Actual Mug Shots

What do these mug shots have in common? It isn't race, it isn't gender; so what is it (hint: look at their clothing)?

The President and Malcolm X

President Obama has been quoted that the autobiography of Malcolm X resonated with him. Here is the actual quote.

Only Malcolm X’s autobiography seemed to offer something different. His repeated acts of self-creation spoke to me. The blunt poetry of his words. His unadorned insistence on respect. He promised a new and uncompromising order, martial in its discipline.

That is high praise from a man who is quite a wordsmith himself. Lets examine some of the quotes in that book. Our first quote is short, but seems to be the Obama playbook.

By any means necessary.

The second quote worries me even more.

You will never get real freedom and recognition between black and white people in this country without destroying the country, without destroying the present political system, without destroying the present economic system, without rewriting the entire constitution. It will be a complete destruction of everything that America supposedly stands for.

Any questions about what is really going on?

A Great Article By Ben Stein

I don't know how I missed this but Ben Stein wrote a great article about President Obama several months ago. It might be the best answer to the question I posed in my last post about the true reason behind the health care push.

Why is President Barack Obama in such a hurry to get his socialized medicine bill passed?

Because he and his cunning circle realize some basic truths:

The American people in their unimaginable kindness and trust voted for a pig in a poke in 2008. They wanted so much to believe Barack Obama was somehow better and different from other ultra-leftists that they simply took him on faith.

They ignored his anti-white writings in his books. They ignored his quiet acceptance of hysterical anti-American diatribes by his minister, Jeremiah Wright.

They ignored his refusal to explain years at a time of his life as a student. They ignored his ultra-left record as a "community organizer," Illinois state legislator, and Senator.

The American people ignored his total zero of an academic record as a student and teacher, his complete lack of scholarship when he was being touted as a scholar.

Now, the American people are starting to wake up to the truth.

Read the rest of the article here. It is worth the 2 minutes of your time.

Day By Day Cartoon

This pretty much says it all. Compliments of Day By Day. If it is too small, click on the cartoon above to get a larger view of it.

Obama's Double Standard

The President’s reaction to the shooting at Fort Hood by an Islamic officer who had been in touch with Al Quaeda was that we not leap to conclusions. 13 dead and 30 wounded is not nearly as important as maintaining a politically correct posture. But what did he do a few months back when there was that incident at Harvard wherein a white police officer arrested a black professor?

A liberal blogger explained it like this. President Obama "accused Sgt. Crowley of “acting stupidly” by arresting his good ole’ buddy from Harvard for his disorderly conduct". Does this sound like restraint? How about avoiding pre-judging? Apparently the President’s attitude about restraint and pre-judging a situation only applies to political correctness. Since it is politically correct to accuse white cops of racism, he went ahead and pre-judged the situation. But since political correctness is all about liberalism, and liberals have decided that it is not appropriate to equate Islam with terrorism, then we can’t “rush to judgement” about Major Hassan. It must be nice to be a liberal. You make up the rules and change them whenever it suits you. How these people cannot see the rank hypocrisy of their own positions boggles the mind.

In retrospect it isn’t that surprising. It’s simply Alinsky’s Rule #8 on display, although some of us call it a double-standard or even hypocrisy. Liberals call it politics.

Rogues Gallery

By now you have heard that the President has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Even Saturday Night Live, hardly a bastion of conservative thought, mocked the award. The British seem to think that this is a joke as do many Americans. Here are headlines from the Times Online, a British newspaper's online version.

• Prize Fools - "The Nobel committee’s award to President Obama demeans the peace prize, appears politically partisan and should embarrass the White House."
• Barack Obama's peace prize starts a fight - "Gasps echoed through the Nobel Hall in Osloas Barack Obama was unveiled as the winner of the 2009 Peace Prize, sparking a global outpouring of incredulity"

Those are the rational reactions that reasonable people the world over had when the President was awarded, what is arguably the most prestigious prize in the world, without doing anything to earn it.

But this isn't the first time that the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded with questionable reasoning:

• Al Gore - the 2007 winner was honored for his work on global warming (see previous posts here, here, and here). What does global warming, even if you believe in it, have to do with peace?
• Mohamed ElBaradei - the 2005 winner was honored for his work leading the UN's atomic agency. Given the current situations in North Korea and Iran, his competence has to be called into question. His award was apparently the result of opposing President Bush.
• Jimmy Carter - the 2002 winner was apparently honored for opposing President Bush or maybe it was for his anti-Semitism.
• Kofi Annnan - the former Secretary General of the United Nations won in 2001. This is the man who presided over what was arguably the most corrupt iteration of the UN in its history. This is the same anti-Semite who accused Israel of deliberately bombing a UN observer outpost.
• Yasser Arafat - in 1994 this murderer of Olympic athletes, hijacker of airliners, school bomber, and instigator of the gunning down of passengers in airline terminals at Rome, Vienna and elsewhere was the Nobel's committee for its leading peacemaker.

This award has become a joke after the Nobel committee has let politics ruin it. Sometimes I just hate politics. By the way the following individuals were nominated but not awarded the prize in deference to the President this year.

1. Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean Prime Minister, has been tortured and imprisoned in defence of democracy.
2. Denis Muwege, a physician in war-torn Congo, who has opened a clinic to help victims of rape.
3. Senator Piedad Córdoba has mediated in Colombia’s civil war.
4. Greg Mortenson, American US army medic, builds schools for Afghan girls in places where warlords and drug dealers kill people for trying.

Any one of these individuals would have been a better choice. Best of all the choice would have been based on actual achievements.

Hat tip to Mac McBride.

Gore Vidal Changes His Mind

Last year Gore Vidal switched his support from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama. Now he seems to be regretting his choice. In response to a question about how Obama is doing he replied as follows:

"Dreadfully. I was hopeful. He was the most intelligent person we’ve had in that position for a long time. But he’s inexperienced. He has a total inability to understand military matters. He’s acting as if Afghanistan is the magic talisman: solve that and you solve terrorism."

Gore Vidal is far from someone who was temporarily swayed by Obama's leftist views. He has always been a leftist. Look at this quote about Republicans from the same interview.

The Republican Party is a party when in fact it’s a mindset, like Hitler Youth, based on hatred — religious hatred, racial hatred. When you foreigners hear the word ‘conservative’ you think of kindly old men hunting foxes. They’re not, they’re fascists.”

Vidal is still a far-left wacko, but even he has discovered that the emperor has no clothes. I wonder how long it will take the American media to figure that out.

This is Disturbing

This YouTube video shows an elementary school teacher leading her students in a song in praise of the President. This is more than disturbing.

Record Number of Contradictions?

Powerline's John Hinderaker has pointed out the incredible number of contradictions contained in the President's address to Congress Wednesday evening. Here is one example:

Instead of honest debate, we have seen scare tactics.

Then, a few minutes later:

Everyone in this room knows what will happen if we do nothing. Our deficit will grow. More families will go bankrupt. More businesses will close. More Americans will lose their coverage when they are sick and need it most. And more will die as a result.

The President first accused his opponents of using scare tactics; then he proceeded to use scare tactics. Did he think we would fail to notice? How about this contradiction?

[I]f you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.

Then he said:

[I]nsurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies - because there's no reason we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse.

So which is it - no change in coverage or a mandating a change in coverage?

I think one more should make the point. In this one the President says that young people might choose to opt out of coverage and then he changes his mind one more time.

Now, even if we provide these affordable options, there may be those - particularly the young and healthy - who still want to take the risk and go without coverage.

Then he said:

That's why under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance - just as most states require you to carry auto insurance.

Once again I ask what are we supposed to believe - able to opt out, not able to opt out? Would somebody make up their mind?

This all makes me wonder what is really going on in the Obama administration. Do they think we are so stupid we won't catch the contradictions or are they so incompetent that they can't catch them before the President goes on national television? In any case do we really want to trust such people?

Amazing, Just Amazing

Supporters of the President are going way too far in their support for him. Things like civil rights and the Bill of Rights just don't seem to matter for many of them. When they do it under color of authority it is even worse. Get ready America. It's likely to get worse.

I Hope This is True

Journalists who blog do not use the same standard while blogging so it is important to avoid reading too much into their blogs. Because of their name recognition, their blogs probably seem more credible than they rightfully should. I guess the basic logic is that if the story was strong enough for their employer that is where we would read it. If not, then they blog about it.

Jake Tapper of ABC News is blogging that President Obama has been more successful in de-commissioning terrorists than President Bush. Its an incredible thing to say given the historic weakness of Democratic presidents vis-a-vis anything military. Its even more incredible in light of the historic weakness of this president. But if it is true, then that is great news. After all it isn't important who gets the job done, it only matters that we succeed. If President Obama's team is succeeding, then I say "Fantastic."

$9,000,000,000,000 in Red Ink in 10 Years

The Obama Administration is changing its projections of how much red ink is going to be spent over the next 10 years to a number that is more in line with what everyone BUT the Obama Administration has been saying. As usual they are still trying to blame it all on President Bush, on whom some blame should fall. But it is getting old to hear the administration constantly blame someone else rather than accept responsibility. The buck should stop with the President regardless of party.

Same Old, Same Old

Didn't President Obama campaign on a theme of change? Then why is he paying off his supporters with this health care stuff? I thought it was about the American people. I'm not surprised, just disappointed.

Gratitude for Liberals

I am grateful for liberals. Mind you, I still think they are wrong on most matters, but I am nonetheless grateful. Why?

Every political movement needs a moderating influence. That is the problem with dictatorships and authoritarian regimes throughout history. That is the problem with the Obama administration because they seem to want to criminalize the opposition. We hear the President telling the opposition to "shut up". Those tendencies are classic Chicago, gangster-style politics as has been practiced in the Windy City since the 1800s.

Unlike most liberals, I love hearing the opposition's voice. If it weren't for liberals I doubt conservatives would have ever given much effort on the environment, the under class, the peace movement. While I am convinced we have gone way beyond reasonable in most of these liberal areas, I am grateful for their voice because it is a voice that needs to be heard, and these were areas of our American lifestyle that needed to be addressed.

My difference with liberals is not on wanting to hear their voice - that is important. My difference with liberals has to do with when they are in power they have no respect for their opposition, like I have for them. A liberal would never write what I am writing - they just want the opposition to go away. Obama is just more open about it. Clinton tried to shut down the opposition with the "Fairness Doctrine". They too tried to criminalize oppostion. In this they were as dangerous as Obama. The difference is that Obama seems to want it more. Clinton's tendencies in this direction were dangerous, but he didn't push it. I'm not so sure about President Obama.

Ed Schultz

Ed Schultz, probably the most successful national talk radio host, who happens to be liberal, claims that conservatives want Obama to get shot! Why is it that liberals are regularly doing irresponsible things like this and no one holds them accountable? Is it because the liberal media actually agrees with them? Ironically, it was Ed Schultz who only a few years ago publicly wished Cheny would die.

Are there some conservatives who want Obama shot? Probably. Were there some liberals who wanted Bush shot? Probably. But I doubt that it was ever more than a very small minority of extremists who felt that way. The public smearing of an entire group of people simply because you disagree with them is really getting out of hand. Remember liberals are the ones who are always claiming how tolerant they are!

I know very few supporters of President Obama. Most people I know disagree with most of his postitions. But everyone I know thinks it would be disasterous if someone were to take a shot at him. I may disagree with the man, but I wish he and his family the best of health.

Day By Day Cartoon

Day By Day is a great political cartoon. It has four recurring characters: a conservative Texan, his Japanese-American wife, a black conservative friend, and his liberal fiancee. Today's cartoon points out the recurring theme of bullying by Obama supporters. Remember the Black Panther bullies in Philadelphia on Election Day. They are referenced in the final frame of today's cartoon.

President's Approval Rating

From Drudge we get this graph of the President's Approval Rating from Rasmussen's polling data. It demonstrates a certain trend. His approval numbers are below George W. Bush's at the same stage of their respective presidencies.

Chicago Politics

I was worried about the Chicago connection in relation to President Obama's election. Corruption in Chicago politics is legendary rivaled only by New York City, New Jersey, and Louisiana. My fear was that this heavy-handed, gangster-like approach that they use in Chicago would come to Washington D.C.

Apparently my concerns were justified. Read this letter from a Congressman to the President's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

The Obama Health Plan

The health plan currently in Congress is very confusing. Here is an official (this is not made up) graphical outline of a flowchart showing how it will all play out. The chart is from Representative John Campbell's official website and shows how convoluted this 1000 page plan is. Hat tip to Hugh Hewitt.

Anti-Obama Rally In Israel

It seems that not everyone is as enamored with the American President as is the American media and Western Europe. While popularity doesn't indicate the strength or weakness of one's argument, too much popularity is dangerous in the hands of most politicians (see Hugo Chavez).