This is interesting: the federal government in DC felt compelled to check out ol’ BZ by clicking on my category of “federal government incompetent,” as indicated by the screen grab above.
Perhaps they’re looking for ways to further screw up our country?
Mr Obama can only hope.
Honestly, I find this not only amusing but ironic.
Let’s add this post to that category, shall we?
BZ
It would seem there are still some unresolved conflicts between the loving Microsoft Windows 8, myself, and Mozilla Firefox. I am writing this, lovingly, an hour after I wanted to send a loving Blu-82 through the ceiling of Microsoft corporate headquarters.
If anyone believes that, having worked in every other environment Microsoft has foisted on us, Windows 8 is in any way “intuitive,” that one would be a raving blastocyst. More to come. Lovingly, of course.
BZ
So there you go. The Warhawks line up to submit to Mr Obama’s incompetence.
From the WashingtonTimes.com:
Senators on Wednesday tried to write a tight resolution authorizing President Obama to strike Syria under very specific circumstances, but analysts and lawmakers said the language still has plenty of holes the White House could use to expand military action well beyond what Congress appears to intend.
Further, from TheDailyBeast.com:
Senate Democratic leadership tossed aside the rules for moving legislation with regard to the resolution authorizing the use of military force against Syria, angering some Republicans and creating confusion on Capitol Hill in the run-up to the war vote.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee narrowly approved a modified war resolution Wednesday afternoon by vote of 10–7 with one member, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), voting present. The committee’s action allows Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to bring the measure to the floor as early as Monday, following a break for the Jewish holidays. That would allow a vote by the full Senate as soon as Wednesday, giving the Senate a chance to pass a war resolution before the House has a chance to craft and pass a resolution of its own.
Republican Speaker John Boehner also supports Obama. Obama, “shaken,” let a bit of sphincter dribble course down his leg at the news. Having flipped, John McCain now does not support Mr Obama.
What?
Mr Obama says: “my credibility is not on the line.”
Really?
The absolute and unbridled arrogance of Mr Obama is simply off the charts.
From RealClearPolitics.com:
STEVE HOLLAND, REUTERS: Have you made up your mind whether to take action against Syria whether or not you have a congressional resolution approved? Is a strike needed in order to preserve your credibility for when you set these sort of red lines? And were you able to enlist the support of the prime minister here for support in Syria?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Let me unpack the question. First of all, I didn’t set a red line. The world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world’s population said the use of chemical weapons are abhorrent and passed a treaty forbidding their use even when countries are engaged in war. Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. Congress set a red line when it indicated that in a piece of legislation titled the Syria Accountability Act that some of the horrendous thing that are happening on the ground there need to be answered for. And so, when I said, in a press conference, that my calculus about what’s happening in Syria would be altered by the use of chemical weapons, which the overwhelming consensus of humanity says is wrong, that wasn’t something I just kind of made up. I didn’t pluck it out of thin air. There was a reason for it. That’s point number one. Point number two, my credibility is not on the line. The international community’s credibility is on the line. And America and Congress’ credibility is on the line because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important.
Mr Obama disavows: “I didn’t set a red line. The world set a red line. Congress set a red line.” And more pointedly: “my credibility is not on the line. The international community’s credibility is on the line.”
Meaning: it wasn’t me, I wasn’t there, I was asleep in my bunk at the time, I am not responsible, I am not accountable, I am above that, and you can’t hold me to my quotes.
Staggering arrogance and incompetence.
But let’s go back to the “start” for a moment; just who is responsible for the gas attacks and what do we know for certain because, I would hope, we predicate our response on some assured modicum of certainty. Or at least we should.
With that in mind, what do you make of this from Global Research in Canada:
And from RT.com:
A statement released by the (Russian) ministry on Wednesday particularly drew attention to the “massive stove-piping of various information aimed at placing the responsibility for the alleged chemical weapons use in Syria on Damascus, even though the results of the UN investigation have not yet been revealed.”
That is the part catching my attention: the UN report results have not yet been revealed.
The key points of the report have been given as follows:
• the shell used in the incident “does not belong to the standard ammunition of the Syrian army and was crudely according to type and parameters of the rocket-propelled unguided missiles manufactured in the north of Syria by the so-called Bashair al-Nasr brigade”;
• RDX, which is also known as hexogen or cyclonite, was used as the bursting charge for the shell, and it is “not used in standard chemical munitions”;
• soil and shell samples contain “the non-industrially synthesized nerve agent sarin and diisopropylfluorophosphate,” which was “used by Western states for producing chemical weapons during World War II.”
Submission: I hear and read much more specificity on the Russian side than I do on the US side. Check this also.
Putin called Secretary Of State John Kerry a “liar.” Frankly, I concur.
MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin has called U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a liar for denying that al-Qaida was fighting with the Syrian opposition in that country’s civil war.
John Friggin’ Kerry first vehemently denied there would be “boots on the ground” in Syria (with apologies to James Lileks):
“Mr. Chairman, it would be preferable not to, not because there is any intention or any plan or any desire whatsoever to have boots on the ground,” Kerry replied. “And I think the president will give you every assurance in the world, as am I, as has the secretary of defense and the chairman.”
Yep. No boots on the ground. John Friggin’ Kerry then doubles down:
“I’m absolutely confident, Mr. Chairman, that it is easy — not that complicated — to work out language that will satisfy the Congress and the American people that there’s no door open here through which someone can march in ways that the Congress doesn’t want it to, while still protecting the national-security interests of the country,” Kerry unspooled his answer. “I’m confident that can be worked out. The bottom line is, the president has no intention and will not, and we do not want to, put American troops on the ground to fight this — or be involved in the fighting of this civil war, period.”
Period.
Until SOS John Friggin’ Kerry vaccilated:
Secretary of State John Kerry opened the door Tuesday to sending American troops into Syria if Bashar Assad’s regime collapses and al-Qaida-linked extremist groups stand to get their hands on his chemical weapons.
No boots until there are.
No damage until there is.
No propagandist advantage to Syria until there is.
No US soldier deaths wasted and pissed away until there are.
Hugh Hewitt, whom I customarily set as a compass to the stars, has set his astrolabe or sextant — in my opinion — to the incorrect position regarding Syria. This is the first time I have heard or understood his emotions to over-ride his sense of rationality, proportion, common sense or logic in favor of acts that he clearly labels as predicated but upon Obama’s clusterfuckery.
He’s thinking with his heart on his sleeve, and not with history or reality in mind. He’s thinking about “what if” and not “what is.”
Some base points and questions:
– These gas attacks killed, as far as we know, 355 to perhaps 500 people;
– Obama has said he does not favor “regime change” via President Assad;
– Obama favors a “limited military action”;
– A minimum of 9 countries have expressed “support” for a US incursion into Syria but have not committed actual resources or soldiers;
– That clear and honest support does not yet include the United States of America;
– Assad indicates rebel troops utilized gas weapons; there is no clear evidence yet revealed without fault that Assad clearly and incontrovertibly used gas against Syrian civilians — and, to what point? What end?
– Obama painted himself into this corner and cannot wait to slough responsibility onto other persons, agencies, entities or political groups;
– Obama, vacillating, wants as many fingerprints on the Syrian knife as possible;
– Obama, having no credibility, must now trade “blood for ego”;
– Now, three weeks after the fact, much of any response is now ineffective, meaningless, laggardly and impoverished;
– Iran is still the issue; Syria is but a brief sideshow;
– No one seems to consider being drawn into another endless foreign civil war;
– Throwing some missiles is a haphazard and standoffish manner of accomplishing nothing of substance in Syria;
– It’s not about Syria; it’s about Assad. And the US has vetoed regime change;
– Then: remove Assad? What gets sucked into that vacuum?
– Jihadi extremists and barbaric Bedouin nomadic tribal elements replace that air with an equally-violent replacement sect;
– As America, the axiom goes: “if we break a country, we feel obligated to re-assemble it once more, and then some.”
– First, if we were serious, we dithered too damned long;
– But: what is the long-term strategy?
– Are we committed to removing Assad?
– Are we willing to commit to the breakage of shit and the outright killing of those we deem “bad”?
Just a few questions.
Questions posed here, but no evidentiary questions posed by the AMM.
In the ME Muslim world, there are shadows within shadows, plans and plots within plans and plots, Bedouin and nomadic and tribal instincts set against brothers and cousins and sisters and blood relatives and clans and tribes and — all — set against whatever or whomever is perceived as infidel.
Answers or solutions, anyone?
There is only one reason I can submit for an excursion into Syria: practice.
BZ
Apologies, folks, but I am having a conflict with Windows 8 and Firefox.
The two are not speaking to each other at this point, and not allowing me to enter my WordPress dashboard for posts.
Trying to fix said problem now.
BZ
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, whilst you were watching Syria and weren’t paying attention domestically — and without statutory authority:
A Plan B.
Immigration-reform activists aren’t supposed to talk publicly about a Plan B. They can’t, or won’t, answer questions from the media about what they will do if no bill passes this year to legalize the undocumented population. But as August wears on and there is no clear sense of what the House will do on immigration, some are starting to speak out.
“There are groups that are for immigration reform no matter what. Then there are groups like us, grassroots…. We have the other track,” said Adelina Nicholls, the executive director of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights. “The other track is Barack Obama.”
The idea behind the “other track” is to freeze the current undocumented population in place through an administrative order, give them work permits, and hope for a better deal under the next president, with the hope that he or she is a Democrat. It’s a significant gamble, but some advocates—particularly those outside of the Washington legislative bartering system—argue that it’s better than what they stand to see under the legislation being discussed now.
Many advocates have been discussing Plan B quietly for months, but they have kept a disciplined public message solely focused on supporting a comprehensive immigration bill in Congress. Even if they are uncomfortable with some of the bill’s provisions (like, say, excluding anyone who has been convicted of petty theft from legalization), advocates don’t want to appear fractured before a group of politicians who are wary about voting for anything that gives unauthorized immigrants legal status. As soon as reluctant lawmakers smell dissension in the ranks, they flee.
All Obama needs is “proof” that Congress can’t get the job done — then Obama reacts with an EO on his own, unilaterally.
Activists fear the border will be “militarized.” And that immigrants will be driven “underground.” Our sovereignty at literal risk, supported by foreign consulates. Dual citizenship, tri-citizenship. This is how you kill a nation.
Obama plans, by Executive Fiat, to legalize and normalize millions of Mexicans above and beyond the Dream Act. The Leftists will do anything to accomplish their objectives, and they are unceasing. If not by legislation, then by any manner in any fashion. They are beyond resolute. They are advocating “turning up the heat.” The proverbial “squeaky wheel,” ladies and gentlemen.
Do you find Republicans who are likewise resolute or unceasing or unaccepting of defeat? Who attack like steamrollers and piledrivers?
And who create websites like Mi Familia Vota, the sole goal of which is to bring as many illegal Mexicans into the United States as possible? Not the French, not Ethiopians, not Russians, not Canadians. Mexicans. Who speak Spanish. And who do not hail from Spain — though it was Spain that conquered the Indians of Mexico, which is why they speak Spanish today and not Tagalog.
Whose headlines read:
IMMIGRANT RIGHTS LEADERS TRAVEL THE ROAD TO CITIZENSHIP: VOW NOT TO TAKE ‘NO’ FOR AN ANSWER
Obama’s Executive Fiat and a SCOTUS that supports it.
I ask: how can you say you “love your country” and truly hate your Constitution?
Your Constitution and Founding Fathers provided recourse. A convention for proposing amendments.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.[2]
Perhaps a reference to Mark Levin’s The Liberty Amendments.
I submit that Mr Levin possesses a logical and sane alternative to the illogical and insane path our nation is currently taking.
Tell me: how many of you recognize our country from, say, thirty years ago?
Not in terms of melanin count, but in terms of logic, common sense, law, reality, proportion and rationality.
Don’t think Leftists don’t have a strategy:
Most activists for immigration reform have been so wrapped up in getting legislation through the Senate that they haven’t had time to look up and see what’s down the road. They are doing so now. “We’re saying, ‘What if? What are the next steps? If we come to a crossroads, what are the next strategies, the next talking points?’ ” said Lizette Escobedo, communications and development director for the Latino group Mi Familia Vota. “Our groups on the ground are seeing this as a new challenge. And when you get a new challenge, you just need to turn up the heat.”
Really.
What have you heard is the GOP‘s so-called “Plan B”?
Correct: nothing.
BZ