Wednesday, February 27, 2013

How Should the United States Respond to State Failure in Egypt?

JINSA  "U.S. policy thus contributes to state failure while identifying American policy with this state failure. America has become part of the vicious circle, and runs the risk of being identified as the cause of the vicious circle.
"What should the United States do? If there are no good alternatives, America should choose the least bad alternative. U.S. policy should be guided by self-interest. It may not be in the world community's power to avert Egyptian state failure, short of a massive and continuing commitment of financial aid that seems outside the realm of political possibility. At a minimum, America should seek to prevent Egypt's crisis from turning into a regional security disaster, while maximizing its influence over Egyptian institutions and prospective governments."

Only one chance to make a first impression

 

Sequester hysterics

 "Now, I want to put it to you this way.  If spending more money this year than we did last year is going to bring this country to its knees, shouldn't that tell us that the government has way too much control over our lives?  Shouldn't that tell us that they have seriously overreached?  Shouldn't that tell us that we are way too dependent on government if all of this can happen while we spend $15 billion more than we spent last year?"  Rush Limbaugh
Political Cartoons by Jerry Holbert
Neal Boortz; Sequester Fraud Continues  "What does 0bama want?  Simple .. higher taxes on the rich.  He already got a 4.6% increase in the tax rate on the rich in December.  Then ....;  Then ....  It seems rich people won’t be allowed to take care of their own health needs without paying a penalty.  Now 0bama wants tax deductions removed so that the hideous rich will pay even more. 
Political Cartoons by Gary Varvel

"In this flood of government and government-media propaganda, though, there remains a single honest mainstream media reporter, the legendary Bob Woodward, with the courage to call out Obama for his demagoguing of sequester."  And, as you would expect, the leftist Media Matters turns on Woodward.
Pity the poor soul who dares disagree with Obama and his people, which is frightening.

DNC Boosts Obama Sequester Job Loss Threat Of 750,000 To 2 Million…
 

The Hagel House and its import for Israel

Alan Caruba on Obama and Hagel vs. Israel  "“What if Mr. Ahmadinejad is not lying” about Iran already being a nuclear power?” asked Kuhner. “Then the West—and especially the United States—faces a major crisis. It means the West’s policies of sanctions and diplomatic engagement have failed.”
"It means that President Obama’s efforts, as executed by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, throughout his first term have failed. It does not bode well that the new Secretary of State, John Kerry, in his first major foreign policy speech on February 20, believes that the real threat is climate change, not Iran and the other known enemies of the nation.
...."The designate for Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, is, if it is possible, an even worse choice so far as Israel is concerned."....
And Ron Paul would have been better... how?

The Jerusalem Post is concerned over what Hagel will mean with Obama's position on Iran  "Expert tells 'Post' the decision by US President Barack Obama to appoint Chuck Hagel as defense secretary raises questions over Washington’s commitment to preventing Iran from going nuclear."
Well, as Ron Paul said, if we are nice to Iran, they will be nice to us. 

The Hagel Finagle  "Unfortunately, if the last two presidential elections are proof of anything, during this period of American politics qualifications have little or no bearing." 
To digress a small bit; Shawarma Mayor asks, "Well, what if Israel had done a small bit of what it is accused of?"

Do you really think Hagel/ Obama are up to confronting Iran? All signs point to no.

Caroline Glick on Hagel, Hamas and the US Senate  "Hagel supports US engagement with Hamas. He also allegedly received money from a Hamas-associated organization.
"In all the verbiage we are exposed to everyday, sometimes it is hard to understand the significance of positions like this."....
So here is a clip of a speech by senior Hamas leader... Mahmoud al-Zahar. Students of the Old Testament will appreciate his remark about Pharaoh kicking Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt because they killed Egyptians.

Remember that Code Pink loves these people. (Obama supporters all.)

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Obama's Sequester Strategy Backfiring

Thomas Lifson  "Barack Obama is overplaying his hand in the latest manufactured crisis of his presidency, Sequestration, and may be alienating his most important constituency of all, the media.  He and his advisors are heedless of the psychology of the media, who have been battered by downsizing and budget cuts far more draconian than the piddling 2.4% at issue in the Sequestration Crisis."
...."It may be that administration wolf-crying evokes a certain degree of scorn in the minds of event of their media allies. At same time, a degree of insulting high-handedness, if not contempt, is being demonstrated by the president lately:"....
...."The press corps is firing back, giving Jay Carney a hard time lately.

 
...."If Obama loses enough degrees of his media support, he might even (gasp!) start being held accountable.
"Maybe Obama will wise up and star making amends. But self-critical thought has not been his hallmark. "

GAO's own report shows we cannot afford ObamaCare

It’s official: Government ‘Confirms Everything Critics and Republicans Were Saying’: GAO Report Finds Obamacare Likely to Add $6.2 Trillion to the Deficit

"Back Benghazi who has continued to lie to We the people has finally been busted by his own government auditors on the actual costs of Obama’s Health Care, Rationing and Denial Program.

"Though he would love to keep doing it with smoke and mirrors, it’s over. ObamaCare is unaffordable and must be disemboweled ."


National Review has a copy of the GAO report and Sessions’ remarks:

Bread and Circuses; Economic growth is anemic, but at least we have a cool first couple.

Mona Charen
"When Americans were under fire in Benghazi and pleading for help, we’ve finally learned, the president did not make a single phone call. After learning of the attack, he failed to follow up with his defense secretary, secretary of state, or chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. The following day, he left for a fundraiser in Las Vegas.
"But it sure is great that he’s so cool. And didn’t Mrs. Obama look lovely in her shimmering, silver designer gown?"

 A $9000 designer gown at that, I might add.  "That stunning silver dress must have cost a fortune, an odd choice for a woman whose husband is constantly seeking ways to punish the rich and once declared, "I do think at a certain point you've made enough money." " More here.

Heroes, Not Props: FLOTUS Ignores Military Members During Oscar Appearance" Folks on both sides of the ideological aisle will be debating First Lady Michelle Obama's appearance on the Oscars for some time, but one matter is instantly clear. The First Lady was flanked by several members of the U.S. military during her live streaming appearance to announce the Best Picture winner, and she failed to acknowledge their presence or their heroism."
Well, the Clintons used them for waiters and waitresses at a White House function.

The military blog BLACKFIVE took note of the military window dressing.
I'm sure Obama's former Weatherman anti-war friends enjoyed the spectacle.
 

Kerry says we have the “right to be stupid” and then proves his intellectual “disconnect” in the very next sentence.

Bookworm Room  " ‘In America, you have a right to be stupid, if you want to be,’ he said. ‘And you have a right to be disconnected to somebody else if you want to be. And we tolerate that – we somehow make it through that.’  (Emphasis mine.)"
"Let me repeat: “[Y]ou have a right to be disconnected to somebody else if you want to be.”  In what word does that even remotely make sense?  Bush pronounces “nuclear” the Southern way and is ridiculed for the next 12 years.  Kerry says something completely meaningless and all you hear are crickets."

Kerry to American Diplomats: 'We Are Also Citizens of the World'  "John Kerry says his experience as the son of a Foreign Service officer -- living abroad in various cities in his formative years -- is helping him now that he's secretary of state."

The sequester in pictures

Political Cartoons by Michael Ramirez
Political Cartoons by Steve Breen
Political Cartoons by Glenn Foden

The lap-dog press

Monday, February 25, 2013

The president without honor and his sycophantic enablers

Political Cartoons by Bob Gorrell
House GOP rips Obama as 'road show president' without a plan
"“The president proposed the sequester, yet he’s far more interested in holding campaign rallies than he is in urging Senate Democrats to actually pass a plan,” Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a brief Capitol news conference with the House GOP leadership team."
"Obama is scheduled to travel to Virginia on Tuesday to rally public support for his approach to replacing the $85 billion in sequestration cuts, but Republicans called on him to return to Washington and devise a plan with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
"“This is not the time for a road show president,” said Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the third-ranking House Republican."
Political Cartoons by Michael Ramirez
 
White House releases state-by-state breakdown of sequester’s effects   "Hundreds of teachers could lose their jobs in Ohio, home to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R), officials said, and thousands of children may not get necessary vaccines in conservative Georgia."
These are the same people who called Romney a felon and wife-murderer, who did opposition research on Joe the Plumber for daring to speak out as a citizen against Obama. There is neither shame nor trace of honor in Obama and Democrats, so do not look for truth.
The Democrats’ Permanent Campaign Continues  "The Democrats are sending out a blizzard of fundraising emails. They may be out of ideas, but they don’t think that matters as long as they can raise unprecedented amounts of money and use it to demonize their opponents. This morning I, along with millions of others, got this email from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee:"....



 Even with the above being obvious, Obama is pretty much off-limits to satirists   "The liberal inclinations of most comedians and comedy writers means that roughly half of the figures on the national scene can’t really be satirical targets. Any strong partisan or ideologue believes that the political scene is full of heroes and villains, and the satiric worldview doesn’t have room for heroes. The only way a satirist can salute people he perceives as heroic or noble or worthy of public esteem is by ignoring them."....
"...it took the likes of President Barack Obama to have enough contempt for America to make it explicit."

What Obama cost you "Joseph Farah breaks down spending numbers leading U.S. to bankruptcy"
 image7-Gallery: 60 sequester and economy cartoons
 

Louis Farrakhan: You know, when he talks about the Jewish lobby, Chuck Hagel sounds a little like me

Hot Air  "The cloture vote’s tomorrow. Confirmation seems a fait accompli. Is there no man in all the land who, through his sheer odiousness, can stop this train with an anti-endorsement — a sort of demonus ex machina?
"Perhaps there is, my friends. Perhaps there is."
"Exit question: When Farrakhan says Hagel (who, to remind you, voted to invade Iraq) will keep us out of “fighting somebody else’s wars,” is he making an exception for U.S. peacekeepers in the Palestinian territories? Because Hagel evidently thinks that’s a swell idea."