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POPSThe Year of Living Fecklessly by Charles Krauthammer 
Why is this so important? Because revolutions succeed at that singular moment, that imperceptible historical inflection, when the people, and particularly those in power, realize that the regime has lost the mandate of heaven. With this weakening dictatorship desperate for affirmation, why is the U.S. repeatedly offering just such affirmation? Apart from ostracizing and delegitimizing these gangsters, we should be encouraging and reinforcing the demonstrators. This is no trivial matter. When pursued, beaten, arrested and imprisoned, dissidents can easily succumb to feelings of despair and isolation. Natan Sharansky testifies to the electric effect Ronald Reagan's Evil Empire speech had on lifting spirits in the Gulag. The news was spread cell to cell in code tapped on the walls. They knew they weren't alone, that America was committed to their cause. Yet so aloof has Obama been that on Hate America Day (Nov. 4, the anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran)
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POPSIs it too Early????????????OR IS IT TOO LATE? But Obama is about to diverge from this parallel. Whereas Reagan chose to reassert American power to bring U.S. allies back into line, Obama seems to be choosing to rejuvenate American alliances to revive national power. And this choice constitutes the largest foreign policy risk to his presidency in the months and years ahead.
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POPSObama Nobel Acceptance Shite
Paleontologists generally trace the arrival of modern man, homo sapiens, back 200,000 years, yet the first authenticated written histories are barely 2,400 years old. How Obama and his speechwriters filled in the 197,600-year gap to prove that the practice of war is as old as mankind and implicitly inseparable from the human condition is a question an enterprising reporter might venture to ask at the next presidential press conference. Perhaps delusions of omniscience is the answer. The Oslo speech is replete with references to and appropriations of the attributes of divinity. And to historical and anthropological fatalism; a deeply pessimistic concept of Providence. Obama affirmed that "no Holy War can ever be a just war. For if you truly believe that you are carrying out divine will, then there is no need for restraint." Then shortly afterward stated "Let us reach for the world that ought to be - that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls." An adversary'
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POPS Obanamomics 101 That stimulus has failed to stimulate, and the administration's claims of jobs it has supposedly created or saved have been discredited and become a national scandal. Obama's excuse: Calculating a jobs number is an "inexact science." Small, targeted tax cuts like the one aimed at small business won't do much for hiring. "This is an anti-risk-taking climate," says Republican representative Paul Ryan. "You have to give them incentives to lower the price of risk." Ryan recommends cutting the business income tax to 25 percent from 35 percent, eliminating the tax on capital gains for two years, and providing a 100 percent tax writeoff for equipment, plant construction, and other expenses the first year. Hiring would follow. Presidents from Calvin Coolidge to John Kennedy to Ronald Reagan to George Bush understood that strong incentives are necessary to trigger rapid growth and hiring.
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POPSReagan's Moral Clarity In 1982, when the United States was mired in its worst recession since World War II, President Reagan defied the pessimism of the day and predicted that “the march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people.” Roughly a year later, he called the Soviet Union what it so obviously was: an “evil empire.” The “evil empire” speech drew criticism from many of Reagan’s domestic political opponents, and it greatly angered the Kremlin. But it also galvanized Soviet dissidents, who were encouraged that a U.S. president had been bold enough to denounce the moral bankruptcy of communism.
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POPS Lucid Links 11.09.09 Only when you get to Obama’s page do you learn that Obama a) wasn’t president, and b) didn’t make any speech at the site of the Wall last year when he campaigned for the U.S. presidency in Europe. In remembrance on the 8th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on Washington and New York, our president …. sent Joe Biden to Ground Zero in New York City. Deliberate ignorance: The British press was out front (HT Hot Air) in telling the world that the perpetrator of the Fort Hood attack “worshiped at a mosque led by a radical imam said to be a ’spiritual adviser’ to three of the hijackers who attacked America on Sept 11, 2001.” That the attack was jihad-inspired is not open to real dispute. Meanwhile, the PC-addled American press does all it can to minimize the enormity (HT Mark Finkelstein at NewsBusters) of what occurred at Fort Hood and makes excuses for the perpetrator, even to the point of claiming that he might (even though he never experienced
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POPSObama Skips Anniversary of Fall of Berlin Wall, Sends a Video.....About Himself Did He Not Show Up Because It Wasn’t All About Him? Left-wing German paper Der Spiegel seems to have gotten that impression: Der Spiegel summed up as “People of the World, Look at Me”. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,567932,00.html Even worse- Obama spoke about himself to the crowd: “Few would have seen on that day that… that their American ally would be led by a man of African descent.” And, of course, he did not mention Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher in his speech.
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POPSObama skips Berlin Wall ceremonies I don't think he wanted to pay tribute to the historical impact that Reagan had at that time. Besides after a weekend at Camp David and the celebration of the House's healthcare passage...just too tired.
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POPSQaddafi/Gadhafi/Gaddafi/Qadhafi Brings His Stand Up Show To The UN The View From Twitter Mark Knoller: If Qadhafi ever gives up the de facto leadership of Libya, could you see a talk show in his future? Andy Levy: Qaddafi: We are all pirates. Except for the pirates. America? Pirates. Israel? Pirates. Pirates? Not pirates. Ben Smith: RT @mkoshark: Gadhafi is set to close his #UN speech with a shameless plug to watch his stint on next season’s Dancing With the Stars Chris Lehmann: I’m assuming the aide responsible for giving an Attaboy to Qaddafi after that performance is now planning to defect. Mike Madden: RT @owillis:Qadafi: so this is what @glennbeck sounds like in a diff language. Jake Tapper: AND…Qadaffi’s done. Roughly 90 minutes of sheer poetry. Ben Smith: Qaddafi: You are the ones who hate the Jews. Mark Knoller: At 90 minutes into the Qadhafi speech, 2nd shift of UN translators come on duty. Mark Knoller: Qadhafi even has his own health care reform: accuses capitalist countries & companie
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POPSRonald Reagan's 2012 Address To America The year is 2012 - Ronald Reagan assesses our circumstances after almost four years with Barack Obama in the oval office. ---------------------------------- To view and/or download an extremely high quality, uncut version of this video: http://tinyurl.com/c29tf2 Find a Tea Party in your state at: http://www.taxdayteaparty.com/
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POPSDaniel Henniger's Shot Across The Bow public authority set in motion by Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. The Obama presidency is going to be a radical presidency. Barack Obama is proposing that the U.S. alter the relationship between the national government and private sector that was put in place by Ronald Reagan and largely continued by the presidencies of Bill Clinton and the Bushes. Then, the private sector led the economy. Now Washington will chart its course. Mr. Obama was clear about his intention. "Our economy did not fall into this decline overnight," he said. Instead, an "era" has "failed" to think about the nation's long-term future. With the urgency of a prophet, he says the "day of reckoning has arrived." The president said his purpose is not to "only revive this economy." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Henninger points out that Obama is trying to solve the economic crisis while at the same time, radicalizing the relationship between government and the private sector.
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POPSWhat Obama really meant Just put on your big-boy pants and quit whining about what you inherited! You wanted it...I don't remember Reagan whining about what he inherited from Jimmy Carter. That dog won't hunt much longer.
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POPS 1984 Jeane Kirkpatrick That's the way Democratic presidents and presidential candidates used to talk about America. These were the men who developed NATO, who developed the Marshall Plan, who devised the Alliance for Progress. They were not afraid to be resolute nor ashamed to speak of America as a great nation. They didn't doubt that we must be strong enough to protect ourselves and to help others. They didn't imagine that America should depend for its very survival on the promises of its adversaries. They happily assumed the responsibilities of freedom. I am not alone in noticing that the San Francisco Democrats took a very different approach.
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POPSA Pit Bull With Lipstick okay, I wasn't really interested in the presidential election, until n0w. I find this lady very enjoyable, I love it when someone knows how to give a speech!
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POPSKill Bill 3 (if you want to get ahead) Hillary - we'll miss you and your war stories! You saved face with your handover speech tonight (7th June 2008) but now you have to consider the baggage you carry with Bill clinging to your coat tails.
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POPS...Obama an appeaser? How dare you FTA: "Increasingly, the Western world has attitudes rather than policies. It's one thing to talk as a means to an end. But these days, for most midlevel powers, talks arethe end, talks without end. Because that's what civilized nations like doing – chit-chatting, shooting the breeze, having tea and crumpets, talking talking talking. Uncivilized nations like torturing dissidents, killing civilians, bombing villages,..."
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POPSChickens Coming Home to Roost? This article does do an even critique of what was really said and who this man is. I may not believe in somethings he said and even disagree with allot of it. But I refuse to trash the whole message or the man. I couldn't copy the whole article so you might want to go and give it a read yourself.
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POPSBush and Neoconservatives, Jacobins to the Core Powerful and revealing article, though dated, is a must read to understand the dangerous and psycopathic philosophy of the Bush administration, tracing its roots to the Jacobins of the French revolution who turned to overthrow the world next. Paul Craig Roberts is so good on this, and was in the Reagan administration too, so cannot be called a partisan attack.
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POPS The 11th Commandment “Though Shalt Not Attack Fellow Republicans.” The Romney camp frames the memo as a top-10 list of McCain’s “attacks” on Republicans. It could also be called “10 instances over the last eight years when McCain got angry or lost his cool.” Oh, and the missive pays special attention to McCain’s use of four-letter words that are not H-E-double-hockey-sticks. Update: On Thursday afternoon, Romney said, “One thing I’m also gonna point out is, particularly in a Republican campaign, I’m not going to talk about the character of the people I’m running against.” He also cited Ronald Reagan’s so-called 11th commandment, something along the lines of, “though shalt not attack fellow Republicans.”
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POPS The Danse Macabre Of Us-Style Democracy
Another excellent Zmag rant with the usual disclaimer--a sustained article on ZNET--visit and join Travelling with Robert Kennedy in 1968 was eye-opening for me. To audiences of the poor, Kennedy would present himself as a saviour. The words "change" and "hope" were used relentlessly and cynically. For audiences of fearful whites, he would use racist codes, such as "law and order". With those opposed to the invasion of Vietnam, he would attack "putting American boys in the line of fire", but never say when he would withdraw them. That year (after Kennedy was assassinated), Richard Nixon used a version of the same, malleable speech to win the presidency. Thereafter, it was used successfully by Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and the two Bushes. Carter promised a foreign policy based on "human rights" - and practised the very opposite. Reagan's "freedom agenda" was a bloodbath in central America. Clinton "solemnly pledged" universal health care and tore down the last safety
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POPSJFK Quick Link to Speech Audio It seemed to be no big "hush" moment when Kennedy would point out the leanings of the press. He had no great anxieties and hesitancies about setting straight common misconceptions. Almost everyone loved him. I still think that is what made the very few hate him all the more. There were no options open to his enemies in terms of swinging public opinion against him with devious maneuverings because he would speak right up and the public numbers were too great on his side. There has STILL been no one like him since "they?" (Sirhan) gunned down Bobby. We who were alive then, no matter how young and small, will never see America recover from those assassinations. Part of our strength as a country was injured by them. But what really killed that part of our strength as a country is the string of idiots we have had as leaders EVER SINCE - with the partial exception of Reagan.
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POPSConservatives Are Such Jokers
MORE: On Wednesday, President Bush vetoed legislation that would have expanded S-chip, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, providing health insurance to an estimated 3.8 million children who would otherwise lack coverage. In anticipation of the veto, William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, had this to say: “First of all, whenever I hear anything described as a heartless assault on our children, I tend to think it’s a good idea. I’m happy that the president’s willing to do something bad for the kids.” Heh-heh-heh. Most conservatives are more careful than Mr. Kristol. They try to preserve the appearance that they really do care about those less fortunate than themselves. But the truth is that they aren’t bothered by the fact that almost nine million children in America lack health insurance. They don’t think it’s a problem. HERE'S A REALLY SAD STATEMENT FROM OUR PRESIDENT! “I mean, people have access to health care in America,” said Mr. Bush in July. “Af
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POPSKeith Olbermann. BUSH IS PLAYING US Bush's increasingly tenuous hold on reality By Adrian Hamilton One explanation for President Bush's rant against Iran last week, following his extraordinary speech comparing Iraq with Vietnam the week before, is that the pressure is finally getting to him. Presidential history, from Woodrow Wilson to Ronald Reagan by way of FDR, is replete with presidents who on grounds of failing powers shouldn't really have been allowed to go on. Besieged by events, cast down by the opinion polls, isolated by the loss of his closest advisers, it would not be surprising if this particular president was now losing it. http://www.campaigniran.org/casmii/index.php?q=node/2817 Join the Sept. 15 2007 March on Washington DC the next war protest!! http://veteransforpeace.org/ http://www.codepink4peace.org/ http://www.troopsoutnow.org/ http://www.pephost.org/site/PageServe.
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