In 2008 the inexperienced Barack Obama was campaigning on Hope and Change. He talked about how bad George Bush was and how he would not do the things Bush did. He vowed to close Gitmo and signed the papers to do it. That facility remains open because the so called smartest prez evah found out that it was easier to promise to do something than to actually do it.

Barack Obama also said he would not use signing statements on legislation sent to him by Congress. He said that the president has the power to veto if he does not like something in legislation and then it is up to Congress to override the veto. That is very true (and Congress can rework the legislation) so on this he was correct. Signing statements have no Constitutional authority and they are not binding.

The problem is Obama uses signing statements. He has used 20 of them so far. He said he would not but when he did not get his way he used them.

Obama also did an end run around Congress to make so called recess appointments when the Senate is not in recess. His own Justice Department argued that a recess had to be longer than three days in order for presidents to make a recess appointment. The Senate has been holding pro forma sessions every three days to keep Obama from making appointments but he made them anyway. Obama was part of the Senate that used the same tactic to keep George Bush from making such appointments.

We see once again that when this petulant man does not get his way he ignores the rules and does what he wants.

Now it looks like as if he will be involved in something else he bashed Bush for. Obama will outsource jobs.

When he was a candidate (for the Senate and for the White House) he said that outsourcing was bad. He bashed Bush and his then Senate opponent Jack Ryan for outsourcing saying that Illinois families depend on keeping the high quality jobs here in America.

Barack Obama is part owner of GM. He bailed them out and the government has a large ownership in the company. Obama took taxpayer money and helped GM out so he could help his union supporters. Even though the company should have been allowed to fail and go through bankruptcy, Obama chose to bail it out.

Now GM might be outsourcing the production of the Chevy Volt to China. It is not set in stone yet but it looks as if the company will be moving production to China.

Obama and the government can stop this because they own part of the company. Instead, they will allow GM to outsource jobs after the taxpayers were fleeced of tons of money to bail them out.

How does the left rationalize the continuous lies from this man?

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Goodfellow Jon Corzine has stolen and wasted the money of a lot of people. Then, after he was no longer Governor of New Jersey, he lost the money of a lot of other people. Corzine’s MF Global went belly up and there is a lot of money that can’t be accounted for. Billions of dollars in people’s money vanished in thin air faster than an Obama grant to a green energy company.

Corzine was grilled on Capitol Hill and some of that grilling came from fellow Democrats. Since it is not unusual for large sums of money to disappear when a Democrat is involved one must assume that the grilling was because it is an election year and Democrats need to play their election year game of pretending to look out for people.

However, it appears as if one Democrat, Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, was relentless for another reason. Corzine did not donate money to her reelection campaign even though she called several times a week asking for donations.

The Democratic senator who savaged Jon Corzine at a high-profile Capitol Hill hearing this week had another reason to go hard on her former colleague — she recently pressed him for campaign contributions but didn’t get any.

“She would literally call once every two or three weeks,” one Corzine intimate said of Sen. Debbie Stabenow (DMich.). New York Post

Now we know why she was so relentless. She did not get her money. The Wiseguy Corzine did not pay tribute to his former colleague so she took him to task.

There is no doubt that Corzine should be in jail with others who have bilked people out of money.

And when he goes there are 535 members of the US Congress who should join him. That number would go way up if we could get those who no longer serve in Congress but are just as guilty of bilking us out of our money.

Perhaps we should set the people in Gitmo free in some country in the Middle East and send all the Congress critters, past and present, there so taxpayers could have a respite from the daily crimes perpetrated on them.

Yeah, that’s the ticket.

And then Stabenow and Corzine would have lots of alone time to discuss things.

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Looks like Obama is not so keen on following his rules about lobbyists:

Despite the job title, McLaughlin wasn’t a registered lobbyist. Still, ethics rules created by an Obama executive order prohibit McLaughlin from “participat[ing] in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to” Google. But the e-mails show McLaughlin has been involved with formulating policy that directly affects Google, regularly trading e-mails with Google’s “evangelist,” and lobbyist.

~snip~

And only when I followed up with a question about the e-mails with lobbyist Davidson did Weiss admit “they did violate the President’s Ethics Pledge,” and note that McLaughlin had been reprimanded. [emphasis mine] Washington Examiner

Well so much for the no lobbyists lobbying for their special interests. How’s that transparency thing working out for ya?

Iran blinks after much bluster:

Iran will not be sending a blockade-busting ship to Gaza in defiance of Israeli warnings, an Iranian lawmaker said Saturday, citing Israeli “restrictions.” Yahoo News

Iran was going to send the blockade buster to help get “humanitarian” aid ships through. Perhaps the idea of being sunk by the Israeli Navy did not appeal to Iran. Imagine the humiliation if that happened.

Maybe the Islamic radicals don’t care who is leading our country:

As for the revolutionary Islamists–be they al-Qaida, Hamas, Hizballah, the Taliban, and the Muslim Brotherhoods–or the radical regimes–be they Iran, Syria, the de facto Islamic Republic of Gaza, or others–all the U.S. governments are definitely the same. Indeed, they make this point explicitly in their declarations and media every day.

To them, the American people are “all the same” and the American governments are “all the same.” The argument between liberals and conservatives on this point is irrelevant. They hate the United States because of its values and they also hate the United States because of its policies. Gloria Center

While liberals love to exclaim that George Bush made the world, particularly the world of Islam, hate us, the reality is they hated us long before Bush was president. They bombed the WTC the first time under Clinton, attacked the Cole and other targets under Clinton and planned 9/11 under him. They do not like us no matter who is elected to lead us and they will continue to attack us until they are defeated.

How is that citizen of the world plan working out?

Another broken Obama promise? Gitmo remains open.

Stymied by political opposition and focused on competing priorities, the Obama administration has sidelined efforts to close the Guantánamo prison, making it unlikely that President Obama will fulfill his promise to close it before his term ends in 2013.

~snip~
“The president can’t just wave a magic wand to say that Gitmo will be closed,” said a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal thinking on a sensitive issue. The New York Times

Obama can’t wave a magic wand and make things happen but he sure acted like it when, with much fanfare, he signed the Executive Order to close it within one year of him taking office. That pen was his magic wand and he waved as if his deeming it so would make it happen.

This is what you get when you put someone with no leadership experience in charge.

Joe Biden Admits they can’t recover the jobs.

Vice President Joe Biden gave a stark assessment of the economy today, telling an audience of supporters, “there’s no possibility to restore 8 million jobs lost in the Great Recession.” CBS News

Biden goes on to do what has become the main theme of this regime, blame it all on Bush. That excuse is getting old. Hey Joe, the mess belongs to you and you and Obama got it because you convinced America you could fix things.

Now you admit that you can’t.

Is ACORN running the Census?

Two Census Bureau managers from a Brooklyn field office were fired after their bosses found they faked household surveys to meet deadlines, the Daily News learned.

Instead of pounding the pavement and knocking on doors, the corner-cutting people-counters mined the phone book and Internet to make up answers to questionnaires, regional director Tony Farthing said. NY Daily News

This census has been poorly run and has cost billions more than any previous census. Perhaps that is because the Obama regime is using numbers of census employees to artificially lower the unemployment rate. These people are counted as new jobs but will be gone in a few months.

The folks who did this should be prosecuted for falsifying a government record. This is what happens when a corrupt regime runs things.

Biden calls store manager a Smart ass. Custard’s last stand:

Joe Biden, VP of the Obama regime, was out getting a frozen custard (he thought he was getting ice cream) and when he asked how much he owed the manager said not to worry about it, “It’s on us.” Then the manager told Biden to lower our taxes and we will call it even. Biden told the man to say something nice instead of being a smart ass. I thought the request for lower taxes was saying something nice.

This is the disdain the regime has for the average guy on the street. If you think you are paying too much in taxes and express that thought you are being a smart ass. This is because the regime, with people like Biden who have NO business experience, think they know better than you. Shut up you serfs and quit being smart asses. We know what is best for you.

Video at Real Clear Politics

Extending an open hand to Iran:

CIA Director Leon Panetta says Iran probably has enough low-enriched uranium for two nuclear weapons, but that it likely would take two years to build the bombs.

Panetta also says he is doubtful that recent U.N. penalties will put an end to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Yahoo News

It would seem as if the Obama doctrine of bowing to all the world leaders and extending an open hand to the bad people of the world has not paid off.

The Iranian leadership knows Obama is weak and they are pushing the limits. They have enough nuclear material for two bombs and will have those bombs in the near future (and probably sooner than the estimated two years).

How is that world experience working out for ya?

Never surrender, never submit.

The US Army at Fort Jackson is investigating five soldiers for allegedly attempting to poison the food on base. The men are suspected of attempting to poison the food supply sometime before Christmas. It is unclear if they are still in custody or have been released.

Oh, and the report indicates that the five were Muslims and may have been in touch with a Muslim group in DC that traveled to Pakistan to wage jihad on US troops.

CBN News has learned exclusively that five Muslim soldiers at Fort Jackson in South Carolina were arrested just before Christmas. It is unclear whether the men are still in custody. The five were part of the Arabic Translation program at the base. CBN

US Army officials have not stated publicly that these morons were Muslim. The information came from a source inside who knew of the case. I would imagine that if these guys are Muslim it would cause more problems for the Army which was bitten by political correctness in the terror attack of Major Nadal Hasan who killed 13 soldiers.

The Army (and the rest of the armed forces) had better wake up and realize that the enemy is infiltrating the ranks.

People with radical views should be called out and handled appropriately. People who might have ties to radical groups should be closely followed and we should prevent those with any kind of shady history from joining the service.

If people had reported Hasan and his behavior we might never have had the Fort Hood incident.

They should make sure these five soldiers (whether they are Muslims or not and if they actually tried to poison the food) spend a very long time in jail.

I recommend a place in Cuba that is nice and warm.

Of course, according to the left, that place was probably responsible for recruiting these five in the first place.

It is always our fault with the blame America first crowd.

Others:
FOX News

A few days after he was sworn into office, Barack Obama signed an Executive Order to close Gitmo in one year. The egotistical young man had this notion that it was an easy task and that it could be done within a year despite the fact that George Bush had tried for years to move the detainees out of the place. It was evident that Bush had trouble because the task is difficult.

Nonetheless, Obama the brazen decided to make good on a campaign promise and sign the EO to shutter the place. Now there is nothing wrong with trying to shut it down but it is obvious that he overestimated his ability when he put a timeline on the act.

Gitmo will NOT be shut down by Obama’s self imposed deadline. Obama, in a rare interview with Fox News, said he was not disappointed that his deadline had slipped and that he knew it was going to be hard. Keep in mind that Obama’s EO says that the facility will be closed in one year and contains disposition instructions for anyone remaining there at the end of that year.

The detention facilities at Guantánamo for individuals covered by this order shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than 1 year from the date of this order. If any individuals covered by this order remain in detention at Guantánamo at the time of closure of those detention facilities, they shall be returned to their home country, released, transferred to a third country, or transferred to another United States detention facility in a manner consistent with law and the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States. [emphasis mine]

So he knew it was going to be hard? Right, if he knew it would be hard he not have given himself a year to do it and he would not have pigeonholed himself with those specific disposition instructions. He is a calculating politician and he does not like to do things that cast him in a bad light. His problem is that he has such an elevated opinion of his ability that he is unable to accurately predict what will happen and when.

It seems as if he is finding out the hard way that it is real easy to claim that one will change the way things are done in DC but that doing it is actually not that easy. He anticipated that his charm would be able to get things done.

He is finding out that it is not as easy as he made it sound. If he had paid attention to Bush rather than bashing him for what was taking place he might have figured out that the task was difficult.

If he had then maybe he would not be admitting failure in his ability to carry out what he says he will do.

The terrorists at Gitmo are considered high risk for the H1N1 swine flu so they will be getting inoculated (it will be offered to them) before many people who are citizens of this country and who did not try to do us harm because inmates are considered a higher risk group.

Besides, we can’t have Muslims getting the Swine Flu. That might be considered a hate crime or something.

If the distribution of the vaccine has been like it is here then they will probably have gotten the flu or the threat will be over before they do.

A little flu hits and the government gins up an emergency. People are prioritized so the medication can be rationed and then we end up with lines all over the place as people stand in line hoping they will get the vaccine before it runs out.

Of course, if people are worried about getting the vaccine or if they do not have health care for that matter, they can always get arrested.

Criminals get free health care and are a higher priority for vaccines.

Even terrorists.

I have read where a bunch of musicians are upset that their “music” was used for torture, or to “enhance” torture. REM , Nine Inch Nails, Roseanne Cash, and Bonnie Raitt have all protested the use of music in this way. But there’s a problem- what is the definition of “music”?

I mean, some of what I hear these days sounds like some people whipping cats- and that is, I would guess  the “good stuff”, or at least the stuff that radio stations play. It is really hard to tell the good music from the dreck- perhaps they manicure the fingernails that are dragged across the chalkboard. Regardless, the minstrels are pissed.

A coalition of high-profile musicians has endorsed a Freedom of Information Act request to learn which songs the U.S. military and security agencies used during interrogations and torture of detainees, theWashington Post reportedThursday. The group includes Rosanne Cash, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, and members of Pearl Jam, R.E.M. and the Roots.

“I think every musician should be involved,” Cash said. “It seems so obvious. Music should never be used as torture.” She said she felt “absolute disgust” when she heard that military personnel had blasted songs for hours and days on end to “enhance” interrogations. “It’s beyond the pale. It’s hard to even think about.”

politicsdaily.com

Oh gosh, I know- it’s just disgusting that these people should be called musicians- after all, their true calling has caused these terrorists real pain. So obviously they are talented at doing that at least- causing pain, that is- music, maybe not so much.

Let’s face it Roseanne, if music was soothing and pleasant, it would not be any good for torture, so we really have to thank all of you punk, grunge, heavy metal and other “alternative” musicians for providing the means to make these scumbags scream and weep, until they tell all. Now that’s cool.

After all, providing pleasure for people, well, that’s boring, but pain? You musicians may have stumbled into a new niche- “Pain/Rock”. Just what I needed.

In a statement, REM said: “We have spent the past 30 years supporting causes related to peace and justice. To now learn that some of our friends’ music may have been used as part of the torture tactics without their consent or knowledge, is horrific. It’s anti-American, period.”

Other artists to sign up to the coalition include Jackson Browne, Steve Earle, Roseanne Cash, Billy Bragg, Bonnie Raitt and Rage Against The Machine.

On behalf of the campaign, the National Security Archive in Washington is filing a Freedom of Information Act request seeking classified records that detail the use of loud music as an interrogation device.

bighollywood.breitbart.com

Yo, Trent, Bonnie- newsflash- it’s not just your friend’s music that has been used- it is also yours. Because let’s face it- you pretty much suck as musicians. I know, because when I come home (and I live in a rural section of Texas) I still have to listen all too often to your music, and those of the people mentioned above, and believe me, I know why they picked your “music” to enhance the torture experience- they have  little else to do but put the CD on and walk away. 

Even through five acres of woods, the horrible screeching sounds of your noise come through, disturbing the wildlife, as my drunken (and quite possibly meth- addicted ) neighbor turns the volume up to 11 to cover his lasting disappointment after yet another day of  beating his old lady and changing tires at the local tire shop.

So I know why they use the noise- I can no longer bring myself to call what you do music- it is not- but apparently CD sales are brisk at Camp Delta.

Thank your lucky stars that somebody’s buying what you are shoveling-

Or you’d be back asking if someone wanted fries with that.

Remember during the campaign when Obama said that Bush did everything wrong in the war on terror. We should not be in Iraq, Gitmo should be closed and we should not be holding the people for no reason. That is when Barry was the candidate and had to appeal to the anti war left in order to be different from the other Democrats who voted for the war. Hillary had to be hawkish in order to show a woman could be tough. Obama, the metrosexual, showed he was the learned one on such matters.

This continued in the general election campaign when he linked McCain to Bush and said that McCain would just give us more of the same. Obama and his minions even took a McCain statement out of context and convinced people that McCain said it would be OK to be in the war for 100 years (a blatant lie).

Since being elected Obama has taken many of the same positions as Bush with regard to the war. He is now employing a surge in Afghanistan (where are the MSM with the body counts and Code Pink burning effigies), he has adjusted his time line and now he is even taking the Bush stance on prisoners. He wants to close Gitmo but he thinks it will be OK to keep people, even those found not guilty, if they are deemed to be a threat to us:

The Obama administration said Tuesday it could continue to imprison non-U.S. citizens indefinitely even if they have been acquitted of terrorism charges by a U.S. military commission.

Jeh Johnson, the Defense Department’s chief lawyer, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that releasing a detainee who has been tried and found not guilty was a policy decision that officials would make based on their estimate of whether the prisoner posed a future threat.

Like the Bush administration, the Obama administration argues that the legal basis for indefinite detention of aliens it considers dangerous is separate from war-crimes prosecutions. Officials say that the laws of war allow indefinite detention to prevent aliens from committing warlike acts in future, while prosecution by military commission aims to punish them for war crimes committed in the past. WSJ

All those people who voted for Obama and said it would be great to have anyone but Bush in office now have someone who is closely following Bush with regard to the war on terror.

Obama found out fast that it is different when you are looking from the inside.

His supporters who thought he was going to end all of this must be delusional. I, on the other hand, predicted this would happen. Obama will say or be anything to get into office.

Funny thing is Obama said McCain would be George Bush’s third term. Looks like Obama is now holding Bush’s third term.

Maybe we will get lucky and all his supporters will stroke out over this war mongering hero they voted for.

Barack Obama addressed the issue of indefinite detentions for the enemy combatants we are holding and said that the thought “gives me huge pause.” He has already discovered how difficult it is to get rid of the ones that we have determined can be released because, like Bush, he is unable to find them homes.

According to the AP:

But the president says there are some detainees who don’t fall neatly into existing categories for criminal prosecution in the United States or under international law.

Obama says that dealing with these situations is going to be “one of the biggest challenges” of his administration. The president says he’s not comfortable imposing indefinite detentions by executive order. But he didn’t explicitly rule it out. Breitbart

Obama has discovered that some of these people do not fit into neat little categories and that bringing them to trial is a difficult issue. He said that he was not comfortable with the Executive Order but did not rule it out. In fact, recent news indicates that his administration is drafting an EO that will do just what he is uncomfortable with.

This rookie went to the White House full of bravado and ideals with plans that he just knew would get things done. He made it sound so elementary during the campaign. Bush was an evil man who just wanted to hold these innocent people who were out wandering around battlefields minding their own business when our troops captured them. Some claim that a few were turned in for reward money. They were falsely accused. If that is the case would they have ever made it to Gitmo? We have plenty of places to hold them overseas and could have easily released them. Even if true, it amounts to a small minority of those held and they have probably been cleared but don’t want to go home and no one will take them.

Obama’s biggest problem with this is that he acted without thinking in order to appease his supporters. He signed the order to close Gitmo in a year before he had all the facts and before he discussed the release with other countries. Now he has a base that expects him to close the place on time and he is having trouble getting rid of the offenders. He might end up moving them to other prisons in the war zone in order to close Gitmo but he will not really be keeping his promise. He will just be shifting the issue from Cuba to some other place. He can claim he did what he said but it would be a hollow claim.

Rushing in without thinking seems to be a pattern with this guy. He rushed on Gitmo and then he rushed the stimulus bill through so quickly that he broke promises about transparency in so doing. In addition, no one had a chance to read the thing and there have been unintended consequences. The stimulus has also not had any effect on the economy. This economic downturn would have begun a recovery by now had the government not involved itself. It is FDR and the Great Depression all over again.

Now they are rushing Cap and Trade and Health Care Reform through. No one had the chance to read Cap and Trade and it is a disaster.

This guy is rushing head first into things in order to get them passed while he has a majority and popularity. He wants to get these things done, never letting a crisis go to waste, before the public turns on him which it is beginning to do.

The natives are restless. Obama promised that unemployment rate would not go higher than 8% if the stimulus was enacted but would be higher if it was not. The stimulus was enacted and unemployment is at 9.5%, further proof they do not know what they are talking about. The report is here and the end note only states that the estimate for unemployment without action could be higher. It does not give an out for it going up if they enacted the stimulus. They believed it would work so why have an out?

(1) Forecasts of the unemployment rate without the recovery plan vary substantially. Some private forecasters anticipate unemployment rates as high as 11% in the absence of action.

Obama rushes head first into the fire without knowing what is going on. He is using the “crisis” to get the Democrats’ wish list passed before the pitchfork crowd starts surrounding DC.

His pattern from Gitmo to economy has been to rush in. He exercises “caution” when he should be a roaring voice in the world but rushes things here at home. That is no way to lead.

A rookie at the helm is a bad thing.

And maybe even yours…

Barack Obama showed a lack of maturity and leadership by setting a date certain that club Gitmo will be shut down. Now he is finding that all the Hope and Change chants are not getting other countries to take the inmates. Now he is running out of time and he needs to do something with the terrorists. Obama has not ruled out bringing these people to the United States:

A White House spokesman says the Obama administration hasn’t decided whether or not to release Guantanamo Bay detainees in the United States.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama has made clear “we’re not going to make any decision about transfer or release that threatens the security of this country.”

Asked if that meant he was ruling out releasing any detainees in the United States, Gibbs said: “I’m not ruling it in or ruling it out.” AP

Obama has stated that he would not release anyone dangerous into the US. That is easy for him to say since he lives in a gated community with about 30,000 people working to keep him safe. He also rides around in an armored car. He will be safe, his wife will be safe and his little girls will be safe. The rest of us will be targets.

We should not be letting these people out into our country and if they must be released here they should be released in the White House and the neighborhoods of prominent Democrats.

Obama made a mistake and now we will have to live with it. If one of these people is released in the US and causes harm Obama should be brought up on charges of treason.

This is what you get when you allow amateurs to run the place.