Obama’s Full Court Press.

In a little publicized, yet immensely important filing yesterday, the Obama administration has urged a federal judge not to use a general definition of “enemy combatant” when referring to those held at Guantanamo. This definition has provided a broad basis for holding prisoner, those who provided support to terrorist networks or organizations.

Instead, the current administration has asked U.S. District Judge John D. Bates – and, by implication all federal judges – not to address detention authority in such an “abstract” manner, asking rather that each case be judged on a “prudent and incremental” case-by-case basis.

Although the filing did not ask Judge Bates to place any cases currently under review on hold, the broader ramification is that this opens the door for some significant changes even as several detainee cases are currently working their way through the court.

This coincides with the on-going administration review of the “proper legal basis of detaining any petitioners” which is being conducted by the “Special Interagency Task Force” whose mission, according to the court filing, is to determine a “comprehensive review of the legal options available to the Federal Government with respect to the apprehension, detention, trial, transfer, release, or other disposition of individuals captured or apprehended in connection with armed conflicts or counterterrorism operations…”

This is a continuation of this administration’s assault against the War on Terror. By removing the “enemy combatant” designation from those held at Guantanamo, the administration is removing the very justification for detaining these terrorists and putting our soldiers and citizens at greater risk. This action will also pave the way for habeas corpus petitions to be filed by the lawyers for these terrorists and have their cases transferred to the Federal Court system instead of the military tribunals established by the Bush administration.

It is apparent, that the Obama administration is more concerned with reversing any vestige of the previous president than it is in protecting the nation and by giving these terrorists access to the Federal Court system, along with inferring upon them the legal rights of an American citizen without the corresponding obligation and responsibilities staggers the mind.

Kurt Warner, Champion.

 

For those of us who love football, today is the day of days, Super Bowl Sunday, and although my team ended it’s run in the Divisional Playoffs, this afternoon you will find me in front of the TV pulling for the Arizona Cardinals (I can’t believe I just wrote that) and in particular, Kurt Warner.

 

This Super Bowl, like those that have come before, is full of great story lines, but to me none is as compelling as the story of the Arizona quarterback. You may be familiar with the story of how he met his wife, his Arena League background and his faith, but what impresses me more about this giant among men, is how he quietly and consistently demonstrates his values each and every day. Here are a few examples:

¨      When the Warner’s go out to eat, Kurt has his children (all seven of them) select a family at random and he then he anonymously pays for that family’s meal. Why? He does it to teach his children to appreciate their blessings and the value of giving to others.

¨      Each year, he selects eight needy, at-risk and Make-A-Wish families and pays all of the expenses for them to go for a week to Disney World. Not only does he pay for the trip, he takes his family and goes with them.

¨      Each year he leads the effort to purchase winter coats for needy families, visits numerous hospitals and endows scholarships for needy kids.

A few weeks ago, on a rare off day, Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt had the pleasure of calling Kurt to inform him that he was selected to this year’s Pro Bowl. Answering the phone in his car, Kurt was on his way home after helping to construct a new playground at a local elementary school, but his day wasn’t over-when he got home he filled Christmas stockings for over a 100 foster children.

 

Currently, one of the debates you will hear on sports radio, is whether or not Kurt Warner belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Perhaps with a victory in today’s game he will cement his football legacy and end that debate, but I am absolutely certain, that if there were a Hall of Fame for husbands or fathers or people of great character, Kurt Warner would be a unanimous, first ballot selection. And for Kurt Warner, this would be a much greater honor.  

Why the Stimulus Bill must not pass.

The House of Representatives has passed the so-called Economic Stimulus Bill and has sent it to the Senate for their debate and approval. I am puzzled how anyone is persuaded that this liberal wish-list is in any shape, manner of form, the prescription for what ails us.

 

Taking money out of the private sector for increased government spending is absolutely the wrong answer. No matter how the government procures these funds, whether by raising taxes, borrowing or, heaven forbid, printing more currency, there will be a corresponding decrease in private spending. There can be no other result.

 

This stimulus, if passed, will cause the deficit to balloon to an astounding 13% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product; in other words our debt will be 13% of everything produced, manufactured and grown in the United States. If the Chinese government, who is purchasing and financing our debt, says no more, we will be on the verge of total economic collapse.

 

Even if it was theoretically possible to spend our way out of debt, which it isn’t, we and the members of the Senate need to take a hard look at where this money is to be directed.

 

Here are some examples:

¨      This bill spends $12.00 on new cars for the government (in addition to the $3 billion per year they already spend) for each $1.00 in small business tax relief,

¨      $50 million for the National Endowment of the Arts,

¨      $400 million for global warming “research”,

¨      $650 million for digital TV conversion coupons,

¨      $83 billion for the Earned Income Tax Credit for people who don’t even pay taxes!

¨      $335 million to fund “programs” to help prevent STD’s,

For a more comprehensive list of these wasteful projects, click here.

 

This bill will do nothing to “stimulate” the economy; in fact it will do just the opposite and prolong the economic situation in which we currently find ourselves. The Congressional Budget Office has stated that the majority of this money will not hit the economy until 2011.

 

Just in time for the next presidential election, what a coincidence.

Obama’s Ominous Beginning.

With an unexpectedly brash display of arrogance and naïveté, President Obama has brought to an end the shortest honeymoon in White House history. Unlike Kennedy’s famous Hundred Days, when he cultivated his relationship with his rivals and saw the most important of his political initiatives pass with relative ease, Mr. Obama’s opening political act lasted barely one hundred hours.

 

During these four days, the new administration has even managed to alienate the journalistic community, the one core group that sold their collective soul to ensure his election. His clearly, unqualified and over-matched Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, has repeatedly and condescendingly refused to answer routine press questions; interviews have been given to only those media outlets who paid to cover inaugural events (ABC), only White House photos have been released, and press photographers have been prohibited from covering events that they have had access to in past administrations, this White House has developed a relationship with the press that seems almost Nixonian. To protest, the Associated Press and Reuters have refused to distribute the released pictures. Michael Oreskes, the AP’s managing editor for US news, has stated, “we are not distributing what are, in effect, visual press releases.”

 

The new administration is also seemingly determined to aid in coalescing the fractured Republican Party by the new president’s own stunning display of arrogance in his meeting with congressional leaders and taking a shot at conservative talk radio icon, Rush Limbaugh. Presidents normally stay at arm’s length from these kinds of comments in order to preserve their plausible deniability and stay above the fray.

 

It is becoming increasingly evident that Mr. Obama’s lack of political experience is not serving him well in these first few days.

Day 2 and Obama’s Problems Keep Growing

Well, we’re two days into Mr. Obama’s ascendancy to the throne and already the administration and the Democratic Party are in disarray.  Let’s take a look at in Mr. O’s Neighborhood.

 

The Press Office is, for all intents and purposes, non-functional. The staff can’t figure out how to log-in to their computers or program the phones (doesn’t that inspire confidence) and half of the staffers have their names misspelled on their office doors. The Cabinet has its share of issues as well, the nominee for Treasury Secretary suddenly remembers that he “forgot” to pay $34,000.00 in taxes and the Attorney General nominee has his nomination blocked, due to his refusal to come clean with his involvement in the sleazy pardons issued at the end of the Clinton Administration.

 

On Capitol Hill, Mr. Obama has problems in both chambers. Speaker Pelosi has thrown down the gauntlet saying what she will and won’t do for the administration, basically linking arms with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s statement “I don’t work for Barack Obama.” while, Rep. John Dingell is stomping through the halls of congress demanding that anyone who, in the last eight years, even drove by the White House be prosecuted. The president wants the stimulus passed, but half of his own party is complaining that a trillion more dollars added to the national debt is too little.

 

Things are so bad that after only two days, the media is already complaining that the Republicans are not cooperating. If I remember correctly, these same talking heads have spent the last eight years telling us that dissent and obstruction are the very hallmarks of patriotism. Are they now saying they were wrong? It seems to me that the real problems for the new president are coming from within and unless he figures out how to quickly get his own folks in line, this administration will start spiraling downhill in a hurry.

Thoughts on the Inauguration

Having watched today’s coronation, er…I mean inauguration – which was, I must say, the best comedy on TV since Andy Griffith – I cannot let it pass without a few observations.

¨      Aretha Franklin. Holy Smokes, I haven’t heard a noise like that since the neighbor’s poodle had a litter of St. Bernard puppies.  In all seriousness, I thought the sound system had shorted out or my brakes had gone bad…it was awful.

¨      Chief Justice John Roberts. Come on, judge…you’re one of the final arbiters of the Constitution and you flub the oath on your first swearing in, I mean its right there in Article I, Section II. Next time try reading it before the ceremony.

¨      The “Poem.”  That thing made Dr. Seuss’ work look like a doctoral thesis. I haven’t seen anything that long, disjointed and boring since I tried to watch the movie “Fargo.” Should have had Aretha sing another ditty instead.

¨      The Benediction. I was nice to see Redd Foxx back on stage for the ceremony…what? really, it was Joseph Lowery? No, really? I’m sure he’s upset with himself after today’s performance; he ended the prayer too soon and forgot to throw in Honkey and Cracker. Well, I’m sure he’ll say ‘em twice tomorrow.

¨      The Inaugural Parade. The dancing, the movin’ and groovin’, this will undoubtedly go down as the finest parade Don Cornelius ever produced.

 

As to the speech, not a memorable line to be found. For someone with his supposed gift of oration, it was a monumental dud. I am very concerned by Mr. Obama’s alarmingly naïve and myopic foreign policy outlook, “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” This is way too Jimmy Carter-ish and utopian. Not an auspicious beginning for the new POTUS, but what can you expect for someone just starting his OJT.

 

*Author’s note.  It appears that the website I was hoping to develop is not to be…Instead, I’ll post here each Sunday and Thursday. If today was any example of what is to come, it’s going to be a fun FOUR years!

If the Founding Fathers Could See Us Now!

One Mohammad Happy Meal to go, Would you like an Apple Pie with that?

Perhaps as an American and a Christian, I have grown accustomed to reading about images of Jesus or angels appearing on everything from windows to cinnamon rolls, but I’ve had it up to here with the holy crap that occurs every time some cleric from Babulahstan thinks he might possibly see something that even remotely resembles Mohammad.  For those who don’t know, the Islamic faith expressly forbids anyone from drawing or looking at a picture of the guy, so if you follow this to its logical conclusion, no one alive today (or for that matter the last two millennia) even knows what he looks like. We all picture a bearded man wearing a turban, but in reality we do not have a clue…for all we know he could look like Gilligan or Orson Wells, but if some holy man thinks you’ve crossed the line, before you can say Ali Baba, you’re up to your arm pits in fatwa’s.

All of this brings me to my latest issue with the desert religion – they are protesting soccer balls. No, really. The 2010 World Cup will feature soccer balls with images of the flags of the world. These flags include Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq which all contain words from the Koran. Of course here, we hang John 3:16 from upper decks of football games, but put a flag on a soccer ball, sacrilege.  Unfortunately, this is not the first time something like this has popped up, here are some other examples:

 

·         In 2005, Burger King in Britain withdrew an ice cream product after Muslim customers said a label design – a stylized swirl of soft serve – looked like the Arabic script for “Allah,” when viewed sideways.

·         Pamphlets have circulated in Muslim countries alleging that the famous swirly-scripted Coca Cola symbol, if viewed in a mirror, resembles the Arabic words, “No Mohammed, no Mecca.”

·         Walls ice cream, was forced to scrap a new logo for use in the Middle East after Muslims in Gulf states said the symbol – a pair of intertwining red and yellow hearts – looked like the word “Allah” in Arabic, when viewed upside down and backwards.

·         Nike pulled more than 38,000 pairs of basketball shoes after the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the logo – the word “air” in flame-like lettering – looked like “Allah” in Arabic, again, when viewed from a certain angle.

·         And in 1994, Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld designed a dress incorporating an embroidered pattern copied from Arabic lettering on India’s Taj Mahal monument. He was unaware that the lettering included the phrase “They are the ones who found guidance,” which appears a number of times in the Koran. After wearing the dress on a Paris catwalk, German model Claudia Schiffer received death threats, prompting her mother to make a public plea for her safety.

 

 

I remember, when several years ago we were all supposed to throw away our rock ‘n roll albums because if you played them backwards you would hear things like  “hmpmth wuloth, kill the kittens, zboeth rontod”. Of course back then I had never heard of a fatwa, I long for the good ‘ole days.

“The people have spoken…the bastards.”

“The people have spoken…the bastards.”

We have Dick Tuck, following a lost bid for the California State Senate to thank for this timely and eloquent statement. Unfortunately, it is more appropriate today than it ever was in 1964.  The American voters, most of whom know next to nothing of what their chosen candidate stands for, have succeeded in turning the election of the nation’s president into nothing more than another episode of American Idol.

 

This misguided and uninformed majority of the electorate has seen fit to sacrifice the autonomy and security of our country, by embracing the race-baiting, income redistributing, European style Socialism espoused by the candidate who cares more about what he can do TO America, than what he can do FOR America. In the White House, we are replacing a man of firm conviction, with a man who in his own words (thanks to his ghost written auto-biography) should have a conviction. We are replacing a president who cares more about the security of his country than he does about his legacy and popularity – for those who don’t recognize this it’s called honor and patriotism. We are replacing him with a man who in a speech declared “I am my brother’s keeper; I am my sister’s keeper” all while his brother lives in a cardboard shanty and his aunt lives in a slum – for those who don’t recognize this it’s called hypocrisy and guile.

 

But how did we get to the point where empty eloquence triumphs over experience and substance? We arrived here through the establishment of a permanent, dependant underclass which is wholly reliant on the government for their every want and need, and by a complete and utter lack of leadership, responsibility and character by the Republicans in Congress. You know, it’s easy to be a Democrat, you never have to be against anything. Abortion –for it. Taxes –get ‘em. Spending –you bet. Gay rights –absolutely. Free health care for all –sure. There’s no courage needed to be a liberal. Unfortunately, the Republicans on Capitol Hill forgot that they were elected to bring the values of their constituents into the chambers of Congress and it’s the nation as a whole who will now pay the price for their hubris.

 

Barack Obama will have a tough time living up to all of the hype on which he built his candidacy. How do you cut taxes for a majority of the populace when you drastically increase spending? You can’t. A few years back, in a tax judgment, the federal government took over the operation of a brothel in western Nevada and promptly ran it into the ground. Obama now wants to turn over our health care system to this same group that couldn’t break even running a whore house and selling booze, sounds funny – too bad it’s true.

 

We’re all in for a long, hard and scary four years.

Hot off the Press – New Election Polls!!!

·         In the all-important 89-101 age demographic, McCain leads 82% to 18%

·         Among unwed fathers on probation or parole, Obama gets 91% of the vote

·         All voters who voted in the past two elections, but can’t remember where they put their car keys are tied 48%-48%

·         Voters who attended college on a shuffleboard scholarship favor McCain 3 to 1.

·         Voters who attended reform school on a rap scholarship favor Obama 5 to 1

·         Brain Transplant donors favor Cynthia McKinney 100%