One crisis after another
Words seem exceedingly inadequate right now.
And yet as a blogger, that’s what I do. Just in the last few days I’ve written drafts or short notes for about 50 new posts that I haven’t even gotten around to finishing and publishing, in addition to the ones I have published. It’s a kind of blogger-ADD brought on by the intensity of my rage at the tsunami, not only of bad news, but of bad news where the “leadership” we have seems to either be passive in the face of it or actively encouraging it.
Washington DC seems surprisingly quiet, the reaction from Republicans muted, despite the fact that three of the erupting crises involve national security. Does anyone think that the release of the Gitmo Five, the young people and gang members and even possible terrorists streaming across our border and receiving a welcome mat rather than deportation, and the murderous Islamists “worse than al Qaeda” taking over huge swaths of Iraq, won’t be directly dangerous to us sooner or later?
Oh, maybe Republicans have been talking up a storm, but the MSM won’t report it. But even if that’s happening, what good is talk? Obama and his aides do (or don’t do) as they wish.
And what of the Republican governors of Texas and Arizona, Perry and Brewer? I realize the feds have jurisdiction over border security, but something more than some strong-worded letters are required, some act of more overt defiance and/or taking the case to the people.
Go to blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and you’ll see conservatives sputtering with impotent rage at what’s happening. Why don’t you do something?” the comments scream. Why, indeed? Why does everyone seem like deer in the headlights, blinking in the glare? After all, it has been clear for a long time that Obama’s combination of malice, ideological leftism, Cloward-Priven strategy, and disengagement from dealing with Iraq at all (a disengagement that has been going on for his entire presidency) is a dangerous dangerous brew.
The are several reasons for the frozen reaction, I think. There is a general disconnect on the part of many in power from the concerns of ordinary people, and a habit of playing it safe. Also, way too many people on the right continue to see Obama as merely incompetent (the “fool” in the “fool or knave?” question), although events such as the release of the Gitmo Five are hard to fit into that narrative; no one is that incompetent. A small child could have figured out that this was a very bad move that compromises our security and that of Afghanistan. And so (as I said back in 2009 about Obama’s position on Honduras), there is simply no benign explanation for this move on Obama’s part.
Still another reason is the speed of it all. The fact that the crises at the border and in Iraq came right on the heels of the Bergdahl crisis (which of course followed other crises, such as the VA)—each one worse than the one before it, if such a thing be possible—is another problem for the Obama opposition, which is feeling stunned by the magnitude and rapidity of it all. And the only remedy—impeachment—seems politically impossible (not to mention slow even were it possible), because Democrat cooperation would be necessary and it just doesn’t exist at the moment, if ever.
I don’t think the framers ever envisioned anything quite like this—although perhaps they did; they were incredibly smart. Perhaps they just thought that if things were that far gone and yet the political will to impeach a president so destructive still could not be mustered, then the situation couldn’t be helped by any design they could have given us.
One more thing—I think we need to retire the old “fool or knave?” question. Now it’s down to “lunatic or traitor?” I know which one I choose.
[NOTE: Three more articles that will horrify you: this one about the border overload and this searing one and this, both by Richard Fernandez about Iraq. You can feel the depth of his outrage:
While earlier generations of policy makers might confidently have said that the United States would defend Kuwait ”¦ or Bahrain ”¦ or Qatar ”¦ or Oman ”¦ or Saudi Arabia, with Obama it is impossible to say with any certainty that he will defend anything. The United States, and in consequence the West, has suffered a catastrophic collapse of credibility.
Any line that can by hypothetically drawn is at best a wild-ass-guess. For only one person can draw any line of consequence: Barack Hussein Obama. We are witnessing not only a collapse but a capitulation.
If I had to guess I would say Obama will do nothing to stop the events in Iraq from playing out (although alliance with Iran is certainly possible). Perhaps he desires the victory of bloodthirsty terrorists, perhaps he wants Iran in charge, or perhaps he just wants a debacle so he can blame Bush; at this point, who knows? I think he is incapable of making a decision to resume the Iraq War in any way whatsoever. It would be too big a denial of several of his central belief systems, including these two: that his greatest foreign policy achievement was to leave Iraq without American military support, and that “dialogue” plus his own personal charisma can solve all conflicts.
By the way, a commenter on that Fernandez thread has this to say: “The presidential goal for the American Embassy in Iraq is to ensure that as many American hostages are taken as possible. Once they are taken, Obama will trade them for any remaining Jihadi’s we hold.”
It’s come to the point that such a thought no longer seems all that farfetched. But I don’t think so. After all, why would Obama need hostages for the trade? He could release Gitmo detainees just because he feels like it. What would stop him?]
He could release Gitmo detainees just because he feels like it. What would stop him?
Unless Jarret thought it was smarter to find justifications, because she was already working on leveraging the Team for it. Jarret, unlike Hussein, does most of the work, you know. And the workers tend to like it easy. There would be more work if Hussein just released whatever. Hussein would like it. The workers would not. Too much damage control.
Ymarsakar:
No more damage control than would be necessary to deal with a Carter-like spectacle of American embassy hostages.
While it’s true that Carter “owned” the Iran hostage situation, and Obama would blame his on Bush, it still would be necessary to mount a TON of damage control.
So I don’t think they’d go that particular way. Although after the Taliban Five, it’s certainly possible.
“There is a great deal of ruin in a nation”. I hope.
From what I’ve read about ISIS, they wouldn’t take Americans hostage – they would probably kill them in the most spectacularly brutal way they could imagine and make sure that Al Jazeera/U.S. MSM have videotape of it all. And that’s what makes Obama abandoning them so evil.
As for “lunatic or traitor?” – can I choose both?
Meanwhile, Der Spiegel’s cover today is about a Snowden release of the secret NSA locations in Germany. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m sure it will fuel the anti-Americanism already here. Snowden is considered a hero, especially by the lefties. Who knows what will happen from this, although I did read that a returning Syrian fighter has been arrested for belonging to a terrorist group. Furthermore, I saw somewhere that Spain has also arrested some returnees who were plannning to take over Spanish mosques for recruitment.
When will the people of the West realize that there is real danger and that we need to stand together?
I also read that Hillary is saying that the US needs a woman to lead the country and that we should emulate Germany in this. Bradley Manning is accusing us of lying about Iraq. Are there no adults in government who can slap down these idiots and concentrate on real problems?
No more damage control than would be necessary to deal with a Carter-like spectacle of American embassy hostages.
That depends on what’s going on in the back scenes, the smoke rooms. A person like Jarret has unofficial teams and connections, which must be negotiated to leverage the assets they do have. The media propaganda is merely the superficial stuff. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes to coordinate strategic assets in a shadow cabinet.
Lizzy:
Yes, you can choose both, and perhaps you’re right. But I don’t agree with you.
And what ISIS does with Iraqis and what it might do with Americans is not necessarily the same. As with Daniel Pearl (who was ultimately beheaded) they might take hostages first and threaten them for propaganda purposes and/or to get something else they want (seeing how amenable Obama is to negotiations), and then kill them brutally and on camera to heighten the horror.
Neo…
What you’re seeing is the kind of ‘governance’ that France endured during the Sitzkrieg.
And we all know how that turned out.
Barry’s attitude is “What difference does it make?”
It’s the Ron Paul in him.
&&&
One should expect a total ethnic cleansing within Iraq — dead ahead.
The primary reason that Mosul was lost was because the top officers were being picked off even before the attack, proper, went in.
From McClatchy:
“But the Kurdish stranger’s in-depth knowledge of the military’s Mosul operations was unsettling, Nasseri said.
“He knew too much,” Nasseri said, recalling that the man knew of an attack on a general, which soldiers had been killed and insider scuttlebutt from the division. When questioned about his sources of information, Nasseri said, the man explained that he was friends with a captain from the division.”
Much later…
“He called the Kurdish stranger who’d tipped him off about the collapse; he said the man finally admitted that he was a major from the Kurdish intelligence apparatus.”
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/06/14/230400/iraqi-soldier-who-fought-with.html?sp=/99/100/&ihp=1
I posted about some of this previously.
The bottom line: the ISIL is using classic assassination tactics against the Shia military leadership.
Within Iraq, the Shia IQ norms towards 77ish. (Pulled low by Saddam’s deliberate starvation campaign than ran on for two decades.)(+ cousin marriage) (And Islam stunts logical thinking by any man.)
The number of men able to shoulder command responsibilities is quite limited. IQ 106 is 2 S.D. above their mean.
This is why assassination campaigns are so astonishingly effective in the Middle East.
%%%
There’s an apocryphal legend from Afghanistan circulating in the USMC:
1) That the muj could kill a Soviet officer and, by so doing, entirely stop the Soviet attack. The enlisted troops would retreat.
2) That the muj could kill a British officer and the British non-com would take over. Yet by killing the sergeant the muj could get the British to stop attacking.
3) That the muj could kill the Marine officer, sergeants and more… yet the attack would never let up… running at all hours and into days.
This tale gets to the heart of what Marines think of themselves.
It’s a totally different mind set than that of Iraqi grunts.
In the McClatchy article (ob. cit.) it’s quite apparent that the trooper was totally demoralized by the contrast between American officers and Iraqi officers.
They had an élan that no Third World nation can replicate.
There Are Those That Would Say he is evil incarnate. Dude is way beyond traitor.
OK, Neo, I’ll clarify that I’d choose traitor and psychopath.
He’s one cold dude to cause/allow so much death on his watch as president – Fast & Furious, Benghazi, all he’s done to neuter our military (more restrictive ROA, announcing troop draw-downs, etc.), drone assassinations, betraying Israel’s secrets, supporting the murderous Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, etc.
Obama is a community organizer. That is all he knows. Ben Shapiro says use RICO to go after Obama and to limit the power of the executive branch. Makes sense to me!
While a Catholic, I think the KJV says it best:
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Eph 6:12
Blert: Re your last paragraph. Slightly o/t, but Victor Davis Hanson’s book “Carnage and Culture” explains why the militaries of Western Civ have prevailed in clashes with the East; i.e., civilian soldiers who are fighting to retain their liberty will fight harder. I worry greatly that today’s American civilians will not fight to retain their liberties; we won’t even fight to preserve our Constitution in the face of tyranny.
People in general, meaning other than the more or less deeply engaged, cannot seem to grasp the fact that they have a man in the White House who meant what he said: that he aimed to fundamentally transform America and that our system of government was deficient because it was founded on a charter of negative liberties, which defined only what government could not do to you, and not what it, and your “fellow” men, must do for you.
So, fearing to face what is staring us in the face – for what are you really going to say to your sister-in-law who voted for him because her heart was throbbing at the prospect of riding the wave of history and social justice – we sputter.
This of course does not explain the cowardice of the Republicans in government who seem to fear bringing articles of impeachment. Do they fear being marginalized once and for all as they play their last card and are trumped by a media which shares Obama’s agenda? Do they figure we have reached that point where the democratic project as part of a viable social arrangement just naturally collapses under the weight of a nihilistic and polymorphous perverse public which believes it can diddle itself to Nirvana while sneering at both nature and God?
I don’t know.
Anyone know who Ausonius was? Maybe that describes most of the Republican mainstream nowadays.
Traitor.
The Wan’s belief that “dialogue” plus his own personal charisma can solve all conflicts is not incorrect. Those ‘conflicts’ are, and have been, resolved to his satisfaction. It is all working out much much better for him and his than he in 2008 hoped in his wildest dreams, all this Hoped-for Change. It is one big wahoo for Emir Hussein al-Hawaii, peace be upon him (and death to his enemies).
Litigation will not stop him and his. Litigation does not stop traitors unless they are little people, like Manning.
Until the Congress and the Military decide to intervene, nothing will change. RICO, my ass. It will not happen in a courtroom.
Traitor.
Juli, your comment reminds me of something I heard in passing on the radio sometime in the 1990s to the effect that a mystic of some stripe — maybe a Native American? — was saying that the Antichrist had been born on earth in the 1960s and at the time of the radio broadcast, was working actively somewhere in the United States, preparing the ground for political actions to be undertaken in the 21st century. I wasn’t paying close attention, but if I correctly remember, there was something about a plan to use youth and charm to bedazzle the people and acquire power. I don’t believe in such things, it’s not the kind of “news” that I would ordinarily pay any attention to at all, and I don’t know why it stuck in my mind. But for some reason it gave me pause – and lately I’ve remembered it repeatedly.
Still another reason is the speed of it all.
now that is funny..
you see it as fast, as you didnt pay attention to the many things showing it converging on that stuff..
i saw it as slow. thinking it was going to be faster..
i said hitler took how many years to set things up before things “went fast”…
ie. your ignoring the years and years that were the set up… and the reason is that no one wanted to conclude the obvious and say this is leading to a larger big war
and i said everyone does that, and will do that delusionally until there is the big war. and they wont notice it until the thing crosses their delusional line where they cant argue with themselves or delude themselves that it might be something else.
clothed in ambiguity
doing things that disbelieve causes lack of defense
and so on and so on.
all you had to do was put it ALL on one table at one time… which i said over and over.
THEN you would see it.
but as long as you examined the parts, denied they had such meaning, and so on… there was absolutely no way the 20 blind researchers in a room with an elephant feeling around would figure out it was an elephant..
even less chance if they never saw a real one and instead imagine oliphants.. or hefalumps and woozles.
i said the overt stuff is the sign the game is over.
that is, at some point, the actions cant be hidding any more and so, more and more they are blatant.
more signing statements coming.
i dont remember you doing a detailed post on signing statements and executive orders.. no matter how many times i tried to bring that up
and i dont remember a deteiled look at the denuement of the military, the number of generals, the lack of new equipment, etc
you see..
it wasnt fast
it was that you were ignoring the mile markers
and so, rather than watch the slow crawl
you wok up at the end of the trip and said “oh crap”
welcome to the game
now what?
Don Carlos:
I don’t agree that it’s working out better for him than he thought it would. You underestimate his egotism.
He expected things to go even more smoothly than they have.
As for your writing that “that ‘dialogue’ plus his own personal charisma can solve all conflicts is not incorrect,” you deeply misunderstand what I was trying to convey. I wrote that his personal belief system includes those concepts, and indeed it does. That does not mean that the conflicts he thinks dialogue or his charisma can solve are the same conflicts we see domestically or on the international stage. More importantly, they would not lead to the same solutions.
I think I’ve made it crystal clear, over and over, that he sees the world very differently and has very different goals, antithetical goals. But while that is the case, it is also the case that he believes that dialogue and his own personal charisma can solve many conflicts.
As it has, for him. You can start with the trouble he got into over his affiliation with Rev. Wright during the 2008 campaign, where he made a speech and worked his magic and it ended up just fine. And then go on from there—Obama goes from awfulness to awfulness and was re-elected, and is still doing his thing.
Artfldgr:
Again you misunderstand me, and condescend to me without understanding what I’m saying. It is my belief that the fast pace was both predictable and is strategic on Obama’s part. I’m speaking of the stunned reactions of our politicians and many on the right to the speed, which surprised them.
Many people on the right still don’t get the gist of Obama’s approach. I am pretty sure, however, that most people who read this blog regularly get it.
In fact, I predicted that if Obama were re-elected he would be freed from his previous constraints. And so he has been.
Washington DC seems surprisingly quiet, the reaction from Republicans muted, despite the fact that three of the erupting crises involve national security.
Maybe not really so surprising because Congressional elections are just five months away. Those up for re-election are busy with their campaigns and also don’t want to upset whatever certainties they think they may have going their way right now.
Most are not “profiles in courage” material, after all.
of all the modern presidents, who would yo want in office if you wanted to start a world war?
carter?
kennedy?
bush?
obama and biden?
go back to the post
they would wait till near the end of the terms
why?
because tweedle dumb and tweedle dee would mess things up, and then in the middle of messed up you would try to have an election? who would make an EO that would pretenf they were lincolkn and suspend habeous corpus, and posse commitatus, etc.
and note
possie commitatus forbids the use of US troops on american soil
it says NOTHING as to using loaned foreign troops on american soil saying they are UN
or using a civilian army, or militarized police.
Cold hard facts. That is when those on a mission find out what’s for dinner. Information used to matter before marketing rewrites. I feel bad for ex spies and soldiers that have no parachutes. Probably just head for whatever hills the lunatics are too busy to pay attention to, forwards or backwards. Heaven got quiet, rearranging chairs and other things.
It is my belief that the fast pace was both predictable and is strategic on Obama’s part. I’m speaking of the stunned reactions of our politicians and many on the right to the speed, which surprised them.
nice if you included thos subjects in the stastement, but you didnt… it was just hanging there…
and you still ahve not admitted this is heading towards wwii… have not yet gone over the signing statments (a few new ones coming out), and the denoument of the military, the new military equipment, the new island the chinese are building. and on and on
In fact, I predicted that if Obama were re-elected he would be freed from his previous constraints. And so he has been.
yeah… but your point was not that he was going to finish starting wwiii… your point was a lot less than world war, and global conflict, shoa II, democide, genocide in the middle east, and so on
by the way
did you invest based on your ideas?
if you did, you stood to make a lot of cash…
bug out money is always welcome!
thinking a president is less limited in his second term is a hell of a lot different than what he is doing.
go back then, take a look and see if your point can be taken to the degree now?
and note…
we have a couple of years to go
and no way to even put the brakes on
go back to my posts about 10 years ago!!!
we are hells deep in the story
it starts at page 1 in gideons bible
and tells the story to the end
god wins in the end
[just so you know… charlie is the devil… he catches angels as they fall… women and best friend are adam and eve… and the handle is the apple… that once stolen, puts the train in motion till the end… ]
I agree that the Obama will do nothing significant in support of the Maliki government, but allowing the embassy staff to be seized would be a PR disaster. The MSM can spin the fall of Baghdad to blame GWB; the staff being taken hostage or beheaded would be seen by a majority of Americans as the fault of Obama’s leadership.
How much time and energy are lost trying to digest each separate issue and the latest outrage of the day?
Only one thing is needed. The Democrat Party IS a crisis. It is nothing else than and nothing less than a destructive crisis for America.
There is only one ultimate problem – them; and only one ultimate solution – defeating them.
All the detailed analyses of all the (seemingly) complex and inter-related or unrelated, or unreal is so much ink and brain power wasted.
There are many effects. There is one cause. Defeat the cause and the effects go bye-bye.
Do not defeat the cause and the effects only get more, and get worse and get us all in chains.
Period.
Prediction: There will be yet another outrage by tomorrow, or at worst by the end of the week. Let events prove me wrong.
And you can either waste a bucket of energy against a great line of damaging effects….or just get to the heart of the matter which we already know, today, and deal with it – the democrat party. Defeat them and America wins since they are not real Americans. Let them be victorious and America is already done.
Artfldgr:
No, it was not just hanging there.
I’ve written about my opinion of Obama’s speed in other posts, the “whack-a-mole” effect. I first wrote about it here, in 2009, and I’ve written about it several times since. So there was no surprise at this point (or even earlier) on my part about speed.
Plus my comment about the speed of events was embedded in the above post in a fairly lengthy discussion of the reaction of many Republican politicians and many other people on the right. Almost the entire post is about that, and the “frozen” reaction I’m saying was partly caused by the speed of events was their reaction.
I started out by talking about my own reaction to what’s been happening, but I don’t mention being surprised at the speed, just being overwhelmed and angered by there being so much to talk about at once, and trying to write too many posts about it. One of my reactions is noticing the reactions of others on the right, and those reactions of others are what I was talking about in this post when I wrote about Obama’s speed. I think the context of my remarks should have been fairly clear.
I have noticed—and commented on before—what I think might be happening with you and these misunderstandings. I think you expect (or at least would like) for people to spell out everything they are thinking each time they write. Also you seem to take parts of things they say without looking at the whole. I think this might have something to do with your quickness of mind and your quickness of reading and reaction, plus you yourself like to try to be very very thorough and say everything you need to say every time and so expect others should do the same.
That is not possible. I’ve quoted that Karl Popper quote many times to the effect that it’s not possible to speak so to not be misunderstood by someone. I cannot possibly state everything that would make you or anyone else understand my complete thought every time. I would never do anything but write if I tried to do that, and even then my efforts would fail.
“although alliance with Iran is certainly possible”
As bad as Obama has been, is, and will yet be; I have to admit I never saw THAT coming.
Compromising with them, yes, but, cooperating with them? Never saw it coming (and it hasn’t . . yet)
But, I’ve already read the news media’s “selling points” which basically state that well, yea, Roosevelt had to work with Stalin because Hitler was worse.
Lord, the only thing I could think of was will they never stop at trying to convincing themselves (I’m sure they cannot possibly be thinking that they are convincing us. Do they really think we are THAT stupid?) how great Obama is. First it was Kennedy, now it is Roosevelt that they are comparing him to. The only comparison left is to call Obama the second coming. (or was that Chris Matthews’ tingling sensation?)
May God help all those caught up in this mess.
Letting young people to vote was a really bad and costly idea.
Charles:
There have been many people writing that Obama has some sympathy with Iran, and that Valerie Jarrett especially does.
True? Untrue? Evaluate for yourself. At any rate, the thought that Obama might not be averse to allying with Iran here is not such an odd one.
When it comes to working with Iran our dear leader will lead from behind. I think he sees no down side to a shia zone in Iraq controlled by Tehran. And Iran acquiring nuclear warheads is fine by BHO as it equalizes the might of the oppressive colonial powers that live rent free in his mind.
Slightly O/T: Neo, your posts on all of these recent events have been superb! I’m still catching up on reading all of the linked articles/posts…it’s a lot to take in.
Who is in charge of the clattering train?
The axles creak, and the couplings strain.
Ten minutes behind at the Junction. Yes!
And we’re twenty now to the bad–no less!
We must make it up on our flight to town.
Clatter and crash! That’s the last train down,
Flashing by with a steamy trail.
Pile on the fuel! We must not fail.
At every mile we a minute must gain!
Who is in charge of the clattering train?
Maybe direct Iran intervention won’t be necessary — looks like Syria is going after ISIS:
Over the weekend, the Syrian Air Force staged its first major attacks on ISIS strongholds in the provinces of Raqqa and Hasakeh. These strongholds were the launching pad for the group’s recent gains in Iraq.
They certainly never envisioned allowing people who are dependent on government assistance to vote.
rickl:
Because they knew what would happen if they did, not because they were big old meanies.
So in a sense they did “envision” it.
“the thought that Obama might not be averse to allying with Iran here is not such an odd one.”
Hard to disagree. All of North America, now THAT would make a caliphate.
True, neo.
At some point – very soon now, if it has not happened already (and I have seen comments and posts on relatively sober and non-tinfoil-hat-waring blogs such as this one that indicate that it has) the sober, hardworking and patriotic citizens – even those who vote Dem out of habit and family tradition — will conclude that Obama is inimical to our interests, our well-being, and possibly even our survival as a representative democracy. They are – or will soon – come to the conclusion that he is actually hostile to us, doesn’t give a damn for our businesses, our communities, our traditions, or the lives of those in the military. He, in fact, hates our guts with a resentful passion.
What happens when he begins to feel the sting of our contempt and rejection … well, that will be what the history books call interesting. And it will likely happen in the next six months or so.
Buckle in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
One thing that always seemed to rankle the left to the point of outrage (if they’re sincerely capable of it) is questioning their patriotism.
We should do more of that, and openly.
I think I’ve said before, one thing that paralyzes our side is adherence to the rule of law.
This president is clearly lawless; the time for debate is over. Time for some action, whether it’s “lawless” or not.
A nation of Batmen (and Batwomen).
I worry that a coup d’etat maybe the only alternative to this regime.
Anyone got any thoughts on the next scandal? I say it will be the gitmo 5 leaving for Afghanistan later this month, eleven months ahead of schedule. Any bets anyone?
Per Iran, if Obama does anything truly outrageous, it will only hasten his fall and further implicate his supporters in the Democratic party.
IMO, I think he’s laying the groundwork for stymieing the next administration under the very reasonable proposition that it may be Republican:
Scenario: The next president wants to get tough with Iran, but “reasonable” Democrats point out that Iran is “cooperating” in negotiations…and after all, “didn’t they help us in Iraq?”
This would make aggressive action against them more politically difficult.
Crisis overload.
Neo,
Yes, I believe that Obama does have a LOT of sympathy for Iran and their anti-American thinking. But, I really didn’t think it would go so far as to work WITH the Iranians on anything as touchy as military/diplomatic action which most likely will include sharing intelligence.
Such action on our part would be giving them an insight into how our military gathers intelligence, what we are capable of, etc. Not a good thing to give away for what little we would get in return. Not to mention it would bolster Iran’s power/prestige in that area of the world. I do hope Israel is ready, willing, and able to take out Iran when (not if) needed.
I really didn’t think that even Democrats in congress or even the left-wing anti-American news media would be so bold as to start defending it before Obama has even done so.
And, honestly, aside from your site here, and a few other places on the web I just don’t have the stomach for hearing about the news coming out of Iraq.
It is just so sad to see that country fall into chaos; especially after all that we and the Iraqis, themselves, have put into trying to make a go of it. Twenty-odd years of Saddam terror, a brief glimmer of hope, and now a soon to be Islamic-fascism terror taking over their daily lives.
The look of sadness, terror, or whatever you want to call it that shows on the faces of most of the refugees is just heartbreaking.
How can any leader, even a narcissistic one such as Obama, go play golf when the world cries out for attention?
There’s still the mystery of why State removed Ambas. Stevens security detail before 9/11.
It’s like they wanted something to happen there, had a prior agreement, and when shots were fired, people got killed and angry.
Am I out of my mind? I have been trying to take the long view and it is very scary.
So many things point to Obama not being able to run again for president but not leaving when his term is over. Will he just change the title of his office and stay on at the modern Caesar?
Is there a grand plan? I think I am not alone in thinking so. After all, if Obama can be said to have done one thing better than anyone, it has been to dramatically increase the number of people who have purchased firearms. Obama is the champion firearm seller of all time. Of course, he wants to disarm the opposition.
Obama continues to raise huge amounts of campaign funds that, I believe, are not being shared with other Democrats. To what end?
The number of people “on the dole” has been growing to unsupportable numbers due in large measure to his antibusiness policies. Now, a relatively few workers are carrying many more who are on some sort of public assistance (social security, medicare, medicaid, unemployment compensation, disability, and on and on); people who will give him the public support he needs for whatever he wants to do to enhance his power. Are his actions aimed at more than a desire to bankrupt the country?
The economy is in the tank and GDP is going into negative numbers. He picks this time to adopt EPA regulations that will dramatically increase the cost of energy (and anything that is transported or relies on hydrocarbons, such as food crops and cattle feed, …). This will have a strongly negative impact on purchasing power and employment and may bring on a depression. It will really impact the poor. Will we accept $6.00 or more a gallon for gasoline? Will we see rioting in the streets if we enter a depression? Will his supporters wear pale blue, brown or black shirts? Is he using the funds he is still campaigning for to buy those shirts?
He has demoralized those who serve in our armed forces; replacing fighting men and women with followers who assert that the real aim of the military is to promote diversity. Will the military soon fall into the same progressive mindset as have the persons employed at the IRS, the EPA, and most all of the other federal agencies? Is Obama moving to defang the military so that it will remain neutral if and when bad things begin to happen?
The main stream media are strangely quiescent; except that they have been going after Hillary this last week as if she were a Republican. Do they want Obama to remain in office and will they act in concert with him if he announces his intention to remain in office and do away with those silly elections?
Obama’s foreign policy is incomprehensible. I remember Joe Biden saying that it would be different and that we should give Obama the time to work his magic. Amazingly, the country’s strength, reliability, alliances with long time allies, credibility, and support for democracies around the world have disappeared. Joe was right. That’s magic.
It’s hard to follow the news as every day another unexplainable lack of logical response, sign of coldness in the face of human tragedy (I think he went to bed while our ambassador was burning to death), weakness (“leading from the rear” is classic, and he has the nerve to speak to the cadets at West Point who are taught to lead from the front), favoring of despots and power grabbers over those who believe in freedom, and so on and on and on and so on.
NASA’s role has been converted from space research to something to do with communicating with moslems. No comment on this silliness.
Obama has never governed. Rather, he rules and demands that the opposition agree to his positions in the name of “compromise”. Rulers don’t readily relinquish power.
At this point I woke from (what I hope is) this nightmare in a sweat.
Yep, everything that’s gone wrong is actually a carefully designed plot by a man who hasn’t worked a 2 hour his entire life. Instead of just releasing the Gitmo prisoners with an order, he made a public relations nightmare for himself and cinched his party’s getting kicked out in the next election. As if the rest of the policy gaffs, scandals and bad policies weren’t enough to get his own party on the fast track to losing control in 2016, he needs to consolidate his hold on the stupidity and make sure they lose the presidency too.
I say keep up the brilliance; the only people less competent than Obama are the republican leadership who would not stand a chance at winning in 2016, if it weren’t for Obama’s sheer genius with the economy, foreign policy, health care, veterans affairs, etc. all those speeches he gave defiantly announcing success in areas that are abject failures, petulant pissed off speeches denying his failure only to be played back, over and over, making him look like a total ass- all those public humiliations which could not have been avoided or the jig would be up. No, instead of not responding, or just by cackling hideously to himself :”everything is as I have foreseen it”. ( Darth Sideous, famous Sith Lord), the Dark Lord has kept everyone blind to his idealistic incompetence and his massively overrated intellect.
Just like Jimmy Carter, was plotting secretly to ruin the country with double digit inflation, double digit interest rates, double digit unemployment, mind numbingly stupid energy policy focused on renewables and an insistence we had run out of oil, apologetic foreign policy, turning on Israel, embracing the Middle East, etc, he had no idea his efforts would win him the award of worst president of the century ..
BO is cut from the same cloth, just as incompetent and just as overrated in the intellect department, except 1000x lazier and in over his head. And when he’s gone, he will be remembered as the one who replaced Carter as the biggest loser president.
If Obama was white, the media would have run him up a flag pole already. It isn’t about a leftist plot- they’ve become prisoners of their own political correctness. They are afraid to criticize him because he’s black.
We’re buried in debt, and his dark plan to overload the system is about 29 years too late. It was circling the drain way before he arrived on the scene with a magic wand and a bag of goodies for everyone, and like all debts, they will come due and end the handouts. All the dependent class who are expecting their goodies will wake up one day with IOUs and and empty cupboards. Unlike most of the believers in Obama’s overload plan, I tend to think that the end game the inventors of it call the solution- an all powerful government to step in and fix it is the dumbest thing of all. On its face, it’s a ludicrous proposition- this is the same bunch of clowns who got it to that pint, I have no fear they will know how to fix it and enslave us. Just the opposite, I think they will be tarred and feathered and exposed for the criminals they are.
“…with Obama it is impossible to say with any certainty that he will defend anything.”
No. Barack Obama has told us repeatedly what he will defend. And has demonstrated on numerous occasions that in this instance his words aren’t empty.
“I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.”
Al Azhar University, Cairo, 2009
“The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.”
The UN, New York, 2012
When it comes to defending Islam, and only then, you can take Obama’s word to the bank.
And yet as a blogger, that’s what I do. Just in the last few days I’ve written drafts or short notes for about 50 new posts that I haven’t even gotten around to finishing and publishing
Obama has figured out how to kill off all the dedicated conservative bloggers. He’s going to overload you all with bad news until your neural circuits blow!
southpaw:
I’ve had the same argument with you before, so I’m going to make this relatively short.
Obama makes mistakes. Not everything he plans turns out as planned, and not everything that happens (even not all bad things, and certainly not all good things) are what he planned or go the way he planned.
But it is clear by now that a great deal of what we consider bad is something he and the left did plan and/or want or hope to happen as a result of their actions. It is far far easier—and doesn’t necessarily take a ton of intelligence, although I think Obama is in fact intelligent—to wreck things than to build them. It’s really not that difficult at all, if that’s your goal. I think you understand neither the left nor Obama.
Yes, a socialist state runs out of money (“other people’s money” said Thatcher) eventually. But a leftist state can still continue if people have become dependent on it, and the people in power can continue to be in power, which is what they want.
You are wrong, wrong, wrong to think Obama and Carter are cut from the same cloth. Carter is a basic liberal (although he is a tool of the left and the Palestinians) who actually loves this country.
Yes, a socialist state runs out of money (“other people’s money” said Thatcher) eventually.
So south, you run out of money in North Korea yet?
possie commitatus forbids the use of US troops on american soil
If Teh Won decides to flagrantly violate posse comitatus, who’s going to stop him? The carefully selected generals that now occupy the Pentagon? The Establicans?
The TEA PARTY?
The Tea Party and what army?
Exactly my point.
allowing the embassy staff to be seized would be a PR disaster
Not if he heroically frees them. He’s IS arrogant enough to try.
What happens when he begins to feel the sting of our contempt and rejection … well, that will be what the history books call interesting. And it will likely happen in the next six months or so.
A shift in the electorate (and in election results) will not help us now. It’s too little, too late. The Establicans are so corrupt that they can’t endure the very existence of honest men (Cruz, Lee, Palin): like the Pharisees who saw Jesus heal a man’s withered hand IN the synagogue ON the Sabbath, they reacted to the miracle by plotting to destroy him, not by engaging in introspection.
I worry that a coup d’etat maybe the only alternative to this regime.
Any armed uprising by the populace is more likely to end as the French Revolution did than the American. With the latter, all we did is sever ties with a distant master; with the former, the institutions were corrupt, the demos was corrupt, the radicals were in charge, and the need to “purge” the enemies of the Republic led directly to Madame la Guillotine.
Me, I’m hoping for total economic collapse when the dollar finally fails OR an EMP (solar or terrorist) that destroys our electronic connectivity.
Either would have the same result as the confounding of languages at the Tower of Babel: the futile (and perhaps corrupt) project was derailed, and people went off in smaller groups such that they made less trouble.
Anything that destroys Washington’s ability to mess with us is jake with me.
Perhaps they just thought that if things were that far gone and yet the political will to impeach a president so destructive still could not be mustered, then the situation couldn’t be helped by any design they could have given us.
I’m afraid that this is it. I think Ben Franklin, e.g., would be saddened but not surprised. “A republic, ma’am — if you can keep it.”
Good point on the border. Don’t the governors have command authority over their National Guard contingents?
I am beginning to identify with people in Europe in the 30s, and in various parts of the world throughout history. Those who can see the direction in which events are trending have a great feeling of isolation and helplessness. Isolating such people, even though their numbers may actually be large, is the first task for the emerging Despot.
I do believe that our government is fast moving toward Despotism. Obama leads the charge, but he is aided and abetted by so many allies; some intentionally and some not. I think many of them are useful idiots.
I heard the normally wise Brit Hume this evening opining that we need to process and accept the children, their mothers, and the pregnant women who are flooding our borders. He also observed that he thought Obama was intelligent, but not wise. Really.
I fall back once more on the words of the great American Philosopher, Forrest Gump: “Stupid is as stupid does.” Do not speak to me of his intelligence, when his actions are anything but. Obama plans to live in post-Obama America. He is reportedly building a home in Hawaii, and shopping for homes in Palm Springs and North Carolina (of all places). He obviously does not understand the unintended consequences for his family that will flow from his actions today. He seems to naively believe that life in a diminished, bi-lingual, America will be as sweet as the life he has enjoyed; that re-distribution of wealth will not reach to him and his cronies. That transformational forces once set in motion are subject to control.
Beverly:
They don’t have jurisdiction over the US border with Mexico. It is the US border there, not the Texas or Arizona border. That’s the catch.
But they should do it anyway, let it be challenged, and see what happens. There’s really no other way. It’s the feds who have control of the holding centers, the border guards, the deportation process, etc., at the moment. And the recent Supreme Court case made it clear that at least in the circumstances of the case, which involved Arizona’s attempt to enforce the law when the US would not, the Court would uphold the US’s right to do nothing over a state’s right to do something and enforce the law. It is a disgraceful situation.
The Vichy Republicans are STILL attacking the staunch patriots/conservatives.
So there’s that.
IOW, it’s just us, folks. They really ARE the Washington Generals in the Harlem Globetrotters’ game.
If you all Really want to know how deep and dirty the waters are, brace yourselves, and read this —
http://preview.tinyurl.com/p9pd7r8
It’s down to intentional evil or unintentional evil, but it was always like that.
Steve Goodman:
Welcome. Stay with us, come on back! Your voice is needed.
Neo, Obama is more Wiley Coyote than Darth Sideous. I do not doubt the the will or the malice of the Left. I have read Horowitz and listened to him speak. I realize the horror that was Stalin and the movement that engulfed a once great country is nothing to take lightly.
I just don’t accept Obama is in the same league as those people. I believe he would like to be, and might even believe he is. But he’s an accident. A creation of the media and frivolous, apathetic, largely uninformed culture to whom a large percent he seems sophisticated and worldly, but to many is a novice and an amateur.
His narcissism, and especially his laziness separate him from truly committed ideologues. He will retire to the talk circuit playing golf and appearing on The View, and Comedy Central. No self respecting revolutionary would settle for a few EPA regulations, or just an executive order here and there, that could be undone in the next presidency. If nothing else, he’s paved the way to undo all his own orders.
This is a man who is openly and visibly irritated when he’s questioned over petty missteps- a man with big plans who is focused on transforming a country, in fact the world, since rolling the USA over into a third world state will change the world, is not going to bother with, nor is he detracted with Rose Garden speeches to gain political favor with either his enemies or his friends. He’s going to make the most of his reign of terror and do so with a vengeance. We’re witnessing an amateur and a buffoon on the world stage and calling it genius because we as a people cannot accept anyone is this bad, even when his resume predicts exactly this kind of stupidity. And it is completely consistent with his arrogance and lack of preparation . He thinks he can talk his way out of anything.
If he was really good , he wouldn’t be piddling around, and you and I and the rest of your blog would not be openly insulting this fool without worrying we’d be jailed.
I’m not discounting his contempt ,for this country, nor his ability to lie, nor his sociopathic tendencies. Just his ability to execute them in any lasting way.
He’s not as good as you think, Harvard degree or not. He’s a bungling idiot, who “weighs options carefully” because he’s got no idea what to do nor had he thought about any of it beforehand. The fact that he will look at a situation that arises from his inaction, incompetence, and previous mistakes, and react in a way that does not benefit the USA is far, far different from a man who knew exactly what he wanted, and how to manipulate people, economies, and events beforehand to achieve them. In short, he didn’t plan the majority of his f?$kups, he just acted as if they were like a preening teenager who nonchalantly pretends it never happened when he trips over his own feet.
Richard Fernandez had it right – this is the accumulation of errors, inexperience and arrogance who’s detrimental effects will increase exponentially. MAYBE he has achieved the same end, but I dispute ruin was his goal – I still contend he truly believes like a child the nonsense the Left profess will make a society prosper is in fact TRUE, and that is why he’s pursued these things. Unlike Stalin and Lenin who knew full well they would not, and didn’t care, Obama’s a believer that capitalism is inferior, without knowing anything about either. He’s a pathetic product of a hippie upbringing, exercising the sophomoric economic and foreign policy attitudes of that generation.
I may be wrong, wrong, wrong, about the left, but I know a phony when I see one. He’s been winging it since he was elected, which might even be more dangerous.
Steve Goodman:
Obama addressed the West Point cadets in order to serve notice of what their role would be from now on in the military as he envisions it.
Also, see this.
“That transformational forces once set in motion are subject to control.”
Although Marie Antoinette did not actually say “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche.”, it does fit with the willful ignorance of the reign of Louis XVI. Same goes with for the messiah; he truly does not understand the beating heart of what makes America America.
“Not if he heroically frees them. He’s IS arrogant enough to try.”
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has the messiah’s (and VJ’s) number. He will laugh as billions watch the beheadings on youtube. In fact all our enemies and former allies have this punk’s number.
southpaw:
He is more in the league of Hugo Chavez than Stalin. But I actually think that given the right circumstances (access to much greater power, the passage of more time, what he sees as necessity and threat) Obama could morph into something closer to Stalin.
But the choice is not between Stalin and a bumbling fool. Obama is something in between, but he’s certainly not such a bumbling fool that he can’t be very very successful at what he’s doing. His competence “’tis enough, ’twill serve,” as Shakespeare would say.
I don’t dispute his laziness, etc.. But you miss the point, I believe. Great industry is not necessary for what he’s doing. He’s intelligent enough to be very good at what he’s doing, which is to con America and use the press to help him along.
I find it surprising that anyone who reads this blog would think I ever called him a genius. Not only have I not done so, but I have explicitly argued that he is not. Perhaps you missed this post and the very lengthy discussion in the comments section of that very question. I think you would find it interesting to review it; it’s from a year ago.
People seem to think it’s harder to blow stuff up than it is to build it in the first place.
The opposite is true.
China’s carrier is in for repairs and a refit. China is building more logistics ships to project more power. The Asian disputes over the South China Sea is causing regional territorial, military, and economic conflicts.
As the US grows weaker, people tend to ignore the Pax Americana, go to an arms race, and then nukes start flying in WWIII. Whether that’s good for US Civil War II or not, is hard to decide at this point.
In order to reach a desired goal one first adopts a strategy and then implements tactical means of accomplishing that goal. Often, the tactics appear to be contrary to what is necessary to achieve the goal but, on reflection, they serve the purpose of distracting the opposition or requiring the opposition to expend time, money and energy chasing the unimportant while losing focus on the real nature of the contest.
It is easy to conclude that Obama is just not that smart. After all, he is leaving a trail of destruction in his wake that defies rational explanation. I used to call him the Dope as he was deliberately ceding the power of his office (he was then the most powerful leader of the world) and still expecting that his “wisdom” would cause the leaders of the the nations of the world to flock to his doorstep for advice. And, among other dopey things, it is really hard to conclude that “leading from behind” is wise or effective.
Also, I remember when Obama (during his first term) would state that minor disasters were just distractions. No one asked the next question, “From what?”.
Is he (or the red queen) capable of reaching for such a lofty goal? Who knows? What I am asking is whether we can just afford to assume that he is just stupid because he continues to do stupid things or should we look (and prepare) for something deeper and much more sinister even if we finally learn that “stupid is as stupid does”. How could or would we prepare?
Whoa, I think it is time to learn Ymarsakar’s one weird trick of separating the head from the spinal column. He has been right along about the evil among us.
I wish I knew it because we are going to need it.
There is an insane, psychopath in the white house and he is attacking us with illegals and with crazy Islam.
Although, a burka would suit Michelle… it is time for a second American Revolution. “If Washington were living today, with sword in hand, he’d stand up and say for your country and my country, I’d do it all over again.”
Thomas Jefferson considered a time such as now when he mused that the tree of liberty must occasionally be watered with the blood of patriots.
It is difficult to analyze the Leftist alliance’s actions, except along the general assumption of evil, because they are an alliance of a thousand factions all with often mutually incompatible dogmas and ideologies. So while you might have a Hussein that combines Christianity (chickens coming home to roost in God Damn America) + Islam, you might have a Valerie Jarret that is just Chicago thug Nation of Islam operative pulling the strings. Then there’s Kerry and Reid. Then there’s Clintons. Then there’s feminists calling Ted Kennedy a Lion of a Man and that the drowned woman should be proud she helped launch this Lion of a Man’s political career for feminism.
At a certain point, there’s too many gears to track what all of them are doing, but it’s easy to see the general scope of where the trend is going.
They do not operate as a top down hierarchy or dictatorship, yet have the strengths of a dictatorship. Meaning, most of the Left’s actions aren’t planned and plotted from the desk of one Hussein. Without Hussein, all this would be going on… you just would never hear about it. Hussein’s talent, so to speak, is that he pulls off the curtain and you see what’s going on behind the scenes, and it ain’t pretty.
Welcome. Stay with us, come on back! Your voice is needed.
Unfortunately, yours is incompetent.
neo-neocon Says:
June 17th, 2014 at 12:00 am
Beverly:
They don’t have jurisdiction over the US border with Mexico. It is the US border there, not the Texas or Arizona border. That’s the catch.
But they should do it anyway, let it be challenged, and see what happens. There’s really no other way. It’s the feds who have control of the holding centers, the border guards, the deportation process, etc., at the moment. And the recent Supreme Court case made it clear that at least in the circumstances of the case, which involved Arizona’s attempt to enforce the law when the US would not, the Court would uphold the US’s right to do nothing over a state’s right to do something and enforce the law. It is a disgraceful situation.”
When you have people in state government who talk as if we are facing the end of the rule of law and an in principle existential threat (at least to our lives as we have lived them in relative liberty), but are unwilling to face off with the Federal government and to possibly merely risk confrontation and arrest by Federal marshals, then how seriously can you take them?
The Governor calls up the National Guard, and the “militia”.
The Federal courts issue an injunction. The Governor tells the Feds to eff off. The President send in marshals. The Governor refuses to submit to arrest.
Troops are called in. The game is in play for real.
Would not that simple, and among former Americans even expected scenario, make more sense than all this talk about watering the tree of liberty?
It doesn’t happen politically because those in office are not serious men and women when it comes to preserving constitutional government and our liberties, and because half of our own goddamned relatives are on the other side and you – we – cannot convince them that it is better to live as a free man with a conscience than a social insect.
Thanks, Ymar. I respect you too.
Back on topic: A bull in a china shop is just a bull, just hamburger on the hoof, but doing great damage all the same. We really do not need to engage in a pointless discussion of whether or not Baraq the bull is bright or not.
Pingback:The plan | Fausta's Blog
DC, did you ever figure out how your Good Doctor of whatever title denied you access to Chinese medicine over here?
http://neoneocon.com/2014/06/06/dont-overdo-the-running/#comment-787890
When I read “Taiji Chuan, and Ancient Chinese chi gong”, I hear “Ching, ching.”
So Doctor Ching, are you pulling an Art there or did your medical ness mean you’re right no matter what you know or don’t know?
Now is that competence or incompetence, talking about things you have no academic knowledge of?
DNW,
As I have written before, few want to get out in front on this. No one wants to be sung of like any of these people unless they have to:
“God bless gallant Pearse and his comrades who died,
Tom Clark, MacDonagh, MacDiarmada, MacBride,
And here’s to James Connolly who gave one hurrah,
And faced the machine guns for Erin Go Bragh.”
Kerry’s sending in some SpecOps that he hates, so that they will be the last ones to die for a lost war in Iraq.
Obama is pushing Americans/conservatives as hard as he can. He wants an armed revolt so he can fight the enemy he truly hates.
It’s quite a dilemma. Sit here and take it or give him his revolt?
We keep saying “the next election will take care of everything”. We may be past that at this point.
Police unions have currently trained up a large number of SWAT kill squads. They indoctrinated them with the philosophy that ‘you are either a blue LEO, or you are a criminal’ mentality. Look at the tshirts they buy and wear. If you point a gun at a LEO, you are now a threat and a crim, not a human.
They give these units loyalty missions, to kill deer for the EPA and what not. The ones that refuse or get ideological shakes, are transfered out and replaced with more zealous individuals.
The ones that were normal, are corrupted by having to take up arms against their fellow citizens, generating enough fear that they would throw their swords to the union for protection, rather than be dismembered or shot by the mob or by crims.
This includes Florida and Georgia, even though they have some of the best gun laws in the country.
This is the Left’s “COIN” strategy they learned in Iraq, except they won’t be using it to kill Islamic jihadists. The Left has near ultimate control of cities like Chicago and New Orleans. But less control over the rest of the country, like Reid’s ranching Nevadians.
The push-back can and will take place in the political arena if we can only get elected to office those who actually would face jail as a matter of principle.
Hell, liberals think that a stint in jail is a badge of honor. (Maybe however it nowadays costs them less in terms of life prospects. In as much as liberals seem always able to find a tax-funded perch in some public institution their compatriots have infested and taken over)
Mark, I hate to point this out, and it is no criticism of you, but the son of a bitch was elected. Twice. By your “fellow citizens” and mine. By perhaps, even our own family members.
Do we really know why?
Now I must admit, that in the case of my parents and siblings, and even my one time Democrat mother, we stand as one. Oddly enough all their grandchildren, now in upper grades and college do as well.
But when I get to extended family, my siblings’ in-laws and the like, much less neighbors, I have no confidence that they even know what the problem with government overreach is. And of those who do many would proclaim it to be properly labeled a “feature” not a “bug”.
Now, if we cannot as yet convert those within arms’ reach, nor even understand where they are psychologically, and where that puts us in relation to them should social push come to civil shove, we better stop and take careful stock before tackling a problem we may not grasp the full extent of.
What I am pointing out is that collectivists are the moral enemy; not government; and that the greater part of that moral enemy lives right in our own neighborhoods or among our families.
This is a slow-motion social war, not just a political problem. “Friends”, who would just as soon be dead as troubled by responsibility for their own lives, and who fundamentally care nothing for “politics” and “all that stuff” about constitutional rules and limits, have put us in a social place where we are now confronting those in government who recognize none.
This is not Iraq and we are not Iraqis. They have learned nothing that applies here. There will be no insurgency for them to counter.
We wait until November when the GOP has a majority in the Senate. The House calls Holder. “Mr. Holder, why haven’t you enforced the laws against illegal immigration?” “Blah, blah, blah, bullsh*t, bullsh*t, bullsh*t.” Sorry, Mr. Attorney General, that’s not acceptable. Here are the Articles of Impeachment. I suggest you prepare for trial.” House prosecutes, Senate convicts. Does that scare Obama enough?
Americans are more similar to Iraqis than they want to realize. New Orleans awol and rape squad deserting NOPD, for example.
Richard asks @ 3:56 pm “Does that scare Obama enough?”
I think not. How many divisions do the House and Senate have? The same # as SCOTUS. None, zip, nada. The only thing that will scare Obama is the muzzle of a gun that has gotten past the Secret Service. He will declare a state of emergency before the Senate convicts, “In the face of an imminent armed civil uprising,” and shut us all down. You don’t have to be a bloodhound to smell out his trail.
We need to stop projecting our morality upon him. These people are immoral, just like Ceaucescu.
I agree that we need to stop projecting our moral principles and sensibilities on to him. His ideology is different to the point of being antithetical to a regime of liberty, his cultural background significantly alien, his national allegiance marginal, and his family history morally broken and culturally estranged.
However the House and Senate do not need divisions. Two branches of government against one. No President can command the obedience and loyalty of an effective dictator. He doesn’t have the spoils at his command nor the personal allegiance of enough people to rule the unwilling.
I suppose he could sabotage our system and security to the best of his power, (and none of his cronies would be likely to stop him) and then flee the country, but the scenario you extrapolate in your frustration with Executive lawlessness to this point, would it seems to me, be literally impossible.
Not only do we have three branches of government but we have the remains of a Federal system.
Saunders, I think, has it about right, and I may have judged the Republicans a bit too harshly. They may be biding their time for the immanent legislative moment, rather than cowering in fear for their feathered nests.
These people are immoral
Amoral, not immoral.
Hi Neo-Neocon,
Coming to this a day late, but whatever.
I think the reaction we Conservatives, and millions of Independents, are experiencing is what I learned in self defense courses called “brain lock.”
Most people, when physically attacked, cannot process it properly. The brain cannot deal with it rationally; it goes straight to the [primitive] hippocamus which then orders us to either FIGHT! or RUN!
When neither option is available, the brain locks up, we freeze. In physical attacks this gets people wounded or killed. This is particularly likely to happen when confronted with multiple threats occurring simultaneously from different directions (a threat swarm). Criminals understand this and take advantage of it.
Obama is deliberately confronting us with a threat swarm and, at the same time, has cut off the usual means of defense: Congress, the rule of law, and the like. And we have nowhere to run either; it’s not like we can leave the country.
This is straight up Alinsky:
RULE 8: “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)
Obama does indeed mean to destroy us.