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

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden

  • Losing the peace in the South Sudan

    Paul sends us a link to Foreign Policy which digs into the rise of violence in the South Sudan. They find Hope & Change behind it;

    It’s an extraordinary and painful development, given America’s major role in securing independence for South Sudan. But the toughest part for Americans to swallow may be that it’s the U.S.-backed leaders of South Sudan — the supposed good guys — that are responsible for plunging the country into chaos and threatening to wreck America’s signature achievement in the region.

    […]

    The country’s quick descent into the inter-ethnic violence has stunned American observers, who had long viewed the Sudanese government in Khartoum as posing the greatest threat to South Sudan’s future. But it’s South Sudan’s own unresolved internal political and ethnic differences that appear to be endangering the country’s hopes. Sudan was the site of one of Africa’s longest and bloodiest civil wars, with as many as 2 million dying from combat, hunger, and disease in a conflict that lasted 22 years.

    […]

    In Washington, U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, who has championed South Sudan’s cause in the United States and at the United Nations for more than two decades, warned this weekend that the United States’ longstanding support was in jeopardy.

    “For all those who choose the path of peace and democracy, know that the United States will continue to stand with you, as we have at every step of your journey,” said Rice, who has spoken to both Kiir and Machar in recent days, according to a source close to her. “But, I must also be clear: If a different choice is made, if individuals or groups seek to take or hold power through force, mass violence, or intimidation, the United States will have no choice but to withdraw our traditional, robust support. Killing will only lead to deprivation and isolation for the people of South Sudan.”

    Who would have thought that folks who had been fighting a guerrilla war for two decades wouldn’t be able to peaceably govern a new country? Certainly, no one who has ignored human history could have thought it would happen. And, oh yeah, there are now 40 Army troops in Sudan to evacuate Americans there, and another 150 Marines in the neighborhood.

  • The Suddenly Competent Incompetents

    All I can say is “Wow!” Just when we’re all are thinking this Obama administration is corrosively corrupt and consummately incompetent, they go and do something that just has to make us all pause and rethink our strongly held beliefs that federal government is too massive and immovable to be either responsive to the needs of the citizenry or efficient. Here we are out here in flyover country, remote from all those coastal centers of incestuous intellectualism, pounding on our keyboards about all the predicted and daily unveiling failings of ObamaCare, and damn all if this Obama administration doesn’t go and show all us religious, gun-clingin’ fools that, by gosh, they can move with amazing alacrity when it is important to America suits their agenda.

    What I’m referring to, if you haven’t heard, is the absolutely amazing rapid response to a request by several Democrat senators, to do something, for Pete’s sake, about this horrendous, looming mandate (federal noncompliance fine) that’s going to really piss off some voters back in their home states if it isn’t delayed. What’s ever so surprising is that some of these solicitous senatorial signatories, Begich, Pryor, Landrieu, and Hagan, all of whom voted for this lame legislation, are up for re-election in November. My own senator, Mark Pryor, has suddenly rediscovered the importance of the bible in this campaign year and another senator to my south, little Mary Half-Moon Landrieu, who’s support for ObamaCare came at a hefty price, has discovered that maybe she shouldn’t have sold out, too cheaply or otherwise. Little Contrary Mary peddled her political posterior and now wants it back when her pastis coming back to bite her.

    But enough about senatorial weasels, let’s look at those improbably industrious administration ants who, unable to build their humongous health-care system and its online enrollment website in three-plus years, have managed to respond to the demands of those senators in less than a day. All I can say, once again, is “Wow!” That’s right, in just one day, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, under tremendous pressures to correct all the many problems with her legislative Frankenstein, amazingly found the time to sit down and compose this extensive missive to the concerned senators. This executive edict grants them their every wish, by exempting failed applicants to Obamacare who have lost their insurance due to the poorly thought through provisions of the original, recklessly passed legislation,so that they now will be considered as hardship cases and therefore exempt from the fines mandated for those who fail to obtain coverage.

    But just put it out of your damned old suspicious, conservative minds that such an executive fiat is clearly illegal and unconstitutional and that those issues were probably not considered by these incompetent clowns in their haste to serve their needy allies:

    Democrat senators… up for re-election.

    I know, I know, you’re thinking it’s just another cynical set-up by an arrogant administration led by the most self-centered and inept president in our nation’s history.All you skeptics reading here who see this event as just another pre-planned, butt-covering move by this Keystone Kops administration, should lighten up just a bit and give some credit where credit’s due; such as for these corruptocrats who are clearly and cleverly competent at covering up their incomparable incompetence. Hey, when this hapless turkey can respond to a senatorial request and effect the requested policy change in less than a day, you have to put aside your suspicions of a political fix and give credit where credit is due.

    Yeah, right…

    Who do these bungling fools think they’re fooling?
    Crossposted from American Thinker

  • Benevolent Emporer grants pay raises

    Well, that’s how it sounded to me when I read the LA Times article about the president who “grants” a pay raise to the troops and the federal workers;

    President Obama issued an executive order Monday granting civilian and military employees a 1% pay raise in 2014.

    Military employees have received a raise each year that Obama has been in the White House, but civilian pay has been flat over the last three years as members of Congress have tangled over the budget and the federal deficit.

    On the campaign trail in 2010 and 2012, some Republicans targeted the pay scale of federal employees, suggesting that inflated government employment was contributing to the nation’s fiscal problems, although their salaries make up a small portion of the overall budget.

    I like the part about federal employees’ salaries make up a “small portion of the overall budget”. I’m pretty sure that the LA Times wouldn’t say the same thing about veterans’ pensions being a small portion of the overall defense budget since the line lately has been that retires are responsible for the Defense budget being busted.

    I remember in the last decade, my workmates complained that President Bush “only” gave them a 3 1/2% cost of living raise. It’s funny how I haven’t heard them complaining about getting no COLA increases the last few years. I guess that would make them racist, or something if they said something today. Either that or they’d have to blame it on “Congress”.

    Personally, I don’t need the pay raise, I controlled my costs by moving out of DC. They probably don’t need it, either, well, except those idiots who had to dip into their 401ks when they missed one pay check last Fall, you know when the government shut down because Congress wanted to delay the healthcare plan for a year, which has become the policy of this administration in recent days.

    But it seems kind of incongruous that the President signed his executive order while on a millions of dollars vacation in Hawai’i.

  • ‘On Behalf of a Grateful Nation, Please Accept This Flag…’

    That’s an abridged version of the words uttered by the officer or NCO in charge of the burial detail to the surviving spouse or next of kin of an American warrior killed in action as they are handed the carefully folded flag that had covered the coffin. Many of us have witnessed the ceremony and sometimes heard those quiet words, our hearts heavy with shared grief, but grief not remotely equal to the loss being felt by the person accepting that national symbol of supreme sacrifice. It is a solemn ceremony, steeped in tradition, meant to demonstrate not just to the family of the fallen but to all observing citizens that we as a nation value our warriors.

    Now, our Democrat Senate, with the aid of nine Republican senators has just passed legislation which denies the promise of the above referenced ceremony, that is, that we are in fact a grateful nation. Looking for ways to cut the national budget, an ungrateful congressional conference has targeted our military community for reductions in their retirements while maintaining billions of dollars of support for far less worthy federal programs such as one providing federal assistance to illegal aliens. Yes, that’s right, this Democrat senate is willing to put constraints on pension benefits for those Americans who have served honorably, all while maintaining welfare for those who have entered our country illegally. The Democrats choose to reward those who have no regard for the system of laws growing out of our constitution, the same document our military personnel all must swear an oath to uphold, even at the cost of their lives.

    I suspect that even some liberals will acknowledge the inherent unfairness of this particular legislation. After all, even leftists need a viable military to defend their cockamamie concepts of governance. The largest leftist regimes like the Soviet Union and Red China, in point of fact, have always showered awards and honors on their military forces for the protections they provide. Few soldiers anywhere have more medals to wear than those who fought to preserve and expand communism. But not this country, the United States of America, that supposedly is the beacon of liberty. The hypocrisy, the irony, the tragedy of reducing the pensions of those who have served this country honorably to the benefit of those who are living in this country illegally, defies all logic and reality, which is exactly where the liberal left in this country has taken us since their Messiah took control five years ago. We are in Alice’s Wonderland and descending into a dystopian society where wrong is right and down is up is government policy.

    Once again, those who have served in the nation’s conflicts, many of whom are inclined to vote conservative and Republican, are being sacrificed by the ungrateful, leftist Democrat party in order to incubate and cultivate a few million additional Democrat voters. The corruption of the Democrat party is complete. They look at those hordes crossing our borders and say:

    “Please accept this flag and all the benefits life under it confers on behalf of a grateful Democrat party,” while at the same time saying, “Veterans, soldiers and those who’ve served, you will accept this pay cut because you are not important to us as a sympathetic voting bloc.”

    Grateful nation? Certainly not when liberal Democrats control our government.

    Crossposted at American Thinker

  • Applause for screwing the troops

    Chock Block sends us a link to Breaking Defense and article written by Russell Rumbaugh, whoever he is. He applauds Congress’ budget deal this last week which cut Cost of Living Allowances for military retirees, saying that it proves that Congress can screw the troops when they want to. As Chock Block points out, the photo that Rumbaugh uses for his article about cutting Pentagon waste is of a veterinarian operating on a military family’s pet. How that impacts Pentagon spending, I’m not sure.

    But, Rumbaugh writes;

    For the most adamant, personnel costs are about to eat the entire Department of Defense budget, reducing it to just a welfare agency and leaving the United States at the mercy of its enemies. Since the creation of the All-Volunteer Force, spending per servicemember has risen inexorably. The Department—as with the rest of the country—has watched its healthcare costs dramatically outpace inflation. Since the defense budget started expanding in the late 1990s, Congress has consistently heaped largesse on defense personnel. It repealed the retirement reform passed in the 1980s just before it kicked in, let former military members double dip by taking their military retirement pay while drawing a full civil service salary, allowed retirees to keep both their retirement and disabled pay, created the $10 billion-a-year TRICARE for Life Medicare supplement, and expanded eligibility for both healthcare and retirement benefits.

    Maybe Rumbaugh could glance for a moment at history – the history of the All-Volunteer Force is a sad one. During the Carter Administration defense spending was so dismal, that when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and Carter figured that he might actually need a military force to stop them, he reinstituted the draft, because recruiting volunteers probably wouldn’t work. The Carter Administration’s answer to recruiting was issuing those of us who lived in the barracks a colorful bed spread. I kid you not.

    When I got promoted to Sergeant from Corporal, my pay shot up $25/month. And I never had a pet that I had to take to the vet’s office. And, oh, yeah, it was Carter who ended what Rumbaugh calls “double-dipping”, allowing a military retiree to also draw a federal pension. It was Clinton who brought it back in 1999 mainly because the Federal government needed the military retiree pool to fill it’s ranks with experienced and dedicated people and military retirees wouldn’t take a federal job if they would loose a pension when they retired. It was in the government’s best interest to hire veterans, not some greedy move by VSOs to enrich retirees.

    Every administration tries to cut personnel costs at the Pentagon, even former President Bush, but this one is more successful than the others because they think that that the US will never need a military force again, somehow. they figure that they can resolve their problems like the lawyers they are and that when the military isn’t at war, they can parade for the emperor. How much can that cost?

    The problem with Rumbaugh and the Obama Administration is that they think that all factors remain constant irrespective of their policies. They figure, for example, that recruiting for the military is high now, so will it be after they make military service unattractive and take away all of the incentives that drive recruiting.

  • Standoff in the South China Sea

    “Jon Not To Be Confused With Jonn” sends us a link to Fox News which reports that the guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens was confronted by Chinese warships while it was in international waters of the South China Sea.

    On December 5th, while lawfully operating in international waters in the South China Sea, USS Cowpens and a PLA Navy vessel had an encounter that required maneuvering to avoid a collision,” a Navy official said.

    “This incident underscores the need to ensure the highest standards of professional seamanship, including communications between vessels, to mitigate the risk of an unintended incident or mishap.”

    A State Department official said the U.S. government issued protests to China in both Washington and Beijing in both diplomatic and military channels.

    The Cowpens was conducting surveillance of the Liaoning at the time. The carrier had recently sailed from the port of Qingdao on the northern Chinese coast into the South China Sea.

    Well, this administration wanted to shift their military focus from the Middle East to the Pacific Rim. Now they’ve got it.

  • Yeah, That’s Really “Presidential” Behavior

    Here’s a picture of the POTUS sharing a lighter moment with some other international leaders.

    There’s just one tiny little problem.  The above happened at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela.

    Way to very publicly reinforce the negative stereotype of the “ugly American”, Mr. President.

    Sheesh.  You think the POTUS would know better than to act like a young teen playing with a Game Boy while attending a freaking state funeral as the senior representative of the United States of America.  Even LBJ – as crude and vulgar a man as we’ve ever had serve as POTUS – had better sense and taste than that.

    Oh well, at least the First Lady apparently acted like an adult with a bit of dignity.  Kudos to her.

    It’s the second major public photographic gaffe for the POTUS in the past three days.  Three days ago, we had this:

    The man with whom the POTUS is shaking hands?  That would be Raul Castro.

    Yeah – that Raul Castro.  As in “Fidel’s brother”.

    That also happened in South Africa at an event connected to Mandela’s funeral.

    Wonderful.  Just freaking wonderful.

  • Could the Lure of a Pulitzer Trump Obama’s Nobel?

    There is growing speculation among conservatives that many Democrats may be looking to distance themselves from their once infallible leader. It appears that even some of Obama’s former true believers are finding in this ObamaCare boondoggle that that there is less truth than they originally were led to believe when it comes to this prevaricating president. While I definitely agree that there is growing discontent within the liberal ranks, I believe there’s another threat coming for Obama that may be even more devastating than being deserted by his fellow Democrats and the voters who put him in office.

    Remember, this unknown, inexperienced, Chicago politician only survived the primary against Hillary Clinton and the subsequent general election because the supposed watchdog media refused to do their jobs and investigate a résumé containing so many black holes and lack of substantiation that it would never have made it through the routine vetting required in the usual corporate hiring process. What America didn’t know about young Barack far outweighed what we did know but the liberal media was far more consumed by the liberal dream of a Black president than they were by the possibility that he might not be qualified for the job. They were so obsessed with their politically correct vision that they even turned against their previous liberal love interest, Hillary Clinton. Through four years of Obama’s first term and through re-election, the media stubbornly refused to do their jobs and find out for their viewers and readers just who this man really is.

    But what if that should change? As the Obama White House comes under more frequent and pointed criticism for its arrogant treatment of the media and more revelations of continuing, systemic dishonesty come to light, just how long will it be before some enterprising editor wakes up to the opportunity that his very own equivalent of the Pentagon Papers or Deep Throat/Watergate could be staring him right in the face? All he need do is assign an investigative team to find out just how extensive the dishonesty surrounding this, up until now, unexamined president really is and how deep into his past it goes. If you review the past winners of The Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, you will discover that, unlike other categories such as international reporting, many of the awards have gone to smaller newspapers, not just the dominant liberal publications like the NYT, WaPo, the Chicago Trib and LA Times. Yes, the big papers still dominate the category but lesser lights also have a chance to grab this gold ring of journalism and sometimes succeed. And every editor and reporter out there knows that once bestowed, Pulitzer Prize Winner is a lifetime honorific that confers professional esteem and career benefits right up until it features prominently in your celebrity obituary, a tempting lure for sure.

    Do you not suppose that thought already may be percolating in the minds of some of those who decide the course of those smaller, but still significant, publications? And can you not imagine that the grating, high-handed manner in which the White House is attempting to control all media coverage isn’t fueling at least a few such mutinous thoughts? Journalists are supposedly ingrained with an eagerness to expose the unseemly, especially if they are the first in their field to do so, to scoop the story. It can’t have been easy for some of the less liberal among both reporters and editors to have been forced to tamp down their professional curiosity for five years or more so as to protect America’s first black president, especially in less politically doctrinaire news organizations scattered about flyover country.

    So while Obama’s downfall might originate there in the hinterlands he so disdains, it is exponentially more dangerous for Barack Obama that there may be a publisher and editor in New York, Washington, Chicago, or Los Angeles, at one of the titan organizations with the requisite resources, who’s tiring of the growing arrogance of the administration in its media dealings. It is not completely far-fetched to consider that as the outright dishonesty and stonewalling of this supposedly most transparent of administrations continues and expands, some publishing mogul may be weighing the prestige awaiting his newspaper should it be the first to expose the truth of Barack Obama’s too-good-to-be-true political ascent. And in an age of declining readers and ad revenues, an ongoing series of blockbuster revelations about the greatest fraud ever perpetrated might be a way to change that trend.

    As for the investigators themselves, I’ll wager there are already some disenchanted reporters who are beginning to envision themselves as future Woodwards and Bernsteins, but on an even grander scale. And unlike those two reporters of an earlier era, any investigators of Obama’s mysterious past would have far more avenues of enquiry and who knows how many potential Deep Throats who, upon learning that the media is finally interested in listening to them, might reveal all sorts of information about Obama’s past that could disprove the official version and explain why there are so many blank areas in Obama’s résumé. And why he should never have been president. It will be interesting to see if the lure of a Pulitzer can trump a Nobel.

    Crossposted at American Thinker