No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for the 'International relations' Category

October 5, 2011

Falklands Part Deux?

by @ 23:13. Filed under International relations, War.

(H/T – The Old Pooners Facebook Group, specifically Christopher Irvine)

Nile Gardiner of The Telegraph outlined the latest bout of words between Great Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands. The gang has kicked around the possibility of it going beyond words off and on for a while, and given at least some of them are/were naval operators, they’re a lot better at it than I am.

If memory serves, both the Royal Navy and the Argentine armed forces have atrophied since 1982, though the RN has really suffered. Unless the RAF figures out a way to get either the Tornado or Typhoon 8,000 miles in number before the Argentines close the airfields (and then have the RN get reloads down), the Brits won’t have any air cover. On the other hand, with a fair bit of warning, a British sub could put a real crimp in the ability of the Argentine Navy to actually land any troops given they have exactly 1 troop carrier and 4 destroyers.

The big question is how much support the US would give Britain, if any in this scenario. Back in 1982, the US gave Britain significant off-battlefield logistical support once the Argentines decided to not negotiate.

August 29, 2011

PLO – We won’t accept a Jewish state

by @ 8:42. Filed under International relations.

(H/T – Memeorandum)

Ynetnews is reporting that Palestinian Liberation Organizati…er, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas will not recognize a Jewish nation even as he presses forward with UN recognition of a Palestinian nation. The relatively-good news is that the US isn’t backing that effort (though, like all statements from Obama, it is subject to an expiration date).

The pieces are starting to fall together for the next Arab-Israel war, as Egypt slides into Islamic fundamentalism (latest example – the Muslim Brotherhood has ordered the Israeli ambassador to Egypt to leave or die) and the threat to Egypt from the west, a Gaddafi-led Libya, is neutralized. The only question is whether Syria will end up being an anvil or the second pincer in that attempt.

March 1, 2011

Tuesday Hot Read – Rick Moran’s “The Consequences of Being Too Civilized”

by @ 0:01. Filed under International relations.

Rick Moran lays out why we as Westerners sometimes need to meet abject barbarism with overwhelming barbaric force. Just a taste to get you to read the whole thing:

It is our refusal to adopt the tactics and ruthlessness of evil in order to destroy it that makes us look weak and helpless in the face of such monumentally uncivilized behavior.

When confronted with evil — the real thing, not the exaggerated, partisan, politically motivated sort of “evil” that right and left believe emanates from their opponents — civilized man freezes like a deer in headlights and fails spectacularly in doing the things necessary to stop it.

It took truly barbaric tactics — including fire bombing German cities and leveling a great many French villages and towns — to defeat Adolf Hitler. Prior to the war, western governments realized in a vague way the threat posed by Hitler’s evil, but refused to lift a finger to stop him until it was far too late.

It took a barbaric weapon to defeat the evil Japanese militarists who literally raped their way across Asia in an orgy of slaughter. Prior to Pearl Harbor, the very cultured and decent Franklin Roosevelt refused to heed the admonitions of his own Japanese ambassador, Joseph Grew, about the threat posed to the world by the unholy alliance of the Imperial Army and corporate war mongers. It took one of the most decent men ever to serve as president – Harry Truman – to order the use of the most indecent weapon ever devised by man and end the militarist’s mad ambitions. We debate the morality of using that weapon and the tactics in Europe to this day.

November 30, 2010

Mideast “diplomacy”, Iranian edition

by @ 21:21. Filed under International relations, War.

I’m shamelessly cribbing from Neptunus Lex for these two items related to Iran and the art of saying, “Nice doggie,” while searching for and hurling sharp sticks:

August 8, 2010

It’s a Small World After All!

The Shoebox’s are huge Disney fans.  Old or new, we love all Disney movies.  DisneyWorld?  We’ve been there at least once a year since the Things were about 5 and some years we clocked as many as 4 trips. 

We’ve been to DisneyWorld enough times that the heat and long lines, if there are any, don’t bother us.  We have our favorite attractions and know how to use Fastpass, extra magic hours and the other Disney mechanisms to manage lines, to our fullest advantage.  One attraction that hardly ever has a line is It’s a Small World.

For those of you who have been on this ride, bear with me while I bring the others up to speed.  It’s a Small World is a boat ride through various scenes of puppets dressed as children from countries around the world.  The attraction, originally built for the 1964 World’s Fair, may have been entertaining at the time but today, is nothing short of boring.  Along with the dated animation of the kitchy puppets, is the song that plays over and over and over again, just with different languages.  By the end of the ride, most people are considering diving out of the boat and swimming to the end of the ride.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 particularly despise It’s a Small World.  For this reason, Mrs. Shoe and I make sure that we ride it on each trip.  we usually set it up so that we “have” to do It’s a Small World before the Things get to do something they are really yearning to do.

But, I digress. This post has nothing to do with Disney.

In the same week that President Obama’s favorability rating as an average across all major polls, drops below 50% in the US, it is announced that Arabs have an even lower opinion of the President than his US constituents.

According to a recently released Brookings public opinion poll, 63% of Arabs labeled their attitude as “discouraged” by the Obama administration. In contrast, only 16% were “hopeful”. While those numbers alone are remarkeable given that the meme of the Obama phenomena was that the world would love the US if only Obama were kingPresident, what’s more amazing is how quickly the perception of Obama has changed. Just last year, the poll was nearly the exact opposite with 51% of Arabs saying they were optomistic and only 15% discouraged.

It’s hard to believe that only two short years ago the Left was decrying President Bush over his poor popularity amongst Arabs. At the time, only 15% of Arabs had a favorable view of the United States. Today, only 12% of Arabs have a favorable view of the United States and there isn’t a peep of concern about Barack Obama is impacting the position of the US in the world.

Most people would agree that the issues of the Middle East are very distant from those challenging the US. That said, when it comes to optimism in the Obama administration, it is a Small World After All!

July 14, 2010

Excuse Me?

by @ 19:21. Filed under Immigration, International relations.

The AP is reporting that Bejing(that would be in China) is creating gated communities.  While in the US, when you say “gate community” you think of opulence, in China, gate communities are done to keep the low income, undesirables from running amok in the neighborhoods.

OK, China has a horrible record on human rights and they are still a Communist country so abusing some folks isn’t new.  What is new is how this is perceived and accepted by our left intelligentsia:

“In some ways, this is like the conflict between Americans and illegal immigrants in the States. The local residents feel threatened by the influx of migrants,” Huang Youqin, an associate professor of geography at the University at Albany in New York.

Huh?  What?  Excuse me?

What China is doing is nothing like the Arizona situation!  First, China is doing this to their own residents, not illegal aliens.  Second, last I looked, I’ve seen no ghettos set up for illegal aliens.  In fact, we have a bunch of sanctuary cities that opening welcome illegal aliens.  Finally, the only “gating” done in the US is for illegal acts.  That said, I’m betting there are some countries that the illegals have left who think and act upon their residents in the same fashion that China does!

Moral equivalency my butt!

“NO” to “War on Terror”, “YES” to ETOC Complaints

by @ 14:42. Filed under International relations, War on Terror.

According to a report filed by Jake Tapper, President Obama has found a reason to fight Al Qaeda. No, it’s not because of their terroristic acts, well, not directly. No, the reason President Obama is unhappy with Al Qaeda is because they are racist!

In an interview earlier today with the South African Broadcasting Corporation to air in a few hours, President Obama disparaged Al Qaeda and affiliated groups’ willingness to kill Africans in a manner that White House aides say was an argument that the terrorist groups are racist.

Speaking about the Uganda bombings, the president said, “What you’ve seen in some of the statements that have been made by these terrorist organizations is that they do not regard African life as valuable in and of itself.  They see it as a potential place where you can carry out ideological battles that kill innocents without regard to long-term consequences for their short-term tactical gains.”

Have you picked yourself up off the floor yet?

So, let me get this straight.  The President believes that if Al Qaeda recruited more white suicide bombers, their human rights record would match right up along side whose exactly?

The spokesperson went on to explain the logic for this conclusion by using the African Embassy bombings as examples:

This can be seen, the official said, in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, when hundreds of Africans were killed and thousands wounded.

I may have missed part of this story but wasn’t Al Qaeda trying to kill the US Embassy employees at the embassies?  Is the administration suggesting that if Al Qaeda had calculated that the same number of white European innocents had been killed and harmed as collateral damage, that Al Qaeda wouldn’t have attempted the embassy attacks?

I know, you think I’m being loose and flip with the words.  You think I’m twisting what they’re saying into something it isn’t merely to poke fun at the administration.  Nope, this one is real:

“Additionally, U.S. intelligence has indicated that Al Qaeda leadership specifically targets and recruits black Africans to become suicide bombers because they believe that poor economic and social conditions make them more susceptible to recruitment than Arabs,” the official said. “Al Qaeda recruits have said that Al Qaeda is racist against black members from West Africa because they are only used in lower level operations.”

That’s right, if only Al Qaeda would have a proportional number of Africans in their upper leadership as they have in their human bomb division, the US would have no problem with what they are doing.

Can it be long before we have another Czar announced?  The Czar of ETOC (Equal Terrorist Opportunity Commission) will likely be made as a recess appointment during the next Congressional break.  I can’t wait for the first meeting between the Czar and leaders of Al Qaeda where the Czar will no doubt open the meeting by apologizing for Arizona’s discriminatory illegal alien legislation!

June 28, 2010

The latest evidence Obama is serving FDR’s 5th term

Ed Morrissey highlighted the latest bit of evidence that Obama is really the second coming of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. From his joint press conference with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev:

Those were the same hopes of another generation of Americans and Russians — the generation that stood together as allies in the Second World War —- the Great Patriotic War in which the Russian people suffered and sacrificed so much. We recently marked the 65th anniversary of our shared victory in that war, including that historic moment when American and Soviet troops came together in friendship at the Elbe River in Germany.

“A reporter who was there at that time, all those years ago, said: “If there is a fine, splendid world in the future, it will largely be because the United States and Russia get on well together. If it is in trouble, it will be because they don’t get on well. It’s as simple as that.”

Since Ed included the uncorrected comment in an e-mail I sent to him on this, I’ll repeat the Croats twice here as well – I think the Poles, Estonians, Latvians, Lituanians, Hungarians, Slavs, Croats, Bosnians, Romanians and Croats (among others) might have a second opinion on that.

It was the Yalta Conference, FDR’s last major decision, that abandoned Eastern Europe to the not-at-all-tenderness of Iosif Stalin.

Revisions/extensions (5:52 pm 6/28/2010) – How did I screw up the link to Ed? Sorry about that; it’s fixed now.

December 7, 2009

A date that still lives in infamy – 68 years later

by @ 10:00. Filed under History, International relations, War.

I originally posted this in 2007. Let’s re-run that, and add to it.

Hat-tip for the video – Jawa Howie. Now, watch and remember (or learn if you’re a recent product of public school education):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAnOtWm5OrM[/youtube]

Of course, the lessons are rapidly being forgotten, as Ed Morrissey points out:

It took hundreds of thousands of American lives to defeat both Japan and Nazi Germany in the war that followed — a war that had already enslaved China years before on one side of the US, and half of Europe on the other side. We thought we had learned a lesson on December 7, 1941 ,which was that we had to be prepared to fight a war in order to keep from getting surprised like that again. Of course, we shouldn’t have been surprised at all by Japan’s attack in the first place. They didn’t suddenly become warlike and aggressive on December 6th, 1941, as the Chinese, Manchurians, and Koreans could attest. They had been attempting conquest (and succeeding) for several years in the Pacific Rim. We just preferred to keep our eyes closed in order to keep from doing anything about it. When we attempted to cut off oil to Japan, we discovered that negotiations and sanctions don’t keep war-drunk, expansionist powers from increasing their expansionism.

The lesson from that war is that appeasement and complacency doesn’t keep one from having to fight a war. It usually forces one to fight from an extreme disadvantage. That’s a lesson we have not remembered in dealing with expansionist powers in our own time, even after a second shock like 9/11 after years of complacency in dealing with al-Qaeda. We’re falling back to treating radical Islamist terrorism like a Law and Order episode, and allowing one of the main drivers of radical Islamist terror, Iran, to arm itself with nuclear weapons with no consequences whatsoever.

To that, I’ll add that Red China, which has rather open designs on both Taiwan and the entirety of the South China Sea, is still arming itself to the teeth while holding a rapidly-growing lot of US government debt. What do you suppose will happen if the federal government decides to default on some of that debt held by Red China?

December 2, 2009

The Work You Have Will Fill The Time Alloted For It

I hate to say I told you so but, I told you so. 

Had you read my post from yesterday you would have had all the high points of President Obama’s Afghan speech, in advance and without having to watch his strained, poorly choreographed event.

So, what did we get?  We got some additional troops, he’s going to bang his shoe on the Afghan government’s table and he’s going to begin withdrawal in 18 months.  All like I said yesterday. 

I only have one question:  “What took him so long?”

President Obama mentally gyrated for 3 months so that he could get all the best advice, understand the situation clearly, look at options and make a plan.  After all that, he came up with a plan that I could have developed in 1/2 hour including two pee breaks?

Thing 1 and Thing 2 are in fifth grade.  This is the first year that they are regularly getting homework.  Mrs. Shoebox and I work with them to ensure that their first focus each day is to do their homework.  Even if things aren’t due until later in the week, we encourage them to finish as much of their homework as early in the week as possible.  The reason is simple, it’s easy for 11 year olds to forget about what they’re supposed to do and spend time on what they want to do.  The corollary to this for adults is the old saying about the amount of work you have will always fill the amount of time you have to do it.

It’s clear from his speech this evening, that the extra time that President Obama spent trying to decide what to do in Afghanistan wasn’t invested in a higher quality product.  It’s obvious that President Obama didn’t focus his effort at the beginning of his time and like Thing 1 and Thing 2, got caught slapping something together at the last minute.

One of the folks I follow on Twitter posted that he wasn’t going to be critical of President Obama, he wanted to wish him the best because he wanted us to win in Afghanistan.  My response was that I too want us to win in Afghanistan but somehow I don’t believe that that is President Obama’s objective.

November 18, 2009

What, Me Worry?

President Obama is now the Alfred E. Neuman of US Politics

AP: Obama, Holder predict conviction in 9/11 case

Ummmm…wasn’t this the same administration who said unemployment wouldn’t go over 8%?

I wonder if this will be another opportunity for Vice President Biden to tell us, after the fact, that the situation was “worse than expected?”

November 17, 2009

Well, How Does It Feel?

It didn’t start with the Obama administration but it has accelerated to warp speed under their watch.  What am I referring to?  Well, the government trying to tell you how to live your life, of course.

  • Smoking Bans
  • CFL light bulb
  • Banning or taxes on sugar items
  • Forced health insurance purchases
  • Carbon restrictions
  • Salary caps
  • Car manufacturing

These are all examples of where the government has stuck their nose into places they shouldn’t be or have proposed doing the same. 

If health reform and cap and trade were to pass, it’s hard to imagine an area of our lives that government wouldn’t have influence, if not the potential for dictatorial control over.

It turns out that we mere citizens are not the only ones feeling the weight of government oversight on our shoulders.  James Pethokoukis reports that China is asking detailed questions about the impact of health care reform on the US economy and deficits.  Wow, that’s got to be uncomfortable to have another nation question you on issues that should be only the business of your nation?  What ever happened to national sovereignty?  Probably the same thing that is happening to our personal liberties.

So how does it feel President Obama?

November 3, 2009

Karzai Warns American President: Time For New Chapter

From the AP of all places:

WASHINGTON – President Hamid Karzai greeted Barack Obama’s coat tail loses of Tuesday with as much admonishment as praise on Monday, pointedly advising Afghanistan’s partner in war he must make more serious efforts to end corruption in America’s government and prepare his nation to ultimately defend itself.

“I emphasized that this has to be a point in time in which we begin to write a new chapter,” Karzai said in describing his phone call to the American president. When Obama offered back assurances, Karzai said he told him that “the proof is not going to be in words. It’s going to be in deeds.”

At least that’s how the article should have read!

October 26, 2009

Next Up On the “Rights” Hit Parade…

Individual “Rights” come in two forms.  There are the rights that are spelled out in the Constitution.  A right to bear arms, a right to a fair trial and a right to free speech are just a few of the examples of these rights.  These rights, while guaranteed by the Constitution, are time and again “rights” that we have to fight to retain.  It seems hardly a month goes by where one or more of our Constitutionally guaranteed rights are assaulted in small and large ways by Congress, the Judiciary, any of a number of interest groups are not comfortable in a free society, or even, the President.

Along with the rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution, there are a whole separate set of “rights” that have been established, not by the Constitution, but by the government.  This set of “rights” are no where to be found in the Constitution.  This set of “rights” are not even “rights”, at least not if you believe a “right” that you have doesn’t require anyone else to give up something they have.  Included in this set of “rights” are; the “right” to an abortion, a “Right” to government provided financial support and a “right” to an equal educational opportunity for every child.

It’s ironic that we have to fight to get the set of rights provided by the Constitution remembered and yet any number of people and groups are happy to increase the number of the unmerited “rights”.

Right now, Congress is debating the addition of another unmerited “right”.  While there are numerous rationals for the desire to implement health care reform, the core essence of the Left’s argument is that health care is in fact a right.  Can you find it in the Constitution?  No.  However, the Left is undaunted in this argument and believes “it’s the right thing to do.”

If you think health care as a right is offensive, get ready for the next “right” that is now germinating within the thinking of the Left; a right to housing!

In this video, Raquel Rolnik, a UN “special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing” (think “Special Investigator”), is coming the the US to make a determination about New York and six other cities, affordable housing.

If you have any questions about my concerns regarding housing becoming a  focus of “rights”, let’s look at Ms. Rolnik’s own words:

“I am representing the right of adequate housing as a human right.”

In past times a US President would have taken insult in a UN inspector nosing around the US when the UN’s record is one of support for Socialists and Marxists.  This time, Rolnik is likely to receive the Medal of Honor from President Obama.

Following her town hall in New Orleans, Ms. Rolnik made the following comments:

“Well, the feeling is that we definitely need to have a discussion, open discussion and re-appraisal of housing policies. I think a lot has been done in this country. This country has a history of intervening in housing sector, of building public housing, or intervening in the homelessness sector on innovating programs like rent subsidizing and other schemes. But in a way I think that was stuck in some point now. And I think the way forward need to be discussed.”

Just what Obama needs, support from the UN to completely take over yet one more industry!

 

 

October 16, 2009

Can Obama Constitutionally accept the Nobel Peace Prize?

(H/T – Hot Air Headlines)

Ronald D. Rotunda and J. Peter Pham address that in today’s Washington Post. Within the confines of a relatively-short column that is optimized for print (specifically, no links) and briefly goes beyond the bounds of the Nobel and into the Collar of the King Abdul Aziz Order of Merit (Saudi Arabia’s highest honor) accepted by both Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, it is in the main a decent look. Before I get to my non-scholary look, however, I do have a point of order to make – as far as the Enoulments portion of the Constitution is concerned, the Constitution, and the laws and regulations set within the bounds thereof, do not care whether the impetus for an award issued by a foreign government is for past actions or the hope of future actions. Other portions of the American body of law may well distinguish between the two, but the discussion of that point, or the merits (or lack thereof) of the award itself is not germaine to this post.

Like Routunda and Pham, I start with Article I, Section 9, which states, “And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State.” Obama does hold an office of Trust, specifically the Office of President. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which has announced that it will award the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama, is appointed by and reports to the Norwegian parliament, which makes it an agent of a foreign State.

Congress can pass a resolution consenting to Obama receiving the Peace Prize and all of its associated awards and gifts. If that is done, that would be the end of the Constitutional question. However, if that is not done, other mechanisms are in place to govern the implemtation of the Emoulment Clause.

While Routunda and Pham rely on a 1993 opinion from the White House Office of Legal Council that the clause applies when a foreign government acts through “instrumentalities”, I’ll head to 5 USC § 7342, which deals with the “(r)eceipt and disposition of foreign gifts and decorations”. By definition, the United States Code applies to the President, and also by definition, it defines a “foreign government” as:

(A) any unit of foreign governmental authority, including any foreign national, State, local, and municipal government;
(B) any international or multinational organization whose membership is composed of any unit of foreign government described in subparagraph (A); and
(C) any agent or representative of any such unit or such organization, while acting as such

The Norwegian Nobel Committee is appointed by the Storting, Norway’s Parliament, which makes it a unit of foreign governmental authority, and makes anything given by it subject to the United States Code.

Continuing with 5 USC § 7342, as well as the eCFR version of 41 CFR § 102-42 (current as of 10/14/2009, though I note that the official 2009 version of 41 CFR § 102 has not been released even though it was supposed to be released on 7/1/2009), it actually has different definitions for “gifts” and “decorations”, which is important because the 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.4 million at current exchange rates) given to the Laureate is not part of the Nobel award ceremony, and the US Code defines the disposition of the two differently. It defines a “gift” as “a tangible or intangible present (other than a decoration) tendered by, or received from, a foreign government”, while it defines a “decoration” as “an order, device, medal, badge, insignia, emblem, or award tendered by, or received from, a foreign government”.

While the US Code is silent on who the “employing agency” of the President is, 41 CFR § 102-42.70 states, “The National Archives and Records Administration normally handles gifts and decorations received by the President and Vice President or a member of the President’s or Vice President’s family.” Do keep this in mind because I will come back to it.

Since the US Code deals first with the disposition of “gifts”, I will first deal with the cash prize. 5 USC § 7342(c)(1) gives automatic Congressional consent to four types of gifts: those with “minimal value” (defined as under $335 as of last year), travel outside the US if allowed by the employing agency regardless of value, those of any value if the gift is accepted on behalf of the United States and the gift is given to the United States government upon acceptance, and those above the “minimal value” if refusal of the gift would “likely cause offense or embarrassment or otherwise adversely affect the foreign relations of the United States”.

In that last case, 5 USC § 7342(c)(2) says the person who accepts a tangible gift has 60 days to turn over that gift to his or her employing agency for disposal or official use. While 5 USC § 7342(e)(1) authorizes the employing agency to return the gift to the person who received it, 41 CFR § 102-42.20(b)(2)(ii) requires that all cash gifts that have “no historic or numismatic value” be deposited into the Department of the Treasury.

Allow me to restate that for those who missed the lengthy explanation – While Obama can accept the $1.4 million in cash without Congressional approval if he claims that refusing it would harm foreign relations with Norway, by law he must turn it over to the Department of the Treasury.

Now we can get to the Medal and Diploma, as well as the title itself. All three are inarguably “decorations” under the US Code. 5 USC § 7342(d) allows employees, including the President, to accept and keep decorations without specific Congressional consent only if they were “tendered in recognition of active field service in time of combat operations or awarded for other outstanding or unusually meritorious performance, subject to the approval of the employing agency of such employee. Without this approval, the decoration is deemed to have been accepted on behalf of the United States, shall become the property of the United States, and shall be deposited by the employee, within sixty days of acceptance, with the employing agency for official use, (or) for forwarding to the Administrator of General Services for disposal in accordance with subsection (e)(1)….” Since the Code of Federal Regulations states that the National Archives and Records Administration handles gifts and declarations foreign governments give to the President, unless they decide that it is being awarded for “outstanding or unusually meritorious performance”, while Obama can still be the person to temporarily take possession of the award, he must by law do so on behalf of the United States instead of himself, and must relinquish everything to the National Archives.

I may not have access to Nexis-Lexus, but a quick search through both Yahoo News and Google News yields no sources saying that the National Archives has done so. Of course, there are several weeks left for them to do so, or alternatively for Congress to explicitly consent to Obama receiving the award.

Again, let me restate – Without either National Archives or Congressional approval, while Obama can temporarily take possession of the non-monetary instruments of the Nobel Peace Prize, he must by law do so not in his name but in the name of the United States, and then by law must relinquish all instruments of same to the National Archives.

October 9, 2009

The appropriate award for the Norwegian Nobel Committee

Charlie Sykes of 620 WTMJ here in Milwaukee named the Norwegian Nobel Committee the winner of this week’s Almost-Somewhat-Not-Quite-Deep-Enough Tunnel Award.

For those of you not familiar with the Deep Tunnel Award, it’s named after Milwaukee’s not-quite-deep enough Deep Tunnel, which was sold as a couple-million-dollar solution preventing sewage overflows into Lake Michigan and the local rivers during all except the 100-year rainfall while allowing portions of Milwaukee and Shorewood to keep combined sewers, and which turned out to be a $1 billion+ boondoggle that doesn’t even stop overflows from a twice-yearly rainfall and which is causing parts of downtown Milwaukee to sink into the ground. As Charlie says every Friday about 11:40 am when he awards it, it’s awarded to “the person, politician or institution who…is the most full of it”.

The Nobel Committee did beat out some stiff competition from:
– Wisconsin State Senator Jim Sullivan (D-Wauwatosa), who is using a toughening of the drunk-driving laws to raise taxes.
– Congressman Steve Kagen (D-WI), who doesn’t want you or his fellow Congressmen to be able to view bills before they’re voted upon.
– Milwaukee County Board Chair Lee Holloway, who doesn’t let little things such as Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker explicitly telling David Duke to his face that he has no place in the Republican Party get in the way of comparing Walker to Duke.

Your 2009 Nobel Piec…er, Peace Prize Winner is…

(H/T – Allahpundit)

Barack Hussein Obama II

No Runny Eggs has obtained the first draft of the award resolution:

Whereas Barack Hussein Obama II took the office of United States President on January 20, 2009 on the promise of Hope and Change, and…

Whereas Barack Hussein Obama II promised surrender to the Islamokazis, and…

Whereas Barack Hussein Obama II gave new hope to Communists worldwide, and…

Whereas Barack Hussein Obama II has encouraged Iran to pursue nuclear weapons with which it will wipe out the biggest threat to the Religion of Pieces, Israel, and…

Whereas Barack Hussein Obama II has ended American Exceptionalism,…

Therefore, we the idiots of the Nobel Piece Committee award Barack Hussein Obama II the Nobel Piece Prize.

I wish I were kidding about either the award or the reasoning, but the only thing that is semi-tongue-in-cheek is that first-draft resolution.

Revisions/extensions (7:19 am 10/9/2009) – Hot Air commenter reaganaut answers the inevitable baseball question – “Well, now we know Obama will win the AL Cy Young for throwing out that pitch.” What other undeserving awards will Obama get?

R&E part 2 (8:56 am 10/9/2009) – (H/T – Doug Mataconis) Daniel W. Drezner did one better by getting into the final deliberations of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. It is a must-read.

R&E part 3 (9:07 am 10/9/2009) – Read about just some of the nominees that lost out to President Present. What didn’t they do that Teh Won did? They didn’t support Communism and Radical Islam. In fact, several of those who didn’t make the final cut oppose Communists and Islamokazis.

R&E part 4 (9:26 am 10/9/2009) – Dr. Dave lists the new qualifications for the Nobel Piec…er, Peace Prize.

R&E part 5 (10:50 am 10/9/2009) – Steve Padilla over at the Los Angeles Times’ Top of the Ticket blog came through with the full text of the Nobel announcement:

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama’s appeal that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.”

Oslo, October 9, 2009

Damn if that isn’t close to my exclusive first-draft resolution.

R&E part 6 (12:46 pm 10/9/2009) – A couple more for the linkage:
Phineas put up a few more of Obama’s “accomplishments”, as well as the “qualifications” of a few recent Piec…er, Peace Prize winners.
Slublog broke out the Slushop. I’ll give you just one of them; you’re going to have to go to Ace’s place for the rest.

R&E part 7 (12:57 pm 10/9/2009) – I bow to the master of Teh Funny, Iowahawk, who got a copy of Obama’s invitation to the Nobel Peace Player’s Club.

R&E part 8 (7:20 pm 10/9/2009) – I called this one even before I posted it here (see my first comment at the Hot Air thread) – The Wall Street Journal agrees with my assessment that it was an award for the end of American exceptionalism:

The Norwegians are on to something. In a mere nine months, the President has promulgated a vision for the U.S. role in the world that breaks with both Republican and Democratic predecessors. Madeleine Albright, Bill Clinton’s Secretary of State, called America the “indispensable nation” a decade ago. Ronald Reagan called it a “city on the Hill,” an example to the world.

Mr. Obama sees the U.S. differently, as weaker than it was and the rest of the planet as stronger, and so he calls for a humbler America, at best a first among equals, working primarily through the U.N. The world’s challenges, he emphasized yesterday, “can’t be met by any one leader or any one nation.” What this suggests to us—and to the Norwegians—is the end of what has been called “American exceptionalism.” This is the view that U.S. values have universal application and should be promoted without apology, and defended with military force when necessary.

October 7, 2009

Treatment of Illegal Aliens to Blame for Olympic Loss

Now that the dust has settled on the selection of the 2016 Olympics, some of the delegates are providing some insight on why the Chicago bid failed.  According to this article, a Pakistani IOC member said that one of the reasons Chicago lost out was that entering the United States could be:

“a rather harrowing experience.”

President Obama was quick to point out that as President, things will change:

“One of the legacies I want to see is a reminder that America at its best is open to the world.”

Even the President of the US Travel association took the feedback seriously:

“When IOC members are commenting to our President that foreign visitors find traveling to the United States a ‘pretty harrowing experience,’ we need to take seriously the challenge of reforming our entry process to ensure there is a welcome mat to our friends around the world, even as we ensure a secure system.”

I’ve traveled to a few countries and have had the opportunity to experience how non residents are treated by their entry port agents.  I’ve also watched how our entry agents treat non residents entering the US.  I’m hard pressed to say that in comparison to other countries, entering the US is difficult.  Based on my observations, describing the US entry process as “harrowing” could only be done by someone who felt that a hangnail was a “harrowing” medical malady.

The only people who would generally find entrance to the US as “harrowing” are those who are attempting to do so illegally.  The irony is that Chicago is a sanctuary city and doesn’t care what the legal or illegal status of some one’s entry to the US was so even that shouldn’t have been an issue.  Maybe, in all the focus on themselves, the Obama’s forgot to mention that as a selling point to the IOC?

October 5, 2009

Something’s Missing

Tooth brush?  Check!

Deodorant?  Check!

Clean suit?  Check!

Extra, clean white shirt just in case some frikadeller gets spilt? Check!

TOTUS?  Check!

Yes, President Obama and his aides packed everything they needed for the trip to Copenhagen.  They packed everything they needed to give an impressive presentation.  Unfortunately, for all their planning and packing, they did not bring the one thing that has provided President Obama and others from the Left, a shot at a voting victory.

Barack Obama and ACORN have been largely inseparable throughout his adult and political years.  The Wall Street Journals’s John Fund, documents that the Obama ACORN relationship goes back to at least 1991 when Obama ran a get-out-the-vote campaign for an ACORN affiliate.  Later, Obama would become ACORN’s attorney and a trainer for ACORN programs.  During his presidential campaign, Obama gave ACORN over $800,000 for what was ultimately identified as get-out-the-vote activities.  Any guess as to who the voters garnered by ACORN voted for?

Prior to the “save-the-prostitute” activities and the “bring-in-the-underage-sex-slaves” efforts that have been recently documented, ACORN was best known for it’s voter registration activities.  ACORN is currently under indictment for these later activites in 15 states.  That’s 15 states and counting.  There are numerous states, Minnesota being one, where ACORN registration activities have been at the least concerning, but where the Secretary of State refuses to do even the most rudimentary of investigations. 

Barack Obama hasn’t won an election where Chicago politics and/or ACORN weren’t at the center.  As much as his speeches and personal appeal may win votes, Barack Obama needs groups like ACORN to do the dirty work to ensure his victory.

The IOC is many things including political and at least at times, corrupt.  However, while political, they don’t care about Chicago politics and while corrupt, there have been no allegations of dead or fictitious people voting for the Olympic host city.  That left President Obama relying on the strength of his personal charisma to persuade the IOC voters to do what President Obama believed to be the right thing.

On the strength of Obama’s charisma, on the strength of his international popularity, Chicago was rejected in the first round, getting only 18 votes.  18 votes!  Giving Chicago only 18 votes was a clear sign that Obama’s charisma and popularity was not only lacking, it was rejected.

Each speech that President Obama has told the world that the US has been self centered and egotistic in its dealings with others, has been a snip in a self neutering surgery.  He’s repeated the US apologies so many times that if he has any stones left they have been mutilated beyond the point of having any effect.  The result is that Obama has left himself with little but his charisma and popularity in attempting to deal with international issues.

Iran is in the process of creating a nuclear bomb.  If, is not a question.  When, appears to be sooner than later.  The IOC rejected Obama’s charisma, do you expect Iran to be any more impressed?

October 1, 2009

Consider It a Twofer

According to Baron’s, there are several countries that are selling debt denominated in dollars.  If your own currency isn’t the dollar, why would you sell debt that was?  It seems the short answer to that question is:  the dollar sucks, or at least that’s what these countries think.

After falling off a cliff during last years financial challenges, the dollar crawled back up to respectability by March of this year.  From March on, the dollar has become the world currency version of the 98 pound weakling getting sand kicked in its face by every other major currency.  You can see this pictorially in the following graph of the dollar against the Yen:

Dollar-Yen-Chart-short-term

There are many things that influence a currencies value.  Debt, security and GDP all play into the value.  Unfortunately, many of those issues are moving towards the negative for the dollar, thus its decline.  That said, the dollar has one thing going for it.  As bad as things are in the US, there are many other countries that are in even worse situations.  Look across Europe and you’ll generally find financial situations that make the US look great.  Look to South America, the Middle East and much of Asia and you’ll find issues with security and stability.  For that reason and others there are a number of analysts that are ready to call a bottom to the dollar’s slide.  In fact, some are suggesting that we’ll see a rebound begin in the dollar.

One of the countries who have pulled the “debt for dollar” program is Venezuela. Venezuela is betting that their currency continues to do well against the dollar. So far the bet is working. The Venezuelan Bolivar is up 25% against the dollar in a little over a month.

I’m hoping the dollar analysts are right.  A stronger dollar buys us some time to get people elected that can solve our budget issues before China decides to throw in their chips.  A stronger dollar also wreaks havoc on Hugo Chavez’s piggy bank by making him have to pay more of his Bolivars to repay his bonds.  A plus for the US and a minus for Hugo Chavez, what’s not to like.  Consider it a twofer!

September 8, 2009

How much for no advanced care? – UN edition

by @ 16:47. Filed under Health, International relations.

Fox News reports that, despite a $19 million/year ($38 million per biennium) budget supporting 8 “doctors” and 11 “registered nurses” in the Medical Services Division, the United Nations’ advice for employees facing a life-threatening health emergency on UN property:

Step 1. Call … 911 from UN office phone.

Step 2. If it is a serious injury, render first aid assistance if you are trained to do so.

Step 3. Call the UN Fire and Safety Unit.

Step 4. When trained staff arrives, describe the first aid already administered and once again advise if you have called 911.”

Why is the MSD not included in the 4-step directive? Could it be that most of the “doctors” and “registered nurses” are not licensed to practice medicine in New York State, or that some appear to not be licensed to practice anywhere on the globe? Could it be that some of those “doctors” are dispensing controlled substances outside the norms established by both the US and the UN? Spending $1 million per year per “licensed” medical staff employee for something that for all legally-practical purposes is nothing more than a few-services-rendered occupational health clinic may be par for the course of the thoroughly-corrupt UN, but it is still scandalous.

Now, here’s the kicker – despite claims from the UN that they and the city of New York have reached an agreement to render emergency medical care, and that the New York Emergency Medical Services had been notified that they would be called first, last and always, the Fire Department of New York said that they were not notified that the EMS would be the primary renderer of said care.

Question; since the UN doesn’t pay taxes or even parking fines, are they chipping anything in for any EMS services rendered?

September 7, 2009

Video of the day – Uncle Jimbo’s “Obama everywhere – More cowbell”

It’s been far too long since I featured one of Uncle Jimbo’s tour de forces. This time, he lays the smackdown on Obama’s UNSecurity Council meeting chairmanship. Roll tape.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtUrK-hOMQw[/youtube]

July 13, 2009

Made For Media Theatre

by @ 10:13. Filed under International relations.

One of the main headlines through the weekend was that the CIA had held secrets from Congress and that Vice President, Dick Cheney was responsible for the “cover up.”  After 3 or 4 days of hyperventilating about “another Cheney cover up,” we now get information about what was “covered up:

The Central Intelligence Agency had a secret plan to capture or kill Al-Qaeda operatives

Oh my gosh noooooooo!  Tell me it isn’t sooooooooo!  We were actually planning to kill or capture Al-Qaeda and Dick Cheney made sure the CIA didn’t tell anyone?

Leon Panetta was so outraged by the program that he immediately terminated the program.

Leon, have you covered this program with President Obama?

President Obama ‘orders Pakistan drone attacks’

If not, you may want to think about doing so:

US drone attack kills 45 militants in Pakistan, officials say

A suspected US drone killed at least 45 Pakistani Taliban militants on Tuesday when it struck after a funeral of an insurgent commander killed earlier in the day, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

‘Cause someone ain’t getting the message!

July 8, 2009

Learning At The Feet Of The Master

President Obama has been in Russia the past few days. You may have heard about it. That is you may have heard about it if something other than Michael Jackson’s funeral had been in the news for the past week. Anyway….President Obama ostensibly went to Russia to discuss arms agreements, trade, council the Russians on the importance of honoring contracts and other important President kinds of stuff….at least that’s what Obama wants you to believe he is there for.

The real reason Obama went to Russia is for some one on one counseling from Obama’s Sensei of controlled economies, Vladimir Putin. Please watch this previously secret, anonymously released Russian economic training video:

In the video it is plain to see how the US media marvels at the Sensei’s ability to lower pork prices with a mere question:

“‘They’re very high,’ said Putin,” Maceda explained. “‘It will be lower tomorrow,’ was the quick reply.”

Later the Sensei is able to reemploy an entire cement factory by shaming the owners into the rehiring:

“And this showdown at a cement factory near St. Petersburg,” Maceda said. “When orders dried up, managers shut the plant laying off hundreds until Putin shamed the bosses, even tossing a pen and ordering one of them to sign a promise to rehire every worker. Now other towns are hoping for some of Putin’s special attention.”

Wow!  Obama really is the grasshopper. 

In a commencement speech yesterday, President Obama said:

The future does not belong to those who gather armies on a field of battle or bury missiles in the ground

Apparently the future also doesn’t belong to those who pass stimulus bills, loan shark money, or take over entire industries.  The future for central economy controllers like Obama, is to merely speak and make it so.

July 6, 2009

The Obama Doctrine

In her first major interview after Sarah (we hardly knew ya) Palin was announced as John McCain’s VP pick, she had the infamous question from ABC’s Charlie Gibson in which she was asked about the “Bush Doctrine.  The Left was gaga the next few weeks claiming that Palin’s inability to provide an instantaneous response for Gibson left her unable to be considered a serious political contender. 

One of the rumors about Palin’s recent resignation announcement, is that she will pick up a contract to do a television interview show.  If she does, I’d suggest she book Charlie Gibson as her first guest.  I’d like her first question to Charlie to be, “Charlie, can you please explain the Obama doctrine?”  I wonder what Charlie would say?

Would Charlie say the Obama Doctrine is one where denouncing fraudulent elections and supporting those wanting liberty and freedom would be avoided so as not to be “meddling?”

“It is not productive, given the history of US and Iranian relations to be seen as meddling in Iranian elections,” he said.

Or, would Charlie say the Obama Doctrine is one where citizens of a democracy that honor and enforce their constitution, to prevent the unilateral usurpation of the constitution, are viewed as “illegal?”

President Barack Obama on Monday declared that the United States still considers Manuel Zelaya to be the president of Honduras and assailed the coup that forced him into exile as “not legal,” deepening the chasm between the Central American nation and much of the rest of the world.

Or is it possible that Charlie would say the Obama Doctrine is one in which sovereign countries, threatened with annihilation, have the right to self defense and to do so with extreme prejudice against those who threaten them?

“Look, Israel can determine for itself — it’s a sovereign nation — what’s in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else,” Biden replied. He added that this was the case, “whether we agree or not” with the Israeli view.

Sarah Palin may have had a difficult time putting specificity on the Bush Doctrine.  After only six months, there are so many different Obama Doctrines that every Democrat Senator could have their own personalized version.

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