I am a twitterer and am probably more suited to the short format. Whether it’s finding time for a concentrated bout of writing, short attention span or just my nature, I am not sure. Most of my work day I spend at a screen and keyboard so I am probably a bit averse to logging on at home each night for any length of time. An hour at the keyboard can easily turn into three and then I lose my much-needed beauty sleep.
Or maybe I have just spread myself too thin: I blog here on occasion, I Twitter and I also use Facebook. Plus 3 emails to check and numerous must-read web sites, mostly related to news, cycling, music and books. Am I too connected? Am I being enriched by all or any of this information? Or is it just too much static?
Sometimes a bit of info sticks. Like today someone else’s Twitter re-tweeted a link to a recent Obama speech. Being an expat American I have a renewed interest in what’s going on in the US since the change to Obama last year. I don’t follow politics closely but I like the non-partisan way in which Obama is trying to resolve some of the deep problems with America. Health care reform is a huge issue there and the right-wing sees any kind of state supported health system as nothing short of Bolshevism. So Obama will have an uphill battle. In this speech I think he gets off to a good start.
Nancy’s Pelosi’s Corrupt Democrat Pool is constantly growing. Not a good sign for the Democrats:
RALEIGH, N.C. — The laundry list of charges facing a top aide to former Gov. Mike Easley could mean that federal investigators are mounting a serious case against Easley, a former federal prosecutor and a former FBI agent said Friday.
A grand jury on Thursday indicted Ruffin Poole, who was Easley’s top aide and legal counsel during the governor’s two terms in office, on 51 counts of extortion, bribery, racketeering, mail fraud and money laundering.
Poole is expected to surrender to authorities next week.
via Experts: Ex-aide’s indictment bad sign for Easley :: WRAL.com.
The Obama administration Department of Looking Forward, Not Back has come to the conclusion that the authorization of the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” torture is nothing more than “poor judgement.” From Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman at Newsweek:
“..an upcoming Justice Department report from its ethics-watchdog unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), clears the Bush administration lawyers who authored the “torture” memos of professional-misconduct allegations.
While the probe is sharply critical of the legal reasoning used to justify waterboarding and other “enhanced” interrogation techniques, NEWSWEEK has learned that a senior Justice official who did the final review of the report softened an earlier OPR finding. Previously, the report concluded that two key authors—Jay Bybee, now a federal appellate court judge, and John Yoo, now a law professor—violated their professional obligations as lawyers when they crafted a crucial 2002 memo approving the use of harsh tactics, say two Justice sources who asked for anonymity discussing an internal matter. But the reviewer, career veteran David Margolis, downgraded that assessment to say they showed “poor judgment,” say the sources. (Under department rules, poor judgment does not constitute professional misconduct.) The shift is significant: the original finding would have triggered a referral to state bar associations for potential disciplinary action—which, in Bybee’s case, could have led to an impeachment inquiry.”
ISLAMABAD – A series of meetings among key Taliban leaders, top United Nations officials, and Indian and US diplomats took place during December 2009 and January 2010, prior to the one reported in a questionable news item carried by foreign news agencies.
After the publication of the particular report revealing a secretive meeting reportedly held on January 8 in Dubai between UN Afghanistan’s Chief Kai Eide and some moderate Taliban representatives allegedly hailing from ‘Quetta Shura’, this newspaper contacted its sources in United Nations Assistance Missions in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and representatives of some credible stakeholders, who said that such kinds of covert meetings had become a routine affairs and were extensively been held in Kabul with the active collusion of Indian consulates. It was the result of these negotiations that Hikmatyar’s spokesman had hinted about dialogue with Afghan government provided that ISAF and NATO devised a roadmap regarding their eviction from Afghanistan. Contrary to Taliban’s expectations, the London Conference did not address the issue of troop surge and laid the provisions of training programmes for Afghan National Army instead, which led the Taliban to reject London Conference.
However, given that the particular news item surfaced just a day after London Conference, its timing and ‘selected venue’ make the entire affair very suspicious as a concocted plan to malign Pakistan. It is widely believed among diplomatic circles that US has deliberately floated this unfounded news among the sections of media and associated it with ‘Quetta Shura’ only to breed the evasive notion that unrest in Afghanistan was nurtured and sponsored by Pakistan.
In addition, the statement, quoting a UN official in the specific news report as saying (about Taliban) “They don’t want to vanish into places like Bagram,” bears less relevance with existing scenario in the wake of UN’s demand regarding expediting the review process pertaining to Bagram detainees. The closure of notorious base is under heated discussion.
It needs to be questioned since when did the term ‘Quetta Shura’ which had been coined just recently, started existing, while bordering areas of Afghanistan, especially North Waziristan and FATA, had been slammed by the West and Afghanistan for sponsoring cross-border terrorism. After Pakistan’s military command and key regional players have taken a tougher stance on Indo-US nexus and it became evident that Afghan terrorism is indigenous and its corruption-ridden government is incapable of combating the menace, Quetta has been selected as a new scapegoat for the purpose.
The news regarding ‘Quetta Shura’ has proved this perception true that all those calls seeking Pakistan’s support in London Conference are likely to be given a reversal in the days ahead and India was deliberately kept out of London Conference to avoid negative fallout.
After UN has given a clean-chit to Pakistan and has categorically slammed Afghan government in its reports exposing massive corruption, administrative deficiencies and rigged presidential elections coupled with UN’s statement in the Security Council that Pakistan has suffered more than any neighbouring country ever suffered, US needed a loud excuse to justify its nexus with India in Afghanistan, and the ‘Quetta Shura’ is ‘destined to do the favour.’
Pakistan’s neighbouring countries say their concerns regarding the planted London moot were not unfounded and the signs of malicious Indo-US alliance are evident. These neighbours’ reservations surfaced out of tiptoe meetings in Afghanistan. US, UN and Indian diplomats have met Taliban and are still believed to be meeting them mostly in Kabul, its suburbs and unspecified venues in Middle East and Europe. by Sikander Shaheen
One of the more bizarre moments in Keith Olbermann’s bizarre rant against Scott Brown (deftly ridiculed by Jon Stewart) was when Olbermann called Brown “tea-bagging”. What the heck does that even mean? Brown is a “tea-bagging” so-and-so? As in, he likes to “tea-bag”? “Tea-bag” as a verb? And the act of “tea-bagging” is what, exactly, Mr. Olbermann? (Yes, yes, I am aware there is such a slang term that refers to something sexual, not exactly sure what, but I want to know what it’s supposed to mean in this context.) One of my pet peeves is slang shorthand, evidently from the internet, that literally doesn’t mean anything but enters the political lexicon. Hate to break it to you lefties, but “tea-bagging” (or, being a “tea-bagger”) just doesn’t actually really mean anything, yet in certain circles people say it to each other and nod knowingly and think they are communicating something. Other examples that come to mind: a couple years ago when lefties adopted the word “truthiness” from some other Comedy Central show and started splashing it around, thinking they were communicating something meaningful about President Bush; or the more generic, but equally meaningless, use of the word “wingers” – as in, lefties calling a conservative or a right-winger a “winger” (which still makes no sense to me – how/why is the word “winger” supposed to specifically connote right-wingers but not left-wingers?). In all these cases the only thing the use of these meaningless insidery-slang terms really communicates is ‘I read way way too many echo-chamber left-wing blogs’. It’s the political equivalent of dropping phrases like ‘all your base are belong to us’…just makes me want to back away, slowly.
Speaking of geniuses in the media, Chris Matthews just said he “forgot” Obama was black during the President’s State of the Union speech. Doesn’t this imply that prior to that, Obama being black had been in the forefront of Matthews’ mind?
Regarding President Obama’s appearance, the one thing I will say is that he has aged a lot. He now looks significantly older to me than he did just a year ago. Grayer hair, ashen face, sunken sockets. This is a known phenomenon that happens to all Presidents during their time in office, but I am a little surprised it’s taken only a year to affect this President. I wonder what he’ll look like three years from now.
This has been a bunch of shallow observations by your friendly neighborhood,
Sonic Charmer
Newly elected Virginia governor, Bob McDonnell, alum of Pat Robertson’s prestigious Christian Broadcasting Network University to give Republican rebuttal to President Obama’s State of the Union address. Afterward, a representative from both ITT Tech and Devry will give their closing arguments.
Regent University is a private coeducational interdenominational Christian university located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States. The school was founded by the American televangelist Pat Robertson in 1978 as Christian Broadcasting Network University.
Michelle Malkin: David Plouffe: Spam czar; Gibbs downplays Plouffe role
Astroturf Master/Senior White House adviser David Axlerod’s twin, David Plouffe, is officially being called an “outside adviser” It’s not clear who is paying his salary. But based on the Obama propaganda flowing into my e-mail box in his name over the last few weeks, I think we can properly call him the Spam Czar.
The initiatives were developed by the White House Task Force on Middle Class Families, led by Vice President Joe Biden. The proposals would:
* Require companies that do not offer retirement plans to enroll their employees in direct-deposit retirement accounts unless the workers opt out.
* Increase the “Savers Credit,” a tax credit for retirement savings, for families making up to $85,000.
* Change some of the rules for 401(k) employer-sponsored retirement savings accounts to make them more transparent.
* Increase the child tax credit rate to 35 percent of qualifying expenses from the current 20 percent for families making under $85,000 a year. Families making up to $115,000 would be eligible for some increase in the tax credit.
* Increase child care funding by $1.6 billion in 2011 to serve an additional 235,000 children.
* Boost government spending by $102.5 million for programs aimed at helping families who provide home care for an aging relative.
* Ease the burden for student loans by limiting a borrower’s payments to 10 percent of his or her income above a basic living allowance.
Scott Brown’s election in Massachusetts may have rammed a nail in the coffin for socialized health care and resurrected the Republican party. Massachusetts couldn’t have been a more fitting place for the Tea Party activists’ first significant electoral victory. But the Tea Party must not allow the Republican party to masquerade as this generation’s Paul Revere.
In a recent Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal, Obama Versus Bush on Spending, Karl Rove contrasts the spending by the Obama administration to the spending of the Bush administration. Rove argues that Bush added $3 trillion to the US debt in his 8 years in office while Obama will add that much and more in only 20 months.
Alarming? Yes. But, the Bush administration should not be held as the gold standard benchmark for fiscal responsibility. Making Bush seem like a spendthrift is disingenuous and downright dishonest.
There are many examples of Republicans attempting to take credit for the Tea Party’s momentum. The New York Times article Republicans Strain to Ride Tea Party Tiger quotes GOP chairman, Michael Steele as saying that he’s, “a Tea Partier, a town-haller, a grass-rooter.” The article also describes the conflict that resulted between the Tea Party activists and a GOP candidate for Colorado governor, Scott McInnis. Tea Party activists were upset over an interview on Fox News where the candidate was labeled as a Tea Party-backed candidate. McInnis did not deny that he was officially backed by the Tea Party and was lambasted as a charlatan by some Tea Party activists.
The truth is that the Republicans are trying to cash in on the Tea Party’s success and the American public’s discontent with the Democratic party.
Tea Party activists must remain strong and dedicated to their cause to remain an enduring force. Though the Tea Party is not a singular movement, it must stay committed to its ideals and not compromise with particular candidates. A combination of conservative and libertarian elements, the Tea Party is united in its commitment to limited government. The founders and framers were not a singular group, but they managed to fight off British tyranny and eventually construct a constitution. Tea Party activists must continue fighting the establishment–Democratic and Republican–to bring America back to its rightful place.
Limited government was foundational to the Republic. The Republican party was not. In fact, the Republican party did not even exist when America was founded. The ideas that link the Tea Party movement did exist and made this country what is today.
As a practical matter, the US is a two party system. To be effective the Tea Party movement needs elected officials that respect principles of limited government. Yet, the Republican party need not be the party to do so. If Republicans do not submit to the pressure, in the end a third party may be the answer. As it stands though, the Republican party is the best chance the Tea Party has for affecting change. But, Tea Partiers may need to stay vigilant because there is no guarantee that Republicans are up to making the difficult choices in limiting the growth of government services and spending. The Bush years serve as a clear example.
To be independent and resolute, the Tea Party should continue refusing to endorse specific Republican candidates unless they submit to the ideas of limited government and individual liberty.
Tea Party activists must send Republicans a message: Dont Tread on Me!
Elite US force to counter Pak nuke hijacks: Report
Courtesy: HindustanTimes
London: The US army is training a crack unit “to seal off and snatch back Pakistani nuclear weapons in the event that militants, possibly from inside the country’s security apparatus, get their hands on a nuclear device or materials that could make one”, a media report said on Sunday. Islamabad, however, termed it “outlandish”.
The specialised unit would be charged with recovering the nuclear materials and securing them, Times Online said.
“The move follows growing anti-Americanism in Pakistan’s military, a series of attacks on sensitive installations over the past two years, several of which housed nuclear facilities, and rising tension that has seen a series of official complaints by US authorities to Islamabad in the past fortnight,” Times said.
When the attention of a Pakistan foreign office spokesman in Islamabad was drawn to the report, he dismissed it as the “outlandish musings by an academic”.
Online news agency quoted the spokesman as telling a private TV channel that the report was part of a “conspiracy” against Pakistan.
“Pakistan’s nukes are safe and neither the militants nor any other group was capable enough to take over our atomic assets,” the spokesman added.
He also rejected the suggestion that there was any danger of Pakistan’s strategic assets falling into the wrong hands.
Times Online quoted Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, a former CIA officer who used to run the US energy department’s intelligence unit, as saying: “What you have in Pakistan is nuclear weapons mixed with the highest density of extremists in the world, so we have a right to be concerned.”
“There have been attacks on army bases which stored nuclear weapons and there have been breaches and infiltrations by terrorists into military facilities,” he added.
Shaun Gregory, director of the Pakistan security research unit at Bradford University, has tracked a number of attempted security breaches since 2007. “The terrorists are at the gates,” he warned.
Scott Brown’s victory in the special election for “The People’s Seat” vacated when Sen. Edward Kennedy passed away in August is another sign that a counter establishment movement has begun in earnest among the voters of America. This movement had been waiting to take root for a couple of years now & to some extent President Obama was correct when he said the angst that got him elected is the same angst that got Sen. Brown elected.
Unfortunately for his presidency, Mr. Obama didn’t realize this until 10:00 PM EST Tuesday night. Until then he was still deluding himself that his Nov. 2008 election was some sort of a mandate for a far left liberal agenda, which, his lack of sway in 3 major elections this year clearly indicates it wasn’t. Indeed Mr. Obama & the rest of the Democratic majority completely misread the message of the last 2 election cycles. The electorate has a throw the bums out mentality & it was not a mandate to enact their radical socialist policies.
When you talk to the people who voted for Mr. Obama, a great many of them express what can only be called voters remorse. They believed his rhetoric about being an outsider willing to govern from the center & they trusted he would be the uniter he pledged to be on the campaign trail. Two months in to his term the disappointment began to take hold & the uneasiness gave rise to the once silent majority (independent non-affiliated voters) becoming silent no more.
The Democratic majority’s own arrogance, insulting attitude & general let them eat cake mentality displayed toward the “Town Hollerers” & Tea Party Members / Bagger’s , did more to galvanize this movement than anything else. So for now Progressive Democrats have become the focus of their immediate ire. But make no mistake, progressive GOP members who show a willingness to horse trade on Cap & Trade legislation or another Amnesty for Illegal Aliens bill will soon find out that Progressive Democrats are not the only congress members who run the risk of being swept from power .
Members of either party especially progressive GOP members like John McCain & Lyndsey Graham who continue to support these foolish & detrimental progressive policies like Man Made Climate Change / Cap & Trade initiatives or another incarnation of a Kennedy McCain Amnesty Bill should be vigorously challenged in a Primary. Should they make it through that election they should be most vigorously challenged again in their states general election.
The real message being sent by this non-violent revolution currently taking place in this country, is we want a responsible smaller government that keeps us safe, protects our borders, advances the needs of the naturalized citizen first, while always being as minimally intrusive on our constitutional rights as possible & if you try to ram your party’s extreme agenda because you assume you have a mandate, you run the risk of being the next Corzine, Deeds or Coakley.
Bob Grant
Lifelong Massachusetts resident & Scott Brown Supporter
Producer & head of research staff for “The Ken Pittman Radio Show” AM 1420 WBSM
Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/01/silent_majority_silent_no_more.html at January 23, 2010 – 12:48:43 PM CST
I still remember the horrifying day that I woke up to go to school and saw what had happened. It was September 11th. It was such a terrible day to be an American. For years I’ve prayed for our troops, for each brave soldier, and thought of their bravery and courage. But at this point I think it’s been far too long. We’ve done a lot for those people. To some of them, it’s a favor and to many others it’s a nuisance. Not everyone wants their culture to be completely changed and ripped away from under their feet. I think it’s time that we finally bring our troops home.
Didn’t Obama say at first that he was going to bring our troops home? Didn’t Obama say a lot of things? I strongly believe that now is the time to follow through. Americans have no more business being in Afganistan, Iraq, or anywhere else. We are still risking lives and at this point it’s just useless.
I respect anyone who is in the military. I respect them and I pray for them and I look up to them. That is why I want them to come home.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has been told that Obama lacks constitutional authority to be President since Obama has revealed that he held dual citizenship at birth, making him ineligible to be President under the Constitution. Article 2, Section 1, requires that the President be a “natural born” citizen, and dual citizenship is forbidden.
It is well known that Obama’s father was a British subject of Kenya when Obama was born and therefore Obama cannot be considered a “natural born” American citizen. In addition, his own grandmother says he was born in Kenya. In addition, his stepfather was Indonesian and moved the family to Indonesia when Obama was a boy where he became an Indonesian citizen. Any one of these makes him ineligible to be President.
The court case is seeking to have Obama prove his citizenship by producing his long form birth certificate and other personal documents, such as school and college records, Selective Service registration, etc. So far Obama has refused to release any of these documents and has spent an estimated $1.7 million to keep his documents secret from the public. The Court will now decide if he has to finally release these documents.
America You Will Have What You Ask: A Crossroad in the Balance; A Summary 2010
On October 27, 2008, this writer stated that this was “this writer’s last word specifically on the topic of the 2008 Pre-Election. However, there may be more Post-Election comments”. Well it has been over a year, and NOW more “WORLDVIEWPOINTS” will be forthcoming soon. It appears that the people of America is waking up! Citizens have seen the “leader-king”, Barack Hussein Obama, and his administration and may now realize what they have asked for and got! In the meantime, lest we forget, here is a Summary from the October 2008 article:
“America, you will have what you ask. The 2008 Election is a crossroad in the balance. The cross-road is simply, the path of JESUS CHRIST or the path of anti-christ. The balance is life everlasting or a life of corruption.
“So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish: Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. Job 8:13-15
At the present time it appears that, America is saying in so many ways “make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1Samuel 8:5-8). Yet the leaders (kings) in America have turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment and have rejected GOD that HE should not reign over them.
The fore-leaders of this great Nation understood the potential of a godless nation, so they established one of the most profound documents ever given to man; after the Bible…—the Constitution of the United States of America. …The Constitution guarantees to every state in this union a republican form of government by “we the people of the United States” not the would be leader-kings of this Nation.
Lest we forget, the Bible is clear about nations and people who desire leader-kings and who have rejected GOD. I believe that people need to get serious and understand the Word of GOD, historically and spiritually before it is too late for America. {1Samuel 8:1-18; 1Samuel 9:1-2; 1Samuel 10:17-25}
America, GOD will give you what you ask for in your leader-king. He will give you a liar and deceiver as you ask. So be careful of what you desire. Do not complain when you get what you deserve. For it is GOD who changes the times and the seasons and it is he that removes leader-kings, and setteth up leader-kings. {Daniel 2:20-22; Daniel 4:17; Psalm 75:6-7}
Other Scripture verses which pertain to the worldviewpoints of this time and season in the history of America: {Jeremiah 27:4-5; Judges 2:10; Psalm 9:15-17; Proverb 29:12; Psalm 58:3; 2Thessalonians 2:11; Psalm 40:4; Ephesians 4:14; Galatians 6:7-8}
The Bottomline is, have you made the LORD your trust? If not, please do so.
I pray that GOD may continue to bless this Nation’s people. The grace of our LORD be with you always. So Be It!”
I am a politician…..
My campaign changed the way politicians use social media….
I am Barack Obama and…Yes I can….
Yes I can use Twitter…
It was reported yesterday that President Barack Obama used Twitter for the first time. But this got me thinking, didn’t Barack Obama change the way politicians use social media? Didn’t he have the biggest social media campaign of all time? Well then how has he never used Twitter before?
The people behind the brands….
I am quite gullible, I will believe pretty much anything that you put in front of me. So if you tell me that I have just befriended or started following President Barack Obama than I actually believe it is him sitting at his computer talking to me. I am not sure how many other people think this way but I can imagine there must be more than just me? Right?!?! Anyway.. it got me thinking who is the right person for your brand? It made me think back of an article I was reading on Tech Crunch last year about Britney Spears recruiting a Social Media Manager. The job advertisement was posted on a Harvard only website so she was looking for some quite intelligent to write for her on a day to day basis.
The chosen one….
So who will you choose to represent your brand? Just like the receptionist is the first person your clients will meet, the author of your social media platforms could possibly be the first (and maybe the only) person that comes in contact with your consumers. Some of the qualities I think are important for your social media author:
A true love for social media – Writing online is very different to writing an email or responding to a journalist’s questions regarding the brand. A person that understands social media is a must.
Is your target market young or old? Your author should represent your target market. I can’t imagine too many sixty year olds being able to communicate to a 20 year old about why he/she should go to the next music festival and there aren’t too many 18 year olds able to justify why a sixty year old should invest their retirement funds wisely.
A people person – Social media is all about communicating with others and as a brand you should be aiming to help your consumers through your campaigns.
The person you choose to represent your brand is very important… choose wisely!
References:
Ostrow, A (2009). Obama’s first real Tweet. Mashable.com retrieved on 19 January 2009 from http://mashable.com/2010/01/18/obamas-first-real-tweet/
Arrington, M. (2009). Britney Spears is hiring an online media manager. Tech Crunch. Retrieved from http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/10/britney-spears-is-hiring-an-online-media-manager/ on 19 January 2009.
Miller, C. (2008). How Obama’s internet campaign changed politics. New York Times http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics/
OK folks…unless you’ve been living under a vert large rock…you by now know what happened to Haiti on 12 January…the Alternative Spring Break Haiti project is officially on hold since the country would most likely sink to the bottom of the Caribbean Sea if one more group where to arrive to try to help…We’ll be sure to let you know when we kick everything back into gear…
In the mean time…I will be blogging about general observations I have been making about the whole situation and relief efforts in particular…so saty tunned. Phil A.
U.S. government is ratcheting up the militarized police state as they anticipate massive resistance.
In the wake of the Flight 253 provocation, over-hyped terrorism panics, and last year’s Big Pharma and media-engineered hysteria over the H1N1 flu pandemic, President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13528 on January 11.
Among other things, the Executive Order (EO) established a Council of Governors, an “advisory panel” chosen by the President that will rubber-stamp long-sought-after Pentagon contingency plans to seize control of state National Guard forces in the event of a “national emergency.”
According to the White House press release, the ten member, bipartisan Council was created “to strengthen further the partnership between the Federal Government and State Governments to protect our Nation against all types of hazards.”
“When appointed” the announcement continues, “the Council will be reviewing such matters as involving the National Guard of the various States; homeland defense; civil support; synchronization and integration of State and Federal military activities in the United States; and other matters of mutual interest pertaining to National Guard, homeland defense, and civil support activities.”
Clearly designed to weaken the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 which bars the use of the military for civilian law enforcement, EO 13528 is the latest in a series of maneuvers by previous administrations to wrest control of armed forces historically under the democratic control of elected state officials, and a modicum of public accountability.
One consequence of moves to “synchronize and integrate” state National Guard units with those of the Armed Forces would be to place them under the effective control of United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), created in 2002 by Bushist legislators in both capitalist parties under the pretext of imperialism’s endless “War on Terror.” At the time, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called USNORTHCOM’s launch “the most sweeping set of changes since the unified command system was set up in 1946.”
The real-world consequences of those changes weren’t long in coming.
Following their criminal inaction during 2005’s Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, the Bush regime sought, but failed, to seize control of depleted Gulf Coast National Guard units, the bulk of which had been sent to Iraq along with equipment that might have aided the recovery. Bush demanded that then Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco sign over control of the Guard as well as state and local police units as the blood price for federal assistance.
At the height of the crisis, Bush cited presidential prerogatives for doing so under the Insurrection Act, a repressive statute which authorizes the President to federalize National Guard units when state governments fail to “suppress rebellion.” How the plight of citizens engulfed by Katrina’s flood waters could be twisted into an act of “rebellion” was achieved when Orwellian spin doctors, aided and abetted by a compliant media, invented a new criminal category to cover traumatized New Orleans residents: “Drowning while Black.”
Fast forward five years. Given the serious implications such proposals would have for a functioning democracy, the media’s deafening silence on Obama’s Executive Order is hardly surprising. Like their role as cheerleaders in the escalating wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, media self-censorship tell us much about the state of affairs in “new normal” America.
Like his predecessors in the Oval Office, stretching back to the 1960s with Pentagon “civil disturbance” plans such as Cable Splicer and Garden Plot, both of which are continuously updated, our “change” President will forge ahead and invest the permanent National Security bureaucracy with unprecedented power.
Under color of the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act, an unsavory piece of Bushist legislative detritus, “The President shall establish a bipartisan Council of Governors to advise the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the White House Homeland Security Council on matters related to the National Guard and civil support missions.”
The toothless Council, whose Executive Director will be designated by the Secretary of Defense no less, “shall meet at the call of the Secretary of Defense or the Co-Chairs of the Council.”
Will such a Council have veto power over administration deliberations? Hardly. They are relegated “to exchange views, information, or advice with the Secretary of Defense; the Secretary of Homeland Security” and “the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.”
Additional entities covered by the EO with whom the Governors Council will “exchange views” include, “the Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement; the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs; the Commander, United States Northern Command; the Chief, National Guard Bureau; the Commandant of the Coast Guard; and other appropriate officials of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, and appropriate officials of other executive departments or agencies as may be designated by the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of Homeland Security.”
In other words, right from the get-go, the Council will serve as civilian cover for political decisions made by the Executive Branch and the security apparat. EO 13528 continues, “Such views, information, or advice shall concern: (a) matters involving the National Guard of the various States; (b) homeland defense; (c) civil support; (d) synchronization and integration of State and Federal military activities in the United States; and (e) other matters of mutual interest pertaining to National Guard, homeland defense, and civil support activities.”
When news first broke last summer of Obama’s proposal to expand the military’s authority to respond to domestic disasters, it was opposed by the National Governors Association (NGA).
Congressional Quarterly reported that a letter sent on behalf of the NGA opposed creation of the Council on grounds that it “would invite confusion on critical command and control issues, complicate interagency planning, establish stove-piped response efforts, and interfere with governors’ constitutional responsibilities to ensure the safety and security of their citizens,” Govs. Jim Douglas, R-Vt., and Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., wrote.
According to their August letter to Paul N. Stockton, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs, Douglas and Manchin III argued that “without assigning a governor tactical control” of military forces during a natural disaster such as a flood or earthquake, or an unnatural disaster such as a terrorist attack or other mass casualty event, the “strong potential exists for confusion in mission, execution and the dilution of governors’ control over situations with which they are more familiar and better capable of handling than a federal military commander.”
With slim prospects of congressional authorization for the scheme, in fact the 2008 language was removed from subsequent Defense spending legislation, other means were required. Playing bureaucratic hardball with the governors, this has now been accomplished by presidential fiat, further eroding clear constitutional limits on Executive Branch power.
These maneuvers as I have previously written, have very little to do with responding to a catastrophic emergency. Indeed, EO 13528 is only the latest iteration of plans to expand the National Security State’s writ and as such, have everything to do with decades-old Continuity of Government (COG) programs kept secret from Congress and the American people.
Derided by neocons, neoliberals and other corporatists as a quaint backwater for “conspiracy theorists” railing against “FEMA concentration camps,” Continuity of Government, and the nexus of “civil support” programs that have proliferated like noxious weeds are no laughing matter.
Indeed, even members of Congress are considered “unauthorized parties” denied access “to information on COG plans, procedures, capabilities and facilities,” according to a Pentagon document published by the whistleblowing web site Wikileaks, as are the classified annexes of National Security Presidential Directive 51 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20 (NSPD 51/HSPD 20). In a new twist on administration promises of transparency and open government, even the redacted version of these documents have been removed from the White House web site.
As Antifascist Calling previously reported (see: “Vigilant Shield 09: A Cover for Illegal Domestic Operations?“), the Congressional Research Service issued a 46-pagereport in 2008 that provided details on the COG-related National Exercise Program, a “civil support” operation that war games various disaster scenarios.
Among other things, the document outlines the serious domestic implications of military participation in national emergency preparedness drills. CRS researchers pointed to the Reagan-era Executive Order 12656 (EO 12656) that “directs FEMA to coordinate the planning, conduct, and evaluation of national security emergency exercises.” EO 12656 defines a national security emergency as “as any occurrence, including natural disaster, military attack, technological emergency, or other emergency that seriously degrades or seriously threatens the national security of the United States.”
Such programs, greatly expanded by the Bush-era Homeland Security Presidential Directive 8 (HSPD-8), also removed from the White House web site, established “a national program and a multi-year planning system to conduct homeland security preparedness-related exercises.” CRS avers, “The program is to be carried out in collaboration with state and local governments and private sector entities.”
The Defense Department’s role during such emergencies were intended to focus “principally on domestic incident management, either for terrorism or non terrorist catastrophic events.” DoD would play a “significant role” in the overall response. Such murky definitions cover a lot of ground and are ripe with a potential for abuse by unscrupulous securocrats and their corporate partners.
The primary DoD entity responsible for “civil support,” a focus of Obama’s EO is USNORTHCOM and its active combat component, U.S. Army North. However, as with almost everything relating to COG and current plans under EO 13528 that propose to “synchronize and integrate State and Federal military activities,” USNORTHCOM’s role is shrouded in secrecy.
As researcher Peter Dale Scott revealed in 2008, when Congressman Peter DeFazio, Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Christopher Carney sought access to classified COG annexes, their request was denied by the White House. Scott wrote: “DeFazio’s inability to get access to the NSPD Annexes is less than reassuring. If members of the Homeland Security Committee cannot enforce their right to read secret plans of the Executive Branch, then the systems of checks and balances established by the U.S. Constitution would seem to be failing.”
One hammer blow followed another. In 2008, Army Times reported, that the “3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team [BCT] has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys. Now they’re training for the same mission–with a twist–at home.”
Analyst Michel Chossudovsky commented, “What is significant in this redeployment of a US infantry unit is the presumption that North America could, in the case of a national emergency, constitute a ‘war theater’ thereby justifying the deployment of combat units.” According to Chossudovsky, “The new skills to be imparted consist in training 1st BCT in repressing civil unrest, a task normally assumed by civilian law enforcement.” “It is noteworthy, the World Socialist Web Site commented, “that the deployment of US combat troops ‘as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters’ … coincides with the eruption of the greatest economic emergency and financial disaster since the Great Depression of the 1930s.”
“Justified as a response to terrorist threats,” socialist critic Bill Van Auken averred, “the real source of the growing preparations for the use of US military force within America’s borders lies not in the events of September 11, 2001 or the danger that they will be repeated. Rather, the domestic mobilization of the armed forces is a response by the US ruling establishment to the growing threat to political stability.”
Since USNORTHCOM’s deployment of a combat brigade on U.S. soil, the capitalist crisis has deepened and intensified. With unemployment at a post-war high and the perilous economic and social conditions of the working class growing grimmer by the day, EO 13258 is a practical demonstration of ruling class consensus when it comes to undermining the democratic rights of the American people.
After all, where the defense of wealth and privileges are concerned corporate thugs and war criminals have no friends, only interests…
HR 1585 Authorizes Plans For Martial Law Apparatus
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Saturday slammed Wall Street’s “audacity” for fighting a bailout fee he wants to slap on financial firms and said his Republican opponents had sided with big banks.
With Obama’s popularity hovering around 50 percent and congressional elections in November, the White House wants to cast itself alongside ordinary Americans while branding Republicans as the party for the rich.
“Like clockwork, the banks and politicians who curry their favor are already trying to stop this fee from going into effect,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.
“We’re not going to let Wall Street take the money and run. We’re going to pass this fee into law,” Obama vowed after proposing a levy to raise up to $117 billion over the next 10 years to recoup projected losses on a taxpayer bank bailout.
A number of the banks have already repaid capital they received under the $700 billion bailout, called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which was conceived in 2008 by Obama’s predecessor, Republican George W Bush.
They complain they are being penalized unfairly for losses mainly run up by U.S. automakers and insurer American International Group, which was rescued in September 2008. Some Republicans warned the fee would be dumped on customers.
“President Obama’s plans to institute a ‘financial crisis responsibility fee’ to recoup the bailout funds from major banks is nothing more than another tax on the American public,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.
Tapping into public rage over Wall Street excess, Obama said the money owed taxpayers paled beside the riches banks plan to pay themselves after the government rescued financial markets in 2008 and early 2009.
“If the big financial firms can afford massive bonuses, they can afford to pay back the American people. Those who oppose this fee have also had the audacity to suggest that it is somehow unfair,” he said.
“The very same firms reaping billions of dollars in profits, and reportedly handing out more money in bonuses and compensation than ever before in history, are now pleading poverty. It’s a sight to see.”
Linking the fee with his administration’s goal of financial regulatory reform that it says is needed to prevent a repeat of the crisis, Democrat Obama also sought to channel public anger over the bailout toward the Republican Party.
“The industry has even joined forces with the opposition party to launch a massive lobbying campaign against common-sense rules to protect consumers and prevent another crisis,” he said.
(Reporting by Alister Bull; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Isn’t it amazing how difficult it is to determine what is in the Healthcare bill…so much for transparency.
Summary of Improvements to the Excise Tax 1) Delays Effect of Tax Until 2018: Provides a five-year transition window for all plans negotiated through collective bargaining and for state and local employee plans before they are potentially subject to the tax. This is what is typically done under federal laws to allow parties to collective bargaining agreements time to renegotiate the plans. 2) Raises Thresholds for Active Workers: Raises the threshold at which family plans are taxed from $23,000 to $24,000 in 2013 for all working families and from $8,500 to $8,900 for singles. Annual increases are tied to the Consumer Price Index plus one percentage point. 3) Increases Thresholds for Excessive Inflation: Raises the thresholds higher if health care costs grow faster than expected from 2010-2013. 4) Exempts Dental and Vision Plans from Threshold Calculations: This will begin in 2015, which could raise the thresholds as much as $2,000 for families. 5) Adds Demographic Factors to Determine Plan Thresholds: Thresholds for plans that have significant numbers of older workers and female workers will be modified to reflect the higher plan costs for those workers. The Secretary of HHS will establish an actuarially-based formula based on national averages. These factors could significantly raise the thresholds. 6) Maintains Protections for Pre-Medicare Retirees and for High-risk Workers: Preserves the original Senate proposal that would raise the thresholds for plans covering pre-Medicare retirees and for plans that include workers in high-risk professions (affecting more than 9 million workers). This protection includes workers “employed to repair or install electrical or telecommunications lines.” The thresholds are $26,000/family and $9,850/single. 7) Blending of Pre-Medicare and Medicare Premiums is Maintained: This averaging significantly reduces the affect of the tax on plans. Maintains Thresholds for High-cost States: Preserves the original Senate proposal that would raise the threshold for high-cost states, affecting more than 38 million workers. Thresholds are 120% for 2013, 110% for 2014 and 105% for 2015. 9) Health Plans Get Access to the Insurance Exchange: Allows any collective bargaining unit into the health insurance exchange in 2017, subject to collective bargaining. Under the House and Senate bills the ability to join is currently discretionary by the exchange (Senate) or by the Secretary of HHS (House). 10) Significantly Reduces Taxes on the Middle Class: These changes are estimated to reduce the amount of revenue raised by $60 billion – decreasing the hit from the excise tax to $90 billion, from the original $150 billion over 10 years.
Politico headline: Rush ‘meant’ what he said about Haiti
“Everything this president sees is a political opportunity, including Haiti, and he will use it to burnish his credentials with minorities in this country and around the world, and to accuse Republicans of having no compassion,” Limbaugh said.
CBS headline: Obama adds Newsweek cover story writing to his plate
What’s the story about? Oh, you know, Haiti.
What better for Newsweek than to have the commander-in-chief of the United States spend his time carefully crafting a few thousand words that put the tragedy in Port-au-Prince in perspective for its readers.
Perspective, eh?
What strikes me as funny about this: given the comparisons to Katrina (which Rush predicted, by the way), if Bush had written an article about Katrina, announced four days after the event, he would have been excoriated. (Not that Newsweek would have even given him a cover story to begin with, but that’s an entirely different post.)
I read this column by David Brooks in the NYT last week, H/T to HotAir.com, and it infuriated me. Since then, Michael Barone and Michelle Malkin have taken this guys premise on.
David Brooks has said that he divides people into “those who talk like us, and those who don’t.” In his column he again categorizes people as those in the “educated class” and the rest of us.
Here’s an example of Brooks’ elitist/education based prejudice from Michelle Malkin’s site; take note of the college pedigree’s:
Jan. 20, 2009, will be a historic day. Barack Obama (Columbia, Harvard Law) will take the oath of office as his wife, Michelle (Princeton, Harvard Law), looks on proudly. Nearby, his foreign policy advisers will stand beaming, including perhaps Hillary Clinton (Wellesley, Yale Law), Jim Steinberg (Harvard, Yale Law) and Susan Rice (Stanford, Oxford D. Phil.).
The domestic policy team will be there, too, including Jason Furman (Harvard, Harvard Ph.D.), Austan Goolsbee (Yale, M.I.T. Ph.D.), Blair Levin (Yale, Yale Law), Peter Orszag (Princeton, London School of Economics Ph.D.) and, of course, the White House Counsel Greg Craig (Harvard, Yale Law)…
In Brooks’ opinion, only those with M.A.’s and higher after their names, should be governing us.
In his most recent column, Brooks compares the Tea Party members (the uneducated class) to the Obama educated class. And apparently the Tea Partiers are not smart enough – yet – to realize that we need those guys to lead us. To Brooks, it’s almost as though, those who do not support or belong to the educated class are just being contrarians for the sake of being contrary:
The educated class believes in global warming, so public skepticism about global warming is on the rise. The educated class supports abortion rights, so public opinion is shifting against them. The educated class supports gun control, so opposition to gun control is mounting.
The story is the same in foreign affairs. The educated class is internationalist, so isolationist sentiment is now at an all-time high, according to a Pew Research Center survey. The educated class believes in multilateral action, so the number of Americans who believe we should “go our own way” has risen sharply.
I guess it’s not possible in the educated brain of Mr. Brooks that maybe “the educated class” is wrong on all these issues! I guess he doesn’t know that all those issues that the “educated class” supports are UNCONSTITUTIONAL! “The rest of us” (the uneducated class) seem to know and understand more about that document than his ilk does.
Instead of contrasting the smart guys and “the rest of us”, Barone compares those who follow style (Obamatrons) and “the rest of us” who follow substance:
…it sounds like Brooks was indulging the conceit of so many liberals that they are, well, simply smarter than conservatives.
But when you look back over the surges of enthusiasm in the politics of the last two years, you see something like this: The Obama enthusiasts who dominated so much of the 2008 campaign cycle were motivated by style. The tea party protesters who dominated so much of 2009 were motivated by substance.
(Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Obama_s-rapturous-style-versus-tea-party-substance-8756474-81280502.html#ixzz0cZzuqeSJ)
If you’re a devotee of style, you’re buying every issue of Vanity Fair or People rag/mags to see Mrs. TheOne’s new spring fashion wardrobe or her new way cool hairdo, or gawking at TheOne’s serious six-pack and pecks.
If you’re a follower of coolness, you’re a twenty-something watching mindless Jersey Shores reality tv on “Rock the Vote” network.
If your motivation is substance, you’re reading the Constitution, the health care and crap and tax bills and getting smart enough to debate candidates, congressmen and senators at town hall meetings.
Tell me again Mr. Brooks, who is the educated class in this country?
One semester down, seven to go and the doctorate will be complete! Well, save for the comp exams and the dissertation, but hey! Details, I tell you! Details!
The semester begins tomorrow with a special session. It really began for me on Monday as I began writing lessons and prepping for my single, tiny class that I’m teaching. Thus brings a dilemma. Keep the tiny little class that goes from 12-1:20pm on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, thereby killing all opportunities for a “regular” job, or ditch that golden opportunity in a private community college in hopes that I’ll land a more “regular” gig?
It’s insane that in a house where we have four able adults, 3.2 doctorate’s, two master’s degree’s, three bachelor’s degree’s and two associate’s degree’s we’re still living paycheck-to-paycheck. We don’t go out, we don’t party, we don’t really even vacation anymore. Last week’s short hop to the Mouse in Orlando was covered by S’s conference speaker’s fee (and my designing of their fabulous people-drawing-in brochure), airfare included.
Where’s our economic stimulus? I’m surprised Al Gore and the Green Party have not come a-knockin’ on my door demanding that I stop sending out resumé’s ’cause I’m killing too may trees! Where’s our refinance plan for those of us “under water” after being hosed by the bank?
I’m frustrated, irritated, ridiculously in debt, and upset about it all.
And yet…Haiti. 45,000 potential dead? Sweet mother of mercy, those people. How do I help? What can I do? My “issues” pale in comparison.
Truly.
Tonight: still more unpacking and lesson writing. Oh, and finished that damned 20-year “life plan” for that dumb class. Here’s my plan: get a freakin’ job that even the crappiest economic downturn can’t kill!
Glee Star Slams Obama
Glee’s Jane Lynch has branded President Obama “a huge disappointment” for not legalizing gay marriage across America. She believes that Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California, should not have taken place because the majority does not have the right to vote on the lives of the minority. Lynch said: “Shouldn’t there be safeguards [...] click here to read more
Another play from Obama’s plan to “fundamentally transform America.”
Obama gives Interpol free hand in U.S.
Examiner Editorial
December 30, 2009
No presidential statement or White House press briefing was held on it. In fact, all that can be found about it on the official White House Web site is the Dec. 17 announcement and one-paragraph text of President Obama’s Executive Order 12425, with this innocuous headline: “Amending Executive Order 12425 Designating Interpol as a public international organization entitled to enjoy certain privileges, exemptions, and immunities.” In fact, this new directive from Obama may be the most destructive blow ever struck against American constitutional civil liberties. No wonder the White House said as little as possible about it.
There are multiple reasons why this Obama decision is so deeply disturbing. First, the Obama order reverses a 1983 Reagan administration decision in order to grant Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, two key privileges. First, Obama has granted Interpol the ability to operate within the territorial limits of the United States without being subject to the same constitutional restraints that apply to all domestic law enforcement agencies such as the FBI. Second, Obama has exempted Interpol’s domestic facilities — including its office within the U.S. Department of Justice — from search and seizure by U.S. authorities and from disclosure of archived documents in response to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by U.S. citizens. Think very carefully about what you just read: Obama has given an international law enforcement organization that is accountable to no other national authority the ability to operate as it pleases within our own borders, and he has freed it from the most basic measure of official transparency and accountability, the FOIA.
The Examiner has asked for but not yet received from the White House press office an explanation of why the president signed this executive order and who among his advisers was involved in the process leading to his doing so. Unless the White House can provide credible reasons to think otherwise, it seems clear that Executive Order 12425’s consequences could be far-reaching and disastrous. To cite only the most obvious example, giving Interpol free rein to act within this country could subject U.S. military, diplomatic, and intelligence personnel to the prospect of being taken into custody and hauled before the International Criminal Court as “war criminals.”
As National Review Online’s Andy McCarthy put it, the White House must answer these questions: Why should we elevate an international police force above American law? Why would we immunize an international police force from the limitations that constrain the FBI and other American law-enforcement agencies? Why is it suddenly necessary to have, within the Justice Department, a repository for stashing government files that will be beyond the scrutiny of Congress, American law enforcement, the media, and the American people?
As a note of clarity, I supplied the link to McCarthy’s National Review article.
A few months ago, Obama was not only demonizing the CIA, but openly threatening to criminalize it over its role in the Bush White House’s policy of enhanced interrogations.
The left showed their true colors in almost immediately demonizing and attacking the CIA.
A Newseek article had this to say about the angry, bitter, defensive mentality of the CIA following Obama’s attacks:
[T]he CIA better change their mission to “CYA,” because our government is not going to stand behind you.”
Those concerns were echoed by a retired undercover operative who still works under contract for the agency (and asked to remain anonymous when discussing internal agency politics). Clandestine Service officers are both demoralized and angry at Obama’s decisions to release the memos and ban future agency use of aggressive interrogation tactics, the former operative said. “It embarrasses our families. You just can’t keep hitting us. Sooner or later we’re going to stop going out and working.” The official added that “a lot of offense was taken” among some Clandestine Service veterans when Obama declared that the interrogation practices the agency employed under Bush were wrong, even though the new Administration would not prosecute operatives for carrying them out.
An AtlasShrugs article described the morale of the CIA following Obama’s demonization crusade as “depressed, sullen, and enraged.”
And you wonder why Newsmax back on April 27 of last year said that Obama had paralyzed the CIA.
Obama now has a system in which we treat Seals like terrorists and terrorists like citizens. Which means our most important military assets are now paralyzed, too.
But not Interpol. Oh, no. They’re an empowered bunch. And as a matter of fact, they are going to now have a free hand launching secret investigations against the few CIA, FBI and military personnel who would “overly aggressively” pursue those nice terrorists who only attack us because we’re so evil.
A Pajama’s Media article serves to demonstrate why this move by Obama is yet another reason that Israel should know that Obama couldn’t care less about them.
Interpol is on the verge of becoming the United Nation’s supercop, to investigate and criminalize any who might stand in the way of the UN’s radically politically correct socialist-redistributionist agenda. And Obama wants to help them succeed in that role by giving them a free hand in the United States.
[Many thanks to Philo for inviting me to be a contributor to The View- Beeb]
Alternative title: Why “Eeuw” is the Appropriate Response.
The instances of gender-bending fawning by the media over the president are too numerous to count at this point. During the campaign, we had to deal with thrills going up legs, Tim Geithner’s reportedly mutual presidential man-crush, and an erstwhile sports writer gushing about the First Pecs. Endless virtual ink spilled about “cool” has become paradoxically commonplace. Maureen Dowd, in what has to be a serious bout of chemical imbalance (too much Scotch is my diagnosis) blurs-blends-bends the professional-sexual lines further by conflating Obama’s relationship with his Secretary of State with her relationship with her husband. Ugh, a thousand times, ugh.
Finally, or unfortunately, not finally, today we read in NYT that Obama jokes “lovingly” about Peter Orszag, who seems to have enough problems with romantic entanglements and wayward sperm without adding the gooey, inappropriate affections of Ripped Chest-in-Chief to the mix.
All of this is creepy first and foremost because it is indicative of the MSM’s headlong swan-dive into unprofessional and nonobjective coverage of the president and politics. Yes, they are in the tank for Obama: that is not news. What is truly unnerving, however, is the normalization, the cool-ization of inappropriate confluence of professional and personal affections, and the easy transference of language that would normally characterize romantic relationships to relationships that have to be professional.
To understand what is at work here is the under-publicized yearning of the Left to erase boundaries across the sexual spectrum. In Barack Obama they see someone who skirts the edge of metrosexuality, who can be the object of masculine fantasy, even among putative heterosexuals. Among those familiar with the sexual agenda of the Left, Obama sports some interesting bona fides: as an adolescent, his Marxist-Leninist mentor, “Frank,” was Frank Marshall Davis, a prodigious sexual “experimenter” whose autobiography is even described as “hard-core pornographic.” For normal people, exposing a youngster to such a man is a repulsive idea; to the agendized Left, steeped in the doctrine of Freud and Lenin, it is a service, if you’ll pardon the expression. In Obama’s case, the evidence of his autobiography suggests that the motivation of his grandfather, Stanley, to encourage a relationship (platonic, one assumes and hopes) was entirely naive and based on race. Nevertheless, among radicals, Marshall’s name carries considerable caché. Obama makes no bones about the political initiation he received from “Frank.”
Unfortunately, in this administration, one doesn’t have to dig deep to see this agenda at work. The ridiculous “man crush” vocabulary of the mainstream media would be a laughable parody if it weren’t at the service of an agenda to break down social norms and harm children. Ultimately, of course, the whole reason for “sexual liberation” isn’t to rid us of neuroses and usher in a world of obedience to unfettered urges, it’s to erode our strongest interpersonal bonds and the family, the relationship that more than any other, reduces dependency on the state and ensures personal freedom.
More immediately, it should be disturbing if indeed various relationships between the president and his advisors are tinged with emotions more appropriate to hormone-addled teenaged girls. That the press and “insiders” thinks it’s cute or appropriate or attractive to paint this picture is yet another sign of misplaced and unserious priorities.
Since 2009 brought me so many wonderful surprises, obstacles, downs and ups, I come into 2010 with open arms for anything and everything that comes to me.
I began working on my new album and I am hoping for even more people to be part of my team. As expected, I faced a lot of naysayers when receiving the R&B Act of the Year award at the Boston Music Awards but I appreciate it in every form. (say what?) Yes I truly mean that I appreciate people who test me…It motivated me to work even harder this year. I am not looking for acceptance from everyone but I WILL gain respect from those who are unsure of the talent I possess.
I have assembled a group of musicians that have become my “band of brothers” and I would do anything for them. They are my family and each and every show is like a reunion. I cant remember a time where Ive had more fun than when I am on stage with them………Three days into the new year I recorded a theme song for JAMN 94.5 for the morning JAM SCAM……Its a small feat some may say but I believe it foreshadowed the year that I will have. I cant wait to share the succeses that may come my way with the family and friends that have been there since day one.
In 2154, the RDA corporation is mining Pandora, a lush, Earth-like moon of the planet Polyphemus. Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) heads the mining operation, and it employs former marines for security. The corporation intends to exploit Pandora’s reserves of a valuable mineral called unobtanium. Pandora is inhabited by the Na’vi, a blue-skinned neolithic species of sapient humanoids with feline characteristics. Physically stronger and taller than humans, the Na’vi live in harmony with Nature, worshiping a mother goddess called Eywa.
Humans cannot survive exposure to Pandora’s atmosphere for very long and use oxygen masks. In an attempt to improve relations with the natives, scientists create human-Na’vi hybrids called avatars, controlled by genetically-matched human operators. The scientists also lead schools for the Na’vi to learn English and to interact with the humans. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic former marine, becomes a last-minute replacement for his identical twin brother, a recently-murdered scientist trained to be an avatar operator. Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), the head of the Avatar Program, considers Sully an inadequate replacement for his brother, and relegates him to a bodyguard role.
Jake escorts Augustine and biologist Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) on an exploratory mission in their avatar forms to make contact with the Na’vi, in order to help establish diplomatic relations to solve the problem of resources and end the constant threat of violence. The group is attacked by a large predator, and Jake becomes separated and lost. Attempting to survive the night in Pandora’s dangerous jungles, he is rescued by Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), a female Na’vi. Neytiri brings Jake to Hometree, which is inhabited by Neytiri’s clan, the Omaticaya. Mo’at (C. C. H. Pounder), the Na’vi shaman and Neytiri’s mother, shows interest in the warrior “Dream-walker” (their term for the Avatars), and instructs her daughter to teach Jake their ways. Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), leader of the security forces for RDA, promises Jake his “real legs” back in exchange for intelligence about the natives and what it will take for them to abandon Hometree, which rests above a large deposit of unobtanium.
Over three months, Jake grows close to Neytiri and the Omaticaya and begins preferring the life he lives through the avatar. Jake’s attachment erodes his loyalty toward RDA’s agenda. He is initiated into the Omaticaya, and he and Neytiri choose each other as mates. Jake’s change of loyalty is revealed when he disables a bulldozer’s cameras as it destroys the tribe’s ‘Tree of Voices’. Col. Quaritch disconnects Jake from his avatar and presents Selfridge and Dr. Augustine with a vlog in which Jake admits that his mission is fruitless; the humans have nothing the Omaticaya desire, and they will never abandon Hometree. Selfridge is convinced that negotiations will fail and orders Hometree’s destruction.
Augustine argues that the destruction of Hometree could affect the vast bio-botanical neural network that all Pandoran organisms are connected to, and Selfridge gives Jake one hour to convince the Na’vi to leave Hometree. When he reveals his mission to the Omaticaya, Neytiri accuses him of betraying them, resulting in Jake and Augustine’s imprisonment. Jake’s time runs out and Quaritch’s forces destroy Hometree, killing Eytucan (Wes Studi), Neytiri’s father and clan chief, and many others. Jake and Augustine are disconnected from their avatars and detained for treason along with Norm. Trudy Chacón (Michelle Rodriguez), a security force pilot who is disgusted by the violence, breaks them out. During their escape Quaritch shoots Augustine. With Augustine dying, Jake turns to the Omaticaya for help. To regain their trust he tames the Toruk, a powerful flying beast that only five Na’vi have ever tamed. Jake flies to the Omaticaya, who have gathered at the sacred Tree of Souls, and pleads with Mo’at to heal Augustine. They attempt to transplant her “soul” into her avatar, but her injuries are too severe.
With the assistance of Neytiri and Tsu’Tey (Laz Alonso), the new leader of the Omaticaya, Jake assembles thousands of Na’vi from other clans. Jake prays to Eywa to intercede on behalf of the Na’vi in the coming battle. Quaritch, noting the rapid mobilization of Na’vi clans, convinces Selfridge to authorize a preemptive strike on the Tree of Souls. Because it is a center of Na’vi religion and culture, its destruction would leave the Na’vi too demoralized to resist further human encroachment.
As the humans attack, the Na’vi fight back but suffer heavy casualties, among them Tsu’Tey and Trudy. When the Na’vi are on the verge of defeat, the Pandoran wildlife suddenly attacks the humans, overwhelming them. Neytiri interprets this as Eywa answering Jake’s prayer. Jake destroys the main bomber before it can reach the Tree of Souls. Quaritch escapes in an AMP (Amplified Mobility Platform) suit, finds the avatar interface pod where Jake’s human body is located and attacks it, exposing Jake to Pandora’s atmosphere. Neytiri kills Quaritch and saves Jake, seeing his human form. With the attack repelled, Jake and Neytiri reaffirm their love.
The humans are expelled from Pandora, while Jake and his closest co-workers remain. Jake is seen wearing the insignia of the Omaticaya leader. The film ends with Jake’s consciousness being transplanted into his Na’vi avatar and his life continuing as a Na’vi.
Just forward your interesting and funny stuff to webgoodnews@gmail.com .Good stories will be published @ UptownFuns.Blogspot.com
The Homeland Security Department unit that reviews lists of U.S.-bound airline passengers for possible terror suspects did consult a classified database that contained information on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab—but only after his plane had left the ground in Amsterdam on its Christmas Day transatlantic flight to Detroit, an Obama administration official has confirmed to NEWSWEEK.
The National Targeting Center, a Virginia-based unit of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection Bureau, consulted TIDE, a classified database maintained by intelligence agencies, after Flight 253 left Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, said the official, and did discover that the databank contained information about how Abdulmutallab’s father had warned the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that Abdulmutallab might be involved with extremists in Yemen. After discovering the secret database entry, the National Targeting Center issued some kind of unclassified alert to border posts instructing frontline immigration officials in Detroit to put Abdulmutallab through special screening and questioning once he landed in the U.S.
The news that Homeland Security determined after his flight had left Amsterdam that he should be subjected to additional inspection was first reported Thursday in this story by the Los Angeles Times. However, the Times’s story does not disclose precise details of how and where the National Targeting Center found the information that led them to single out Abdulmutallab for additional scrutiny once his flight landed.
The stimulus is working so well that unemployment hit 10.2 % but is actually higher than reported
How can this be? How can unemployment continue to grow when Obama, Biden, Pelosi and Reid tell us that the stimulus is working? After all, they are saving and creating jobs by the millions. Yeah, the most open, most honest, most ethical group ever is lying through their liberal/progressive teeth.
CNN reports:
The number of U.S. metropolitan areas with jobless rates above 15% increased in November, according to government figures released Tuesday, despite the biggest one-month drop in the national rate in more than three years.
The Labor Department said 17 of 372 metropolitan areas surveyed suffered unemployment rates of at least 15% last month, up from 15 metro areas in October.
How can unemployment increase when the stimulus is creating and saving jobs? Hmm…
Jobless rates were higher than 10% in 125 metropolitan areas in November, up from 123 in October.
Overall, 143 cities in the Labor Department report had unemployment rates above the non-seasonally adjusted national figure of 9.4%, while 229 reported jobless rates below it.
The stimulus is working so well, unemployment was 7.6 % before the stimulus was passed and is now at 10 % after the stimulus was passed. Almost one year later and Americans haven’t seen the promised benefits of Obama’s pork-laden stimulus. However, they continue to claim that it is working as intended. Did they intend it to cause even more job loses and higher unemployment? Judging by all these numbers the answer is Yes.
One of my favorite things in the world is PBS’s NewsHour. And something I both anticipate and dread is their Honor Roll of U.S. military personnel who’ve died in Iraq and Afghanistan. They do it just about every week. I don’t know of any other news show which so regularly honors the fallen. It’s one reason I love the show. The show doesn’t let me forget.
Tonight, the fallen ranged from a 19 year old PFC to a 45 year old Staff SGT. That’s typical, that age range. It’s not necessarily a young man’s war. Nor is it necessarily a man’s war. Quietly and steadily, women are being integrated into combat rolls. The situation in Iraq forced that, as Iraq had no front lines or rear areas prior to the withdrawal of U.S. troops to bases in 2009. Afghanistan seems to be slightly more traditional in terms of hot zones and cool zones. However, so many of the dead in Iraq were killed as part of supply convoys. Rear-eschelon people. That includes women. Thus, the military seems to have eased the restiriction against women in combat. Women can serve as medics in combat zones, for instance. And women have been flying combat missions for a while now – not that anyone remembers the pilots.
But this is not what I wanted to write about when I signed on. I wanted to write about Barack Obama.
That I lived in the age of Barack Obama will probably be the most significant thing history remembers about me. I couldn’t be happier for it. I voted for him. I was thrilled when my long-time red state turned blue on election night. And I remain happy with his personal performance and more happy than not with his administration’s performance. (But when are they going to be at full staff levels?!?!)
Months after the election, I still got goosebumps when I saw him walk to the podium to give an address. That’s our president, I would think with great pride. That’s our representative. My representative.
This pride stems partly from my age. This is the first time my candidate has won since I’ve been old enough to vote. I’m in part of the core constituency which elected Obama. I remain proud.
I’m also a centrist and a pragmatist on most days, and I admire Obama’s instinct to facilitate discussion and compromise because it mirrors my own instinct. My understanding of U.S. political history is that it’s always been this polarized – that we tend to wax nostalgic for times that were little different from our own. Compromise is the way to get things done. It just takes longer and no one is entirely happy about it. But governing isn’t easy. Nor should it be.
So my commonplace book should include plenty about this transformative public figure, my president, Barack Obama. We’ll see how that turns out.
Esa falta de educación de los dirigentes de los principales países desarrollados en el agua maldita del capitalismo, esa falta de escrúpulos cuando democráticamente deciden la muerte de los civiles de los países en desarrollo de su pobreza, esa falta de misericordia, sí, misericordia, cuando los votantes europeos y americanos votan a la derecha, que es siempre extrema derecha, extrema violencia, extrema intransigencia, extrema indigencia cultural. Qué más pueden robar los países ricos en África, qué más pueden ensuciar las industrias contaminantes, qué más debemos malvender a los hegemónicos que envenenan la tierra, el agua y el cielo en nombre de la libertad, nada más, esa es la respuesta, no hay mayor crisis que la cortina de dinero que protege el rostro de las majestades del asesinato inteligente. Negra historia de los bancos más grandes para las democracias más pequeñas.
But I doubt she ever thought I’d feel this way about the government.
First, read this: Democrats hoping to “ping-pong” Republicans right out of final health care reform negotiations.
Michelle Malkin is right: it’s not “ping pong,” it’s dodgeball.
Is this what the framers intended?
Remember Pelosi:
Elect us, hold us accountable, and make a judgment and then go from there. But I do tell you that if the Democrats win, and have substantial majorities, Congress of the United States will be more bipartisan
And Reid:
We are going to do, if there’s any way humanly possible, a bipartisan bill. We don’t want a partisan bill. We will continue to work with them as long as we have to. The American people want health care reform and we’re going to do it
Oh really? We want health care reform? Not so much. Not the sort you’re peddling, anyway.
And what happened to hope-n-change-n-transparency? Oh, I forgot. They hoped we were too stupid to see what change they wanted to bring us: from a superpower to a banana republic.
This, however, makes me smile. Must be the very Braveheart-esque music. I’d really like to see William Wallace in a room alone with Nancy and Harry.
President Obama on Saturday linked the man accused in a botched Christmas Day airline bombing to an al Qaeda affiliate based in Yemen.
The president pledged that everyone involved in the attack would be held accountable. He also highlighted his administration’s attempts to crack down on extremist enclaves in Yemen, and reiterated his longstanding promise to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” al Qaeda.
Obama has been criticized by some political opponents for not responding more aggressively to a botched December 25 attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet en route from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan.
via Obama promises justice for Christmas terror plotters – CNN.com.
This is one of those things that you never wanted to see happen. As much as I disagree with Obama on many, many issues, we needed to be strong on Iran, we needed to stop their pursuit of nuclear weapons, for both our security and the security of the Middle East and Israel’s security as well. Unfortunately, as much as I had hoped that Obama would at least take this threat seriously enough to do something, anything, outside of issuing ever lengthening “deadlines”, he has done nothing. Worse, Iran is mocking him, America, and the world, and Obama does not have the resolve to even appear to be effective.
This was to be expected, I suppose, and now that Russia has laughed at Obama’s “reset button” and began a push for a new types of nuclear weapons, Iran followed the Russian government’s lead and has laughed off Obama…again. In fact, they mockingly issued Obama and other world leaders and ultimatum of their own. Once again we can see the effectiveness not only of Obama’s “smart power” but also of the UN’s ineffectiveness. The response from the Obama administration thus far has been the foreign policy equivalent of Einstein’s definition of insanity:
Iran dismissed an end-of-2009 deadline imposed by the Obama administration and its international partners to accept a U.N.-drafted deal to swap most of its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. The deal would reduce Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium, limiting — at least for the moment — its capability to make nuclear weapons.
The U.S. and its allies have demanded Iran accept the terms of the U.N.-brokered plan without changes.
Instead, Tehran came up with a counterproposal: to have the West either sell nuclear fuel to Iran, or swap its nuclear fuel for Iran’s enriched uranium in smaller batches instead of at once as the U.N. plan requires.
This is unacceptable to the West because it would leave Tehran with enough enriched material to make nuclear arms.
Every time that Obama gives Iran a new “deadline,” Iran simply laughs him off and continues their pursuit of nuclear weapons. Obama half heartedly denounced the violence against the Iranian people by their barbaric leaders after the rigged election in June. Meanwhile, Iranian opposition leader, Mir Hossain Mousavi continues to lead the opposition movement in Iran amid even more threats from the regime. Even as the violence is on the uptick once more, Obama has remained conspicuously silent. Perhaps this is one of the election promises he actually intended to keep, to reach out to dictators, which, judging by his governing thus far, means to give them free reign to do whatever they like. My point here is not to cast Mousavi as an angel or anything of the sort, but it was very clear that the election was a fraud, that the brutal violence against the Iranian people was and is very real, as is Ahmadinejad and the Iranian hardliner’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, and in none of these situations has Obama expressed leadership or resolve. It is a giant failure, in fact.
Actions speak louder than words, and it is quite clear to me that Obama will never get involved in anything that involves something he perceives to be a sizeable political risk to his chances of re-election, and if that means not taking the tough measures that need to be taken in international affairs, he will not do it. I believe this to also be the reason why he did not provide the troops requested for the Afghanistan effort by Gen. McChrystal, why he foolishly poked our friends in the Czech Republic and Poland in the eye on missile defense, has continually criticized Israel, and snubbed allies such as Great Britain and Norway. He would rather upset our allies than take tough stances against hostile and despotic governments. Though our media and liberal friends certainly will not acknowledge this, other world leaders certainly have taken notice and are capitalizing on Obama’s weakness. You have only to follow international affairs closely to recognize this pattern.
Some good news for Conservatives. Rush Limbaugh is out of the hospital and his doctors found no evidence of heart attack or heart disease. He stated he’ll be back on his regularly scheduled broadcasts later this week. Rush’s audience tops FOURTEEN MILLION listeners per week. That’s more than just about all the lame stream media combined.
What’s incredible is that Rush’s audiences continue to grow on a daily basis, despite the worst the left can throw at him. It says something about the LANGUAGE of truth. It has an irresistible appeal to those who seek it, and Americans were and are thirsty indeed after decades of being deceived and lied to by the left and their willing accomplices and lapdogs of the so-called ‘main stream media’. Happy New Year, Rush!
Rush Limbaugh
The New Year begins a mid-term election cycle that has no few incumbents wondering whether they will be around at this time next year, and with good reason. There has never in the history of this magnificent nation been a cabal sponsoring a criminal enterprise such as we have been confronted with in the Obama administration and the DeMarxist controlled Congress. Faced by a maelstrom of resistance by the FINALLY unified Republican minority and the overwhelming majority of the American people, Obama, Pelosi, Reid and the Marxist THUGOCRACY are pulling out all the stops in order to force through their ILLEGAL and PATENTLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL takeover of ONE SIXTH of our total economy.
What has them rattled though is that they are realizing that WE know that it’s not at all about health care. It’s about the COMMUNIST takeover of this country. It’s about the acquisition of raw power and the exercise thereof. Let’s call it what it is. Recognizing what it is will let us march to defeat it on every front.
This last year has shown us the worst political and economic management in living memory, possibly in the entire history of this Republic. It has also shown us the coalescence of Conservative and Independent PATRIOTS by the MILLIONS and the TENS of MILLIONS of taxpaying, VOTING Americans who have vowed to sweep them out of office. AND WE SHALL.
I’m a Victor Davis Hanson fan. He is grounded in history like none other and a thoughtful writer. Today’s column spurred my frenzy in finally creating this blog. Unfortunately, “humpty-dumpty view of the world” was already taken as a domain name. ; )
He writes:
What might explain the inexplicable like the following?
A president comes into office facing a $500 billion deficit and grows it to $2 trillion.
A president comes into office facing a threat of radical Islamic terrorism, and at home changes the very name of the struggle from war on terror to a variety of wishy-washy euphemisms.
A president comes into office facing a variety of Middle East thugs, from al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Hamas to Syria and Iran, and employs the ancient kowtow, the postmodern apology, and the Carteresque reach-out to allay the threat?
A president comes into office after record high energy prices have nearly crippled the American economy, and he ignores new drilling and brushes off nuclear power — only to wax about wind and solar that provide less than 5% of our energy needs, and crushing cap and trade taxation to come.
He explains that our illustrious leader has had a difficult time reconciling candidate-self with President-self. Leading is tough work, especially if you’ve never done it before. Read the rest:
Nancy’s Pelosi’s Corrupt Democrat Pool is constantly growing. Not a good sign for the Democrats:
ISLAMABAD – A series of meetings among key Taliban leaders, top United Nations officials, and Indian and US diplomats took place during December 2009 and January 2010, prior to the one reported in a questionable news item carried by foreign news agencies.
Elite US force to counter Pak nuke hijacks: Report
Maintains Thresholds for High-cost States: Preserves the original Senate proposal that would raise the threshold for high-cost states, affecting more than 38 million workers. Thresholds are 120% for 2013, 110% for 2014 and 105% for 2015.
Esa falta de educación de los dirigentes de los principales países desarrollados en el agua maldita del capitalismo, esa falta de escrúpulos cuando democráticamente deciden la muerte de los civiles de los países en desarrollo de su pobreza, esa falta de misericordia, sí, misericordia, cuando los votantes europeos y americanos votan a la derecha, que es siempre extrema derecha, extrema violencia, extrema intransigencia, extrema indigencia cultural. Qué más pueden robar los países ricos en África, qué más pueden ensuciar las industrias contaminantes, qué más debemos malvender a los hegemónicos que envenenan la tierra, el agua y el cielo en nombre de la libertad, nada más, esa es la respuesta, no hay mayor crisis que la cortina de dinero que protege el rostro de las majestades del asesinato inteligente. Negra historia de los bancos más grandes para las democracias más pequeñas.