurous Islamophobes decried by CAIR [Council on American-Islamic Relations] and the professional Left. Quite the opposite: It was Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual guide and a favorite of the Saudi royal family. He made this assertion in his book, How the Imported Solutions Disastrously Affected Our Ummah, an excerpt of which was published by the Saudi Gazette just a couple of months ago.
This was Qaradawi the “progressive” Muslim intellectual, much loved by Georgetown University’s burgeoning Islamic-studies programs. Like Harvard, Georgetown has been purchased into submission by tens of millions of Saudi petrodollars. In its resulting ardor to put Americans at ease about Islam, the university somehow manages to look beyond Qaradawi’s fatwas calling for the killing of American troops in Iraq and for suicide bombings in Israel. Qaradawi, they tell us, is a “moderate.” In fact, as Robert Spencer quips, if you were to say Islam and secularism cannot co-exist, John Esposito, Georgetown’s apologist-in-chief, would call you an Islamophobe; but when Qaradawi says it, no problem — according to Esposito, he’s a “reformist.”
And he’s not just any reformist. Another Qaradawi fan, Feisal Rauf, the similarly “moderate” imam behind the Ground Zero mosque project, tells us Qaradawi is also “the most well-known legal authority in the whole Muslim world today.”
Rauf is undoubtedly right about that. So it is worth letting it sink in that this most influential of Islam’s voices, the promoter of the Islamic enclaves the Brotherhood is forging throughout the West, is convinced that Islamic societies can never accept secularism. After all, secularism is nothing less than the framework by which the West defends religious freedom but denies legal and political authority to religious creeds.
It is worth understanding why Qaradawi says Islam and secularism cannot co-exist. The excerpt from his books continues: “As Islam is a comprehensive system of worship (Ibadah) and legislation (Shari’ah), the acceptance of secularism means the abandonment of Shari’ah, a denial of the divine guidance and a rejection of Allah’s injunctions. It is indeed a false claim that Shari’ah is not proper to the requirements of the present age. The acceptance of a legislation formulated by humans means a preference of humans’ limited knowledge and experiences to the divine guidance: Say! Do you know better than Allah? (Qur’an 2:140) For this reason, the call for secularism among Muslims is atheism and a rejection of Islam. Its acceptance as a basis for rule in place of Shar’ah is downright apostasy. Apostasy is an explosive accusation. On another occasion, Sheikh Qaradawi explained that “Muslim jurists are unanimous that apostates must be punished.” He further acknowledged that the consensus view of these jurists, including the principal schools of both Sunni and Shiite jurisprudence is “that the apostates must be executed.”
Qaradawi’s own view is more nuanced, as he explained to the Egyptian press in 2005. This, I suppose, is where his vaunted reformist streak comes in. For private apostasy, in which a Muslim makes a secret, personal decision to renounce the tenets of Islam and quietly goes his separate way without causing a stir, the sheikh believes ostracism by the Islamic community is a sufficient penalty, with the understanding that Allah will condemn the apostate to eternal damnation at the time of his choosing. For public apostasy, however, Qaradawi stands with the overwhelming weight of Islamic authority: “The punishment …is execution.”
The sad fact, the fact no one wants to deal with but which the Ground Zero mosque debate has forced to the fore, is that Qaradawi is a moderate. So is Feisal Rauf, who endorses the Qaradawi position – the mainstream Islamic position – that Sharia is a nonnegotiable requirement. Rauf wins the coveted “moderate” designation because he strains, at least when speaking for Western consumption, to paper over the incompatibility between Sharia societies and Western societies.
Qaradawi and Rauf are “moderates” because we’ve abandoned reason. Our opinion elites are happy to paper over the gulf between “reformist” Islam and the “reformist” approval of mass-murder attacks. That’s why it matters not a whit to them that Imam Rauf refuses to renounce Hamas: If you’re going to give a pass to Qaradawi, the guy who actively promotes Hamas terrorists, how can you complain about a guy who merely refuses to condemn the terrorists?
When we are rational, we have confidence in our own frame of reference. We judge what is moderate based on a detached, commonsense understanding of what “moderate” means. We’re not rigging the outcome; we just want to know where we stand.
If we were in that objective frame of mind, we would easily see that a freedom culture requires separation of the spiritual from the secular. We would also see that Sharia — with dictates that contradict liberty and equality while sanctioning cruel punishments and holy war — is not moderate. Consequently, no one who advocates Sharia can be a moderate, no matter how well-meaning he may be, no matter how heartfelt may be his conviction that this is God’s will, and no matter how much higher on the food chain he may be than Osama bin Laden.
Instead, abandoning reason, we have deep-sixed our own frame of reference and substituted mainstream Islam’s. If that backward compass is to be our guide, then sure, Qaradawi and Rauf are moderates. But know this: When you capitulate to the authority and influence of Qaradawi and Rauf, you kill meaningful Islamic reform.
There is no moderate Islam in the mainstream of Muslim life, not in the doctrinal sense. There are millions of moderate Muslims who crave reform. Yet the fact that they seek real reform, rather than what Georgetown is content to call reform, means they are trying to invent something that does not currently exist.
Real reform can also be found in some Muslim sects. The Ahmadi, for example, hold some unorthodox views and reject violent jihad. Witness what happens: They are brutally persecuted by Muslims in Pakistan, as well as in Indonesia and other purported hubs of moderation.
Meanwhile, individual Muslim reformers are branded as apostates, meaning not only that they are discredited, but that their lives are threatened as well. The signal to other Muslims is clear: Follow the reformers and experience the same fury. As Qaradawi put it in the 2005 interview, public interview, public apostates are “the gravest danger” to Islamic society; therefore, Muslims must snuff them out, lest their reforms “spread like wildfire in a field of thorns.”
Today, “moderate Islam” is an illusion. There is hardly a spark, much less a wildfire. Making moderation real will take more than wishing upon a star. It calls for a gut check, a willingness to face down not just al-Qaeda but the Qaradawis and their Sharia campaign. It means saying: Not here! Not now! Not ever!
--Andrew C. McCarthy, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, is the author, most recently, of “The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America”

Source: http://obama-ultimablogspotcom.blogspot.com/2010/08/13-reason-why-we-should-impeach-or-not.html

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Clowns to the left, jokers to the right ...

Two parties, different views, complete morons.  Granted, not all conservatives and liberals behave in a way that many "radicals" from each side of the spectrum do, but as my old teacher used to remind me, "If you run with the wolves, you're considered a wolf."

The following contains my dream statements to each party / ideology, addressing the insanity they tend to push on the public at large.

Dear liberals,

Please stop pretending to be so open-minded.  I become frustrated at any group of people who demands everyone be open to their ideas, but themselves are closed off to the possibility their perspective could be wrong.

Stop trying to guilt me over illegal immigration.  People who illegally cross the border, no matter how well intentioned, are breaking the law.  What they do is an insult to every naturalized citizen who entered this country through the proper channels.  Other nations place strict quotas on immigration and punish those who illegally enter their borders.  We have no Constitutional obligation to allow just anyone into the country.

Yes, the world would be better off without guns, but they are here to stay.  Sorry.  They've been protecting your kind for a few centuries now.

Do you honestly expect Americans to believe life doesn't begin until a person's actual "birth"?  Abortion is wrong.  Executing criminals is wrong in your mind, but "terminating" a pregnancy is a "right"?

The government spends too much of its resources on "programs" that enable citizens to be lazy.  Take a drive around Southern West Virginia sometime if you don't believe this. 

Dear conservatives,

President Obama was born in Hawai'i and he is not a Muslim.  McCain lost the election.  End of story.

The following people should be permanently muted:  Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, and Rush Limbaugh.

Realize not every human being accepting government assistance is not some shady individual cheating the system.  Most Americans understand crappy people abuse the system -- so change that aspect of welfare programs.

So let me see if I understand:  killing a human to show them how wrong it is to kill another human is an appropriate method of punishment.  Am I the only one who sees the hypocrisy in that?

Waterboarding is torture.  Is it a tactic to use to gain information?  Perhaps.  But don't pretend like this is any normal means of interrogation.

Will you please shut up about repealing the 14th Amendment?  Are you unaware this amendment enabled George Bush to win the presidency in 2000?  Equal protection of the laws and due process exist for a reason.  You can't demand we throw out portions of the Constitution when they are not interpretted to your liking.

Source: http://politicalpinball.blogspot.com/2010/08/clowns-to-left-jokers-to-right.html

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True to his Promise, Obama Expands "War on Terror"

Well, he's done it again, just like he said he would

By Peter Symonds

A lengthy article in the New York Times, A Secret Assault on Terrorism Widens on Two Continents has provided a glimpse into the extent of the Obama administration’s covert wars.

Obama has not only continued but has expanded the murderous operations that were waged under the banner of the “war on terror” by the CIA and Pentagon during the Bush administration.

As the authors explain: “In roughly a dozen countries—from the deserts of North Africa, to the mountains of Pakistan, to former Soviet republics [in Central Asia] crippled by ethnic and religious strife, the United States has significantly increased military and intelligence operations, pursuing the enemy using robotic drones and commando teams, paying contractors to spy and training local operatives to chase terrorists.”

Obama has dramatically intensified the CIA’s drone missile attacks against alleged insurgents inside areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.

The White House has “approved raids inside Somalia,” it has “carried out clandestine operations from Kenya,” and it has collaborated with European allies in covert operations in North Africa, including a recent French strike in Algeria.

The most detailed information concerns the Obama administration’s expanding covert war inside Yemen, where the US military has carried out four air strikes since last December.

The war has killed dozens of civilians, including the deputy governor of Marib Province, Jabir al Shabwani, in May. The article incidentally confirms what has not previously been acknowledged: that all of the air strikes were carried out by the United States.

These attacks are just one aspect of American operations inside Yemen. “The Pentagon and the CIA have quietly bulked up the number of their operatives at the embassy in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, over the past year,” the Times explains.

The US is also training elite Yemeni units, providing equipment and sharing intelligence to support Yemeni operations against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

While the Times article acknowledges some political risks are involved, it is uncritical, even laudatory in tone. Under the banner of the “war on terror,” the US is aggressively prosecuting its ambitions for strategic and economic dominance throughout the energy-rich regions of the Middle East and Central Asia.

The neo-colonial occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan have been extended into a series of covert wars aimed at consolidating the American presence and expanding Washington’s political influence.

In Yemen, the Obama administration is helping to prop up the dictatorial regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is notorious for his suppression of political opposition. He came to power in what was North Yemen in 1978 and now runs a unified Yemen as a family fiefdom.

The Yemeni military and security apparatus, which Washington is training and equipping, is firmly under the control of Saleh’s family members, who will undoubtedly use its improved capacities against political opponents and critics.

Obama’s secret wars are proceeding with little or no congressional oversight and scant regard for international or American law. As the Times pointed out, the White House is benefitting from “a unique political landscape,” with support from Republicans and Democrats alike.

Earlier this year, the Pakistani newspaper, the Dawn, reported that at least 700 Pakistani civilians were killed in the CIA’s drone missile attacks during 2009.

According to Amnesty International, the first US strike on Yemen last December was a cruise missile loaded with cluster bombs that killed more than 40 civilians over several days. None of these crimes has raised a murmur of opposition in the US political or media establishment.

Speaking to the Times, former top CIA officer Jack Devine raised concerns that the limited congressional oversight put in place after the notorious Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s.

That involved the illegal funneling of money from secret arms sales to Iran to right-wing Contra rebels in Nicaragua—had been weakened. For the current covert operations, he said, “there are not clear rules.”

Under the Obama administration, the Times explained, the Pentagon has expanded its covert missions, which “typically operate with even less transparency and congressional oversight than traditional covert operations by the CIA.”

The article reported: “Across the Middle East and elsewhere, Special Operations troops under secret ‘Execute Orders’ have conducted spying missions that were once the preserve of civilian intelligence agencies.”

Not surprisingly, the CIA and military operatives involved in US imperialism’s past crimes are directing or intimately involved in the present operations.

Former CIA agent Duane Clarridge, who was indicted in 1991 in connection with the Iran-Contra affair, reemerged in Pakistan, helping to run one of several Pentagon-funded contractors providing intelligence to the US military.

Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Vickers, who oversees the Pentagon’s expanding Special Operation Command, was a senior CIA agent who helped direct its huge covert war to oust the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

The CIA helped arm and train not only the Afghan mujahedin, but also assisted the thousands of Islamist militants from the Middle East, North Africa and Asia who passed through Al Qaeda (the Base) to fight in Afghanistan.

Vickers, along with Defense Secretary (and former CIA head) Robert Gates, was one of several top officials appointed by Bush and kept in place by Obama.

In a sign of things to come, Obama last month appointed John Bennett to head the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, formerly known as the Directorate of Operations.

Among his previous assignments, Bennett headed the CIA’s Special Activities Division, which handles highly sensitive spying and paramilitary missions. According to Newsweek, his last posting was as CIA station chief in Islamabad, where he was intimately involved in supervising drone missile strikes inside Pakistan.

Obama’s expansion of covert operations into some of the world’s most unstable countries and regions is reckless and inflammatory.

His extension of the Afghan war into neighboring Pakistan, for instance, has not only undermined the government in Islamabad and triggered a dangerous civil war, but is destabilising relations with India and throughout the Indian subcontinent.

As the US aggressively pursues its interests through military means—overt and covert—its actions cut directly across the strategic interests of other major powers such as China, and threaten to provoke broader conflicts.

Source: http://leftmostfew.blogspot.com/2010/08/true-to-his-promise-obama-expands-war.html

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Flood money or blood money?

While the US and UK pour money into the human disaster that is Pakistan, its Arab Islamic neighbours have not, on the whole, done so. Neither group comes out of the situation particularly well.

The UK has put in 23 times more than Iran and 15 times more than the Saudis....a belated recognition by the Government that it screwed up the week before last. The Saudis have given nothing because Pakistan's President Zardari is a Shia muslim, which is not quite their colour. And as most of you know already, the Saudi royal family lives in obscene and corrupt luxury while their subjects muddle along on not very much. As for Ahmadinnejhad's Iran, well - Pakistanis are a useful recruiting source for ignorant suicide bombers, but they're not short of those. And anyway, their priority right now is building a nuclear bomb with which to wipe the Israeli stain from the surface of the Earth....that's assuming all those short skirts don't cause a deadly earthquake there before then anyway.

They're not a nice lot on the whole in this region. Good at preaching to the West about its decadence, but not good on the morality/ethics/fairness/21st century dimensions. One chap (featured in several papers and on various sites yesterday) arrived from Iraq as an 'asylum seeker' in 2005. Since then he has married an English woman, sired two kids, committed four criminal offences, and tried on several occasions to pervert the course of his umpteen appeals against deportation. Thanks to smart lawyers (paid for by us) a tribunal last week granted him the right to stay in Britain.

You can only ask why and move on, really - to asking why the hell we went into Iraq in the first place. True to US form, Eye-Rack is now electorally unpopular and so must be ceremoniously dumped. Thus the wet-dream for Iranian insurgents begins, with every day bringing more and more bombs detonated in order to bring the one true God to the people. Sorry, the one true version of the one true God to the people.

The West has been stupid (Bush), vainglorious (Blair), hypocritical (Brown), naive (Cameron) and weak (all of them, especially Obama) in its 'approach' to this hornets' nest. Now it promises to get tough in Afghanistan while clarifying for every opponent the exact date upon which it will do a Pontius Pilate. Our standing in the Muslim world is at rock bottom - which I don't mind because I see that on the whole as a compliment: what I object to is why we're seen as vermin - the perceived total lack of spine and ruthlessness. For these are (as I've written on endless occasions in the past) the only thing that matter to a fundamentalist, misogynist, insanely controlling mindset....and the only things they respect.

We are going to have to deal with these nazis sooner or later. And opening our arms to a Turkey in the EU is not the way to do it.

Source: http://nbyslog.blogspot.com/2010/08/flood-money-or-blood-money.html

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Post and Non

So, the mid semester exam turned out to be this and that.
Okay, firstly it was pretty easy, I took it slow and read everything twice, and took my time on the answers, and still left ten minutes passed half-way.
But it was interesting that after the lecturer told us it was in room 102 on the first floor, and wrote it on the whiteboard, and said again very slowly that it was not in our normal room but on a lower floor, and it was listed as 102 on the calendar, I was the only person to show up at 102; everyone else, including the guy that set up the room, showed up at our normal third floor room.

Obviously, on this occasion, the rhetorical question "is it just me? or..." has the rhetorical answer, "yes, it was just me".

I am unemployed. You knew that was coming from last post, but the contract promised to me has not come through and, I have been told, may not for a few months. Public sector. But I was asked about another one on Friday. Today is Tuesday and I haven't heard anything about that yet. But it is a previous client and I am reasonably confident. It won't pay as much as the other, and these are the people that last time paid me half my normal rate. I am trying to split the dif between that and what I was paid on the one just finished, that will do a bit better than cover my rent and will allow me to live a bit. Although in my case 'live' means dine out a couple of times, buy a game or two, and pay off my cards.

I am pretty sure that next weekend is the election, wait, let me just Google that, yep, next Saturday. The two major parties have yo-yoed a bit, which is a good sign in that it means the communists are not a shoe-in. Maybe even might lose, wouldn't that be nice. Methinks that Tweedledee is not quite as odorous as Tweedledum. Funny watching the Liberals try to compare themselves with "the desire for change that elected Obama". Funny that "Obama" passes the spell check but Tweedledee and Tweedledum don't.

I am playing Spellforce 2. Yeah, quick change of subject, but be honest, the last one wasn't exactly riveting, was it? This is crashing more often than Spellforce 1, and on its own as well, not when I make it think two things at once. It must only be the Spellforce Universe pack, because I don't remember either of them doing that before. Anyhow, I found out why I never played the two Spellforce 1 expansions - there is a monster that I can't get passed. We are the same level, but my hits do little to him whilst his severely hurt my character. Shame that. Good game kind of ruined. Neither of them crashes cleanly, they kill Windows on the way, but without causing a reboot, just lock it up, so I have to hard reset the machine. Which is very annoying.

Other than that, life in general sucks and I am starting to severely question why I bother

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Once you vote BLACK, you won't get Jacked...    (PRESS SHARE IF U DARE )

Posted via email from Comedian Mark Prince

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Obama's dog gets its own JET?

Why do you suppose the Obama's dog needed its own special jet to get it to their vacation destination?

"Arriving in a small jet before the Obamas was the first dog, Bo, a Portuguese water dog given as a present by the late U.S. Sen Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.; and the president's personal aide Reggie Love, who chatted with Baldacci."

HERE is the full article about the Maine vacation.....A special jet for their DOG? His economic speeches this week have a lot about how people are still suffering throughout this country and having to cut corners...I'd put aside a private jet for a dog long about now, wouldn't YOU? WOW. (Bow Wow)

Even I'm tired of ragging on Obama, believe it or not, but this stuff needs to make the mainstream media, in my opinion; People have a right to know. Don't you think?

z

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Obama Credibility

Here is another op-ed Obama's Economic Fish Stories from the WSJ that shows why Obama’s credibility continues to wane.

On unemployment, the president claims that the stimulus bill was several times more potent than his chief economic adviser estimates. Such statements hurt his credibility.

By MICHAEL J. BOSKIN

A president's most valuable asset—with voters, Congress, allies and enemies—is credibility. So it is unfortunate when extreme exaggeration emanates from the White House.

All presidents wind up saying some things that make even their own economists cringe (often the brainchild of political advisers unconstrained by economic principles, facts or arithmetic). Usually, economic advisers manage to correct these problematic statements before delivery. Sometimes they get channeled into relatively harmless nonsense, such as President Gerald Ford's "Whip Inflation Now" buttons. Other times they produce damaging policies, such as President Richard Nixon's wage and price controls. The most illiterate statement was President Jimmy Carter's late-1970s plea to the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates to combat high inflation, the exact opposite of what it should do. Not surprisingly, the value of the dollar collapsed.

President Obama says "every economist who's looked at it says that the Recovery Act has done its job"—i.e., the stimulus bill has turned the economy around. That's nonsense. Opinions differ widely and many leading economists believe that its impact has been small. Why? The expectation of future spending and future tax hikes to pay for the stimulus and Mr. Obama's vast expansion of government are offsetting the direct short-run expansionary effect. That is standard in all macroeconomic theories.

So, as I and others warned in 2008, the permanent government expansion and higher tax rate agenda is a classic example of what not to do during bad economic times. Worse yet, all the subsidies, bailouts, regulations and mandates are forcing noncommercial decisions on the economy, which now awaits literally thousands of new diktats as a result of things like ObamaCare and the financial reform bill. The uncertainty is impeding investment and hiring.
The president does not say that economists agree that the high future taxes to finance the stimulus will hurt the economy. (The University of Chicago's Harald Uhlig estimates $3.40 of lost output for every dollar of government spending.) Either the president is not being told of serious alternative viewpoints, or serious viewpoints are defined as only those that support his position. In either case, he is being ill-served by his staff.

Mr. Obama's economic statements are increasingly divorced not only from competing viewpoints but from those of his own economic advisers. It is surprising how many numerically challenged pronouncements come from this most scripted and political of White Houses. One slip is eventually forgiven, but when a pattern emerges, no one believes it is an accident.

For example, on the anniversary of the stimulus bill, Mr. Obama declared, "It is largely thanks to the Recovery Act that a second Depression is no longer a possibility." Yet his Council of Economic Advisers just estimated the stimulus bill's effect on GDP at its trough was 1%-2%.
The most common definition of a depression is a long period in which GDP or consumption declines at least 10%. The decline in GDP in the recent recession was 3.8%, in consumption 2%. No one disputes the recession was severe, but to reach a 10% GDP decline requires tripling the administration's estimate (three times their 2% effect) added to the actual 3.8% decline. On the alternative consumption standard, the math is even more absurd. The depression statement isn't credible. The stimulus bill has assumed certain mystic powers in administration discourse, but revoking the laws of arithmetic shouldn't be one of them.

The recession would have been worse if not for the Fed's monetary policy and quantitative easing. Also important were the unmentioned automatic stabilizers—taxes falling more than income, cushioning declines in after-tax incomes and consumption—which were far larger than the spending and tax rebates in the stimulus bill. Arguing that all these policies (including injecting capital into banks, which was necessary but done poorly) may have prevented a depression is perhaps still an exaggeration but at least is within hailing distance of plausibility. On that scale, the effect of the stimulus was puny.

On his recent "Recovery Tour," Mr. Obama boasted, "The stimulus bill prevented the unemployment rate from "getting up to . . . 15%." But the president's own chief economic adviser, Christina Romer, has estimated that the stimulus bill reduced peak unemployment by one percentage point—i.e., since the unemployment rate peaked at 10.1%, it prevented the unemployment rate from rising to just over 11%. So Mr. Obama claims that the stimulus bill was several times more potent than his chief economic adviser estimates.

Perhaps the most serious disconnect concerns the impending expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which will raise the top two income tax rates and the rates on dividends and capital gains. If these growth inhibiting tax increases occur—about $75 billion in tax increases next year, $1.4 trillion over 10 years—there will be serious economic damage.

In the most recent issue of the American Economic Review, Ms. Romer (and her husband David H. Romer) conclude that "tax increases are highly contractionary . . . tax cuts have very large and persistent positive output effects." Their estimates imply the tax increases would depress GDP by roughly half the growth rate in this so-far-anemic recovery.

If Mr. Obama is really serious about a second stimulus, by far the best thing he can do is have Congress quickly extend the expiring Bush tax cuts, combined with real spending cuts set to take effect as the economy improves.

The president badly needs to make more realistic pronouncements. No one expects him to say his policies have failed (although most have delivered far less than claimed at large cost). A little candor about the results of experimentation in uncharted waters would go a long way. But at the very least, his staff needs to avoid putting these exaggerations on the teleprompter. It undermines confidence and raises concerns about competence. It's doing nobody any good—not the economy and certainly not Mr. Obama.

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Obama Spokesman Keith Olbermann "There Is No 'Ground Zero Mosque"