Do you dare?

Right, so, here I am in Tel Aviv waiting for the epic Obama speach addressing the billions (give or take a billion) of Muslims around the world.  Obama said he’d make a major speach from a Muslim capital and he’s come through on that promise.  Jihadists eat your heart out:

Watching CNN International, Tel Aviv Israel Time:

1:09 pm  @ Cairo University.  For some reason I imagined the speech to be outside.  But now that I think about it, maybe inside an auditorium will provide a less “explosive” stage.

1:10  Here comes the Queen… er, I mean Hillary Clinton.  And Obama enters.  People stand.  Lots of Thanks You’s.

1:11  General cock stroking from Obama to Egypt.  “Asalamalaykum”.   The President speaketh Arabic to wild applause.

1:13  “Violent Muslim extremists are a minority in the Arab world….  but these minorites make Americans hate most of you.  Also, your human rights policies suck.”  My paraphrase.

1:15  “This speech isn’t going to change how much we hate each other”…

1:15 WTF is the “Holy Kore-ahn”?    Obama’s correct pronunciation of all things Muslim continues to make Americans nervous.

1:16  “I’m a Christian”.  da da dum!

1:17  More cock stroking of Islam’s importance to history.  Inovation. Mathematics. yada yada.

1:19 Ok, so he’s a damn good speaker.  President fist pump’s still got it.  Making nice connections between Muslims and Americans.  Americans as Muslims.  And the historical significance between the two cultures.

1:20 “Out of many, one” -  E Pluribus Unum – Damn right.

1:22 Obama spent the first 10 minutes of his speech to make a solid connection between Islam and the United States….  to prove that they are one and the same.  Hearing the applause of the audience, I think he made is point well.

1:24 His speech has shifted to specific problems between the U.S. and the Arab world.

1:26 The #1 issue: Violent Extremism must stop.  (otherwise we’ll continue to kick your ass)

1:32  9/11 was uber traumatic for Americans.

1:33 Gitmo is closed. No more torture. But don’t think we still won’t kick your ass if crossed.

1:34  Moving on to Israel:  The U.S. will always be on the side of Israel.

1:35 Don’t be an ignorant fuck and deny the Holocaust.  It happened and you look like idiots by denying it.  (The audience is eerily silent.)

1:36 The Palestinians need a home too and the U.S. is aware of the problem.  (Lots of applause.)

1:38  Now it’s Mother Obama speaking to the Arabs warning,  “violence is bad”.  Stop blowing up children.  Stop blowing up women.  Stop being ignorant.  Start building a productive society.

1:40  “Arabs must recognize Israel”.  (Silence from the audience.)

1:41 Israel must recognize Palestine.  The U.S. wants the Israeli settlements to stop.  Now.  (Lots of applause.)

1:44 Nukes. Nukes. Nukes!!!!   Obama doesn’t want anyone to have nukes.  But some do.  Some don’t. He doesn’t agree with it.  But we should abide by the Nuke laws. No answers here.

1:46 Democracy in the Middle East.  “No government should be forced on a country… (cough, Iraq.) but….  if the people want Democracy, give it to ‘em. (cough, Iraq.)

1:49 It’s like sitting in political science class again.  Obama’s trying to explain the reasons for Democracy and why it’s good.  These are the most basic concepts of human rights and democracy that western nations learn from birth.

1:50  Someone in the audience yelled something but I couldn’t understand it.  Obama said “Thank You”.  (?)

1:53  Women’s rights……   da da dum!   It seems to be a relatively liberal audience as they applaud loudly to Obama’s insistence that women be given the same rights and choices as men.

1:57  And in conclusion, more cock stroking.  “Arab nations have a lot to offer.  Don’t toss it away with ignorance and violence. ”

2:01  “Message to young people:  You are the future. “   I think if anyone else in the world said this, they would have been laughed off the stage as cliche.  But I guess everything just sounds better coming from Obama.

2:05   Obama hanging around the stage after his speech.  Not walking off right away.

What’s the ultimate message?  Islam is a part of the United States.

Mancow, the popular Chicago area talk show host, wanted to prove to you that waterboarding isn’t torture.

Guess who was schooled?

“With a Chicago Fire Department paramedic on hand, Mancow was placed on a 7-foot long table, his legs were elevated, and his feet were tied up.

Turns out the stunt wasn’t so funny. Witnesses said Muller thrashed on the table, and even instantly threw the toy cow he was holding as his emergency tool to signify when he wanted the experiment to stop. He only lasted 6 or 7 seconds.

‘It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that’s no joke,’ Mancow said, likening it to a time when he nearly drowned as a child. ‘It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back…It was instantaneous…and I don’t want to say this: absolutely torture.’

‘I wanted to prove it wasn’t torture,’ Mancow said. ‘They cut off our heads, we put water on their face…I got voted to do this but I really thought “I’m going to laugh this off.” ‘

Heh……

[via LGF]

I hope it was a frickin’ amazing photo:

“The White House plans an inquiry into a low-flying photo shoot by a presidential plane that panicked New Yorkers and cost taxpayers $328,835. President Barack Obama said Tuesday it won’t happen again.

But the origins of the government public relations stunt that went awry remained an engrossing mystery – and a potential political problem for Obama. The White House military office approved the photo-op, which cost $35,000 in fuel alone for the plane and two jet fighter escorts.

[...]

The sight of the huge passenger jet and an F-16 fighter plane whizzing past the Statue of Liberty and the lower Manhattan financial district sent panicked office workers streaming into the streets.

“It was a mistake, as was stated … and it will not happen again,” Obama said.

White House officials did not say why new photos were needed of the plane that is sometimes used as Air Force One – Obama was not aboard the flight – or who the presumed audience of the planned photographs were.”

[source: military.com]

President Obama and Michelle Obama view photos  inside the White House’s private theater.  Hey, are those Crate&Barrel chairs?

My two cents regarding the “photo op” Boeing 747 and F-16 flyover of Manhattan yesterday:

1. Poor judgment would definitely be a nice way to phrase the situation.  “What the fucking hell were they thinking!?” would be a better way to phrase it.
2. The official reason for the fly-over was to “update file photos of Air Force One near national landmarks”.  My question is, how much did this decision cost during this time of economic crisis?  Not only in the price of flying the 747 and F-16 but also the general panic it caused?  Use fucking Photoshop for christ’s sake.

“One of the president’s official planes and a supersonic fighter jet zoomed past the lower Manhattan skyline in a flash just as the work day was beginning Monday. Within minutes, startled financial workers streamed out of their offices, fearing a nightmarish replay of Sept. 11.

For a half-hour, the Boeing 747 and F-16 jet circled the Statue of Liberty and the lower Manhattan skyline near the World Trade Center site. Offices evacuated. Dispatchers were inundated with calls. Witnesses thought the planes were flying dangerously low.

But the flyover was nothing but a photo op, apparently one of a series of flights to get pictures of the president’s airliner in front of national landmarks.

[...]

When told of the flight, President Barack Obama was furious, a White House official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Still, federal officials provided few details and wouldn’t say why the public and area building security managers weren’t notified. They also wouldn’t address why someone thought it was a wise decision to send two jets into New York City, all for a few photos with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop.

An administration official said the purpose of the photo op was to update file photos of the president’s plane near the Lady Liberty.

[...]

John Leitner, a floor trader at the New York Mercantile Exchange Building, said about 1,000 people “went into a total panic” and ran out of the building after seeing the planes whiz nearby.

‘We were informed after we cleared out of there,” Leitner said. “I kind of think heads should roll a little bit on that.’

Employees of the Wall Street Journal also left their desks to see what was going on.

Kathleen Seagriff, a staff assistant, said workers heard the roar of the engines and then saw the planes from their windows.

‘They went down the Hudson, turned around and came back by the building,” she said. “It was a scary scene, especially for those of us who were there on 9/11.’ ”

[source: armytimes.com]

I say if they’re volunteering to take on the Gitmo prisoners, who are we to argue?

President Barack Obama has 240 terror suspects he has said will be moved out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year. The city of Hardin has a brand-new empty jail.

Hardin Council President Harry Steinmetz referred questions on the issue to Smith.

A match made in heaven? Hardin officials think so; Montana’s congressional delegation thinks not.

The development authority in Hardin, a city of 3,400 people bordering the Crow Indian Reservation, built the $27 million, 460-bed jail two years ago and has been looking for tenants ever since. Its construction loans are in default.

The City Council voted 5-0 Tuesday in favor of a resolution supporting a proposal to house terror suspects currently detained at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay while they await trial.

“Somebody has to stand up and put (the Guantanamo prisoners) in their backyards. It’s our patriotic duty,” said Greg Smith, director of the city’s Two Rivers Authority.

“Not on my watch,” U.S. Sen. Max Baucus said.

The Montana Democrat said the detainees’ presence would be a security risk to the community and exceed the capacity of the U.S. District Court in Billings, which would have jurisdiction over their cases.

The rest of the state’s congressional delegation – Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg – agreed that bringing Guantanamo prisoners to Montana is a bad idea, though they support efforts to find some other use for the jail.

Smith said the city has sent out marketing packages to all 50 states, and the jail has hosted visits by prison officials from Colorado, Wyoming and other jurisdictions. Attempts to land contracts with the federal Bureau of Prisons and Montana Department of Corrections have been rejected.

Smith acknowledged that the city’s chances of getting the Guantanamo prisoners are slim but insisted that holding them would not be different from handling any other kind of prisoner.

“You have hardened criminals in jail all around the state, you have sexual offenders. When they’re in jail, they’re not a whole lot different,” he said.

[source: Military.com]

[source:  Gawker]

FYI, newsmedia, we are only that many days into Barack Obama’s president. And fyi again: the “first 100 days” is a meaningless marker.

When FDR was inaugurated, he noticed that congress was willing to pass anything he wanted. So he basically made a special 100-day-long “special session.” Thus, for him, this “100 days” thing made logical sense. And plus people did not judge him on those 100 days until they were done with, and everyone had time to evaluate the various programs and bills he introduced.

Ever since, Presidents have been judged on their first 100 days. But this year the country is in so much shit, and our president is so young and cool and popular, that every news organization is falling all over itself to analyze Barry Obama’s first 100 days, even though there hasn’t been a special 100 day special session of congress or anything. And as we mentioned, it has not been 100 days yet. Next week will be terrible. What do the various ancient hacks of the Washington Post think about Obama’s first hundred days compared to the meaningless first 100 days of the presidents they used to cover when they were the best newspaper in the county? Oh good they have vlogs from Woodward and Bradlee about it. GERALD FORD ATE AN ENGLISH MUFFIN IN HIS FIRST 100 DAYS WE DID NOT MAKE THAT FACT UP.

(Barack Obama sort of brought this on himself when he mentioned reading a book about Roosevelt’s legislative marathon, and he even has his own blog about his first 100 days.)

Post-Roosevelt, why did this 100 days thing stick? We don’t judge anything else based on 100 days! Nothing! 30 days, or 90 days, or six months, sure. We will accept that amount of free AOL. And sure, trying to put the actions of a new president into historical context, or evaluating them as a whole, is good and useful, especially in a news environment of constant, never-ending information and a ten-minute news cycle and an audience without the ability to retain memories for more than ten minutes. But when you are liveblogging the first hundred days you are contributing to that, not actually providing useful, coherent analysis.

So here is what Barack Obama has done with his first hundred days:

• Stimulus
• Puppy

Now let’s move on to documenting his first YEAR!

Understanding this economic quagmire is one thing…. explaining it is another.

[Video: The Crisis of Credit Visualized, Part 1]

[Video: The Crisis of Credit Visualized, Part 2]

[via]

Admit it…. you’re curious to know about the dog the Obama’s will chose.  Don’t be shy.  No need to pretend.

The Portuguese Water Dog

Obama said the presidential pooch will arrive at the White House in April after daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, return from spring holiday.

The choice of a rescue dog will bring joy to animal rights groups who have been urging the Obamas to adopt a pet from a shelter.

Senator Ted Kennedy should also be pleased with the selection. He owns two Portuguese water dogs, and lobbied hard for the breed.

Sasha and Malia get their dog, but what to name the poor thing?

“Oh, the names are really bad. I don’t even want to mention it, because there are names floating around and they’re bad,” Mrs. Obama said. “I think, Frank was one of them. Frank! Moose was another one of them. Moose. I said, well, what if the dog isn’t a moose?”

But I think an interesting point is made by concerned animal lovers that the general environment of “Obama-mania” will have a negative impact on the breeding of Portuguese Water Dogs to keep up with new demands for the pups. The choice could mean a spike in the dogs’ popularity – and that could mean a rise in shady breeders and fickle owners who don’t understand the dogs and eventually abandon them, owners of Portuguese water dogs say.

In any case, it’s a pretty cool dog:

[Guardian]