OBAMA’S NEW DEFENSE STRATEGY: PRESCIENT OR PROBLEMATIC?

Blackfive  "Over the years I have seen more “new” defense strategies than one can shake a stick at.  And I’ve noticed one thing about all of them: for the most part they’ve been uniformly wrong.  We have mostly had an abysmal record in divining what sort of a military we need in the future, and I doubt this particular version will be any better. "

http://terrellaftermath.com/

....


"Libya, for instance, seems anything but a success with Islamist militias poised to take over.  It certainly may be seen as a “military” success, but military success should tied to a strategy of overall success, not just whether it was able to defeat a rag-tag enemy.  After all the the military is but the blunt force of foreign policy, used when all less violent means have been exhausted.  There should be an acceptable outcome tied to its use.  Libya’s descent into Islamic extremism seems to argue against “success” on the whole.  Couple that with the fact that al Qaeda has set up shop there, and you could argue that even if al Qaeda has been “seriously weakened”, it has just been given a new lease on life in Libya."

Obama's Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps

Timothy Birdnow  "Writing back in 2007, Naomi Wolfe catalogued the steps to creating a dictatorship (which she sought to apply to George W. Bush).  Interestingly enough, they apply far more to the man who replaced him.
"Wolfe's steps include:" (Each step is enlarged upon in the article linked.)

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create a gulag 
3.  Develop a thug caste 
4. Set up an internal surveillance system 
5. Harass citizens' groups 
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release 
7. Target key individuals 
8.  Control the press 
9.  Dissent equals treason 
10.  Suspend the rule of law 

A graduate course in propaganda: "Michelle Obama and the Evolution of a First Lady"

Hassan Nurullah in American Thinker:  This article is about Jodi Kantor's' column the Tunnel Wall linked to last Saturday.

"This was written specifically for the Matt Damons, Sean Penns of the world. The hardline leftists who have been critical of President Obama for not being more forcefully liberal, not doing enough to drive a hardcore pink agenda."
....
"The right is very good at serving up red meat to stir up its own base. Yet the right is woefully bad at selling conservative ideas to anyone not already smart enough to know how bad the leftist agenda is for the country. And that is why the right is losing the culture war and why the country continues to decline spiritually and temporally."
....
"This is the reason the Roves and Krauthammers fight so desperately hard to ensure a safe man like Mitt Romney secures the Republican Nomination for President. Better to appear the good presidential candidate than to actually have any real ideas to substantively change the nation for the better. Real ideas are an instant disqualifier sure to get you labeled unelectable."

Romney's "fire people" comment

Neal Boortz

Video: National Review Online

"Mitt Romney is being fired on for something he didn’t even really say.  What we have here is a classic case of something being taken out of context.  But unfortunately for him, he will have to battle this soundbite from now through November if he is the nominee."....
"What’s the problem?  Well there shouldn’t be a problem.  But liberals and GOP opponents are glomming onto this “I like being able to fire people.”  Relax, people.  Mitt Romney is expressing his affinity for the power of choice, and if Barack Obama has his way … it’s something that will become a precious commodity that we will one day look back on and realize we took for granted."


And this is how Debbie W-S used it.


Legal Insurrection and Newt Gingrich point out the obvious distortion of Romney's words.  Romney is right: being able to "fire" a health-care provider is a choice the Obamacrats will deny us if Obamacare goes through. If you want to see how dealing with agencies that you can't fire, just go to the nearest Department of Motor Vehicles office and do business. Picture those unsmiling, somber clerks behind empty shelves in those government-owned department stores in the old Soviet Union.


Speaking of firing providers, how about this?  Read "Kodak and the Post Office", by Thomas Sowell:

"Great names of companies in other fields have likewise vanished as new technology brought new rivals to the forefront, or else made the whole product obsolete, as happened with typewriters, slide rules and other products now remembered only by an older generation. That is what happens in a market economy and we all benefit from it as consumers.

"Unfortunately, that is not what happens in government. The post office is a classic example."...More...

Obama’s foreign initiatives have been failures/ Surrender in Afghanistan

Washington Post  "The easiest one to document — and the one most likely to draw Republican attention next fall — is the busted Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Obama arrived in office afire with the ambition to create a Palestinian state within two years. But his diplomacy was based on a twofold misunderstanding: that the key to successful negotiations was forcing Israel to stop all settlement construction — and that the United States had the leverage to make that happen.
"Veterans of the Middle East “peace process” shook their heads in wonderment as what at first appeared to be a rookie error evolved into a two-year standoff between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu." 

Surrender in Afghanistan/ Obama wants to bug out before the election   "Picking Mr. al-Qaradawi, 84, to broker a peace deal is like choosing Benito Mussolini to mediate secret peace talks with the Nazis. 

http://conservativedailynews.com/category/political-cartoons/

"Mr. al-Qaradawi seeks the establishment of a worldwide caliphate ruled by Islamic law. And like other radical Islamists, Mr. al-Qaradawi advocates the destruction of Israel. But not even that is enough to satisfy his blood lust."....

The losers would be those Afghans who don't want to live under the thumb of a brutal reactionary theocracy, especially those who trusted us and sent their daughters to school. But they don't vote in our elections.

Mr. Obama supported the war in Afghanistan during the 2008 campaign, but I suspect he did so only because he so vociferously opposed the war in Iraq and didn't want people to think he was soft on national defense. His heart was never in it.

So I wish he'd decided to bug out sooner. About two-thirds of the 1,864 American servicemen and women who have been killed in Afghanistan have been killed since Barack Obama became president. They appear to have died in vain.

The feckless left again.

Poll: Americans, 2-1, Fear Obama's Reelection

US News  "But in results backed up by other polls, older Americans and those earning $75,000 or more are especially worried about the president getting a second term, according to the poll done by Synovate eNation.

"Nearly half of Americans 65 and older said Obama's reelection was their top fear, 39 percent of those making $75,000 or more agreed."

"As we enter the presidential election year of 2012, what potential news event do you fear the most?"

President Obama wins reelection 33%Taxes will increase 31%Iran will get a nuclear weapon 16%Obama will lose reelection 16%North Korea will attack South Korea 4%

Obama, Iran and National Defense

NRO: Obama’s Indefensible Cuts; On national security, decline is a choice.  "The president’s remarks, as well those of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, contained much vague talk of a “smarter,” more “agile” military that would “evolve” to find new ways to meet its existing commitments in Europe and the Middle East, along with a reaffirmation — all but offered as consolation — that we will be enlarging our footprint in Asia. But behind the euphemistic vocabulary and the strategic veneer is a simple truth: This is a retreat."


President Obama’s Pentagon cuts are indefensible.  "More important, President Obama doesn’t understand that our military’s role isn’t just fighting wars. It’s providing a strong strategic presence that will influence events in our favor — and away from that of adversaries and rivals."

Saudis, Gulf states on war alert for early US-Iran clash  "America's failure to rise to Iran's challenge will confirm its rulers in the conviction that the US is a paper tiger and encourage them to press their advantage for new gains"   What would Ron Paul do?


Max Boot: A Powerful Case for Force Against Iran  "As a result of the growing danger, Iran is getting closer to what should be “redlines.” Writes Kroening: “If Iran expels IAEA inspectors, begins enriching its stockpiles of uranium to weapons-grade levels of 90 percent, or installs advanced centrifuges at its uranium-enrichment facility in Qom, the United States must strike immediately or forfeit its last opportunity to prevent Iran from joining the nuclear club.” "

The Foreign Policy Initiative: The best hope for deterring Iran is to put the military option front and center, says FPI Executive Director Jamie Fly  Continued Iranian aggression, including the killing of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and even a plot to carry out a terrorist attack on American soil, has gone unanswered. Meanwhile, the Obama administration has vacated Iraq and is reluctant to intervene to oust Iran’s closest ally, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.


American Enterprise Institute  The Iranians Certainly Think They've Won in Iraq  "Lebanese Hezbollah secretary general “Hassan Nasrallah has described the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq as a historic defeat for the U.S. and a true victory for Iraqis. . . . In a televised interview, Nasrallah said on Monday that Iraqis owe this remarkable achievementto the resistance groups, adding that U.S. troops would have stayed in the country if they had felt secure. . . . He also compared U.S. pullout from Iraq to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.” October 25"  More Arab-Iranian quotes offered here as proof...

Media Bias 101: What Journalists Really Think -- and What the Public Thinks About the Media

For you students of Journalism, here is valuable research material for you.


Media Research Center " Over the years, the Media Research Center has catalogued the views of journalists on the subject of bias. In spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, many journalists still refuse to acknowledge that most of the establishment media tilts to the left. Even so, a number of journalists have admitted that the majority of their brethren approach the news from a liberal angle."


MEDIA BIAS 101.pdf
Part One contents:
Exhibit 1-1: The Media Elite
Exhibit 1-2: Major Newspaper Reporters
Exhibit 1-3: The American Journalist
Exhibit 1-4: U.S. Newspaper Journalists
Exhibit 1-5: Survey of Business Reporters
Exhibit 1-6: Journalists -- Who Are They, Really?
Exhibit 1-7: White House Reporters
Exhibit 1-8: The Media Elite Revisited
Exhibit 1-9: Washington Bureau Chiefs and Correspondents
Exhibit 1-10: Newspaper Journalists of the 1990s
Exhibit 1-11: Newspaper Editors
Exhibit 1-12: The People and the Press: Whose Views Shape the News?
Exhibit 1-13: How Journalists See Journalists in 2004
Exhibit 1-14: Campaign Journalists (2004)
Exhibit 1-15: TV and Newspaper Journalists
Exhibit 1-16: Journalists' Ethics and Attitudes, 2005
Exhibit 1-17: The News Media and the War, 2005
Exhibit 1-18: Slate Magazine Pre-Election Staff Survey


Go here to see the contents of parts two and three.

The Weekend Debates

Neal Boortz:  "Perhaps the only good thing to come out of that absurd question was yet another stellar moment from Newt Gingrich.  As the line of questioning expanded to the issue of gay adoption … again, why is this a pressing issue?? … Newt Gingrich was the only person to really call out the ObamaMedia for their slanted questions.  You can watch the video here, but here’s a transcript of what he had to say."...


Mark Steyn: Debate Night in the Titanic Ballroom  "This country is broke, and the unprecedented scale of its brokeness is an existential threat. Yet, with the exception of Newt’s occasional flashes of contempt for the questioners, everyone else plays along with this absurd game. It’s not merely that the GOP is letting the left frame the contest but that a party willing to dignify this pitiful charade is sending a broader message about the likelihood of its mustering the determination to stand up to a Democrat-media establishment once in office and effect meaningful course correction."

drawfortruth.com

MEDIA BIAS, STAGE TWO  "Scott wrote this morning about the absurdity of Republican debates being moderated by liberal activists like George Stephanopoulos and David Gregory, who, as Scott put it, are “on a mission to take down the candidates by making them appear crazy or by separating them from the base of the Republican Party.” But that is just stage one of the liberal press’s effort to control the presidential election cycle. Stage two comes when Democratic Party activists posing as journalists report on the proceedings.

From now until November, the leading offender likely will be the Associated Press. Today the AP described last night’s debate in November; its account began:"...More...

In NBC GOP Debate, Questions Hit Candidates From Left by 8 to 1 Margin    Early in the debate, moderator David Gregory demanded to know how much "pain" the candidates would inflict upon Americans by cutting spending. Newt Gingrich called out Gregory for the slanted query: "David, you know, I, I find it fascinating that very, very highly paid Washington commentators and Washington analysts love the idea of pain. What – who's going to be in pain? The duty of the president is to find a way to manage the federal government so the primary pain is on changing the bureaucracy."

Speaking of NBC, Al Sharpton (NBC, um, news anchor) weighs in with this. 

NBC has neither shame nor journalistic pride.

The President's Recess Appointments

Heritage:  An Abuse of Power: President Obama’s “Recess” Appointments

"President Obama’s stunning appointments of Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and of three more bureaucrats to the National Labor Relations Board has been described by many observers as a serious blow to the Constitution and the separation of powers."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/01/07/95272

This from the Daily Caller:  "Just a thought: Maybe President Obama wants to establish unprecedented power to make “recess” appointments–even when the Senate says it isn’t in recess–because he knows he will need that power to save Obamacare in 2013, even if he wins reelection, should the Republicans take the Senate. There must be all sorts of federal health care boards and agencies that will need staffing–and which maybe couldn’t function very well if the GOP Senate simply refuses to approve any Obama appointees, Cordray style."

Brian Darling: Obama's unconstitutional power grab  "The President has ignored the clear words of the Constitution. As The Heritage Foundation’s Todd Gaziano wrote, “The Constitution, in Article I, section 5, plainly states that neither house of Congress can recess for more than three days without the consent of the other house.” Congress has been in session conducting business every few days."

hopenchangecartoons

Alan Caruba: Barack Machiavelli

Canada Free Press  "We have witnessed and been victimized by a Democrat-controlled Congress that forced Obamacare on an unwilling public. We have seen the rise of Islamic fanaticism as the result of his failed policies toward Iran and the Middle East. We have had record breaking debt imposed on us by his failed “stimulus” policies. We have seen continued efforts to reduce our military power and to thwart access to our ample energy resources of oil, natural gas, and coal.
"It is a long list of usurpations of power that endanger the nation domestically and internationally. Whether it was done out of stupidity or a deliberate effort to harm the nation can be debated, but the most outstanding attribute of Obama has been his continual lying and Machiavelli notes that “the deceiver will always find someone ready to be deceived.”"

Machiavellian: suggesting the principles of conduct laid down by Machiavelli; specifically : marked by cunning, duplicity, or bad faith

DEFINITION: Machiavellianism*:   "The theory and practice of power politics elaborated from Machiavelli's The Prince: envisaging (1) seizure, maintenance, and extension of absolute power by the nicely graduated use of guile, fraud, force, and terror; (2) control by the ruler of all avenues of communication, thus facilitating the deliberate molding of public opinion; (3) the employment for surveillance and terrorist activities of subordinates who can be disowned and liquidated by the ruler, who thus escapes the blame for their atrocities." 


*How ironic that this site applies the analogy to President George Bush while the term is used by Mr. Caruba for Obama. I'd go with Mr. Caruba's application.

New website about the battlefield of Gettysburg

Battle of Gettysburg Buff    (If that link fails to work, try this one.)
I discovered this site through a Facebook link here.  The Facebook page originates in the UK and is a roundtable for those in Great Britain who are students of the American Civil War, but many of us Yanks like to visit there including Randy Drais, the webmaster of this site. Randy  writes this about his new website:


..."Why? As a descendant of a Union soldier wounded at Gettysburg and fortunate enough to live only 30 miles away from the battlefield during my entire life, I have traversed various areas of the battlefield and town on my own or on "Battle Walks" conducted by National Park Service Rangers over 350 times, and yet I am still able to find new areas and topics to learn about and explore. That then, is the intent of this website --- to help provide you with new areas and topics to learn about and explore !!!
      You will also find more than 900 photographs and over 100 links scattered throughout my website, in addition to a page devoted to listing, in what I think is in an organized fashion, other websites of interest. I will continue to expand this website by adding pages, topics, photographs, and links, as well as updating information and photographs when necessary."


Mr. Drais gives us pictures of the old, ugly Cyclorama building...

...and the new one:

I also found this UK Civil War website very interesting as well.