Obama Has Okay'd A "Political Steering Committee" to Command Our troops In Libya?

How stupid is this man? No strategy, no tactics, just university meeting agreements of, okay, if you think you can do that best, go ahead and take ownership of that or some such stupid cliche.

This clown is actually in charge of our military? He is Commander in Chief, but he doesn't have the intelligence or ability to be in charge of a musical chairs contest because, as referee, he'll lose. Every time. Now he has relinquished his control and constitutional duty to foreign leadership who has proven themselves incapable of winning a snowball fight.

How stupid was the electorate that voted him into an office he is wholly incapable of fulfilling?

Ruining our country and our economy is bad enough, but putting our fighting men and women in danger is so wrong on so many levels. It' like Rome putting Elmer Fudd in charge of the legions.

Obama probably is incapable of picking his own nose, but he feels the need, indeed the desire, to pick others to command our forces. Choosing those that do not share our goals. Those that want to bring us down a peg. Obama does so because he is so scared of actually making decisions. Obama is terrified of actually taking ownership of anything other than a local ACORN meeting. There, in a ghetto backroom Obama knows he might shine.

Obama has no stated goal in Libya. Hell, he has no openly stated goals here in America, only backroom deals to kill America. He is wholly incapable of being Commander in Chief and President. That this embarrassment will cost us lives is an embarrassment we must atone for for years. I am so embarrassed that this clown is President of the United States of America.

1663 Cape Cod Style House

A stone house was built first, by Pieter Bronck, of the family for whom the Bronx was named, who bought the property from native Americans. That was expanded soon after, and, in 1738 a larger brick house that was connected by a doorway was built by his grandson. The house is reputed to be the location where theCoxsackie Declaration of Independence was signed, more than a year before the Continental Congress signing in 1776.


House site HERE




.

Happy Birthday Arab League

Arab League born in 1945 in Cairo, Egypt. Of course in the same month and year Tito formed his famously benevolent communist government in Yugoslavia. Merely a coincidence, eh?

Ain't we got fun...

Why Are We Attacking Libya?

National security? Nope.
Oil? Nope.
Colonialism? Nope.
Humanitarian reasons? Huh?
Democracy? Nope.
To scare Iran? Huh?
Peace? Nope.
To stabilize Africa? Really?
To tick off Farrakhan? Who would care?

It appears to me that Obama is attacking Qaddafi for no national or humane interest which only leaves personal reasons. What are they?

Silence Of The Bams

 Professor Glenn Reynolds has rightfully been speaking to this. A few liberals such as Stranahan
of Huffingington have spoken up about the subject. There are many others speaking who are not in the media nor are they part of the “elite” leadership. Those, the major supporters of Obama are now silent. His front line troops in his campaign to be president are shuffling their feet as they look away in
embarrassment. The rank and file is silently fading away. They revolution was televised, but people stopped watching. The revolution was scrapped.

Here in our small hamlet the anti-Bush-war protesters who so proudly were hailed quietly put away their banners and insulting placards ending their weekly protests on Main Street. Windows silently echo no more Hope and Change signs and the bumpers of just right vehicles merely have a shadow where stickers once proclaimed Obama to be the one. The revolution has quietly returned to the normalcy of parties, work and the constant for a cause to bring meaning to life. It’s as if the revolution
was the wayward child who was never really loved and somehow just went away.

If one kept their ear to the wind they knew the revolution had died as faux mini-revolutions arose with ferocity and force to defend wealthier union members who saw their protection racket being challenged. There was no fearless leader to lead, just thousands looking for a cause. There, in state capitols, there were no signs of hope and change, only dredged up signs depicting others as dead Nazis and what remained when the energy waned were the dredges of political action, the fringes of insanity, waging a childish war against somebody and everything.

As the winter winds began to die only a few markers remained. The squares and government building returned to the normalcy of the everyday. The leaders of the once revolution stumbled on with no goals left to conquer for they had no goals. There were no more adoring crowds heralding the next hoped for great achievement. The empty cold public forums witnessed no more new great programs, endeavors and actions. They were empty because their former revolutionary inhabitants had slipped away home to close their eyes. With sealed eyes they no longer had to see the non-revolution. With silent lips they would not have to speak of the sameness they abhorred let alone speak out against it and its sameness to the old. In such a short time the revolution had grown old, died and had blown away like so much dust to never be mentioned again. Failed revolutions make for embarrassing conversation.

Their revolution gone, the classrooms are full again, even with teachers. Job sites, once again, are comfortably filled out with five workers to do a one man job. The populace has quietly gone back to their lives. The parties, the seminars, the business get-togethers go on as before the revolution. The unity that drove the revolution has settled back into the traditional pettiness of squabbles, jealousies and egos over things significant only to the few within their small pond. Tragedies are accepted. New wars are a world away, the methodology suddenly unimportant.  Prices rise as hope declines. Unintended consequences spiral out of control as the revolution dies. All that remains is the quiet desperation of a want for goods, services and money from the non-revolutionary government. Hope and change remains what it always was. Greed...

The ‘I told you so chorus’ quietly hums to fill the void of the silence of the Bams.

Why Should Anyone, Including Obama, Take Farrakhan Seriously?

How many members does the Nation of Islam (NOI) have? If you listen to crazier than a craphouse rat, Farrakhan, it's probably somewhere between millions and gazillions. If one is reduced to listening to the Southern Poverty Law Center there are about 20,000 - 50,000. It doesn't really matter because the Jews lie about the strength of NOI.

Now, ex-cabaret singer Louis Farrakhan, AKA Louis Eugene Walcott, also known as "The Charmer", is telling the president what to do.



If NOI wants to have a financial empire, fine, but why do they have to sully religion in the process. It makes them the same as Freddie Phelps.

Obama & Allies Try To Defend High Gas Prices

Senate Ally Defends Obama on Gas Prices

Mr. Bingaman, chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources committee, noted that at a hearing earlier in the week, a panel of energy experts collectively dismissed the claims that either climate policy or the pace of offshore oil permitting were driving gas prices higher.


Really? You mean the 896 billion barrels of oil we can't touch here in America would not have affected gasoline prices (even if you figure in the virtual ban on building new refineries)?


As Delbert says, "If you can't lie no better, you might as well tell the truth."

One Of Obama's Legacies

Libya: Who Didn't Know What And When Didn't They Know It

Dominoes. Arab world. Why Libya?

Hope and change is happening all over the Arab world and we appear not to have a clue. So what did we not know and when did we not know it?

Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, and on and on to Libya. It is so easy to ridicule Obama and the left about past statements, insults and accusations demeaning the efforts and goals of the Bush Administration. It's too easy because they spouted off for political reasons which threw reason out the window. The larger question, and more important question, is whether this administration is even aware of what it is doing at the most basic level.

People here cheered for Tunisia and Egypt. They had no idea who was behind the unrest nor did they have a clue about who was pulling the strings of the youthful protesters even as the protesters themselves had no clue. many Republicans were part of the hosanna chorus which is disconcerting, because cheering for uprisings just because on side is ugly doesn't make sense if both sides are ugly and evil. Nobody knew squat about these things and it appears they still don't.

The Law of Unintended Consequences is in full force here,  "Any intervention in a complex system may or may not have the intended result, but will inevitably create unanticipated and often undesirable outcomes".


There are tragedies occurring all over the world at the moment. Look at just about any African region and one will see slaughter, starvation and war. South East Asia is an abattoir at many levels. The degeneration of life itself continues unnoticed in China and Russia. The Middle East is a disaster just waiting to get worse, but we decide to add Libya to our list of wars.


I believe our interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan made good sense on many levels, but most importantly geopolitical reasons including the potential of a two front assault if Iran, the bat crap crazy in the neighborhood, decided to flex its muscle. Is there some parallel with Egypt, Israel and Libya or is the Obama Administration just desperate to contain Mali?


If, as reported, Obama only wants a war with Libya be quick as to not interfere with basketball and that some mean old women bullied him into this war, who the hell is in charge. Who is doing the big picture thinking here?


That this administration in incompetent is obvious, but so far they've contained their incompetence to mainly destroying us. Now they want to risk the lives of our armed forces in igniting an explosion of war(s) that could plant the seeds of our own destruction. This type of incompetence is beyond the comprehension of man. It is of a type that only rookies who think they're professionals are capable of embarking upon.


Libya? Really? With France in the lead? What could go wrong with that...


It is so obvious that this administration is merely reacting to events both domestic and foreign and the real thought about Libya should not be about their hypocrisy concerning Bush and Obama, that's shooting fish in a barrel, it should be exactly who didn't know what and when didn't they know it. 


It won't resolve anything, but it may help us to never make such a stupendous mistake in the future.

Mr. Hope & Change Gets Into War #3

Yep, Obama was going to buy the world a Coke and live in perfect harmony. Unfortunately, he now has us involved in Northern Africa right next to Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood who are allowing Iranian Special Forces to use their country to get into Libya. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Especially when it appears he is doing the bidding of Islamofascists.

Question: Wasn't Obama the one who said we had no business getting involved in Iraq because they were no direct threat to our national security?

Yeah, Obama said Afghanistan was the war we should be in to capture Osama. To that end, Obama has hindered our forces fighting there, pissed off the country's leadership and sowed distrust about our true commitment. Oh, he hasn't even gotten close to Osama either.

What a Commander in Chief we have. He can't handle governing at home. He can't be competent in foreign policy. He can't deal with the other two wars we're in. Now he's getting involved in War #3.

At least Obama is plagiarizing better people now.

Police: Pro-Lifers Should Expect To Burn

I remember when LibProgs used to detest law officers, but now they applaud some of them as enlightened.

Molatov cocktail thrown at anti-abortion protester, police: You’ve got to expect that sort of thing

… instead of inspecting the bomb debris or calling evidence technicians to the scene, the officer remarked that police could never get prints or other evidence from the bomb’s remains and said he would call the city’s garbage service to dispose of all the debris.

The officer then said that the 40 Days prayer vigil participants should expect this kind of reaction if they’re protesting at the abortion business.

The police were right on this, eh? If you think the police reaction was awesome you should look at the outrage in the media...

One can just feel the love. The ethics. The honest police work and the keen, yet balanced reporting. Kind of like when Sarah Palin mimicked leftists and the DNC and put targets on a map. Right? Yeah, I thought so.

The Liberal Media Loves Liberal Hate So Much They Won't Show It

Hate. Thuggery. Lies. Tea Party you say? Conservatives?

Nope, it's our "loving", "nuanced" and "intellectual elite" on the left. Their bitterness and dislocation from reality grows each day and is amazing to watch, but then the media is part of this seismic shift in reality. As a whole they are the madding crowd.

The media shields their own. They have for years.

Great Gatsby Mansion Is Being Torn Down

'Gatsby' place joins doomed mansions list
Lands End, the 25-room Colonial Revival mansion that local lore says was F. Scott Fitzgerald's inspiration for Daisy Buchanan's home in "The Great Gatsby" faces demolition this month.


In the 1920s and '30s, Winston Churchill, the Marx Brothers andEthel Barrymore attended parties there. Fitzgerald was perched on the back deck, drinking in the view. Rooms featured marble, parquet and wide wood-planked floors, Palladian windows and hand-painted wallpaper.


Now, the front door is off its hinges, wood floors have been torn up for salvage, windows are missing and the two-story Doric columns are unsteady.


Sands Point Village in January approved plans to raze the house and divide the site into lots for five custom homes starting at $10 million each.


Lands End is the latest Gold Coast estate to fall. With each demolition, the North Shore loses more of its gilded past, when sea breezes and social events attracted the rich and famous. Historians say hundreds of the mansions have been lost in the past 50 years as owners faced increasing taxes and high maintenance costs.
"The cost to renovate these things is just so overwhelming that people aren't interested in it," said Clifford Fetner, president of Jaco Builders in Hauppauge and Lands End project construction manager. "The value of the property is the land."

Ross' Market

At $20,000 Per Month Pay Trumpka Cites King For 'Rights' Of Workers

$238,975 (Trumka gave himself a 44% increase in 4 years) per year, plus benefits, which is $19, 914.00 per month in salary. He likens the union fight to Dr. Martin Luther King's struggle for civil rights. As if King fought for the right to Viagra and $20,000, per month salary.

Union equates lavish benefits to black civil rights

"April 4 [is] the day on which Martin Luther King Jr. gave his life for the cause of public collective bargaining," Trumka said in another speech, in Washington, on Wednesday. And on the AFL-CIO blog, there is this notice: "Join us to make April 4, 2011, a day to stand in solidarity with working people in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and dozens of other states where well-funded, right-wing corporate politicians are trying to take away the rights Dr. King gave his life for."

King would have called BS on this movement. 

House Votes 236-181 To Allow Debate To Block Federal Funding Of NPR

It's a start. Heath Shuler (D-NC) voted with Republicans.

The GOP resolution, sponsored by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), also prohibits NPR from using federal funds to buy programming. According to NPR, 2 percent of its funding comes from federally sponsored competitive grants.

They are to have a final vote this afternoon whether to block federal funding.

Breathlessly Waiting For Breathless Headline

While we wait breathlessly for another breathless headline about radiation in Japan or the latest atrocities of the errant radical right wing nuts that make op the cadre of Tea Party covens nationwide I noticed an article in Reason Hit and Run about Senator Al Franken.

Save the Internet From Al Franken

Last time we checked in with Senate not-so-funny man Al Franken and his ongoing crusade to save the Internet by enforcing net neutrality, he was confusing wireless data networks like the ones that connect Blackberries and iPhones to the Internet with home-based wi-fi connections like you might set up in your office

Franken isn't the sharpest tool in his shed and the gardener knee pads are funnier, but this article shows yet another politician desperately trying to seem relevant when they have absolutely no basic understanding of which they speak. Maybe Franken can once again show his cute pugnacious side and break all the inter-tubes if he doesn't get to save free speech by imposing government regulations on free speech. Of course, Franken isn't alone in his approach to government stupidity. Maybe a current leader, but not alone. There are those that actually still believe we can spend our way out of being broke. This is, as always, the cure that kills, but then they can say we were the cure!

Okay, back to FOX and the alphabets desperately trying to scare the bejeebus out of us because they really need those ambulance chasing mesothelioma ads. I'm breathless.

Happy St Patrick's Day

Irish beer is good. Irish music actually sounds like country music. Ireland is beautiful.

So, why don't we see any of that here is America?

I have Irish ancestors. I grew up with green beer and corned beef and cabbage with the hidden coin. I heard a shrieking whine similar to the sound of dying cats that I was told was Irish music. Other Irish music seemed to always include men and women dancing to jigs that were way too perky. I performed in Brigadoon which most people thought was about Ireland even though it was clearly not. Leprechauns seemed to be a constant source of amusement to those around me.

Thankfully, in my visits to Ireland I saw Ireland, not some maudlin or Disney-like production with Lerner/Loewe lyrics about another country. My great grandmother wore traditional blue on St Patrick's Day and as her family had always done she always took me to church to pray to Saint Patrick in the hope that I would not observe the heathen celebration of "wearing the green" which meant green ties, shirts, scarves, beer and whatever, but never God's message to children through the Trinity of the shamrock.

The heathens she referred to were my protestant Scottish, Welsh and German relatives celebrating with beer, stories of some vague misty homeland and gluttony.

I've never seen a Leprechaun, but I once saw my father in a kilt.

Hillary's Final Two, Obama's Final Four & Japan's Finale

Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that after her term as Secretary of State, in two years, she is out. Japan is out if you believe the media. Qaddafi is murdering his people by bracketing. Egypt is winning in its tournament by killing their opponents. And the whole Middle East is a powder keg of explosive action.

Why would anyone care about the march of madness in the world when March Madness is upon us here in the United States. Any bartender or wife that switches to a news program will be murdered and their killer will be found innocent by reason of temporary March Madness.



If by chance radiation wafts over the Pacific to our land of plenty there will be a plenty of skeletons still sitting in recliners holding beers with their dead eyes still pointed towards a television. It appears that will be the case at 123 Hog Back Road, Anytown, US 54321 as well as at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500. Unfortunately, they won't find out how the madness called foreign policy ends.

As an American I am so pleased, actually tickled pink, that the president has finally found something of interest to fill his term of office.

The Pratt Fall Of The Avant-Garde

Avant-garde, the vanguard, became a cliche the minute the phrase was coined in art, literature, fashion and society. All after was mere conformity to the actual vanguard. It has been so since. In my studies of art in college and in NYC, professors spoke of the future of avant-garde through history while calling any artist that depicted a penis as so avant-garde. Students, then clutching their wine and cigarette, yearned to be part of the avant garde. Once members they felt they could man the barricades of social change and shout into the wind. It was really boring.

For painters, foto-realism was in, which meant I was out. To me foto-realism was a more expensive paint-by-numbers methodology that I had conquered as a child. I still remember the paint-by-numbers boast, "Every Man A Rembrandt". I also remember the kits cost less than the college course. My practice of painting from life was considered passe.

I moved on to photography because as a foto-realist, I felt merely a middleman between a photograph and a painting. Once again, artists of the vanguard came into play. I had no desire to lug an 8 X 10 Deardorff camera out to "capture" landscapes nor did I want to take the time to learn the Zone System (I did). I wanted to use the camera for what I thought it did best which was to capture a moment. Wrong again. I still have portfolios of images of leaves, trees and organic landscapes. I found it especially ironic in NYC to sit in lofts rhapsodizing over landscapes of nature as I thought of trudging home through the landscapes of man.

Politics, thankfully, played in the background though if behind in output a picture of someone down trodden could buy some time and possibly bump in grade. Civil Rights, as a movement had passed as an in vogue moment, but a pissed off indian was still a pretty good, but hard to find image in Times Square.

I worked out the physics of angle and light that would allow me to photograph without the necessity of the viewfinder and I liked what I produced. I savaged the Zone System and went into the clubs and bars and captured images that I liked complete with halos, swirls and deep blacks that created inhuman shapes within the frame. I sought out photographers whose work I had seen in undistinguished galleries. To go to Hell's Kitchen or deep into ravaged Harlem was a new voyage for me. When I arrived with my puppy eyes asking to learn or "rap" about art from those artists I was treated as I should've been, an interloper, because I wasn't there with my shiny Leica to document pain. I was still fifteen minutes behind avant garde, but it was kicking my butt. My real photography stayed in my apartment. In the closet.

What did I learn from all this? Simple. Avant-garde is a hoax as touted. It is a political platform to sift the wheat from the chaff in the art world by the elite. I didn't and don't care because along the way I met some incredible artists that taught me the most important art lesson of all. Do it. Do it because you love it. Do it because it's in your blood. The best work I ever saw was from an old woman on West 121st Street. She had bought a $5 Brownie and when she could afford to she'd buy film in junk stores. She would never sell me a print because then she'd have to make another copy which she didn't want to do except for relatives. She was the Lartique of Harlem.

In all the art schools, where one meets the finer people, avant-garde is painfully entering its third (or is fourth?) generation of being out front. It is difficult to watch such a spectacle when it is obvious the oldster just wants to die. It can't because art schools and the elite still don't know what avant-garde means. Too many Pratt Falls, but I'll bet that somewhere they have Duchamp's Urinal on a hall poster. Maybe some student will once more tape the poster over a real urinal, take a photograph, and feel avant-garde.