Oil: A Casual Observation

Twenty close of last year, the President Bush told us we are going to start looking seriously at offshore drilling, thus increasing supply,  as a way of bringing down oil prices.  Based solely on that move, worldwide oil prices went through the floor.  Subsequent to the lecture and, President  Obama told us that we were going to be doing any offshore drilling, because we needed to “save the environment”.

Since that pronouncement,  the price of oil has doubled.

Does anyone suppose that there is no connection, here?

Newsbusters’ Kyle Drennen tells us:

Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over President Obama’s Cairo speech to a whole new level on Friday, declaring on MSNBC: “I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God.”

Thomas, appearing on Hardball with Chris Matthews, was reacting to a preceding monologue in which Matthews praised Obama’s speech: “I think the President’s speech yesterday was the reason we Americans elected him. It was grand. It was positive. Hopeful…But what I liked about the President’s speech in Cairo was that it showed a complete humility…The question now is whether the President we elected and spoke for us so grandly yesterday can carry out the great vision he gave us and to the world.”

He’s got vid of the event, too.

Is there something in the HVAC over there, that brings these kind of drooling comments out?

Or is it just that GE, and thereby MSNBC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the executive branch of the Federal government?

Go ahead.  Tell me again about how the press is not left wing extremist.

I finally got a few minutes to get the logo the way I wanted it. The way the header on this blog has looked for the last week or so is shameful, but such is what happens when life comes at you in the middle of a project.  I’m very lucky David’s been keeping things hopping,   (Thanks as always, David!) …and  that the Rambles this week wrote themselves, pretty much.

Once I managed to sit down tonight, I had to take a crash course in a new graphics program and along the way re-acquaint myself with CSS functions as well as WP variables. But it looks pretty good now.

Anyone seeng any issues?

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere: The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is the JAF Edition. (Just Another Friday)

• Unemployment is up: To the shock of nobody, unemployment is up. This morning’s commerce Dept figures show unemployment at 9.4%. That’s the highest it’s been in over 25 years. Hope and change, you know. At some point, Obama’s not going to be able to blame Bush anymore. The American people have already started to see that the massive spending on the ‘stimulus’ didn’t work. The myth of big government spending being the panacea is broken at last. And when the pain starts showing up, they’re going to know who to blame. I take no celebration in that statement. I merely observe.
• Merkel knows what’s what:  On waking, this morning, I was greeted by the specticle of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, under a full scale schmooze assault from Obama.  It’s not working. It was hard watching it, not to laugh; She’s clearly not impressed by him. Then again, she’s spent most of her life with socialists just a few miles to the east, and knows better than most the damage they can cause a people.
• Cheny more popular than Pelosi?  According to Gallup, yes.
• Fish in a Barrel At least three bits of mail in my box this morning, incuding one from The Huddle” reports chatter on Sonia Sotomayor coming down in a a lot off her rulilngs, to the right of David Souter. What they fail to mention of course is that Fidel Castro could do the same.
• Obama left of Castro? Well, that’s what crazy Uncle Hugo is saying. Give the boy credit. Seems he’s not totally disconnected from reality after all. He knows a socialist when he sees one. Our own press does as well. The difference is, Chavez actually admits it.
• D-Day: Tommorow is D-Day. Sixty five years ago tonight, literally millions of men were on boats in the English Channel, ready to tale the short cruise across the channel to several beachs on the shores of France.  It was tonight, when General Eisenhower took to the airwaves to speak to those troops:
  

  Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely.

  But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory!

  I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!

  Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

  And I wonder; How many people, 65 years on, now, a mere lifetime away, will even mark the day. I know one who will: Pajamas Media’s Carol Gould.

• Gore to the Rescue:  NORK, as you’ll recall, has kidnapped arrested two “Journalists’ for spying on them. Predictably, Al Gore is going over there to negotiate for their release. Yes, predictably.  You see, they work for Gore’s “Current” propaganda TV channel. (Quick… someone in ATL tell WSB, who totally missed this one.) But there’s a lesson here. I figure the choice of people who work for Al Gore was intentional on NORK’s part; They knew Gore would show up and give them the propaganda value they needed.  Anyone else would ahve brought reps from the US  government, likely with a rather large stick in hand.  The Ever willing to negotiate Gore, the former VP showing up and begging the indulgence of the little gargoyle, on the front page of whatever passes for newspapers there.  NORK is legitimacy starved, as are all tinpot dictatorships. Gore is unique in that he’s among the few stupid enough to give that myopic rodent what he wants.
• Inflation? Here’s your inflation: Seems North Korea has been producing “super note” counterfeit 100-dollar bills which are pretty much indistinguishable from legal tender, for some time, now. Of course it’s no big deal. With Obama running the show the dollar will be worth that much less and thereby NORK won’t get as much from the deal, anyway. It all works out.
• More Czars than a Russian Funeral: Obama’s got two new Czars today. One for (suppsoedly) cleaning up the great lakes, and the other to monitor executive pay.  How much butt need one kiss to get these positions? Unelected, unaccountable, and high pay. Just the thing for restoring a small government. Oh, by the way… what does the czar monitoring executive pay, get paid, anyway? Even the WSJ hasn’t said, that I’ve seen. You can bet it’ll be at a level that wouldn’t pass his own muster.
• A horse is a horse of course of course: The Belmont Stakes, the last of the Triple Crown, is tommrow. Just a reminder.
•  Getting an instant return: Reynolds is posting again, apparently being back from his vacation to someplace where palm trees grow.   Must be nice to have that kinda money. (grump)
• A lesson in government:  We mentioned Gordon Brown having lost the moral auhority of the position he holds. He now tells us he won’t step down. This despite the country tunring so heavily to the conservative party it’ll take decades for Labor to recover, already. The lesson? . it’s not about service to the country.. it’s about power and the maintainance of it.
• Another Lesson in government: Microsoft is moving out of the country if Obama’s tax plan passes.  Gates and Balmer are no right wing dupes, folks. But Obama’s already lost them. The lesson? Increased taxes kill business, thereby killing jobs… and ultimately killing the tax take with it.
• Jobs ready to return?  No, I mean Steve Jobs.  And, yes, that’s the spculation.

Keith Olbermann attempted to smear Stuart Taylor.    Alas poor Keith.    It is not wise for dull minded person of little wit to pick a fight with their intellectual betters   Taylor gives Olbermann the Martin Yan treatment, slices and dices, here:

Olbermann concocted his “hypocrisy” and “fraud” charges by juxtaposing his misrepresentation of what I wrote about Sotomayor with his misrepresentation of what I wrote about Alito.

Dishonest. My approach to analyzing both nominees has been the same: Old letters and memos are of some relevance but should not be distorted, and actions as a judge are much more relevant.

I quote only Taylor’s conclusion.

NASA study links climate change to Solar activity, and human activity,  DailyTeach:

Some researchers believe that the solar cycle influences global climate changes. They attribute recent warming trends to cyclic variation. Skeptics, though, argue that there’s little hard evidence of a solar hand in recent climate changes.

Now, a new research report from a surprising source may help to lay this skepticism to rest. A study from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland looking at climate data over the past century has concluded that solar variation has made a significant impact on the Earth’s climate. The report concludes that evidence for climate changes based on solar radiation can be traced back as far as the Industrial Revolution.

 Now go tell Al Gore to crawl back into his mansion and for Henry Waxman to shove his Carbon Tax up where the Sun never shines.

The dim one explains President Kerry, AP:

PARIS -President Barack Obama said Tuesday the American people love all things French and acknowledged his own penchant for Gallic food and wines.

In his first interview with a French television channel, Obama heaped praise on the country in an apparent attempted to stamp out any lingering tensions sparked by France’s opposition to the United State’s 2003 invasion of Iraq.

“France is one of the most important countries in the world,” the president told I-Tele and Canal Plus, days ahead of a trip that will take him to Normandy and Paris for D-Day commemorations. He said French collaboration was crucial to solving the world’s problems, from climate change to the global recession

As the Obama economy continues to crash, Barry shows he understands world history and politics almost  as well as he understands economics.    Sure Uncle Barry says America. not a Christian but rather a Moslem nation, loves all things French, like President John “French” Kerry.   Sadly Barry means little of what he says, and understands even less.

France is a Nineteenth Century power with a Twenty-First Century ego.     If were not for Ameicans,  see picture above, and our allies, the  French would be speaking German or Russian.   Let see those supposed colllege transcipts of yours Barry?

Addendum:  (updated and bumped)

Well Barry said that Americans like all thing French.   Except that Barry doesn’t actually like the French, Charles Bemner, Times(UK):

The Obamas turn up in Paris this evening, but have declined a dinner invitation from the couple next door: the Sarkozys.

President Obama’s reluctance to spend more than minimum time with the French leader on his visit for the D-Day anniversary has come as an embarrassment to the Elysée Palace.

 Thoughts:

• Let us see that birth certificate.   Barry says that American like all things French.   He didn’t actually say he, himself, was an American?
• Another application of Geraghty’s Law?
•  Barry only read TOTUS.   He doesn’t actually understand the words?
• Barry doesn’t konw the difference talking the talk and walking the walk?

Isn’t Roman Polansky still living in France?   Go stay with him Barry.

Statement from the dim one, a/k/a Barack Obama, regarding the murder of his soldier Private William A. Long, United States Army, via Michelle:

“I am deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence against two brave young soldiers who were doing their part to strengthen our armed forces and keep our country safe. I would like to wish Quinton Ezeagwula a speedy recovery, and to offer my condolences and prayers to William Long’s family as they mourn the loss of their son.”

Statement from the reprobate Eric  Holder, Department of  Justice:

“The President’s pledge for a new beginning between the United States and the Muslim community takes root here in the Justice Department where we are committed to using criminal and civil rights laws to protect Muslim Americans. A top priority of this Justice Department is a return to robust civil rights enforcement and outreach in defending religious freedoms and other fundamental rights of all of our fellow citizens in the workplace, in the housing market, in our schools and in the voting booth.

“There are those who will continue to want to divide by fear – to pit our national security against our civil liberties – but that is a false choice. We have a solemn responsibility to protect our people while we also protect our principles.”

 Hat tip and more:  Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch

And if you wish he would issue a statement on protecting Americans from the Islamic jihad, you’re just continuing “to want to divide by fear.”

 So whe needs protection from whom, Doug Ross:

Police quickly apprehended a suspect, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, a 21-year-old African-American man and convert to Islam. In his vehicle, police recovered an SKS rifle and two handguns. Muhammad reportedly admitted to the shootings and claimed he had specifically targeted U.S. military personnel; he stated had more soldiers been in the parking lot, he would have shot them too

The Obama adminstration, dedicated to protecting those who deserve it the least and attacking the most vulnerable.

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere… The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is the “Need Some Gas?” Edition

• Charges against Countrywide?  As we go to press, word is coming off the wires that Freind of Chris Dodd Angele Mozilo and other Countrywide officials are to be charged with fraud by the SEC.  No shock since the “Wells notice”… the document usually a precusor to such charges, went out already… a few weeks ago, if I recall rightly.
• The Saga of Harry and Sonia:  Seems Harry Reid… unsurpisingly, has decided to back Sonia Sotomayor’s bid for the USSC.  Says Harry, she’s “got the whole package”.   However, as the Knights who say “Ni!!!” pointed out, there’s one small problem. He’s not read a single opinion from the woman. He even seems proud of it:
  

  I understand that during her career, she’s written hundreds and hundreds of opinions. I haven’t read a single one of them, and if I’m fortunate before we end this, I won’t have to read one of them. But — I’m not familiar with that opinion, but there will be plenty of time for people who are concerned about the Second Amendment — and there are lots of people on the Judiciary Committee who are concerned about it — they’ll have lots of time to offer her questions and she’ll proceed to answer them. But I don’t know anything about that.

  So in short, Dingy Harry’s support for her is based on…. well, now, what, exactly?  Certainly, it can’t be her legal chops, since by his own words, he hasn’t a clue what she’s done, and doesn’t care to find out. Is he simply following party lines and thinking that’s enough, perhaps? (Shrug) I dunno, but I think I may have decoded all of this. Reid’s reasoning may be that Sonia Sotomayor does have the ‘whole package’ and if so, I think Harry Reid wants it back. May explain why Harry sounded so much like Mickey Mouse when he delivered that line, as well.

•  Remembering Tiananmen:  I must admit this one wasn’t even on my ticker, for reasons I don’t understand… but several sources, including The New York Times and The Heritage Foundation’s Monring Bell (via eamail) along with  Bruce McQuain at Q&O point up it’s been 20 years to the day since that mess started, over there.  ( Hmmmm…Maybe I didn’t put it in my cal back then because we were busy planning for our wedding, 20 years ago, Donna and I. Heh… that may or may not be true, but Donna will like the idea I’m sure, so I’ll stick with that story for now.  )  The response to today by our government has been, as expected, worse than useless, as The Heritage Foundation points out in their email:
  

  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement yesterday calling on Chinese authorities to “provide a public accounting of those killed, detained or missing, both to learn and to heal.” [3] As noble as Secretary Clinton’s sentiment is, America’s authority to lead on human rights in China was significantly undermined earlier this year when Clinton tabled human rights issues during her February trip to the country [4] in favor of the Obama administration’s global warming concerns.

  [5]

  Clinton is not the only U.S. politician that has abandoned her past concern for human rights in China. Just this past month, Speaker Nancy Pelosi avoided any talk of human rights during her China trip [6], also prioritizing global warming over all other concerns. [7] And Pelosi used to be a leader for human rights in China. In 1991 she helped unveil a banner in Tiananmen Square honoring “those who died for democracy in China.” But last week this was all she could muster [6]: “In every country, not just China and the U.S., the global climate crisis is best surmounted with transparency and openness, respect for the rule of law and accountability to the people.”

  Those who saw their friends die 20 years ago today, and still face persecution from the current Chinese regime, feel betrayed by the current leadership’s shift in focus. Wang Dan, who once topped the Chinese government’s most wanted list of Tiananmen leaders [8], told [9] an audience at the Heritage Foundation [10] Monday [9]:

  I’m really disappointed … that the whole international community has just turned their back to the human rights issue. I think that’s sad because the people inside China really had some hope from the concern from the international community because they have no other means to try to pursue democracy. If the United States really wants to keep its status as a stronger power, they cannot just make friends with the Chinese government but also make friends with the Chinese people.?
  

  The trouble of course is that Clinton’s politics… and that of her boss, forces them to see ‘the people’ of China as it’s government. They actually think the title of ‘The People’s Republic” means what it says. Meanwhile, we see the News Media in denial, saying, for one thing that “There Was No “Tiananmen Square Massacre”‘   This ranks with Iran’s denial of the Holocaust. But there can be no doubt taht the people of China lost that day, and the government won. As usual, with victory comes the control of the label gun. That’s to be expected. But do we in the west have to buy into that lie? Apparently, we do, as long as the American soul-mates of the Chi-Comms are in power in Washington. 

     

   

   

   

•   More on the Blame Game:  Andrew Klavan at Pajamas Media has an interesting take on the Tiller murder and the blame game surrounding it:But if we’re going to get serious, if we really want to consider-well, not a mitigating factor-but let’s say a contributing factor to this murder, you know what my vote would be?  Roe V. Wade.
  

  And guess what?  It doesn’t matter a damn whether you’re for abortion or against it.  The Supreme Court decision arbitrarily declaring abortion a constitutional right is the worst thing that ever happened to either faction.   It was rotten and dishonest at its core-read the constitution and you tell me where the right to an abortion is-and rather than conferring a right on people, it actually stripped them of their most important right:  the right to elect legislators who make the laws they want.

  Hey, what the hell… it makes more sense than blaming Bill O’Reilly. And he’s got a point; Arbitrary decisions have a tendency to have consequences, particularly when they touch on morality issues.  For one thing, it breaks down the trust of the people in the government, on a level that’s nigh on impossible to repair.  

•  What authority?  This is very nearly a continuation of the last story…. Authority is based on trust. Without the latter, the former simply cannot exist. I’ve made comments about authority in the past.  In those two posts, I identify the most basic ingrediant of ‘authority’ as ‘trust’.  In watching the business in England, it wuld appear the government there no longer has the trust of it’s people… and small wonder.  And so, then, it’s authority is also being lost.  And I wonder if we’re not looking at our own future, here.

David Carradine has died:

(Fox News)- “Kung Fu” and “Kill Bill” actor David Carradine was found dead Thursday in a Bangkok hotel room, his manager told FOX News.

According to police, the 72-year-old actor appeared to have hanged himself.

The officer responsible for investigating the death, Teerapop Luanseng, said Carradine was staying at a suite at the luxury Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel.

“I can confirm that we found his body, naked, hanging in the closet,” Teerapop said. He said police suspected suicide.

Chuck Binder, Carradine’s manager, said the actor was staying in the Thai capital while shooting a movie called “Stretch.” When a producer went to his luxury hotel room, he learned that the actor was dead, Binder said, adding that the cause of death is still “under investigation.”

He’s had issues with depression in the past. Sad, really.

Please consider visiting the advertisers on BitsBlog.

 I’ll never be able to keep up the cat’s treatments for his paranoia, otherwise.

Oh, my.

Where to begin, on an examination of Obama’s speech to the Middle East? I’m certainly not going to hit you with all 6000 words.  I can’t even jump on everything in the speech that should be jumped on. An intensive response would take a week to formulate and still not cover ten percent of the serious problems within it.  I guess we could take some of the more troublesome lines and pick them apart. Parsing this stuff is the only way to get through these handcrafted bamboozle sessions, anyway. Let’s start with the concept of American Exceptionalism:

 Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail

So does the President of the United States, a position often referred to as ‘the leader of the free world’, view his role.  Usually, this kind of comment is a polite nothing, uttered to make the third world leaders feel good in a mode of Koom-By-Yah. Thing is, Obama actually believes this rot…. that America, for all it is, shouldn’t be in the leadership role in the world We’re just another banana republic. Perhaps now we have a clue as to why every action he has thus far taken while in office has seemed to have making us just another banana republic as a goal.

‘Iran should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities’…

Oh, really? And who does Mr. Obama suppose to have the power to make that determination?  He’s just told us that no nation should be held above another.  Are we really going to depend on the UN to make such choices? The efficacy of that plan, given the overlong history of the UN is questionable at least. And the long history of statements and actions from Iran should leave no doubt as to the stupidity of allowing them to have nuclear capability under any conditions. This classic from the great Cox and Forkum says it well.

Let’s take another:

As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam

First off Obama is no student of history unless we’re talking about the stuff he’s made up. Let’s examine the debt of which Mr. Obama speaks.

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science – the science against which it had vainly struggled – the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome. -Sir Winston Churchill, 1899

I guess now we have a fair clue why Obama’s first action as President was to remove the bust of Churchill from the Oval Office, hmmm?

I know there has been controversy about the promotion of democracy in recent years, and much of this controversy is connected to the war in Iraq. So let me be clear: no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other.

This statement would seem at odds with an Icon of the Democrat party, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who I’m starting to wonder if our student of history even remembers, much less the question of putting any stock in the wisdom of his words:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

This much we pledge—and more.

To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do—for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.

To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom—and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.

To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required—not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right.

…*…

Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.
We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.

It is clear that Mr. Obama’s concepts of right and wrong are vastly different from those of Mr. Kennedy.  One might even say that we as a nation knew Jack Kennedy, and Obama is no Jack Kennedy. It is also startlingly clear that Mr Obama, as I’ve said is no student of history… even the history of his own party. One wonders if the portrait of JFK still hangs in the White House, or if it was removed on the same truck that ushered the bust of Sir Winston to the warehouse.

I could go on like this, parsing this thing, but there is so much that is fundamentally wrong with it from an American policy point of view that I’d be here  for weeks. I can’t honestly say I’m disappointed with it, It’s almost exactly the kind of hind-lick maneuver I expected from Obama.  I am annoyed, however, that we’ll be dealing with it’s anti-American consequences for the next generation or three at best.

There’s more reaction at Memeorandum, of course.

Addendum:  A vid of the speech:

Addendum 2: Eric

I want to call your attention to an excellent point made by Marc Thiessen at The Corner:

He said he is committed to helping Iraqis stand on their own. But he failed to mention that they have that opportunity because of the blood spilled by American troops who sacrificed to give them their freedom. He failed to mention that from Iraq and Afghanistan, to Bosnia, Kosovo, and Kuwait, over the past two decades our military has done more to free Muslims from oppression than any power in history. In fact, there was not one word of praise for our troops and what they have done for the people of the Middle East in the entire address.

To the contrary, he threw the men and women of our military and our intelligence community under the bus when he declared, in front of a Muslim audience, that the attacks of 9/11 “led us to act contrary to our ideals.” On foreign soil, he accused our intelligence professionals who stopped the next 9/11 of committing torture — validating years of al-Qaeda propaganda. He talked about closing GTMO without any defense of the good men and women who run it — even though his own attorney general, Eric Holder, has admitted it was a model prison. If he was going to discuss these topics in the Middle East, he at least owed it to our troops and intelligence professionals to say what dozens of investigations have proven: that there was no systematic abuse of detainees at GTMO or anywhere else. Instead, Obama echoed al-Qaeda’s calumnies against them — and did so in a foreign land. This is unprecedented. It is shameful. And they deserve better.

Indeed. And so do we all, Marc… and so do we all.

First team Obama drops charges against Blank Panthers who intimidated voters:

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Justice Department is dropping charges against the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense and two of its members who were allegedly involved in voter intimidation on Election Day at a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania polling station.

A Justice spokesman said the department decided to take this action after winning an injunction earlier this month against a third member, Samir Shabazz, that prevents him from ever brandishing a weapon outside a polling place again as he was charged with doing last November.

Shabazz was one of the three persons, along with the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, charged with voter intimidation last January in a lawsuit filed under the Voting Rights Act. Shabazz will not face any jail time or a fine

Terrorism is the use force, or the threat of force, to achieve political objectives.   Philadelphia so qualifies.  Now Doug Ross is citing this report:

Several weeks ago, STRATFOR heard from sources that the FBI and other law enforcement organizations had been ordered to “back off” of counterterrorism investigations into the activities of Black Muslim converts. At this point, it is unclear to us if that guidance was given by the White House or the Department of Justice, or if it was promulgated by the agencies themselves, anticipating the wishes of President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder

The trend is clear.   The Obama administration, and the Eric Holder led Department of Justice are color blind on terror.    Maybe in Barry’s delusional Obamaland, blacks are merely misunderstood?    Yet as Doug noted, Obama was quick to speak on the murder of George Tiller, but has been tepid is response to the murder of his soldier, Private William Long.  Michelle calls this a “blood pressure alert.

Americans need to know the truth, and the Obama administration isn’t even capable of distinguishing truth from fantasy.

Welcome, one and all to the most intense Nightly Read anywhere on the ‘sphere…;The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is the “Ad Campaign” Edition. Well, look, I spent all that money on billboards, I’ve gotta get some return on the investment.

• Warnings: Turns out that Air France jet had warnings issued a few days before the last flight…. Bomb threat. Odd, though. Usually we hear about at least 3 or four dozen groups claiming to be responsible for the bombing. Not this time. I wonder, a little.
• How Washington Blew the GM Bankruptcy:  I make no bones about the fact that I’m not a financial person. A look at my checkbook will tell you that.  (And no, I won’t provide that, either) But I must say I find the Financial Times interesting reading because it’s been giving me “inside baseball” glimpses of things I’d have far less understanding of without it. They provide a case in point, today.  Interesting though, that in this case, the bottom line is right where I drew it when this whole thing began, months ago.  This was not about saving the company. This was about saving the UAW. Eric Cantor comments on that, on Bloomberg yesterday:
  

  Rep. Cantor: “The prospect for the taxpayers to make out in terms of GM and its profitability is very, very questionable. It’s not just that Washington can begin to throw money at anything and everything and expect things to turn out ok. We’ve got to have some accountability here.”So I’m troubled, Peter, by several things surrounding the GM situation Number one, you’ve got investors who put some of their life savings into this company. Frankly, many of their rights have been trampled because the White House has come in and decided who was going to be the winner and who was going to be the loser. If you see the UAW and how they came out in a much better stead than the individual bondholders, and some of the secured bondholders, that’s really not I think something that we believe that America should be about. When the White House comes in by fiat, suspends existing law, what is happening to the certainty of expectation when you are an investor? That’s very, very troubling. But on down the road, Peter, it is about accountability. How are we going to go and account for all of this?

  Bloomberg’s Peter Cook: “Well let me ask you about just the President’s commitment that he doesn’t want to operate this company on a day-to-day basis going forward. Do you take the President at his word?”

  Rep. Cantor: “The reports that have come out surrounding the GM situation speak to the contrary. It says that the President spoke to the folks and the government around Detroit, and have indicated that the President has committed to ensuring that GM maintain its headquarters there. The President continues to say that all the big decisions are going to be made by GM itself but come on. We’re sitting here as Congress now telling GM what kind of cars it should make. We’re sitting here directing the investment of the kind of taxpayer dollars in favor of favored political constituencies. It is very hard to imagine that Congress and the White House will be able to stay out of the business of GM. Again a very troubling, troubling sign.”

  Cook: “Really quickly Congressman, I want to get your take on this Hummer sale to a Chinese firm. The Members of Congress, are they going to stand in the way of that?”

  Rep. Cantor: “You’re going to have to expect that Congress is going to meddle in the management of anything having to do with GM at this point.
  The groundwork has been laid. We’re very, very concerned. The government has no business running an auto firm.

  (Emph is my own.) Now, I’ll say I have my problems with Cantor, but this isn’t one of them. He’s quite correct. And I’ll say again that the level of governmental involvement both in the relationships with the Unions and the cars made are exactly why the car companies are in trouble. Solving the business troubles of the big three is simple. Get government out of their hair. Let them build cars people will buy and stop trying to tax their fuel out of existence. Start drilling domestically to get fuel prices down.  And so on. That’s the only viable path forward, but the Democrats are quite clear on the point they will do none of those things, thus giving lie to their claim they’re about saving American Auto companies.

• New Orleans: The Murder capital of the world:   I’ll bet they won’t mention this  to folks planning a vacation, there.
• I was right, once again:  In looking at the reports on the investigation into the shootings at the Army recruiting station in Little Rock, I notice that the shooter was a recent Islam convert. Funny, how they’re minimizing this point, for the most part.
  

  Little Rock police said there was no indication Muhammad was part of a wider plot to attack the military, but terrorism experts say there are important connections between his and other homegrown terror plots in recent years, including their targets, motives and inspiration.

  “The real common denominator is the ideological commitment (present) in every single case I’ve seen over the past few months and over the past few years,” said Walid Phares, director of the Future of Terrorism Project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

  I’m also hearing that this guy has been under a watch by the FBI for some time, now, apparently having traveled to Yemen by way of a faked Somali passport.  So, now, all of you who wrote feedback to tell me how this, and the case of the Murder of George Tiller are not the same… you have a chance to tell us all how they’re not. Tiller’s murder, I was told in a huff, was inspired by religion.  I’ll allow it being one man’s read of religion. But how is that different from this case, and why are the comparisons I’ve repeatedly drawn less than valid? I made he suggestions and comparisons I did based on feel, alone, and the facts, as they emerge, are proving that the comparisons I made are more valid by the day. So, let’s hear it, all the leftie blogs who were raising hell about George Tiller’s death…  Let’s hear you raise a similar stink about these deaths. Let’s see the fed set up protection around not only abortuaries, but around recruiting stations, too, huh?  And let’s see the long string of Memeorandum links on the topic.  Let’s hear it! If the motivations you were claiming over the weekend are true, why would they not apply to the Pvt Long and the other people shot in Little Rock?  Explain to me how I was wrong when I suggested that one must be in the political favor of the left to garner their concern when they get murdered, and Pvt Long being military… and the left being anti-military and pro-abortion as a rule, Pvt Long’s murder doesn’t merit the leftist outrage that George Tiller’s murder does. I await what will doubtless be  a silence not heard since the dawn of the world.  Do I sound angry? Good… that’s as intended.  By their lack of words, ye shall know them, my friends.   By the way, you may want to check Melissa’s write-up on this topic at Pajamas Media, yesterday. Top notch.

•  Obama Road Trip: So, Obama is in the Middle East, refining his ability at the tongue bath. Thing is, he may be headed for trouble here at home.   The latest polls I’ve seen suggest the Muslim world has some serious problems with Joe Lunchpail. From his perspective, it’s not we that need to issuing apologies. I’m telling you, this is going to play large in 2010 and 2012… Obama isn’t making any friends on this trip outside his base here at home, and the extremists he’s legitimizing. And to what degree will he go? Well, for one thing, if you’ll recall during the election, he was quite adamant about minimizing his Muslim roots. The reason for that was simple…  those anti-Muslim world polling numbers I mention are not new. His Muslim roots stood in between him and power. So, he ditched them. But I will guarantee you that we’ll see him playing them up on this trip.    After this, his schedule is still pretty full; There’s a few folks in Antarctica he’s not apologized to, yet. And did you see this photo? Maybe we should start calling Obama “The BoyKing”. Works for me. (Cue Steve Martin!)
•  A passing thought; Maybe we could make a deal with King Abdullah; We’ll pay his $75/bbl for oil, if he’ll KEEP Obama. It’d be far cheaper.
• Equality:  Sure, Mr. President… Iran has a right to nuclear power… just like Germany had the right to large ovens.  Is there anything Obama won’t try to negotiate away?  Isn’t it funny how Obama seems to reserve the brute force and intimidation methods for his own country, and our traditional friends like Israel, and his hind-lick maneuver for our enemies? This is leadership? VDH thinks that the ‘serial apologies’ will stop before long as the public runs out of patience with it.  I think he’s right, but I’m concerned that the damage he does until that point will be irreparable.
• And a lie:  Obama infamously said we’re not a Christian country. Yet, he also says, that we’re one of the largest Muslim countries. Roger Simon at Pajamas Media points up that we’re actually the 38th largest.  Anyone see a pattern developing, here?
• Clarification=Backpedaling: Sorry, Sonia… I’m not buying it.
• Police Corruption, or corruption in general?  Over at OTB, Steve Verdon goes into Radley Balko mode on a story of police corruption. Frankly, I’ve always thought that Balko was over the top on this stuff. I still think so, frankly.  I’m not suggesting the position he takes, for the most part isn’t valid, but I do recall only one “One Note Samba” that was ever a hit.  That said, I point Verdon to a couple happenings in my old home town. First one here, and the second, I explain in some detail:
  

  The other story coming out of that same police department that may interest you, is with regards to another cop… A sergeant, I think. High on Coke, driving his personal vehicle, he backsides a stalled car in the middle of the outer loop (I-390) causing a pregnant woman to go into premature labor. Recognizing that he is burned toast if he sticks around, he takes off, leaves the scene of the accident, and it takes several hours for the local constabulary to admit that one of its own has been involved in the wreck. By that time of course, the DUI is legally questionable at least.At the moment, that particular case has caused an investigation into the conduct of the entire department who was on duty that night. At issue, were they covering for him? Well, no duh.

  I’m annoyed, because our member time when that particular Police department was something special, as such things go.

  That said, though, The question comes up; what causes all this?

  It seems to me the trying to get a bad cop fired, has approximately the same chance to it as getting a bad teacher fired, or perhaps a city councilman and former mayor arrested for his crimes, (The bitch set me up!) or a congressman with cash in his freezer.

  Don’t mistake my comment for making excuses for the cops in question.

  But I do wonder two things. In the case of the police, I have to wonder how much of what we see here is procedure established by union -agreed upon -work -rules. Certainly, that’s the case with trying to get bad teachers fired. I wonder if agreeing to this nonsense, we’ve asked for these kind of incidents to occur.

  And secondly, how much of it is bad policy set forward with the purpose of staying out of lawsuit territory?

  Frankly, though, I think we’re foolish if we ignore that there’s a trend here that involves far more than just the guys in the blue uniforms. This is by no means a case of not enough law, and not enough oversight. This is a situation in all these cases of too much law, and too much power in the hands of those enforcing it.  Now, folks like Balko will tell you that’s the central issue, but I think not. Consider;  20 and 40 years ago, there was less of the incidence of this kind of thing. Then again, and we were better people, then, too. Finding someone for the job of ‘policeman’ who was brave, honest, and true, was far less of a task, back in the day, because it was far less rare to find such a person in the general population. We got away with a degree of power in the hands of the police that we did, for that reason.

  Those days, I fear, are passed.

• Almost there: I’ve been working on editing some of the shots I took of the local airshow. Maybe I’ll have time to finish them and put them up by the weekend. Hope so, anyway… some of ’em are pretty good.

 

So which would the easier argument to seal, 

1: That the United States is a Muslim nation, or

2: That Barack Obama ia  a bleeding moron?

According the New York Times, the dim one told the French that the United States was a Musim nation.

In an interview with Laura Haim on Canal Plus, a French television station, Mr. Obama noted that the United States also could be considered as “one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.” He sought to downplay the expectations of the speech, but he said he hoped the address would raise awareness about Muslims.

 Roger L. Simon, Pajamas Media, shows what a sharp mind can do to a dim arguement:

Is that the USA of the 57 states?

I guess it depends on what your definition of “one of” is. According to Wikipedia, the US ranks thirty-eighth with a Muslim population of some 4.5 million (about one and half percent of our population – others, such as Pew, see it as even smaller). Indonesia is first at over two hundred and seven million.

The dim one thinks the United States is not a Christian nation, but is a Muslim one.   Sure Barry.