Did this happen ALREADY????

Moscow Rolls Obama, Euro Missile Defense Apparently Shelved. Remember Biden's forecast? See here:

From the article: "While the headlines all blare "Russia suspends missile plans in Kaliningrad," the real news is "Why?" " Read the whole post for a chronological list of events. If true, then this is very bad. (HT:CG)

Biden apologizes to Roberts

Via MSNBC (HT:HA):

Sources familiar with the conversation say Vice President Joe Biden telephoned Chief Justice John Roberts last week to apologize for a remark he made about the chief's memory.

"My memory is not as good as Chief Justice Roberts's," Biden said last Wednesday, as he prepared to administer the oath of office to new senior White House staffers. The remark did not appear to go over well with President Obama, who did not smile, though some in the room laughed. Biden's remark came the day after the infamous flub that occurred as Roberts led Obama through the oath of office.

Here's the original video of the offhanded remark by Biden:

I'd say we should expect more of this from Biden. MUCH, MUCH more. Then again, Obama did NOT look happy, did he now? Maybe he told Joe to keep the trap shut?

The Pelosi-Reid-Obama Debt Plan

as Heritage put it. Anyway, here's this: [BREAKING] Boehner to House GOP: Vote against the stimulus. (HT:RS) Politico reports:

President Barack Obama is coming to the Capitol this afternoon to curry favor
with congressional Republicans. But it appears GOP leaders have already made up
their minds to oppose his $825 billion stimulus plan.

Finally some sanity on the Hill? I'm not holding my breath just yet.

Calling evil good, and good evil

This last week marked some ominous events in our nation. January 22 marked the 36th anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision by the Supreme Court, an act of judicial fiat that foisted upon us murder on demand of any or all of our unborn children, surely the most vulnerable and innocent of us all. Obama released a press release that, in part, read:

"On the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are reminded that this decision not only protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose."

Never mind that government already intrudes in family matters, forcing most parents to send their children to public indoctrinations centers (a.k.a. public schools), not of the choosing of the parents, that ultimately miserably fail at their supposed basic function (education). Also, try spanking your child these days and see how fast CPS comes to your door. So much for that non-interference platitude.

Then, the very next day, The One signed an executive order forcing taxpayers to pay for abortions overseas. This at a time when our nation is flat broke. Maybe he should watch this short video I posted the other day:

LaShawn Barber had an excellent op-ed on the RvW anniversary that she originally wrote in 2003. It has the basic theme that I want to touch on today:

Last October, the Metropolitan Washington region was paralyzed with fear, wondering when and where a cold-blooded killer would strike next. Mobilized into action, law enforcement agencies on the federal, state and local levels were on the case of the “D.C. sniper” 24-7. With a mass murderer on the loose, the media covered the story round-the-clock. Righteous indignation pumped through the veins of red-blooded Americans. When the murderous pair was caught, the whole country was relieved.

Yet, when it comes to the slaughter of unborn children, the nation tarries. Thirteen people were killed in the sniper attacks; 43 million people–over a million a year–have been killed since Roe v. Wade. On March 13, 2003, a Republican Senate spoke loudly and clearly against the slaughter by voting to ban partial birth abortion 64-33.

The bill prohibits doctors from committing an “overt act” designed to kill a partially delivered fetus. The bill legally defines a partial birth abortion as any abortion in which a baby is delivered “past the naval…outside the mother’s womb” before being killed. The Senate-passed version of the bill is on its way to the House of Representatives, where it will likely pass. As expected, House Democrats (like the Congressional Black Caucus), protectors of criminals, perverts, animals, trees and rocks, will fight with their very lives against the ban on infanticide. Liberal lunacy notwithstanding, the bill will be signed into law by President Bush.

Meanwhile, day after day, babies in the womb are cut to pieces, torn apart and chemically poisoned to death all for sacred “choice.” Here’s how a group calling itself the Childbirth by Choice Trust describes abortion to teenagers: “To remove the contents of her uterus, the doctor gradually opens the cervix and inserts a small tube. This tube is attached to a machine which gently suctions the inside of the uterus. The doctor then carefully checks the uterus with an instrument, to be sure no tissue (read: human being) remains. The entire procedure takes about 10 minutes.” No sweat.

Partial birth abortions, unlike the inconvenient “gob of tissue” scraped from the womb in early abortions, are gruesome. To avoid being charged under state murder statutes, the abortion “doctors” pull the baby only halfway out of the womb. In Josef Mengele-like fashion, the abortionist jams the tip of surgical scissors into the base of the baby’s skull, suctioning out its brain through a catheter.

Despite such an appalling scene, infanticide supporter Senator Barbara Boxer said that partial birth abortion is a “political” term, not a “medical” one. According to Boxer, the term is “made up” and “very emotional,” implying that supporters of the ban to stop this carnage actually want to evoke sympathy for babies murdered in the womb. Right-wing nuts!

A society that tolerates child killing is a society doomed for judgment. God warned ancient Israel to refrain from worshipping the Ammonite false deity, Molech. First-born children were “passed through the fire” and burned to death as a sacrifice to Molech under the illusion they’d be given prosperity.

Israel disobeyed God’s laws, resulting in generations of moral decline and severe wrath: Famine, plague, cannibalism, invasion and domination by surrounding pagan nations, captivity into slavery, persecution and death.

Molech must be mighty pleased with America. Millions of children are sacrificed every year for similar motives. Approximately 93 percent of all induced abortions are done for elective, non-medical reasons (read: convenience). Although abortion proponents claim the procedure is rare, it’s not rare enough. Partial birth abortions have more than tripled in the past four years to about 2,200 annually.

The U.S. has been facing its own moral decline for some time, but it has yet to suffer the fate of ancient Israel. While abortion proponents continue to euphemistically refer to infanticide as “intrauterine cranial decompression” or “intact dilation and evacuation,” God has promised that the slaying of the innocent will not go unpunished. He says in Jeremiah 19: “Because they have forsaken Me and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods…and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent…I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will give over their carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. I will also make this city a desolation.”

In the aftermath of September 11, it became chic even for liberals to haughtily exclaim, “God bless America!” Perhaps the more appropriate petition would be: God have mercy on America.

With all of these things happening this last week, I looked at the big picture. Specifically, what liberals think about all the issues surrounding our culture. Abortion of the innocent? Good! Capital punishment for the guilty? Evil! Forcing kids into failing government-run schools? Good! Vouchers that let parents choose private Christian schools? Evil! Judging people by there skin color (aka - affirmative action)? Good! Judging people only by the content of their character? Evil! I could go on and on with this list. The gay agenda, the elimination of personal responsibility, putting as many people as possible under the thumb of big government, etc., ad infinitum. What the U.S. stands for has been turned on its head, and what used to evil is now considered good, and visa versa. At least in liberal la-la land, which is being increasingly imposed on us through many channels, most prominently these days by judicial activism.

This aspect of moder liberalism brings Isiah 5:20 to mind (NIV version):

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter

Now darkness can never win against the light. The only way to impose darkness is to cover up the light. To keep it hidden. It is no coincidence that Christianity is under unprecedented attack at the same time as these evil policies are being imposed on us all. WE THE PEOPLE appear to have less and less say as time goes on, as we are increasingly coming under the tyranny of the black robe.

As a final note, I was thinking of the "good is evil, evil is good" inversion the other day. i have heard it before. It took me a while sifting through my memory banks to find exactly where it was. Here is where I heard it before:

MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell a shill for Obama

No! You don't say. Well, then again, see the video:

Is she really playing "devil's advocate" as she claims, or rather "Obama's advocate?" (HT:RS)

More on Obama's attack on Rush

This from HotAir: Obama’s Folly. An excerpt:

George Bush never attacked Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, or other voices of the rabid Left by name. If he ever went on the attack against the left-wing media, he kept the attack general and broad, rather than specific. Bush may not have been the most media-savvy of our modern presidents — in fact, he may have been the worst at it since Nixon — but he knew enough about his office to understand that part of its strength would keep him somewhat above the partisan-pundit fray. Obama hasn’t figured that much out yet.

Ouch!

Black Pastor Warns Obama about Abortion

At March, Black Pastor Warns Obama not to Preside over “Genocide” of American Blacks.

The most striking portion of Robinson’s speech came as he begged Obama not to preside over the genocide of African Americans. “We need change Mr. President because every day about 4000 babies die by abortion. Every day Mr. President, people with your ethnic background any my ethnic background die in astounding numbers. Abortion is the number one killer of African Americans in this country.”

“We make up about 12% of the population and about 34% of all abortions are black babies. In the last 36 years over 17 million African American babies have died by abortion alone. We need to change this picture. We need to stop this slaughter of the innocent preborn.

“Please Mr. President, be that agent of change that can commute the sentence of over 1400 African American children and over 3000 children from other ethnic groups sentenced to die every day in this country by abortion.”

“We need change and we need it now.”

Good speech meets deaf ears. The numbers are true. In addition, the arguments for abortion were the same exact arguments used against black slaves. They're not *really* people. not like US. Etc... (HT:CG)

Obama flips Michigan the bird!

No joke. This from the freep today: The One, in his infinite wisdom, has deemed it necessary to sign another executive order. This time, it targets the automotive industry (you know, the one that is currently thriving?) by allowing each of the 50 states in the union to set emission standards. From the article:

The New York Times reported Sunday evening on its Web site that Obama would clear the way for individual states to exceed national fuel economy and emissions standards. Detroit and foreign automakers have waged a lengthy legal fight against California's rules, which set new limits on vehicle emissions to fight global warming. (emphasis mine)

Global warming? That old chestnut? You mean the same global warming that hasn't causes an iota of temperature rise since 1998? The one that has caused the most arctic ice cover since 1979? The same global warming that has caused the oceans to cool since 2003? The global warming of 'hockey stick' fame? The one forced on us by those horrible CO2 emissions? The one setting low temperature records all over the place this winter? THAT global warming? Well that's just great! What does the auto industry have to say?

Such rules would lead to fuel economy targets that automakers and dealers warn would create a patchwork of state laws, drive up costs and limit sales.

Sounds about right to me. So let me get this straight: states should have the right to regulate the naturally-occurring, and vital compound to all surface vegetation known as CO2, but they should have zero say in the murder of countless unborn? FOCA? Hello? Isn't this the same guy that just signed an executive order forcing my hard-earned tax dollars into the bloody hands of the abortion industry abroad? Why yes. Yes he is.

So it appears that Obama's priorities, tracked by his signing of executive orders, is this:

#1: Help the plight of the terrorists over in Gitmo (the ones who, once released, lead efforts of terror once again). Check!
#2: Abortion for everyone. With taxpayer dollars. Just have to be overseas. (But that's OK, FOCA is coming to a death dealer near you) Check!
#3: Screw the auto industry really bad by letting states make up silly fuel standards based on a non-existent ecological crisis of biblical proportion? Check!

I'm just waiting for #4 to come out soon. Take away kids lollipops? Atomic wedgies for all adults over 21?

So I'm just wondering, how are any of his executive orders supposed to help anyone here in Michigan or nationwide? Do any of these things help the economy? No. Just the opposite. Do they make us safer? No. Just the opposite. This is all red meat for the tinfoil hat-wearing, kool-aid drinking loony fringe left. So much for the era of post-partisanship.

Just remember, the UAW wanted this guy. A guy that despises the auto industry. Sure they'll get more bailout money to keep the racket going a bit longer without any fix to the systemic problems facing the auto industry. But that, along with this exectuive order, may well be the final nail in their own coffin. Can anyone say "thank you sir, may I have another?"

Football withdrawal

Hands shaking. Jittery. A loss of color. That's how I feel today, a perfectly nice, but crisp Sunday afternoon. Why all the effects? Likely because every single week at this time, since late summer, I have been firmly planted on the couch watching whatever football was offered through the local stations. Hey - NFL football is NFL football. Even here, in the land of the 0-16 Detroit Lions. In any case, for those that dwell on football nostalgia, they used to play the Superbowl the week after the NFC and AFC championship games. In that light, today would be the silver anniversary of the 1984 Superbowl ad that has become iconic. Caroline McCarthy over at CNET has a roundup of the ad here. Here's the ad in full:

Now I have to admit that I was not the football fan in my youth that I am now, and hardly remember the drubbing that the Redskins were given by the Raiders (yeah - THOSE Raiders from the long gone glory days). Nor do I remember the ad as a mac ad. Just the whole 'big brother' imagery, which has been used by others in the distant, and more recent, past. For instance, this Obama ad ran before the Democratic primary (and was pulled shortly thereafter):

Dissent = Treason?:

A few days ago, I had a post titled "Is Dissent Still Patrriotic?" Today, the Anchoress has more on that subject:

No, wait, dissent is still the very highest, ultimate form of patriotism. No, really. It is. And asking questions is good. Except when it’s not. Then it’s “obstruction.” It’s complicated. Back when Bush was president, it was okay (and good, and healthy for democracy) if you said the president was a terrorist, and a nazi-fascist, who should be assassinated. Now, if you just hope the president fails at promoting socialist policies, well…that’s arguably treasonist, baby, “arguably treasonist.” Got that? Wanna fantasize about assasination, actively work to expose sensitive policies in wartime and incessantly talk down the economy for one president? That’s alllllll good! Hope the other one fails? Treason. Evil treeeaasson!

Funny how fast a tune can change, eh?

Obama’s Evangelicals: The Liberals’ New Useful Idiots

Saw this over at townhall by Doug Giles:

If it’s change you wanted, “Christian,” it’s change you’re about to get, as in more unborn babies are going to get offed, more Brad and Chad, and if things go Obama’s way, chunks of Scripture will officially get tagged as hate speech, your church will have to hire RuPaul or face punishment, and our military will have to make room for Chippendale dancers on the base partly because of you, the Obama evangelical, who voted for such a change.

Ouch! Although there is a growing movement of the "evangelical left" that wouldn't blink an eye to this.

The hockey stick hoax

This was a classic from a few years ago - a graph purported to prove that anthropogenic global warming was indeed real. This was a centerpiece of Gore's fear-mongering. The researchers that made it refused to disclose their data, even though the study was funded with taxpayer money. In the end, it was proven to be a hoax (Did I mention it was funded by taxpayer money?). This should have been the nail in the coffin for the alarmists. Unfortunately, the controversy went right down the memory hole (surprise, surprise...). In any case, Powerline had a few things to say about it today. Here's the famous graph above climate data in Europe over the same time period (via moonbattery). See any differences? Yeah - me neither. Adds powerline: "The "hockey stick" graph had the virtue, from the alarmists' perspective, of "getting rid of" the Medieval Warm Period, which had always been acknowledged as the predecessor to the Little Ice Age and our own era, in which temperatures have recovered from the Little Ice Age..."

More:

More recent scientific work has thoroughly debunked the Mann "hockey stick" analysis. It has been shown to rest on "collation errors, unjustified truncation or extrapolation of source data, obsolete data, incorrect principal component calculations, geographical mislocations and other serious defects," as well as
"incorrect mathematics." There are indications, at least, that some of the errors on the part of Mann and his collaborators were deliberate--an instance of the corruption of science by politics and perverse financial incentives that underlies the entire global warming movement.

Andrew Bostom provides an excellent short summary of the significance of the hockey stick and its debunking by more rigorous scientists, which is readily understandable by the lay reader.

If you really want to worry about the climate, consider the fact
that we are due for another ice age.

UPDATE: Then there's this bar graph showing 2009 priorities (HT:moonbattery):

My guess is that BHO better be careful with this. It's a hot potato ready to burn him.

Chris Matthews: Palin’s book will do well “if she can read”

From HotAir: "I don’t think he meant it the way it came out, but Politico does. And I concede, I have no alternate explanation." Here's the video:

I don't have an alternate explanation either. Who does Mathews think writes Obama's speaches? Why can he not say anything without a teleprompter? He thinks Obama wrote his books himself too? Not likely.

Obama to GOP leaders: Stop listening to Rush Limbaugh

Sound pretty small for a sitting President? When I first hear this on Drudgereport, my first thought was "hasn't it been the 90's since Republicans listened to Rush?" Second thought was "that'll do it for getting the fairness doctrine in this term." Right on cue, HotAir has similar thoughts:

Haven’t they already? (stopped listening to Rush)
President Obama warned Republicans on Capitol Hill today that they need to quit listening to radio king Rush Limbaugh if they want to get along with Democrats and the new administration.

“You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done,” he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package. One White House official confirmed the comment but said he was simply trying to make a larger point about bipartisan efforts.

Smart points in response from Tom Maguire, especially number three. If, contra his campaign rhetoric, The One really does plan on bringing back Fairness, he just made
his task of selling it to the public as a nonpartisan measure not aimed squarely at conservative talk radio a lot harder.

The Rush responded:

via Byron York: To make the argument about me instead of his plan makes sense from his perspective. Obama’s plan would buy votes for the Democrat Party, in the same way FDR’s New Deal established majority power for 50 years of Democrat rule, and it would also simultaneously seriously damage any hope of future tax cuts. It would allow a majority of American voters to guarantee no taxes for themselves going forward. It would burden the private sector and put the public sector in permanent and firm control of the economy. Put simply, I believe his stimulus is
aimed at re-establishing “eternal” power for the Democrat Party rather than stimulating the economy because anyone with a brain knows this is NOT how you stimulate the economy. If I can be made to serve as a distraction, then there is
that much less time debating the merits of this TRILLION dollar debacle.

Didn't Rush have this happen to him recently, perpetrated by none other than Colin "RINO" Powell? And didn't Rush take Powell to the back of the shed for it? Why yes. Yes he did! (And it was GOOD!)

Conformity’s Seduction

A good article by Mark Steyn with the subline "Oh, yes, yes, yessssssss, we can!"

How dazzling is President Obama? So dazzling that he didn’t merely give a dazzling inaugural speech. Any old timeserving hack could do that. Instead, he had the sheer genius to give a flat dull speech full of the usual shopworn boilerplate. Brilliant! At a stroke, he not only gently lowered the expectations of those millions of Americans and billions around the world for whom his triumphant ascendancy is the only thing that gives their drab little lives any meaning, but also emphasized continuity by placing his unprecedented incandescent megastar cool squarely within the tradition of squaresville yawneroo white middle-aged plonking mediocrities who came before him.

Ouch! There's more. Read the whole thing (very good). (HT: HA)

If you are a civil libertarian,

Here's a good challenge in the sideblog at americandigest:

if you are in the ACLU or a law professor, or a liberal in good standing who swore that George Bush from Texas, with strut and twang and mangled vocabulary, destroyed your liberties with FISA, with the Patriot Act, and with Iraq, then please extend that outrage to Barack Obama, for whom all such shredding of the Constitution suddenly has become merely complex and problematic rather than fascistic. Please list, cite, name just one instance from 2002-8 in which you lost your freedom, or you were censored on the library internet, or you were followed around by the FBI, or your letter to the editor earned a wiretap, or even one instance of the loss of any freedom under Bush-- and if so, just one example of how the election of Obama has once again restored your lost liberty. Nothing in the abstract, please-- something concrete, an example both real and personal. -Works and Days - An Uneasy Feeling

Obama to sign EO authorizing aid money for abortions today

Yesterday might have been a sad day in American history, but looks like the country's Big Toe wants to extend the sadness one more day. HotAir reports:

Yesterday, on the anniversary of Roe v Wade, abortion supporters expected Obama to issue an executive order reversing the Mexico City policy imposed by George Bush prohibiting American aid dollars for international abortions. Obama demurred, perhaps wishing to avoid the media scrutiny that would attend such a move on Roe’s anniversary. Instead, Obama will quietly sign the new EO today, away from the media spotlight.

This will likely be totally ignored by the MSM. So sad... Hope and change??? Maybe BO needs to see the video in my prior post above.

UPDATE: A good essay of a personal experience from a dad here. (HT: The Anchoress)

UPDATE#2: More from The Anchoress: "Some argument about whether or not Barack Obama served the culture of Death on his first day in office. Yes, of course he did, but it got barely a mention. Buried deep in the news reports." Just as I predicted earlier today.

Freed by U.S. from Gitmo, Saudi becomes an Al-Qaeda chief

This is bad. Sure makes Obama's decision to help the terrorists at Guantanamo look suspect at best, dumb at worst. And this from the NYT of all places! Based on what they report, I always assume it's just the tip of the iceberg, and that the worst 90% will be hidden from public view because of the agenda... (HT:CG)

Gitmo, Part Deux???

I saw this over at the Volokh Conspiracy: "Here is the draft executive order for shutting down Guantanamo. Note this language (emphasis added):

Sec. 3. Closure of Detention Facilities at Guantánamo. The detention facilities at Guantánamo for individuals covered by this order shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than one year from the date of this order. If any individuals covered by this order remain in detention at Guantánamo at the time of closure of those detention facilities, they shall be returned to their home country, released, transferred to a third country, or transferred to another United States detention facility in a manner consistent with law and the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.

“Transferred to another United States detention facility”—including an American military facility, an American military facility located in another country?"

So its like moving homeless people to another city and telling everyone you solved homelessness. Got it!

Don't know about hope, but this sure was a change

Obama blows off Medal of Honor recipients . (HT:drudge)