Saturday, April 11, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
White House Denies Obama Bowed To King Abdullah
Politico reports that "the White House is denying that the president bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at a G-20 meeting in London, a scene that drew criticism on the right and praise from some Arab outlets. 'It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah,' said an Obama aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Washington Times called the alleged bow a 'shocking display of fealty to a foreign potentate' and said it violated centuries of American tradition of not deferring to royalty. The Weekly Standard, meanwhile, noted that American protocol apparently rules out bowing, or at least it reportedly did on the occasion of a Clinton 'near-bow to the emperor of Japan. Interestingly, a columnist in the Saudi-backed Arabic paper Asharq Alawsat also took the gesture as a bow and appreciated the move."
Who are you going to believe? Obama or your lying eyes?
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Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Obama's Nominee To Head Justice Department's Office Of Legal Counsel Once Compared "Forced Pregnancy" With Slavery
Fox News reports that "President Obama's nominee to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel once compared 'forced pregnancy' with slavery. Now Republicans are considering a filibuster to block her confirmation. The controversy stems from comments made 20 years ago by Dawn Johnsen, a law professor at Indiana University, whose nomination is pending before the full Senate. In a brief filed when she was a lawyer with the National Abortion Rights Action League, Johnsen cited a footnote that said forcing women to bear children was 'disturbingly suggestive of involuntary servitude, prohibited by the 13th Amendment, in that forced pregnancy requires a woman to provide continuous physical service to the fetus in order to further the state's asserted interest.'" 45 House Republicans have co-signed a letter to Obama asking him to withdraw Johnsen's nomination because of her "brazen" abortion rights stance. Her former employee NARAL said this week that it is mobilizing its nationwide network of activists and supporters to pressure the Senate to confirm Johnsen. "The use of the 'F' word when referring to any of these nominees is unacceptable -- and this threat will not go unanswered," NARAL president Nancy Keenan said in a press release. The "F" word she refers to is the word "filibuster."
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Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman: Peace Talks With Palestinians At A "Dead End"
"There's a withdrawal from talks, and we have to understand and acknowledge that we're at a dead end," Foreign Minister Avidgor Lieberman said Tuesday evening. Further, last week Lieberman reversed the Israeli policy of the last two years, saying Jerusalem was not obligated by the Annapolis process. "There is one document that obligates us - and that's not the Annapolis conference, it has no validity," Lieberman told Foreign Ministry employees. "The Israeli government never ratified Annapolis, nor did the Knesset." The one document that Lieberman was referring to is the 2003 "Road Map."
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Sen. Joe Lieberman: "Cuts To The Budget For Missile Defense Could...Foster The Impression That The United States Is An Unreliable Ally."
The Hill reports that Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.) has tried to mend his relationship with President Obama in recent months but their reconciliation hit a snag Monday over ballistic missile defense. “Cooperation on missile defense is now a critical component of many of our closest security partnerships around the world,” Lieberman wrote in a letter to the president. “We fear that cuts to the budget for missile defense could inadvertently undermine these relationships and foster the impression that the United States is an unreliable ally. Moreover, sharp cuts would leave us and our friends around the world less capable of responding to the growing ballistic missile threat.”
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Monday, April 6, 2009
Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan: "'Israel Doesn't Take Orders From Obama" And "Will Not Become The US's Fifty First State"
Responding to a statement by President Obama in which he reaffirmed his commitment to understandings launched at Annapolis in 2007, Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) said on Monday, "Israel does not take orders from Obama." Erdan is also in charge of coordinating between the Knesset and the cabinet. He also praised Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
"Let me be clear," Obama had said, "the United States strongly supports the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. That is a goal shared by Palestinians, Israelis, and people of good will around the world. That is a goal that the parties agreed to in the road map and at Annapolis. And that is a goal that I will actively pursue as president."
"In voting for [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu the citizens of Israel have decided that they will not become the US's fifty first state," said Erdan, who was representing the coalition in a Knesset deliberation of Lieberman's controversial statements. He added, however, that "Obama is a friend of Israel and the United States is an important ally and everything between us will be the result of communication."
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Obama: U.S. "Is Not And Will Never Be At War With Islam"
Truth be told, this does not differ very much from George W. Bush who on many occassions declared that America was not at war with Islam. For example, on September 17, 2001, Bush said that “the face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don’t represent peace. They represent evil and war.” On October 11, 2002, Bush said, “Islam is a vibrant faith. Millions of our fellow citizens are Muslim. We respect the faith. We honor its traditions. Our enemy does not. Our enemy doesn’t follow the great traditions of Islam. They’ve hijacked a great religion.”
Bush did, however, use the phrase "Islamofascism" in describing this enemy later in his presidency, a phrase that will not be leaving Obama's mouth any time soon.
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Sunday, April 5, 2009
New York Times In 1994 When Clinton Semi-Bows To Japanese Emperor
In 1994 the New York Times strongly criticized Bill Clinton for a slight inclination of his shoulders towards Japanese Emperor Akihito. Yet today, when Barack Obama does an all-out bow before the King of Saudi Arabia the media has found it unworthy of any reporting, let alone criticism.
This is what the New York Times wrote in 1994: "It wasn’t a bow, exactly. But Mr. Clinton came close. He inclined his head and shoulders forward, he pressed his hands together. It lasted no longer than a snapshot, but the image on the South Lawn was indelible: an obsequent President, and the Emperor of Japan. Canadians still bow to England’s Queen; so do Australians. Americans shake hands. If not to stand eye-to-eye with royalty, what else were 1776 and all that about?... Guests invited to a white-tie state dinner at the White House (a Clinton Administration first) were instructed to address the Emperor as 'Your Majesty,' not 'Your Highness' or, worse, 'King.' And in what one Administration aide called 'some emperor thing,' an Army general was cautioned that he should not address the Emperor Akihito at all as he escorted him to the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. But the 'thou need not bow' commandment from the State Department’s protocol office maintained a constancy of more than 200 years. Administration officials scurried to insist that the eager-to-please President had not really done the unthinkable."
Yet today, Barack Obama remains untouchable. There is a blackout on this in the mainstream media, a very different approach than that taken in 1994. Obama gets a free pass from the media on his bowing to King Abdullah. It was demeaning to the President and an embarrassment to the United States.
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