The holidays have taken a toll on my blogging, as they usually do. This is a belated RIP for the recently departed Senator. Holiday activities, work, holiday traffic, an accident involving a white tail deer (I am OK but she did not fare as well) have once more put me behind schedule.
By now, Daniel Inouye's life has been recounted and accolades have piled up. For me, one memory of the distinguished Senator stands out. During the Watergate hearings, one of the witnesses' lawyers (Haldeman?) called Inouye "a Jap." That was one of the ugliest events in television history. Even if one could excuse the racism, the fact that the comment was directed at a noble warrior who had given his right arm in the service of his country left the viewing public with a hollow feeling that took a while to go away.
Senator Inouye was a great man from a great generation (do we have to call them the greatest if they inflicted the Social Security Ponzi scheme on us?) He will be missed.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Is Anyone Else Offended That The Architect of Operation Fast and Furious Lectures Us On Gun Violence?
Even if Eric Holder emerges legally unscathed from Operation Fast and Furious, he will forever be exposed as one of the most callous human beings the world has ever seen. The cold-hearted indifference Holder has displayed at the reports of deaths numbering somewhere between two hundred and "thousands" is frightening. And the man who tried to squelch the investigation with executive privelege is every bit as scary in his reptilian sentiment.
Mr. Attorney General and Mr. President, do not talk to us about gun violence. You have no credibility in this matter.
Mr. Attorney General and Mr. President, do not talk to us about gun violence. You have no credibility in this matter.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Replies To smrstrauss's Comments Concerning Barack Hussein Obama's Presidential Eligibility
smrstrauss said...
"In fact, it must have been damn irritating to have to get another birth certificate from Hawaii, when you have already shown one, and when the officials in Hawaii of BOTH parties confirmed the facts on it, and the Index Data and the birth notices in the newspapers, etc."
It might have been damn irritating. So what? You and I both know that the presidency comes with a bundle of perks--24 hour security, 24 hour food service, two jets, and a large paid staff for starters--so as to insure that the president is never bogged down in minutia. That is how it should be.
With a wave of the hand, the president can secure a long form birth certificate and ultimately he would wave his hand and a staff member would produce said document. There are those of us who still respect the office of the presidency and we ask the same of any administration. I's should be dotted and t's should be crossed. It is not asking too much for the president to wave his imperial hand and produce a requested document.
But this president is just too self-important for such things. He crossed his adolescent arms in an act of defiance and refused to budge until Donald Trump goaded him to act. You might see this behavior as admirable but I see it as a character flaw.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If YOU really believe that Obama's mother traveled tens of thousands of miles to Kenya (where Yellow Fever was endemic at the time and which had lousy hospitals) late in pregnancy, and a cost of tens of thousands of dollars in 2012 terms, you are just as nutty as Orly."
First of all, I am every bit as nutty as Orly but I don't have an agent. And here I will sacrifice some of my nut cred and say that I agree with you that Stanley Dunham would not have traveled to Kenya in the late stages of pregnancy for the reasons you list but for other reasons as well. Given what we know about human nature I doubt if Brack Obama Senior's new model wife would have been warmly greeted by his family. Her arrival would probably not be a Kumbaya moment.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Should the US Congress investigate every time a literary agent makes an obvious mistake?"
No. But if it was a mistake, it was clearly a mistake made with and Barack Obama's approval.
From The UK Telegraph http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100158834/obama-used-to-be-a-kenyan/
Today, the President has satisfied all right-minded folk that he was in fact born in Hawaii. Breitbart.com itself has always rejected the absurd cult of birtherism. In fact, this story is really the opposite of birtherism – Breitbart infers that in the past Obama encouraged people to think that he was born abroad in order to establish an identity as an authentic, exotic voice in the debate on racial politics.
Obama’s old literary agent has issued a terse statement to the effect that the wording was all her fault and she never consulted her client. If that’s true, she’s a bad agent. A different agent, quoted by Breitbart.com, disagrees. He told the website “that while ‘almost nobody’ wrote his or her own biography, the non-athletes in the booklet, whom ‘the agents deal[t] with on a daily basis,’ were ‘probably’ approached to approve the text as presented.”
If we accept that Obama didn’t provide the biography, it would seem highly unlikely that he didn’t get a chance to vet it. Accepting that he didn’t do that either, it’s incredibly strange that the literary agent approached by Breitbart.com does not remember Obama calling the agency to register a complaint and make a correction. My mother spent a lot of her childhood in Grenada. If my literary agent told people I was born in the Caribbean, I’d at least pick up the phone to set the record straight.
The young Barack Obama was given to flights of exotica and he was unusually image-conscious. He wanted to impress people with his worldliness and what better way to do so than to fabricate a story that he was born in Kenya. Given the revelations by David Maraniss that there were over three dozen factual inaccuracies (and these were not trivial inaccuracies) in "Dreams From My Father" and the ongoing liberties the senator/candidate/president takes with any matter of substance, it further establishes that our president is a pathological liar.
But we as a people have decided that truth is not important and I do not advocate that Congress investigate the president's eligibility on matters of habitual dishonesty. Of course, Indonesian citizenship is another matter altogether. Comment: I bet if Sarah Palin had told her literary agent that she was born in Canada, the major news outlets would NOT have killed the story.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Re forged birth certificate. I agree with you that the claims of the birth certificate being forged come from Obama's enemies and are simply made up by them. Among the birther "experts" are Paul Irey, who showed his attitude towards Obama by continuing to insist that Obama never attended Columbia College, despite Columbia University saying that he did, and that he graduated, and Doug Vogt, who showed his rationality by claiming to have discovered the original altar of Abraham. Want to see his site?
There are many real experts who say that there is nothing wrong with Obama's birth certificate, including John Woodman, who happens to be a member of the Tea Party and who dislikes Obama and Obama's policies, but shows that the birther "experts" are wrong. They also include Ivan Zatkovich, who was hired by WND to examine the image of Obama's birth certificate, and when he submitted his report that there was nothing wrong with Obama's birth certificate, WND simply did not publish it."
I am sorry to say that I am ignorant of most things birth certificate related. I do not know Irey or Vogt or Woodman. At some point I will ask WND if they killed a dissenting report from Ivan Zatkovich and I will report the correspondence here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A question for you? Do people always obey the law?"
I am sorry to say that I do. That is more a sad testimonial to age than to virtue or citizenship.
"If it ever got to court, the court might ask the Indonesian Embassy to send someone to testify, and what would that person say? She or he would say: "Obama was never a citizen of Indonesia." And that would settle it."
Then let us settle it.
"But you do not have to wait for a court to do that, you can call yourself, ask for the Press Officer."
Why not just call Jay Carney?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re: "Is a minor automatically adopted by one's stepfather under Indonesian law? Doesn't a child have to be an Indonesian citizen to attend Indonesian schools?" "The answer is NO and again NO (that claim was made up by birthers), but you can check for yourself. Once again, the Indonesian Embassy knows all about such things. They even have a legal expert on their staff."
I would prefer that someone versed in law make such inquiries.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We know that Obama used his step-father's name. There is NO evidence that he was adopted, and there would be evidence if he were. There is no evidence that he changed his name legally, and there would be evidence if he did. So, he just used the name."
I appreciate your learned opinion on this but I do believe these matters deserve further scrutiny.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These are not sour grapes, nor is this a vendetta and despite what Chris Matthews might tell you, this plea for Congressional investigation is not racially motivated. This is a matter of national security. David Petraeus was terminated (or asked to resign) as Director of CIA. The explanation given was that he had a mistress and this constituted a security risk (even though all significant parties knew of his mistress at the time of his confirmation.)
If the president is hiding a potentially scandalous secret does that not make the Commander-In-Chief a security risk? Is he not vulnerable to blackmail? Is he not beholden to whomever might share in knowledge of said secret?
Barack Obama might have stonewalled in the past to conceal politically disatrous but not necessarily disqualifying material. But he is now in his second term and he has said himself that he will never again seek political office. So if he listed his place of birth as Kenya on a college application or his citizenship as Indonesian, or if he neglected to take an economics course or if he wrote anti-American theses, or if he reveals a failing grade in basic math, now is the time to come clean. Those are not impeachable offenses and his loyalists will maintain their loyalty NO MATTER WHAT! They probably won't bother to examine such matters.
But there is also the distinct possibility that Barack Obama is concealing an eligibility issue. This is not mere speculation. The Indonesian Citizenship issue has never been investigated. If Congress does not act, who will?
It might have been damn irritating. So what? You and I both know that the presidency comes with a bundle of perks--24 hour security, 24 hour food service, two jets, and a large paid staff for starters--so as to insure that the president is never bogged down in minutia. That is how it should be.
With a wave of the hand, the president can secure a long form birth certificate and ultimately he would wave his hand and a staff member would produce said document. There are those of us who still respect the office of the presidency and we ask the same of any administration. I's should be dotted and t's should be crossed. It is not asking too much for the president to wave his imperial hand and produce a requested document.
But this president is just too self-important for such things. He crossed his adolescent arms in an act of defiance and refused to budge until Donald Trump goaded him to act. You might see this behavior as admirable but I see it as a character flaw.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If YOU really believe that Obama's mother traveled tens of thousands of miles to Kenya (where Yellow Fever was endemic at the time and which had lousy hospitals) late in pregnancy, and a cost of tens of thousands of dollars in 2012 terms, you are just as nutty as Orly."
First of all, I am every bit as nutty as Orly but I don't have an agent. And here I will sacrifice some of my nut cred and say that I agree with you that Stanley Dunham would not have traveled to Kenya in the late stages of pregnancy for the reasons you list but for other reasons as well. Given what we know about human nature I doubt if Brack Obama Senior's new model wife would have been warmly greeted by his family. Her arrival would probably not be a Kumbaya moment.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Should the US Congress investigate every time a literary agent makes an obvious mistake?"
No. But if it was a mistake, it was clearly a mistake made with and Barack Obama's approval.
From The UK Telegraph http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100158834/obama-used-to-be-a-kenyan/
Today, the President has satisfied all right-minded folk that he was in fact born in Hawaii. Breitbart.com itself has always rejected the absurd cult of birtherism. In fact, this story is really the opposite of birtherism – Breitbart infers that in the past Obama encouraged people to think that he was born abroad in order to establish an identity as an authentic, exotic voice in the debate on racial politics.
Obama’s old literary agent has issued a terse statement to the effect that the wording was all her fault and she never consulted her client. If that’s true, she’s a bad agent. A different agent, quoted by Breitbart.com, disagrees. He told the website “that while ‘almost nobody’ wrote his or her own biography, the non-athletes in the booklet, whom ‘the agents deal[t] with on a daily basis,’ were ‘probably’ approached to approve the text as presented.”
If we accept that Obama didn’t provide the biography, it would seem highly unlikely that he didn’t get a chance to vet it. Accepting that he didn’t do that either, it’s incredibly strange that the literary agent approached by Breitbart.com does not remember Obama calling the agency to register a complaint and make a correction. My mother spent a lot of her childhood in Grenada. If my literary agent told people I was born in the Caribbean, I’d at least pick up the phone to set the record straight.
The young Barack Obama was given to flights of exotica and he was unusually image-conscious. He wanted to impress people with his worldliness and what better way to do so than to fabricate a story that he was born in Kenya. Given the revelations by David Maraniss that there were over three dozen factual inaccuracies (and these were not trivial inaccuracies) in "Dreams From My Father" and the ongoing liberties the senator/candidate/president takes with any matter of substance, it further establishes that our president is a pathological liar.
But we as a people have decided that truth is not important and I do not advocate that Congress investigate the president's eligibility on matters of habitual dishonesty. Of course, Indonesian citizenship is another matter altogether. Comment: I bet if Sarah Palin had told her literary agent that she was born in Canada, the major news outlets would NOT have killed the story.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Re forged birth certificate. I agree with you that the claims of the birth certificate being forged come from Obama's enemies and are simply made up by them. Among the birther "experts" are Paul Irey, who showed his attitude towards Obama by continuing to insist that Obama never attended Columbia College, despite Columbia University saying that he did, and that he graduated, and Doug Vogt, who showed his rationality by claiming to have discovered the original altar of Abraham. Want to see his site?
There are many real experts who say that there is nothing wrong with Obama's birth certificate, including John Woodman, who happens to be a member of the Tea Party and who dislikes Obama and Obama's policies, but shows that the birther "experts" are wrong. They also include Ivan Zatkovich, who was hired by WND to examine the image of Obama's birth certificate, and when he submitted his report that there was nothing wrong with Obama's birth certificate, WND simply did not publish it."
I am sorry to say that I am ignorant of most things birth certificate related. I do not know Irey or Vogt or Woodman. At some point I will ask WND if they killed a dissenting report from Ivan Zatkovich and I will report the correspondence here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A question for you? Do people always obey the law?"
I am sorry to say that I do. That is more a sad testimonial to age than to virtue or citizenship.
"If it ever got to court, the court might ask the Indonesian Embassy to send someone to testify, and what would that person say? She or he would say: "Obama was never a citizen of Indonesia." And that would settle it."
Then let us settle it.
"But you do not have to wait for a court to do that, you can call yourself, ask for the Press Officer."
Why not just call Jay Carney?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re: "Is a minor automatically adopted by one's stepfather under Indonesian law? Doesn't a child have to be an Indonesian citizen to attend Indonesian schools?" "The answer is NO and again NO (that claim was made up by birthers), but you can check for yourself. Once again, the Indonesian Embassy knows all about such things. They even have a legal expert on their staff."
I would prefer that someone versed in law make such inquiries.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We know that Obama used his step-father's name. There is NO evidence that he was adopted, and there would be evidence if he were. There is no evidence that he changed his name legally, and there would be evidence if he did. So, he just used the name."
I appreciate your learned opinion on this but I do believe these matters deserve further scrutiny.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These are not sour grapes, nor is this a vendetta and despite what Chris Matthews might tell you, this plea for Congressional investigation is not racially motivated. This is a matter of national security. David Petraeus was terminated (or asked to resign) as Director of CIA. The explanation given was that he had a mistress and this constituted a security risk (even though all significant parties knew of his mistress at the time of his confirmation.)
If the president is hiding a potentially scandalous secret does that not make the Commander-In-Chief a security risk? Is he not vulnerable to blackmail? Is he not beholden to whomever might share in knowledge of said secret?
Barack Obama might have stonewalled in the past to conceal politically disatrous but not necessarily disqualifying material. But he is now in his second term and he has said himself that he will never again seek political office. So if he listed his place of birth as Kenya on a college application or his citizenship as Indonesian, or if he neglected to take an economics course or if he wrote anti-American theses, or if he reveals a failing grade in basic math, now is the time to come clean. Those are not impeachable offenses and his loyalists will maintain their loyalty NO MATTER WHAT! They probably won't bother to examine such matters.
But there is also the distinct possibility that Barack Obama is concealing an eligibility issue. This is not mere speculation. The Indonesian Citizenship issue has never been investigated. If Congress does not act, who will?
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