barack obama – Page 94

Rooting for Injuries Watch: The AP vs. that annoying trace artist guy.

You know: Shepard Fairey, who took time out from cosplaying a graphic artist for Minitruth and plagiarizing everything that moved to trace out the iconic image of our new President.

Oh, well, it’s America, so it’s not like we really know what to do with irony, anyway. Might as well just shoot in the head and leave it dead in a ditch somewhere; seems more honest, really. Anyway, the AP finally noticed that they got ripped off. Amusingly, they did not see this as merely the logical extension of their already-quite-obvious policy for 2008 (i.e., getting Barack Obama elected any which way that they could that didn’t involve actual weapons), and thus a humorous quirk of the election. We just shot irony, remember? There was a loud explosion and everything.

No, they lawyered up instead.

Continue reading Rooting for Injuries Watch: The AP vs. that annoying trace artist guy.

I’m actually kind of pumped about the Ron Sims pick.

“Deputy HUD Secretary testifies in election fraud case” makes for a much sexier headline than “County executive testifies in election fraud case.”

And before people start arguing that the Master loves us, and would never betray us that this is a nonsense lawsuit, please note that as King County Executive Ron Sims is already directly responsible for “blatant violations of the state Public Records Act” – so blatant, in fact, that the courts keep sending the case back in order to keep upping the fines. So it’s not as if Stefan’s own case (which is likewise based around FOIA requests, and the allegation that Sims had delayed fulfilling them in order to help the Democrats win the 2004 Gregoire/Rossi race) is exactly sui generis, is it?

Ed Morrissey doesn’t ask the question, so I will: what was Obama’s vetting team doing for the last few months? Playing World of Warcraft? I understand that Wrath of the Lich King came out at what would have been the worst possible moment for their job productivity.

Crossposted at RedState

Oh, my aching head: Time for a “study” on DADT.

I’m noting this in RedHot/my site because Brian has covered the basics of the thing itself; essentially, the President is going to wait until the military gets back to him before he tries to get the law repealed. Speaking as someone who actually favors allowing gays to serve openly in the military, let me correct two egregious errors in the article:

Clinton was not “forced to back off”; he out-and-out caved on this issue at the first sign of pressure.
A “comprehensive assessment” does not actually mean a “comprehensive assessment:” as Karl over at Patterico notes in a different controversy, it means something more like “to move an issue onto a back burner.”

In other words, don’t count on this changing this spring. Or this year. Or, quite possibly, this Presidential term.

Crossposted at RedState.

The nuance of the pro-torture Left (HRW edition).

Because it’s different when THEY do it, you see.

Good term, Wizbang: I like it. Anyway, via Dissenting Justice (via Instapundit) we can see in miniature the… ah, evolution of the Left’s stance on Obama’s reversion to rendition. Our hypocrites for the day are Human Rights Watch*:

April 7, 2008 to at least January 19, 2009:

The US government should:

·Repudiate the use of rendition to torture as a counterterrorism tactic and permanently discontinue the CIA’s rendition program;

Some time after January 20, 2009:

“Under limited circumstances, there is a legitimate place” for renditions, said Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. “What I heard loud and clear from the president’s order was that they want to design a system that doesn’t result in people being sent to foreign dungeons to be tortured — but that designing that system is going to take some time.”

Translation: all that stuff about the need to end rendition? “Oh, that’s just what we call pillow talk, baby, that’s all.”

Moe Lane

PS: Remember. Eastasia. We’ve always been at war with Eastasia. Continue reading The nuance of the pro-torture Left (HRW edition).

Hey, how many Obama acolytes does it take to Change a light bulb?

THAT’S NOT FUNNY.

Andrew Malcolm has a few thoughts on the subject, and this is one time where the title is enough: “Oh, c’mon, laugh! Pres. Obama does have big ears.” You’re either going to click through with a chuckle, or purse your lips, wrinkle your forehead, and frown. For the latter, permit me to show you what vibes you’re increasingly setting off in other people’s heads:

Continue reading Hey, how many Obama acolytes does it take to Change a light bulb?

Obama embraces torture.

[UPDATE, 05/08/2009] Welcome, Instapundit readers. I went into the Pelosi thing somewhat more bluntly here.

I told you.

I damned well told you.

Rendition is back, you pro-torturing, posturing, hypocritical Leftist fools:

Obama preserves renditions as counter-terrorism tool
The role of the CIA’s controversial prisoner-transfer program may expand, intelligence experts say.

Under executive orders issued by Obama recently, the CIA still has authority to carry out what are known as renditions, secret abductions and transfers of prisoners to countries that cooperate with the United States.

Current and former U.S. intelligence officials said that the rendition program might be poised to play an expanded role going forward because it was the main remaining mechanism — aside from Predator missile strikes — for taking suspected terrorists off the street.

The rendition program became a source of embarrassment for the CIA, and a target of international scorn, as details emerged in recent years of botched captures, mistaken identities and allegations that prisoners were turned over to countries where they were tortured.

[snip]

But the Obama administration appears to have determined that the rendition program was one component of the Bush administration’s war on terrorism that it could not afford to discard.

Continue reading Obama embraces torture.

Harry still thinking like a loser on his debt bill.

Sad, isn’t it?

Or maybe he doesn’t want to win this one. Would you, in his shoes? Via AoSHQ:

Reid to GOP: It’s your fault if stimulus stalls

As the $820 billion stimulus package heads to the upper chamber, Senate Democratic leaders are launching a pre-emptive strike.

In a Thursday afternoon news conference, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urged Senate Republicans not to line up against the bill, and says Republicans will be blamed for any delay in the landmark economic legislation.

“If we don’t [pass the bill], it’s not our fault, we’re trying,” Reid said. “The president has done a remarkable job covering all the bases on Capitol Hill.”

Continue reading Harry still thinking like a loser on his debt bill.

Yes, Mr. President. You won. How’s your debt bill coming along?

I would like to thank both the President of the United States of America, and the liberal Democratic group Americans United for Change, for their plans to remind three critical swing states that the Democratic Party is pushing a debt package that only 42% – and dropping – of the country believes in, and that a majority of independent voters oppose. But there’s something even odder about this strategy: Continue reading Yes, Mr. President. You won. How’s your debt bill coming along?

I predict the Democrats will “revise” their debt bill.

You heard it here first.

Why am I predicting this? Well, to start off with, it’s not like getting it wrong is going to embarrass me or anything – I’m just this guy on the Internet, remember – so why not? Anyway, I’m figuring that the revision is going to happen, based on two factors.
Continue reading I predict the Democrats will “revise” their debt bill.

Obama’s Rendition Exception.

Never say that you were not told.

I’m not nearly as sanguine about this as Ed was:

EXCLUSIVE: Loophole allows terrorist detentions

President Obama’s executive order closing CIA “black sites” contains a little-noticed exception that allows the spy agency to continue to operate temporary detention facilities abroad.
[snip]

Current and former U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition that they aren’t identified because of the sensitivity of the subject, said such temporary facilities around the world will remain open, giving the administration the opportunity to seize and hold assumed terrorists.

The detentions would be temporary. Suspects either would be brought later to the United States for trial or sent to other countries where they are wanted and can face trial.

…I wasn’t sanguine when I noticed this last week, and I’m not sanguine about it now. Continue reading Obama’s Rendition Exception.