Saturday, January 17, 2009

Putin to Obama: "Biggest Disappointments Are Born Out of Big Expectations"; Chavez to Obama: You Stink Like Bush; Hillary Offends Afghanistan

Sounds like Socialism teaches us to "hope" for the best, but "expect" the worst! It's gonna be a long 4 to 8 years...

From Breitbart:

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he had noted "positive signals" about US president-elect Barack Obama but cautioned against "big expectations."

"We have watched an election campaign with great attention and we have heard and seen the positive signals which have been directed at us," Putin told German newspaper editors and journalists in Dresden, Germany.

But he also warned of the danger of raising expectations too high.

"I am deeply convinced that the biggest disappointments are born out of big expectations," he added.

All this while Hugo Chavez says Obama has the "stench" of Bush on him and faces death threats if he follows through with his plans to change the American "empire".

And Secretary Of State Designee Hillary Clinton has already committed an international faux-pas, despite not having been officially confirmed by the US Senate.

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Welcome To The United States of Obama!

Inside Charm City and Michelle Malkin bring the latest Obamanation to life... from The Obama Express!


Photo source: Baltimore Sun


US Flag Code: “The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.”


Why should we be surprised, this is the man who proclaimed Saturday morning in Philadelphia, "What is required is a new declaration of independence..."

The Baltimore irony is not lost here, as "Star-Spangled Banner" author Francis Scott Key may roll over in his grave...

Surprisingly, this isn't the first time in recent days Obama's likeness has been linked to disrespect and anti-Americanism....

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Michael Moore Lawsuit, Behemoth Anti-American Under Fire For Misuse Of Photo; We Support Iraq Veteran and War Correspondent Michael Yon

"Little Girl". Used with permission from Michael Yon.

The NY Post reported this week that Bush-hater and pugnacious anti-American Michael Moore. Moore's website implies that in a photograph of an American soldier carrying a wounded Iraqi girl, the girl was wounded by Americans, when in reality, she was wounded by Iraqi insurgents and the American had come to her rescue.


Vile, Michael Moore, vile.


The photo in question is the property of Michael Yon. Yon is an American author, independent reporter, and blogger. He has been embedded on numerous occasions with American and British troops in Iraq, most prominently a deployment with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment (Deuce Four) of the 25th Infantry Division in Mosul, Iraq that ended in September 2005. He continues to blog from Iraqi and Afghan towns and battlefields.


The Post Reported:

Michael Moore may wind up in court with a prize-winning journalist who claims the mountain-size moviemaker ripped off his most famous photo to use in a George W. Bush-bashing rant.



Last year, to illustrate one of his anti-administration bombasts, the portly polemicist posted on his michaelmoore.com Web site a heartbreaking photo from Iraq of an American soldier carrying the blood-spattered body of a child. The picture was snapped by acclaimed independent war correspondent Michael Yon, who has been very careful about how his images are distributed and goes out of his way to make sure they aren't used for demagogic diatribes.


Yon posted on his website:

Published: 15 January 2009
We have not yet filed in court, but will very soon if Mr. Moore does not settle the matter immediately. The court paperwork takes time, though my attorney informed me that Mr. Moore’s attorney, after seven months of delay, called us late yesterday. Michael Moore’s attorney and mine, Mr. John Mason, are playing phone tag today.

The New York Post picked up the story today with: “Moore Misuses War Photo.”

Huffington Post followed: “Michael Moore in Legal Trouble With War Photographer.”

To understand the importance of this potential lawsuit, please read the dispatch I wrote: "Michael Moore's Crime"

The photo and the tragic events behind it can be seen here: "Little Girl" .


To donate to Yon's online magazine and/or his legal fight against the despicable Moore, please visit his PayPal account.

***Sean Hannity reported in a "Hannity Exclusive" tonight on his Fox News Show that Yon is, in fact, suing Moore.

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Barack Obama: "Gun Salesman of The Year", "Bitter" Americans Rush Out to Buy Guns

More "bitter" Americans "clinging to their guns"!

From Fox News.

President-elect Barack Obama's election has spurred a surge in gun sales, firearms retailers and enthusiasts say, as gun owners brace for what they believe will be a new era of gun control in Washington.

An electronic news service that covers outdoor news has even named Obama its "Gun Salesman of the Year."

Firearms associations began to suspect that political considerations were driving gun sales late last year as the number of background checks increased. But end-of-year figures showed a big spike in background checks for the last three months of 2008, and in November, the month Obama was elected, the number of background checks was 42 percent greater than in November 2007.

"It's not a hard tea leaf to read," said Jim Shepherd, publisher of the news service Outdoor Wire, which claims Obama's election has "frightened consumers into action."




And Free Republic added this from Mr. Shephard.

"Manufacturers are months behind on orders for semi-automatic pistols, AR-style rifles, and anything with so-called 'high-capacity magazines'," declared The Outdoor Wire's publisher, Jim Shepherd.

"Buyers we’ve surveyed across the country seem to have a single explanation for their rush to purchase firearms — Obama."

Guns are in demand because sportsmen are wary of Obama's support for gun control laws, Shepherd said.

"Mr. Obama has consistently voted against individual rights to firearms, appointed a re-tread Clinton administration full of gun banners, and made it plain to anti-gun groups that despite what he might say to the contrary, he’s on their side," Shepherd said.




At least some people are defending the Constitution....

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Back to Reality: Ronald Reagan's First Inaugural Address, January 20th, 1981

The Great Communicator, Lessons For Obama


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All Aboard! Mr. Obama Goes To Washington! Obama Express Follows Path of Lincoln!


Mr. Obama, You are No President Lincoln.






Watch Obamamania unfold live! or Watch Obamamania Live Here!


10:00 AM
From The Associated Press:

Barack Obama is borrowing a page from history even as he sets a new marker for America, boarding a train in sunny, icy Philadelphia for a ride to the city of presidents along the same route Abraham Lincoln took nearly 150 years ago.


Obama and his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha, were the center of attention Saturday morning amid plans for his talk to citizens and the kickoff of a six-city whistle-stop tour originating at Philadelphia's historic 30th Street train station.






10:15 AM










Quotes From Obama's 1st Stop:


"We are here today not simply to pay tribute to our first patriots but to take up the work that they began. The trials we face are very different now, but severe in their own right. Only a handful of times in our history has a generation been confronted with challenges so vast. An economy that is faltering. Two wars, one that needs to be ended responsibly, one that needs to be waged wisely. A planet that is warming from our unsustainable dependence on oil.






And yet while our problems may be new, what is required to overcome them is not. What is required is the same perseverance and idealism that our founders displayed. What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives - from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry - an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels.





That is the reason I launched my campaign for the presidency nearly two years ago. I did so in the belief that the most fundamental American ideal, that a better life is in store for all those willing to work for it, was slipping out of reach. That Washington was serving the interests of the few, not the many. And that our politics had grown too small for the scale of the challenges we faced.

12:00 P.M. Claymont, DE (From AFP)

"Hallelujah, we did it!" read one poster held up by a supporter, while another declared "Hail to the Chief" as Obama's trundling train did a "slow roll" through the town of Claymont between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware.

12:23 P.M. Wilmington, DE ... Obama arrives in Wilmington...





WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama is promising that he and Vice President-elect Joe Biden "will fight for you every day we're in Washington" as the pair visited Delaware en route by train to the capital.

Obama paid tribute to Biden, who has commuted by Amtrak from Delaware to Congress for several years. He told a cheering crowd that getting things right for the country is the reason he asked Biden "to take one more ride to Washington."


1:55 P.M. ObamaXpress leaves Wilmington...




3:00 P.M. Edgewood, MD






In Edgewood, in Harford County, where the whistle-stop train did "slow-roll" through just before 3 p.m., and Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden waved from the caboose, the historic "Georgia 300" car. The crowd was ebullient, and many ran with the train from one side of the station to the other.


There were about 600 people at the Edgewood stop just before Obama and Biden were scheduled to pass through, and the inaugural committee handed out small American flags. A small combo played jazz tunes.


Imari Hawkins, 7, of Abington and her sister held Obama signs.


"He's cute on TV," Imari said of Obama, "but he's even cuter in person."



4:15 P.M. Baltimore, MD







Tens of thousands of people in Baltimore gathered today as President-elect Barack Obama shared his vision for the country's future and thanked them for their support.


"You proved once more that people who love this country can change it," he told the crowd gathered at War Memorial Plaza near City Hall. Obama noted Baltimore's role in the American Revolution and once interrupted his prepared remarks to say "I love you back" to a fan.


Spectators, including several generations of families, had waited for much of the day to see him speak as part of his a "whistle-stop" train tour that began earlier this morning in Philadelphia and would end in Washington.


The crowd had listened to gospel music this afternoon and did calisthenics to keep warm as they waited for Obama.



We doubt indicted Baltimore Mayor Shelia Dixon was there....



5:55 P.M. Obama Express pulls into Washington's Union Station....Next Stop, The White House






"Everyday Americans" join the ObamaXpress.... did he invite Joe the Plumber?

...Biden invites Gregg "Joe The Train Conductor" Weaver on board....

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Obama Won't Give Up His Blackberry; It's Illegal and A Major Security Risk. Do Any Rules Apply to Obama? The Messiah Can Do Whatever He Wants!


It would seem that yet another law does not pertain to the Anointed One.


Hey, who cares if terrorists hack into classified national security! It's Okay! It's Obama!


He needs some method to keep track of the "boots on the ground" in Obama's Army!


From Breitbart:


Despite legal and security hurdles, president-elect Barack Obama says he has a plan to retain his beloved Blackberry once he moves into the White House next week.


Interviewed by CNN Friday, Obama said the smartphone was among the tools that he would use to stay in touch with real Americans and avoid becoming trapped inside the presidential "bubble."



"I think we're going to be able to hang on to one of these. My working assumption, and this is not new, is that anything I write on an email could end up being on CNN," he said.



"So I make sure to think before I press 'send'," he said of his Blackberry, which was an ever-present fixture on his belt or in his hand on the campaign trail.


Obama did not divulge just how he will overcome legal constraints, given the requirement of the post-Watergate Presidential Records Act of 1978 to keep a record of every White House communication.



Nor did he say how he would persuade his Secret Service protectors that the Blackberry does not pose a security risk, for instance if it is hacked over the air.


But Obama, who succeeds the unpopular George W. Bush on Tuesday, said the phone was a valuable part of a wider strategy to escape the White House fishbowl.

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Michelle Obama's 160% Salary Increase at University of Chicago Had Nothing To Do With Barack Obama's Million Dollar Earmark, Right?

Guess Mrs. Obama must have been really, REALLY good at her job!









Doug Ross put this juicy nugget together.















Excellent question. Some roguish wags might speculate that a quid pro quo arrangement was in effect; pay-to-play as it were. But that seems highly unlikely given Barack Obama's high ethical standards *.


* Ignoring, of course, Auchi, Ayers, Blagojevich, Jarrett, Jones, Rezko, etc.
Is that how she affords to do this? $447 for a "snack" at The Waldorf Astoria, 10/15/2008

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Friday, January 16, 2009

It's Official! Pepsi Has A Crush On Obama! One of Many New Obama-Inspired Marketing Strategies

We thought we were kidding when we pointed out the odd, "coincidental" similarities between Pepsi's new logo and Barack Obama....





Turns out, it is definitely no joke.






From USA Today:

Pepsi. On Friday, Pepsi crews will hit the streets of D.C with product samples, as well as scarves, hats and buttons that read "Hope" and "Change." Ads with the new Pepsi logo appear in outdoor ads with such Obama-isms as "Yes, you can."

New Pepsi ads will air in pre-inaugural coverage on networks such as CNN beginning Jan. 18.

"This is a unique moment," says Frank Cooper, vice president, portfolio brands. "There are very few times when people of various backgrounds and affiliations come together with a common sense of purpose."





See more nauseating, gratuitous displays of Obama-inspired advertising at Hot Air, Gatewaypundit, Debbie Schlussel and of course "Yes, Pecan" Ben & Jerry's.

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No Liberal Media Bias? CBS, NBC, ABC Morning Shows Devote A Combined 55 Seconds Reporting On Bush Farewell Speech; Feature Obama Thongs Instead

After Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow showed their anti-American true colors, this should come as no real surprise...




The three network morning shows on Friday almost totally skipped any coverage of President Bush's farewell address to the country on Thursday. Despite having a combined eight hours of air time, NBC's "Today," CBS's "Early Show" and ABC's "Good Morning America" devoted only 55 seconds total to reporting on Bush's speech. Instead, important topics such as "Obama thongs" and cheddar biscuits were highlighted.



Looks like Ann Coulter was right, the media really does want to have sex with Obama!

See related liberal media bias here.

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Rachel Maddow Is A Vile, Disgusting, Anti-American, Bitch! MS NBC Officially Has No Journalistic Integrity

"And of course when he arrived in January 2001 we were fighting protracted wars in zero countries that we had preventively invaded and justified occupying through manipulated intelligence. Today we have been in Iraq for 5 1/2 years and counting and the war in Afghanistan is even older than that. Also there was a vital jewel of an American city called New Orleans back then and a World Trade Center. It is against that proud backdrop the George W. Bush presidency publicly ended today. "


--Vile Pig Rachel Maddow reacting to President Bush's Gracious Farewell Address 1/15/09




From NewsBusters:


Though one could certainly argue the economic stats and how much Bush is to blame -- especially given the fact that he inherited a recession in 2001 and did nothing to cause the collapse of the financial services industry -- it is Maddow's suggestion that the President caused the destruction of New Orleans as well as the felling of the World Trade Center that is most disgusting.



If Maddow wants to make such claims on Air America radio, fine. But for a major American so-called news outlet to spread such invective shortly after the final address by an outgoing President is truly shameful.



How sad that MSNBC has basically devolved into a liberal blog.



Readers that can stand it should watch the entire video to witness Arianna Huffington similarly disgracing herself.


Huffington had this to say about the President "Still Delusional After All These Years."


Why don't you shut up and go back to Greece you awful, vile woman.


What's that? Because you enjoy your freedom and liberties and opportunities the United States provides? That little thing called The Constitution that President Bush protected and defended for 8 years?


The next time terrorists decide to strike the US, we hope they have the decency to limit the damage to the NBC and eliminate these vile, disgusting anti-American scumbags.


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Greatest American Hero Pilot Chesley Burnett Sullenberger III Saves 155 Lives. Miracle On The Hudson

The hero of Flight 1549, pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger III, walked the aisle of the downed US Airways jet twice looking for passengers before exiting the plane he safely ditched in the Hudson River, saving the lives of more than 150 people onboard.





















Political bickering aside, this is America at its finest.


Well done Captain. Well done New York and New Jersey. Well done Americans. Thank you all for your heroism. Truly a miracle.

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Thursday, January 15, 2009

Eric Holder Is Pro-Terrorism, Anti-American, Pro-Iran, Pro-Bill Ayers Yet Senator Herb Kohl Asks Him If He Could Challenge Obama In Basketball?

“One last question, and this relates to your ability to exercise your responsibilities independently of what the president may or may not like. Uh, he is reported to have considerable skills as a basketball player, and you have indicated to me when we met in my office that you also are a person of considerable skill. In the event, Mr. Holder, that he invites you to the gym for a little one on one, will you promise us and the American people that you will do everything in your power to defeat him as badly as you can?”

--Senator Herb Kohl, owner of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks at Senate confirmation hearings of controversial Attorney General Nominee Eric Holder



From USA Today:




Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., ends his questions by asking Holder if he'll do everything he can to defeat Obama on the basketball court (the president-elect is a regular player).

Holder, who played high school ball in New York City, says of Obama that "he's 10 years younger than me. He plays a lot more frequently than I do. Having said that, I've got a New York City game. ..."If you give me a little time and a little space to get back in shape, I think I could hang with him."

But beating Obama might not be a great idea, Holder jokes.




Nice, hard hitting question from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Seriously, way to take Holder's controversial record seriously.



What a joke....



For more on Holder's hearings....

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Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann Are Disgusting. What Does MS-NBC Really Think of Bush? Vile, Anti-American Disrespectful Venom From Chris Matthews

One question for Chris Matthews - What have you done to defend America?

"The irony is immeasurable as the 43rd president of the United States prepared to give his farewell address tonight, full of rationalizations of his actions in the wake of 9/11, a commercial airliner crashed in New York City. But this was neither terror nor tragedy. Everybody survived."
--Keith Olbermann 1/15/09 once again implying 9/11 was the fault of George Bush.

We HATE you and your radical, Leftist anti-America, anti-truth disgusting network. You should be tried and hanged for treason. Along with your Sportscenter anchor friend Olbermann. He is a sports reporter and has no business opening his fat mouth about anything!

Full transciprt below.





Feel free to have your opinions. Feel free to enjoy your free speech which George Bush defended for 8 years.

But what gives you piece of scum the right to spew hateful venom towards George Bush.

You are the most vile human being. You have no right to call yourself a journalist or an American.

Thank you for confirming that NBC has absolutely no credibility whatsoever and should never, ever be considered journalism again.

See related from Rachel Madcow Disease...

The Full Vile Transcript. Screw You Matthews!

OLBERMANN: An acceptance speech, I guess, for an award, I don‘t know if any of the rest of us thinks he actually got them—am I wrong in feeling that the only thing that was missing tonight was another “mission accomplished” banner?

MATTHEWS: Well, it was a scorecard that only he could design, and, of course, he did well on it. But, in the way that today every kid gets a trophy, who participates, but I think there is a problem. And I‘m not sure it‘s about intellectual ability, I think he has it. It‘s about preparation for the office of the presidency.

There was a wonderful line in Shakespeare in Henry V, I guess my favorite of those plays in which the clergy sort of mocked the young warrior king and said, “Where did we find this sudden scholar?”

The scary thing about the last eight years is that George Bush, whatever you think of him, came to office pretty much tabula rasa in terms of philosophy. He didn‘t have much. He was a rich kid driving his father‘s car. He got to be president because of his father, let‘s face, the same way he got into school and everything else, and the same way he got his car probably.

But what the scary about Bush is, somewhere he came to meet people like Dick Cheney, and Scooter Libby and Paul Wolfowitz and Feith, and the rest of them. They had this ideology that he bought into. This ideology that somehow the United States, in waging war and taking over countries, somehow was fighting for freedom, and somehow in doing, so we would encourage moderation in the Arab world.

Well, history would have thought him, and I know he just put down history by quoting Jefferson, which was unfair to Jefferson. History would have told him in the Arab world, it‘s the Arab street; it‘s the regular people out there by the vast population and numbers who oppose the state of Israel, who have always been radicalized. It‘s been the leaders that you could deal with, the potentates, the kings we set up over there, the British did, the people that were propped up with oil wealth. We could deal with those people.

But the minute the street had a hand in the politics over there, it was radical. Look what happened under him, Algeria had a chance at radical politics, and look at what we got there, a bit of taste of that. Hamas, elected on the West Bank—that did a great deal for peace-making in the Middle East. The election of Ahmadinejad.

The idea that somehow the mechanical nature of holding elections somehow moderates a country—he said it again in his speech tonight, that somehow elections and democracy and freedom lead to a moderation on the part of these people. Well, these people have a problem in the Middle East. They want to fight. They don‘t like Israel. They don‘t like the west. There is a seething anger over there towards the west.

We better start to figure it out instead of retreating to these notions that he‘s been carrying around him ever since he met Dick Cheney and the neo-conservatives.

I go back to this—the scary thing about Bush is he picked up one, almost in a way that a hermit crab does, another identity in becoming president. He didn‘t have a “book knowledge” to come to the White House with. Having ignored and made fun at college the “pointy heads”—he called them—or the intellectuals and made fun of the smart kids at school, and hung around with the jocks.

He decided he‘s going to start listening to the intellectuals. So, he said, “Hi, this Paul Wolfowitz is such a smart guy. Let‘s go with this neo-conservative idea. Let‘s go into Iraq.” He listened to Dick Cheney, and listen to the rest of them. And all of a sudden, he became this new scholar of freedom. And he‘s going to spend the rest of his life selling this stuff.

This stuff cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. It costs the lives of 4,000 U.S. service people. And we don‘t know what‘s coming around the corner in Iraq.

The Brits took over that part of the world and turned it into a series of monarchies. We take it over and we supply it with our ideology. Well, we‘ll see if it lasts, because in the end, the Arabs are going to have their own culture, their own politics, and down the road, we are going to have to make peace with the elements we can find to make peace with.

The idea that we have some brand new neo-conservative ideology of freedom that‘s going to bring peace over on that part of the world is not true and he is still selling it. And that‘s the tragedy of the last eight years. He‘s learned the wrong lessons and he‘s out there selling them again tonight—Keith?

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President Bush Farewell Address; Thank You, Sir, From An Appreciative, Grateful Citizen

"As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11. But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our nation. I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe."
--President George W. Bush 1/15/09

The Left, the Media, the Bush Haters... you will never understand this, will you?



You will never know what it would have been like to be President of The United States of America on the morning of September 11th, 2001.



You owe your lives and the lives of your children and grandchildren and beyond to this man. If you have any feeling in your collective souls, you will thank George Bush and put aside your political beliefs and demonstrate the same level of humility as he.

Congratulations! You got your guy, you got your Obamamessiah elected. We wish him luck and godspeed. We will question him, we will disagree, but we will afford him something you never did...

We will respect the man and we will respect The Office of the President.






Mistakes were made, decisions second guessed, yes. Not one of us is perfect.



But thank you George Bush for keeping America safe.



Thank you George Bush for having principles and convictions.



Thank you George Bush for believing in what you thought was right, and not what was popular.



Thank for George Bush believing that you were doing what was best for America.



You were dealt a bad hand, George Bush yet you handled it with class, dignity and respect.



You are a good man, George Bush.



Thank you, good luck and we hope you continue to serve our grateful nation.

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Obama's Army: A Frightening Look Into How Obama's Political Machine Will Force-Feed Socialist Agenda to Americans, Politicians. Obama 2.0

Is this the National Citizen's Security Force he was talking about? This is an unprecedented powerful force of crazed Obamamaniacs, angry Obama Youth, and radical Left Wing Wackos.


Read this closely. This is Obama's effort to run the country with an Iron Fist. Make no mistake, there is nothing here which Obamanite's truly feel is good for America.

The AP (From The Chicago Sun Times) reported this in November and it went largely unnoticed, just days after the election.

NEW YORK — Transition officials call it Obama 2.0 — an ambitious effort to transform the president-elect’s vast Web operation and database of supporters into a modern new tool to accomplish his goals in the White House.

If it works, the new president could have an unprecedented ability to appeal for help from millions of Americans who already favor his ideas, bypassing the news media to pressure Congress.

‘‘He’s built the largest network anyone has ever seen in politics, and congressional Republicans are clueless about the communications shift that has happened,’’ Democratic strategist Joe Trippi proclaims. The results, he says, ‘‘will be amazing to watch.’’


For legal and privacy reasons, Obama’s campaign list must be kept separate from White House operations. Aides are figuring out if that list should be run through the Democratic National Committee or as a freestanding political entity that will eventually become his 2012 re-election committee.


This is more of his efforts to have as little opposition as possible to his potentially tyrannical dreams of implementing his socialist agenda and force-feeding his Hope and Change BS down our throats whether we like it or not.

Stay vocal! Stay connected! If you want a truly Conservative, Capitalist "Free" Democracy, Obama's Army must be kept in check! Stay Vigilant! Republicans must keep his White House communications in check because it's illegal to use the campaign's list from the White House directly.

"Never Tire. Never Fail."

Frightening stuff from LA Times:

"Retooling Obama's campaign machine for the long haul"
Susan Walsh / Associated Press


The vast network that helped elect Obama will be tapped to lobby lawmakers on behalf of the president, with an eye toward reelection. A service organization as a nonprofit arm is also considered.


Reporting from Washington -- As Barack Obama builds his administration and prepares to take office next week, his political team is quietly planning for a nationwide hiring binge that would marshal an army of full-time organizers to press the new president's agenda and lay the foundation for his reelection.

The organization, known internally as "Barack Obama 2.0," is being designed to sustain a grass-roots network of millions that was mobilized last year to elect Obama and now is widely considered the country's most potent political machine.


Organizers and even Republicans say the scope of this permanent campaign structure is unprecedented for a president. People familiar with the plan say Obama's team would use the network in part to pressure lawmakers -- particularly wavering Democrats -- to help him pass complex legislation on the economy, healthcare and energy.


The plan could prompt tensions with members of Congress, who are unlikely to welcome the idea of Obama's political network targeting them from within their own districts. Already, Democratic Party officials on the state level worry that it could become a competing political force that revolves around the president's ambitions while diminishing the needs of down-ballot Democrats.


Though the plan still is emerging, one source with knowledge of the internal discussion said the organization could have an annual budget of $75 million in privately raised funds. Another said it would deploy hundreds of paid staff members -- possibly one for every congressional district in certain politically important states and even more in larger battlegrounds such as Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina.


The full-time staff is likely to consist primarily of the presidential campaign workers, many in their 20s, who served as the local points of contact for the campaign's vast network of neighborhood volunteers. As part of the new organization, these workers probably would focus on similar campaign-style tasks, such as arranging phone banks, distributing signs, recruiting more helpers, buying coffee and doughnuts for house meetings and reporting voter contact data to senior officials.


"The only way to keep this thing going is to have boots on the ground," said a strategist familiar with the plan who spoke on condition of anonymity because campaign officials have not granted permission to talk about it.


In what would be another unprecedented step, Obama's political staff is deciding whether to create a service organization that would use the vast corps of its grass-roots campaign supporters. As described by one source knowledgeable with the discussions, this nonprofit arm would be used to help victims of natural disasters, but would do so under the Obama umbrella while continuing to build the overall network's massive e-mail database.

The prospect of a president being able to guide a service or relief agency outside the framework of his government is a unique development.


Though the campaign-style organizing network would be operated through the Democratic National Committee, the new service organization is envisioned as a separate nonprofit. Obama recently appointed his friend Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia as chairman of the DNC and his campaign battleground states director, Jennifer O'Malley Dillon, as executive director.



Some top Obama organizers, such as former deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand, had argued that the grass-roots machinery should be kept separate from the DNC to avoid alienating Republicans and independents who were inspired by Obama but could be turned off by a close association with the Democratic Party. But those organizers are not part of the inner circle drafting the plan.


A centralized system run from the DNC would mark a break from the Democratic tradition of relying more on muscular state and local party organizations. It would more closely mirror the Republican structure created under President Bush, whose political guru Karl Rove engineered the 2004 reelection campaign from his post at the White House using a central GOP database.

One key difference, however, is that the Republicans used their network to target Democrats and win elections, whereas the Obama system will be used at least in part to influence members of the president's own party.

For example, Democratic lawmakers in Republican-leaning districts might resist voting for an Obama-backed global warming bill. In that case, the White House or DNC could use the new network for phone campaigns, demonstrations or lobbying trips to push lawmakers to stick with Obama.


"You can pretty much target the list to people who haven't always voted with Democrats," said a House Democratic leadership aide familiar with the plan.


This aide said the pressure could actually help Democrats in those districts. They could either point to a groundswell of support for the Obama policy as a reason to vote for it -- or, alternatively, they could choose to score points with conservatives by bucking the activists.


"It could give them cover either way," the aide said.


Another Capitol Hill strategist, however, said some lawmakers in closely contested districts were anxious about the Obama plan, "watching very carefully to see whether or not they're going to be pressured at home.


"A spokesman for the Obama campaign, Ben LaBolt, declined to comment other than to say that any speculation about budget figures, state-specific strategy or staffing levels was premature because the plan had not been finalized.

Strategists in both parties said the ideas being discussed would create an on-the-ground weapon for policy battles far more powerful than the speeches, news conferences and donor-targeting techniques traditionally used by presidents.

"No one's ever had these kinds of resources," said Republican strategist Ed Rollins, who led political operations under President Reagan. "This would be the greatest political organization ever put together, if it works.

"In operating the network, the DNC would work closely with the White House political office, which will be headed by experienced campaign organizers schooled in the Obama tactics of using the Internet to harness the massive network of neighborhood-level volunteers.


Obama's presidential campaign generated a database of 13 million e-mail addresses and tens of thousands of phone bank volunteers and neighborhood coordinators. Strategists believe these assets can grow in the years before Obama runs again.


Concerns about Obama's ambitions are coming from state party leaders as well as from Capitol Hill.

"The party needs to be rooted not just around one individual, but it needs to have a grass-roots base that can survive the times and even endure past whoever may be in office," said Jerry Meek, chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party.


"Obama brings a lot to the table, but, on the other hand, state parties exist for more than serving the objectives of the president and are in the business to elect county commissioners, school board members and members of the legislature."



WaPo also covered this:

But he revealed that he will oversee Obama's sprawling grass-roots political operation, which boasts 13 million e-mail addresses, 4 million cellphone contacts and 2 million active volunteers.

One of those loyalists who is certain to be involved in the re-imagining of Obama's political world -- "Obama 2.0" as its known to insiders -- is campaign manager David Plouffe who recently explained his thoughts on what the new organization might look like in an interview over the weekend with the Post's Lois Romano.

Bits and pieces of the structure of Obama's political organization have spilled out in recent days -- most notably the appointment of Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee and Jen O'Malley Dillon as its executive director, a sign that the president-elect plans to keep control of his massive grassroots army in the hands of a small number of loyalists.

The goal of the new grass-roots operation, according to Plouffe, is to ensure buy-in from the millions of people who donated or volunteered during the course of the campaign.

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RNC Responds to Harry Reid's Flip Flop On Seating Controversial Roland Burris

The following is an email sent from the Rob Jesmer, Executive Director of The National Republican Senatorial Committee. (The post-script at the bottom is pretty hilarious.)

Friend --

After pledging NOT to accept any appointee from disgraced Governor Rod Blagojevich, Harry Reid reversed course today by officially seating Roland Burris as the next U.S. Senator from Illinois.

With this flip-flop, Reid has forced upon the people of Illinois a Senator with a controversial and questionable background.

Make no mistake, this could have been avoided if Harry Reid had followed Dick Durbin's lead and called for a special election last month. Instead, he wanted to play Kingmaker and now the people of Illinois are paying the price.

Roland Burris has endured his own ethical lapses, including allegations of "pay to play" -- one of the more grievous accusations facing Blagojevich -- during his 1998 gubernatorial campaign.

In fact, in early 2006, despite Blagojevich's mounting legal issues and ongoing FBI investigation, Burris said Blagojevich was doing a "helluva job," all the while Burris' consulting firm contributed nearly $11,000 to Blagojevich's campaigns.

Burris' political positions are far to the left of mainstream Illinois voters. As Illinois attorney general, Burris supported funding $100 million of slavery reparations from the state funds. Burris also supported a national ban on handguns, and then in a stunning admission of hypocrisy, waited ten years before turning in his OWN gun.

Harry Reid is hoping that the people of Illinois will forgive him for accepting the Blagojevich nominee when they could have had a special election.

After initially promising to hold a special election in the aftermath of the Blagojevich scandal, Democrats quickly backtracked, realizing that a Republican could emerge victorious.

The American people deserve more than political posturing from their elected representatives in Washington.

We can defeat Harry Reid and his colleagues in 2010, but we need your help. Please donate $10, $25 or even $50 today and join our team early.

All the best,

Rob Jesmer
Executive Director,
National Republican Senatorial Committee


P.S. Roland Burris, long-consumed with political power, called the governorship of Illinois his "destiny," and has described himself as a "visionary." Burris has gone to the extraordinary length of constructing a mausoleum for himself in Chicago, inscribed with the words "TRAIL BLAZER," along with a list of his accomplishments.

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Wait A Minute, Bush Wire Tapping Is Legal Now? Obama Inaugural Next Week...Coincidence?

Don't expect any apologies to Bush from anyone on the left....such as CNN and The New York Times, the ACLU, Al Gore, Ted Kennedy...

To their disappointment, our friends at The NY Times have this:

WASHINGTON — A federal intelligence court, in a rare public opinion, issued a major ruling validating the power of the president and Congress to wiretap international phone calls and intercept e-mail messages without a specific court order, even when Americans’ private communications may be involved.

The court decision, made in August 2008 by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, came in an unclassified, redacted form.
The decision marks the first time since the disclosure of the National Security Agency's warrantless eavesdropping program three years ago that an appellate court has addressed the constitutionality of the federal government’s wiretapping powers.

In validating the government’s wide authority to collect foreign intelligence, it may offer legal credence to the Bush administration’s repeated assertions that the president has the power to act without specific court approval in ordering national security eavesdropping that may involve Americans.



Thank goodness, we certainly would not want anyone to call for Obama's impeachment.

For the record, Obama supported Bush on wiretapping legislation.

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Sarah Palin Fights Back Against Congress, Environmentalists, Statement Gives the Facts About ANWR, Drill Baby Drill!

Clearly she is neither "uniformed" nor "clearly unqualied".

Governor Sarah Palin's statement from Alaska Report:

Governor Sarah Palin today issued the following statement after members of Congress introduced a bill to permanently prohibit drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge:

"I am dismayed that legislation has again been introduced in Congress to prohibit forever oil and gas development in the most promising unexplored petroleum province in North America – the coastal plain of ANWR, in Alaska.

"Let’s not forget: Only six months ago, oil was selling for nearly $150 per barrel, while Americans were paying $4 a gallon and more for gasoline. And today, there is potential for prices to rebound as OPEC asserts its market power, and as Russia is disrupting needed natural gas to Europe , for the second time in three years.

"As I traveled throughout the country campaigning for vice president, I was glad to hear politicians, including President-elect Barack Obama, promise ‘everything was on the table’ to address America 's great challenges. I also found that when Americans were apprised of the facts, most people became supporters of responsible oil and gas drilling in Alaska . So, I want to remind our national leaders of this promise, and to make the case against this legislation that would permanently take off the table any consideration of responsible ANWR drilling."

The governor made the following points:

* Oil from ANWR represents a huge, secure domestic supply that could help satisfy U.S. demand for more than 25 years.

* ANWR sits within a 20 million acre refuge (the size of South Carolina ) but thanks to advanced technology like directional drilling, the aggregated drilling footprint would be less than 2,000 acres (about one-quarter the size of Dulles Airport ). This is like laying a two-by-three-foot welcome mat on a basketball court.

* Energy development is quite compatible with the protection of our wildlife and their habitat. For example, North Slope caribou herds have grown and remained healthy throughout more than three decades of our oil development. Most of the year, our coastal plain is frozen solid and thus characterized by low biological productivity.

* ANWR development would create hundreds of thousands of good American jobs, positively affecting every state by providing a safe energy supply and generating demand for goods and services.

* Development here would reduce U.S. dependence on unstable, dangerous sources of energy such as the Middle East , and would decrease our huge trade deficit, a large percentage of which is directly attributable to oil imports.

* Incremental ANWR production would help reduce energy price volatility. Previous price disruptions demonstrate how even relatively low levels of oil production influence world prices.

* Federal revenues from ANWR – cash bids, leases, and oil taxes – would help reduce the multi-trillion dollar national debt, and we'd circulate U.S. petrodollars in our own country instead of continuing to send hundreds of billions of our dollars overseas, creating jobs and stronger economies in other countries.

The governor went on to say:

"The development of oil and clean-burning natural gas isn't a panacea. However, this development should be authorized in comprehensive legislation that includes alternative fuels, fuel efficiency, and conservation.

"Americans know that gasoline and other refined crude oil products will keep fueling our transportation system for the foreseeable future. Further, the soaring prices of food, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and other products illustrate the importance of petroleum to the health and well-being of America.

"Another important reality is that the location and quantity of oil production are drastically changing world geopolitics. Energy-producing countries are rapidly gaining world power. Several of these countries have objectives and value systems that are antithetical to U.S. interests.

"Washington politicians should be horrified as we become increasingly dependent on these insecure, foreign sources while our U.S. petrodollars finance activities that harm America and our economic and military interests around the world.

"If we don't move now to enact a comprehensive energy policy that includes domestic oil and gas production – including ANWR - we will look back someday and regret that we failed to perceive a critical crossroads in the history of America. It's not overly dramatic to say our nation's future depends on the decisions made by the federal government over the next few months.

"Polls show a majority of Americans now support responsible energy development in Alaska. Unfortunately, some disingenuous special interest groups are still fighting the public will in Congress.

"Americans, please contact Congress and ask that all options stay on the table as we formulate our needed energy plan. Remind politicians about their promises to increase domestic oil and gas production."


Click here to contact your Representatives and Senators.

See the full text of the bill, H.R. 39 `Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act' here.

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Blago Wins Again! VP Cheney Swears in Roland Burris As The Junior Senator From Illinois!



From The Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Roland Burris took his place as Barack Obama's successor in the Senate on Thursday, ending a standoff that embarrassed the president-elect and fellow Democrats who initially resisted the appointment by scandal-scarred Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.


"I do," Burris said with a grin as Vice President Dick Cheney administered the oath of office to the former Illinois attorney general who takes Obama's place as the Senate's only black member.


More than a week after his colleagues were sworn in, Burris was seated without objection or a roll call vote, even though Majority Leader Harry Reid had said senators would have their voices heard on whether to accept his appointment.

Remember way back when... Obama, Harry Reid and others said that there was no way anyone appointed by Blago would be seated in The Senate!

Were they just kidding? Or just another example that the politicians do not really have any sort of understanding of the laws?


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Details of Obama's Stimulus Released. Economic Plan Full of Pork, Despite Obama's Promise, Republicans Not Consulted, Where's The "Change"?

What's this all about? You mean Obama lied to us? That there wouldn't be any pork in his economic stimulus? He said he would fix the economy and put people back to work, right?



Redstate dug this up today.



Despite a promise from President-elect Barack Obama to listen to Republican ideas, the plan distributed by House Democrats today includes not a single GOP proposal. House Republican Leader John Boehner wasn’t even consulted:



This is the first time Republicans and the American people have seen any specifics on the proposal congressional Democrats intend to pass, and what we’re seeing is disappointing. The plan released this morning by congressional Democrats was developed with no Republican input and appears to be grounded in the flawed notion that we can simply borrow and spend our way back to prosperity. It calls for more than half a trillion dollars in questionable new government spending on programs and projects, while providing less tax relief for middle-class families and small businesses than President-elect Obama has proposed.



An initial review of the “stimulus” by Boehner’s office found these spending proposals:


$600 million for new cars for the federal government

$1 billion “to minimize undercounting of minority groups” in the 2010 census

$400 million for NASA for global warming

$400 million for “National Treasures”

$6 billion for colleges/universities, many of which have massive billion dollar endowments

$166 billion in direct aid to states, many of which have failed to budget wisely

$650 million more for digital television conversation coupons


Uh....what?!?!?

This an absolute outrage. A disgusting display, folks! Politics as usual!

We'll say it again...America, you have been fooled by your Messiah! Where is the change? Where are the promises?

Read for yourself (pdf). House version.

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Eric Holder's Confirmation Hearing, Water Boarding is Torture, "My Decisions Were Not Always Perfect, I Made Mistakes"

My decisions were not always perfect," Eric Holder said today before the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I made mistakes. I hope that enough of my decisions were correct to justify the gratifying support I have received from colleagues in law enforcement in recent weeks. But with benefit of hindsight, I can see my errors clearly and I can tell you how I learned from them."

Yes, we remember those mistakes....

When Eric Holder was nominated by Barack Obama in November, we documented his record.

Not only was Holder involved in the pardon of convicted felon and communist sympathiser Marc Rich, but he was also involved in pardons of convicted felons Susan Rosenberg and Linda Evans.

Both Rosenberg and Evans were former members of Bill Ayers' Weather Underground. Both were convicted of bombing the US Capitol, weapons and explosives charges and harboring known felons.


And then there's his controversial involvment in the pardon of other terrorists.

From LA Times:

Attorney general nominee Eric H. Holder Jr. repeatedly pushed some of his subordinates at the Clinton Justice Department to drop their opposition to a controversial 1999 grant of clemency to 16 members of two violent Puerto Rican nationalist organizations, according to interviews and documents...

Holder instructed his staff at Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney to effectively replace the department's original report recommending against any commutations, which had been sent to the White House in 1996, with one that favored clemency for at least half the prisoners, according to these interviews and documents. And after Pardon Attorney Roger Adams resisted, Holder's chief of staff instructed him to draft a neutral "options memo" instead, Adams said. The options memo allowed Clinton to grant the commutations without appearing to go against the Justice Department's wishes, Adams and his predecessor, Margaret Colgate Love, said in their first public comments on the case.

The 16 members of the FALN (the Spanish acronym for Armed Forces of National Liberation) and Los Macheteros had been convicted in Chicago and Hartford variously of bank robbery, possession of explosives and participating in a seditious conspiracy. Overall, the two groups had been linked by the FBI to more than 130 bombings, several armed robberies, six slayings and hundreds of injuries.

So now that we know he is sympathetic to terrorists, his rejection of water boarding should come as no surprise.

And his involvement with Marc Rich displays further lack of judgement, questionable moral principles and general "unconscionable conduct".


NYTimes, via PJ:

"Mr. Holder, the [Congressional] report says, played a major role, steering Mr. Rich’s lawyers toward Jack Quinn, a former White House counsel. Mr. Rich hired Mr. Quinn, whose Washington contacts and ability to lobby the president made the difference, according to the report. It says that Mr. Holder’s support for the pardon and his failure to alert prosecutors of a pending pardon were just as crucial. …

The panel criticized Mr. Holder’s conduct as unconscionable and cited several problems. It cited his admission last year that he had hoped Mr. Quinn would support his becoming attorney general in a Gore administration."
From Pajamas Media:

So to be clear, Holder helped steer the attorney for Rich, a fugitive whose pardon request would likely have been rejected through normal channels due to is status as a fugitive, to the man Holder wanted assistance with in getting his next job. Now there’s a man who knows something about conflicts of interest.

More from Fox News.

We encourage the Senate not to confirm Mr. Holder. His resume as an attorney and judge are superb, but his previous behavior as Deputy Attorney General illustrates enough questionable conduct at The Justice Department to prevent from serving the country as Attorney General.

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

O'Reilly Slams Leftists Who Have Used Pro-Obama Propaganda to Put American Security At Risk, Left Wing Media Made Case That USA Is A Nation of Torture

The Spin Stops Here! Go Get 'Em Bill!






And American Patriot, Dennis Miller, exhibited his admiration for George Bush for keeping America and his children safe. Anybody get it yet?


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NY Congressman Wants to Repeal the 22nd Amendment Which Limits Number of Terms Obama May Serve

Rep. Jose Serrano thinks Barack Obama will be such a great President, that we'll never need another one. Anyone tell Bill Clinton about this? On the positive side, he also wants to make it easier to Cubans to play Major League Baseball...


Here is the text of his House Resolution he



111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. J. RES. 5


Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.


IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 6, 2009

Mr. SERRANO introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

‘Article–

'The twenty-second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.’

A fun fact about Rep. Serrano, his top campaign donor is Service Employees International Union.... wait, didn't we hear about them before.... with Blago Scandal?!?!?



For more interesting bills proposed so far by the new 111th Congress, click here.

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Obamapalooza: Is This Stimulus? Obama's Inauguration Will Cost over $150 Million, Bush Declares "Emergency" in D.C.

The Guardian in the UK is reporting: (If any can actually find an American newspaper mentioning this, let us know...ahem.)



President Barack Obama's inauguration next week is set to be the most expensive ever, predicted to reach over $150m (£102m). This dwarfs the $42.3m spent on George Bush's inauguration in 2005 and the $33m spent on Bill Clinton's in 1993.



Part of the spending includes emergency funding announced by the White House on Tuesday to help with the soaring costs. Most of this new federal funding will be to deal with the huge influx of people, estimated 1.5 million to 2 million.

A White House statement said that President Bush "declared an emergency exists in the District of Columbia".

If there is snow, the costs will grow higher. The long-term forecast suggests there is a chance of snow on Sunday and again on the day of inauguration, on Tuesday.


Carole Florman, spokeswoman for the joint congressional committee on inaugural ceremonies, told the New York Daily News, which estimated the cost at $160m: "We're always very budget conscious. But we're sending a message to the entire world about our peaceful transition of power, and you don't want it to look like a schlock affair. It needs to be appropriate to the magnitude of events that it is."

Florman deals specifically with the inauguration ceremony at the Congress, which is relatively modest. The surge in spending is partly because of the Obama's decision to open the entire Mall to the public.

The federal government has budgeted $49m for the inauguration. But this does not take account of other demands, such as from Virginia and Maryland, the states surrounding the capital, that have also asked for emergency funding. In addition, funding will come from Obama's own fund-raising efforts and from private contributors.

One of the biggest costs is transport, and the Washington DC transport authority has also put in a request to the federal government for extra funding.


Obama today issued a statement calling on people across the nation to participate by holding their own neighbourhood events, including their own balls. He acknowledged the logistical problems that will face Washington.


"Now, you've probably heard the reports that unprecedented numbers of Americans are planning to join us in Washington. That will mean long lines, a tough time getting around, and most of all, a lot of walking on what could be a very cold winter day," Obama said.

The presidential inaugural committee today published details of the inauguration and the days running up to it.

On Sunday, there will be a free concert opened by Obama at the Lincoln Memorial, with songs from Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé and others and historical readings by actors including Jamie Foxx and Denzel Washington.


On Monday night, there will be a children's inaugural event in Washington. On Tuesday, there will be the inauguration, parade led by the Obamas from Congress to the White House and a series of balls in the evening.

The inauguration events will end on Wednesday with a prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral.





Remember when they killed Bush for spending $40 Million? (Via Drudge)

Obama just loves to spend tax-payer money, huh?

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My Email From Valerie Jarrett, Read What Obama Supporters Want Him to Do

Dear Mike,



We wanted to tell you about a new feature on Change.gov which lets you bring your ideas directly to the President. It's called the Citizen's Briefing Book, and it's an online forum where you can share your ideas, and rate or offer comments on the ideas of others. The best-rated ones will rise to the top, and after the Inauguration, we'll print them out and gather them into a binder like the ones the President receives every day from experts and advisors. If you participate, your idea could be included in the Citizen's Briefing Book to be delivered to President Obama.



Visit the Citizen's Briefing Book now and share your ideas:



Throughout this Transition, a truly inspiring number of citizens have gotten involved. We hope that you remain involved through the Inauguration and beyond.



Thank you, Valerie



Valerie Jarrett

Co-Chair

Obama-Biden Transition Project





Thanks, Val! That's so sweet! Does your buddy Blago know about this?



Seriously, for anyone surfing the Internet, this is a great resource for entertainment. It's hilarious!

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Change You Can Believe In? Biden says Obama Admin. Will Continue Bush Iraq Policy. Inconsistency Runs Amok In Obamaland

The US and Iraq agreed on a troop withdrawl plan last November. Barack Obama and Joe Biden have been all over the map for years about Iraq.


While in Iraq, Foot-in-Mouth Chief Biden said that the incoming Obama administration would continue the Bush policy in Iraq.

“The fact of the matter is, the only thing succeeding in Iraq right now is the plan that Barack and I talked about that Petraeus is implementing — giving local control in the very areas with a limited central government.”--Biden last year, falsely taking credit for the troop surge last September.


Red State made this case....


VP-to-be Joseph Biden (D-DE) came out of hiding this week to boast that he and his boss will be following the post-Iraq-conflict blueprint drawn up by the Bush administration to a T.



At an appearance in Baghdad today, Biden said that “the new administration will stick to the timetable in the [U.S-Iraq Status of Forces] agreement.” As AP writer Robert Reid points out, “Obama pledged during his election campaign to withdraw all American combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office” (naturally he misses the fact that Obama actually sponsored legislation that would have removed all troops from Iraq by March of last year).


More on that legislation further down...


This latest is, of course, a far cry from the Obama who opposed the ’surge’ in forces and General David Petraeus’s commitment to emphasize counterinsurgency in Iraq, as well as from the Obama who both refused to admit that the new strategy was succeeding and then, even after begrudgingly admitting that some gains had been made in that Arab state, made the head-scratching claim that he would still oppose the successful change in course if, knowing ahead of time how amazingly it would succeed, he were presented with the opportunity to do so again.


We have found several more statements by Obama which not only show his disapproval of the war in Iraq, but illustrate that in no certain terms was he ever in favor of the troop surge.


Delivered on Wednesday, October 2, 2002 by Barack Obama, Illinois State Senator, at the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq war rally (organized by Chicagoans Against War in Iraq) at noon in Federal Plaza in Chicago, Illinois; at the same day and hour that President Bush and Congress announced their agreement on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War, but over a week before it was passed by either body of Congress.



I don’t oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other arm-chair, weekend warriors in this Administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne. What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income — to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression.

(What is fascination with everything being the worst it's ever been since the Great Depression?)


That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.
Now let me be clear — I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity.

Wait a minute? I though Bush lied about all that chemical and biological weapons stuff?

In 2003, while still an Illinois State Senator, Obama had this to say.

"When I was asked, 'Would I have voted for the $87 billion,' I said 'no,'" Obama said in a speech before a Democratic community group in suburban Chicago in November 2003. "I said 'no' unequivocally because, at a certain point, we have to say no to George Bush. If we keep on getting steamrolled, we're not going to stand a chance."

And in 2004...


In an interview published in the Chicago Tribune the following day(July 27,2004), Obama said that he would have voted "no" on the Senate resolution. But he said he was not in favor of "pulling out now." On the issue of whether to stay in Iraq [in 2004], he said "there's not much of a difference between my position and George Bush's position at this stage." The context of his remarks makes clear that he was not referring to the original decision to go into Iraq, but the question of whether to remain.


From last March in The Boston Globe:



Yesterday, Obama struck back, declaring that Clinton "doesn't have any standing to question my position on this issue." And he added that, "I will bring this war to an end in 2009, so don't be confused."


In 2004, while supporting the Democratic presidential nominee, John F. Kerry, Obama endorsed Kerry's view that the United States had too much at stake in Iraq to withdraw at that time. Since joining the Senate in 2005, Obama has taken incrementally tougher positions on Iraq, even as he sought to hear from a wide variety of voices about what should be done there, according to aides, advisers, and transcripts of his speeches.


In November of 2005, after it had become clear that US troops faced a raging insurgency, Obama argued in a speech before the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations that the US military should scale down its presence, but that US troops were "still part of the solution" in Iraq."We have to manage our exit in a responsible way," he told the council, "at the very least taking care not to plunge the country into an even deeper and perhaps irreparable crisis."

In January of 2006, Obama took his first trip to Iraq, staying two days, and while there he heard conflicting views on whether US troops should stay or go. He expressed frustration with the failure of Iraqi leaders to resolve key disputes, telling reporters that "if we have not seen significant progress over the next few months, we need to have an honest conversation with Iraqis as to what our investment is."


But 2006 unfolded as a year of sectarian bloodshed, deepening Obama's conviction that the US effort was being squandered. He began to call for a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops. By that time, the call was far from unusual, however; other senators had called for a phased withdrawal earlier.


From American Thinker:

Obama's proposed legislation came in the wake of President Bush's announcement of the troop surge. In a statement dated January 19, 2007, Obama said, "I cannot in good conscience support this escalation. It is a policy which has already been tried and a policy which has failed. Just this morning, I had veterans of the Iraq war visit my office to explain to me that this surge concept is, in fact, no different from what we have repeatedly tried, but with 20,000 troops, we will not in any imaginable way be able to accomplish any new progress."


In case you want more....



On January 30, 2007, Senator Barack Obama introduced the Iraq War De-escalation Act of 2007 in a speech from the floor of the U.S. Senate. In describing the proposed legislation he said, "This plan would not only place a cap on the number of troops in Iraq and stop the escalation, more importantly, it would begin a phased redeployment of U.S. forces with the goal of removing all U.S. combat forces from Iraq by March 31, 2008.



"In a civil war where no military solution exists, this redeployment remains our best leverage to pressure the Iraqi government to achieve the political settlement between its warring factions that can slow the bloodshed and promote stability."



And from last July's WaPo:


Barack Obama is strongly reaffirming his stance on pulling combat troops out of Iraq in his first 16 months in office, if elected president, emboldened by the Iraqi government saying last week it supports a timetable for U.S. forces to leave. "The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity," Obama wrote today in a New York Times op-ed.



"We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States." Maliki's comments have left Obama increasing focused on the withdrawal part of his Iraq strategy, instead of the troops he would leave there to maintain stability, which he had emphasized in the last few weeks as the general election has started. Obama still has not said how large of a force he would leave in Iraq, as ten of thousands of the forces in Iraq are not "combat troops" and could remain in the country even if Obama removed all combat forces.


Obama has been wildly inconsistent, saying one thing in public and another in private. From the NY Post....


While campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.

According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July. "He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington," Zebari said in an interview.

Obama insisted that Congress should be involved in negotiations on the status of US troops - and that it was in the interests of both sides not to have an agreement negotiated by the Bush administration in its "state of weakness and political confusion."

"However, as an Iraqi, I prefer to have a security agreement that regulates the activities of foreign troops, rather than keeping the matter open." Zebari says. Though Obama claims the US presence is "illegal," he suddenly remembered that Americans troops were in Iraq within the legal framework of a UN mandate. His advice was that, rather than reach an accord with the "weakened Bushadministration," Iraq should seek an extension of the UN mandate.

While in Iraq, Obama also tried to persuade the US commanders, including Gen. David Petraeus, to suggest a "realistic withdrawal date." They declined.

Obama has made many contradictory statements with regard to Iraq. His latest position is that US combat troops should be out by 2010. Yet his effort to delay an agreement would make that withdrawal deadline impossible to meet.



So which is it Mr. Obama? Either you're a liar or you're an idiot.... and we don't think you're an idiot.

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