The State of the World: Explaining U.S. Strategy

STRATFOR  "The same strategy is in place with Iran. Sanctions on Iran are unlikely to work because they are too porous and China and Russia will not honor them. Still, the United States pursues them not for what they will achieve but for what they will avoid -- namely, direct action. Rhetoric aside, the assumption underlying U.S. quiescence is that regional forces, the Turks in particular, will be forced to deal with the Iranians themselves, and that patience will allow a balance of power to emerge."
Basically, Obama's policy is "World, you're on your own!" We need that policy here at home.
....
"The weakness in Obama's strategy is that the situation in many regions could suddenly and unexpectedly move in undesirable directions. Unlike the Cold War system, which tended to react too soon to problems, it is not clear that the current system won't take too long to react. Strategies create psychological frameworks that in turn shape decisions, and Obama has created a situation wherein the United States may not react quickly enough if the passive approach were to collapse suddenly."
However, as David Letterman's writers would say, "Obama is just too competent" to find fault with.


What a great title by Ken Blackwell: Mr. Obama's 'Grovel-Ready' Foreign Policy  "President Obama began badly. He went to London and bowed low before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The famous red "reset" button he had Hillary present to the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, was intended to give Moscow a pass for its aggression against the neighboring Republic of Georgia. The button was even spelled wrong. How do you spell "appeasement" in Russian?"
....
"The president has yet to visit the only real ally we have left in the region -- Israel. Lucky Israel. It's the only friend of America that that has not been de-stabilized by this president's feckless* policies."   Also from Patriot Post

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/02/28/96829

*Feckless;  Feckless describes someone who is ineffective or irresponsible. (adjective)

A person who cannot be trusted to take on responsibility is an example of someone who would be described as feckless. yourdictionary.com

The Tunnel Wall cites the following Michael Ledeen column as an example: 

Obama Administration Ignored Iranian Opposition’s Advice  "It cautions that any agreement with the regime would require the United States to recognize the legitimacy of the regime, promise to maintain silence on questions of human rights inside the country, and abandon the Middle East.  And even if the regime promised to abandon its nuclear program and cease its support for terror, it would not honor these commitments.  It needs both terror and nukes in order to survive.

"So far as I can tell, the demands for American silence on Iranian affairs, recognition of the regime’s legitimacy, and withdrawal from the region are precisely what  the Obama administration has received through all their contacts with the Iranian regime."

http://conservativedailynews.com/2012/02/iran-scam/

Random thoughts from Argus Hamilton

The Patriot Post  

Argus Hamilton

"Joseph Kennedy III filed for Congress for the seat left by Barney Frank. He's RFK's grandson and Teddy's nephew. Young Joe is a Middlesex County prosecutor, and only someone from Middlesex can bridge the gap between the Kennedys and Barney Frank."
....
"Mitt Romney fell behind in the Michigan polls despite getting Donald Trump's endorsement. This information could save Israel. If we can just get Donald Trump to endorse Iran's nuclear weapons program, the missile won't be able to carry its home state."
....
"New York Knicks star Jeremy Lin forgave a fired ESPN copywriter who unintentionally wrote an anti-Asian term. Lin's parents fled China where saying the wrong word could cost you your job and ruin your life. Now ESPN copywriters are fleeing America for the same reason." 
More at the link...
"Who is Argus Hamilton, and why is everybody quoting him?  Meet the funniest topical comedian in America, the man Robin Williams once called "the Will Rogers of the Baby Boom." "

Obama: “Trying To Climb To The Very Top” Is Not What America’s “About,” It Is “Greed”…

Weasel Zippers  “America’s not just looking out for yourself, it’s not just about greed, it’s not just about trying to climb to the very top and keep everybody else down,” Obama said at the UAW’s annual National Community Action Program Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.

Instead, Obama – who climbed to the very top of American politics just three years ago – said that instead America was about being “all in it together,” and giving people “a hand up.”

This man is a socialist demagogue and we must fear what he will do with four more years. Yet the American voters do not seem to realize the danger in this man or there would be a groundswell of support to remove him.


Carney: Obama's Speech To UAW "Not At All" A Campaign Speech  "Question: "The speech today wasn’t just the president touting the auto bailouts then. A good amount of time was on rhetoric was from campaign fundraising speeches. He took some shots at politicians who didn’t support the bailout. We know that the Republican candidates fall on that side. I wonder why the White House is so reluctant to acknowledge that the president might be focused on the campaign."" Hat tip to Weasel Zip.

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/02/27/96809

Republicans are losing the class warfare fight  "No doubt Barack Obama would love to reprise Ronald Reagan’s 1984 “Morning in America” reelection campaign, but the anemic economy is not cooperating. Without a robust recovery to trumpet, the president is betting his reelection on class warfare — focusing on “income inequality” and “fairness.” Class warfare is not a winning strategy, but it is the only card Obama has to play.
"That’s the good news for Republicans. The bad news is: Right now, the GOP is blowing it."

Michael Moore: My friends are voting for Santorum

Beltway Confidential  "I have to tell you a lot of my Democratic friends will vote for Santorum in something they are calling Operation Hilarity." Moore delightedly reported, referring to the left-wing plot to disrupt the Republican primary.
How can you ever trust open primaries?

Crossover voting encouraged in Mich. GOP primary  "The Michigan Democratic Party recently sent an e-mail to voters encouraging them to take part in the GOP primary. Mark Brewer, the party's executive director, said "Republicans will only have themselves to blame" if such a tactic has an impact."


The Daily Beast; Michigan’s Primary Party Crashers: Democrats Crossing Over to Thwart Romney   "The key demographic in today’s Michigan Republican primary may be Democrats. Not conservative Democrats, not Reagan Democrats, or any other type of crossover Democrats. Just plain, old-fashioned, bleeding-heart liberal Democrats.
...."The Democrats-for-Santorum push was started by such mischief-makers as Democratic consultant Joe DiSano, who discussed it in a Huffington Post article, as well as in a campaign of robo-calls and mass emails to selected Democrats."

The Obama Nation's Accommodation

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Outrage! Bradley Manning Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

http://dailyimagebuzz.blogspot.com/2010/12/wikileaks-cartoons.html

The Weekly Standard  "Army Pfc. Bradley Manning has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, the Associated Press reports. Manning is most famous for allegedly leaking troves of classified documents, including State Department cables and Military files, to WikiLeaks. He was arraigned last week in Ft. Meade, Maryland and is being charged with "engineering the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history." "

Here are Two Other Nobel Peace Prize Winners:

 Yasser Arafat  "While his critics condemned the award, calling Arafat an "unrepentant terrorist with a long legacy of promoting violence," his supporters offered praise and compared the Palestinian leader to Nelson Mandela." 
Barack Obama  "Barack Obama was chosen for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," which raised more than a few eyebrows, considering the nomination came just 12 days after he took office." This made Time Magazine's top ten Obama backlash moments  " Former Polish President Lech Walesa, himself a Noble laureate, echoed many when he responded, "So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far." " 

 Like a teenager with his first car and an inflated (by everybody) sense of celebrity, Obama seemed to be very much full of himself.

Manning's legacy: Taliban Use Wikileaks to Hunt, Murder Named Afghans  

"Anyway, so the Taliban are doing exactly what I said they would do, in my pieces for PBS and CJR: they are vowing to hunt down and murder anyone who is identified in the Wikileaks archive as having worked for the U.S."

How green can this country get, based on corrupted facts?

California Chevy Volt Owners Will Be Allowed To Drive Solo In Carpool Lanes, Given $1,500 State Rebate…
"Commuters who use carpool lanes in Southern California save an estimated average 36 minutes a day, or about a third of their total driving time."

Hat tip to Leslie Vaughn Burckard

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Fakegate.org "On February 20, Peter Gleick confessed to stealing documents from The Heartland Institute with the intent of exposing its funding sources and damaging its reputation. He also disseminated a fake “climate strategy memo” that he and other environmental activists on the left claim describes Heartland’s “secret strategy” to mislead the public about the true nature of climate change.

...."In 2009 and again in 2011, a whistle blower inside the University of East Anglia leaked emails showing the loudest “roosters” of the global warming movement conspiring to limit debate, hide uncertainty, and destroy data. The scandal has been called “Climategate.”

"Another global warming scandal began on January 27, when someone stole the identity of a member of the Board of Directors of The Heartland Institute, a nonprofit research organization, in order to trick a staff member into giving him confidential documents."

If Republican candidates, presidential and congressional, want to gain any traction with the electorate this year, they must address this fairness myth head on.

Daily Caller    "If President Obama is re-elected in November, it will be for one reason: the American people believe that the rich are not paying as big a percentage of their income in taxes as everyone else.
"That will be a sad day, for America will have elected its leader based on a premise that is entirely false."

MSNBC!

.... "The president cannot be allowed to win re-election based on a false premise. That, in fact, would be unfair."
Joseph Petros is an associate at the law firm of Warren and Young PLL in Ashtabula, Ohio. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Notre Dame Law School, where he served as executive editor of the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy
Hat tip to  Neal Boortz. 

 Never Met a Tax He Didn’t Like  "The defining trait of Obama’s presidency." “He’s a bit gullible on jobs,” the congressman says. “He has no economic experience and no gut instinct on job creation.” He doesn’t understand “a single business or the entire business climate in the United States.”

Obama’s tax-rate demagoguery  Threat to raise capital-gains tax targets middle class

"It’s going to be politically difficult for the president to say Mr. Romney favors the rich when he calls for cutting taxes on Americans earning below $200,000, the very middle-class income bracket Mr. Obama says he wants to protect from higher taxes."

Afghan Apologies Beside the Point

Jonathan S. Tobin   "America’s dilemma is that it is locked in a life-and-death struggle with Islamist forces. After all, the only reason we are in Afghanistan is that its Taliban government allowed its soil to be used a base for attacks on American citizens such as the 9/11 atrocities. In order to prevail we must seek and win allies within the Muslim world who want nothing to do with the Islamist agenda of unending war. To do that, we must show respect to their faith but so long as we accept a situation where we do not demand or expect respect in return, we are doomed to failure."

How Many Electricians Does It Take to Screw In a Light Bulb?

Politiseeds  "I’m not sure how much you’d be willing to pay an electrician to change just one lamp, but I’m sure you would absolutely blow a fuse if you were asked to pay (as taxpayers did) the almost $1,100 that the county paid my company to replace just one light bulb on that day.  The county did in fact “party like it’s 1999,” but it did so on the taxpayer’s dime."


Danica Patrick on contraception mandate: ‘I leave it up to the government to make good decisions’

DISMANTLING THE PHONY CASE AGAINST VOTER ID

Power Line  Minnesota Majority has set up a web site called We Want Voter ID, which currently features a video of a League of Women Voters-sponsored meeting in Edina, Minnesota. The League spreads disinformation, but a lot of the citizens present at the meeting are on to them. The video begins with an ACLU lawyer objecting to being videoed. Why, exactly, is the ACLU teaming up with the League on this issue? Because voting whether you are legal or not is a “right,” but having your vote canceled out by an illegal voter isn’t a “right.”  Here is the video:

Obama Doctrine Failure; Will the Obama Administration submit US to Sharia law?

Heritage  "Three years ago, President Barack Obama set forth to recast American foreign policy in an image of his own design. It was one in which the White House engaged with enemies and undercut allies, apologized for American exceptionalism, and favored the “soft power” of treaties and international organizations. This “Obama Doctrine” was tailor made to burnish America’s supposedly flagging reputation on the world stage. Today we are seeing the disastrous results of a doctrine gone wrong."

All cartoons in this post fromTownhall

....In the course of three years, President Obama has pursued a foreign policy that has left America less secure today and even more at risk tomorrow. A nuclear Iran, a failed Afghanistan and Iraq, an unfriendly Egypt, an Israel at risk, and an underfunded military are all serious concerns for the American people. Rather than continue pursuing the ill-advised Obama Doctrine, it is time for the President to put defending America first and appeasing our enemies last. That is a doctrine the American people can depend on.

(emphasis added)

NY Times: Violent Uproar in Afghanistan Casts Shadow on U.S. Pullout  "But behind the public pronouncements, American officials described a growing concern, even at the highest levels of the Obama administration and Pentagon, about the challenges of pulling off a troop withdrawal in Afghanistan that hinges on the close mentoring and training of army and police forces."   


At right; An American soldier guarding the Parwan detention facility near Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan last year. Korans from the library at Parwan were mistakenly incinerated at the Bagram base last week


Dangers of the Obama Doctrine   "President Obama’s use of drone strikes to target terrorists is depleting U.S. intelligence on al Qaeda and making America less safe in the process, according to Marc Thiessen, an American Enterprise Institute fellow."

Sweetness and Light; Hillary: GOP Politics Inflame Koran Situation  "How come no one ever asks Mrs. Clinton about the reports that the Korans were defaced by Muslim prisoners writing in them? And how come no one ever asks Mrs. Clinton about her endless criticism of President Bush over his handling of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?"
...."At that time, Hillary scolded Petraeus, saying that his progress report on Iraq required "a willing suspension of disbelief." Of course, it turned out that the General was correct and Mrs. Clinton was laughably wrong.  (See this commentary about Kirsten Powers on Friday's Fox Special report)
"And never mind that, way back in June 2006, Hillary called the Republicans a "disgrace" for playing politics with the war in Iraq."

Blackfive; THE WAGES OF WEAKNESS 
"You have to ask yourself if anyone on Obama's team understands the mentality of the savages who form the profane cult of extremist Islam.   The answer is no, but you still have to ask yourself."

Robert Spencer:  WILL OBAMA BEHEAD THE QUR’AN-BURNERS?   "Some have rightly skewered Obama and his cohorts for their cowardice and eagerness to appease the Afghan mobs, especially as the death toll steadily mounts. No one, however, has noted the most remarkable aspect of this entire episode: the United States Government has, no questions asked, eagerly embraced Islamic law (Sharia) regarding the treatment of the Qur’an, and assured the Afghans that it will be enforced."
(Emphasis added)

TW agrees that an apology was fine since it is offensive to Muslims and we do need to work with them. But it should stop there and the issue should be raised as publicly as possible about what Muslims feel should happen to those who defaced the Korans by using them for message boards. 

The burning was not a crime according to US law and any attempt to punish those who burned them shows willing submission of the US to laws of Islam.  TD

Remember when Bibles were burned?  “Military personnel threw away, and ultimately burned, confiscated Bibles that were printed in the two most common Afghan languages amid concern they would be used to try to convert Afghans, a Defense Department spokesman said Tuesday.”


Obama Praises the Koran and Disrespects the Bible / Video
Hat tip to Dee Sutton Velez; Tampa, Florida