This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden

  • Suggest this

    Yeah, I remember Ronald Reagan suggesting that Gorbachov tear down the Berlin Wall;

    Here’s an idea, how about telling the Castros that he won’t let any remittances into Cuba until they release their political prisoners and lower the amount they tax residents on remittances? How about that?

    And why is Obama stooping and bowing to Chavez when Chavez is on the ropes. He’s squandered his windfall profits from oil on weapons and submarines instead of spending it on his people – and now he needs the US. Chavez should been stooping and bowing to the US.

    Our buddy, John, an American living near the Costa Rican frontier with Panama sends us this cartoon from Nicaragua;

    It’s Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, Bolivia’s Evo Morales and Cuba’s Raoul Castro as monkeys. The sign Chavez is holding says “Cuba is the Paradise of Democracy”.  John writes that the artist of this cartoon is in hiding in Florida because of threats towards his family.
    ADDED: This is why I screen capture AP headlines these days. They seem to change;

  • Terrorist Chavez meets the black ignoramus

    The ignoramus meets the terrorist
    The ignoramus meets the terrorist

    Look at these two buddies clasping hands as if they’re old friends. I guess Obama forgot already that Hugo called him an ignoramus and refers to him as “the black man”, something that would probably get me a Secret Service visit if I said it. It was less than a month ago that Chavez called President Obama an ignoramus for mentioning that Chavez exports terrorism;


    That’s how we treat tin pot dictators these days, though. It’s been proven that this sort of treatment never comes back to bite us in the ass, hasn’t it? Look at the time we helped Saddam…oh, never mind. And when we gave the Canal to Panama…forget I said that. OK, all the help we supplied Stalin during WWII…oh, wait. Well, we helped the Afghans boot the Soviets…damn. Hmmm, well there must be an incident that proves stroking our enemy paid off. Isn’t there?
    Well, I’m sure Chavez will rethink his support of regional terrorist groups after that dap with Obama. If he doesn’t, Obama can do what seems to be the popular solution in Latin America among it’s leaders these days; go on a hunger strike like Chavez’ acolyte Evo Morales, the cocaine farmer turned President of Bolivia;

    Or Obama could hold his breath and stomp his feet – Chavez understands that, too.

    I guess we’ve gone from “You’re either with or you’re with the terrorists” to “You’re either with us or whatever.”

  • The unprotected class (Updated)

    When TSO wrote that post the other day about the Department of Homeland Security’s report on “right-wing extremists” I was so pissed I couldn’t see straight. And before TSO identified the “prominent civil rights organization“, I knew which it’d be. But, even the public outcry from veteran groups can’t end this despicable smear. One prominent blogger from the Right whom I respect deeply, and won’t name, whisked the report away under his electronic rug and advised us to ignore it because it didn’t say what we thought it said.

    I started to pen a note to him to explain that he was wrong this time, but I didn’t want to see what that note would have turned into if I’d hit the “send” button. So I’ll just do it here where I have control of the context.
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  • Napolitano stands by “vets as terrorists” warning

    The Washington Times’ Audrey Hudson reports this morning that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stands by her department’s report on potential terror by the “right wing”;

    Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that she was briefed before the release of a controversial intelligence assessment and that she stands by the report, which lists returning veterans among terrorist risks to the U.S.

    In her statement Wednesday, Ms. Napolitano defended the report, which says “rightwing extremism” may include groups opposed to abortion and immigration, as merely one among several threat assessments. But she agreed to meet with the head of the American Legion, who had expressed anger over the report, when she returns to Washington next week from a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border.

    In response to some reports of who the author of the report might be, the Times narrows down the field;

    Homeland Security officials have declined to say who wrote report, except that it was a career official and not a political appointee.

    Only three employees are listed in the Federal Yellow Book as working for the I&A office – acting Undersecretary Roger Mackin and two executive assistants.

    Rep. Steven Buyer of Indiana replicates my thoughts on the danger of the report – irrespective of the shrugs from Bloggers on the right who have never served in the military, and never suffered the slings and arrows of the American culture after the Vietnam war;

    “This kind of mischaracterization can lead to discrimination against veterans in our society, especially in the job market,” Mr. Buyer said. “Vietnam veterans were subjected to this unfair treatment, and I call upon President Obama and members of Congress to refute any similar stereotyping of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.”

    Press Secretary Gibbs conveniently hasn’t talked to the President about the report yet;

    Asked about the report at Wednesday’s White House briefing, press secretary Robert Gibbs said he has not spoken with President Obama specifically about it.

    It was irresponsible of Napolitano to allow this report to see the light of day and it’s even more irresponsible of her to continue to pretend she’s the least bit concerned about national security when she allows her staff to mischaracterize the very people who put their lives on the line for that security.

    I don’t understand how they can pretend like this is no big deal – except that they know they don’t depend on veterans’ and troops’ votes to win elections.

    Equally important, where is the statement from nonpartisan IAVA condemning this?

    Thanks to 1STCavRVN11B for the link.

  • DC Tea Party complete with Leftist insurgencies

    I’m sorry I took so long to get this up – the rain turned my laptop into an eight pound paperweight so here I am at home with a beer cracked open again.

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    Here’s the crowd when I first got there;

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    I guess there were about 500 until the rain started pouring down on us and it thinned out a bit. But there were some good signs;

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    Some needed spell check;

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    The pig balloons made another appearance;

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    There were rumors that some of the Left were going to infiltrate the tea parties. Of course, being DC and being full of liberals, you just know the crack pots would show up to try and disrupt it. Like Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin;

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    Medea had a piece of pink tape on one of her three corners that said I (heart) Fox like that’d be camoflage. I asked her if she thought her disguise was good enough;

    Then there were these clowns from MoveOn who tried to make it look as if we protesting for the rich;
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    The sign;
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    This guy made sense until he started ranting about the war;

    It was a pretty good turn out until the rain started pounding us. We saw an IVAW shirt and a few Ron Paul shirts. I didn’t get as many pictures as I normally would because of the rain, but I think I captured the mood – as dampened as it became. Surprisingly, a huge number of people stuck around. We had us a good little group of our own. TSO hooked up with LT Nixon and we ran into Hooper and 509th Bob.

    As always, there are more pictures at my Flickr PhotoStream. Age of Hooper has more pictures and videos – I especially like the “Did I do that?” sign.

  • American Legion responds to DHS’ unwarranted fear of veterans

    A friend of ours in the deep southland sends us the letter that the American Legion national commander, David K. Rehbein sent to Department of Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano in response to the report that TSO wrote about yesterday which expressed an unwarranted fear of us right-wing veterans. The letter reads;

    Dear Secretary Napolitano,

    On behalf of the 2.6 million-member American Legion, I am stating my concern about your April 7 report, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence and Recruitment.”

    First, I want to assure you that The American Legion has long shared your concern about white supremacist and anti-government groups. In 1923, when the Ku Klux Klan still yielded unspeakable influence in this country, The American Legion passed Resolution 407. It resolved, in part, “…we consider any individual, group of individuals or organizations, which creates, or fosters racial, religious or class strife among our people, or which takes into their own hands the enforcement of law, determination of guilt, or infliction of punishment, to be un-American, a menace to our liberties, and destructive to our fundamental law…”

    The best that I can say about your recent report is that it is incomplete. The report states, without any statistical evidence, “The possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.”

    The American Legion is well aware and horrified at the pain inflicted during the Oklahoma City bombing, but Timothy McVeigh was only one of more than 42 million veterans who have worn this nation’s uniform during wartime. To continue to use McVeigh as an example of the stereotypical “disgruntled military veteran” is as unfair as using Osama bin Laden as the sole example of Islam.

    Your report states that “Rightwing extremists were concerned during the 1990s with the perception that illegal immigrants were taking away American jobs through their willingness to work at significantly lower wages.” Secretary Napolitano, this is more than a perception to those who have lost their job. Would you categorize union members as “Right Wing extremists”?

    In spite of this incomplete, and, I fear, politically-biased report, The American Legion and the Department of Homeland Security share many common and crucial interests, such as the Citizen Corps and disaster preparedness. Since you are a graduate of New Mexico Girls State, I trust that you are very familiar with The American Legion. I would be happy to meet with you at a time of mutual convenience to discuss issues such as border security and the war on terrorism. I think it is important for all of us to remember that Americans are not the enemy. The terrorists are.

    He had a lot more control than I would – I guess that’s why he’s the commander. I hope he addresses that racist hate group the Southern Poverty Law Center’s participation in this farce some day.

    I have a favorite quote from Samuel Johnson that addresses this very same subject in his 18th century book “The Patriot”;

    “It is the quality of patriotism to be jealous and watchful, to observe all secret machinations, and to see publick dangers at a distance. The true lover of his country is ready to communicate his fears, and to sound the alarm, whenever he perceives the approach of mischief. But he sounds no alarm, when there is no enemy; he never terrifies his countrymen till he is terrified himself. The patriotism, therefore, may be justly doubted of him, who professes to be disturbed by incredibilities…”

    Thanks to Michelle Malkin, Gateway Pundit, Nice Deb and Free Republic for the links.

  • First test?

    Yesterday, the Washington Post ran this article by the Associated Press about how President Obama has passed his “first national security test” ;

    Yeah, he passed the test in the sense that he didn’t interfere with the same orders that every cop on the street is given before they start their beat. In the same issue of the Post, they ran this AP article; Undeterred Somali pirates hijack 3 more ships. So what national security goal has been accomplished beyond the life of a single man?

    The Wall Street Journal announces this morning that Pakistan created a haven for extremist jihadists in Swat and they seem to be streaming in and creating training bases.

    President Asif Ali Zardari effectively ratified the government’s deal with the Taliban Monday by signing a bill that imposes Islamic law in Swat, a key plank of the accord, hours after legislators overwhelmingly approved a resolution urging it. Pakistani officials have touted the deal, reached in February, as a way to restore peaceful order in the bloodied region — which lies just a few hours’ drive from the capital — and halt the Taliban’s advance.

    Yet a visit to the Taliban-controlled valley here found mounting evidence that the deal already is strengthening the militants as a base for war. U.S. officials contend the pact has given the Taliban and its allies in al Qaeda and other Islamist groups an advantage in their long-running battle against Pakistan’s military.

    The number of militants in the valley swelled in the months before the deal with the Taliban was struck, and they continue to move in, say Pakistani and U.S. officials. They now estimate there are between 6,000 and 8,000 fighters in Swat, nearly double the number at the end of last year.

    So should we say that Obama has failed that portion of his test? But that’s not all – because of the weak and inaudible response to North Korea’s launch of a missile over Japan, Kin Jong Il has found the inner strength to ignore six-party talks to disarm the Norks’ nuclear program (WSJ link);

    North Korea said Tuesday it would rev up its nuclear-weapons development program and pull out of the so-called “six party” diplomatic process where five other countries have tried since 2003 to persuade it to give up its pursuit of those weapons in exchange for economic help.

    The country announced the decision just hours after the U.N. Security Council in New York voted to issue a statement criticizing North Korea’s April 5 launch of a missile-like rocket.

    That penalty was lighter in tone and diplomatic weight than the resolutions that the Security Council passed when North Korea launched a long-range missile and tested a nuclear device in 2006. North Korea responded to those penalties by returning to the six-party bargaining table and forging a deal in early 2007 to dismantle a nuclear power plant that provided fuel for its atomic weapons.

    Oh, and to prove that we’re not Bush anymore, Obama is going to fund the Castro government by lifting remittances barriers (Washington Times);

    “We’re getting the United States out of the business of regulating the relationship between Cuban families,” said Dan Restrepo, the president’s top adviser on Latin American issues at the National Security Council.

    “The Cuban government should get itself out of the way and allow Cuban families to support Cuban families. And that creates the kind of space, in our view, that is necessary to move Cuba forward to a free and democratic Cuba,” he said.

    Yeah, that’ll happen because the Cuban government has a history of leaving Cuban families to their business. Hardly. 20% of the hard currency dollars that enter Cuba will go straight to the Fidel/Raul retirement plan. Can we call that a failure? Zombie Castro “says” Obama’s new Cuba policy doesn’t go far enough.

    I’m glad that Captain Phillips is free, I’m glad Obama didn’t screw that up – but all the rest of this crap should scare the media to death – and they should say so instead of looking for nothing but positives.

  • Obama’s Bill Clinton moment

    Can you imagine George W. Bush allowing a US Navy destroyer to be held at bay by a few scrawny Somalians stranded in an unfueled lifeboat hundreds of miles from shore? No, me either. Only a Democrat Administration would think that they can negotiate with a bunch of superstitious stone-age terrorists who think they’re going to die the minute their hostage is released. After all, they reneged on their deal with the crew of the Maersk Alabama in the prisoner exchange that was supposed to take place before the Navy arrived. Why should they expect different treatment from our side?

    I flashed on a similar situation over 15 years ago when in the Fall of 1994, the Haitian generals held an entire nation hostage. At one point, President Clinton dispatched warships to Port-au-Prince. Shirtless and shoeless Haitian supporters of the generals stood on the docks shouted and waved their machetes at the hulking gray ships. Eventually, the Navy didn’t dock and left the port. The Haitians immediately celebrated a great victory over the United States military.

    Clinton became so frustrated that he sent Jimmy Carter to straighten things out – and the 82d Airborne Division orbited Pope Air Force Base waiting for the word to go. Instead of using his military, Clinton paid US taxpayer dollars to the generals to leave Haiti – and Haiti is a tropical paradise and tourist destination today because of it. Huh? It’s not? Nothing has changed? How could I have missed that?

    Halfway around the world, with their compadres streaming towards the tiny lifeboat with it’s single hostage, shirtless and shoeless pirates are holding off the US Navy. For three days now, the US has been negotiating and time is running short before more ships with more hostages arrive to complicate the whole situation.

    Why doesn’t Obama just drop Jimmy Carter into the lifeboat and exchange him for Captain Phillips? That’d solve two problems at once.