Hot Air – Quite a few people have had the same reaction to this chart from Business Insider and Calculated Risk as John Derbyshire at The Corner, which is to offer a res ipsa loquitur rather than clutter it with commentary. But there is more to be said about the ramifications of this chart.
But calling it the Chart of the Day seems too limiting. I’d call this the Chart of the Year, for a couple of reasons. It demonstrates the folly of the Obama administration’s insistence that we have been experiencing a recovery and any sort of significant growth in job creation. After hitting the nadir of job losses relative to our peak inter-recession employment, we have essentially flatlined for far longer than any other post-recession period. Nothing in the data shows a hint that we will soon break out of that pattern either, and Ben Bernanke says we’ll probably go four to five more years on this same trajectory. Read more
When I think of President Obama’s path for our country I am reminded of the movie, The Matrix. You know the story: computers are in control. The sky is scorched because of the struggle between humanity and the machines, and the only sustainable energy the machines can use to stay alive (alive?), is to use people as human batteries from the womb to the grave.
How do they keep the masses in control? Their minds are controlled by a computer program (the Matrix), making them believe that they are living normal lives. So while they are in captivity and servitude, the reality they perceive is otherwise.
Liberal and progressive elites must be in control. They honestly believe that we can’t live without them. But instead of using ideas to influence others, they rather shove legislation down our throats to achieve that control through the State.
But the State must sustain itself. It must have votes in order to stay alive, so it must make as many people dependent on it as possible. Thus the creation of a dependent class, whether through welfare, social security, medicare and now – Obamacare.
Why will Obamacare lead our country down the road to serfdom?
1) It creates another dependent class, and therefore secures votes to sustain the State. Obamacare is designed to eliminate private competition. With insurance companies out the way, the State will be the primary care giver – and the ultimate Nanny over our health and well being.
2) It provides the State a way to control the number of enrollments on health care. Let’s face it: the State can’t afford everyone. So, if a person is unable to contribute to the State, and if their health care is too costly – they simply will not receive health care.
3) The debt load of another entitlement in a bad economy, with a crisis looming in Social Security, is disastrous to our nation’s future and to individual families.
Also, Obamacare is the silent FOCA, and will eventually lead to federally funded unrestricted abortion. The State must have unrestricted abortion. This accomplishes three things:
1) Abortion helps to control population growth and the costs of entitlements.
2) In the end, elites want to make sure that minorities remain minorities. Just take a look at the presence of Planned Parenthood in minority neighborhoods. Thus, while utilizing victimization that ensure votes, abortion provides that minorities remain victims.
Even though the Democrats view illegals from Mexico as future Democratic votes, they will take steps to keep the Hispanic population as a minority with the promotion of abortion.
3) Contraception and abortion promotes sex outside of marriage, and therefore devalues marriage. 80% of those in poverty are single parents and children living in single parent homes. The poor will remain poor. Thus providing a permanent dependent class that ensure votes.
Thus, Obamacare and the road to Serfdom.
We need health care reform. The U.S. has the highest quality health care in the world, and customers are highly satisfied with it – but we need to have that excellent health care available to everyone.
But reform must never come between the doctor and the patient, and the government must never have the authority to decide who receives what operation. There must be a free cooperation of patients, health care providers, the free market and government.
Obamacare will take no prisoners – it is designed to eliminate competition to wage total control from womb to the tomb. In the end, everyone loses. The federal government is wasteful, inefficient, intrusive, and impersonal. It will decide who will receive care and when, but it will also decide who will not.
The GOP Tsunami of 2010 is the first step in the process to repeal the the back door deal called Obamacare. Let us support and hold to the fire the incoming majority to this end, and work toward the Tsunami of 2012 to finish the job.
Michelle may not like being First Lady, but I’m sure the trip to Spain was nice.
Michelle Obama thinks being America’s First Lady is ‘hell’, Carla Bruni reveals today in a wildly indiscreet book.
Miss Bruni divulges that Mrs Obama replied when asked about her position as the U.S. president’s wife: ‘Don’t ask! It’s hell. I can’t stand it!’
Details of the private conversation, which took place at the White House during an official visit by Nicolas Sarkozy last March, emerged in Carla And The Ambitious, a book written in collaboration with Miss Bruni.
However another book, an unauthorised biography about the French president’s wife, offers an insight into an apparently testy relationship between the two women. Read more
Remember the outrage when President Obama spoke to our kids in a nationwide address at school? Usually, it’s a good thing when a President encourages kids to stay in school, word hard, and care about your fellow neighbor. So why the reaction? I think it is a result of two things: the constant exposure of the President in the media and Obama shoving his radical leftist ideology down our throats.
But something popped up on the internet which should cause even more concern about the influence of the President on our children. Check out this video of elementary school kids singing praises to Obama:
Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama
He said all should lend a hand to make the country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama
He said we must be fair today, equal work means equal pay.
Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama
He said take a stand, make sure everyone gets a chance Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama
He said red, yellow, black and white, all are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama
Yeah! Barack Hussein Obama
…Hello Mr. President, We honor you today
For all your great accomplishments, we all do say hooray
Hooray, Mr. President you are No. 1
The first black American to lead this nation
Please let me ask a question: what would happen if elementary school children were found singing praises to George Walker Bush? Can you imagine the outrage throughout the land?
Well, if anything should cause outrage – this should cause outrage. Promoting a cult of personality is not education, but indoctrination. But B. Bernice Young Elementary School takes indoctrination of little children one step further:
Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama
He said red, yellow, black and white, all are equal in his sight
This is an obvious reference to “Jesus loves the little children,” but they are not singing praises to Jesus. (I have the feeling that this school will do anything but that). It’s disturbing using this reference to Obama, raising him to the level of a deity. Barack Hussein Obama – the god king.
This was a project for Black History Month 2009, but Michelle Malkin notes that the children repeated their performance in March 2009 for Charisse Carney-Nunes, author of the children’s book “I Am Barack Obama” and a self-described Harvard Law “schoolmate” of the president’s, showed students lined up in the auditorium snapping their fingers and chanting in unison…Carney-Nunes’s Obama book was on prominent display during the students’ performance. It is a tool, she says, that “allows children to see themselves through the inspirational story of President Obama growing up as an ordinary child asking, ‘Who will change the world? Ultimately, he realizes that he will.’” Seeing everything through the lens of Obama, as his incessantly self-referential United Nations speech demonstrated, is a trademark of the perpetual Obama campaign.
Nothing like promoting the worship of Obama and promoting your book at the same time.
Of course the promotion of Barack the god king comes from different folks:
The video ends with I pledge to be a servant to our President and to all mankind. Isn’t it a comfort to know that seemingly intelligent people are all caught up in the worship and service to Obama the god king? (but I would be remiss by not thanking all the celebrities by their getting soaked with all the taxes that will befall them).
Well, I would like to make a pledge: never follow empty headed nit-wits in their worship and devotion to Obama the god king. I will limit my devotion and worship to the true God and King.
I will serve mankind by promoting liberty and helping my neighbor when in need. I will respect each person’s dignity, promote the right of “We the People” and resist enslavement by the State.
I will defend the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
I will defend the right to life of each person including the unborn baby and the elderly.
I will promote responsible stewardship of the environment with wisdom and the use of sound science. I will resist pseudo-science and environmentalism in pursuit of a radical leftist agenda.
I will promote energy independence by utilizing our abundant resources of oil, natural gas and coal while exploring “green” solutions.
I will defend our free market economy with ethical integrity and oppose the tyranny of socialism.
And yes, I will smile more.
I am sure that there is plenty other things, but you can only put so much on your plate.
If you don’t know Daniel Hannan, you’ll have instant respect. He is a conservative in the British Parliament – we need more like him here in the States.
Edmund Burke said that “those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” I don’t know how else to explain this rush of mass insanity towards a government-run healthcare system. All we have to do is remember is what the government has done with social security, medicare, and welfare with the creation of a dependent class. The recent Cash for Clunkers is another example.
But then again, all we have to do is see what universal healthcare has done to socialist Great Britain. Especially take notice of how universal healthcare endangers senior citizens.
The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help – Ronald Reagan
Obama is a radical leftist. This statement may be a shock to a lot of folks, because he didn’t run for President as a radical leftist – come to think of it, he ran more like a Reagan. I guess it wasn’t apparent that he didn’t campaign with ideas, but pushed a message of hope and change, all the while never defining that hope and change.
You know, Bill Clinton did the same thing. There is this playbook that Democrats have – sound like Reagan in the campaign and assert liberalism after the election. In other words, there is this recognition that Reagan and his conservative values profoundly influenced this country. (Which makes you wonder why some conservatives actually thought of abandoning Reagan).
So, there is a practiced deception kind of thing – things that President Obama doesn’t want us to know. It explains why the President wants to quickly pass his agenda. What doesn’t he want us to know? His goal is a runaway train to European socialism and he will do whatever it takes to get there, even if it involves a train wreck.
And so it is with healthcare. What he doesn’t want you to know about his plan for healthcare, is that he plans to eliminate private medical coverage within our free market economy – and replace it with single pay, government run healthcare.
Here is a video comparing Obama with Obama. It shows the President denying his healthcare plan would lead to a single payer system, but then it follows with uncovered video of Obama that his intention is a single payer system that will eliminate private insurance.
Obama was actually confronted about this issue by the Hillary campaign, claiming that he was speaking out of both sides of his mouth . Notice in the following clip how Obama gets himself out of an embarrassing situation by a slight of hand when confronted with this fact:
Oh, what a tricky guy! By pretending that he wasn’t able to hear the video clip, he jumped away from his own words and answered the question on his own terms, claiming that his words were taken out of context.
But was it out of context? Ironically, Drudge has recently featured the next clip with the White House now claiming the same thing – the President’s words were taken out of context. As you will see, the President’s words were NOT taken out of context.
The President also admitted this during the campaign. Notice that Obama admits that his choice if there was nothing else, is single pay healthcare funded by the government. He then proceeds that both can work together, but be careful to catch the endgame of his argument.
Notice that his goal is to transition into single payer without mentioning single pay – or else why mention a transition? But his last line is the clincher: we may be over time as we make the system more efficient and everybody is covered decide that there are other ways for us to provide care…
We have to face the fact that the President of the United States is not an honest guy. This may be a hard fact for some, but face it we must. Our future is at stake. The future of the freest, most prosperous country in world history is at stake.
Let’s end here with another thing that Obama doesn’t want you to know: the rich can’t pay the whole bill. So, what does this mean?
1) The middle class will get hit with more taxes.
2) Young people who normally don’t pay for medical coverage because of good health, will pay a special tax or get medical coverage.
3) Medicare will be severely cut or eliminated.
4) Seniors will bear the biggest brunt of the whole thing because certain services will not be available because of age. Well, let me correct that: they will receive end of life counseling.
Just think of the reception from the MSM if Michelle Malkin wrote an expose’ of the Bush White House. But Michelle’s #1 bestseller, Culture of Corruption isn’t about George Bush, it’s about Barack Obama – and only after just six months of his administration.
The View is, well, the View. Not my cup of coffee, but it’s nice to see Michelle on the show and watching her opponents reducing the discussion as to whether the Bush administration was just as corrupt as the Obama administration. In other words, corruption in the Obama White House was a given.
We see that hope and change meant changing Washington D.C. into New Chicago.
Remember when the Obama administration terrorized New York?
Washington Times
The White House finally released the rest of the photos and information last Friday regarding the $357,000 photo op. This was in response to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by many back in the Spring – you can check out the release here.
You know, Friday afternoon White House press releases are a curious thing. The original photograph of the “Terror” was similarly released on a Friday afternoon. The reason is obvious: it’s a deliberate attempt to avoid the weekend news cycle, with the hope that the story will die by the beginning of the new week.
This is telling about the Obama White House – late Friday news stuff is information that they must release, but really don’t want folks to know about. The Air Force One photo op was a disaster, with many unanswered questions. Of course the the fawning lackeys of the MSM have given a complete pass to the White House – and seemingly always will.
Can you imagine if George Bush was in the White House when the “Terror” happened? A host of investigative reporters would be frothing out of their mouths and the leftist blogosphere would be ranting about some kind of conspiracy theory.
But there are unanswered questions:
1) Why did the White House take months to release this information?
2) Why was Mr. Gibbs absolutely clueless (or acted clueless) when questioned by the press? You would think that after thousands of New Yorkers were terrified out of their minds, he would have been ready with a statement.
3) Why was White House responsibility in this mess revealed so late in the day?
4) Why was there just a press statement? With the President who is seemingly on the air 24 hours a day (and likes it that way), it would seem that he should have made a personal statement informing the American people (especially the people of New York), with the facts about the incident accompanied with a personal apology.
I am sure that there are more questions out there. I’ll give one more: will the fawning lackeys of the MSM ever hold the Obama White House accountable?
From Drudge: As the summer begins, White House watchers have spotted a new look by President Obama: The Evil Eye!
Staffers have joked about the menacing glance, which comes when the president meets with world leaders who are not aligned with his progressive view.
White House photographers have captured the “evil eye” in recent weeks, during sessions with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Colombia’s Alvaro Uribev.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi got hit with the commander’s malocchio last week in the Oval office.
And at least one White House reporter has been on the receiving end of the daggers during a press conference.
What is this look? This is President Obama letting you know that you are not a fawning lackey look. The President is at his best when surrounded by fawning lackeys: whether the MSM or a room full of people, he basks in adoration and praise – with a little worship mixed in.
This is also the how dare you not do what I command you to do look. With folks knowing that his liberal/progressives views are big losers, Obama just expects you to do what he wants you to do, simply because he wants you to do what he wants you to do.
In the end, it’s the don’t you know it’s about me look. I think this is his strongest impulse. In the end, Obama is the consummate elitist. He honestly believes that we cannot exist without him, and that he must save us from our stupidity.
Check out this video and watch the evil eye at work. A reporter actually asks the President about his smoking problem. Watch Obama’s reaction.
Is this women still alive? Will anyone pick her to ask a question again? Will they let her in the press room again?
Come to think about it, Michelle has a pretty good evil eye herself! Maybe it’s a husband and wife thing.
Got tea? House Republican Leader John Boehner addresses three issues: the Stimulus Package, Nationalized Health care, and the Cap and Trade Bill that just passed the House last Friday.
The Stimulus Package was never about stimulating the economy, but all about stimulating the government – and the unemployment rate.
Innocent Bystanders
I wonder – where are all the folks that complained about the deficit under George Bush now? Imagine what would happen if Bush presented a plan to spend our way to prosperity (which has never succeeded), and created unprecedented deficits that placed our grandchildren under it’s burden?
Heritage Foundation
The message of hope and change by Obama was never explained in terms of ideology. In other words, he never said how he was going to achieve this hope and change. His far left methodology was carefully hidden – until now. Liberalism is a failed philosophy and progressivism is just liberalism progressively worse. Why must we visit failure over and over again?
Obama’s Stimulus Plan is a disaster. Cap and Trade and Nationalized Health Care are future disasters. Together, they will create a greater debt burden, a greater unemployment rate, and further capitulate the American people under the dominance of the State.
In a repeat of the Stimulus Package, Pelosi shoved Cap and Trade through without anyone knowing what was actually in the bill. One of the reasons could be that the legislation wasn’t written at the time! The CBO could not estimate the cost of this legislation because there is nothing to work with, except a 300 page amendment.
Can you imagine the same scenario when the health-care reform bill is rolled out at the end of the year?
Let’s work for real hope and change – and start by attending a nationwide July 17 protest against the government health care takeover. Please check out Tea Party Patriots and Re Tea Party for an event near you.
From Drudge:ABC TURNS PROGRAMMING OVER TO OBAMA; NEWS TO BE ANCHORED FROM INSIDE WHITE HOUSE. You are reading correctly. A major news network will become the voice for the President.
On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care — a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!
Highlights on the agenda:
ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House.
The network plans a primetime special — ‘Prescription for America’ — originating from the East Room, exclude opposing voices on the debate.
Here is the letter of complaint from RNC Chief of Staff Ken McKay to the head of ABC News:
Dear Mr. Westin:
As the national debate on health care reform intensifies, I am deeply concerned and disappointed with ABC’s astonishing decision to exclude opposing voices on this critical issue on June 24, 2009. Next Wednesday, ABC News will air a primetime health care reform “town hall” at the White House with President Barack Obama. In addition, according to an ABC News report, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, WORLD NEWS, NIGHTLINE and ABC’s web news “will all feature special programming on the president’s health care agenda.” This does not include the promotion, over the next 9 days, the president’s health care agenda will receive on ABC News programming.
Today, the Republican National Committee requested an opportunity to add our Party’s views to those of the President’s to ensure that all sides of the health care reform debate are presented. Our request was rejected. I believe that the President should have the ability to speak directly to the America people. However, I find it outrageous that ABC would prohibit our Party’s opposing thoughts and ideas from this national debate, which affects millions of ABC viewers.
In the absence of opposition, I am concerned this event will become a glorified infomercial to promote the Democrat agenda. If that is the case, this primetime infomercial should be paid for out of the DNC coffers. President Obama does not hold a monopoly on health care reform ideas or on free airtime. The President has stated time and time again that he wants a bipartisan debate. Therefore, the Republican Party should be included in this primetime event, or the DNC should pay for your airtime.
Respectfully,
Ken McKay
Republican National Committee
Chief of Staff
Here is ABC’s response:
“ABCNEWS prides itself on covering all sides of important issues and asking direct questions of all newsmakers — of all political persuasions — even when others have taken a more partisan approach and even in the face of criticism from extremes on both ends of the political spectrum. ABCNEWS is looking for the most thoughtful and diverse voices on this issue.
“ABCNEWS alone will select those who will be in the audience asking questions of the president. Like any programs we broadcast, ABC News will have complete editorial control. To suggest otherwise is quite unfair to both our journalists and our audience.”
Imagine a Republican Congress introducing a bill to repeal Social Security and Fox News running a special on it live from RNC headquarters. I’m honestly surprised, although it makes a certain sort of ruthless sense: If, as many righties have speculated, The One’s trying to ram through as many Great Society programs as he can before the political pendulum swings back to the center, the media might as well drop all pretense of objectivity and go for broke too.
This continues the question: will the press ever hold Obama accountable? Only they can answer that – but I’m not holding my breath. It is time for “We the People” to make it’s voice known: BOYCOTT ABC on JUNE 24th!
UPDATE! 6/18
Michelle Malkin has a great idea – contact ABC and request that John Stossel participate in Obama’s infomercial.
The camera can catch all of us in an unfavorable way – it happens to me all the time. Or is it just the way I look? But sometimes we help that unfavorable look and turn it into something quite – well, let me leave it at that.
Michelle, what’s up with that look at Carla? Man, if looks could kill…
The Obama’s did snub the Sarkozys this past weekend. I wonder. Could all of this started when Carla snubbed Barack on his first visit to Europe?
In order to insure our cherished freedoms, we must have the freedom of political satire and the ability to highlight our leader’s mistakes. America is unique in that our leaders derive their authority and are accountable to the governing body of “We the People.”
The Obama infatuation is a great unreported story of our time. Has any recent president basked in so much favorable media coverage? Well, maybe John Kennedy for a moment, but no president since. On the whole, this is not healthy for America.
Our political system works best when a president faces checks on his power. But the main checks on Obama are modest. They come from congressional Democrats, who largely share his goals if not always his means. The leaderless and confused Republicans don’t provide effective opposition. And the press — on domestic, if not foreign, policy — has so far largely abdicated its role as skeptical observer.
Obama has inspired a collective fawning. What started in the campaign (the chief victim was Hillary Clinton, not John McCain) has continued, as a study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism shows. It concludes: “President Barack Obama has enjoyed substantially more positive media coverage than either Bill Clinton or George W. Bush during their first months in the White House.”
The study examined 1,261 stories by The Post, the New York Times, ABC, CBS and NBC, Newsweek magazine and the “NewsHour” on PBS. Favorable articles (42 percent) were double the unfavorable (20 percent), while the rest were “neutral” or “mixed.” Obama’s treatment contrasts sharply with coverage in the first two months of the Bush (22 percent of stories favorable) and Clinton (27 percent) presidencies.
With the MSM and the left media having a messiah complex over Obama, we need this now more than ever. Humor is a great leveler of mankind. It humbles us as we learn to laugh at ourselves. It’s a great medicine for the messiah complex.
Besides, it’s fun to point out the hypocrisy and double standard of the left. If it was George Bush who stated that the Constitution was written 20 centuries ago, the MSM, Late Night Guys and the liberal funny people would run with this material – for who knows how long.
Let me ask you a question: with Obama making such a stupid statement, does this mean that Obama is stupid? (Think of all the times George Bush has been called this). Of course not. But it does take the shine off in considering him as brilliant though, but not stupid.
Evan Thomas declares, “Reagan was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is ‘we are above that now.’ We’re not just parochial, we’re not just chauvinistic, we’re not just provincial. We stand for something – I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God. He’s-”
h/t to Michelle Malkin. I know there are those who will try to blame this gaffe on the beloved teleprompter. But I tend to think it’s because the President just didn’t read the beloved teleprompter correctly.
I wonder how Robert Gates feels about the President of the United States calling him William. Has he done this before, with Robert just nodding his head in agreement – not wanting to correct the President?
I don’t want to get picky here, but Obama had no problem remembering all of his Democratic appointees.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs stated at today’s press briefing that the Obama administration has reversed itself and will release “a photo” of the Scare Force One flyover.
Still does not satisfy even a minimum level of public disclosure. And no way in hell I’m withdrawing my FOIA requests.
Washington Times
What about those pictures of Air Force One and the Statue of Liberty during the “Terror in New York?” It looks like they will NOT be released.
PHANTOM AIR FARCE PICTURES – The $328,835 snapshots of an Air Force One backup plane buzzing lower Manhattan last week will not be shown to the public, the White House said yesterday.
“We have no plans to release them,” an aide to President Obama told The Post, refusing to comment further.
The sole purpose of the secret photo-op, which sent thousands of New Yorkers running for cover, was to take new publicity shots of the presidential jet over the city.
“The photos . . . are classified — that’s ridiculous,” Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., said.
The photos have not technically been “classified,” a White House aide said, but they are being kept from public view.
New Yorkers said they could not understand how a president who shares intimate snapshots from the White House could justify keeping these secret.
“So we’re not gonna see the fruits of this cruel joke?” said Frank Antonelli, 39, one of the Wall Street traders spooked by last week’s flyover.
“I’m not surprised. Obama . . . wouldn’t further all the bad publicity by putting out those pictures.”
I don’t want to sound like a broken record here, but can you imagine if George Bush was in the White House when the “Terror” happened? Impeachment happy Democrats would be howling, the press would have gone mad, and the blogosphere from the left would have whipped themselves into a frenzied pitch with conspiracy theories exploding everywhere.
And then not to release the pictures? Where is the ACLU? Isn’t this the hint of cover up? The tax payers paid for them – they deserve copies.
Mr. President – if you can endanger our nation’s security by releasing top secret CIA memos, you can release the pictures! But let’s make a deal: feel free to keep them secret – just pay the bill.
Another gaffe from the President! The Weekly Standard explains:
I like to note these little incidents when they happen, not because I think it makes Obama an idiot because he occasionally stumbles over his words, but because his somewhat overblown reputation as the most cerebral, eloquent, utterly erudite president of all time could really use a pricking every now and then.
Also, because if Bush had made such a blunder, it would have been the basis of a four-part MSNBC investigative series on the malapropism’s deleterious effects on the Republican Party’s attempts to woo Hispanic voters, Mexican-American relations, and our “place in the world.”
So, Obama, I will not turn your tendency to mispeak (and, then reprimand your Teleprompter) into an international incident, but I will note it with some glee:
On the eve of the Mexican holiday, Obama on Monday had an event in the East Room of the White House with Mexico’s Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan (sahr-oo-KHAN’).
Obama joked that it was “Cinco de Cuatro,” botching a play on the Spanish word for “four” when he meant to say “Cuatro de Mayo,” or the Fourth of May. He tried again, but he still did not get it right.
This from a unilingual man who’s embarrassed that more of us can’t speak French. If only he were as conversant in Spanish as he is in noted non-language “Austrian,” this wouldn’t have happened.
Well, those are nice shoes. I guess they better be nice shoes at the cost of $540. Maybe it does make them more special because they are French. And then to wear them at a Feeding America event, where fashion is key – makes it a very special statement indeed.
I wonder how the UAW feels when it comes to French shoes? With GM and Chrysler struggling to keep their head above water (not exactly above water), the “Buy American” slogan seems to have been forgotten.
Wearing $540 shoes when the country is experiencing high unemployment and folks losing their homes can seem, well, insensitive. Her husband has been heralding doom and gloom, and seems to be poised to take control of banks and car companies.
Michelle Obama can do whatever she wants to do with her money, but she does help to illustrate how liberal and progressive elites handle crisis situations. No matter what the crisis may be, whether the proclaimed economic disaster or the supposed coming Global Warming catastrophe – it must be understood that sacrificing is the thing everyone else must do.
Thus the cost of the inaugural bash, or parties at the White House that would get out of control with broken furniture. The wasting of jet fuel flying to Denver to sign the Stimulus Bill, or for a photo op with Air Force One and the Statue of Liberty that cost $328,825 (terrorized New Yorkers – priceless).
Liberal and progressive elites see the thing they call a crisis as an opportunity – an opportunity to shove their agenda down our throats. So, don’t listen to what they say: pay attention to what they do. Watch when it’s OK to wear $540 shoes, but condemn others when they do the same (Remember the furor over John McCain’s $500 shoes?).
Again, it’s up to Michelle how she spends her money. But please remember – actions speak louder than words.
More articles of interest:
Barack Obama is the President who keeps on giving. I literally shake my head in wonder as I add to my blog, Obamarama! Let’s enjoy Barack’s gaffes, mistakes, blunders and the other stupid stuff in his first 100 days. Even during the week of his press conference celebrating his first 100 days, we experienced the White House causing terror with Air Force One in New York and Obama struggling yet again with the beloved teleprompter.
The President committed yet another gaffe – during his press conference! He used Winston Churchill and Britain’s trial as Nazi planes blitzed London to support his argument against torture.
Obama stated: “I was struck by an article that I was reading the other day talking about the fact that the British during World War II, when London was being bombed to smithereens [and] had 200 or so detainees. And Churchill said, ‘We don’t torture, Churchill understood, you start taking shortcuts, and over time, that corrodes what’s best in a people.”
While it’s nice to hear the President invoke Sir Winston, the quotation is unattributed and almost certainly incorrect. While Churchill did express such sentiments with regard to prison inmates, he said no such thing about prisoners of war, enemy combatants or terrorists, who were in fact tortured by British interrogators during World War II.
The word “torture” appears 156 times in my digital transcript of Churchill’s 15 million published words (books, articles, speeches, papers) and 35 million words about him—but not once in the subject context. Similarly, key phrases like “character of a country” or “erodes the character” do not track.
During the war, the Brits ran an interrogation center, “the Cage,” in one of London’s fanciest neighborhoods, where they worked over 3,573 captured Germans, sometimes brutally. The Free French movement, headquartered in London, savagely beat detainees under the nose of British authorities. From 1945 to 1947, Colonel Stephens himself ran the Bad Nenndorf prison near Hanover, Germany, where Soviet and Nazi prisoners were treated far more brutally than those at Guantanamo Bay. Stephens was court-martialed, and cleared, for some of the alleged atrocities…
…The more significant shortcuts are the public ones people can’t ignore. Churchill ordered the firebombing of Dresden just twelve weeks before the end of World War II. No one knows for sure how many civilians were burned alive, but tens of thousands surely were, in no small part to deliver a psychological blow to the Germans. If Churchill could have waterboarded a prisoner to avoid that — or stop the Holocaust — would one shortcut have been preferable to the other? Why? Or why not? Obama gives no sense he has an answer to such questions. You can ask the same questions about the shortcuts that flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
But let’s take it one more step – the British were responsible for torturing Obama’s grandfather!
Excuse me, Mr. President: Churchill did condone torture and he did use torture — and advocated using poison gas and concentration camps. And he was quite proud to do so, writing about it frequently as a means to an end.
I don’t know whose Kool-Aid Obama was drinking, but it must have been supplied by the British Embassy in bucketfuls.
It was an amazing gaffe, as there is clear evidence that Obama’s own grandfather, a member of the Mau Mau insurgency in Kenya, was tortured by the British after he was captured.
Recent accounts in the British press note that he was whipped mercilessly every day when he refused to cooperate.
It was good old Winnie, drawing on his experience in similar tactics during the Boer War, who as Prime Minister ordered the savage suppression of the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya in 1952. IrishCentral.Com.
It is interesting that one of the first acts by Obama in moving into the Oval Office was returning the bust of Winston Churchill to Britain.
A little more study, a little less of the parties, and a more cohesive argument by Obama is needed. Releasing CIA memos with the promise of pictures forthcoming and informing the world what is off the table is a great help – to our enemies.
As we close, I think it bears repeating Goldberg’s point:
If Churchill could have waterboarded a prisoner to avoid that — or stop the Holocaust — would one shortcut have been preferable to the other? Why? Or why not? Obama gives no sense he has an answer to such questions. You can ask the same questions about the shortcuts that flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Let’s have some fun in a look back at Obama’s first 100 days! We will look at the gaffes, mistakes, blunders and the other stupid stuff by the President.
As you enjoy – please think: what if it was George Bush that accomplished all this in just 100 days? Would someone who has done all this stuff in such a short period of time be considered “brilliant?”
But we will also look beyond his first 100 days to the future of the President who keeps on giving. I will add to the list as I find more stuff.
1) The President started his streak of gaffes, mistakes, blunders and the other stupid stuff – in his inaugural speech!
He stated that “44 Americans have taken the oath,” not realizing that Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24rd president. So, the correct number is 43.
As we shall see, this was a sign of things to come.
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Common Bread 