President Barack Obama bluntly defended his administration’s response to the undersea gusher fouling the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, telling an interviewer he has met with experts to learn “whose ass to kick.”
“I was down there a month ago, before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the Gulf,” Obama told NBC’s “Today” show in an interview scheduled to air Tuesday. “A month ago I was meeting with fishermen down there, standing in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be.”
A variety of critics have accused Obama of being too cerebral in his reaction to the undersea gusher now fouling the Gulf of Mexico, of failing to put the full force of the administration and of putting too much trust in oil company BP. But Obama told NBC his deliberations have been more than academic.
Hmmmm, perhaps maybe The President should try starting in his own cabinet? Maybe he should startwithhimself? After all, he is a pretty skinny guy, I just wonder if he is double jointed?
One of the Kalamazoo Central students — who was seated behind keynote speaker President Barack Obama during Monday night’s commencement ceremony — fell asleep.
The student, who earned such a prime seat by singing in the choir, was captured on video due to his proximity to the president. He also was a hot topic on Twitter and the subject of several recently created Facebook pages.
Our video, at left, shows the student yawning and fighting to stay alert. At one point, he leans back, only to jump alert and join in during applause. The student then leans forward and appears to nod off.
Man, if that is not a good video for someone running against Obama in 2012, what isn’t? Anyways, Yes, Kid, we feel your pain. Poor guy just was up late and had to get up early and listen to the President tell how wonderful he is. It can make for some pretty heavy eyes!
Dutchman Joran van der Sloot, long the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of a U.S. teen in Aruba, has confessed to killing a young Peruvian woman in his Lima hotel room last week, a police spokesman said.
Peru’s chief police spokesman, Col. Abel Gamarra, told The Associated Press that Van der Sloot admitted under police questioning Monday that he killed 21-year-old Stephany Flores on May 30.
According to La Republica newspaper, Van der Sloot told officials he broke Flores’s neck in a rage after he discovered she had used his notebook computer without permission and learned he was involved in the disappearance of Holloway.
“I did not want to do it,” La Republica quoted him as saying. “The girl intruded into my private life.”
I have no problem believing that this tool killed Natalee Holloway and covered it up. This time he was not so lucky to be able to cover it up. Throw the book at the bum and lock him away for good.
SPC Bradley Manning - Fresh Meat for the Army brig circle jerk!
Federal officials have arrested an Army intelligence analyst who boasted of giving classified U.S. combat video and hundreds of thousands of classified State Department records to whistleblower site Wikileaks, Wired.com has learned.
SPC Bradley Manning, 22, of Potomac, Maryland, was stationed at Forward Operating Base Hammer, 40 miles east of Baghdad, where he was arrested nearly two weeks ago by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division. A family member says he’s being held in custody in Kuwait, and has not been formally charged.
Manning was turned in late last month by a former computer hacker with whom he spoke online. In the course of their chats, Manning took credit for leaking a headline-making video of a helicopter attack that Wikileaks posted online in April. The video showed a deadly 2007 U.S. helicopter air strike in Baghdad that claimed the lives of several innocent civilians.
He said he also leaked three other items to Wikileaks: a separate video showing the notorious 2009 Garani air strike in Afghanistan that Wikileaks has previously acknowledged is in its possession; a classified Army document evaluating Wikileaks as a security threat, which the site posted in March; and a previously unreported breach consisting of 260,000 classified U.S. diplomatic cables that Manning described as exposing “almost criminal political back dealings.”
“Hillary Clinton, and several thousand diplomats around the world are going to have a heart attack when they wake up one morning, and find an entire repository of classified foreign policy is available, in searchable format, to the public,” Manning wrote.
This man is getting just what is coming to him. You take a political stance and you break the law? Your ass is going to jail. I hope he enjoys the big house, because that is right where he belongs.
Helen Thomas, the longtime White House correspondent made famous for her no-holds-barred questioning of presidents, announced her resignation Monday following controversial remarks she made about Israel.
In a statement from Hearst newspapers, where she works as a columnist, she said she is “retiring, effective immediately.”
Thomas started at the White House as a reporter during the Kennedy administration but became more outspoken in recent years, when she shifted to column writing.
The reaction of most reporters, friends and former White House officials was that while the end to Thomas’s career is sad, it is hardly surprising.
“It really is sadness. She should have retired years ago,” one longtime friend said. “But I don’t think anyone is surprised at the anti-Israeli remarks. She has never made any secret of her animus toward Israel. I just hate to see her remembered for this instead of the pioneering work she did.”
Former White House press secretary Dana Perino said: “It’s a sad but appropriate end.”
Let this be a lesson to any leftest loon, who decides to be journalist. Keep your mouth shut and stick to your job; if you want to keep your job. Antisemitism is not cool, fashionable or any of the other stupid labels that they put on it. It is a sick disease and should not be in the public square.
Somehow or another, I somehow doubt that this was an accident, something tells me, that this woman knew who she was talking to and knew what sort of trouble it would cause. She wanted to retire and was looking for a way out and found it.
In case, you did not notice, I do have a ribbon on my blog now; and yes, I will say it. I do support Israel. The only reservation that I have, is that some of the players in Zionism sometimes resort to race or “Semite-Baiting”, but other than this, I have no issues with Israel and the Jews. America is the prosperous Nation that it is today, because of the relationship that it has with the Nation of Israel. God help this Nation, if we ever got the idiotic idea to abandon Israel or turn against her.
For more about how I feel about this issue. Please click and read this Gospel Tract. It will explain just how I feel about this whole thing. I may have had reservations about Israel in the past. But, that is all different now, I totally understand and believe, that Israel is God’s holy land and he will use it one day. You’ll see. Bush understood it, I understand it, and any Conservative who does not understand it, is not a Conservative and should not be calling themselves one! Remember this, come 2010 and 2012.
Say Uncle is always good for gun blogging. I’d point to a post, but they’re all good! 😀 Think of him as the Instapundit of the Gun Blogging World. I don’t read him nearly enough.
Traction Control is not getting his Corvette this summer. Awwww… Poor Guy. Sounds like it’s time for a new “Boss” if you ask me. I’m just sayin’! 😉 😛 😀
Conservative Blogger Round Up:
Of course, Smitty does his roundup and forgets about me, as always. 🙄
In case anyone wonders. Yes, I am a drummer. Been playing since about the age of 7 or 8. I do not own a drum kit, I haven’t played in ages. But yes, I do know my chops.
SC Gov candidate Nikki Haley (R) and SC State Sen Jake Knotts (R)
It sounds like South Carolina State. Sen. Jake Knotts’ “raghead” comments last night are even worse than first reported.
Not only did he refer to Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley as a “raghead” during an internet political radio show taped in a bar — but Knotts called her a “f—ing raghead” afterward, according to a report from the Free-Times.
“She’s a f—ing raghead,” Knotts reportedly said.
This report comes on the heels of an earlier account from the co-host of the internet political talk show Pub Politics, the forum for Knotts’ comments. Knotts — who supports Haley opponent Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer in the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary — did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment this morning.
The show is co-hosted by Phil Bailey and Wes Donehue. Donehue, a GOP operative, figured into an earlier chapter in the scandal surrounding blogger Will Folks’ claim that he had an affair with Haley. Donehue sent Folks an expletive-laced text message about the story being discussed, and was reportedly trying to shop an affidavit to reporters. For his part, Bailey works with the Senate Democratic Caucus.
The state senator also reportedly seemed to suggest when approached by Free Times reporter Corey Hutchins after the show last night that Haley was some kind of Sikh Manchurian candidate.
[….]
Knotts has apologized for his comments, explaining them as part of a “freewheeling, anything-goes Internet radio show that is broadcast from a pub.”
If it had been recorded, the public would be able to hear firsthand that my ‘raghead’ comments about Obama and Haley were intended in jest. Bear in mind that this is a freewheeling, anything-goes Internet radio show that is broadcast from a pub. It’s like local political version of Saturday Night Live, which is actually where the joke came from.He continued: “I still believe Ms. Haley is pretending to be someone she is not, much as Obama did, but I do apologize to both for an unintended slur.”
So Haley’s family is Indian and we’re fighting Muslim jihadis, and … close enough, I guess? Today Jenny Sanford leveraged some of her moral authority on Haley’s behalf by denouncing the scumbaggery being practiced here, but I fear South Carolina’s a lost cause. My mental picture of the state these days is of a giant sleaze blob laying waste to the land, consuming everyone and everything it touches. Note to Hot Air readers in SC: Get out while you still can.
HEH! That’s so wrong, but quite funny. 😀 The Allahpundit statement, not the stupidity by this idiot who looks like he’s eaten way too many triple whoppers for supper. I mean, this idiot is still in politics and still making statements like these? Ouch. South Carolina is got some issues.
Oh, But the stupidity does not end there!
We get this little gem from the ugliest damn White House reporter on the planet: (H/T to my good friend Sammy at YidWithaLid)
First this feckless….um, woman, goes ape poop over the White House’s reaction to the attempt to run a blockade in Gaza by Terrorists, watch:
….and then, she lets this little gem fly last week:
Sammy over Yid with a Lid says:
I used to attribute Thomas’ venom to the combination of her liberal leanings and Lebanese heritage, video below indicates that her intentions are more nefarious than that, Thomas is not a big fan of the Jewish people.
Uh, Sammy? What gave you your first clue? 😉
He goes on:
Go back to Germany and Poland?? Why Ms Thomas? You do remember the Holocaust right? Heck you are old enough to remember the crusades.
HEH! Now that’s funny… 😀
Sammy’s very important point here:
There are some people who believe that any criticism of Israel is Anti-Semitism. That belief is as ignorant as Anti-Semitism itself. There is however, a great deal of crossover between hatred of Israel and Hatred of the Jews. To find out what people really mean you need to examine the words they use.
Helen Thomas’ comparing of the IDF to Nazi Germany is nothing but an attempt to water-down the horror of the Holocaust, and to dehumanize Israel. And her advice to the Jews to get the hell out of Palestine, and go back to Poland and Germany is nothing short of anti-Semitism. If Thomas’ comments were directed toward any other group but the Jews, she would have been out of work a very long time ago. Maybe it’s time for Helen’s bosses to retire her to the “The Home For Old Crazy Anti-Semites.”
Amen and Amen! Er, wait, Sammy’s Jewish… *scratches head*
??? and ???!
Update: D’oh! I guess WordPress won’t pass Yiddish….. Sorry Sammy, I tried buddy… 🙁
Helen Thomas issued the following statement today: “I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon.”
Feh…. Whatever…
Oh, but the stupid doesn’t stop here… There’s more, believe it or not….
Good old Pat Buchanan, just when you think that this idiot couldn’t sink any lower. He goes a little deeper: (H/T AP)
Stupid is as stupid does....
But that 2 a.m. boarding of an unarmed ship with an unarmed crew, carrying no munitions or weapons, 65 miles at sea, was an act of piracy. What the Israeli commandos got is what any armed hijacker should expect who tries to steal a car from a driver who keeps a tire iron under the front seat…
But we have a blockade of Gaza, say the Israelis, and this flotilla was a provocation. Indeed, it was. And Selma was a provocation. The marchers at Edmund Pettus Bridge were disobeying orders of the governor of Alabama and state police not to march.
Yet, today, liberal Democrats who regard Martin Luther King as a moral hero for championing nonviolent civil disobedience to protest injustice are cheering not the unarmed passengers trying to break the Gaza blockade, but the Israelis enforcing the blockade…
Israel has a right to secure Gaza to deny Hamas access to weapons, especially rockets that could reach Israel. But that does not justify denying 1.5 million people what they need to live in decency.
Freakin’ Jesus Christ on a Cheese Cracker already! That guy is terminally stupid or woefully uninformed. 🙄
Told ya, it comes in three’s anymore!
Like I said in the title… PLEASE, STOP THE STUPID MACHINE! 😯 😮
I have zero clue who produced this, but man is it ever good….
This comes via The Daily Paul, who has gone out of their way to bash me in the past —- figure I will be different and show a little class and give them credit on this find.
It’s one thing to say our Iran policy is making things worse, it’s quite another to pretend that regional war, possibly with a nuclear component, in the Middle East wouldn’t much matter to America if we just hurried up and got our troops out. I can’t tell if this guy doesn’t realize or simply doesn’t care that opening up Gaza’s port will mean more arms in the hands of more fanatics, which means more of a chance of war and thus a more precarious position for U.S. interests. But let this serve as yet another reminder that, for all the grief we give The One on foreign policy, we can do much, much worse. And not just on the left either.
Amen to that. For all the grief that I give President Obama, I also know that it could be and would be much worse, if Ron Paul was the President. Also, about “AllahPundit,” before anyone says a damned thing in the comments section; was less than 10 miles from the World Trade Center, when it was hit in 2001. Hence his desire to see something done about the terrorists.
Ron Paul’s problem is, that he is shilling for the terrorists who want to destroy this Country and he is too stupid to know it. Either that or he knows it and really does not care. Gaza starving; what idiotic bullcrap! 🙄 Only thing starving is Ron Paul’s brain.
Only five years ago, the progressive political blogosphere was still predominately a gathering place for amateur (that is, unpaid or barely paid) journalists and activists unattached to existing media companies and advocacy organizations. Those days are almost completely over. Now, the progressive blogosphere is almost entirely professionalized, and inextricably linked to existing media companies and advocacy organizations.
This transformation has been brought about by three developments (fellow bloggers, please forgive me in advance if I fail to mention your or your blog as an example):
1. Established media companies and advocacy organizations hiring bloggers to blog, full-time: The Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, Center for American Progress, Salon, CQ, Atlantic, Washington Monthly, the American Independent News Network, and more have all hired hired bloggers to blog, full-time. Many of these bloggers, such as fivethirtyeight, Unclaimed Territory, or the Carpetbagger Report, operated their blogs independently of any established organization, and were key hubs in the “amateur” or “independent” progressive blogosphere. Now, those bloggers do pretty much the same thing they did before, they just (quite understandably) do it for a much better salary from an established organization.
2. Previously “amateur” progressive blogs became professional operations: Another trend, less common than the first, has been for blogs like Daily Kos, Fire Dog Lake and Talking Points Memo to transform themselves from hobbies into professional media outlets and / or activist organizations. These blogs have increased their revenue stream to the point where they can hire multiple full-time staff.
3. Bloggers translate blogging into consulting and advocacy work: Many bloggers have also found a way to make a living by combining their blogging with blog-friendly advocacy and consulting work. This is actually the path I am currently following, as are, I believe, Oliver Willis, Atrios, Jerome Armstrong, and more. This involves finding part-time or full time work in politics that is conducive to still maintaining a full-time blog (which also generates a part-time income).
Look, I am not going to do the pile-on here, but I will say this; Chris Bowers does have a point. The problem is, Bowers sounds like he whining because no one bought him out. The same thing, which Bowers is referring to, has happened and continues to happen on the right too. Michelle Malkin off-loaded her mega-Conservative site HotAir.com off to a Conservative Media conglomerate Salem Communications for a hefty price tag, I am told. So, this is not anything new.
So far, no one has offered me a job in politics or in the world of “New Media.” Nor has anyone offered to buy out my blog or anything of that sort. Not that I have been pimping myself out either. I know what my qualifications are. I mean, there would have to be a check with a one and WHOLE BUNCH of zeros in front of it, before I would give this baby up. Couple hundred million and I would consider it. Otherwise, you all will have to contend with me for a long time to come. 😉
Well, Humph, Here’s a novel idea. You do not want your kid being killed by the IDF? Then don’t let him attack the IDF, when they legally board a ship to inspect it.
The Story:
Furkan Dogan - Arab Terrorist who attacked IDF
A U.S. citizen who lived in Turkey is among the nine people killed when Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish aid ship heading for the Gaza Strip, officials said today. The victim was identified as Furkan Dogan, 19, a Turkish-American. A forensic report said he was shot at close range, with four bullets in his head and one in his chest, according to the Anatolian news agency.
Dogan was a high school student studying social sciences in the town of Kayseri in central Turkey. He was born in the United States and moved to Turkey at the age of 2. He will be buried in his hometown tomorrow.
Dogan’s body was returned to Turkey today along with eight others, all Turkish nationals, who were on board the Mavi Marmara
As for Dogan, it is reported that he was shot five times at close range, four times in the head. If that is correct, it is reasonable to infer that he was one of those attacking Israeli soldiers with a club, knife or other weapon and was shot in self-defense. The Times quotes his brother saying, on behalf of the family, “we were not sorry to hear that he fell like a martyr.”
Yeah, he fell alright. Fell like the little pip-squeak weasel terrorist that he was. Like I said before. The only language that these terrorist thugs understand, is the one one spoke at the end of gun. Israel had every right in the world to enforce that blockade, and they did. These Arab terrorists went looking for a confrontation and they got it. The sick and sad part is, that our Government is now siding with the Arabs and the Terrorists! What a difference a Presidential Administration makes.
I would be willing to be bucket-loads of money that there are many Liberal Jews right now that are deeply regretting their vote for Barack Obama and the Democrats at this point. Because essentially what this White House has done, is sided with the terrorists themselves. Which is what Democrats are basically known for. It did not used to be that way, but it has been that way since about the time of Jimmy Carter’s Administration.
The managing editor of Townhall Magazine called Diversity Lane “very, very well done.” And Michigan Review described it as “laugh out loud funny.” Why not make this the day you discover the best in conservative comedy today at Diversity Lane?
Here’s what President Obama didn’t see when he visited the Gulf Coast: a dead dolphin rotting in the shore weeds.
“When we found this dolphin it was filled with oil. Oil was just pouring out of it. It was the saddest darn thing to look at,” said a BP contract worker who took the Daily News on a surreptitious tour of the wildlife disaster unfolding in Louisiana.
His motive: simple outrage.
“There is a lot of coverup for BP. They specifically informed us that they don't want these pictures of the dead animals. They know the ocean will wipe away most of the evidence. It’s important to me that people know the truth about what's going on here,” the contractor said.
“The things I’ve seen: They just aren’t right. All the life out here is just full of oil. I'm going to show you what BP never showed the President.”
“I saw a pelican under water with only its wing sticking out,” he said. “I grabbed it and lifted it out of the water. It was just covered in oil. It was struggling so hard to survive. We did what we could for it.
“Nature is cruel, but what’s happening here is crueler.”
The uninhabited barrier islands are surrounded by yellow floating booms, also stained black, that are supposed to keep the oil out. It’s not working.
“That grass was green a few weeks ago,” the contractor said. “Now look. … This whole island is destroyed. How do you write a check for something like this?”
He said he recently found five turtles drowning in oil.
“Three turtles were dead. Two were dying and not dead yet. They will be,” he said.
As the boat headed back amid the choppy waves, a pod of dolphins showed up to swim with the vessel and guide it to land.
“They know they are in trouble. We are all in trouble,” the contractor said.
While I am not stupid enough to blame Obama for this spill. I do blame the Companies that were running that oil platform. Because of corner cutting and just plain old incompetence; we have this on our hands. It is not BP’s problem, It is not Obama’s Problem — although, the President will take the heat for it. The oil spill is OUR problem, it’s America’s problem and it will be something that our great-grand children will be talking about, some 50 years from now. The only question I ask is, what will they be saying about us? As a Christian, I believe in being a good steward of the earth that God has given us. It is quite and glaringly obvious that we failed that responsibility. For this, we have fish and other such sea creatures —- God’s Creatures — who are now dying because of the recklessness of a few men.
Not to be overly philosophical about this whole thing; but, what kind of World are we giving to our grandchildren and great-grandchildren? A ton of National Debt? An ocean that will be polluted beyond repair?
Sometimes, I believe that Indian wept — for a good reason….
A war tells a people terrible truths about itself. That is why it is so difficult to listen.
We were determined to avoid an honest look at the first Gaza war. Now, in international waters and having opened fire on an international group of humanitarian aid workers and activists, we are fighting and losing the second. For Israel, in the end, this Second Gaza War could be far more costly and painful than the first.
In going to war in Gaza in late 2008, Israeli military and political leaders hoped to teach Hamas a lesson. They succeeded. Hamas learned that the best way to fight Israel is to let Israel do what it has begun to do naturally: bluster, blunder, stonewall, and fume.
Hamas, and no less, Iran and Hezbollah, learned early on that Israel’s own embargo against Hamas-ruled Gaza was the most sophisticated and powerful weapon they could have deployed against the Jewish state.
Here in Israel, we have still yet to learn the lesson: We are no longer defending Israel. We are now defending the siege. The siege itself is becoming Israel’s Vietnam.
These are the same people that crashed those planes into the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and into that field in PA. (which was headed for the White House) These Dogs are terrorists. That is the only life they know. They are sub-human lifeforms. They are scum, the only language they understand, is from the end of a gun. 12 Dead? I am quite sorry is was not more.
When will America wake up and smell the damned Coffee? When??!
At this point, I miss Bush….like bloody hell. 😡
…and yet, the Democrats — They side with these murderous bastards. But yet, they are just as American as the rest of us. Yeah sure they are.
