Friday Afternoon Roundup - An Afternoon of Golf and Treason
Off on another vacation, after a round of golf after skipping the Polish President's funeral, Obama showed his commitment to saying things while doing nothing, by condemning Arizona's immigration bill, as unhelpful. Which considering his party's plans for mass legalization of illegal aliens, it no doubt is.
While Obama is hunting for another Republican Senator besides Lindsey Graham to back ObaMigration (TM), the usual folks are condemning the bill. Their key criticism seems to be that it will result in racial profiling. The logical outcome of this argument however would be to ban virtually all preventative or suspicion based police work, as studies show that everything from stop and frisk to highway stops usually involve a higher percentage of minorities. And in fact civil rights groups have used this exact argument against them.
The logical solution however is not to ban preventative policing, but to fight racism and bigotry among law enforcement personnel. That goes for enforcing all the laws, including Arizona's immigration bill. Because if preventative policework is illegal, then the only function of law enforcement becomes to investigate crimes after they are reported. Some libertarians might indeed embrace such a scenario, but very few liberals would, as it would also mean ending inspections of factories and products.
Legal Mexican-Americans and immigrations are among the biggest victims of illegal immigration moving through the Southern border, particularly in the border towns, where crime and drug violence have spiked, and the social services funding isn't there. Democrats champion legalization, not out of benevolence, but because they want a population with little means of social advancement, who will be dependent on government largess. This cynical policy is the same reason that Europe has been flooded with Muslim immigration by left wing parties.
While Obama would very much like to push through ObaMigration, as it would shove millions of new Democratic voters onto the voting rolls, and wipe out states like Arizona, which are already struggling with the economic toll from illegal immigration through Mexico. (Through mind you, more than from.) The economic realities of such a bill however would be far more explosive than ObamaCare-- and if the Obama Administration really wants to see the Tea Party movement take hold nationally, that would be the way to go.
But meanwhile Obama himself and a number of Illinois political figures, including Dick Durbin, are being subpoenaed by Blagojevich's lawyers, who are determined to make this as much of a political spectacle as possible. Of course the probability of this going anywhere is very low, but the public should be reminded of the fact that this was all one gang, and that this is the Culture of Corruption that Barack Hussein Obama's political career sprang from, like a weed from the moist dirt.
Because there's always lies on top of lies and corruption on top of corruption. Peeling back one layer of the rotten onion, just leaves that many more underneath.
Case in point...
A top Senate Republican on Thursday accused the Obama administration of misleading taxpayers about General Motors’ loan repayment, saying the struggling auto giant was only able to repay its bailout money by dipping into a separate pot of bailout money.
Sen. Chuck Grassley’s charge was backed up by the inspector general for the bailout — also known as the Trouble Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Watchdog Neil Barofsky told Fox News, as well as the Senate Finance Committee, that General Motors used bailout money to pay back the federal government.
“It appears to be nothing more than an elaborate TARP money shuffle,” Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a letter Thursday to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
Don't worry we'll get our money back... it'll just still be our money. That's the way it's always worked, to be fair. But it's still repugnant.
And speaking of repugnant... Senator Schumer meanwhile has stepped forward on JM in the AM to be mildly critical of the Obama Administration's pressure on Israel, while trying to excuse it at the same time.
Like every politician, Schumer tries to highlight his own role as an advocate, which points up the fact that this is more about his campaign than anything else. He's essentially making the argument that voting for him will mean having a strong advocate with influence on the White House. This is of course a load of equine byproducts, as the Obama Administration dislikes Schumer, who took away Princess Caroline's Senate seat, and Schumer dislikes the Obama Administration which kneecapped Hillary. Obama can't entirely ignore Schumer, but he won't be paying too much attention to him.
That said Schumer demonstrates that he does know what's going on. He tries to minimize the problem as growing pains with a new Administration that hasn't realized that the Palestinian Arab Muslim side has no interest in honestly negotiating. In doing so he misrepresents history, Clinton himself admitted at the time that he only realized at the very end of his term, that Arafat had been leading everyone on. But the very fact that Schumer felt pressed to step forward, suggests the situation behind the scenes may be even more ominous.
And unsurprisingly, the Obama Administration responded with a putdown of Schumer...
The Obama administration pushed back on Friday against critical comments made by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) accusing the president of having a "counterproductive" policy on Israel.
Asked by the Huffington Post about the remarks during the morning's gaggle, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs replied: "I don't think it is a stretch to say we don't agree with what Senator Schumer said."
Boker Tov Boulder has the latest poll of Jews, which shows marked disapproval of the Obama Administration.
American voters disapprove by 44 to 35% of the way the President is handling the situation between Israel and the Palestinians.
Jewish voters disapprove 67 to 28%.
I suspect the Q poll was done with more depth, insofar as covering a broader section of the Jewish community.
Also to readers in New York, there will be a rally in support of Israel and/or in protest of the Obama Administration's actions on Sunday.
STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH ISRAEL’S RIGHT TO BUILD AND LIVE IN ITS OWN COUNTRY.
A CLARION CALL FOR A UNITED JEWISH JERUSALEM, AND PROTEST AGAINST THE ADMINISTRATION’S SCAPEGOATING OF ISRAEL. DATE:
A Rally in Solidarity with Israel, Sun, April 25, 2010
TIME: 1 PM LOCATION: Israel Consulate, 2nd Ave between 42nd and 43rd St,
Turning to the Republican side, some people are impressed by a statement put out by Rand Paul that seems to be Pro-Israel. But the first thing to remember is that Ron Paul's people briefly tried to sell him as Pro-Israel too in many of the same terms... namely that Ron Paul would leave Israel alone.
Walter Block of the Mises Institute authored an open letter to Jews arguing that foreign aid was bad for Israel and that under Ron Paul, the US would no longer try to control Israel's foreign policy. And promoted Jews for Ron Paul, an organization that turned out to be a fraud. More curiously, Block claimed that Ron Paul might actually triple foreign aid to Israel's enemies, which would destroy them.
But the first problem with the Pauls is not Israel. It's America. The problem is that they support Islamic terrorists because they've identified with the entire worldview of the far left and far right, which claims that the US government is run by a vast conspiracy, and that Muslim terrorists are just blowback as a result of our foreign policy. Which is a fancy way of saying that they believe that if they can overthrow the "American Empire", everything with Islam will be hunky dory.
Rand Paul has spoken in those terms before on the Alex Jones show. Like his father, he identifies more with Al Queda and Iran, than with the US.
While some of Ron Paul's Jewish supporters tried to claim that he would leave Israel, because he believes in respecting the sovereignty of other countries, in fact he attacked Israel for going after its kidnapped soldiers, something that was not taking place inside US borders. Essentially Paul was making the same argument then that Obama is making today, that Israel's actions affect the US, which gives him the right to demand that Israel stop defending itself.
He hasn't made that argument for Saddam Hussein, because like much of the far right and far left, free nations take a beating, while Muslim ones get a free pass. So while a libertarian President who ended foreign aid and stopped interfering in Israel's own war on terror might be a godsend, the Pauls are coming at this from a whole other perspective.
But now Rand Paul, the jolly chap who said
"Iran feels threatened because we have troops in Iraq and troops in Afghanistan... we have to understand their perspective, that they feel threatened."
...and favored releasing captured terrorists back on the battlefield is supposedly pro-Israel. And I buy that as much as I buy that he's suddenly in favor of keeping terrorists locked up, when back in 09, it was a different story
Rand Paul “couldn’t agree more” with those who believe Guantanamo has “significantly damaged the reputation of the United States” and who want to “see it shut down.”
So while Rand Paul's statement is very nice, it's also a complete break from everything that's come before it, aside from the paragraph about foreign aid, which is left over from Ron Paul's own campaign for office. And when a politician comes out with a radically new position, I have to believe that his old position is the real thing.
Furthermore as others are pointing out, Rand Paul has endorsed Adam Kokesh, which means getting in bed with Code Pink, a radical left wing org tied to Obama and Hamas of all things.
Bubba has gone into great detail on Adam Kokesh in an open letter. Here are a few brief excerpts, but the entire thing is worth reading
Mr. Kokesh joined the Iraq Veterans Against War (IVAW) in February 2007, at which time he was 25 years old. The IVAW was formed by the Vietnam Veterans Against War (VVAW), the now infamous group formed by John Kerry in 1970, and responsible for the fraudulent maligning of our Vietnam veterans at the Winter Soldier Conference in 1971.
As an active member of the IVAW, Mr. Kokesh was involved in numerous anti-military activities and actions. While executing these actions, Mr. Kokesh knowingly made common cause with a wide array of other well-known, radical anti-America and communist groups. The list of these other groups includes, but is by no means limited to, the following:
SDS
Code Pink
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
United for Justice and Peace
Communist Party of America
Muslim Brotherhood
Black Panthers
In cooperation with the above-named groups and the IVAW, Mr. Kokesh: participated in multiple anti-war demonstrations in Washington DC, and other cities throughout the country; organized and incited violent demonstrations at military recruiting stations; participated in an initiative to encourage active duty soldiers to desert their military post; and, organized and participated in a Winter Soldier Conference 2, an effort designed to malign and undercut the morale of our soldiers who were fighting and dying on the battlefield.
And to top it all off Genuine GOP Mom provides a visual aid of Rand Paul and Adam Kokesh's associations.
This along with Rand Paul's record is disturbing stuff that some Republicans have chosen to shrug off because Sarah Palin is on good terms with Rand Paul and campaigns for him. Well Palin is also on good terms with Lindsey Graham and campaigns for McCain. I'm not going to critique her motives, but it's clear that she doesn't have a purity test when it comes to the politicians she supports.
Continuing the roundup, Debbie Schlussel posts PBS's disturbing look at pedophilia in Muslim Afghanistan
Turkey is trying to use its Turkish Muslim diaspora in Germany to subvert the country.
Obama has cut funds to promote Democracy in Egypt by 50 percent
And disgracefully enough, Michael Steele appeared at Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference. But so did one of Obama's mentors, who claimed that Sharpton is Obama's link to the streets.
Just to remind everyone of who Al Sharpton is. Sharpton led racist attacks on Jews and Asians, including the Crown Heights Pogrom in which there were three fatalities. Sharpton is no different than David Duke.
And while the media rants on about Tea Party violence, Obama's link to the street is a hate group leader.
From NY to Jerusalem, Daniel Greenfield Covers the Stories Behind the News Named one of the Jewish Press' Most Worthwhile Blogs, 2006, 2007 , 2008 and 2009
