Obama: "OIF is Over, It's Time to Turn the Page"

Barack Obama gave only his 2nd address of his presidency from the Oval Office last night.  The subject, the war in Iraq.  

Awkward.

A war that Obama opposed, he now had to concede to its victory.  A President he openly ridiculed, he now had to consult.  Despite a surge he said would surely fail and even make things worse, he had to pretend he is a competent Commander in Chief.

But hey, that whole Iraq war thing, that little Operation Iraqi Freedom, it cost $100 billion LESS than the stimulus package Obama signed last year.  

So let’s just not look too closely at the fact that I opposed the war, said the surge couldn’t succeed, criticized the President who took on Saddam Hussein and won, let’s “turn the page.”  Yeah, let’s do that.

WhiteHouse.Gov transcript:

Part I

Part II

Obama Credits Himself with Successfully Ending Iraq War

If anything will infuriate US troops and their families who tolerated 8 years of Obama’s relentless rhetoric condemning Operation Iraqi Freedom, this will be it:  Barack Obama is taking credit for the war in Iraq.

Yes, this reckless demoguoge  has the nerve to claim he’s ending the war and proclaimed in the video address below, “The war is ending”, even though he opposed the war and more importantly the war effort from the beginning until the bitter end.

Actually, Mr. President, you aren’t ending the war, you are sidestepping it.  Brining U.S. troops home doesn’t end the war.  And oh, the current course was President Bush’s plan for redeployment.  All you had to do was hitch your little wagon to our success.

We Americans aren’t this dumb and we will remember your lies come November.  This Army wife can’t wait for the day to call you a one term president.

Obama's Failed Stimulus Cost More than Iraq War

Contemplate this data:

* Obama’s stimulus, passed in his first month in office, will cost more than the entire Iraq War — more than $100 billion (15%) more.

* Just the first two years of Obama’s stimulus cost more than the entire cost of the Iraq War under President Bush, or six years of that war.

* Iraq War spending accounted for just 3.2% of all federal spending while it lasted.

* Iraq War spending was not even one quarter of what we spent on Medicare in the same time frame.

* Iraq War spending was not even 15% of the total deficit spending in that time frame. The cumulative deficit, 2003-2010, would have been four-point-something trillion dollars with or without the Iraq War.

* The Iraq War accounts for less than 8% of the federal debt held by the public at the end of 2010 ($9.031 trillion).

* During Bush’s Iraq years, 2003-2008, the federal government spent more on education that it did on the Iraq War. (State and local governments spent about ten times more.)

'U.S. Debt is Single Biggest Security Threat' and other great Summer of Recovery News

It’s hard work ruining the U.S. economy, but by-god Barack Obama is doing a bang up job.   So just let him golf (please, if it keeps him out of the Oval Office….), AGAIN.

According to Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the national debt is the single biggest threat to national security:

Tax payers will be paying around $600 billion in interest on the national debt by 2012, the chairman told students and local leaders in Detroit.

“That’s one year’s worth of defense budget,” he said, adding that the Pentagon needs to cut back on spending.

“We’re going to have to do that if it’s going to survive at all,” Mullen said, “and do it in a way that is predictable.”

Mullen highlighted the unity of purpose between the government and industry as well, in working to solve national security issues.

“I have found that universally, [private-sector workers] care every bit as much about our country, are every bit as patriotic and wanting to make a difference … as those who wear the uniform and are in harm’s way,” he said.

In other words, we must stop killing the private sector!

In other news, the recession may be responsible for pushing the U.S. birthrate to an all time low:

The U.S. birth rate has dropped for the second year in a row, and experts think the wrenching recession led many people to put off having children. The 2009 birth rate also set a record: lowest in a century.

Births fell 2.7 percent last year even as the population grew, numbers released Friday by the National Center for Health Statistics show.

“It’s a good-sized decline for one year. Every month is showing a decline from the year before,” said Stephanie Ventura, the demographer who oversaw the report.

The birth rate, which takes into account changes in the population, fell to 13.5 births for every 1,000 people last year. That’s down from 14.3 in 2007 and way down from 30 in 1909, when it was common for people to have big families.

“It doesn’t matter how you look at it — fertility has declined,” Ventura said.

The situation is a striking turnabout from 2007, when more babies were born in the United States than any other year in the nation’s history. The recession began that fall, dragging stocks, jobs and births down.

“There is quite possibly a connection between the decline in births and the economic downturn,” says the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which includes the health statistics center. “More details on the demographics of mothers who gave birth in 2009 are needed to more strongly make this connection.”

Great!  In addition to the debt the Obama administration is forcing on our children, now fewer children will be burdened with replacing the aging population.  Double-whammy.

But don’t worry, Vice President Joe Biden is out there on the Summer of Recovery tour letting us all know what a great job the Obama administration is doing with the stimulus weatherization program.  

Biden touted the program’s successes at the home of Lynn Dumont, a single mother of two who said she looks forward to seeing her heating bills lowered. But, in an awkward moment, he didn’t exactly win her ringing endorsement.

While she said she was thrilled to have the vice president over, when asked whether she voted for him, there was a long pause.

“Did I vote for him?” she said. “I’d rather not say.”

DOH!!!

200 Gang Raped in Congo Just Miles Away from U.N. Peacekeepers

The United Nations said it didn’t know that 200 people, mostly women but including baby boys, were gang raped 19 miles away from a U.N. peacekeepers camp in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

From Eye on the U.N. :

Rwandan and Congolese rebels gang-raped nearly 200 women and some baby boys over four days within miles of a U.N. peacekeepers’ base in an eastern Congo mining district, an American aid worker and a Congolese doctor said Monday.

Will F. Cragin of the International Medical Corps said aid and U.N. workers knew rebels had occupied Luvungi town and surrounding villages in eastern Congo the day after the attack began on July 30.

More than three weeks later, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo has issued no statement about the atrocities and said Monday it still is investigating.

Civil society leader Charles Masudi Kisa said there were only about 25 peacekeepers and that they did what they could against some 200 to 400 rebels who occupied the town of about 2,200 people and five nearby villages.

“When the peacekeepers approached a village, the rebels would run into the forest, but then the Blue Helmets had to move on to another area, and the rebels would just return,” Masudi said. There was no fighting and no deaths, Cragin said, just “lots of pillaging and the systematic raping of women.”

Four young boys also were raped, said Dr. Kasimbo Charles Kacha, the district medical chief. Masudi said they were babies aged one month, six months, a year and 18 months.

“Many women said they were raped in their homes in front of their children and husbands, and many said they were raped repeatedly by three to six men,” Cragin said. Others were dragged into the nearby forest.

International and local health workers have treated 179 women but the number raped could be much higher as terrified civilians still are hiding, he said.

“We keep going back and identifying more and more cases,” he said. “Many of the women are returning from the forest naked, with no clothes.”

U.N. mission spokesman Madnodje Mounoubai promised to get military comment on the assumption that the peacekeepers were protecting commercial goods but not civilians, which is their primary mandate.

The mission also has a difficult mandate of supporting the Congolese army, whose troops often also are accused of raping and pillaging. 

From CNN:

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in eastern Congo did not know about a rebel attack and mass rape in that region until more than a week after the events took place, a U.N. peacekeeping mission official said Wednesday.

But the account of the delay was disputed by a non-governmental organization.

The rapes, by armed men, often occurred in front of the women’s children and husbands, IMC said in a news release. “Large numbers of women reported being physically beaten before the sexual assaults, and some reported abuse of babies who were forcibly removed from their arms. The perpetrators simultaneously pillaged the entire village and smaller neighboring villages, before leaving.”

During the four-day attack across 16 villages, according to the U.N., rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, as well as militiamen from the notorious Mai Mai movement, also looted villages.

Meanwhile, sexual harassment continues at the U.N.  

Pretty sick.

WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Charged in Sweden with Rape and Molestation

UPDATE:  Charges Dropped

Stockholm, Sweden (CNN) — Swedish authorities say they have revoked an arrest warrant that had alleged rape against Julian Assange, the founder and editor of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, less than a day after issuing it.

Assange is “no longer wanted” and “is not suspected of rape,” Chief Prosecutor Eva Finne said in a statement posted on the agency’s official website Saturday. He is also no longer arrested in absentia, the statement said.

The arrest warrant filed Friday had also mentioned a molestation charge, but molestation — which is not limited to child victims in Sweden — is not a crime punishable behind bars in Sweden.

Karin Rosander, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office, told CNN affiliate TV4 that Assange is still being investigated for molestation. Earlier, Rosander told CNN that Assange was arrested in absentia Friday night, and faced charges in relation to two separate instances, but she did not have more detail about when the alleged crimes occurred or the identities of the alleged victims.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a former computer hacker who released 76,000 secret military files that the US government claims threaten the lives of Afghan civilians who have co-operated with US and Nato forces, is being sought under an arrest warrant for rape and molestation.

According to the Associated Press:

STOCKHOLM — A Swedish tabloid says an arrest warrant has been issued for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on suspicion of rape, and officials have issued a statement “confirming media reports.”

The prosecutor’s office in Stockholm “confirms media reports that a foreign citizen has been arrested in absentia” but doesn’t name Assange.

It says the arrest involves one count of molestation and one count of rape.

The WikiLeaks Twitter page referred to Saturday’s article in Expressen, which cites prosecutor Maria Haljebo Kjellstrand, as “dirty tricks.”

It says: “Expressen is a tabloid; No one here has been contacted by Swedish police. Needless to say this will prove hugely distracting.”

Assange was in Sweden last week.

It’s interesting that Private Bradley Manning, who provided WikiLeaks with the classified military documents, is a flaming homosexual.  It would appear that the two men responsible for one of the greatest acts of treason against the United States military are both perverts.  

The Family Research Center wrote in a statement:

Now that the enemy has access to American intelligence, our mission in the Middle East may be irreparably harmed—all because President Obama is less concerned with winning the war than he is with winning the far-Left’s approval. Unfortunately for all of us, Manning’s betrayal painfully confirms what groups like FRC have argued all along: the instability of the homosexual lifestyle is a detriment to military readiness. By foisting this agenda on our soldiers, the White House is not only jeopardizing the future of national security but compromising its present.

Honestly, it’s hard to disagree.

Hamas Chief: Ground Zero Mosque a Must

From Military.Com via the Associated Press:

NEW YORK - A Hamas leader says Muslims “have to build” a mosque near ground zero.

Mahmoud al-Zahar said Muslims “have to build everywhere” so that followers can pray, just like Christians and Jews build their places of worship.

Al-Zahar spoke Sunday on “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio” on WABC-AM. He is a co-founder of Hamas and its chief on the Gaza Strip.

Sen. Chuck Schumer says Al-Zahar’s comments don’t carry any weight because Hamas is a terrorist organization. Schumer hasn’t taken a stand on the mosque. 

Rep. Peter King, who opposes the mosque, says he won’t respond to Hamas.

The mosque is a project of the Cordoba Initiative, an advocacy group that promotes improved relations between Islam and the West. It didn’t respond to Al-Zahar’s comments.

So President Obama and Hamas are on the same side….. whose side are you on?

Obama Comes Out in Favor of Allowing Mosque Near Ground Zero

President Barack Obama on Friday forcefully endorsed building a mosque near ground zero, saying the country’s founding principles demanded no less.

“As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country,” Obama said, weighing in for the first time on a controversy that has riven New York City and the nation.

“That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances,” he said. “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.”

“President Obama is wrong,” said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. “It is insensitive and uncaring for the Muslim community to build a mosque in the shadow of ground zero. While the Muslim community has the right to build the mosque they are abusing that right by needlessly offending so many people who have suffered so much.”

Obama Abolishes White House Transparency Post

Gee, I can’t imagine why.

President Obama has abolished the position in his White House dedicated to transparency and shunted those duties into the portfolio of a partisan ex-lobbyist who is openly antagonistic to the notion of disclosure by government and politicians.

Socialist Party of America Lists 70 Congressional Democrats as Members

(Hat/tip: Gateway Pundit)

The Socialist Party of America lists 70 Congressional Democrats belonging to it’s caucus.  

Obamas to Go on Fifth Vacation Since July

Unbelievable.  With an unemployment rate near 10% and a dying economy, the Obama’s are set to take their FIFTH vacation in 45 days, this time in at the posh Martha’s Vineyard.

For a recap, here is this year’s Obama Travelogue:

-Full family Christmas and New Years in Hawaii.

-March spring break-first lady Michelle Obama, mom Marian Robinson, and both daughters hit Broadway.

-Memorial Day in Chicago with the family.

-Three days in July in Maine, primarily tony Bar Harbor.

-Last week, the president traveled to Chicago for a birthday party with Oprah and others.

-Michelle and Sasha spent much of last week on Spain’s southern coast, ending it with a trip to Majorca to meet the king and queen of Spain.

-Florida this weekend for a night on the Gulf Coast.

-August 19-29 on Martha’s Vineyard.

The elitists in the White House are still eating caviar while we’re eating cake.  Nice.

Maxine Waters Blames Bush for Her Ethics Problems!

Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California helped the bank where her husband was a member of the board of directors receive $12 million in bailout money.

The House Ethics panel says the kept Waters’ family stock from becoming worthless, which the committee says shows that she personally benefited by using her office.

And Maxine Waters blames Bush.  

Embattled Rep. Maxine Waters on Friday blamed the Bush administration for her ethics problems — saying she had to intervene with the Treasury Department on behalf of minority-owned banks seeking federal bailout funds — including one tied to her husband — because the Treasury Department wouldn’t schedule its own appointments. 

The California Democrat said in a Capitol Hill news conference — an event rarely held during a congressional recess — that she reached out to then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson in late 2008 when his department failed to respond to the National Bank Association’s request for a meeting. 

“The question at this point should not be why I called Secretary Paulson, but why I had to,” she said. “The question at this point should be why a trade association representing over 100 minority banks could not get a meeting at the height of the crisis.”

But the House ethics committee, which is investigating Waters for allegedly improperly using her position for personal gain, says in its report of charges that when the meeting was held, the officers of only one bank came — OneUnited. 

That’s a problem for Waters since her husband, Sidney Williams, served as a member of OneUnited’s board of directors from January 2004 until April 2008, and was a stockholder in the bank.

Waters, who holds a senior position on the Financial Services Committee, is the second prominent Democrat lawmaker facing ethics charges during a fiery election season. New York Rep. Charles Rangel of New York is facing 13 charges, including failing to disclose assets and income and delayed payment of federal taxes.

Is anything ever their fault?