Thus be it ever when free men shall stand...

Watch an old Marine stun the crowd with the 4th (not second) verse of The Star Spangled Banner.

Memorial Day 2010

On this Memorial Day, my thoughts are best put into words by William Forstchen: A Tale of Two Americas On Memorial Day 2010:

We are now so clearly two Americas and this conflict about how to observe Memorial Day symbolizes a cultural divide which started in the 1960s and now seems all but unfathomable. That divide was brutally and crudely stated this week by the “progressive” journalist David Corn, editor with “Nation” Magazine, when he wrote in defense of the first family’s decision to treat this weekend at a “vacation”:

So what the hell do these conservatives want out of Obama? And does it matter if Obama throws some leaves on a tomb?

David, I will tell you what we want. We want a president who holds sacred certain beliefs and traditions that are the very essence of what we see as being an “American.” In a world of such political correctness where we are constantly ordered not to offend, we are the people who on this sacred day are offended beyond any ability to express, offended by our president’s actions, offended by your soulless mocking words. . ."throws some leaves on a tomb. . ."

If that is indeed your belief, and the belief of those who are apologists for yet another insult by our president to sacred traditions, there is only one answer. We are a house divided against itself, we have become two Americas with all which that implies and such a divide, in the end, will be resolved one way or the other and come November, of this year and in 2012 we will remember.

I'd like to see David Corn explain himself to the Gold Star mother who lives down the road, but who wants his foul presence polluting the clean country air in the first place? God bless our veterans who have died to keep us free. A new generation will undoubtedly be called on to do the same to protect us from tyrants both domestic and foreign.

Sunday Morning Concert with Alan Jackson

A medley of a couple of gospel favorites - Are You Washed in the Blood and I'll Fly Away.

 

 

A sentimental favorite around here - Small Town Southern Man

 

Obama's Illegal Alien Aunt Zeituni gets a free ride from the taxpayers

Barack Obama's favorite "Auntie Zeituni" has just received a free ride from the taxpayers thanks to an immigration judge. Of course, she has been getting a free ride in Massachusetts for years after she overstayed her tourist visa in 2000 and ignored a deportation order in 2004. By all accounts she got free housing, free medical care, and free cash for simply evading American immigration law. Oh yeah, she was a "health care advocate" for a while - getting paid to get other deadbeats to sign up for free medical care in Boston - and she even made an illegal contribution to Barack's presidential campaign with some of her welfare bucks.

Now however, Aunt Zeituni is "legal" How can that be you ask? Well, she was granted "asylum," but Zeituni and her lawyers are not describing the exact circumstances:

The basis for her asylum request was never made public. People who seek asylum must show that they face persecution in their homeland on the basis of religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership in a social group.

“The asylum process is confidential and she wants to keep it that way, so we can’t get into details on why the judge granted asylum or the exact basis for her claim,” said her attorney Scott Bratton. He added: “She doesn’t want people to feel sorry for her.”

More like, they don't want people to be outraged.

Another lawyer, Margaret Wong of Cleveland, said last year that Onyango first applied for asylum “due to violence in Kenya.” The East African nation is fractured by cycles of electoral violence every five years.

On that basis, any illegal alien from Kenya can claim asylum. Heck, any illegal alien from Africa and the rest of the Third World can get a free ride. There were also suggestions that she needed medical treatment which includes just about everyone as well too. It makes you wonder exactly what an illegal alien has to do to actually get sent home? I'm sure having a President of the United States as a nephew didn't hurt though.

Speaking of which, Aunt Zeituni used to pal around a lot with Barack when he was in Chicago:

Onyango said she previously had no trouble visiting Obama when he was a state senator in Illinois or after he became a U.S. senator, though she declined to discuss details of how often she had contact with Obama and his family.  [but her apartment is] adorned with photographs of her with Obama at the Illinois Statehouse...

All that ended when her status become public, but now why not get Aunt Zeituni back in the Obama social orbit now that she's legal? Here's a thought - Zeituni has that snappy green dress that Barack bought her:

Why not invite her to tonight's Wetback Ball at the White House for Mexican President Calderon? It promises to be a swell shindig and Zeituni could be the belle of the ball with her story of triumph over the unfair US immigration laws that kept her hassling her when she was just trying to get her fair share of US taxpayer loot. I'm sure President Calderon could sympathize with that.

I want to thank all you taxpayers for supporting my new career as a Slumber Artist

I just saw Nancy Pelosi's explanation of Obamacare and it was a revelation:

“We see it as an entrepreneurial bill,” Pelosi said, “a bill that says to someone, if you want to be creative and be a musician or whatever, you can leave your work, focus on your talent, your skill, your passion, your aspirations because you will have health care.”

Golly! Now that I understand what Obamacare really means, I plan to give up working and follow my muse - I am going to become a full time Slumber Artist! A slumber artist is a type of performance artist where the artiste (Moi!) snoozes in various public and non-public places as an artistic statement.  As a matter of fact the rocking chair on the front porch is calling me right now and all I have to do to go professional is put out a basket for contributions with a little sign saying that I am focusing on my talent, skill, aspirations, and passions so toss some spare change my way. Of course, you'll have already paid for my medical care so it's only polite that I also say, "Thanks suckers fellow citizens!"

The only downside of this plan is that I will have to convince the wife, but if she has any complaints, I will just refer her to Nancy Pelosi.

Here's another theory - Obama needs a checkup from the neck up

Obama going off the deep end

A recent analysis by Roger Simon of PJTV Media maintains that Obama is showing signs of mental illness. A wide variety of commentators have observed that Obama displays severe narcissism. Obama is conceited, and he is demonstrating a serious disassociation from reality.

A recent case in point was Obama's bizarre and meandering 17-minute, 2,500-word answer to the simple question about how he could justify raising taxes for ObamaCare during a recession when citizens are already overtaxed. Obama's wildly inappropriate answer left the audience stunned and led commentator Charles Krauthammer to mockingly say, "I don't know why you are so surprised. It’s only nine times the length of the Gettysburg address, and after all Lincoln was answering an easier question, the higher purpose of the union and the soldiers who fell in battle."

This lapse of delusion occurred in front of a friendly audience. Overall, Barack Obama seems to be slipping into a slightly more delusional state these days.

On Monday, following his embarrassing answer on Saturday, Obama stopped by the Washington Nationals home opener to loft an effeminate toss toward home plate constituting the ceremonial first pitch. After this display, Obama was mucking it up in the press booth talking about his love of the Chicago White Sox. The announcers asked Obama which players he supported growing up a White Sox fan. After hemming and hawing for about 30 seconds, Obama responded that he grew up in Hawaii and was actually an A's fan. Again, he avoided mentioning any players by name. Obama seems to believe that he can say whatever he wants, and not reap the consequences or be forced to defend his empty assertions. Obama behaves in a manner so disconnected from reality that he is shocked when someone has the audacity to question him. Obama acts like his word is infallible.

In March of last year Obama was on “60 Minutes” with Steve Kroft. Throughout the interview as Kroft questioned about the economic downturn and people losing their life savings, Obama just kept laughing. A one point CBS’s Kroft stopped him and asked, “Are you punch drunk?" How will the American people react to seeing their president laugh off their predicament? Obama’s inappropriate laughter clearly demonstrated he has lost touch with the pain that people are feeling.

Nothing like a little maniacal laughter to set the tone. You think Joe Biden will step in with a straightjacket? Of course, he would need a muzzle for Michelle too.

Obama: Our allies hate him. Our enemies are laughing at him

Dan Greenfield sums up the sorry state of USA foreign policy under Obama:

Our allies hate him. Our enemies are laughing at him. Nearly two years after Obama’s World Tour in which he did his best to convince voters that he understood global challenges with a high profile tour of a lot of foreign countries (an approach that if it worked should convincingly make every internationally famous rock star a foreign policy expert), his biggest global accomplishment is still his ability to travel around the world to high profile destinations on the taxpayer’s shrinking dime.

His attempts at diplomacy consisted of delivering vicious slaps across the faces of longtime allies, from England to Israel, and pathetic love notes to tyrants in Iran, Russia and Venezuela, who responded by openly mocking him.

Last week, in a scene almost worthy of the Godfather, Russia decided to stage a coup in Kyrgyzstan at the same time that Obama was signing a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia’s Medvedev. While Obama was exchanging good wishes with the titular head of the regime backing Iran’s destabilization of Iraq and Afghanistan, Russia was recognizing their own coup’s takeover, with their newly installed puppet leader, Roza Otunbayeva, a Moscow educated Soviet diplomat and top ranking former member of the Kyrgyz Communist Party.

A few hours later, the second secretary of the Lenin regional council, thanked Russia for its “significant support” in the takeover.

Kyrgyzstan’s self-proclaimed interim leader thanked Russia on Thursday for its “significant support” in exposing what she said was the nepotistic and criminal regime of President Kurbanbek Bakiyev. Separately, a senior Russian official said Bakiyev had not fulfilled a promise to close a U.S. base in Kyrgyzstan and Moscow would advise the new government there should be only one military base in the former Soviet state, a Russian one.

Which of course is exactly how it will be. And though Kyrgyzstan may be nothing more than a series of odd letters to Obama, it’s home to one of the US bases that serves as part of the shrinking supply line for the Surge in Afghanistan. And Putin has just drawn a knife over one more artery feeding supplies to Allied soldiers on the front lines, while Obama preened and posed for the cameras with Medvedev.

It's hard to tell whether Barack Obama really hates this country or is merely an incompetent buffoon. Of course there's a third option: when Obama was attending all these "socialist conferences" in his youth maybe the KGB caught him on film in bed with 3 dwarfs and a goat.

Obamacare: not just a fraud

Michael Graham at the Boston Herald has a pithy summary of Obamacare:

I have never seen a political moment as brutally repugnant as the week leading up to the vote. It began with the abandonment of reason. Obama and his allies made statements that were so clearly and demonstrably false that if he weren’t the president I’d call him a liar. Let’s just say he went full-on Clinton for Obamacare.

Obama knows he’s counting Medicare cuts twice. He knows preventative care drives costs up, not down. He knows premiums will rise, taxes are going higher and the availability of doctors is going to shrink. Yet he fixes us with an “I did not have sex with that woman” glare and says the opposite.

Then came the shameless politics. The executive order that “solved” the abortion issues is a joke. A House whip admitted on TV that the president couldn’t bind Congress this way. Before that, Rep. Alcee Hastings - so corrupt he was forced off the federal bench before going to Congress - admitted the Democrats were “making the rules up as we go along.”

But my outrage-ometer pinged loudest when Nancy Pelosi and top Democrats walked among the protesters, gavel in hand, as they headed to cast a vote that 60 percent of Americans opposed. Why take that walk? Why not use the tunnel Pelosi usually favors?

In part to provoke a hot-headed protester to say something stupid that MSNBC could use to smear the entire crowd. But Pelosi and Co. also had a message to send to the majority who oppose them: Eat cake.

“We’re not afraid of you,” the O-bots were saying. “Because we’ve got all the power.”

I suggest they enjoy it while they can. The rest of us will be having our own little parade in November, down to the nearest ballot box.

Memo to Congress: If you voted for Obamacare, don't even bother coming home.

Fun in the Bali sun with the United Nations ecoweenies

Claudia Rosett spots a crowd of United Nations global warming hoaxsters and kleptocrats winging off to Bali for some intensive expense account padding:

For folks terrified of warmer weather, the UN climate commissars sure do have a strange affinity for the balmy climes of Bali.

Recall that in December, 2007, as the common folk shivered in the wintry vicinity of the UN’s well-appointed offices in New York, Bonn and Geneva, a horde of UN climateers decamped to the far side of the globe for a fortnight of conferencing by the Indonesian beaches of Bali’s ritzy Nusa Dua resort (and convention center). There, up close and personal, they braved the preview of a world beset by warm temperatures and ocean waters, as you can see in this virtual tour of the adjacent beach resort — complete with its freshwater pool, beachside cocoons, seafood buffets and winding paths beneath the palm trees.

Now they’re at it again. The UN Environment Program, which is based in Nairobi, is convening a set of meetings this week – not in Nairobi, or New York, but at the same Bali beach resort (and convention center) where they sacrificed all that time for the greater good in 2007. Never mind the UN’s continuing campaign — in the face of its crumbling “climate science” — to restrict and control carbon emissions. Yet again, we are asked to believe the UN deserves special exemptions from its own preachings. Its conferees are jetting to Bali for the greater good of all the little folk, whose job is merely to pay the bills for such pleasures, and live with any resulting rationing and regulation. According to the Jakarta Post, some 1,500 people from 192 countries are expected to attend this shindig — where UNEP claims that envoys of some 140 governments will be present. The pre-session events (the UN goes in for a lot of those on Bali) have already begun.

Perhaps they are checking on whether global warming has made the dancing girl's costumes any skimpier? Hey, but it won't be all fun:

There’s lots here that bears watching, but I’ll round this off with a note that at this plush pow-wow the UN’s propaganda engines will be roaring full steam ahead. On Feb. 22-23, this Monday and Tuesday, UNEP will put together a media workshop, on “Reporting Green — The Environment as News.” What fun for the media! A two-day workshop on Bali, by the beach. Will this workshop be teaching the media how to ask hardball questions about things like IPCC findings, UNEP conflicts of interest, or, for that matter, repeat UN mega-eco-conferences on Bali? I’d say, don’t hold your breath.

Stand by for some hard hitting news reports from the beach.

How's that Global Warming stuff working out for you?

I just got inside from shoveling some global warming off the walks and I needed the following rendition of Frozen Wasteland to to warm me up. It certainly makes me hot under the collar.

h/t American Digest.