The Ego Has Landed – Chicago Dropped in First Round.

Drudge cracks me up.  The headline maybe be a little over the top, but the reactions of CNN and other media to the choice of the IOC is pretty funny…

Filed under: Global Affairs, Sports

Obama’s Vision of National Science?

To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative."

- President Obama, April 25, 2009

John P. Holdren named President-elect Obama’s Science Advisor

- Harvard Science Website, December 20, 2008

Indeed, it has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution if the population crisis became sufficiently severe to endanger the society.

- John P. Holdren, Ecoscience, published1977 H/T to ZombieTime and Michelle Malkin…

Filed under: Democrats, Global Affairs, Global Threats, Global Warming/Climate Change, Science, Technology

Obama Administration Ordered FBI to Read Rights to Detainees

Found this on FoxNews.com which worries the bejeebers out of me.

U.S. Lawmaker Says Obama Administration Ordered FBI to Read Rights to Detainees

The move is reportedly creating chaos in the field among the CIA, FBI and military personnel, according to Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.

Yeah, I would definitely say that it would create chaos.  And imagine how this process affects our ability to gather intelligence.  I shudder to think that we cannot get anymore information from a high value target without his lawyer being present, thereby potentially putting many more soldiers and civilians at risk.

Besides, doesn’t Miranda only apply to American citizens in the U.S.?  Jeez, can you imagine what it would have been like at during World War II or Vietnam if we had to Mirandize those prisoners of War?

What are these guys thinking???

U.S. Lawmaker Says Obama Administration Ordered FBI to Read Rights to Detainees – Political News – FOXNews.com

Filed under: Foreign Policy, Global Affairs

Chavez says Comrade Obama more left-wing

Got to love this, when Comrade Chavez make jokes about Obama’s socialist agenda…

During one of Chavez’s customary lectures on the "curse" of capitalism and the bonanzas of socialism, the Venezuelan leader made reference to GM’s bankruptcy filing, which is expected to give the U.S. government a 60 percent stake in the 100-year-old former symbol of American might.

"Hey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Comrade Obama! Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his right," Chavez joked on a live television broadcast.

Venezuela Chavez says Comrade Obama more left-wing | Reuters

Filed under: Global Affairs

Barack Obama’s Top 10 Apologies from Heritage Foundation…

Great little article that sums up President Obama’s top 10 apologies, while humiliating us as a Superpower…  Grabbed the headlines from Heritage Foundation, you’ll have to link over to read the text…

On several occasions, President Obama has sought to apologize for the actions of his own country when addressing a foreign audience–including seven of the 10 apologies listed below. The President has already apologized for his country to nearly 3 billion people across Europe, the Muslim world, and the Americas.

1. Apology to France and Europe ("America Has Shown Arrogance")

Speech by President Obama, Rhenus Sports Arena, Strasbourg, France, April 3, 2009.[1]

2. Apology to the Muslim World ("We Have Not Been Perfect")

President Obama, interview with Al Arabiya, January 27, 2009.[2]

3. Apology to the Summit of the Americas ("At Times We Sought to Dictate Our Terms")

President Obama, address to the Summit of the Americas opening ceremony, Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, April 17, 2009.[3]

4. Apology at the G-20 Summit of World Leaders ("Some Restoration of America’s Standing in the World")

News conference by President Obama, ExCel Center, London, United Kingdom, April 2, 2009.[4]

5. Apology for the War on Terror ("We Went off Course")

President Obama, speech at the National Archives, Washington, D.C., May 21, 2009.[5]

6. Apology for Guantanamo in France ("Sacrificing Your Values")

Speech by President Obama, Rhenus Sports Arena, Strasbourg, France, April 3, 2009.[6]

7. Apology before the Turkish Parliament ("Our Own Darker Periods in Our History")

Speech by President Obama to the Turkish Parliament, Ankara, Turkey, April 6, 2009.[7]

8. Apology for U.S. Policy toward the Americas ("The United States Has Not Pursued and Sustained Engagement with Our Neighbors")

Opinion editorial by President Obama: "Choosing a Better Future in the Americas," April 16, 2009.[8]

9. Apology for the Mistakes of the CIA ("Potentially We’ve Made Some Mistakes")

Remarks by the President to CIA employees, CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia, April 20, 2009.[9] The remarks followed the controversial decision to release Office of Legal Counsel memoranda detailing CIA enhanced interrogation techniques used against terrorist suspects.

10. Apology for Guantanamo in Washington ("A Rallying Cry for Our Enemies")

President Obama, speech at the National Archives, Washington, D.C., May 21, 2009.[10]

Barack Obama’s Top 10 Apologies: How the President Has Humiliated a Superpower

Filed under: Global Affairs, Politics

Unconditional Talks or Threat of Force?

Cartoons By Michael Ramirez

Filed under: Global Affairs, Global Threats, Iran, Islam, Muslim, Religion

Man Helps Suicide Jumper… To Jump!

Lai Jiansheng, 66, said he was fed up with the desperate man’s “selfish activity” which caused huge traffic jams in Guangzhou, southern China. 

When I saw the headline on BBC, I initially felt appalled. But, after finishing the article, actually understood his point.

“I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish,”

Don’t worry, the guy didn’t die.  So no murder charges against the pusher…

Filed under: Global Affairs

American Thinker: Moral Bearings

One of my favorite blogs to read is The American Thinker. Yesterday they posted an interesting article, so I’ll pass on the link for your approval.

The Interrogation Memos and the ‘Moral Bearings’ of President Obama

Monte Kuligowski
President Obama made a striking statement after his partisan and security-jeopardizing decision to release post 9/11 memos on the Bush administration’s policies relating to interrogation of terrorists. Classifying “waterboarding” as unlawful torture, Obama self-righteously proclaimed that the United States lost its “moral bearings” under the previous administration.
That wonderful institution of malpractice and fraud, the “mainstream” press put it this way:

“President Obama left the door open Tuesday to prosecuting Bush administration officials who devised the legal authority for gruesome terror-suspect interrogations, saying the United States lost ‘our [sic] moral bearings’ with use of the tactics.”

Using the word “gruesome” to describe (former) U.S. interrogation policy in context of terrorism doesn’t quite cut it. Simulated drowning isn’t nice, but it’s not torture. (It is effective though, having saved American lives with information coughed up from use of the tactic.) “Gruesome,” on the contrary, describes the scene of red American blood gushing onto the sword-wielding terrorist as he callously chops off his victim’s head.

Read more there…

Filed under: Global Affairs

It’s All Our Fault!

Here’s the latest from our neighbors in the South.

The Declaration of Cumaná: Capitalism ‘threatens life on the planet’.

We, the Heads of State and Government of Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela, member countries of ALBA, consider that the Draft Declaration of the 5th Summit of the Americas is insufficient and unacceptable for the following reasons:…

1. Capitalism is leading humanity and the planet to extinction. What we are experiencing is a global economic crisis of a systemic and structural nature, not another cyclic crisis. Those who think that with a taxpayer money injection and some regulatory measures this crisis will end are wrong.

2. Capitalism has caused the environmental crisis, by submitting the necessary conditions for life in the planet, to the predominance of market and profit.

3. The global economic crisis, climate change, the food crisis and the energy crisis are the result of the decay of capitalism, which threatens to end life and the planet.

Such a fun loving group, huh?  Send in the Marines!

 

Filed under: Global Affairs

O’S AMATEUR HOUR

THE real climax of President Obama’s Spring Apologies Tour wasn’t his photo op with our troops in Baghdad or even his “American Guilt” concerts in Western Europe.

While fans in the press cheered wildly at every venue, the real performance came in Turkey. And it was a turkey.

Ralph Peters, FoxNews Strategic Analyst posts his assessment of President Obama’s visit to Turkey.

Right off the bat, he makes a very salient point…

Obama means well. Just as Jimmy Carter, his policy godfather, meant well. But the road to embassy takeovers and strategic humiliation is paved with good intentions — coupled with distressing naivete.

Read more here: O’S AMATEUR HOUR – New York Post

Filed under: Foreign Policy, Global Affairs, Politics

Putin ‘Snapped In Disguise While Working As KGB Officer’ During Reagan Visit

Thought this was kinda cool for some reason. Not too important when compared to AIG’s bonus problems or Obama’s “bracket” picks, but after watching the weird stuff coming out of Russia lately, worth a mention.

A picture has emerged apparently showing Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in his former days as a KGB officer.

Did you also hear that Putin wants a one world currency?  Well, at least he denies it.

Filed under: Global Affairs

Attending James Madison University

I’m up in the Shenandoah Valley at James Madison University for a two week course on National Security Policy and Regional Implementation. 

Don’t expect to have much time to blog as I’ve got five different authors to review tonight starting with Mearsheimer and Walt “The Israel Lobby” from the London Review of Books (March 2006).

The course focuses on the development, content and implementation of U.S. national security policy; examining the system, state and individual level factors that help to shape national security policy.

Yesterday, we covered the concepts of globalization – and the competing worldviews of Idealism vs. Realism…

Today’s subjects covered the international Political Economy – Globalization and National Security.  While it  was quite interesting to categorize Globalization into 3 phases; Globalization 1.0 being 1492 to 1800, Globalization 2.0 1800 to the mid 20th century and Globalization 3.0 from 1950 to present, I was disturbed that the instructor didn’t want to address my question of what his opinion of Globalization 4.0 might look like.

Tomorrow we look at organizational process, bureaucratic politics and interagency process…

I’ll try to drop a note, but the course load may get in my way!

Filed under: Civil Affairs, Foreign Policy, Global Affairs

Where’s North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il?

Ask anyone, Team America took care of him!

Western officials confirm to FOX News that there is intelligence suggesting that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke on Aug. 14 and could be incapacitated — even wheelchair bound.

Filed under: Global Affairs, Global Threats, Movies

"I Did Not Call You an Appeaser!"

“We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is the false comfort of appeasement which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

For your background reading…

Most commonly, appeasement is used for the policy of accepting the imposed conditions of an aggressor in lieu of armed resistance, usually at the sacrifice of principles. Usually it means giving in to demands of an aggressor in order to avoid war. Since World War II, the term has gained a negative connotation in the British government, in politics and in general, of weakness, cowardice and self-deception. A famous example is Neville Chamberlain’s foreign policy during the period 1937-1939, when he pursued a policy of appeasement towards Adolf Hitler’s expansionist ambitions.

Obama hit’s the roof! 

“It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel’s independence to launch a false political attack,” Obama said in a statement his aides distributed. “George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president’s extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel.

Thinks President Bush’s comments are directed at him, which of course Press Secretary Dana Perino denies!

In turn, White House press secretary Dana Perino denied that the Knesset remark was aimed at Obama. In fact, the language is fairly typical for Bush speeches, and Gordon Johndroe, a national security spokesman for the president, said Bush was referring to “a wide range of people who have talked to or suggested we talk to Hamas, Hezbollah or their state sponsors” over a long period of time.

Yet, Senator Obama (as told in the Washington Post Blog) is now confused at everyone’s attitude and doesn’t understand why the President does not want  him to meet folks like Kim Jong Il and Ahmadinawhatshisname…

At a press conference following the town hall meeting where Obama blasted back at President Bush, with three-term South Dakota Sen. Thomas Daschle looking on, Obama said it “puzzled” him that his willingness to meet with leaders of rogue states was in any way controversial “when this has been the history of U.S. diplomacy until very recently.”

Obama then draws comparison to President Kennedy meeting with Khrushchev and President Nixon meeting with Mao Zedong.

Well, interesting point.  And one to think through.  Not sure where I stand on this.

Filed under: Democrats, Foreign Policy, Global Affairs, Global Threats, History, Politics

World Security Review

It’s been “Defense Lite” on the blog for the last few weeks here as I dodge the land mines and alligators at work.  Some critical changes coming down the road that have taken my attention away for this little hobby.

I’ve got some breathing room now and had a chance to review most of my email sitting in my personal email inbox at home.  Up to bat first, is an update from the World Security Institute which publishes a weekly newsletter.  Below are some links on upcoming publications from WSI worthy of review.

Center for Defense Information’s Military Almanac 2007 
Prepared by CDI’s Straus Military Reform Project, the Military Almanac 2007 is an up-to-date, fact-filled, comprehensive guide to U.S. military, defense and policy issues. 

World Security Institute’s 2006 Annual Report
The World Security Institute’s 2006 annual report is now available online. The report includes information and a yearly review on all WSI divisions, including Center for Defense Information, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Azimuth Media, International Programs, and the International Media Division.

Arab Insight, Vol. 1 No. 1, Spring 2007
Islam, Political Islam and America. The World Security Institute is proud to announce that the first issue of Arab Insight, a quarterly journal dedicated to bringing Middle East perspectives to Washington, is now available. 

Filed under: Global Affairs