Egypt in flames; Obama takes it easy

Jeannie DeAngelis  "President Obama is the type of leader who doesn't let anything get in the way of a well-deserved day off. Let's face it; Barack is first and foremost a government employee. The President's breaks are on schedule, work hours tightly defined, vacations well spaced, and if it's the weekend, listen closely as you may hear the titular leader of the free world whispering: "TGIF.""

If I were president and father of two growing children however, I still would endeavor to take part in their lives as much as possible. But Mr. Obama's entire social schedule seems to take precedence over many important presidential responsibilities. Who can forget that spur-of-the moment shopping trip to New York? Or that Obama-Clinton/ Clinton press conference?

How the left works

Moonbattery , from the comments to the Olbermann post we recently linked to,
California:

The Governor of California is jogging with his dog along a nature trail.
A coyote jumps out and attacks the Governor's dog, then bites the Governor.
1. The Governor starts to intervene, but reflects upon the movie "Bambi" and then realizes he should stop because the coyote is only doing what is natural.
2. He calls animal control . Animal Control captures the coyote and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases and $500 for relocating it.
3. He calls a veterinarian. The vet collects the dead dog and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases.
4. The Governor goes to hospital and spends $3,500 getting checked for diseases from the coyote and on getting his bite wound bandaged.
5. The running trail gets shut down for 6 months while Fish & Game conducts a $100,000 survey to make sure the area is now free of dangerous animals.
6. The Governor spends $50,000 in state funds implementing a "coyote awareness program" for residents of the area.
7. The State Legislature spends $2 million to study how to better treat rabies and how to permanently eradicate the disease throughout the world.
8. The Governor's security agent is fired for not stopping the attack. The State spends $150,000 to hire and train a new agent with additional special training re: the nature of coyotes.
9. PETA protests the coyote's relocation and files a $5 million suit against the State.

Wyoming:

The Governor of Wyoming is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A Coyote jumps out and attacks his dog.
1. The Governor shoots the coyote with his State-issued pistol and keeps jogging. The Governor has spent $0.50 on a .45 ACP hollow point cartridge.
2. The Buzzards eat the dead coyote.
And that, my friends, is why California is broke and Wyoming is not.

 Posted by: TED at January 26, 2011 5:49 PM

(Updated) ABC Skips Life March, But Highlights Attacks on Chick-fil-A By Gay Groups

Updated, Wed, Feb 2: A Christian Business in the Left's Crosshairs  "Over the weekend, New York Times reporter Kim Severson gave the Chick-fil-A bashers a coveted Sunday A-section megaphone -- repeatedly parroting the "Chick-fil-A is anti-gay" slur and raising fears of "evangelical Christianity's muscle flexing" with only the thinnest veneer of journalistic objectivity. Severson, you see, is an openly gay advocate of same-sex marriage equality herself and the former vice-president of the identity politics-mongering National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association."  Michelle Malkin  Hat tip to Jon Hodges, Richardson, TX.

Newsbusters  "After ABC’s World News ignored the March for Life pro-life event last week, the January 30 World News Sunday did find time to run a report highlighting complaints by gay rights activists over Chick-fil-A -- a family-owned restaurant chain known for its Christian-based social advocacy -- supplying food to a socially conservative group in Pennsylvania that promoted a ban on same-sex marriage in the state that was enacted in 1996."

South Bend Homosexual Organization Targets Chick-Fil-A For Protest  "Members of the Campus Ally Network, which promotes acceptance and support for the university's homosexual community protested because the restaurant's Pennsylvania franchise donated food to an anti-homosexual organization's event."

Chick Fil A Denies Anti-Gay Agenda "“Chick Fil A serves all people and values all people. Providing food to these events or any event is not an endorsement of the mission, political stance or motives of this or any other organization. Any suggestion otherwise is just inaccurate.”
"The 65-year-old privately-held Chick Fil A describes its business as operating according to Biblical principles. That’s one reason its stores do not open on Sundays."

Chick-Fil-A Says It's Dropping Its Support For Anti-Gay Marriage Groups  "“Chick-Fil-A's Corporate Purpose is 'To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us, and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-Fil-A.' As a result, we will not champion any political agendas on marriage and family. This decision has been made, and we understand the importance of it.” But Cathy added that the company would “continue to offer resources to strengthen marriages and families.” “To do anything different would be inconsistent with our purpose and belief in Biblical principles,” he said."

Chick-fil-A lends its support to tea party protesters. The founders of Chick-fil-A, the Cathy family, “have been outspoken in their support of Republican social conservatives. Chick-fil-A has won praise from religious conservative for keeping its doors shut on Sundays.”  From the liberal blog thinkprogress

The Situation in Egypt is Obama's Opportunity to Shape a New Middle East, says FPI Director William Kristol

Photo: jaxobserver

The Foreign Policy Initiative  "This is the 3 a.m. phone call. Will President Obama rise to the occasion?
"He could, and he should. His initial diagnosis two years ago of the Middle East proved wrong. His administration’s initial response to the crisis in Egypt has been halting. His normal supporters are befuddled."

Obama and the Ripple Effect  "But an American president, when wading into such turbulent and unpredictable waters, ought to know at least all the ramifications of his own strategy -- something Obama doesn't seem to have thought through.
"Watching Obama, Hamas must be licking its chops, while the Saudis and Abbas must be wondering how constant, reliable and predictable a Mideast player the U.S. really is with Obama in the White House."

Egypt: Please, Not ElBaradei

Claudia Rosett  "...in the U.S. effort to corral Iran’s nuclear program, ElBaradei was not part of the answer, but part of the problem. Glick also describes ElBaradei’s cozy relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood — progenitor of al-Qaeda and Hamas — quoting him as giving a recent interview to Der Spiegel in which he claimed the Muslim Brotherhood has “not committed any acts of violence in five decades.”"

The pragmatic fantasy "THE TRUTHS exposed by the convulsive events of the past month make it abundantly clear that Israel lives in a horrible neighborhood. It is a neighborhood where popular democracy means war against Israel."

Fear the Muslim Brotherhood

Andrew C. McCarthy "The Obama administration has courted Egyptian Islamists from the start. It invited the Muslim Brotherhood to the president’s 2009 Cairo speech, even though the organization is officially banned in Egypt. It has rolled out the red carpet to the Brotherhood’s Islamist infrastructure in the U.S. — CAIR, the Muslim American Society, the Islamic Society of North America, the Ground Zero mosque activists — even though many of them have a documented history of Hamas support."

 Alfred E. Neuman in the driver’s seat 

To this day, the Brotherhood’s motto remains, “Allah is our objective, the Prophet is our leader, the Koran is our law, Jihad is our way, and dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope. Allahu akbar!”

"That seems pretty straightforward to me. I admire the candor and forthrightness. The Muslim Brotherhood believes in waging jihad, i.e. holy war, and they embrace death as their highest goal. At least we know where we stand."

[Middle-East expert and] Ex-President Carter: Political unrest in Egypt 'earth-shaking', Mubarak likely must step down  ""In the last four or five years when I go to Egypt, I don't go to talk to Mubarak, who talks like a politician," Carter said. "If I want to know what is going on in the Middle East, I talk to Suleiman. And as far as I know, he has always told me the truth.""

The New American Fans of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt  "Only one thing is clear: Let us avoid counsel from those who urge us to accept the radical Islamists who appear in sheep’s clothing. Listening to the Richard Falks of our own day and age will assure the triumph of the worst possible outcome."  Ron Radosh

Egypt

Bringing Freedom and Stability to Egypt  "The surest path to a stable and free political system lies in a gradual evolutionary process, but the Mubarak regime has squandered that opportunity despite years of American economic aid, support for civil society groups, and diplomatic cajoling. Egyptians are now confronted with the need for much more rapid and drastic reforms in a tense and overheated atmosphere that favors the ascendancy of radical groups over moderate reformers."


Egyptian police reappear alongside army "The police, who are widely detested here, have been blamed for triggering an almost complete breakdown of law and order in recent days across Egypt, a strategically vital nation at the heart of the Arab world. But with a measure of calm returning to the city Monday, many residents appeared pleased to have officers back on the job." Also this from GlobalSecurity.org

Obama: Egypt Needs Orderly Transition  "There was no indication from the White House late Sunday of the extent to which President Obama's calls with world leaders included discussion of the role of Egyptian opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei."

Egypt and the Failure of the Obama Doctrine "The Obama Administration has been slow to embrace calls for liberty in Egypt is completely consistent with the Obama Doctrine as applied in the Middle East. When the Iranian people rose against the regime in Tehran in the wake of a disputed national election, Obama offered virtually no support for the cries for freedom. He was too committed to his engagement strategy with the Iranian regime, believing his “charm offensive” would be enough to deter them from pursuing nuclear weapons. Those efforts have completely failed."

Elliott Abrams:  Egypt protests show George W. Bush was right about freedom in the Arab world
""Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe - because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty," Bush said. "As long as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place of stagnation, resentment and violence ready for export." "

Sources in Egypt and West: US secretly backed protest "If this is true, the Western observers who have concluded that the protesters have no leaders and are propelled into the streets purely by rage against the regime may not have the full story. The movement does have a leader whose identity is known to Washington and the demonstrations' ringleaders – but not to Mubarak or his security services." DEBKAfile

http://www.gorrellart.com/

William Kristol: Beyond Mubarak: ‘Twere Well It Were Done Quickly  "The Obama administration has gradually been adjusting to reality. On Friday evening, President Obama was still exhorting President Mubarak: “I told him he has a responsibility to give meaning to those words, to take concrete steps and actions that deliver on that promise.” By this morning, Secretary Clinton had basically abandoned Mubarak. She was talking to Chris Wallace about the need for “a transition to democracy,” “an orderly transition to a democratic government,” “an orderly transition” with a “a well thought-out plan that will bring about a democratic, participatory government.”"

Politics by the Numbers: Good Omens for the GOP in 2012

Michael Barone  "Numbers can tell a story. Looking back on Barack Obama's second State of the Union message, and looking forward to the congressional session and the 2012 elections, they tell a story that should leave Democrats uneasy."
But remember the demagogue factor.

US 'losing credibility by the day' on Egypt: ElBaradei

Jakarta Globe  "“You are losing credibility by the day. On one hand you’re talking about democracy, rule of law and human rights, and on the other hand you’re lending still your support to a dictator that continues to oppress his people,” added ElBaradei, the former head of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.

"His recommendations to President Barack Obama’s administration were blunt: “You have to stop the life support to the dictator and root with the people.”"
He can't vote "present" on this.

Max Boot: Obama Must Act Now on Egypt  "Problem is, taking no stand isn’t an option for the United States in this situation. For decades, Egypt has been one of the largest recipients of American foreign aid, and Mubarak has been one of our closest allies in the Middle East. Egyptian officers have been educated in the United States, its forces are equipped with American weapons, and they regularly conduct exercises with American troops. We have a large say, whether we want it or not. If Obama stays silent about Mubarak’s future, that will be interpreted within Egypt as American support for an increasingly discredited dictator."

A Time for Leadership  "President Obama’s reluctance to firmly put the moral weight of the United States behind the protesters will not be remembered kindly, just as his failure to support democratic opposition groups during his first two years in office will be recalled by the Egyptian democrats who may soon take power. President Obama tried to use Cairo as a prop in his efforts to engage the Muslim world, but he and leading administration officials refused to talk of democracy and refused, despite their desperate efforts now to rewrite history, to seriously pressure Mubarak to reform."
 Jamie M. Fly is executive director of the Foreign Policy Initiative.


Egypt and Iran: Will We Again Fuel the Fires of Revolution?  "If Obama emulates the horrendous decisions Jimmy Carter made during the Iranian revolution, radical Islam will spread through the region like a forest fire."....
"Had Obama done more than basked in the adulation of his Cairo speech and actually leaned on the regime to evolve toward a more legitimate and inclusive government, we might not be confronting the mess ahead of us."

http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/iran-hostage-crisis/

Taylor Rule II Shows Which Fed Policies Work Best:

Amity Shlaes

Amity Shlaes  "Taylor Rule II doesn’t have math. And it doesn’t say what the Fed should do. It predicts what the central bank will do. [Economist John]Taylor says a period of less Fed intervention and stable strong growth will come, along with a strengthening dollar. But by the time this happens, [Chinese leader] Hu, now 68, might be approaching 80.
"Taylor studied the past 60 years of U.S. policy, and found that the Fed moves in a pendulum pattern, swinging back and forth between discretion-based decisions and loose money on one hand and rules-based choices and tighter money on the other."

What's Keith Olbermann doing now? (Updated)

 

Moonbattery.com

 A Look Back at Keith Olbermann's Most Outrageous Quotes  "MSNBC abruptly ended the run of Keith Olbermann on Friday, bringing to a close an era in which the left-wing host compared conservatives to Nazis, accused them of "murderous deceit," of "urinating on the Constitution" and told President George W. Bush to "shut the Hell up!""

(Update) Politics and the Anatomy of Hate  ..."And the first order of business for Olbermann in his new professional home is to “find a suitable enemy, something he is good at.”http://tunnelwall.blogspot.com/


This and many more posts on American politics and culture at the Tunnel Wall

Does America stand against tyranny?

Blackfive  "The spirit of those words is distilled into a simple Latin phrase that is the motto of US Special Forces "De Oppresso Liber" To liberate from oppression. That captures the idea that we do not live in isolation. We cannot build a wall around America and ignore what happens on the other side. Even so, we are not bound to respond with force every time evil flourishes, we could not. But to quote Reagan again:"

Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.