Pete Stark’s Town Hall Meeting

If it sounds too good to be true, it isn't true – Judge Judy

You muck up everything you get your hands on – Senior Citizen at Pete Stark's Town Hall Meeting.
"I wouldn't dignify you by peeing on your leg, it wouldn't be worth wasting the urine" - Pete Stark to Senior Citizen, Town Hall Meeting

Don't blame Pete - He just can't help himself

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Imagine your representive saying to one of your Senior Citizens "I wouldn't dignify you by peeing on your leg." This is exactly what arrogant toilet mouth Pete Stark said to a Senior Citizen at the Town Hall Meeting on September 12. Why do voters keep this guy in office? Click on foul mouth for other incidents of Pete Stark. This is a pattern. He doesn't care about you the voter. He cares about power. The voter is a second class citizen.

Go to the fourth video for a high quality video provided by Steve Kemp.

Saturday, I decided to attend the town hall meeting of the feckless, buffoonish, foul-mouth, contemptuous, imperious and egotistical Pete Stark. The meeting took place at the Senior Center at Lake Elizabeth in Fremont California. Outside the Senior Center in front of the serene and calm waters of the lake, a group of Chinese men and women were practicing the martial art of "Tai Chi." I watched as the Chinese men and women stretched their arms and legs in carefully coordinated movements with such grace that they seemed to mimic the rolling currents of a river. An occasional quack of a duck could be heard in the background. This serenity was juxtaposed against the backdrop of our so-called representative Pete Stark who spoke and answered questions in the confines of the Senior Center about Barack Obama's Health Care Plan – a plan certain to remake America into Barack Obama's utopian vision of government control.

I have attended Pete Stark's meetings before, and the meetings are usually small, and more like a liberal love-fest where Stark speaks to his choir. This meeting was different. Parking was difficult to find, and there were people from all walks of life. As we entered the room, we were given a number, and Stark would randomly pick one from the myriad of people present. I thought this was actually a good idea. There were the occasional angry bursts and applauses for and against the bill. The meeting was dotted with a few Union Supporters wearing yellow tee shirts. The citizenry came prepared with information. It seemed that each individual seemed compelled to state that he or she was not part of an organized group, but just concerned citizens. They wanted to make sure they were not identified as some right-wing conspiracy group or card-carrying NAZIs as Nancy Pelosi would have you believe. These were as they would state "concerned citizens" who feared a government takeover of the health care system. In one instance, a high school girl went up with her question and asked how many people were against the health care plan sitting in the meeting. About half the group many of whom were seniors raised their hands. It was astonishing to see so many raise their hands in liberal Fremont.

I brought my Iphone 3GS and I took some video of typical questions or statements. I wish I had brought my video camera, because the quality would have been better. In any event, you can get an idea of how people feel about this health care plan even in the Bay Area.

What I believe is happening is that the people just do not believe the administration. It is simple as that. Why is that? – Because it doesn't make sense. What rational person actually believes that Obamacare will reduce the deficit yet this is exactly what Obama said on Sunday night's 60 minutes? Obama said, "Ironically, health care reform is critical to deficit reduction." He then went on to say that he knew that it was counterintuitive to think that health care would reduce the deficit. Counterintuitive? That is the dumbest thing I had ever heard. The CBO says that in the Senate version there is a 900 billion dollar increase in the deficit or the house version a 1.6 trillion addition to the deficit over the next ten years, and the CBO states there will be a deficit in its first ten years, and even worse the next ten years, (and considering that Medicare cost estimates was off by a factor of ten, you can imagine how off the CBO will be with Obamacare.) Obama flat out lied. Does he think the America people are stupid? He has to know these figures. Who in their right mind believes that Obama will be able to reduce the deficit by his so-called health care reform, and who in their right mind believes that Obama will be able pay for this boondoggle by the fraud and waste in Medicare? Well, the follow up question is if there is so much fraud and waste in Medicare, why have we not cleaned it up yet? And if there is fraud and waste in Medicare, who in their right mind believes we will not have the same fraud and abuse in a government takeover of the healthcare system? No one believes that adding 30 million or 47 million people to the health care system will not increase costs. None of it makes sense. None of it adds up. Obama has a knack for making his vision sound true, but to believe it, you have to be very gullible.

In his speech, the number of uninsured mysteriously dropped from 47 million to 30 million underinsured. Well, that is because he threw the illegal aliens under the bus. But, that doesn't mean they will not be insured because they will be. That is why the Democrats have blocked every amendment to verify the legal status of illegal aliens. There may be verbiage in the bill that says illegal aliens will not be covered, but there is no teeth in it. Moreover, Judge Napolitano on Fox News has said illegal aliens will be covered under a national healthcare plan, regardless of what wording to the contrary is added. He maintained that it would be ruled unconstitutional by the courts, in the same way the initiative to disqualify undocumented aliens from public healthcare in California, was struck down.

The following youtube videos are clips I recorded during the town hall meetings. I have included the transcripts since the audio is sometimes difficult to hear.

(begins at 5:55 seconds on Steve's video)
I am here as a concerned citizen. I don't represent one side or the other. I am here first of all to give praise to our great country. For us to be able to even be here today to speak what we want to speak…remember and realize why our nation is such a great nation today is because we have those freedoms. I want to make sure that we represent the US constitution. I believe that the government's role is to make sure that the constitution is upheld and not to put all these programs together. My husband comes from the automotive industry and has been out of work since December but we have scraped our pennies and things together and we are picking ourselves up. I come from good Midwestern stock and I have been taught to work hard and when times are lean you work harder and have been on very very lean times but I am not asking for a hand-out or a bailout. We work harder. Our family has not been without insurance. The group plan that my husband had through his employer was not as good as what we could have had myself being an independent business owner. So, we put our own plan together. We have options we got to choose what we want I don't feel that the government right now has shown us through any of their major programs and organizations over the decades that they have been successful in running any major plan, and the last thing we need to do is to ramrod this undecipherable program at lightning speed through congress without understanding the process. Now, Do I agree that reform and things need to happen – absolutely, because being an independent payer of my own health care for my family, the costs are exorbitant, they are outrageous, and it's going up. We just got a 250 dollar a month increase on our private insurance. Let's get down to the root cause of what the problems are. Let's talk about the physicians. Let's talk about all of this extra waste and spending. Let's approach the fraud that is going in through the Medi-Cal, Medicare, Medicaid…. Let's not make an immediate decision in 30 days because we have to. But what we want to do is let's take a look at those things. What I want to see right now especially for all of you Fremont-Nummi people I have very close friends many years working at Nummi my husband sold cars that were produced at Nummi and is now out of work- okay. What I want to see our government focus today on changing the 12.2% unemployment in this state and it's going up. That is where our focus needs to be, put money in our pocket so we can choose the insurance plans that we want. We are spending way too much time to put another layer on top. We are not fixing the root cause. If we put another layer, there is no fix to the root cause, and the fraud is going to increase, so Mr congressman I ask that you please take our message back and let's get to the root cause and what is the plan for addressing that and focusing more on our unemployment than the health care at this point.



(begins at 4 minutes and 22 seconds in Steve's hiqh quality video)

This is my second town hall and yes I have attended a tea party. I had to get up at 6:00 this morning so I wrote down some thoughts. The lightning and thunder woke me up. I am not here because I got a call from some organized group. I am here because I am a concerned citizen, and I am fired up. I am fired up not just because of the massive health care reform bill that is coming up for a vote, I am fired up about the government taking over our banking and financing industry. I am fired up because of the government taking over our American car industry.... 47 million people are going to be losing their jobs after the first of the year and tens and thousands of others are going in the area to be losing their job, and I am especially fired up because of the huge massive spending deficits that we are dealing with, yes Bush did leave us with a federal deficit of approximately 490 billion dollars. After eight years, the World Trade Center Bombings, a new homeland security department that has kept us safe, two wars whether we agree with them or not and the aftermath of having to deal with hurricane Katrina you know we have a sagging economy. I am a CPA. 130 million citizens got 600 to 1000 dollars in stimulus that he had to spend in order to try and get the economy back together. It didn't help too much. Obama in eight months has accumulated a deficit almost three times larger than what Bush did in eight months not eight years and no matter what you think of Bush, one man did not create these federal deficits ….. But you know what Republicans like their pork too and it is just awful. Now we are suppose to believe that the government is going to take over our entire health care system and make everyone healthier and save or cut (I'm sorry) our deficits. Our taxes won't go up one dime because the cost of this overhaul is going to be paid for by the insurance industry and 2/3rds of it from cost savings from Medicare…. If you have 60 billion dollars a year for ten years and deficits you know this pay as you go that you say I think savings for cutting fraud and waste are not pay as you go. You don't know if you are going to realize those. If I need to buy something, I need to save the money first, so let's cut the waste now. I think we need to break it down into four or five like many Republicans, Conservatives and even some Democrats Let's cut it down into sections. Deal with fraud and Medicare. Let's save those 60 billion dollars first. Cut it down… Let's create tort reform and let's create an insurance market that is competitive across the board.



Hat tip to Steve Kemp for providing the following video.

Stark: Social Security Card or Do you require that everyone has proof of citizenship? – followed by (yes yes). (this can also be seen about 1 minute and 40 seconds in Steve's video)

Starting at 1:04 on video: Mr Congressman, you answered part of my question a little while ago how this will affect Medicare. Medicaid is going to be available to more and more people.

…The question is President Obama's plan – he doesn't have a plan, Whatever plan is out there he talks about he is going to get half the savings for that from the waste in Medicare. That is all smoke and mirrors. He says he will raise taxes by ten cents, another smoke and mirrors. It is common sense. And If he can get this much savings out of Medicare, why isn't he doing it right now… Why didn't we do earlier. You got Social Security broke, you got Medicare broke, you got abysmal care for veterans, rats running around in Walter Reed Hospital, before they finally fired a couple of generals they finally got the message. Now, you muck up everything you get your hands on. Now why - Mr Congressmen Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.

Stark - Thank you. I wouldn't dignify peeing on your leg. It wouldn't be worth wasting the urine. (Boos)

The San Francisco Chronicle says it this way:

Only a politician who assumes he has a job for life could behave so badly on a semi-regular basis by spewing personalized invective that might get him punched in certain East Bay taverns. Would-be challengers sometimes sense a whiff of opportunity, but the reality of taking on a 16-term Democrat in solidly liberal terrain is nothing short of daunting.

Surely there must be someone along the shoreline between Alameda and Fremont who could represent the good citizens of the district with class and dignity. It's not the case now.

Need I say more. These are the people who will be running Obamacare. Thank you but I don't think so.
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Debra Saunder's makes a few good observations in her piece ObamaCare is too good to be true.

Michelle Malkin also blogged about Pete Stark's latest rant click here.

Health Care Reform or Bust!

I have been having a lively debate on facebook with a former high school classmate of mine. He says he is a centrist, but for some reason unbeknownst to me, half the liberals I talk to say they are centrists. On his facebook profile page, his political view states the following, "Whatever causes the greatest good for the greatest number." I suppose that would be my philosophy too. I also suppose that that would be the philosophy of most. So, how will healthcare reform cause the greatest good for the greatest number. It won't.

Obama's presidential approval ratings continue to plummet. The latest Rasmussen presidential daily tracking report shows a presidential approval index of -12. In January, Obama's approval rating was +28. Democrat pundits will continue to decry those who are against Obamacare, "They haven't read the bill." "They are misinformed." "They are only repeating what Fox News and right wing radio have told them." The reason Obama tried to shove this bill down the throats of American citizens before the August recess in the first place was so Americans didn't have a chance to read and understand the bill. Obama was afraid that once Americans discovered what really was in the bill, they would reject it - so much for transparency.

No matter how Democrats try to paint it, if Obamacare passes, there will be rationing. It is the only way to decrease costs. It is the basic law of supply and demand. When you have a higher demand with the same amount of doctors (or fewer), the government has to ration. This has happened in the United Kingdom and It has happened in Canada.

The president of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr Anne Doig said this about the Canadian system, "We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps running flat out, we're all just trying to stay ahead of the immediate day-to-day demands." Polls tend to be misleading whether or not Canadians like or dislike their system because until you need the healthcare, it doesn't really matter. What is more important is how Canadians perceive their healthcare vis à vis their U.S. counterparts. According to Gallup, one-fourth of Americans are completely satisfied or somewhat satisfied. This level of satisfaction is significantly lower in Canada, where 57% are satisfied with the availability of affordable healthcare including 16% who are very satisfied. The reverse is true however when it comes to the affordability of healthcare. In the end, Gallup concludes the following, "this dichotomy seems to support the hypothesis that private healthcare encourages high-quality standards, but may be a barrier to access and affordability." I concur with that statement. However, that does not mean there are not ways to decrease costs and preserve high-quality without a government takeover.

Spain has also been Obama's latest example of how well socialized healthcare works. But how well is Spain's healthcare working? Spain's government run healthcare is called, "la sanidad pública." In a report entitled, the decline of Spain's health care system, the journalist Francisco Rubiales of Spain writes:

The great paradox is that while the Spanish health system suffers from a shortage of health care providers, Spanish doctors and health specialists emigrate to work in the healthcare systems of Great Britain, Portugal, France and many others.

Perhaps the greatest example of the decline in the Spanish health care system can be seen in Andalucía where the PSOE (the Socialist party currently in power) has always used the public healthcare system as the standard of its government and symbol of the goodness of socialism. For decades, Andalucía has received the greatest and most generous investments in medicine… the quality of that magnificent Sanidad Pública is falling apart.

The media has not reported that hospitals lack resources or urgent medicines or that entire hospital wings are being closed, or that doctors are being pressured to send home the sick and that they don't prescribe too much medicine, or that doctors with valuable experience are leaving the health care system, establishing themselves in private hospitals or emigrating to foreign countries where they are able to obtain better salaries and above all better consideration and respect….

I have several friends in Spain, and I asked a few of them what they thought of their countries health care system. I wrote to an entrepreneur in Spain, and she sent the following response as she was trekking through Rome.

Our public health system does not work well. There are too many people, and the waiting lists for operations are enormous. Everyone even if they do not pay into it has a right to it including immigrants who bring relatives to be operated on and that has the effect of making everything even worse. (my comment - Spain has a huge immigration problem like France with illegal Islamic citizens coming over from Northern Africa)

 
 

It does however give you peace knowing that if you do not have anything a house or money you can still get doctors.

 
 

The people who have means, here, have private insurance and the private insurance carriers treat you differently. In those situations, there are no waiting lines, and the hospitals are like hotels with rooms.

 
 

One day Antonio and I went to the beach, I went to the doctor and the waiting line went around the other street. There were not enough doctors for everyone. I decided I wasn't sick enough to put up with this line and I left.

 
 

The following year Antonio had to go to the doctor, but he had private insurance his father paid for, and what a difference. The waiting room was air conditioned with very comfortable sofas, and in five minutes the doctor was seeing him.

 
 

That year we saw the difference between the two systems.

 
 

Now, fortunately I have private insurance.

 
 

With this economic crisis (my comment - Spain's unemployment is about 20%) We have noticed that since people do not have any money, the system is even worse. In a few years there will be a lack of medical personnel and a lack of medical technicians. With what is approaching, I really don't know what is going to happen. It sounds like a good idea to for the state to cover medicine for the people - at least you wouldn't die in a clean bed and then they could waste more on other things.

 
 

In Europe, private insurance is available, but only a small percentage can afford it. The pool of insured people is smaller making the insurance very expensive. Europeans will opt for private insurance if they can afford it, because it is a much better system.

 

In another email from a Spanish journalist, she writes in part:

 

We all have a family doctor assigned, so if I feel ill I just make a call to the health center to be checked or go to ER directly. The doctor makes the first checkup and then sends you to the specialist if necessary. Again, you have to wait days or months for the next visit, depending on the specialist you need. Of course, in the waiting rooms there are plenty of old people and immigrants. Some people just go to the family doctor to ask for prescriptions, because there the medicines cost much less even if you ask for a simple Ibuprofen prescription, so there are old people that waste 2 hours waiting to get their prescriptions filled. In my opinion, that is elder abuse. Big cities like Madrid or Barcelona health centers and hospitals are fuc**ing busy (sorry for the expression, but it´s quite worrying). And, I'm afraid, hospitals may have real problems when having to value who's first in the list of operations.

 
 

Are we happy with this system? Personally, I am, maybe because I don´t need to go to the doctor very often, but I don´t have to pay for it (the system is deficient, the taxes should be higher to cover costs), I'm certain I´ll be attended as soon as possible when I´m ill and we have competent doctors.

 
 

Each year Forbes magazine publishes its tax misery index. This is a compilation of all the taxes in a country to determine which country has the highest tax rate. The higher the tax rate, the more prohibitive one's life becomes as to his or her leisure activities. As taxes increase, the taxpayer becomes more of a slave to the state. France has topped the list for years because of all its entitlement programs. The more a country becomes a welfare state, the higher its tax misery index will go. Will the United States succeed in topping France for the number one spot? Only time will tell.

 

What do we know will happen for sure in an Obamacare world that we have learned from other countries with nationalized health care?

 

1. There will be rationing that will affect the most vulnerable of society.
   
2. The deficit will go up enormously not down as Obama claims.
   
3. The cost of Obamacare will have been severely underestimated. Just today he announced that the ten year deficit is going from 7 trillion to 9 trillion. Trying to figure out where the deficit will be is like the global warming alarmists trying to figure out where the weather will be in a century from now.
   
4. There will be long waits.
   
5. Emergency rooms will be more crowded than they already are.
   
6. We will become a magnet for illegal aliens since they will have access to our health care system.
   
7. There will be corruption, fraud and waste as there is in any government system.
   
8. Taxes will go through the roof (not just those who earn more than $250,000).
   

 

Barack Obama is trying to fundamentally change the United States. There is a reason the United States has been number one all these years. It is because the United States was founded on individual liberty, not on the nanny state. The liberal believes in a utopian world where everyone is equal and everyone is taken care of from cradle to grave. Before we used to talk about billions of dollars, now we talk about trillions of dollars. Before the dot-com crash, everyone said we have reached a new paradigm and valuations no longer mattered. In the world of stocks, valuations always matter. Before the housing crisis, houses kept going up in value, and we heard the mantra, "Real estate never falls in value." What goes up must always come down. Now we here the economist Barack Obama imply that printing trillions of dollars with nothing to back it up is no big deal, because he will reduce the deficit by the end of his term and somehow healthcare will not increase government deficit. Argentina gave a similar argument before the collapse of its peso If Obama succeeds in passing this healthcare reform, he will bankrupt this nation. If he succeeds in his cap and trade scheme, he will also fundamentally change this nation and not for the better. Both of these changes will be irreversible. Why are we not doing a test case? Why is Obama against tort reform? My classmate's political view is, "Whatever causes the greatest good for the greatest number" is a nice thought, but Obamacare will cause the greatest harm to the greatest number. Obamacare must be stopped before it is too late!!!!!!

30 years of suffering for the Nicaraguan people

 
Speech given by Daniel Ortega at 30^th celebration of the Nicaraguan Revolution July 17, 2009.
Because the truth is that our sister republic of Bolivia and Venezuela have come to the aid of the people of Nicaragua – that is the truth. We would be without energy in the entire country. There wouldn't be light in Nicaragua nor would companies be able to function if it were not for the solidarity of Hugo Chavez and Fidel who were the ones responsible for the formation of the ALBA alliance (a leftist Latin American Alliance). And when the United States decided to cut the last funds of the millennium, President Hugo Chavez immediately said we are going to help Nicaragua, and so we counted on Venezuela to generously give to Nicaragua 50 million dollars to defend itself in these difficult times.
President Hugo Chavez just called, and he sent a message that we are going to read and publish. In the telephone message that he just made, he called to send us his greeting. He is very happy for our 30^th anniversary. He is watching thousands of Nicaraguans through channel Telesur. He congratulates Daniel and all the people of Nicaragua. He is sorry he could not be present because of sudden health problems at the last minute. Soon we will be together Long live the people of Nicaragua. Long Live Sandino, signs Hugo Chavez and the president of the Republic of Bolivia 1:30 pm Nicaraguan time.
July 17, 2009 marks the 30^th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution so says Ortega. My wife (who is from Nicaragua) and I used to travel to Nicaragua frequently before the revolution to enjoy its people and its culture. We have been back to Nicaragua since on several occasions, but Nicaragua is not the country it used to be. The destruction of its economy and the country can be attributed to one person Daniel Ortega, and Daniel Ortega's rise to power can be attributed to one man Jimmy Carter.

Ortega speaks of the 30th year of the revolution, yet for most of those years, the left in Nicaragua wasn't even in power.

I have followed Nicaragua since the 70s, so in commemoration of its 30^th anniversary, I thought I would post a few pieces I wrote about Nicaragua.
What the elections in El Salvador mean (including Nicaragua) click here

Fraud in Nicaragua – Continuing Jimmy Carter's legacy click here

Obama's new buddy – Daniel Ortega click here

One of the traditions in Nicaragua, and only in Nicaragua click here

Images from a Dallas Texas Tea party

37,000+ tea party goers in the 95%+ sweltering heat with Michelle Malkin.

https://mark24609.blogspot.com/2018/06/scams-in-singapore-jacky-tabanag.html




















Michelle Malkin speaking

Uprising in Iran

Jerusalem post:

Without support from the United States and other Western countries, Iranian opposition groups will likely stop demonstrations against the Iranian regime and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's declared victory in Friday's presidential elections, senior Israeli defense officials said Sunday.

continue

Wanna bet Barack Obama will not give any support to the uprising
Let's hope we do not have another tinanmen square.

My daughter’s letter to herself.

Here is an assignment I did not know my daughter had, but it was definitely a good assignment. Her eighth grade language arts teacher asked her students to write a letter to themselves. Four years later, she mailed the letters to the students at the end of their senior year in high school. This was definitely a creative idea by Raeann's language arts teacher Mrs. Sisneros. I liked the letter so much I thought I would post it (as written grammatical errors and all).

June 3, 2005

Dear Raeann,

I think high school is going to be fun but hard, and, and there's probably going to be a lot of drama. My best friends right now are Kiki, Jennie and a lot of other people. Kiki and me always hangout now, we say were cousins.

I don't really have any favorite teachers but I really like my lang. Arts teacher, Mrs Sisneros.

I mostly get As and Bs, but sometimes I mess up, and get lower grades that that L.

Me and my friends like to walk around a lot, we don't really have a certain spot, we hang out at.

I don't usually get allowance, but when I do get money, I spend it on clothes J

I used to do gymnastics and sport aerobics, but not anymore cuz I quit.

I wear Hollister clothes, or whatever is cute!

I listen to 89.3 94.9 and Mariah Carey, Usher, 50 cent, Frontline, Frankie J and a lot more.

Three guys liked me but I didn't really like them back except for one [Steven].

My favorite foods are tacos and macaroni & cheese, for drinks I like, smoothies, and anything that's good. My favorite color is pink! I like watching MTV, Degrassi, Blind Date. I hate action movies. I like chick flics. The kind of car I Hope to have is similar to my brothers car. Im not sure what to expect though.

My relationship with my parents is good, but sometimes we argue and then they say I get an attitude, but hey its not my fault. They have strict rules, and I don't like the rules they give. My brother and I used to fight, but starting this year we don't anymore, [wonder why?] Maybe he's finally growing up.

Love Raeann

And there you have it – four years later, Raeann is a graduate from high school.

 

Europe’s turn to the right

"The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain" Professor Higgins so deftly teaches Eliza Doolittle in the musical "My Fair Lady." But, Sunday, it did not rain in Spain, it poured as the left as we would say in America, "Got its proverbial butt kicked." Barack Obama, are you paying attention?

The Spanish newspaper, ABC after Sunday's parliamentary elections read, "Zapatero, the absent leader." The Prime Minister of Spain went into hiding realizing that Sunday's election was to be a big win for the right. Sunday's election in Spain was a stunning defeat for the left, El Partido Socialista Obrera Española, (PSOE). The Partido Popular, (PP), the party of the right picked up 23 seats led by its leader, Mariano Rajoy.

Zapatero has been a disaster for the Spanish economy. He was elected in 2004 after the Madrid bombings by Al-Queda when the then President José Aznar tried to cover up and blame the bombings on ETA, (a Basque separatist group.) If you want to know about Stimulus plans, look no further than Spain. Like Obama, Zapatero is a big believer in Keynesian economics and that the government is the answer to society's ills. Zapatero's stimulus package was 8 billion euros or 11 billion dollars. For a country slightly bigger than the state of Oregon, that is a lot of money. Spain doesn't have a Bush to blame for its economic woes like Obama does. The success of Zapatero's stimulus plan can be found in its unemployment number. Spain boasts the highest unemployment rate in the European Union recently reaching an astounding 20%, double that of any other country in the Union. Spain's unemployment is a frequent topic of Informe Semanal, Spain's 60 minutes. The unemployment graph looks like one of Al Gore's graphs on global warming. According to the Economist, Spain's real GDP is forecasted to decline by 4.9% in 2009. In a previous debate and in a last ditch effort to woo support for his fledgling party, Zapatero offered laptops for every schoolchild at a cost of $2,800 per pupil, tax-breaks for new car buyers, and other populist ideas. Of course, like Obama, he had no idea where the money would come from. Sunday, the voters of Spain showed its displeasure by voting back in the PP. I am going to venture a guess that in 2012, Spain's leftist party, El Partido Socialista Obrera Española, (PSOE) will lose Spain's general elections.

Spain, however, was not the only country where the left was defeated. European discontent with leftist policies has been growing throughout Europe. Sunday was the culmination of four days of elections throughout the continent. Most Americans are asleep when it comes to politics in the European Union, but the left in the United States should take notice. The entire continent of Europe was given a wake-up call after four days of elections. Europeans are fed up with company bailouts, fiscal stimulus, and other policies promoted by the left. During the Bush administration, center-right candidates were already being elected across the continent; France - Nicolas Sarkozy, Germany – Angela Merkel, Italy – Silvio Berlusconi and Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt. Not since World War 2, has the left been so battered and bruised in Europe. The British Labor party suffered its worst defeat since 1918. Europe's parliamentary elections were a repudiation of these leftist policies.

The European Union's 27 countries are mired in onerous taxes, burdensome labor laws, high unemployment, and immigration problems. The European electorate believed that the EU has been headed down the wrong path. This was also reflected in the low turnout. Only 43% of the electorate voted; the lowest turnout in the EU's 30 year history. France, Germany, Spain and Italy were the biggest winners for the right. The elections strengthened the incumbent parties of President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy. One of the trends has also been a noticeable rejection of further European integration into the European Union. This is why Barack Obama was completely out of touch with the EU when he suggested that Turkey be part of the European Union, and French President Sarkozy told him to butt out of EU's affairs.

While Europe is moving to the right, the United States continues full speed ahead on its pathway to the left. In the latest move, Democrats are now trying to push through a bill that will pay $3,500 to people who junk old cars to buy so-called energy efficient new cars ordered by the new Chrysler CEO Barack Obama. Who comes up with these hair-brain schemes? When you can't get consumers to buy, you try and get the government to create the demand. Since when has government ever been able to create a sustainable demand? It can't. This idea will hurt the poor more than anyone else. Demand is created by the private sector not the government. Time and time again, policies such as these have proven to be ineffective, but we still continue to enact them. Let's say I have a brain tumor that I needed removed. I am transported to the operating room and I have in front of me a brain surgeon and a nurse. An argument ensues between the brain surgeon and me. Because of the argument I opt to forego the brain surgeon, and I ask the nurse to do the operation instead. That is what we have done. We have the nurse in charge of the country, not the brain surgeon. Sooner or later, the electorate wakes from its slumber after realizing who they elected. Europe is beginning to wake up. How long will it take us to realize that we have a cadre of "boobs" running this country? How long will it take for us to wake up? Only time will tell.

From Reuters (video below)

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown faces a grilling from opposition leader David Cameron in the wake of woeful results in local and European elections.

This was Brown's first appearance in the House of Commons since the ruling Labour Party's disastrous showing in European and local elections.

Brown faced tough criticism from the Conservative Party leader Cameron who claimed the Prime Minister is "a man with no democratic legitimacy" having succeeded Tony Blair as PM without a general election.

Brown responded saying that Cameron has "no plans for government and he doesn't deserve to be in government".

The Prime Minister has faced repeated calls for an early general election, in the wake of a parliament-wide scandal over expenses, and the resignations of several cabinet ministers.

Last weekend, the Labour Party plunged to its worst result in a century, polling under 16 percent in national elections to European Parliament.

Brown must call an election before mid-2010.

Can anyone say, "Jon Voight for President?"

Brokaw compares Israel to the NAZIs

The only word for this is "Unbelievable."

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Powerline states the following:

Much has been made of President Obama's "on the other hand" transition, in his speech yesterday, from the Holocaust to the travails of the Palestinians. Some thought that he implied a kind of equivalence. But the appalling Tom Brokaw reminded us that it could have been worse when he asked Obama about his visit to Buchenwald on the Today Show this morning:

BROKAW: What can the Israelis learn from your visit to Buchenwald? And what should they be thinking about their treatment of Palestinians?
Unbelievable. Obama, to his credit, squelched the analogy:

OBAMA: Well, look, there's no equivalency here.

A First in Barack Obama's Poll numbers

Rasmussen, the most accurate of the polling organizations shows Obama's approval ratings and disapproval ratings to be equal - a first.

The President’s ratings have slipped since General Motors filed for bankruptcy to initiate a new government bailout and takeover. Just 26% of Americans believe the GM bailout was a good idea and nearly as many support a boycott of GM products. It remains to be seen whether the dip in the President’s numbers is a temporary reaction to recent news or something more substantive.

continue reading here.

Obama’s message to Islam

"Fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them, and see them, belittle them and lie and wait for them in every strategy of war." (The Koran Sura 9 Verse 5)

Note: The majority of Muslims in Western countries are not radicalized because they are not influenced by the propaganda of the Middle East, however this does not mean we should not monitor the Mosques in the United States for radicalization. We do have enemies within who also want to destroy us. As in NAZI Germany, there were some who came to the realization that anti-Semitism and hate were wrong. I believe this to be true in today's Islamic world also.

Obama continued his trek across the great nations of the world, this time to tell the Muslims of the world that we are nice people. I listened to the entire speech from Cairo University to hear any pearls of great wisdom that might have come forth from the messiah. Some of the speech was good as when Barack Obama spoke of the contributions of Islam to the world. I would probably give him a C- on content. His speech was very similar to many of the same empty platitudes in many of Bush's speeches when he spoke of the Middle East. After Barack Obama failed in his attempt to cajole Europe into cooperation with the U.S., and after he failed with Latin America, he was now off to appease the likes of Hamas. I sincerely believe that Obama wants to change the course of foreign relations with the Islamic world through public policy and suasion, but first he would have to change the mindset of a culture that still believes in vengeance from the 15^th century when the Spanish kicked the Moors out of Spain. President after president has tried to establish peace in the region all with no success – why would Obama be any different? I initially thought that because of Obama's Islamic roots, he would be able to reach out to the Islamic world in a way no other leader in the Western world has, but his speech was filled with the same naiveté that has been the essence of every president before him.

This is the first time Obama stressed his middle name Hussein. The inflection in his voice went higher as he pronounced his middle name Barack Hussein Obama. It is somewhat ironic that there was so much ado about using his middle name during the presidential campaign. During the campaign, there were emails floating around (much of it false) about Barack Obama's Muslim roots. There were people claiming that Barack was a Muslim while the campaign denied it. Most conservatives said they did not use Obama's middle name because he was Muslim but because it was his middle name. I disagree. I do believe Republicans used his middle name in the hope of causing a reaction among the electorate about his Muslim roots. But, so what! I would have stated the reason I used his middle name. I did not want anyone elected who had any Muslim ties as our president. That would be like electing a person of Japanese or German descent during World War 2. It was undeniable before the election and it is undeniable now that Barack's Islamic ties go way back. He may call himself a Christian, but to the Muslim world he will always be a Muslim since he was a Muslim at birth. In fact, Islam considers a Christian who was born a Muslim an apostate worthy of death. Barack Obama has already demonstrated that he goes out of his way to appease Islam to the detriment of Israel. He did not even visit Israel on this trip. This was a snub to our greatest ally in the region. But, I digress.

As Obama begins his speech, he says that he will speak the truth by quoting the Koran, "As the Holy Koran tells us, "Be conscious of God and speak always the truth." In fact, the Koran teaches Muslims not to tell the truth if it advances the cause of Islam. The principle of taqiyya allows lying for the purpose of spreading the cause of Islam. In Islam, there is no lie about America or Israel that is too great. Some examples of taqiyya include:

• For ritual purposes, Jews use the blood of Muslim (and Christian) children in Matzoh and Purim pastries. Jews and Israelis are literally "vampires" and "bloodsuckers."
  
• Israel is sending AIDS-infected prostitutes to spread the disease by seducing and infecting innocent young Muslim boys.
  
• The Jews build "ovens" to bake Palestinians. (1)
  

Taqiyya pervades Islamic life so much so that lying is a part of the culture. This is why Muslims in the Islamic world believed that Jews in the twin towers were informed by Israel before the attack so they could make a quick exit. It is why the Islamic world was so surprised that the United States took down Sadaam Hussein so quickly when the Iraqi information minister Mohammad Saeed said Iraq was winning and America was losing. In December 13, 2004, the Iranian Sahar 1, a TV station broadcasted a series entitled, "Zahara's Blue Eyes." This series asserts that Israelis steal the organs of a Palestinian girl and transplant them in an Israeli girl. (1) This is the typical propaganda that is disseminated throughout the entire Islamic world. This is no different than the Nazi propaganda like the film Triumph of the will by Leni Riefenstahl exhibiting the Germans as the superior Aryan race and other NAZI propaganda pieces that showed Jews as vermin. How do you fight that? You don't fight it by denying the reality of it.

Obama continues the myth that only a few are the extremists wanting to engage war on the West. As I have shown above, the majority of the Islamic world is anti-Semitic. While most may not engage in the suicide bombings or slamming airplanes into buildings, most are sympathetic to the cause. This is why after 9/11 thousands were seen cheering in the streets in Islamic countries. This is why there were virtually no Islamic leaders condemning the attacks. Most Germans during World War 2 did not participate in the killing of Jews, but anti-Semitism was ubiquitous throughout the Third Reich and most participated in the evil treatment of the Jews.

Obama's flowery rhetoric begins with all the contributions of Islam. He ends the portion of the speech by stating, "Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality." What religion was he talking about? It couldn't be Islam.

The Mutawa (Saudi religious police) broke into homes and smashed hi-fis. If they found alcohol, they hauled men off to jail and beat them there. They prohibited the sale of children's dolls – dolls became contraband, like whiskey, because they were human images. Suddenly, the only dolls for sale were shapeless figures with no faces, like the one owned by Aisha, the Prophet Mohammed's child wife, in the seventh century but this was 1979. Inside the Kingdom – Carmen Bin Ladin (2)

Women are second class citizens if that, but yet somehow Obama believes Islam offers equality. Islam believes that Israelis are infidels, and Israel does not have the right to exist, yet Obama believes Islam offers religious tolerance. Does Obama really believe this or is he just practicing taqiyya.

And what about that time-honored tradition of "Honor Killings"?

Even some on the left were not exactly impressed with Obama's speech. Peter Daou from the Huffington Post writes:

With women being stoned, raped, abused, battered, mutilated, and slaughtered on a daily basis across the globe, violence that is so often perpetrated in the name of religion, the most our president can speak about is protecting their right to wear the hijab? I would have been much more heartened if the preponderance of the speech had been about how in the 21st century, we CANNOT tolerate the pervasive abuse of our mothers and sisters and daughters

The most disturbing part of Obama's speech was when he said,

On education, we will expand exchange programs, and increase scholarships, like the one that brought my father to America, while encouraging more Americans to study in Muslim communities. And we will match promising Muslim students with internships in America; invest in on-line learning for teachers and children around the world; and create a new online network, so a teenager in Kansas can communicate instantly with a teenager in Cairo

First, what right minded American is going to want to travel to an Islamic country knowing that many Islamic fundamentalists will attempt to kidnap him, kill him by suicide bombers or behead him only for the video later to be shown on Youtube? It sounds like a safe atmosphere to me. Because Obama says it is safe, does not make it so. Then we will bring Muslim students to the United States to learn our technology, return to their country, and use this technology against us. Of course, there is no war on terror, it is the overseas contingency operation, and in his speech there is no terror, it is violent extremism. I guess anything is possible.

I know there are many - Muslim and non-Muslim - who question whether we can forge this new beginning. Some are eager to stoke the flames of division, and to stand in the way of progress. Some suggest that it isn't worth the effort - that we are fated to disagree, and civilizations are doomed to clash. Many more are simply skeptical that real change can occur.

Yeah – I guess the skepticism comes in when every other president has failed in the peace process, and Hamas has in its charter the destruction of Israel, yet Obama still wants to dialogue. So what does this charter of Hamas actually state? The following are just a few of the articles of the charter:

• Article six makes clear that the group's ultimate goal is nothing less than to destroy Israel and replace it with an Arab-Muslim fundamentalist state. It boasts that Hamas is "working to unfurl the banner of Allah over every center of Palestine."
  
• Article seven quotes one of the most well-known, genocidal, prophetic verses from the Islamic Hadith, or oral tradition, that carries the same weight in the Muslim faith as the Koran: "The day will come when Muslims will fight the Jews and kill them, to the degree that the Jew will hide behind the rocks and trees, which will cry out to the Muslim and tell him, Servant of Allah, a Jew is hiding behind me. Come and kill him!"
  
• Article eleven forbids any Palestinian peace negotiations or treaties with Israel: "Palestine is Islamic land assigned to the Muslims to the end of time. It may not be renounced or conceded, whether in whole or in part."
  
• Article Thirteen amplifies this, stating there is "no solution to the Palestinian problem except through Jihad. (3)
  

Barack Obama talked of the unbreakable bond between Israel and the United States, and the horrors of the holocaust – all true. It is well known that Ahmadinejad denies the holocaust, but this denial is commonplace in the Islamic world. This is part of the propaganda that is disseminated throughout the Islamic world, and the belief that the Holocaust never happened is what the average Muslim on the street believes. The two anti-Semitic books The Protocols of Zion and Hitler's Mein Kampf continue to be bestsellers in the Muslim World. The grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseni was known as the "Führer of the Arab world" who fomented violence in the Middle East during World War 2, and he ingratiated himself with Adolf Hitler and became an 'honorary Aryan." He was the most influential Arab in Palestine of his time and committed to the killing of the Jews. (4) Nothing has changed. The anti-Semitism in the Islamic world continues today as it did during the period of Nazi Germany.

In spite of all this, Obama continues to insist on a two-state solution. The Jerusalem post stated the following:

Obama didn't really need to tell Israelis to acknowledge "Palestine's" right to exist since every government since Yitzhak Rabin's has been explicit that the Jewish state does not want to rule over another people. The real question is whether a violently fragmented Palestinian polity is capable of making the necessary compromises required to close a deal.

The fact remains that Palestine has been offered a separate state previously but has rejected the two state solution because Palestine did not believe in the right of Israel to exist.

Once again, Obama continues to give the impression to the world that the United States has tortured – this to a culture that beheads.

When I heard this part in the speech, I said to myself, "I don't know what it is, but it doesn't ring true" – I was right. Here is what Obama said,

Islam has always been a part of America's story. The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco. In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President John Adams wrote, "The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims." … And when the first Muslim-American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers – Thomas Jefferson – kept in his personal library Click here for the truth.

Prior to the speech, a video was released by an Al-Queda recruiter authenticated by U.S. counterterrorism officials warning of Al-Queda operatives who intend to bring biological weapon via tunnels under the Mexican border. Will we close the Mexican borders? Heck no, but we will bring over Muslims on student exchange programs. Any bets that Al-Queda operatives will become exchange students? Just keep repeating "There is no war on terror." Maybe if we say it long enough, it will become true. It reminds me of Captain Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek, Next Generation fame. When something had to get done, Jean-Luc Picard would say, "Make it so." So, maybe if Obama waves his magic wand and utters the words, "Make it so" there will be no war on terror.

Obama could have spoken of the greatness of America, or the aid we have given to the Islamic world but he did not. What will ring truer to the Muslim world - the just released video from Al-Queda or Barack Obama's speech to the Middle East? My guess is the video. The speech was no different than the myriad of speeches Bush has given albeit not in the Islamic world. To please Islam, we would have to bow to its demands, the first of which would be to stop any and all support to Israel. Instead of trying to promote an impossible peace in the Middle East, the United States should be protecting our borders, strengthening our military, and using all means at our disposal to make sure we are not attacked again. But, Barack Obama will not do this. He believes like all the other misguided presidents that peace between Israel and the Islamic world is an actual possibility. The reality is that this enmity between these two people is basic sibling rivalry that dates back to the time of Abraham, and nothing Obama does will change that.

Side note: Notice the way Obama rolls his r as he says the word Koran.

Sources:

1. Because They Hate by Brigitte Gabriel
   
2. Inside the Kingdom by Carmen Bin Ladin
   
3. Israel My Glory – Hamas, the haters of Israel, David Dolan
   
4. Icon of Evil by David G Dalin and John F Rothman

Oh, The naiveté of it all

What does this mean? We are giving Tehran til the end of the year to come up with a Nuclear Weapon. Obama is continuing the footwork of Clinton and Bush

President Barack Obama suggested that Iran may have some right to nuclear energy _ provided it proves by the end of the year that its aspirations are peaceful.
In a BBC interview broadcast Tuesday, he also restated plans to pursue direct diplomacy with Tehran to encourage it set aside any ambitions for nuclear weapons it might harbor.

Iran has insisted its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity. But the U.S. and other Western governments accuse Tehran of seeking atomic weapons.
“What I do believe is that Iran has legitimate energy concerns, legitimate aspirations,” Obama said, adding that the international community also “has a very real interest” in preventing a nuclear arms race.

The president has indicated a willingness to seek deeper international sanctions against Tehran if it does not respond positively to U.S. attempts to open negotiations on its nuclear program. Obama has said Tehran has until the end of the year to show it wants to engage with Washington.

Bill O’Reilly’s War of Words.

Two blogging sites I frequent quite often are Michelle Malkin's sites www.michellemalkin.com and www.hotair.com. On both of these sites, Michelle offers in depth analysis from a conservative perspective of the political world. They are both great sites.

The other night while watching "The O'Reilly factor", O'Reilly decided to dump on www.hotair.com by pointing to one derogatory remark on the Sotomayor pick. The comment read as follows, "Unqualified, militant and socialist, NEXT, please. The GOP has to block any of Hussein's extremist picks.". Bill was looking for reaction to the Sotomayor supreme court pick. He wanted to see how the right wing blogs were reacting to it. However, in the attempt, he managed to smear Michelle Malkin's Hotair.com site because of one comment by one its readers. He described it as a Hotair.com blog posting. It, of course, was not a blog posting, it was one comment out of the thousands of comments hotair receives a day. O'Reilly somehow feels that every comment posted to a blog site should be moderated. That would of course require endless hours of moderation, and most blog sites do not have nearly the staff required to monitor every comment that is posted to these websites.

Bill O'Reilly in his zeal to appear "fair and balanced" tries just a little too hard. He has gone after the far-left websites for not moderating their comments like the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post. There are loons from both the left and the right. If there is hateful speech in an actual blog posting, that is one thing, but if it is from a commenter, that is another thing all together. Blog postings are contributors to the sites who actually write op-ed pieces. Commentors post their own views from one of the blog postings they see, and it would be virtually impossible to moderate every comment posted to the site. Michelle Malkin states in her comment section that any commentor who fails to abide by "its terms of use" may lose their commenting privilege, but again it would be impossible to monitor every comment that is posted. To comment on Bill O'Reilly's blog, you have to be a premium member (a paying member.) A hotair reader actually signed up for premium membership on O'Reilly's site to see the comments on his site and it appears that O'Reilly fails his priestly duties by not monitoring the comments on his site too which you can view here. O'Reilly apparently doesn't understand the difference between comments and blog postings.

There is a need for The O'Reilly factor, because he does offer a different perspective than the typical media outlets that are in the tank for Obama, but he needs to get his facts straight. O'Reilly does some good reporting like his exposé on the corruption of the far-left organization ACORN, but then he comes out of left-field when he supports the new car emission standards of Obama while in the same breath tells his audience that he has the sensibilities of the middle class. I wonder if Bill O'Reilly will have a difficult time in paying the extra $1,300 dollars per vehicle (for a smaller vehicle) as the rest of the middle class will? If he continues to put out misinformation in his zeal to appear "fair and balanced", he may lose credibility and go the way of the New York Times.

Bill O'Reilly always says that he has open invitations for various guests. I am waiting to see him invite Michelle to the show. She can hold her own.

Update: The commenter who published the quotes from Bill O'Reilly's site account has been terminated. Is Bill O'Reilly following the same pattern of which he accuses the left?

Soaking the rich – part 564

California keeps raising its taxes thinking in its delusional liberal mind that somehow this will extricate the state from its ills. New York was jealous of California, so after California raised its tax rate, New York raised its tax rate. New York is now going to attempt to impose a 2% millionaire tax on "New Yorkers" who earn more than 200,000 dollars a year. The top tax rate will be 8.97% in the State and New York City will be 12.62%. Of course, the result will be predictable. There will be less tax revenue flowing into state coffers, because those who have the wherewithal to earn the money also have the wherewithal to leave the state.

My brother in liberal Oregon sent me an email that was sent to all teachers from the Oregon Education Association, (OEA). It reads like a joke (or one would think) or it appears like one of those endless and incessant forward chain spam letters of which we are all too familiar that we receive from some friend or colleague who believes against all hope in the veracity of the chain. But no, the sad part is its true - this is how liberals actually think. When faced with reason, liberals just look the other way.

Here is the email he received (Pay close attention to the 2^nd question. This banner also headlines the OEA's homepage. Its the first thing you see when entering the OEA's website.

Save Our Schools S.O.S Mission No. 3 Download an S.O.S campaign sign and put it in your superhero car! Drive around your community and help spread the message far and wide. We need to Save Our Schools! If you're asked: "Are our schools really in trouble?" You can say: "Yes, this once-in-a-lifetime economic crisis means we may not have enough money for a full school year / to keep teachers on the job / to support valuable programs for our kids." If you're asked: "How can we save our schools?" You can say: "Contact your legislator! Tell them to ask corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share to help protect our schools and vulnerable Oregonians!"(italics mine)

I do have a question. What is my fair share - 50%, 60%, 90%? Why don't we just endorse our entire paychecks to the government?

The gloves are off – Obama vs. Cheney

me

"To the very end of our administration, we kept Al-Queda terrorists busy with other problems. We focused on getting their secrets, instead of sharing ours with them. And on our watch, they never hit this country again." Dick Cheney.

Dick Cheney was scheduled to speak weeks in advance at the American Enterprise Institute this morning in defense of the Bush Administration's policies war on terror. But after the Senate in a 90-6 vote refused to grant Obama the funds to close Guantanamo, because he remains clueless as to what to do with the prisoners, Obama decided to make a guest appearance and make a speech at the American Enterprise Institute also. I could imagine what must have been going through his mind, "Why did the senate reject my closing of Guantanamo? Don't they know I campaigned on this? Yes I know I don't know what to do with the terrorists? But why would they reject me? I am the messiah. I know, I will go and speak in front of the American Enterprise Institute before Cheney speaks, this way it will look like Cheney is giving a rebuttal to my speech." Obama still gave no specific plan as to what to do with the detainees, but he did manage to once again malign Bush's policies for keeping us safe. – give me a break.

Now, I have to hand it to Barack Obama. When he fails in his policies, he appears in front of the cameras to try and defend his position. If former President Bush had done this, we may not have had this buffoon who appears to have just graduated from Daniel Ortega's school of Marxism trying to defend the indefensible. I wish there were more voices out there than just Dick Cheney's voice. But at least, Dick is giving powerful and cogent arguments that even the far-left has a hard time refuting. Obama may have given his speech first, but he was sure on the defense.

Obama - too often – our government made decisions based upon fear rather than foresight, and all too often trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions

While I believe that Obama sincerely believes that waterboarding is torture, I also believe that it was political posturing when he came out to sign the executive order to close Guantanamo Bay with no strategy as to what to do with the prisoners. Was it not the left who said Bush went into Iraq with no exit strategy? It was also political posturing when Barack released the CIA memos in the guise of transparency while blacking out entire portions of these same memos which showed the efficacy of these enhanced interrogation methods. Barack Obama reminds me of Good Samaritans like Lisa Torti who lifts a co-worker out of a wrecked vehicle, fearing it would catch fire or "blow up." The co-worker then sues Torti because she causes injury to her spinal cord. A rash of these types of incidents required Good Samaritan Laws. Maybe we need laws to protect American CIA agents who use the law to protect American citizens, but then have to worry about politically-motivated administrations who take power with vengeance on their mind not against the terrorists but against the very Americans who kept the rest of us safe. It was political posturing when Obama was going to release photos of detainee abuse knowing full well that these photographs were taken by the military for the purpose of prosecuting certain individuals who did abuse to prisoners for the purpose of prosecution, some of whom are in jail now, and it was political posturing to change his mind not to release the photos when he saw the polls were against him.

Barack Obama said that Gitmo alienated us from the world, but yet the world refuses to take the detainees. This is a recruitment tool Obama says – says who? - The terrorists who are trying to kill us. In fact, just today, a terrorist plot was foiled by the New York FBI while Obama is giving a speech about closing Gitmo. If it were a recruitment tool, why are there continuing attacks against the United States? Barack Obama's rhetoric goes against the face of reality.

Obama - sets back the willingness of our allies to work with us in fighting an enemy that operates in scores of countries. By any measure, the costs of keeping it open far exceed the complications involved in closing it. That is why I argued that it should be closed throughout my campaign. And that is why I ordered it closed within one year.

Where does he get this stuff? How would he even know that? So releasing the CIA memos somehow made us a stronger nation? He can't even come up with an argument that makes sense. So what again is the rational for closing Guantanamo? I have yet to see a valid argument. Are we going to put them in our prison population so they can radicalize the rest of the prison population? We already know this is happening. In fact, the New York plot that was just foiled was planned by four Muslims who converted to Islam in prison. Where is the press on that one? Are we going to provide them with ACLU attorneys who will make every effort to make sure they walk free on some technicality? We don't have to worry about disclosing secrets during trials, because Barack Obama has already showed a propensity for doing just that. Barack Obama tells us he will make sure that the detainees will be scrutinized and no prisoner will be let go who will kill Americans. He argues that Bush let 2/3rds of the detainees go under his watch. He is right. Bush did the same meticulous investigative work that Obama proposes yet we have confirmed that 61 of these detainees returned to the battlefield, some of whom have killed Americans again. If we know 61 have returned, there are probably many more we don't know of who have returned to the battlefield.

Obama's speech was the usual flowery rhetoric of which we have become accustomed, but which lacked specifics and the basic ingredient of common sense.

Then the person who was originally scheduled to give a speech at the American Enterprise Institute enters. It is so much easier to defend a position with sound reasoning than what Obama delivered.

I am glad Dick Cheney has come in defense of Bush's policies that were working. Since Cheney has come in defense of the Bush policies, his approval ratings are up 8 points according to a CNN poll. What is interesting is Bush was elected to a second term because the American people recognized his policies were working. Isn't it refreshing to see a politician say something like this?

Being the first vice president who had also served as secretary of defense, naturally my duties tended toward national security. I focused on those challenges day to day, mostly free from the usual political distractions. I had the advantage of being a vice president content with the responsibilities I had, and going about my work with no higher ambition. Today, I'm an even freer man. Your kind invitation brings me here as a private citizen – a career in politics behind me, no elections to win or lose, and no favor to seek.

Every time I have heard Cheney speak, his arguments have been forceful, on point, and reassuring. I can't say this about either Obama or gaff-prone Biden. Of course, now your tax dollars will have to go to build another bunker for the vice president since Biden disclosed where the Vice President goes when we are under attack. So, who do you really feel safer under?

When President Obama makes wise decisions, as I believe he has done in some respects on Afghanistan, and in reversing his plan to release incendiary photos, he deserves our support. And when he faults or mischaracterizes the national security decisions we made in the Bush years, he deserves an answer. The point is not to look backward. Now and for years to come, a lot rides on our President's understanding of the security policies that preceded him. And whatever choices he makes concerning the defense of this country, those choices should not be based on slogans and campaign rhetoric, but on a truthful telling of history.

This is so true. Obama does deserve an answer. For almost eight years, the Bush administration kept us safe, and Barack Obama is out there trying to tell us it's not true. He is trying to tell us, we were operating out of fear. He is trying to say what the Bush administration did was not effective. Why does he not go back to community organizing with the corrupt organization ACORN and the corrupt political machine of Chicago where he can bask in the anti-American rhetoric of Reverend Wright as he teaches his Liberation Theology and leave the war on terror or as Obama would say the Overseas Contingency Operationto the adults? He operates better there. Only an idiot would think to change the name to Overseas Contingency Operation.

That attack itself was, of course, the most devastating strike in a series of terrorist plots carried out against Americans at home and abroad. In 1993, they bombed the World Trade Center, hoping to bring down the towers with a blast from below. The attacks continued in 1995, with the bombing of U.S. facilities in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; the killing of servicemen at Khobar Towers in 1996; the attack on our embassies in East Africa in 1998; the murder of American sailors on the USS Cole in 2000; and then the hijackings of 9/11, and all the grief and loss we suffered on that day.

    Nine-eleven caused everyone to take a serious second look at threats that had been gathering for a while, and enemies whose plans were     getting bolder and more sophisticated. Throughout the 90s, America had responded to these attacks, if at all, on an ad hoc basis. The first     attack     on the World Trade Center was treated as a law enforcement problem, with everything handled after the fact – crime scene, arrests,     indictments, convictions, prison sentences, case closed.

We know of the attacks before 9/11, and we know of the thwarted attacks after 9/11, but somehow the left doesn't feel Bush should be given credit for the almost eight years we had no attacks. And, the Bush administration is second guessed on preserving American life saying that information could have been retrieved by other means in lieu of waterboarding. Has this world gone completely insane?

Everyone expected a follow-on attack, and our job was to stop it. We didn't know what was coming next, but everything we did know in that autumn of 2001 looked bad. This was the world in which al-Qaeda was seeking nuclear technology, and A. Q. Khan was selling nuclear technology on the black market. We had the anthrax attack from an unknown source. We had the training camps of Afghanistan, and dictators like Saddam Hussein with known ties to Mideast terrorists.

 

Who is A.Q.Khan you might ask? If you don't know, you should find out. This man presented the greatest threat to the proliferation of nuclear technology to terrorist groups than any other man. He was the founder of Pakistan's nuclear technology. He was involved with selling nuclear technology to North Korea, Iran and other rogue states. Anyone with money could purchase the technology from Khan. But no worry, let's not waterboard, let's just use the Army Field Manual and yell at the detainees.

To make certain our nation country never again faced such a day of horror, we developed a comprehensive strategy, beginning with far greater homeland security to make the United States a harder target. But since wars cannot be won on the defensive, we moved decisively against the terrorists in their hideouts and sanctuaries, and committed to using every asset to take down their networks. We decided, as well, to confront the regimes that sponsored terrorists, and to go after those who provide sanctuary, funding, and weapons to enemies of the United States. We turned special attention to regimes that had the capacity to build weapons of mass destruction, and might transfer such weapons to terrorists.

We did all of these things, and with bipartisan support put all these policies in place. It has resulted in serious blows against enemy operations … the take-down of the A.Q. Khan network … and the dismantling of Libya's nuclear program. It's required the commitment of many thousands of troops in two theaters of war, with high points and some low points in both Iraq and Afghanistan – and at every turn, the people of our military carried the heaviest burden. Well over seven years into the effort, one thing we know is that the enemy has spent most of this time on the defensive – and every attempt to strike inside the United States has failed.

 

There couldn't have been a more stark contrast between the two speeches. Dick Cheney is finally making the case to the American people and as Bill Sammon, the Washington Managing editor says, "Liberals will redouble their efforts to destroy Cheney." But Cheney is not Obama, he will not waver with the polls, he will continue and defend his position preventing at the same time history revisionism. Instead of vilifying the Bush administration, we should be thanking the administration for keeping us safe. If there is ever a nuclear attack on U.S. soil, life as we know it will change forever. Liberals will emerge from their theoretical utopian world that doesn't exist and say, "I wish we had done everything possible to prevent an attack including waterboarding" or maybe not. But, by then, it will be too late.