Barack Obama's pledge to disarm America hits some speed bumps.

Uh-oh…

via Challenges loom as Obama seeks space weapons ban | U.S. | Reuters:

President Barack Obama’s pledge to seek a worldwide ban on weapons in space marks a dramatic shift in U.S. policy while posing the tricky issue of defining whether a satellite can be a weapon.

Moments after Obama’s inauguration last week, the White House website was updated to include policy statements on a range of issues, including a pledge to restore U.S. leadership on space issues and seek a worldwide ban on weapons that interfere with military and commercial satellites.

It also promised to look at threats to U.S. satellites, contingency plans to keep information flowing from them, and what steps are needed to protect spacecraft against attack.

The issue is being closely watched by Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co, Northrop Grumman Corp, the biggest U.S. defense contractors, and other companies involved in military and civilian space contracts.

Watchdog groups and even some defense officials welcomed the statement, which echoed Obama’s campaign promises, but said it would take time to hammer out a comprehensive new strategy.

Enacting a global ban on space weapons could prove even harder.

Of course, we all know that the Obamassiah will get his way, he will destroy those who stand in his way. Just ask Larry Sinclair.

In case you forgotten, here’s Obama making his promise to disarm America:

Others: Macsmind, Atlas Shrugs and Sweetness & Light

Is Obama setting the United States of America up for a dictatorship?

Looks that way to me!

Via Politico.com:

West Wing on steroids in Obama W.H.

President Barack Obama is taking far-reaching steps to centralize decision-making inside the White House, surrounding himself with influential counselors, overseas envoys and policy “czars” that shift power from traditional Cabinet posts.

Not even a week has passed since he was sworn in, but already Obama is moving to create perhaps the most powerful staff in modern history – a sort of West Wing on steroids that places no less than a half-dozen of his top initiatives into the hands of advisers outside the Cabinet.

For all the talk of his “Team of Rivals” pick in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Obama last week handed the two hottest hotspots in American foreign policy to presidential envoys – one to former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, and the other to a man who knows his way around Foggy Bottom better than Clinton does, Richard Holbrooke.

“Czar” Carol Browner will head up Obama’s fight on global warming, where once his energy and environmental chiefs might have stepped in. Tom Daschle scored a ground floor office in the West Wing not by running Health and Human Services – but because of his role as Obama’s health-reform czar.

Pulling power close is something all recent presidents have done – and on the campaign trail, Obama spoke out against George W. Bush’s attempt to expand his executive authority.

But when it comes to building his own team, Obama is taking the notion of a powerful White House staff to new heights, leaving little doubt who will set policy and guide the politics of the his newborn administration.

….. Aides say he believes the Cabinet structure is outdated because it doesn’t recognize that problems like global warming sprawl across several agencies, often requiring a sort of uber-Cabinet member – a czar – to confront them.

That helps explain the selection of Browner as an “energy-environment” czar, said one Obama aide.

…..What’s notable about Obama’s approach – and expands on the approaches taken by Bush and Bill Clinton – is the number of different areas where Obama is seeking to tap a central figure, outside the Cabinet structure, who will carry out his wishes.

Doesn’t  that name Czar sound a bit Communist to you?

Does any remember Obama telling the world on his campaign that a cabinet structure was outdated?

Further more, does anyone remember Obama excoriating the Bush Administration’s overreaching power, and how Obama’s White House was going to be different? So much for that little campaign promise.

Same beat, different drummer. Some Corruption, Different Party.

So Much for that “Hope and Change.” 🙄

Others: NewsBusters.org and Daled Amos

Uh-Oh! – Two ex-Guantanamo inmates appear in Al-Qaeda video

This cannot be good, at all.

via AFP: Two ex-Guantanamo inmates appear in Al-Qaeda video

Two men released from the US “war on terror” prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have appeared in a video posted on a jihadist website, the SITE monitoring service reported.

One of the two former inmates, a Saudi man identified as Abu Sufyan al-Azdi al-Shahri, or prisoner number 372, has been elevated to the senior ranks of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, a US counter-terrorism official told AFP.

Three other men appear in the video, including Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi, identified as an Al-Qaeda field commander. SITE later said he was prisoner No. 333.

A Pentagon spokesman, Commander Jeffrey Gordon, on Saturday declined to confirm the SITE information.

“We remain concerned about ex-Guantanamo detainees who have re-affiliated with terrorist organizations after their departure,” said Gordon.

“We will continue to work with the international community to mitigate the threat they pose,” he said.

…and these guys aren’t exactly tickled pink about being imprisoned at Guantanamo either.

On the video, al-Shihri is seen sitting with three other men before a flag of the Islamic State of Iraq, the front for Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

“By Allah, imprisonment only increased our persistence in our principles for which we went out, did jihad for, and were imprisoned for,” al-Shihri was quoted as saying.

Something tells me that this is bring the releasing of these prisons to a screeching halt, or at least intensify the effort to screen them much better; before releasing them.

Al-Qaeda 1 – Obama 0

Of course my fellow Conservatives are all over it. The silence from the left is quite deafening.

Others: ParaPundit, Flopping Aces, Atlas Shrugs, Weekly Standard, MsUnderestimated, Gateway Pundit, RedState and Sweetness & Light

First Lady Michelle Obama, "Don't be using my kids as a marketing tool!"

Oh brother!

They’ve been in the White House less than a week, but the first daughters have already been co-opted by marketers — and Michelle Obama isn’t happy about it.

Ty, the toy company responsible for the popular Beanie Babies dolls, is now marketing “Sweet Sasha” and “Marvelous Malia” dolls.

The first lady’s office said Friday Ty was out of line. “We feel it is inappropriate to use young private citizens for marketing purposes,” said a spokeswoman for Michelle Obama in a statement.

A Ty representative told CNN the company generally avoids naming dolls for “any particular living individual,” because doing so might interfere with how kids use their imaginations to play with them. But they wouldn’t reveal the source of their inspiration for the new figures, telling CNN that information relating to the development of the company’s merchandise — including how it comes up with products, product names, and trademarks – is proprietary

via CNN Political Ticker: Michelle Obama: ‘Inappropriate’ to use daughters to sell dolls

But yet the first bitch will put her daughters on Access Hollywood, magazine photo shoots, and parade her girls front and center wherever she goes. But she bitches about this?

As they say in the ghetto here in Detroit….. NIGGA PLEASE! 🙄

If the first harpy does not want her “Babies” out in the public, keep them out the public eye. Otherwise, shut the hell up, and be glad your stupid idiot husband got elected, despite that 45 percent; or more if the truth me known, considering the election was rigged as hell, and he basically bought the damned election from all those off-shore donations from terrorists. 😡

….and for it’s worth, Bambi is NOT my President. He’s just stupid uppity idiot that won, because he was black; and that’s ALL that Magic Negro will be to me!

Others: The Impolitic, JammieWearingFool, Joanne Jacobs, Macsmind,

Ron Paul was right, The Neo-Cons were wrong

I’ve always said, Ron Paul is to the 21 century, what Barry Goldwater Sr. was to the 20 century.

(Via Lew Rockwell Blog)

Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty Website

More on the Spying on Journalists by the Bush Administration

Following up my posting from Last Night, More on the Spying of Journalists by the Bush Administration:

and….

….and now to answer a question that some of you are possibly asking. Why I posting this here?

Ladies and Gents, I have one simple, but very direct answer. I am, and always will be for accountability in Government. If this is even remotely true. It would mean that the Bush Administration is even more corrupt that one though. I am sorry, but that transcends political parties, political ideology or affiliation. The President of the United States; is, in fact, the President of Everyone, he is elected by the people and he is the President of the people and not the Republican or Democratic Parties.

I make no apologies whatsoever, to any Conservatives or Republicans that read this Blog for posting these videos. It is my hope and prayer, that our newly elected Congress takes up this cause and leans on the justice department to do a full investigation into the possible crimes committed by the former administration.

Corruption cannot exist in Government, if it does, it begats more corruption. Somewhere the line must be drawn in the sand, somewhere someone within the halls of Congress someone must stand up and say this cannot be allowed to continue and go unpunished.

I hope the Congress, The President and the Justice Dept. does the right thing. It must investigate.

Freed from Gitmo, Saudi Becomes a Al-Qaeda Chief

This is not good at all, and timing could not be worse.

The emergence of a former Guantánamo Bay detainee as the deputy leader of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch has underscored the potential complications in carrying out the executive order President Obama signed Thursday that the detention center be shut down within a year.

The militant, Said Ali al-Shihri, is suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sana, in September. He was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen.

His status was announced in an Internet statement by the militant group and was confirmed by an American counterterrorism official.

“They’re one and the same guy,” said the official, who insisted on anonymity because he was discussing an intelligence analysis. “He returned to Saudi Arabia in 2007, but his movements to Yemen remain unclear.”

The development came as Republican legislators criticized the plan to close the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp in the absence of any measures for dealing with current detainees. But it also helps explain why the new administration wants to move cautiously, taking time to work out a plan to cope with the complications.

Almost half the camp’s remaining detainees are Yemenis, and efforts to repatriate them depend in part on the creation of a Yemeni rehabilitation program — partly financed by the United States — similar to the Saudi one. Saudi Arabia has claimed that no graduate of its program has returned to terrorism.

“The lesson here is, whoever receives former Guantánamo detainees needs to keep a close eye on them,” the American official said.

via Freed by the U.S., Saudi Becomes a Qaeda Chief – NYTimes.com.

I suppose you all think that I am going to point blame on Obama or Bush. Well, Surprise. I am not going to do either. Because, quite frankly, it is stupid to point fingers. The sobering truth is, that you take a horse to the water, but you cannot make them drink.

Put another way, you can send someone who’s convicted as a terrorist, to rehab and try to deprogram them, you can beat them over the head and tell them to stop; but they have to want to stop. Truth is, you cannot control people. If they’re going to be a terrorist, they’re going to do it, irregardless of what we or any other country does.

We troubles me is the fact that the far left is blaming Bush, and the far right is screaming that Obama is selling out America, or something like that. I think that want needs to happen is that there needs to be a independent review of each and every case, and the right thing done about it. This should not be a Political situation, but rather something that is right for the country.

I don’t claim to be an expert. So, take my opinion for what it is worth. There are a good number of opinions on this, and I encourage you to read them all.

Others: Washington Monthly, Room for Debate, Weekly Standard, Firedoglake, Balloon Juice, The Strata-Sphere, The Washington Independent, Hot Air, Newshoggers.com, FinkelBlog, Political Machine, A Blog For All, Gateway Pundit , The Huffington Post, Boston Globe, The Corner, Washington Times, The Plum Line, Little Green Footballs, Atlas Shrugs, Flopping Aces, Wizbang

The Media Honeymoon is just about over for President Obama

Uh-oh…. It’s already Starting:

The Video:

President Obama made a surprise visit to the White House press corps Thursday night, but got agitated when he was faced with a substantive question.

Asked how he could reconcile a strict ban on lobbyists in his administration with a Deputy Defense Secretary nominee who lobbied for Raytheon, Obama interrupted with a knowing smile on his face.

“Ahh, see,” he said, “I came down here to visit. See this is what happens. I can’t end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I’m going to get grilled every time I come down here.”

Pressed further by the Politico reporter about his Pentagon nominee, William J. Lynn III, Obama turned more serious, putting his hand on the reporter’s shoulder and staring him in the eye.

“Alright, come on” he said, with obvious irritation in his voice. “We will be having a press conference at which time you can feel free to [ask] questions. Right now, I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself to you guys – that’s all I was trying to do.”

The president was quickly saved by a cameraman in the room who called out: “I’d like to say it one more time: ‘Mr. President.’ ”

via Obama flashes irritation in press room – Jonathan Martin and Carrie Budoff Brown – Politico.com.

Look for that Politico reporter to turn up in Gitmo; as a suspected terrorist, For daring to ask “The One” a question. What I just do not get, why can’t the President just answer a damn question??!?! Is he that much of a empty suit, that he cannot answer a straight question?

To be fair, Bush did so the same things when he was office, and yes, I did criticize him for it.

This whole thing of shooting down questions from the media; by the President, totally pisses me off.  That’s the media’s job. Try doing yours, “Mr. President”, and answer their questions.

Others: The Moderate Voice, Outside The Beltway, CBS News, Pirate’s Cove, theheretik.us, Time, USA Today, Swampland, Gawker, Don Surber, Vox Popoli, Hot Air, FishBowlDCSister Toldjah, Betsy’s Page, RedState, Pajamas Media

(Via Memeorandum)

See, The problem is this

It seems that the Far left Liberal Blog Huffington Post, which is owned by a marble-mouthed Greek twit; is giving Michelle Malkin a hard time:

Michelle Malkin Doesn’t Care About Black People

To mark the day, Michelle Malkin kept a whimsical inauguration cliché count, supposedly monitoring utterances of the “First black president in American history” and “We are witnessing history.”

Michelle didn’t hide her contempt for all this attention being paid to Obama or for the credit he’s getting for being our first black president. She also made space on her blog to point out that no one in the media was covering how Obama inauguration celebrant Jay-Z often uses the word “nigga.” Then she uploaded a video on her site to prove it and sniffed, “And you wonder why some of us don’t believe MLK’s dream has been completely fulfilled …”

Now, many of you may be wondering why someone who is of Asian decent would be so antagonistic toward Obama and his background. And while Michelle may be a whore for the far-right — and she is certainly being a good one by discounting this momentous event — it still gives us pause. While most whores love to bring joy to people, it seems this one only seeks to spread hate.

Michelle Responds:

Yeah, that’s me. “Whore for the far-right.” All because I refuse to genuflect at the altar of the far-left’s selective, skin-deep diversity and slaver at the feet of Barack Obama. All because I pointed out the hypocrisy of the post-racialists’ obnoxious racialism.

Perhaps if I instead drooled all over Barack Obama’s presidential blanket like giddy Donna Brazile did in this embarrassing Good Morning America video, they’d pat me on my head and consider me a properly-behaved member of my ethnic group, too.

Let me add something to the Conversation here. Here’s the real deal on the Far Left’s idea of “Diversity”. “Diversity” goes one way and one way only, to the minorities.  If you are a white man, like me; you’re just out of luck! Want proof?

Check out this video here, this is Robert Reich, who served in the Clinton Administration: (H/T HotAir)

Money Quote:

I am concerned, as I’m sure many of you are, that these jobs not simply go to high-skilled people who are already professionals or to white male construction workers.  … I have nothing against white male construction workers.  I’m just saying that there are a lot of other people who have needs as well. … Criteria can be set so that the money does go to others, the long term unemployed minorities, women, people who are not necessarily construction workers or high-skilled professionals.

So, you see, Diversity within the Democratic Party means, if you’re black or a minority; you are covered. If your a White Man, like me, You are totally screwed.

As for what is being said about Michelle is simply this. Race Baiting. Anyone that does not dance to the tune of Hope and Change; and does not bow to the alter of B. Hussein Obama, is unfairly smeared as a racist. It has been that way since the passage of the unconstitutional civil rights act of 1964, and has only gotten worse ever since.  Thanks to LBJ for selling the White man and true ethnic diversity up the river.

While I might have some issues with Michelle’s Neo-Conservatism and her support of the Iraq War. I am in total agreement with Michelle on this issue here.

President Obama to order gitmo closed in 12 months

This is a big change from Bush’s policies.

President Barack Obama will begin overhauling U.S. national security policy Thursday with orders to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, review military trials of terror suspects and end harsh interrogations, two government officials said.

Together, the three executive orders and a presidential directive will reshape how the United States prosecutes and questions al-Qaida, Taliban or other foreign fighters who pose a threat to Americans.

A senior Obama administration official said the president would sign an order Thursday to shutter the Guantanamo prison within one year, fulfilling his campaign promise to close a facility that critics around the world say violates domestic and international detainee rights. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the order has not yet been issued.

A draft copy of the order, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, notes that “in view of significant concerns raised by these detentions, both within the United States and internationally, prompt and appropriate disposition of the individuals currently detained at Guantanamo and closure of the facility would further the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice.

via Sources: Obama to order Guantanamo closed – Yahoo! News.

I have mixed feelings about this. I think it is good that this nightmare for the United States is basically going to be going away. But on the other hand, I do not like the idea of releasing possibly terrorists, who might want to harm us again.

Either way, it is quite the mixed bag. I just hope this new Presidential Administration makes the right call.

(via Memeorandum)