Ralph Peters has a most excellent piece today, courtesy of the NY Post:

An ugly pattern’s emerging in our president’s beliefs:

He’s infallible. This is rich, given all the criticism of the Bush administration’s unwillingness to admit mistakes. We now have a president with Jimmy Carter’s naivete, Richard Nixon‘s distaste for laws, Lyndon Johnson’s commitment to the wrong war, and Bill Clinton‘s moral fecklessness.

Democracy isn’t important. Our president seems infected by yesteryear’s Third-World-leftist view that dictatorships are essential to post-colonial development — especially for Muslims.

Look where Obama has gone and who he supports: the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, his groveling speech in Egypt, his embrace of Hamas, his hands-off approach to the gory regime in Sudan — and now his dismay at the protests in Iran.

Strict Islam is true Islam. This is bewildering, given Obama’s childhood exposure to the tolerant Islam practiced in most of Indonesia. The defining remark of his presidency thus far was his Cairo demand for the right of Muslim women to wear Islamic dress in the West — while remaining silent about their right to reject the hijab, burqa or chador in the Middle East.

History’s a blank canvas — except for America’s sins. Of course, we’ve had presidents who presented the past in the colors they preferred — but we’ve never had one who just made it all up.

Testify, Brother.

Today’s Recommend Reading.

Gateway Pundit has a wonderful piece comparing and contrasting the stands of G. W. Bush and B .H. Obama, regarding the struggle for freedom and democracy in the world today:

“All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.”

President George W. Bush
Second Inaugural Speech
January 20, 2005

President Bush’s made this pledge to political dissidents and freedom activists in 2005, “We will stand with you.” And, the oppressed took him at his word. There was an Orange Revolution in Ukraine, a Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan, and a Cedar Revolution in Lebanon that spring. There were democratic elections in Afghanistan where women were not only allowed to vote but took seats in parliament. There were democratic elections for the first time in the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia released political dissidents. There were Arab democracy conferences in Qatar and women were allowed to vote in Kuwait. Egyptian judges stood up against a regime. Another regime in Libya opened up to the West. And who could forget the Iraqis who walked for miles, braving terrorist death threats, to vote in free democratic elections for the very first time.

President Bush later met with democracy activists from Burma on the twenty year anniversary of the bloody 8888 Protests in Burma. And before he left office in December 2008 President Bush met with dissident bloggers on Human Rights Day.

But those days are over. There’s a new administration in town with a new set of rules and a new set of priorities. Persecuted political dissidents and brave democracy activists do not rank high on the list.

Already this year the Obama Administration has waived sanctions on Syria, considered opening travel to Cuba, announced plans to drop sanctions against the murderous junta in Burma, reportedly approved Sharia Law in the tribal regions of Pakistan in exchange for a bogus peace treaty, praised the Venezuelan “democracy,” discussed holding talks with the Iranian regime, and accepted China’s human rights abuses. That’s quite a record and it hasn’t even been 200 days since they took office.

In February seven former Iranian student prisoners wrote a letter to President Obama and urged him to support the democratic movement of the Iranian people. Their letter went unanswered. It should come as no surprise then that as chaos broke out this weekend in Iran over a very controversial election result the Obama Administration fell silent.

Less than 24 hours after the flawed results were announced by the official media the Obama Administration announced that they would engage with the regime.

Whatever else his flaws, G. W. Bush was a vocal supporter of people around the world, of all faiths and races, who wanted to be free.

B. H. Obama, like most on the left, does not believe that Freedom and Democracy should be “imposed”, or, for that matter, that what we think of as American (or even Western) values are superior in any way to the oppression suffered by people in other nations, in the name of Religion or any particular brand of Politics.

Thanks to Kyle Drennen at Newsbusters:

Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over President Obama’s Cairo speech to a whole new level on Friday, declaring on MSNBC: “I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God.”

…”Reagan was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is ‘we are above that now.’ We’re not just parochial, we’re not just chauvinistic, we’re not just provincial.”

Thomas elaborated on Obama as God, patronizingly explaining: “He’s going to bring all different sides together…Obama is trying to sort of tamper everything down. He doesn’t even use the word terror. He uses extremism. He’s all about let us reason together…He’s the teacher. He is going to say, ‘now, children, stop fighting and quarreling with each other.’ And he has a kind of a moral authority that he – he can – he
can do that.”

Now beyond the obvious issue that anyone and everyone should have with a supposed Journalist and editor of a national (purported) News magazine likening a President to God, I have a greater issue with the other things that he said.

Reagan was President of The United States, and he was our greatest advocate and standard bearer.  Whatever else may be said about Reagan, he believed in this nation, and had unending pride in our accomplishments and our potential.  America is, after all, even today, the only nation on earth where literally MILLIONS of people struggle to emigrate to, so they can live in freedom of thought and religion, and (at least for the moment) have economic freedom.

What Thomas is saying is that Obama is ABOVE being America’s advocate.  That he has a higher calling.

And if Obama were President of the United Nations, I would probably not have a huge issue with that.

But it’s not his JOB to be the worlds Messiah, or Teacher on the Playground, as Thomas asserts.  His JOB is to represent the United State, and to look out for our best interests.

If Obama doesn’t, or can’t, put aside his own ambitions or personal feelings about America, he should resign his office.

The United States of America needs a President that has our best interests at heart, first and foremost.  We do NOT need a man dedicated to tearing America down to everyones elses level.  To taking away what makes America a special place.  And yes, a BETTER place that most other nations on this earth.

As an aside, in a recent speech, Obama made the following statement:

“I know there has been controversy about the promotion of democracy in recent years, and much of this controversy is connected to the war in Iraq. So let me be clear: no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other.”

I have a serious problem with this, as should anyone who lives in freedom, enjoys freedom, or yearns for freedom, philosophically.  It is also patently untrue in a historic sense.

Indeed, in the ashes of World War II, which, coincidentally, is a subject today due to the anniversary of the D-Day invasion, America (and in some cases, our Allies) “imposed” representative forms of government on several nations, which remain in power today.

Iraq’s “imposed” Republic is stabilizing by the day.

Indeed, the most immoral thing possible is to ignore our brothers and sisters who even today suffer under repression and oppression.

Obama is a “…sort of God?”  What a horrible, sad thought for free people everywhere, and all those who yearn to be free.

Courtesy of Pravda:

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their “right” to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our “democracy”. Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different “branches and denominations” were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the “winning” side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the “winning” side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America’s short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?

One – Courtesy of Doug Ross:

Red State, American Thinker and Joey Smith provide anecdotal and
quantitative evidence that would appear to confirm a decided bias
against dealers who donated to GOP causes or to anti-Obama Democrats.

Consider the partial list of Chrysler dealership owners, listed below.
You’ll notice that all were opponents of Barack Obama, most through
sponsorship of GOP candidates and organizations, but a handful through
Barack’s Democrat rivals (Hillary Clinton and John Edwards in 2008, for
example).

• Vernon G. Buchanan: $147,450 to GOP candidates and organizations
• Wallace D. Alley and Family: $4,500 to GOP.
• Robert Archer: $4,600 to GOP and conservative causes.
• Homer S. Higginbotham and Family: $2950 to GOP.
• James Auffenberg and Family: $28,000 to GOP; $6,000 to one Democrat candidate.
• Michael Maroone and Family: $60,000 to GOP; $8,500 to two Democrat candidates.
• Jerome Fader: $6,500 to Democrats; $2,500 to Independent Joe Lieberman.
• Stephen Fay and Family: $13,500 to GOP.
• William Numrich: $20,000 to GOP.
• Robert Carver: $10,000 to Democrats including $1,950 to Hillary Clinton, nothing to Barack Obama.

Lot’s more at the link.  More research ongoing.  Anyone have any info on the local dealers, and their political leanings?

Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, a couple of hundred times is Democratic Hack action…

Two – Courtesy of the Washington Post – Obama Set to Create A Cybersecurity Czar With Broad Mandate

President Obama is expected to announce late this week that he will
create a “cyber czar,” a senior White House official who will have
broad authority to develop strategy to protect the nation’s
government-run and private computer networks, according to people who
have been briefed on the plan.

Now, I don’t have a particular problem with having a “point man” for Cyber issues, but I am about feb up with the whole “Czar” thing, and not just because the name is massively and inappropriately misused, but because I am sick to death of Presidents creating these positions out of thin air, with absolutely no congressional oversight or reporting criteria.  These people weild very real authority and influence in the administration, but answer ONLY to the President.  In Obama’s own words:

Obama pledged during his presidential campaign to elevate the issue of
cybersecurity to a “top priority” and to appoint a national
cybersecurity adviser “who will report directly to me.”

Three - Courtesy CNS News:

According to an analysis of climate legislation performed by the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the cap-and-trade system favored
by President Barack Obama and many congressional Democrats could
potentially damage the U.S. manufacturing sector and force jobs to move
overseas.

This is so deep into the “No Duh” category that I am almost shocked (though not amazed) that they actually had to do an official Study on it.  The failure of Leftist politicians in general, and the Democrat party in particular, to understand even the basics of economics and human nature has moved far beyond stereotyping into near parody.

Victor Davis Hanson courtesy of Pajamas Media:

Cracks in the Facade

Fissures in the Obama Totem

Oh, I know that President Obama’s approval ratings are still around
62%. But I also remember that George Bush’s at the end of 2001 got even
higher — and stayed at or above 60% through most of 2002, explaining
why he increased his congressional majority in the midterm elections.

Nevertheless, I think we are beginning — after less than four months
— to see fissures in Obama’s Pentelic statuary. And the cracks will
widen, because in about six areas he has taken on human nature itself,
age-old logic, and common sense-opponents that even a Harvard Law
degree and Chicago organizing are no match for.

Click on the link, and read the whole thing!

Courtesy of Reuters:

Outnumbered U.S. troops defend Afghan frontier

U.S. commanders are rushing thousands of reinforcements to the south of Afghanistan to take on the Taliban in what Washington considers a make-or-break year for a war it now views as its main security priority.

Here in the east of the country, the official line from top commanders is that they now have all the troops they need.

But down on the ground, in the high mountain passes on the east bank of the Kunar river which guerrillas have been using to smuggle fighters and weapons in from Pakistan for decades, the soldiers of 6/4 squadron tell a different story.

The fighting is hard and constant, and they do not have enough men to stop the Taliban infiltrating across the border.

In January, U.S. commanders sent an extra 700 troops to the area south of 6/4 squadron’s territory. The new troops are just “a drop of water” in the sea, said one soldier who asked not to be identified while discussing the shortage of manpower.

and this, from AP:

Obama: Early to mull more troops in Afghanistan

President Barack Obama says he needs to see how fast Afghanistan can be stabilized and led toward a more democratic government before deciding whether more troops are needed.

He did not rule out the possibility of sending even more troops, while
stressing such a decision was premature at this point and that U.S. military action is not the only answer to bringing stability to the region.

“We have to see our military action in the context of a broader
effort to stabilize security in the country, allow national elections
to take place in Afghanistan and then provide the space for the vital
development work that’s needed so that a tolerant and open,
democratically elected government is considered far more legitimate
than a Taliban alternative,” Obama said.

“My
strong view is that we are not going to succeed simply by piling on
more and more troops,” he added. “The military component is critical to
accomplishing that goal, but it is not a sufficient element by itself.”

“The starting point was a recognition that the existing trajectory was
not working, that the Taliban had made advances, that our presence in
Afghanistan was declining in popularity, that the instability along the
border region was destabilizing Pakistan as well,” Obama said.

I submit that stability can only come with the suppression of the Taliban.  I have a hard time understanding why the lessons learned in Iraq are NOT being applied to this front in the continuing war again those who would like nothing more than to tear the world back down to the stone age.

I will agree with Obama that the military force is not the only answer, but it is a critical component to it.  Without sufficient military force to suppress the bad actors – the local taliban that terrorize villages inside Afghanistan; the smugglers bringing in new fighters and war supplies for the agents of oppression; the Al-Qaeda elements whose sole motive is to spread choas and anarchy, to pave the way for the new Caliphate – there can be no political or social improvement.  Indeed, the people will not stand with us, when we do not have the force, and more importantly, the appearant will to win.

Let’s face it, the United States, with the notable exception of Iraq (not for lack of effort on the Democrat’s part) has a recent history of grasping defeat from the jaws of victory.  And even Iraq had to be a “two parter” becuase of a lack of resolve to finish the job the first time (leaving untold thousands of Kurds and Southern Iraq’s to Saddams tender mercies).

Until we repeat our commitment to winning the Peace in Afghanistan, by shutting down the ability of the Taliban to terrorize the population, through the use of overwhelming firepower, we will continue to lose ground, and more lives will be lost, on all sides.

When I was much younger, we had a saying:  “Peace through Superior Firepower”.  Never has this been more true than in this conflict.

Our enemy (not our Opponent – this isn’t a soccer game) knows the terrain, and has a warrior mindset that has deated every “invader” since Alexander the Great.  They will not stop until they are back in control of Afghanistan, and add in Pakistan to boot.

If we don’t get serious about this threat, just like with Obama’s budget, our children will pay for our mistakes.