A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
On the Web:
AJStrata: Team Obama Broadcasts Intelligence Plans To Terrorists! - Is there no end to the stupidity the new administration will demonstrate to the world? One thing no one would argue is that President George W Bush kept this country safe. And his team did so by quietly - well outside the limelight - chasing down our enemies and disrupting their plans. He did this quietly so we had a chance of catching them, never letting on we had them in our sites, never bragging about how we got them so they could learn to evade out security nets. But not Team Obama! Hell no, their promise of transparency seems to be directed at letting everyone in on our national security details, so our enemies can take defensive actions and our agents and allies face deadly reprisals. This news leak/article deserves a good fisking to illustrate how Obama may be leading this year’s Darwin Awards, for the act of taking a whole nation to the brink of extinction: (READ MORE)
Victor Davis Hanson: Our Brave New World - The Apocalyptic Style - Be careful when one uses the superlative case—best, most, -est, etc.—or evokes end-of-the-world imagery. The new Secretary of Energy Chu, who seems eminently qualified and is a Nobel Prize Winner, strangely just declared, ‘We’re looking at a scenario where there’s no more agriculture in California’, and went on to declare vineyards all but doomed here—apparently due to global warming. True, we’ve had this year (and part of last) a mini-drought. In my 50 years of memory of California there have been many; usually they last for a year or two, then we get matching wet years. (In some years in lieu of Sierra irrigation water, I have turned on our electric pumps (15 hp/1000 gallons a minute) in May and turned them off in late August—24/7. And over a 10-year span of dry/wet years, the seasons balance out (e.g., the water table in my front yard varies from 35 feet in wet years to 50 in dry: (READ MORE)
In From the Cold: Cutting the Stockpile - Say this for Hillary Clinton: she knows how to follow her marching orders. Apparently, all those years with Bill were excellent preparation for carrying out ill-advised or foolhardy tasks. From that ill-fated national health care plan to ignoring her husband's many indiscretions, Ms. Clinton is adept at handling chores that most of us would summarily reject. Consider her newest priority as Secretary of State. Ms. Clinton has informed Congress (and her staff) that she wants early talks with Russia on "sharply reducing" the size of both nation's nuclear arsenals. The goal is a replacement for the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which limits the U.S. and Russia to 6,000 nuclear warheads each. Some wonder if a new accord is even necessary--but both countries are far below that total. (READ MORE)
One Marine's View: A message from an appalled observer....a lesson in history - Today I went to visit the new World War II Memorial in Washington , DC . I got an unexpected history lesson. Because I'm a baby boomer, I was one of the youngest in the crowd. Most were the age of my parents, Veterans of 'the greatest war,' with their families. It was a beautiful day, and people were smiling and happy to be there. Hundreds of us milled around the memorial, reading the inspiring words of Eisenhower and Truman that are engraved there. On the Pacific side of the memorial, a group of us gathered to read the words President Roosevelt used to announce the attack on Pearl Harbor: Yesterday, December 7, 1941-- a date which will live in infamy--the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked. One elderly woman read the words aloud: 'With confidence in our armed forces, with the abounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph.' But as she read, she suddenly turned angry. (READ MORE)
Smooth Stone: Holocaust denying bishop to examine ‘historical evidence’ - Holocaust denial and Holcaust perversion are being treated as legitimate alternative viewpoints when in fact it is a falsification of history. When one speaks about indisputable historical facts, there is no alternative. Holocaust denial is nothing more than hatred disguised as an interpretation of history. See, without such hatred, Arabs, Muslims, and yes, Christians wouldn’t be able to incite and commit acts of violence against Jews. Their goal is to delegitimize Jews, Judaism, and of course, Israel. One must re-define Jews as “cancers”, “virus”, “Christ-killers”, “hook-nosed kikes”, “rats”, “demons”, “baby-killers”, etc. in order to hate them so that it is easier to kill them. Goebbels knew this well and so did the Germans and the rest of Europe who inhaled Hitler’s euphoria when he spoke about Jews and Germany’s pressing need to rid itself of them. (READ MORE)
The Belmont Club: The shapeshifters - Michelle Van Cleave, who served as head of U.S. counterintelligence from July 2003 through March 2006 has an interesting article in the Washington Post claiming that foreign espionage is so rampant nobody even knows how bad it is. “To this day, we don’t know quite when or how they did it, but we do know that Chinese intelligence operatives are still at work, systematically targeting not only America’s defense secrets but our industries’ valuable proprietary information. [...] How could such spies have operated unseen at the very heart of our national security enterprise for so long and with such success?” The reason spies can operate with such impunity, according to Van Cleave, is that the different US intelligence outfits are pursuing their own agendas: “the FBI, the CIA and the military services tend to go their separate ways”. As a result, Van Cleave says, there is no overarching strategy which governs the purposes of counterintelligence, which has resulted for example, in the neglect of offensive counterintelligence operations (penetrating the bad guys to find out who their spies over here are) and a focus on purely defensive measures. (READ MORE)
The Tygrrrr Express: More Irrational Hate Mail from Arab Terrorist Lunatics - I recently attended a symposium at UCLA entitled “Gaza and Human Rights.” As I said, I felt like I had infiltrated a terrorist sleeper cell. There was nothing human about the speakers or most of the crowd. For those wondering what savage barbarians look like, I am sure somebody took pictures. Since then, one of the anti-Semitic speakers, Lisa Hajjar, has had her terrorist mask ripped off. Her department has been shut down. Yet like cockroaches, anti-Semite Arab terrorist enablers are many. After publishing my column detailing the verbal genocidal atrocities committed by Arab terrorists posing as “academics,” I received hate mail that only a Palestinian homicide bomber (or a UCLA professor) could love. Some of the bile is below. I redacted the foul language. As with most “intellectuals,” they cannot argue on substance. Instead they criticize spelling, grammar, and anything else that allows them to retain their rare combination of smugness and ignorance. (READ MORE)
This A'int Hell: Andre Shepherd’s hearing - Our buddy, Andre Shepherd, the fellow who deserted from his support battalion in Germany and spent a year hiding out with punk rock bands and admitted commie Darnell Stephen Summers has finally had his hearing with the German government requesting asylum from the evil US government. The whole basis of his claim that he needs asylum is because desertion is a capitol crime. It’s not played up that much in the US press because it’s pretty ridiculous. The last soldier that the Army executed, John A. Bennett, was hanged April 16, 1961 after being convicted of a January 1955 rape of an 11-year-old Austrian girl who Bennett also tried to drown after the rape. Shepherd’s crime hardly rises to the level of rape and attempted murder. The last deserter to be executed by the Army was Eddie Slovik on January 31, 1945, and despite the fact that 21,000 soldiers deserted in World War Two and 49 were given death sentences, only Slovik was executed. But that doesn’t stop Shepherd from tugging at the Euro-weinies’ heart strings: (READ MORE)
Ron Winter: "The Prez" Obama's First Three Weeks A Fiasco; What's Next? - In keeping with an arbitrary First 100 Days set by Franklin Roosevelt as a milestone for determining the direction and potential success of a new presidential administration, the media is giving The Prez Obama a pass on a plethora of missteps, miscues, misinformation and flat out horror stories. I, on the other hand, am not bound by such inanities and have decided that the first three weeks is plenty of time to see where the new administration is headed. After careful examination and analysis I have determined that if we aren't on the road to perdition we certainly are going to hell in a handbasket. What a colossal rip off! This is the new Messiah? This is the Chosen One? This is the guy who is going to bring us all together, touching toes in New Age encounter groups while he herds our children into mandatory government work parties and police state platoons? (READ MORE)
The Wide Awake Cafe: Prince Obama the Unready - Approaching the keyboard in the age of Obama is becoming ever more dicey. What with dealing with the winter of our own discontent, disinfectants, and distress, there’s a slow realization that the dystopian society some of us suspected before the election might be the true construct behind the flashing neon lights of Hope and Change is indeed the audacious aim of Barack Obama and it’s beginning to unfold. A scary time made even more scary by our Horror Story Teller in Chief, Scary Barry. I’ve always been skeptical of the pushy car salesmen who insist that a car I am mildly interested in must be purchased immediately because there are so many buyers in line, there are no more like it, the price will go up tomorrow, etc…. but this is what we have been getting from Empire Obama re the Stimulus Plan. (READ MORE)
Cassandra: Nailing It - Glenn Reynolds features a must-watch exchange on greed, government, and incentives. If you do nothing else on the Intertubes today, go and watch it. Listening, the Editorial Staff were reminded of a passage from Barack Obama's inaugural speech that really stuck in our craw: “... it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom. For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West, endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died in places Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sanh. Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life.” Rarely have we read something more fundamentally dishonest than this. (READ MORE)
Meryl Yourish: Jimmy Carter: Lies, slander, and Jew-hatred - It isn’t enough that Carter has written yet another book slamming Israel. It isn’t enough that he slams Israel on a regular basis. His Jew-hatred is really starting to shine through. (H/T: Elder.) “You have to remember that the major Israeli lobbies, they’re not in favor of peace. They never have professed to be. What they are in favor of is protecting the policies of whatever government is in charge in Israel. If you look at their Web sites, they make that quite clear. So they’re for Israel, they’re not for peace between Israel and its neighbors.” But it’s not enough to just foster more conspiracy theories. Carter also has to lie. “I know from personal experience and conversations with the top leaders that all of them want to see peace based on the two-state solution that’s been promulgated by the United Nations and by the International Quartet (the U.S., Russia, European Union and UN) and its road map and unanimously by all the Arab countries that offer Israel peace and security and trade and commerce if Israel will just comply with the two-state solution proposal.” (READ MORE)
Brett Joshpe: Hollywood Should Pledge Its Money Where Its Collective Mouth Is - Go to YouTube and type in, “I Pledge” for the latest insufferably, self-important pat on its own back courtesy of Hollywood. The video montage is Tinsletown’s way of pledging fidelity to Barack Obama and letting him know that…”You’re Not Alone!” Because while Iran scurries to acquire a nuclear weapon and the economy falters, Demi Moore pledges to smile more (and “to be a servant to our President”), Eva Longoria pledges to laugh more, Cameron Diaz pledges to learn her neighbors’ names, and Jason Bateman pledges to save the planet by only flushing after a deuce. Give Barack Obama credit for one thing: he seems to have woken the consciousness of an entire class of people who are out of touch and inspired them to demonstrate how they are completely and utterly out of touch. But heck, Hollywood, good for you guys. You have finally realized that you are Americans too, and you can once again attend overseas premieres with pride, rather than the shame of citizenship under the Bush administration. (READ MORE)
Jay Fraser: GITMO Contradictions (?) - Over the last week or so there have been some interesting, if not contradictory happenings when it comes to the War on Terror(ism) and the ways in which the new Administration will either adhere to, or alter the policies, practices and procedures of the previous one. First, there was the question of military tribunals for prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. In an Executive Order signed on January 22, 2009, President Obama declared that he would follow through on his campaign promise to close the detention center in Cuba. That is all well and good. But later that week, the military judge at Guantanamo contradicted the order and declared that the trial of one of the detainees suspected in the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole would go ahead as planned. “Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi citizen of Yemeni descent, is facing arraignment Feb. 9 on capital charges relating to the al-Qaeda strike on the Cole in Yemen that killed 17 U.S. service members and injured 50 others in October 2000. The chief military judge at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Army Col. James Pohl, said that he found the government's arguments ‘unpersuasive’ and that the case will go ahead because ‘the public interest in a speedy trial will be harmed by the delay in the arraignment.’” (READ MORE)
Susan Katz Keating: American Media Again Ignores Presidential Gaffe; British Journo Makes the Call - I now have proof positive that the American media still is wearing goo-goo blinders while viewing our newly installed Commander in Chief. While embarking yesterday on his first flight aboard Marine One, the presidential helicopter, our protocol-challenged President Barack Obama - who used his left hand while saluting in December - pulled a gaffe so glaring that our home based pundits should have sent up a mighty howl. But they remained silent, leaving a sharp-eyed British journalist to make the call. The London Telegraph's U.S. Editor, Toby Harnden, wrote in his blog: “On departing from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base, Obama broke from tradition as he boarded Marine One, the presidential helicopter, on the South Lawn. He seemed to stun the Marine standing at attention by reaching out to shake his hand.” (READ MORE)
Warner Todd Huston: Colo. High School Suspends Marine Drill Team Member Over Fake Guns - Another Example of How Liberals Destroy This Country - We often call them “our best and brightest.” They are the men and women of our armed forces, all volunteers putting their lives on the line to defend our nation. Some of our most able and trustworthy leaders have come from their ranks. In times of need their sacrifice is cause for us to well with pride and their inevitable loss cause to shed a tear of gratitude. We encourage our young people to consider this life of sacrifice to our country and when at a young age they so choose the life of a soldier, almost without fail we find such young folks to be the cream of our society. Polite. Earnest. Intelligent. Hard working. So why are the administrators in the Aurora, Colorado public school system harassing and punishing one of those very young people that we should be celebrating? With actions such as this, liberals are not only destroying our schools but also our traditions and our very social fabric. (READ MORE)
Melannie Phillips: The Royal Court's mystery play - Today’s Observer carries a report that Jew-hatred attacks in Britain are now running at such a level the police have drafted in extra patrols and British Jews are beginning to emigrate. I have previously reported here on the menacing atmosphere in which British Jews are currently living, as a result of the malevolent misrepresentation of Israel’s actions in Gaza by Britain’s media and intelligentsia which are pumping out mind-twisting and ultimately genocidal Arab propaganda as unchallengeable truths. The Royal Court theatre in London is now adding fuel to that Jew-hatred by staging a ten-minute blood-libel written by Caryl Churchill. A copy of this text has now reached me (and it has also reached Harry’s Place. Please bear in mind that what is actually being performed on stage may be slightly different.) (READ MORE)
Rightwing Nuthouse: THE STIMULUS SHOULD GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD - The chances of deep sixing the stimulus monstrosity and starting over again are as near to absolute zero as you can get in politics. The reputations of Speaker Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the president himself are on the line and a defeat of the conference report in the senate (still a possibility after the House tries to restore many of the cuts made by the senate), would be very damaging to that triumvirate, especially the president. But if ever there were a case where the leaders of the Democratic party should swallow their pride and take the hit on their credibility by tearing up this piece of legislation and starting over, this is it. Not much of a chance of that happening what with Obama going on national TV tonight and a cloture vote scheduled in the senate tomorrow. (READ MORE)
Jack Dunphy: Misunderstanding Rush Limbaugh - Today the Los Angeles Times devoted a portion of its front page and more than a thousand words to Rush Limbaugh, and like most liberal media organs that have examined what we might call the Limbaugh phenomenon, they fail in their effort to help readers understand it. This is a failure that might have been avoided had the writers merely listened to his program. The article quotes Rich Bond, former chairman of the Republican National Committee. “The question is,” Bond says, “are we going to have an all-white-man litmus test under the Republican Party? Or is there room for diverse opinion on environmental issues, on the issue of right to life, the issue of taxes and spending?” Thus the article advances the notion that Limbaugh’s views are retrograde, that today’s Republicans should somehow reach accommodation with those who advocate for increased government regulation on environmental issues, increased taxes and government spending, and, worst of all, abortion on demand. (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Dire Report - National security team, headed by a highly respected worstist, tries to coax Europe with the promise that Afghanistan will be tougher than Iraq. Washington Post: “‘NATO’s future is on the line here,’ Richard C. Holbrooke, the State Department’s special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told attendees at an international security conference here. ‘It’s going to be a long, difficult struggle. . . . In my view, it’s going to be much tougher than Iraq.’” Yeah, well. That’s pretty much what they … Holbrooke in particular … said about Iraq.* OK, doll face, what’s it gonna be? You gonna quit now or stick it out? Because it almost sounds like someone’s looking for an excuse to cut and run. Listen, it’s always darkest before it goes completely black, cupcake. You gotta look on the bright side, even if there ain’t one. (Sorry, it’s hard to break that Dashiell Hammett thing once you start.) The thing is the audience. Talking like that in Washington, with the crowd that’s hanging around that juke joint these days, is a prelude to Splitsville. (READ MORE)
Heading Right: President Obama & The End of Justice, err Terror Charges - Well, the honeymoon is O-V-E-R. President Obama’s efforts towards bipartisanship seem to be taking a backseat to the old Potomac Two-step. In the first days of the administration, he signaled a bit of deference to the career folks at The Pentagon. He decided to hold over Secretary Robert Gates along with approximately 150 senior paper pushers & policy makers. He issued a strong defense of Israel statement on Day One on the newly revamped (but unimpressive) WhiteHouse.gov website. Now, just less than three weeks into into his four year term… the hope-n-changey days are gone. Obama’s stimulus went from fluffy to flat faster than a 1967 Shelby Mustang does zero-to-sixty with a new Raush engine. Like California Governor Schwarzenegger, President Obama is learning that being Mr. Post-Partisan is not as easy as it sounded on the campaign trail. At some point… the people on Capitol Hill remind you of Civics 101: Three “Co-equal” Branches of Government. (READ MORE)
Ft. Hard Knox: Why Does Hussein Obama Hate His Children? - With the looming Reparations Bill in the senate and the billions already doled out that has done absolutely nothing to stimulate the economy or create job one, why would Obama, or any socialist, knowingly destroy their child’s future? I have to mention the past care Obama has displayed for his children by subjecting them to Jeremiah Wrights hate filled bile for all of their lives and only ceasing once America caught wind of it and it hurt his campaign. It’s no different than a parent taking their children to Klan rallies on the weekends and only stopping because they wanted a seat on the PTA or a volunteer fireman’s job. The motive isn’t pure. It’s dishonest. The Obama’s and their minion of socialist lackeys in D.C., MUST know that what they are dong isn’t feasible, sound or logical. They MUST know that what they are doing will simply worsen our economy and invite inflation on a scale not witnessed since the Weimer Republic. (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Medical malpractice - Times of London: A falsified report in Lancet led to superstitions about the MMR vaccine — which could be deadly. The Times of London did what the editors at the Lancet medical journal should have done 11 years ago and reviewed carefully the data of Andrew Wakefield, who made a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. There is no such link. “Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients’ data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition,” the Times of London reported. The result is deadly. Superstitions about MMR and autism took over. “Despite involving just a dozen children, the 1998 paper’s impact was extraordinary. After its publication, rates of inoculation fell from 92% to below 80%. Populations acquire herd immunity from measles when more than 95% of people have been vaccinated. (READ MORE)
Cool, Calm and Collected: Two. - Already it has been nearly two years since Jim went to be with the Lord. I really just can't quite fathom how amazing that really is sometimes. To be with the one who created the world, who created you, who loved you enough to send his only son to die for our sins, would be awesome. Some days it feels like yesterday. Some days it feels like an eternity ago. It really doesn't matter how you look at it though, because he has in fact been gone two years. I know where he's at though. And I know he's safe. So today, I'm rejoicing for him, and thanking him, for it is because of men like Jim that we can be free... (READ MORE)
American Ranger: What is Mr. Obama Thinking? - It is unbelievable that our new president has unilaterally dropped the case of the terrorist who masterminded the attack on the USS Cole and the cold blooded murders of American sailors. Then, to give the terrorists even more reasons to rejoice at his election, Mr. Obama has decided to close “Gitmo” with absolutely no idea where he will put some of the deadliest men on earth. The new administration better learn that those who want to kill us are not impressed with our democratic values, our religious “love your enemy” morality, or a philosophy that gives terrorists the same rights as common criminals. Fundamentalist Muslims like the leaders of Iran want to destroy us, destroy Israel and obliterate anything that will interfere with their plans to spread their evil throughout the world. Thugs like this only understand strength of will, military power and the willingness to use that power if necessary. (READ MORE)
A Soldier's Mind: Army Deserter Receives German Peace Prize - While millions of American Military Members continue to bravely serve our country in harms way, one US Army deserter or should I say coward, received a German Peace Prize on Saturday, for being a coward. This Army Deserter, SPC Andre Shepherd, who is originally from Cleveland Ohio, is currently attempting to claim political asylum in Germany. On Saturday, Shepherd was awarded the Munich American Peace Committee’s annual prize, during a protest at a major security conference that occurred in southern Germany. Shepherd had served one tour in Iraq and had returned to Germany where he was stationed, when he went AWOL a year and a half ago. He applied for asylum in Germany on November 26th of last year, claiming he morally objected to the war in Iraq. After his deployment and subsequent return to Germany, he began to explore options. (READ MORE)
Scott Johnson: The AP blames Bush - We have explored at length the AP's cooperation with terrorist forces in Iraq. When the AP won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography, for example, we thought it deserved the Pulitzer for felony murder. We published the comments of D. Gorton in support of our own analysis. Gorton elaborated his thoughts further in "Murder on Haifa Street." The AP now acknowledges it has serious issues with its coverage of the war. Unfortunately, they differ substantially with us on the nature of the issues. The AP believes it has been hamstrung by the government in its coverage of the war. According to AP chief executive officer Thomas Curley: "We are the only force out there to keep the government in check and to hold it accountable." I wonder, however, who is to hold the AP accountable. Curley shows no inclination whatsoever to professional self-examination or introspection. (READ MORE)
Have an interesting post or know of a "must read?" Then send a trackback here and let us all know about it. Or you can send me an email with a link to the post and I'll update the Recon.
No comments:
Post a Comment