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

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden

  • Negotiations with the insurgency

    Tman sent us a link to an Associated Press article about the negotiations that going on between the US and a former 6-year prisoner from an Afghanistan jail, former Taliban minister and current leader of the Islamic party, Hizb-i-Islami.

    Dr. Ghairat Baheer, a representative and son-in-law of longtime Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (Gul-bu-DEEN HEK-mah-tyar), told The Associated Press this week that he had met separately with David Petraeus, former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan who is now CIA director, and had face-to-face discussions earlier this month with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, currently the top commander in the country.

    So, since he’s a leader of the insurgency in Afghanistan, we had imprisoned him for all of the right reasons. And now we’re trying to make peace with him? Good luck.

    The most interesting part of the article to me, was this paragraph;

    In Washington, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden would not confirm that such meetings took place but said the U.S. was maintaining “a range of contacts in support of an Afghan-led reconciliation process.”

    Caitlin Hayden, you old timers might remember, was the member of the US Afghanistan Embassy staff who made two appearances on this blog over two years ago denying that there were negotiations going on between the US and the Taliban. So I guess her function is purposeful misinformation.

  • Tossing UK under the bus

    So what would have happened in 1982 in regards to the Falklands if Jimmy Carter had been president instead of Ronald Reagan? well, we get a peak into that “what if” with Jimmy Carter’s second term being served by President Obama;

    In response to a question on the Falklands at Thursday’s State Department press briefing, a US government spokesman supported direct negotiations between Buenos Aires and London over the sovereignty of the Falklands, something that Argentina has been pressing for aggressively, and which Britain sees as completely unacceptable.

    As far is London is concerned, the sovereignty of the Falklands was decisively settled in the 1982 war when British forces retook the Islands after Argentina’s brutal military junta invaded them. The Falklands’ 3,000 inhabitants are 90 per cent British (according to the 2006 census), and 0.1 percent Argentine, and have no desire to live under the boot of Buenos Aires.

    So much for the right of self-determination. What coulld this administration possible gain by letting Argentina pick at this scab? Well, except to maybe act like liberals. This is the second time this issue has been brought up in the last few months. Earlier last year, the US supported an OAS call for negotiation of the settles issue, according to Fox News.

    Thanks to Old Trooper for the link.

  • Ombudsman urges Post to “scrutinize” Obama

    The Washington Post’s ombudsman,Patrick B. Pexton, writes a column this weekend advising the newspaper to “Scrutinize President Obama’s record” after he read the reportage that preceded the 2008 election;

    I think there was way too little coverage of his record in the Illinois Senate and U.S. Senate, for example, with one or two notably good exceptions. But there were hard-hitting stories too, even a very tough one on Michelle Obama’s job at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

    And that’s what The Post needs to do in covering his reelection campaign this year: be hard-hitting on his record and provide fresh insight and plenty of context to put the past three rough years into perspective.

    Yeah, this me not holding my breath.

    Of course, if the Post had scrutinized Obama’s previous legislative record, the would have had to admit that record was light on actual performance, and he probably wouldn’t have been the nominee and we’d have another Clinton presidency (because admit it, John McCain wasn’t winning against anyone that year). Obama shouldn’t have been in the Senate based on his performance in the Illinois legislature

    Pexton continues that the Post should highlight Obama’s performance in office as president. Yeah, that’s pretty sparse, too. What isn’t sparse is his drive towards partisan division focusing on politicizing the Executive Branch. Things like the Fast and Furious failure, the Solyndra debacle, the Philadelphia Black Panther prosecutions which never happened, losing the house to Republicans, failure to go ahead with the Keystone Project, failure to approve oil exploration in Alaska, the Gulf cleanup, the failure to capitalize on the riots in Iran, compromising on the Afghanistan surge, well, you get the idea.

    But the Post is too focused on defeating any Republican candidate than on informing the public. Pexton’s column is just the Post’s way of saying “See, we’re not biased”, and nothing will change.

  • Obama Administration outsources US jobs to Brazil

    I wrote about this issue back in May about the contract competition between a US company, Hawker Beechcraft, against Brazilian-owned and operated Embraer. It seems that the contract has been awarded to Embraer;

    So 1200 US jobs went to Brazil. Obama promised to create jobs, I guess we didn’t understand that he meant the jobs were for Brazilians. Lucky for us, this is an election year and we can fix it.

  • Obama operative caught in dirty trick scheme

    Zach Edwards, 29, of Des Moines, Barack Obama’s 2008 Iowa New Media Director, was arrested yesterday for stealing the Iowa Secretary of State’s identity in order to the appearance that Matt Schultz, and his brother Thomas were involved in illegal activities;

    Zach Edwards’ bio on Link Strategies website says he joined the Obama campaign in early 2007 as an intern in Nevada. He eventually joined the New Media department and directed their operations in five other primary states. He was the Iowa Director of New Media for Barack Obama’s general election campaign. After the election, Edwards joined Link Strategies, “where he provides innovative web-based research tools, video analysis and production, and web-based communication tools to assist our clients,” according to the bio.

    So I guess Chicago politics don’t work so well in Iowa.

  • Obama Administration; Wishing in one hand…

    An Associated Press article in the Stars & Stripes tells us about how the “US has new confidence in peace talks with Taliban”

    The diplomatic, military and intelligence branches of the U.S. government differ over the value of talks with the Taliban or whether now is the right time to so publicly shift focus away from the ongoing military campaign that primarily targets Taliban insurgents. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and some uniformed military leaders recently have sounded some of the strongest notes of caution, especially on when to grant Taliban requests for the transfer of several of its prisoners from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military and other U.S. officials said.

    Yeah, see I remember the Paris Peace Accords which everyone thought was a guarantee for the survival of the South Vietnamese government. How long did it take for the North Vietnamese to roll into Saigon and for us to fly the embassy staff out fleeing instead of fulfilling our promise to the Saigon government?

    Negotiations are great if it’s between two rational actors. The Taliban are not rational or trustworthy and they have never been so. B ut, ya know, if all you’re looking for is a ten-second sound bite to use in the political campaign, the taliban will be more than willing to give you one while they’re making plans to stab you in the ass.

    But then our only goal in that war these days is “withdrawal” not victory.

  • Who needs jobs or oil?

    Several years back, I told my daughter that she should trade in her Acura (Jap Honda POS) and get something cheaper with a better maintenance record. Her answer was “Why do I need an extra $100/month? What will it buy me?”

    I see that myopic strategy at work today in the Obama Administration plans to reject the Keystone pipeline from Fox News;

    For three years, the State Department has been reviewing the initial proposal to run a pipeline from Canada down to Texas through a sensitive Nebraska aquifer — authority it has because of the transnational path the route takes. The pipeline had been through several other federal, state and local approvals, but the department backed away from signing off on the plan last year after environmentalists complained.

    Industry workers and Republicans contend the project would create thousands of jobs, and Canada’s prime minister has warned if the U.S. can’t get on board, the North American nation will look to team with China.

    Who needs thousands of more jobs in this country? Who needs oil money? Letting China move in is a great idea whose time has come. China operates refineries in Africa and is making deals for oil in South and Central America, why not let them in our neighborhood? After all, they’re not really communists anymore, right? They’re no threat. Well, other than their new subs and aircraft carriers.

    Obama has noted his environmental concerns when it comes to energy exploration but insisted Tuesday that a balance could be found.

    “I think the recommendations are sound. We see enormous potential in production of traditional fossil fuels,” he said without mentioning Keystone.

    Once again, I’ll quote Jimmy Carter’s explanation for forming the Department of Energy in his “Malaise Speech“, in which he decried our “crisis of confidence” in government;

    To make absolutely certain that nothing stands in the way of achieving these goals, I will urge Congress to create an energy mobilization board which, like the War Production Board in World War II, will have the responsibility and authority to cut through the redtape, the delays, and the endless roadblocks to completing key energy projects.

    We will protect our environment. But when this Nation critically needs a refinery or a pipeline, we will build it.

    There has not been a refinery or an oil pipeline built since that speech. Mainly because we subject our energy policy to the whims of filthy hippies who don’t buy gas or need jobs.

  • OWS protester throws smoke bomb at White House

    Of course, if this was a veteran who had thrown a couple of smoke bombs at the White House, this would be leading the news on every channel, but since it was only the OWS clowns, “feisty” is the only adjective they can summon at DC’s Fox5;

    Two smoke bombs were apparently thrown over the White House fence as an “Occupy” protest grew feisty Tuesday evening, FOX News Channel reported.

    Smoke Bomb Thrown Over White House Fence During Occupy Protest: MyFoxDC.com

    President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were not in the White House at the time of the alleged incident….

    Well, that’s a given. When are they ever in the White House?