The electoral system has failed to satisfy lingering questions about
Barack Obama's eligibility to serve as president.
The press
has failed to satisfy those questions.
The courts have
failed to satisfy those questions.
The Congress has failed
to satisfy those questions.
But the people are still asking.
In just five days, the billboard campaign has been backed by
about $45,000 in donations.
Obama Says Upholding Values Will Shield US From
Terror
Obama used the backdrop of the US Naval Academy graduation
ceremony to argue that founding US ideals must guide the future battle
against terrorism, a day after trying to quell raging debate over
Guantanamo Bay in a major speech.
"We uphold our fundamental
principles and values not just because we choose to, but because we
swear to -- not because they feel good, but because they help keep us
safe," Obama told 30,000 graduating navy cadets and family members.
"When America strays from our values, it not only undermines the
rule of law, it alienates us from our allies, it energizes our
adversaries and it endangers our national security and the lives of our
troops."
Obama told the graduates they would face a "full
spectrum of threats" from 18th century-style piracy to cyber terrorism.
"As long as I am your commander-in-chief, I will only send you
into harm's way when it is absolutely necessary," Obama said, in an
apparent veiled criticism of the Bush administration war in Iraq.
Surest evidence yet that this guy is a blithering idiot.
Our values have never kept us safe.
It is our firm response to those who challenge our values that keeps us
safe. Here's an enduring American value that
Obama just doesn't get:
And that crap about swearing to -- this from a guy who very likely
is constitutionally ineligible to hold the office he occupies; who
has yet to properly swear the oath of the office he occupies; who has
violated the Constitution regularly in his dealings with the automotive
and banking industries; who has apologized for things not deserving
apologies; and who has, hugged, kissed, and embraced every despot in the
known world.
Obama values -- learned from Frank Marshall Davis,
Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright are not American values -- they are
anti-American values -- and Obama holds them deeply.
And holding
onto Obama's values is going to get a lot of people killed.
Obama's Shallow Rhetoric
Obama has
issued an executive order that
Guantanamo will be shut down no later than Jan 22, 2010. He has tried to
charm and persuade our allies to accept some prisoners -- and has gotten
virtually nowhere. He still hasn’t settled on which procedures will be
used to dispose of the cases involving the most hardened al Qaeda
detainees. And now, the Senate has voted -- by a 90-to-6 margin -- to deny
Obama the $80 million he sought to pay for closing down Guantanamo.
The easy campaign rhetoric no longer works. The Senate vote was a
sign in a big, flashing letters: It’s time for a concrete plan. So on
Thursday, Obama traveled to the National Archives to deliver a
much-hyped speech on his intentions. And after a lot of
speechifying -- there’s still no concrete plan.
Holding terrorists
at Guantanamo "set back the moral authority that is America’s strongest
currency in the world," Obama said. "The existence of Guantanamo likely
created more terrorists around the world than it ever detained." At the
Archives, Obama gave a longer-winded and higher-minded version of his
campaign speech. But he didn’t say what he is going to do with the
terrorists at Guantanamo.
It’s often said that Obama is learning
what it means to be commander in chief, now that he bears the burden of
the nation’s security. Governing, it is said, is different from
campaigning. But do you really believe Obama didn’t know what was
involved in closing Guantanamo back when he was giving all those
campaign speeches? It is simply not credible to argue that Obama, during
the campaign, didn’t know that our foreign allies would not take Gitmo
prisoners, didn’t know that transferring them to our domestic prisons
would involve significant risks and didn’t know that American
communities would not welcome terrorists as neighbors.
But he
glossed over it all. Now, he’s in office and he’s running out of time. The Senate’s ban on funding will remain in effect until Sept. 30, the
end of this fiscal year. That means Obama can’t do anything before Oct.
1 and will have very little time to shut down Guantanamo before his
self-imposed deadline of Jan. 22, 2010.
In 2007, Obama said,
"That’s easy. Close down Guantanamo." On Thursday, he said, "Let me be
blunt: There are no neat or easy answers here."
That’s progress.
Now all Obama has to do is come up with a plan.
And this -- "The existence of
Guantanamo likely created more terrorists around the world than it ever
detained."-- I'd like Obama to back up that statement with some hard
facts. I don't believe it. Gitmo doesn't create terrorists
-- their religious leaders do.
The Last Black President
As a
resident of
Massachusetts, I see real parallels between the rise and fall of our
first black governor Deval Patrick, and the rise and coming fall of the
first black president, Barack Obama. Let's get to some politically
correct, uncomfortable-to-say for some, specifics.
1. The Ballot
Becomes The Race Card -- Both Deval Patrick and Barack Obama had the
same campaign guru: David Axelrod -- with Patrick's victory, Axelrod
found his template and with Barack Obama, took it national.
2.
The Non-Threatening Black -- Granted, it's neither of their fault, but
liberals really like Halfrican Americans -- by finding black candidates
that spoke proper English and weren't "threatening", we had two
candidates for high office that could be embraced by the mainstream
while still maintaining the fear of a race label on those who would
oppose them.
3. History In The Making -- Both Obama and Patrick
had something going for them that few enjoy in their whole political
career: historic firsts -- voting against Barack Obama and Deval Patrick
would be seen as backward thinking and worse, you're a racist.
4.
Inexperience Excused -- The normal criteria for being a chief executive
and/or Commander in Chief, is someone who had to have the prerequisite
experience -- neither Barack Obama nor Deval Patrick had such
experience, thus is why I've called them both Affirmative Action hires
and will continue to do so, as they both fit that make-up-for-history
criteria.
5. Humility-Challenged -- Both Deval Patrick and Barack
Obama came into their respective offices with trumped up "mandates" --
despite the use of the race card to get him elected, would anyone of us
believe that in less than four months Obama would be taking over banks,
dictating how automakers would make product, taking over auto companies,
changing Cuba policy, and getting away with foreign etiquette gaffes? Of
course not. If Obama ran on that he'd never have gotten elected.
6. The Future Is Not Bright -- A recent Rasmussen Poll shows that there
is a very strong possibility that Deval Patrick will be a one-term
governor -- Obama could face a similar fate in 2012.
Deval Patrick
may be the first and last black governor Massachusetts sees for a long
time. Barack Obama may also be the first and last black president as
well.
Let me take that back.
The next black person who
runs for those seats, if they have any hope of winning, will be
Republicans, because memories of those who broke ground before them will
be an open wound. Barack Obama and Deval Patrick will quickly become
stereotyped adjectives, and we all know most stereotypes have a basis in
truth.
Obama Approves US UAE Nuclear Deal
Obama has
approved plans for the United States to help the United Arab Emirates
become the first Arab nation with a nuclear power industry that will
fuel the country's growing demand for electricity.
Obama's
official backing of the pact, known as a "123 agreement," is being
praised by pro-business groups that say US companies are now in the
running for major construction work connected to the $41 billion
project.
Questions also have been raised about UAE's history as a
trans-shipment point for sensitive technology moving into Iran. A small
but vocal group of lawmakers have said they will oppose the deal unless
the UAE takes stronger action to keep Iran from obtaining materials that
could help it develop nuclear weapons.
Despite the objections,
it is unlikely that Congress will be a roadblock. Once the State
Department sends the agreement to Congress, lawmakers will have 90 days
to pass legislation amending or rejecting the deal. If no bill passes,
the agreement goes into effect.
Supporting UAE's use of nuclear
power for peaceful purposes also is intended to be a counterweight to
Iran's pursuit of atomic weapons.
Under the pact, the UAE must
import, rather than produce, fuel to be used in its nuclear reactors. It
also has committed not to enrich uranium or reprocess spent nuclear fuel
for plutonium, which is used in nuclear bombs.
The agreement
creates the legal framework for the United States to transfer sensitive
nuclear items to the UAE. "By moving this agreement forward, the
president is creating the potential for thousands of new jobs for
American workers," said Danny Sebright, president of the US-UAE Business
Council.
Too bad Obama won't
approve nukes for America, we could use 'em. It would also help if
we were allowed by the government to drill for domestic oil.
US Restricts Domestic Production
Almost
140 miles off the Louisiana coast, aboard the drill ship Noble Paul
Romano, workers
punch an 8-inch steel pipe four miles under the ocean in
search of America's next barrel of oil.
"If we don't increase our own oil production in the U.S.,
our dependence on foreign oil won't go down," said Marathon Oil
executive Woody Pace.
Congress lifted its 27-year moratorium on
drilling off Florida and the East and West Coast last year, but billions
of barrels of that oil remains untouched and off-limits because the
Obama administration has postponed development there.
Obama favors green energy and provides generous tax subsidies
to wind and solar. By contrast, this week the oil industry complained
that Obama proposed hiking their taxes by $70 billion over 5 years,
including a $122 million on leases the administration considers
non-producing.
"If you penalize oil and gas, and add taxes, it is
going to make it much more difficult and more expensive. That means U.S.
jobs are exported and we won't get the revenues from royalties," said
Landry.
Oil executives fear the lesson of $5-a-gallon gasoline is
lost, and that American consumers will pay the price, vulnerable to
shortages in the short term and a continued dependence on foreign oil
for decades to come.
