Stranger Than Fiction

ONE MAN'S TRAITOR IS ANOTHER MAN'S......
A sentiment among some lawmakers present seemed to be that if they were intent on not letting Republicans defeat the health care legislation, they certainly were not going to let it fail at the hands of Mr. Lieberman, whom many Democrats regard as a traitor.

Had to laugh at this one! Demos consider Lieberman a traitor, but Olympia Snowe is routinely characterized as "principled" and a "moderate."

DEF JAM CLIMATE COMEDY FEST
In a signal of the state of affairs, Yvo De Boer, the chief United Nations functionary running climate talks, carried an orange-and-white life ring to his midday news conference. “What makes this process complicated is that you have small island nations who are about to disappear because of sea level rise...."

As a service to readers, RedStateVT promises to closely follow and identify all island nations that become submerged.

ALL VACATIONS MUST END
The Obama administration is expected to announce on Tuesday that it has selected a prison in northwestern Illinois to house terrorism suspects now being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in a major step toward shutting down that military detention facility.

Expect an uproar from the jihadists as their idyllic stay at Gitmo ends and they face the harsh Illinois winter!

A POX ON BOTH THEIR HOUSES
Meeting with top executives from 12 financial institutions, Mr. Obama sent a clear message that the industry had a responsibility to help nurse the economy back to health and do more to create jobs in return for the huge federal bailout last year that kept Wall Street and the banking system afloat.

Wait a minute! Isn't that how we got into this mess? Politicians like Barney Frank strong-armed Fannie and Freddie to increase mortgage lending to unqualified buyers helping to accelerate the financial crisis. Now Obama uses the same playbook. Of course, the same banks whose dismal business practices required them to run to the government for a bailout have no one but themselves to blame.

(All items sourced from New York Times website.)

Who is this guy?

RedStateVT is dumbfounded by President Obama's Nobel Prize acceptance speech. Omitting a minor reference to torture here and one to global warming there, the speech could almost have been given by Ronald Reagan. It was in most respects a hard-nosed assessment of the threats that peace-loving nations face. Highlights include the following.

• A humble and realistic admission

"...I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage."

• A forceful reminder to the world

"...(Afghanistan) is a conflict that America did not seek; one in which we are joined by 42 other countries -- including Norway -- in an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks."

• An oblique reference to Ronald Reagan?

"The Cold War ended with jubilant crowds dismantling a wall."

• An understanding of the threat!

"I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism -- it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason."

• Damn straight!

"The United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea, and enabled democracy to take hold in places like the Balkans. We have borne this burden not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened self-interest -- because we seek a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if others' children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity."

• Amen!

"I -- like any head of state -- reserve the right to act unilaterally if necessary to defend my nation."

• Time's running out for Ahmadinejad.

"But it is also incumbent upon all of us to insist that nations like Iran and North Korea do not game the system. Those who claim to respect international law cannot avert their eyes when those laws are flouted. Those who care for their own security cannot ignore the danger of an arms race in the Middle East or East Asia. Those who seek peace cannot stand idly by as nations arm themselves for nuclear war."

• American exceptionalism!

"So even as we respect the unique culture and traditions of different countries, America will always be a voice for those aspirations that are universal."

RedStateVT suspects that the Code Pink crowd is aghast at Obama's speech. But not to worry, if Obama continues in this vein he'll pick up lots of friends on the right!

This Just In: Bush Was Right!

From STRATFOR:

The jihadist attack on the United States has failed. The presence of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has reshaped the behavior of regional governments. Fear of instability generated by the war has generated counteractions by regional governments. Contrary to what the jihadists expected or hoped for, there was no mass uprising and therefore no counter to anti-jihadist actions by regimes seeking to placate the United States. The original fear, that the U.S. presence in Iraq and Afghanistan would generate massive hostility, was not wrong. But the hostility did not strengthen the jihadists, and instead generated anti-jihadist actions by governments.
(http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20091207_jihadist_strategic_dilemma?utm_source=GWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=091207&utm_content=readmore)

This report is republished with permission of STRATFOR

All The News That Fits Our Agenda

The New York Times refuses to let a little scandal get in the way of promoting their global warming agenda. The lead story on the paper's website describes the opening of the Copenhagen summit with talks of calls to action and school children singing. Truly inspiring... Fourteen paragraphs into the story, The Crimes mentions a little old scandal wherein "objective" scientists talk of manipulating the data and deleting e-mails.

The second story reports on an EPA ruling on greenhouse gases. Guess what the ruling concludes? They are dangerous!

And finally, because The Crimes figured they could not ignore the East Anglia revelations completely, they include a Revkin and Broder article that addresses the scandal. And guess what it concludes? Notwithstanding the faked data, global warming is real. Lots of people say so!

Based on fossilized evidence of plants and animals, scientists long ago concluded that Great Britain once had a tropical climate. And the global warming crowd says.......... what?

The Death of Shame

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon has been convicted of embezzlement for stealing gift cards meant for the needy. Yes, you read that correctly. Democrat Dixon’s response:

"I deeply regret that the citizens of Baltimore have had to go through this ordeal with me." (www.upi.com 12/4/2009)

Is it just us, or does that sound like Dixon is playing the victim?

The Dixon scandal follows that of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich who was impeached and subsequently removed from office for trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat. Democrat Blagojevich’s response to his ordeal was to hire a public relations firm and appear on multiple talk and news shows.

Of course, the Blagojevich scandal follows that of Representative William Jefferson from Louisiana. Readers will recall that the FBI found stacks of cash in Democrat Jefferson’s refrigerator. Jefferson was indicted for corruption in 2007, but continued to serve until he was defeated for reelection in 2008.

We remember the good old days when people who were discovered doing bad things simply crawled away in shame. Not any more. Now, notwithstanding irrefutable evidence of wrongdoing, politicians cry foul, blame their opponents, vow to continue serving “the people”, go on Oprah, and further obfuscate.

RedStateVT would be remiss if we did not note the progenitor of this approach: none other than Democrat William Jefferson Clinton. Faced with incontrovertible proof of lying to the American people, Clinton refused to be bowed by shame and dragged the country through a prolonged public airing of his sins. This is what Bill Clinton bequeathed to those who followed and is his legacy.

We'll Take Manhattan!

The Manhattan Declaration that is.... It was inspiring to hear and read The Manahattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience (see www.manhattandeclaration.org). Although it comes out of a Christian framework, we believe that thoughtful Jews, Mormons and Muslims can easily embrace its precepts. The treatise is reasoned and compassionate and draws upon centuries of thought and experience in the promotion of a culture of life. At last some people are drawing a line in the sand and saying: "Enough!"

The assault on traditional values by secularists has reached alarming proportions. So much so that traditionalists are made out to be the ones who are out of step, instead of vice versa. Of course, much of the blame can be laid at the feet of the pop culture media (television, music, movies, print, etc.) For example, a brief click through the television line-up reveals the moral wasteland that is nonagenarian Hugh Hefner and his pixelated bimbos; the Kardashians, a.k.a. the worst family in history; the vain and trite Housewives of Various Counties, etc. All of these are presented not as the circus freaks that they are, but as fun and edgy folks.

Following in the footsteps of The Manhattan Declaration, it was interesting to see the Bishop of Providence call out Senator Patrick Kennedy. The message: don't call yourself a Catholic and show up for church if you are not prepared to live as a Catholic. The Kennedys are famous (infamous?) for living as secularists and then wrapping their deaths in the majesty of an elaborate Catholic funeral pageant.

Surge in Afghanistan

Although President Obama would never agree with the characterization, his decision to increase troop levels in Afghanistan by 30,000 is effectively a surge, akin to Bush’s Iraq surge…which is now largely viewed as effective and which Obama argued against. Well, at least he got the macro decision correct and RedStateVT gives the President credit for that.

But what to make of his speech last night? It was so strange and so full of contradictions, like a microcosm of the Obama presidency as he looks to reconcile irreconcilable differences. Besides the overall decision, other positives include the following: he was at times forceful and passionate; he showed respect for the military; he recited the road to the Afghan war including the atrocities of Al Qaeda; and, he attempted to respond to possible objections from both sides. On the negative side, he was defensive on why the decision took three months. He never explained why 30,000 and not 40,000 troops was the right number. And his talk of training the Afghanis to handle their own security was not exactly new or game-changing.

Of course, the biggest concern is the one you have heard – the deadline to withdraw in 18 months. Obama cites this as the hammer to drive the Afghanis to step up. But why signal the opposition of your intentions, particularly when the message could have been delivered forcefully and privately? The only answer, of course, is that Obama fears alienating the left wing of his party who would cut and run from Afghanistan, like, yesterday. They are not happy with his decision, but perhaps can swallow hard for another year and a half. But this begs the larger question: did Obama make a poor strategic decision (by revealing his timetable) for political reasons?