Poison swirls around Hamid Karzai and Barack Obama - Times Online

Poison swirls around Hamid Karzai and Barack Obama - Times Online

Oy Vey, Real Poison! Here are some high points of Obama's dealings with the Afghan leader:

• [Obama] made his first visit to Kabul as president last week, flying for 26 hours to give Karzai a 25-minute lecture on corruption.
• Karzai family has now hit back, accusing US officials of launching a smear campaign as a prelude to abandoning the country again.
• “They want to discredit the Afghan government in the eyes of the US public. I hope it’s not the beginning of an exit strategy. If it is, God help us, it will be very bad — don’t they remember what happened when they did this before in the Eighties?”
• Like the British, Karzai thinks negotiations should start now. The Americans want a military victory first. This will be the main topic of discussion when Karzai visits Washington next month.

The Afghans have a very long cultural memory. From the first paragraph in the London Times,

"When Hamid Karzai started presenting the victims of British bombings in Helmand with medals commemorating Wazir Akbar Khan, one of the victors of the first Anglo-Afghan war, someone should, perhaps, have wondered which side Afghanistan’s president was really on."

England's Indian Army occupied Kabul in 1839, but were under siege most of the time and were forced into a desperate retreat in 1842 over the Khyber Pass, back into India (Pakistan was part of India then).

Also-

Unlike most other Nato troops, the Germans are flying large quantities of alcohol to their Afghan bases. Annual shipments have reached 1.8m pints of beer and 70,000 litres of wine, according to defence ministry figures.

The Germans need to read their not too distant history of how they mishandled their overtures to have Afghanistan become allied with Germany in WWI. Afghanistan remained neutral (although under British Influence) during World War I, despite German encouragement of anti-British feelings and Afghan rebellion along the borders of British Colonial India. The Afghan King's policy of neutrality was not universally popular within the country, but the Germans disregarded the Muslim ban on drinking alcohol and were drunk in public. This may have been the first time many Afghans had seen anyone drunk and these Germans only offended the then isolated Afghans.

BREAKING NEWS: Plane carrying Polish president crashes in Russia | Mail Online

Plane carrying Polish president crashes in Russia | Mail Online
A nation in mourning: As news of the tragic plane crash spread, Poles gathered at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw to pay their respects

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1264964/BREAKING-NEWS-Plane-carrying-Polish-president-crashes-Russia.html#ixzz0ko00qPDh

This sad news made most of us pause for more than a moment and collectively ponder, "What if that happened here?"

Scary thought isn't it! Scary for the country, look at the line of succession!

This is a list of the current presidential line of succession,^[1] as specified by the United States Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 (3 U.S.C. § 19) and subsequent amendments to include newly created cabinet officers.

#	Office	Current Officer
1	Vice President	Joe Biden
2	Speaker of the House	Nancy Pelosi
3	President pro tempore of the Senate	Robert Byrd
4	Secretary of State	Hillary Clinton
5	Secretary of the Treasury	Timothy Geithner
6	Secretary of Defense	Robert Gates[2]
7	Attorney General	Eric Holder
8	Secretary of the Interior	Ken Salazar
9	Secretary of Agriculture	Tom Vilsack
10	Secretary of Commerce	Gary Locke
11	Secretary of Labor	Hilda Solis
12	Secretary of Health and Human Services	Kathleen Sebelius
13	Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	Shaun Donovan
14	Secretary of Transportation	Ray LaHood
15	Secretary of Energy	Steven Chu
16	Secretary of Education	Arne Duncan
17	Secretary of Veterans Affairs	Eric Shinseki
18	Secretary of Homeland Security	Janet Napolitano

U.S. Court of Appeals: The FCC Does Not Have Authority to Regulate the Internet

U.S. Court of Appeals: The FCC Does Not Have Authority to Regulate the Internet
A federal court ruled this week that the Federal Communications Commission does not have the power to control how private Internet providers manage their online networks. Says Cato scholar Jim Harper, "Slow-moving, technologically unsophisticated bureaucrats do not know better than consumers and technologists how to run the Internet. The FCC's 'net neutrality' hopes are nothing more than public utility regulation for broadband." "Network neutrality" activists have long pushed for legislation that would give the government massive regulatory powers over the Internet. Now that the FCC no longer has the power, advocates will look to Congress. Harper explains why that would be a major step in the wrong direction: The Internet is far more durable than regulators and advocates imagine. And regulators are far less capable of neutrally arbitrating what’s in the public interest than most people realize. The FCC doesn’t have authority to regulate the Internet. Congress and the president shouldn’t give it that authority. To understand “network neutrality,” read Timothy B. Lee’s definitive paper, “The Durable Internet: Preserving Network Neutrality without Regulation,” which explains how the market can continue to provide the most promising future for the Web.

The Fix Is In by Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal 22 March 2010

The Fix Is In by Theodore Dalrymple,

Fat Revenues and Little Healthcare, Britcare is the Model for Obamacare.
Why should we be surprised?
This time let's not compare government efficiency on the basis of the Post Office or the DMV.
These two places at least get you what you want, in most cases, eventually.
Go to your local Town Hall or City Hall (if you can find a safe, close place to park). After you go through the metal detectors for the protection of the government, not the governed,
ask something about zoning, or a building permit, or see if you can get your property taxes reduced.
After the person you need to speak with gets off the private phone call that has caused them to totally ignore you for twenty minutes, you will be sent to some other office to wait another twenty...You get the idea.
I go to these places on a regular basis, I get passed much of the rigmarole, but it is still a process of contempt and inefficiency designed to waste money, fully expend bloated current budgets for the purpose of getting next year's budget increases and, of course, control your meager existence.

There are exceptions, few and far between!

Liz Cheney: Obama Putting America on Path to Decline - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

Liz Cheney: Obama Putting America on Path to Decline -

Quotes from RushLimbaugh.com

Liz Cheney Rips Obama in Speech April 9, 2010
RUSH: Liz Cheney destroyed Obama at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference last night in New Orleans. We have four sound bites.

LIZ: As we sit here today the Obama administration is putting us on the path to decline. Now, you might hear that and you might think that the opposite of that is true, that if decline is a choice, then perhaps American revival and American leadership and American predominance is also a choice. But I don't think that is quite true. Because I think American leadership and American predominance are not just choices. Those are moral obligations. America has no choice about whether we lead or not. We must lead, because there is no other nation who has the capacity that we do because of our values, our resources, and our freedom to protect the freedoms of people all around the globe.

RUSH: Sounds great, Liz, but it's certainly not this administration's agenda. Which she knows, that's what she's talking about. By the way, Dan Balz in the Washington Post wrote about this, and he said Liz Cheney and her language makes her father look like pastel. Now, one thing I have never understood, Dick Cheney has always been soft-spoken, he's never been a fire and brimstone guy. This is a wholly manufactured image of him but now they're coming out, "Whoa, whoa, he looks pastel compared to his daughter." Here's the second sound bite.

LIZ: Iran watches as this administration answers their threats with weakness, confusion, and self-serving lectures that put down America and diminish our achievements. Now that kind of talk, it could win you a Nobel prize, but it dishonors this nation and the brave men and women who have fought and died for our freedom. Here, with America's security in the balance, Republicans and Democrats and independents should speak with one voice to this administration: President Obama, stop apologizing for this great nation and start defending her.

RUSH: Right on, right on, she got a lot of applause here. We've just taken that out in the interests of time. Here she blasts the regime, the naivete on nuclear weapons and Iran.

LIZ: The president's approach to nuclear disarmament which he also unveiled this week confirms the naivete of his views about America's enemies. Until this week any enemy of our country that might be contemplating a chemical, biological, or large-scale conventional attack against us knew they might face the worst in return, a nuclear response. We have now surrendered that powerful deterrent. In this administration's dealings with Iran, the deadlines are meaningless, the sanctions worthless, and the speeches pointless.

RUSH: And then finally this, last night at the same thing, the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.

LIZ: There is a saying in the Arab world that it is more dangerous to be America's friend than it is to be our enemy. And I fear very much that in the age of Obama, that's proving to be true.

Read the rest at this link-
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_040910/content/01125116.guest.html

Obama Pitches From The Left

Be it throwing out the First Pitch, way outside to his left, or in not supporting our allies. He seems to want to put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the spot at his Nuclear Security Summit. But Netanyahu saw though the ambush, with the rest of the Middle East lurking to disarm Israel-- So...

Netanyahu cancels trip to Obama's nuclear summit

One World Order-
We Give Up, We're the Evil Capitalists!
We Need Re-Education.
We Have To Submit To The UN.
Bow Down and Kowtow To All!

From the L. A. Times, this was sent to me...

Just One State – be sure and read the last part..
This is only one State................If this doesn't open eyes, nothing will!
From the L. A. Times
1. 40% of all workers in L. A. County (L. A. County has 10.2 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes.
This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card.
2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.
4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers.
5. Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.
7... The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.
8 Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
9. 21 radio stations in L. A. are Spanish speaking.
10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish..
(There are 10.2 million people in L. A. County.)

(All 10 of the above facts were published in the Los Angeles Times)

Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 29% are on welfare. Over 70% of the United States' annual population growth (and over 90% of California, Florida, and New York) results from immigration. 29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens .
We are fools for letting this continue...

This is only one State...............

If this doesn't open your eyes nothing will, and you wonder why Nancy Pelosi wants them to become voters!
*************************************
Windfall Tax on Retirement Income ...
Adding a tax to your retirement is simply another way of saying to the American people, you're so darn stupid that we're going to keep doing this until we drain every cent from you. That's what the Speaker of the House is saying. ...............
Nancy Pelosi wants a Windfall Tax on Retirement Income. In other words tax what you have made by investing toward your retirement. This woman is a nut case! You aren't going to believe this.

Madam speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to put a Windfall Tax on all stock market profits (including Retirement fund, 401K and Mutual Funds!

Alas, it is true - all to help the 12 Million Illegal Immigrants and other unemployed Minorities!
This woman is frightening.

She quotes...' We need to work toward the goal of equalizing income, (didn't Marx say something like this?), in our country and at the same time limiting the amount the rich can invest.' (I am not rich, are you?)

When asked how these new tax dollars would be spent, she replied:

'We need to raise the standard of living of our poor, unemployed and minorities. For example, we have an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in our country who need our help along with millions of unemployed minorities. Stock market windfall profits taxes could go a long way to guarantee these people the standard of living they would like to have as 'Americans'.'

(Read that quote again and again and let it sink in.) 'Lower your retirement, give it to others who have not worked as you have for it'.

Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye

"SHADES" of a really bad movie-
Women tried to smuggle corpse onto plane?

Tue, Apr 6 2010

LONDON (Reuters) - Two women were arrested at a British airport on suspicion of trying to smuggle a dead relative onto a flight bound for Germany, police said on Tuesday.

The 91-year-old deceased man was pushed in a wheelchair through Liverpool's John Lennon airport wearing sunglasses before check-in staff became suspicious and he was prevented from boarding the plane.

He was believed to have been driven about 35 miles to the airport by taxi from Oldham, Greater Manchester, police added.

The women were arrested on suspicion of failing to give notification of a death and were released on bail.

"At 11 a.m. on Saturday 3 April 2010, police at Liverpool John Lennon airport were alerted to the death of a 91-year-old man in the terminal building," police said in a statement.

"Two women aged 41 and 66 were arrested on suspicion of failing to give notification of death."

The cause of death is not known.

(Writing by Avril Ormsby; Editing by Steve Addison)

© Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved.

The World’s Ugliest Statues - By Joshua Keating | Foreign Policy

The World’s Ugliest Statues - By Joshua Keating

Political art just reeks of bad taste and a lot of out-sized scale, like the patrons who sponsored them.

Which reminds me of my local town.

The American Spectator : Republicans Against Repeal

The American Spectator : Republicans Against Repeal

I grew up in a home with a "Wilkie Republican father and a (FDR) Roosevelt Democrat Mother.

It was hard to tell what side they stood on many times, if the stood anywhere at all. They loved Edward R. Murrow and Eric Sevaried, Murrow more for his sycophantic 'Person to Person' shows and 'This is London' radio broadcasts during the War, and Sevaried for his pompous vague, New York Times' safe opinions on what Americans SHOULD think.

My folks did have some contradictory strong opinions that were not too uncommon in the 1960's. As an FDR Democrat, mother was anti-civil rights. As a Wilkie 'One-World' Republican, father hated Ronald Reagan.

You see, I'm third generation Californian (grandma, dad & I were all born in Los Angeles County), and when the "actor" Ronald Reagan became Governor, he cut spending and raised tuition for the University of California and State Colleges from nearly free to just above free to attend higher education. One of my brothers went to UCLA and was planning to go to Greece for an archaeological dig as part of the campus program on the taxpayer. Reagan cancelled this type of program unless the student's contributed to the cost. Dad took that personally.

The point of this tale about my folk's politics is that too many of the sitting Republican Office Holders are the go-along-get-along Wilkie type Republicans (also known as County Club Republicans) who like to sit and complain over drinks on the veranda about how low the Democrats treat them, but they refuse to lead. Even under Newt Gingrich, the Democrats got their way. They use classic dialectical materialist tactics, two steps forward, one step back. Obama is a dancing-master of this step.

If you want to stand for something, then stand up first! Don't talk repeal of Obamacare...REPEAL IT!

It will take years, probably a new President, but we are now on the road to perdition of "where do I get my free healthcare?" Free healthcare will cost our freedom (what is left of it) and Obama knows it and wants it.

Pertinent reminders of Weenie Republicans-

"Sen. John Cornyn, the Texas Republican who chairs the committee responsible for getting GOP candidates elected to the Senate this fall. Cornyn initially unfurled the "repeal and replace" banner, only to quickly make an exception for the "non-controversial stuff," such as the ban on preexisting conditions which is unfortunately exactly what necessitates the "controversial stuff" like the individual mandate."

"Republicans against repeal have found an amen corner in the cooler heads among conservative commentators. One Oliver Garland evencounseled that repeal was fundamentally unconservative: "True conservatives are not radicals; they respect tradition and work for stable reform to fix institutions."

"There you have it: Repealing a bill that became law last month is radical. Acquiescing to a decades-long flurry of legislation that effectively repeals the Constitution's limits on federal power is conservative. Ronald Reagan should have raised taxes to conserve the Great Society and shouted, "Mr. Gorbachev, remember and reform that wall!""

Then again, this appears to be the working definition of conservatism embraced by most GOP politicians. Republicans campaign on canceling spending programs, shutting down government agencies, and overturning Roe v. Wade. But once safely in office, they tend to leave most liberal handiwork alone, failing to repeal even Bill Clinton's tax increases. Occasionally they add a few big-government flourishes of their own -- a new entitlement to enlarge Medicare's unfunded liabilities here, a record increase in federal education spending there."

On the other side, Joe Hicks in his HICKS FILE believes "We Can Repeal Obamacare."
Let's hope he's right!