The Obama Dilemma

Vodkapundit  "Peggy Noonan last year opined that “the president is starting to look snakebit.” If he is, it’s because Obama spent the first half of his first term ignoring Americans’ number one concern — jobs — while squandering America’s prestige overseas so thoroughly it begins to appear to be an almost dedicated effort.
"His one big win — nailing bin Laden — certainly made us all feel very good, and helps to put the squeeze on al Qaeda. But bin Laden is yesterday’s enemy, as semi-affiliated terror groups spread to places like Somalia, Yemen, and maybe eventually Egypt.
"Obama’s endless  personal gaffes overseas — the bowing and scraping and toasts to the orchestras — might not make the news much here, but you can bet they’re laughing mighty hard in Paris and Moscow and Beijing and… everywhere else."  Stephen Green

UK Telegraph: This isn’t a special relationship, it’s sinister and sycophantic

guardian.co.uk/gary-barker

 From the left: The American president’s message of hope could be useful in Europe "If a black man can become president in America then, yes, Ireland can surely recover from its crash. Later in London, where he was greeted with the best of British pomp, a regal Mr Obama confirmed that yes, even a reduced Britain can be a really, really special friend to America."  The Economist

(Video) Presidential Limo Not As Unstoppable as Previously Reported  "The vehicle, referred to by the Secret Service as “the beast,” will reportedly feature heavy armor that is at least 5 inches thick and comes complete with run-flat tires, bulletproof glass and a completely sealed interior to ward off a chemical attack, among many other high-tech security features." Via  Michelle Malkin

Progressive Pundit Walks Off Fox Set When Called Out for Fearmongering

Big Journalism  "Ferguson was right to point out that Democrats have decided to forgo offering any solution to the looming debt and deficit crisis and have opted to just attack – with fearmongering and lies – the Republicans who are offering realistic solutions.
"Confronted with irrefutable facts, Simon decided to cry about not being able to be heard and walked off the set. Way to go, Ben!"....
"Unfortunately for Simon, the other guest on the show, radio host Ben Ferguson, wasn’t having any of it. Watch the money clip."  (Video)

The six-block scar: Amazing satellite photos pinpoint devastation of Joplin as it emerges that 232 people are still missing

UK Daily Mail  "Following the devastating tornado which ripped though Joplin at the weekend, these satellite images show the extent of the damage.''
"Before and after aerial photos show the shocking extent of the damage caused by the twister in the Missouri city - this image shows a six-block path of destruction."
Hat tip to Don Standlee, Arlington, TX.

Back to the Pre-American World?

Victor Davis Hanson  ..."There have been plenty of thugs who threatened their neighbors over the last 30 years. Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, Manuel Noriega, and the Taliban were all deposed from rule only by American power. The “lost” war in Iraq resulted in a democratic and, for now, still viable government in place of genocide. Afghanistan is depressing, but the medieval Taliban still have remained out of power for nearly a decade.

"In short, the old pre-American world was as unstable and dangerous as would be a new post-American update. But both retrenchments were choices that an unsure and depressed United States made — not symptoms, then or now, of inherent weakness or inevitable decline."
Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author, most recently, of The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern.

Memorial Day

 Memorial Day links to Browse  

http://memorialday2011.org/



http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/danasummers

Making Sense of Natural Disasters

Breakpoint  "The standard Christian answer, “it’s the consequence of sin and the fall,” can come up short, especially for the victims of nature’s fury. While it is easy to draw a cause-and-effect relationship between man’s moral choices and much of human suffering—diseases, plagues, poverty, and war—man’s culpability for tornadoes, earthquakes, and volcanoes is less than apparent.
"So the question remains: Why, in a world created by an all-powerful, all-good God, are natural disasters, which claim hundreds to hundreds of thousands of lives, permitted to exist? Is God a monster or merely a klutz?"   Read more...

The Obama Administration’s ‘Sidam Touch’

Pajamas Media "According to the Urban Dictionary, a person with “the Sidam Touch” has an ability that is “[t]he opposite of The Midas Touch, which turns everything to gold.” A person with the Sidam Touch “breaks and/or ruins everything.”
"To say that President Barack Obama and his administration, especially what’s left of his economic team, have the Sidam Touch is the understatement of the 21st century."
....
"Since President Obama and his brain trust surely know that the Sidam Touch actions being taken against Texas will hinder its economy and hurt job growth, one can only conclude that they don’t care. This leads to a broader and much more important question: do they really care if the economy recovers anywhere else, or are they on an entirely different mission?"

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Mexico’s Immigration Laws: The Untold Story

The Foundry  "And though criticism of U.S. immigration laws can be fierce – particularly in the case of Arizona’s SB 1070, the Support our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhood Acts – Mexico’s much harsher immigration laws rarely get noticed." ....
"But receiving far less scrutiny was how President Calderon and his country are dealing with illegal immigration. Upon closer examination, Arizona’s SB 1070 looks like amnesty compared to Mexican law."....
"With nearly sixty percent of illegal immigrants originating from Mexico, it is particularly helpful to remember that our neighbor to the south is dealing with illegal immigration in a much harsher manner than the United States, a fact that illustrates the hypocrisy of Calderon’s criticisms of Arizona’s new law."
Andres Celedon, an intern at The Heritage Foundation is a junior at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he is studying public policy with a minor in history.

Arizona Wins Big in Supreme Court Immigration Ruling "Arizona won a spectacular victory today in the Supreme Court in its ongoing efforts to do something about the hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who reside in the state and cost Arizona taxpayers an estimated $1.3 billion a year. In its ruling against the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Obama administration, the Court also disproved the breathless claims of liberals and the editorial pages of publications like the New York Times that the conservative justices on the Court are just the handmaidens of big business who always rule in favor of corporate America."


http://knowledgeczar.blogspot.com/2010/04/illegal-immigration-is-color-blind.html



From What I Know : ...."I fear that what the Democrats are doing is using the Hispanics for political gain, letting them in illegally and then attempting to defame and ridicule anyone that doesn't think it's right for them to so blatantly mistreat and victimize a whole race of people. We have a real slavery problem in this country, and it's being perpetuated by those who pretend to be helping those they enslave. They're not helping. They're creating dependency." By TKZ

A few years ago when our church in Santa Maria, Ca, was in a heavily Latino area of town, I was setting up a kids game square in a field about a block from where a Cinco de Mayo parade was being held. I heard music and cheering with Mexican flags flying while setting up the American flag for our opening pledge. Returning to the game square a few minutes later with the children, we found the American flag to be nothing but ashes with not a soul around. Somebody there did not like this country.
Tunnel Dweller.

Alligators, Moats and Other Such Nonsense  "President Obama gave what was billed as an important speech on immigration last week near the border in El Paso, Texas. Unfortunately, it was one of the most demagogic moments in recent presidential history. Nearly everything Obama said was either factually incorrect or deliberately misleading." Victor Davis Hanson

Do the Obama People Have a Protocol Problem?

One could feel a certain sympathy for Mr. Obama if not for knowing how the press would treat a Republican president over the same improprieties.

http://terrellaftermath.com/

What seems to be their problem?  "These things often seem silly to Americans who have spent many years perfecting the art of informality. But for much of the world, improper protocol signals disrespect. And the Obama Administration has recently been caught in some foreign relations protocol gaffes. "

Letter: Obama seems to have an abundance of diplomatic gaffes  "Whatever else one may say about President Obama, one would have to admit he does not have good manners. He’s just insulted the Israeli Prime Minister — for the second time. He insulted the Supreme Court during the State of the Union address while they were sitting in front of him. He invited Rep. Paul Ryan to a budget speech — and then proceeded to insult him in that speech. Former President Bush was wise not to go to Ground Zero with Obama. He would probably have been insulted there if he had."

Obama’s New ‘Truth Minister’ Husband of ‘General Betrayus’ MoveOn.Orger

Big Government  "This week President Obama revealed his latest attempt to control the media, the Internet, and the information revealed to the people of the United States by creating a new “press” office of sorts, an Obama ministry of truth, if you will. Obama’s grandiose name for this new office is the Progressive Media [and] Online Response department. Also named was its new director, Jesse Lee. Lee, it turns out, has an interesting connection to one of the most outrageous anti-American, anti-military media efforts in recent memory."

"Jesse Lee, you see, is married to Nita Chaudhary, one of the people responsible for the 2007 MoveOn.org newspaper ad that maligned General David Petraeus as
General "Betray us".


Photo: Gen. David Petraeus

Via scottthong.wordpress.com

Blackfive has this:  "The first thing to get out of the way is the idea that people need to lie about Barry. Quite frankly his record stands sadly for itself. I only point out his own lies, deceptions, flip flops and panders. Oh and they are legion, trust me. Dude, you are going to wish you had an easy job, like spokesperson for Blackwater or Ombudsman for the NY Times."

Rep. Ryan Stands His Ground on Medicare Reform

ABC News  "Rep. Paul Ryan is doubling down. In the wake of Tuesday's stunning Republican defeat in New York special Congressional election, the Republican House Budget Chairman says he is determined to fight for his Medicare plan even if it ruins his political career."

From Nealz Nuze :  The Battle Over Medicare  "I want you to take a look at this video."

"Now I want you to take a look at this video."
  
"Does anything stand out to you? They were posted to YouTube on the same day: May 24, 2011. The first video is Rep. Paul Ryan explaining our troubles with Medicare and how he intends to fix it. This morning that video has a little over 24,000 views. The next video is the final performance of some chick on the American Idol finale. That video has 110,300 views. Now I know that Medicare is by no means a sexy issue, but it is an issue that will actually affect your life … especially if you are under 55. The outcome of American Idol makes absolutely zero difference to your life, unless you’re the winner.   Plus this: Want Some Medicare Cost History?

townhall.com/natebeeler

Links from National Review Online:
Ryan 40, Obama 0  "The Senate just finished voting on the Paul Ryan/House Republican budget resolution, as well as the budget put forward by President Obama in February. Both, as expected, were voted down, but only Ryan’s received any votes."
Draft Paul Ryan?  "Congressional Republicans weigh the pros and cons."
Run, Paul Ryan, Run "Perhaps the only guy who can explain the GOP budget should run."

Highlights Of Rep. Ryan's Budget Outline  "Before Nancy Pelosi has even read it she started screeching how bad it is. Can she read? Remember she didn't read Obamacare and told us we'd have to pass it to find out what's in it. Pelosi is screeching and wringing her hands over how the Ryan plan will cause people [to die].

The professional race victims speak out

James Clyburn: Obama’s political problems are due “in large measure” to racism  "A fitting story on a day when Loughner’s back in the news, in case you were ever tempted to believe that the Democrats’ demand for a “new tone” post-Tucson was anything more than a cheap political bludgeon. In fact, Clyburn once offered his own theory about what drove Loughner to kill, and it was, shall we say, distinctly Clyburnesque." Also here.

Obama's Unspoken Re-Election Edge "Conversely, the media hold the president's exceptionalism against Republicans. Here is Barack Obama, evidence of a new and progressive America. Here are the Republicans, a cast of largely white males, looking peculiarly unevolved. Add to this the Republicans' quite laudable focus on deficit reduction and spending cuts, and they can be made to look like a gaggle of scolding accountants."....
"A president who is both Democratic and black effectively gives the infamous race card to the entire left: Attack our president and you are a racist. To thwart this, Republicans will have to break through the barrier of political correctness."  Shelby Steele  This article was read on the Rush Limbaugh show Wednesday.

From American Thinker:  Opposition to Obama due to racism: Clyburn  "Obviously, Clyburn is right. Who could possibly complain about 9% unemployment, non-existent economic growth, creeping inflation, a loss of power and prestige abroad, and a thuggish, expanding, suffocating increase in the power of the federal government except racists like you and me?"  Rick Moran

The Left and ‘Racial Resentment’  "The biggest problems with these two latest attempts — the tea-party study and the Abramowitz post — is that they rely on measures of “racial resentment.” If you’re wondering what that means, it can be translated as “attempts to trick conservatives into giving ‘racist’ answers to survey questions.” You might say that researchers are using “code” to get data they can skew to make the Right look bad.
"Here’s how Abramowitz measured “racial resentment”:"...


Eric Allie via  forgottenliberty.com