Before Obama won election in 2008, a typically frank Joe Biden had this to say to supporters of his then candidacy:

“Mark my words, it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

“I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate, and he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you – not financially to help him – we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.”

“Gird your loins,” he told Obama’s supporters.  Since that time, several international crises have occurred.  Here is Obama’s response and the effects so far:

So ask yourself, are our relations with the countries mentioned above better or worse than they were before Obama became president?  Are we, and is the world, safer or more perilous thanks to Obama’s policies?

We may need to gird more than just our loins in order to survive the next three years.

To the north, the increasing costs of healthcare and a burdensome welfare state, drives Canada to a more benevolent form of socialism.  Poverty and cost of goods increase as free markets dry up.  Canada is not openly hostile to the United States, but it turns a blind eye as our enemies filter in and cross our mutual border.

In 2013, Venezuela, backed by the surging price of oil, becomes a regional power.  It begins to manufacture and distribute its own weapons.  It comes to terms with Canada, allowing it access to high-end military hardware and know-how.  By 2014, every Latin American dictator has Venezuelan arms.

Cuba becomes an even more fetid cesspool of communism and anti-Americanism.  Charities and putative non-governmental agencies form to offer “moral and charitable” support to Cuba, as it faces the American’s cruel, 50+ year embargo.   These charities, of course, serve another purpose: arming and training Cuban militias and infiltrators.

A steady stream of militant Cubans and their supporters flow into Florida, and our border states.  The violence escalates as the United States takes ever more aggressive measures to stem the violence.   Each Cuban killed or captured sparks outrage in all of Latin America.  Flags are burned daily and schools teach children of the Evil Empire based in Washington.  They indoctrinate their children into believing that their only hope is to give their lives for La Raza, the race.

In 2015, in response to economic sanctions, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela and a handful of satellite states declare war on the United States and attempt an invasion.  The invasion fails epically.  The U.S. military seizes parts of Mexico along the border as a buffer.  The U.S. also keeps Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

By 2019, the violence is constant.  Florida cities constantly face Cuban rockets, sabotage and homicide bombers.  Thousands of citizens are killed and maimed each year.  The U.S. military periodically attacks Cuban installations, but the rockets and violence continue.

To stem the violence, in 2020, the United States Navy and Coast Guard establish a blockade around Cuba.  It searches and seizes every ship headed for Cuban ports.  It offloads legitimate aid and delivers it directly to Cubans on the island.  The violence drops precipitously.

By 2024, attempts to run the blockade grow more and more intense.  Navy SEALs are used to interdict suspicious vessels.  In one incident, the Navy SEALs repel down from a helicopter armed only with paintball guns and their sidearms for personal protection.  The allegedly “peaceful” protesters throw stun grenades, and swarm the Navy SEALs as the reach the boat.  One is thrown overboard.  Others are beaten with metal pipes, chairs and, in one case, a box of plates.  Several of the “peace activists” brandish knives.  A few of the SEALs have their weapons taken.

Battered, beaten and outnumbered by an armed, rioting crowd, the SEALs fire their weapons in self-defense.  They disarm their attackers, 12 of whom are killed.  7 SEALs are injured, 2 critically.  It is later found that the boat, ostensibly carrying humanitarian aid, was also carrying gas masks, night vision goggles and bullet proof vests.  The ship was registered in Mexico and owned by a group known to fund Cuban extremism.

So the question is, how harsh should the U.N. sanctions be against the United States as the aggressor?

On June 13, 2009, thousands of Iranians risked their lives to protest a patently rigged election.  CNN reported over 150 casualties from one day of protest.  But still, Iranians came out to protest for democracy.  3 days later, Obama finally expressed “grave concern” for the protests.  His administration refused to comment on or off the record, fearing Iran would claim the U.S. was meddling, which Iran claimed anyway.  The greatest chance for a peaceful, democratic revolution in a generation, and Obama sat on his hands.

Nearly a year later, on May 30, 2010, Israeli Defense Forces intercept a ship trying to run the Gaza barricade.  The Gaza barricade was set up to prevent smuggling of weapons to Hamas to feed the constant attacks on Israel. The Israeli military offers to transport legitimate aid over land to Gaza.  The boarding party that approached the Mavi Marmara was armed only with paintguns and their side arms.  They were met with metal pipes and chairs.  The “peace activists” used knives to commandeered guns from the boarding party and shot at them.  12 “peace activists” are killed in the firefight. 7 of the boarding party are injured, 2 critically.  The news breaks late on the 30th,  by afternoon on the 31st, Obama is demanding answers from his putative ally, Israel.

The contrast could not be more stark.  Iran conducts a brutal crackdown against peaceful protesters, and the most Obama can muster is “grave concern.”  An ally is ambushed policing its waters, several armed civilians are killed and Obama demands answers.  Never in our history has any leader treated our enemies with such care and our allies with such contempt.  If Obama is elected to a second term, we will deserve the coming reckoning brought about by his naive and destructive policies.  If America and her allies grow weak, God help humanity, because no one else will.

In case you have missed it a hacker–who shall never go thirsty or hungry if he or she is within range of the Daily Danet’s expense account–hacked into the East Anglia Climate Research Unit email server and found and published some telling gems of Global Warming alarmist fraud.  As a reformed atmospheric scientist, many of my friends and colleagues have asked my opinion on the matter, which I am all too happy to give:

The rigor and challenge of being a scientist is to prevent yourself from cheating to get a result subconsciously.

First, the emails are and should be shocking.  No scientist should be manipulating data, studies or conclusions to achieve results.  The rigor and challenge of being a scientist is to prevent yourself from doing this subconsciously.  To do this openly, and with such childish joy (and in writing) should end careers.  As an aside, when I started my legal career at a very prestigious law firm, I was given one piece of advice by the chairman about email: never put anything in an email that you wouldn’t want printed out of context on the front page of the Wall Street Journal the next day.  (I was also told to “err on the side of not erring.”)

Second, generally, the development of Global Warming and the manipulation of data is understandable (ironically) at a capitalist level.  Scientists survive on grant money, which is far easier to come by if there is a crisis or a problem that needs solving.  If Global Warming is either (a) not occurring or (b) not man-made (caused by the sun, for example), and there is nothing we can do about it, funding will dry up.  (This, by the way, is why it does not matter whether the Earth is warming or cooling–Climate Change® is enough, so long as it is man made.)  This is not to say that integrity should be compromised, but anyone would hesitate before biting that hand that feeds them.

Third, the irony of Global Warming™ as a religion is that it started in the early ’80s as Margaret Thatcher’s way of breaking the coal unions.  She wanted to prove that coal was damaging to the environment and nuclear energy was safer, and so fostered research on a then little known theory called the greenhouse effect.  Of course, today, that theory is being used to oppress entire regions of the globe, keeping most of Africa and Asia in the dark ages by starving them of the one thing that modern civilization needs: fossil fuels.  Secondarily, Global Warming™ is also being used as the liberals’ second pet cause: redistribution of wealth.  Senator Kerry is spearheading (or charging into the jungle like he sees an unarmed Vietnamese teenager) a drive to throw billions of your tax dollars into developing nations in order to “offset” the effects of Global Warming™ legislation.  The greatest wealth transfer in history, all because of a sick joke meant to break a union dispute.

Senator Kerry is spearheading, or, rather, charging into the jungle like he sees an unarmed Vietnamese teenager…

Finally, to go further down the rabbit hole, why would truly smart people (not the scientists, but the businessmen and power brokers) get behind a belief system so obviously built on shaky evidence and doomed to destroy developing nations and burden developed ones?  Put aside liberal guilt as the easy excuse, and you’re left with two reasons: control and protectionism.  Paternalistic liberals like Kerry want to control the purse strings and dole out huge (trillions) amounts of international aide to developing countries, rather than allow them to develop and stand up on their own.  Unions like the SEIU and their backers are terrified of regions like Africa developing into the next Taiwan and China.  Imagine the entire continent of Africa developed into a first world capitalist society competing with the unionized labor forces of Detroit, Chicago and New York for business not just here, but in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

So you have a situation where the scientists, the politicians and the masters all have unified in pushing an agenda where Global Warming™ had to true, and it had to be man-made.   Surprise, surprise, it was.

In advance of yet another international climate change conference, the media and liberal fear-mongers (but I repeat myself) are fretting over what might not be done in Copenhagen.  In the medal for the most idiotic overstatement, Gordon Brown is currently in the lead for saying “we have only 50 days to save the world.”  In the spirit of a far better, and far more intelligent Englishman, Douglas Adams, and with full knowledge that “stress and nervous tension are now serious social problems in all parts of the galaxy and it is in order that this situation should not be in any way exacerbated that the following fact[] will now be revealed in advance:” Nothing of significance will be accomplished in Copenhagen.

(Except, perhaps, someone may sustain a slight bruise to their upper arm.  The safe bet is that Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden will both later claim sniper fire was involved.)

Here is why, in a bulleted list, nothing will come of the Copenhagen Climate Council:

1. Global Warming™ is only a theory (and growing less accepted each day).
2. The Earth has not warmed, but in fact has cooled, over the past 11 years.  Yes I said 11.
3. In order to noticeably reduce CO2 emissions on any meaningful time frame, draconian measures are required that would destroy every civilized economy. That is not a point capable of exaggeration.  Every world economy would grind to a halt.
4. Politicians, regardless of their political stripe, are not that stupid.

Taking each point in turn, allow me to explain:

Global Warming as a Theory.

Science is a funny business.  Even if everyone agrees that something is true, it is still, in almost every case, a theory at some level.  Generally accepted scientific principles like Evolution and Relativity (general and special) remain merely “theories.”  But all theories are not equal.  For example, Flat Earth is also a theory, as is Nemesis Earth.  These are discredited theories, but they are still, technically theories.

The theory of Global Warming™ is built on successively weaker bricks, in much the same was as a government highway project would be.

Global Warming, like many theories that liberals embrace, is simple on a third-grade level.  (They love that poster: everything I needed to know, I learned in Kindergarten.)  The problem, however, is that real life is played at the graduate level and above.  But at a simple level, Global Warming says the following:

1. CO2 absorbs light more efficiently in the IR end of the spectrum than in the visible end. (True)
2. So it acts like a filter, allowing sunlight in and “trapping” heat coming off of the Earth–much like a greenhouse.  (Maybe).
3. As humans continue to emit more CO2 (by burning fossil fuels, among other things), we will continue to add to the levels of atmospheric CO2–in other words, there is no removal mechanism.  (Not so sure.)
4. As the amount of atmospheric CO2 increases, the “trapping” factor will cause the global temperature to increase and nothing will act to counteract the effect–in other words, there is no negative feedback mechanism. (Probably not true.)
5. All of this will lead to polar bears drowning, or swimming to your house in St. Loius and killing you in your bed. (Now you’re making stuff up.)

The theory of global warming is built on successively weaker bricks, in much the same was as a government highway project would be.  Point 1 is absolutely true and has been verified in laboratory experiments.  CO2 molecules do absorb more IR light than visible.  The rest, however, is just a theory and has never been proven.  When you get to point 2, the problem becomes that you have to move from a controlled laboratory environment to the atmosphere.   And there, things get messy.  CO2 is barely noticeable in the atmosphere.  If you took 1,000,000 Poland Spring bottles and filled them with air; and then separated them into the different gases in the atmosphere, you would have about: 781,000 bottles of Nitrogen, 209,250 bottles of Oxygen; 9,350 bottles of Argon; and only about 350 bottles of CO2.  (You would also have 18 bottles of Neon; 1 bottle of Methane; and 1 bottle of Kryton, plus some trace gases.)  This also assumes a static atmosphere.  The atmosphere is not static, lightning strikes, particulate matter, ozone and a host of trace chemicals acts as catalysts to scrub and convert atmospheric gases constantly.

In terms radiative transfer (the transfer of heat through light), atmospheric CO2 is not going to have a noticeable impact on global temperature, regardless of its absorption profile–there just is not enough of it in the atmosphere.  But that is my opinion.  Other scientists have their opinions.  Many people, scientists and lay people, base their opinions on climate models.  A quick word about those: useless.  A climate model is a large, expensive, horribly complicated program that is only as useful as the theory you put into it.  They are very useful at telling you what your theory means, but they are utterly useless at telling you whether or not your theory is accurate.

For example, if you programmed into a climate model that a .5% increase in CO2 would cause a zombie virus to infect mankind–guess what?  You would find that, if what don’t cut down our emissions, we would all living a Will Smith movie.  Using a climate model to prove the theory that went into it is complete idiocy.  That brings me back to the essential difficulty with point 2.  We do not actually know what happens in the atmosphere when CO2 interacts with the menagerie of gases and particles.

Moving on to points 3 and 4 in the immediately above list, there are natural feedback mechanism that cutoff any impact that CO2 might have on temperature.  Mother nature may abhor a vacuum, but it also abhors excess.  We are already seeing huge increases in CO2 absorption in seaweed as the oceans act as a sink, causing predicted levels of CO2 to drop off.  Moreover, as temperatures rise (whether or not due to CO2) convection will usually increase, leading to cloud cover and rainfall.  This acts as a natural break in any runaway temperature increase.  Just as with tax increases, liberals have applied their rules and assumed nothing will changed because of their rules.

The Real Inconvenient Truth

The second important reason why nothing will happen in Copenhagen is that, as the BBC noted last week, the warmest year on record was 11 years ago.  How is that possible to reconcile with the prophecies of doom?  Al Gore and the IPCC can talk about El Niño and solar variability (when it suits them), but 11 years is a long, long time.  No one is willing to destroy their economy on the word of a former Vice President when faced with the coldest winter in decades and there has been no net warming since their teenager was in diapers and Clinton was in office.  The thing that amazes me is that no one has thought to say that this means Kyoto, which occurred in 1997, was a success.  (It was a patent failure, but moving on….)

If you want to know what it will really take to cut CO2 emissions in half by 2050, look at the person next to you; now kill them.

Draconian Measures

If you want to know what it will take to cut the world’s CO2 emissions in half by 2050, look at the person next to you; now kill them.  CO2 comes from everything. It is a natural part of the human biological process–you are emitting it right now–you filthy polluter–just by breathing.  Of course, it is also part of the Krebs cycle (one deranged lunatic’s pollutant is another man’s plant food.)  Even if you could (and you cannot) switched overnight to solar, wind and other “renewable” power sources–where would those power sources come from?  How can you manufacture an enormous wind turbine without plastics?  Plastics are made from refined petroleum products, which, in refining, produce CO2.

In addition, a lot of “greenhouse” emissions are not even fossil fuel based, but are from farm animals, rice paddies and termites, all of which give of methane, another “greenhouse gas.”  In order to actually reduce true greenhouse emissions, you would have to convince the worlds population to stop eating beef and rice and stop making their homes out of wood–oh, and stop using plastics as well.  And don’t forget–give up your car and take the bus or bike to work.  And you can forget about air travel unless you are the type of person who now takes a private jet anyway.

All of this in an environment where, again, the weather is getting colder (long-range forecasting is calling for the coldest winter in a decade or longer) and there has been no global warming in 11 years.  The scientific consensus (which never really existed, as much as a code of silence in exchange for funding) is collapsing and the climate of fear is giving way to one of ridicule.

Politicians are not that Dumb.

This brings me to my final point.  Politicians are not that dumb.  They know that businesses have to kowtow to environmentalists, as do they, the politicians.  They also know that the hemp wearing, no soap, trust fund hippies will never be happy no matter what you do, so there is no point in trying to satisfy them anyway.  The point of these conferences is to give the appearance of moving forward, blame the large developing countries (India and China) for not being able to reach a meaningful agreement and agree to meet again in a few years.  On the plus side, the weather in late fall is gorgeous in Copenhagen.  Try the hot chocolate.

The award, which was founded on the guilt of Alfred Nobel, has turned into the Shame of Norway.

The rationale for awarding President Obama, who through his nine months in office has done nothing of note in foreign policy, is that, in essence, he talks a good game. In fact, his words have done nothing but buy time for a nuclear Iran to become a reality. But this goes beyond liberal nonsense of everyone deserves a trophy for just showing up. What does it say to those who have actually fought and died to make the world a better place? What about the hundreds of thousands of men and women who liberated Iraq and established a peaceful democracy in the cradle of civilization–is that not worthy of note? What of President Bush’s work to relieve malaria and AIDS in Africa over the past 8 years–ask anyone on that continent what their opinion is of the man from Crawford and you will hear more honest praise of him than of Obama.

But this is less about Obama than it is about the Nobel committee. A once legitimate and prestigious honor has become an embarrassment and a joke. The award is meaningless. Giving it to a president who has accomplished so little in nine months as has Obama is as idiotic as giving a peace prize to Al Gore and the IPCC for a politicized report on Global Warming™. The award, which was founded on the guilt of Alfred Nobel, has turned into the Shame of Norway.

Financially, the U.S. economy has been the most competitive, diverse, and agile economy in the world.  Over the years since the end of World War II, the U.S. economy has become more nimble by moving away from the old-world manufacturing economy and into the new-world of global finance, banking and professional services.  In 1950, professionals and related occupations represented 9% of U.S. employees. By 1988, it was 20%.  By 2008, it was over 32%,†  In 1950, manufacturing jobs represented 34% of jobs in the U.S, in 2008, they were less than 7.5%. To put it another way, in half century since 1950 and now, the labor market has flipped: what once was a small portion of our workforce (professional services) is now the engine representing nearly 1/3; and what once was the engine (manufacturing and manual labor) is now only a small portion.

The only concern tyrants have when they challenge the world order is, where are the Marines.

This is not a bad thing for Americans or America.  Americans have become more educated and taken better, higher paying jobs leading a global economy.  Service professions are a high margin businesses–lawyers, doctors and bankers make more money than factory workers.  So the American worker has benefited from this shift, as they have moved to careers and professions, rather than jobs.  The financial sector has lead that revolution, employing not just bankers, but lawyers, accountants, salespeople, brokers, office workers, receptionists, managers, consultants, computer technicians and thousands of other professions that didn’t exist 50 years ago.

America has also benefited.  The U.S. economy has become more nimble.  A highly-educated workforce can more easily adapted and retrain than can a manual labor workforce.  Factory workers cannot take advantage of advances like telecommuting and blackberry.  And professional service skills are more portable than manufacturing skills.  These are all the reasons my father, a truck driver, wanted his sons to become professionals, not laborers like him.

For generations, the U.S. dollar has been the world’s currency. Currency, in the words of Ayn Rand is “a token of honor–your claim upon the energy of the men who produce.“  And since my grandfather’s generation, more people around the world have had faith in the energy, industry, honor and integrity of the American worker and the American system than any other.

The bravery, skill and professionalism of the young men and women we send abroad to slay the world’s dragons have done more to ensure the liberty and safety of strangers than all of the committee meetings of all of the diplomats on East 42nd Street.

Technologically, too, the United States is exceptional.  Only Japan comes close to competing with the United States on technological ability.  No other country or even consortium of countries has been able compete with the U.S. in the greatest of technological challenges: space.  Only the Unites States has been able to land a human being on another world, and that was 40 years ago.  Although the global economy means parts are manufactured all over the globe (and rightly so), most of the new products that changed the world in the past 50 years have been purely American.  The PC, the cd player, the mobile phone, the internet, the iPhone, the digital camera–these were all devices invented and perfected by Americans and American companies.  These advances were possible because of two things: (i) an educational system that focused on math and science and (ii) a business environment that rewards risk with financial gain.

Medically, the United States is leaps and bounds ahead of every other country in the world.  Liberals will trot out tired old studies and point to the United States falling to 33rd or 50th or 112th on some list.  Fantastic, but what value is ranking high on a list where Cuba is in the top 10?  Those lists are based on farcically blind bureaucratic standards involving the theoretical access to healthcare.  Sure, in the Cuba, Syria or even the United Kingdom, you have a theoretical right to see a doctor or have an MRI, but illnesses aren’t cured in theory.  When it comes to medicine, the only statistic that matters is, when a world leader or a person of means is ill, where do the go for care?  If you think people are boarding a flight to Havana to get have their prostate cancer checked out, you have another think coming.  Everyone outside the U.S. who gets sick comes here for treatment because our medical care is the best in the world.

Militarily, following World War II, the United States built on it’s wartime arsenal and established itself as the world’s only super power following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the death of Communism (except, of course, in the hearts of faculty members in the trendier New England universities).   Our soldiers, sailors and airmen have many advantages: technology, training, the support of those around them at those at home.  But there can be no doubt that the raw bravery, skill and professionalism of the young men and women we send abroad to slay the world’s dragons have done more to ensure the liberty and safety of strangers than all of the committee meetings of all of the diplomats on East 42nd Street.  Dictators, tyrants and rogues never wonder about UN reaction or even NATO or Russia or China.  The only concern tyrants have when they challenge the world order is, where are the Marines.

If President Barack Obama’s goal in becoming President, was to destroy American exceptionalism, it was a goal he never openly admitted.

My point is not to brag, or to incite cross-Atlantic row, drudging up old wounds over World War II.  My point is simply to establish that, at one point in the not so distant past, the United States was, objectively, exceptional.  But that can no longer be claimed without argument.  In the past year, there has been a sea change.  Those who marched on Washington last Sunday felt it, as do millions of other Americans.

If President Barack Obama’s goal in becoming President, was to destroy American exceptionalism, it was a goal he never openly admitted.  But after less than 9 months in office, the task is nearly complete.

The United States is no longer the most competitive economy in the world.  That honor now falls to the Swiss.  The reason is the $787 billion crash course in socialism that Obama thrust down the throat of American economy shortly after his inauguration.  That pill made our economy more reliant on government, and therefore less competitive.  The engine of the new-world economy, the financial sector, reeling from the housing crisis, will be saddled with crushing government regulation designed to discourage risk and drive the entrepreneurial spirit out of the machine.  Obama is also doing his best, in old-school, Chicago patronage style, to repay his union backers.  But no amount of wrong-headed Chinese tire-tariffs and NAFTA-violating roadblocks will turn the tide back towards labor.  Nonetheless, Obama’s actions are destroying the financial sector, the crown jewel of the American economy.  World leaders, our friends and our enemies, are calling for a new global currency.  No longer do they have faith in the efforts of American workers.

Technologically, Obama announced today his plan to destroy the internet with net neutrality.  Like most liberal ideas, net neutrality sounds good at a fifth grade level, but life is lived at the graduate level. By dictating how telecom companies must allocate their bandwith, the government has, in effect, confiscated their property, and taken from them the rationale for their investment–the dreaded “p”-word: profit.  More generally, the housing crisis and the resulting credit crisis, along with the ill-advised government intervention in the markets have destroyed the risk-reward calculus. The balance between risk and reward is what allows entrepreneurs to wander through the dessert of abandoned ideas and find an oasis: that one idea that will change the world.  Obama seems to think that, when he confiscates the oasis, the poor fools will still go out and search again for more.

The United State military, though still the most fearsome fighting force in the world, has at its head a man who cannot be trust by our allies and who can be intimidated by our enemies.  Russia has been able to bully Obama into dropping the land-based missile shields for Poland the the Czech Republic–a cowardly concession for which the Obama administration, almost gleefully, announced it had received nothing in return.  No Russian troops out of Georgia.  No breaks on Russian oil and gas for European allies.  No sanctions on Iran.  Nothing.  Poland and Czech Republic were thrown under the bus as a freebie.  Indeed, today, Russia said that it might nonetheless still move its own offensive missile systems to its border with Poland, even though the U.S. defensive systems are to be withdrawn.

Just today, in what liberals from John Kerry through Barack Obama have called the “good war,” Afghanistan, we learned that the United States is in danger of losing to the very terrorists who began this fight eight years ago.  General McChrystal is patiently waiting to ask for up to 45,000 more troops to enact the same strategy proven to work in Iraq, a strategy he spent his career arguing against.  Obama’s response: not so fast.  Hold on.  Slow down.  Let me think a minute.  Although delay means danger and risks defeat, Obama stops to ponder.

Like most liberal ideas, net neutrality sounds good at a fifth grade level, but life is lived at the graduate level.

Regarding the broader engagement that was once called the global war on terror, Obama has also made it clear that he will rather launch a political investigation of the CIA operatives who keep Americans safe than allow those men and women to focus on the task at hand.   His protests notwithstanding, this investigation is based on 5 year-old facts upon which professional DOJ prosecutors had already refused to prosecute.  Notwithstanding the fact that all of the living directors of the CIA (with the exception of the two who serve in Obama’s cabinet) have signed a letter pleading with Obama not to distract the CIA with the vital task of national security with this pointless political score-settling, Obama blithely dismisses them as biased and claims his hands are tied.  Obama, you see, believes that prosecutors must apply the law to the facts, regardless of the outcome.  Unless, of course, the defendants are the Black Panthers or ACORN.

Obama believes that prosecutors should follow the facts regardless of where they lead, just as long as they do not lead to the Black Panthers or ACORN.

Obama is also doing is best to ensure that the world’s best medical system collapses as quickly as possible.  A recent poll found that 45% of doctors would consider leaving or retiring early if Obama’s healthcare plan were passed.  Think about that, 45 million more patients and almost half the doctors.  If you think rationing and wait times are bad in Canada, wait for Obamacare!  But doctors aren’t the only ones.  Pharmaceutical companies, insurers, medical equipment manufacturers and consumers will all face increased costs, hassles and burdens because Obama wants to cover people who, for the most part, don’t want healthcare.

Although it may not seem like it (although sometimes it seems like eons), a lot of time has passed since Obama became President.  There have been a fair share of controversies, and speeches and flaps and, occasionally, something even conservatives can give him credit for.  At the outset of Obama’s presidency, Rush Limbaugh made a comment that stirred a lot of controversy and debate, when he said he hopes Obama fails.  After nine months, I have a question: Does Obama want us to fail?

†Based on 2008 Census data, including OCC codes 11-0000 through 31-0000.

Compassion comes from the late Latin compassionem from com- “together” and pati “to suffer” meaning to suffer together.  If there is one thing that al-Megrahi has not done, it is suffer with us.  He evaded justice for over a decade, and now is being released to die in the comfort of his own home and with his family and friends.  In deed, he is being welcomed as a hero.  Again, we are left to suffer in fresh grief alone.

Al-Megrahi received a life sentence; he was supposed to die in a Scottish jail.

There are several problems with the notion of compassionate release, especially in this case.  They range from the emotional (his victims did not receive any compassion) to the logical (he was sentenced to die in prison).  I will take them in turn:

1. First, al-Megrahi’s victim’s were given no such quarter.  When they boarded their flight, they had a little over an hour to live, and not a one of them knew it.  They could not call home to talk to loved ones; they could not write final farewells; they could not make peace with their makers or atone for their sins.  The first indication they had that death was upon them was when the aircraft they were peacefully flying in was violently torn apart at 31,000 feet by the bomb cowardly placed in its cargo hold by al Megrahi and his accomplices.
2. al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison.  Let that sink in for a minute.  Everyone dies of something. Whether you believe in God, Allah, Yahweh, the malevolent universe or simply random interaction of atoms–something was going to kill him and al-Megrahi was supposed to die in a Scottish jail.  The fact that it was to be of prostate cancer three months from now should have been nothing more than a footnote in history, certainly not a reason for compassionate release
3. Compassionate release is a discretionary policy.  A person who goes astray and commits a crime can later be shown compassion if (i) they have truly show remorse and (ii) their debt has either been paid or the burden of their suffering will outweigh it.  As to the first point, al-Megrahi still maintains his innocence.  Remorse is impossible without an acknowledgment of guilt.  As to the second, he has served almost no time at all, having only been incarcerated for less than 12 days for each of his victims.  And prostate cancer, while not pleasant, is not exactly a sentence befitting a man who gruesomely killed 270 innocent people.

The only thing terrorists deserve is the mercy of a timely end to their sorry existence.

4. Even Americans can understand compassion for criminals.  Thieves, robbers, even murderers may deserve compassion.  People commit crimes for a reason that, in time, can be understood, if not sympathized with.  Greed, jealousy, revenge, hatred–these are human emotions that function within a normal human society.  But terrorists do not deserve our compassion.  Terrorists are a special breed, and Britain, of all countries, should know this better than anyone. The goal of a terrorists, especially Muslim terrorists, is not to better their station at the expense of others or to seek revenge or placate their jealousy.  Their goal is to kill innocents in order to make a political point.  They intend to destroy a civilization.  Such creatures deserve neither sympathy nor compassion.  The only thing they deserve is the mercy of a timely end to their sorry existence.  As Scotland no longer has the death penalty, life in prison–without the possibility of compassionate release–should be the only option.
5. Compassion has more than one side to it.  The Scots, I’m sure feel good about treating such scum in a civilized manner.  al-Megrahi, no doubt, is elated to be able to die surrounded by his family (if he is, in deed, terminally ill).  But the other impact is on those watching.  Clearly the victims’ families and the West are outraged at the insulting use of compassion for someone so clearly undeserving.  But there is yet a fourth side to this drama.  The “Arab street,” as the media is so fond of calling it.  Most Muslims and Arabs will have a very difficult time believing that Scotland released al-Megrahi for compassionate reasons–doing so in an Arab country would be laughable.  Conspiracy theories will abound, and there will be a whole host of crazy conspiracy theories regarding Pan Am 103 and al-Megrahi.  The net effect will be to undermine the deterrent effect (if there ever was one) of law enforcement against terrorism.  It makes a mockery of Western justice in the Arab and Muslim world.

I try not to wish ill on anyone, but in this case I will make an exception.   If there is justice in this world, al-Megrahi is in for a long and painful fight with prostate cancer.  I truly hope it is one that lasts a long, long time.  Of course, the real media circus will be when he attempts to come the the United States for treatment.

But now, Obama himself is in Russia, negotiating an arms treaty with a savvy man, two savvy men actually, and all he has is his charm.  That and $2.25 will get you a ride on the subway.  If the first day is any indication, the United States will be learning the Russian word for the other meaning of “overcharged,” as in “spent too much,” “too costly,” and “not worth the price.”

You may recall that last August, Russia invaded Georgia.  It was in all the papers.  This caused a “disoriented and confused” candidate Obama to call on “both parties” to cease hostilities.  This is like telling an abused wife to stop hitting her husband’s fist with her face.  Somehow, the major media failed to notice Obama’s weak response.

President Bush, however, sent humanitarian aid to Georgia and cut off military-to-military cooperation with Russia.  Today, however, Obama reinstated military-to-military cooperation.  Oh good.  The war is over, right?  The Russians have gone home, Georgia is safe again?  No.  Russian troops still occupy Georgia.  In fact, just last week, Russia expelled international monitors from Georgia.

Obama is a philosopher king, who has never run a business, negotiated a merger deal, or even held a job for more than a few years.  (In fact, he even had help buying his own home.)  Perhaps being a community organizer does not prepare you for negotiating arms treaties with a former KGB officer.  The safe bet is that, in these negotiations, the U.S. will be overcharged.

Sarah Palin gave the chattering class something to talk about on a holiday weekend by announcing that, not only would she not seek reelection as governor of Alaska, but that she would resign her current term before the end of July. The news sent shock waves through the United States leading some to say this was the end for the enigmatic figure, while others called the move politically “brilliant.” Governor Palin did not specifically address her future aspirations, but cited frivolous ethics claims, abusive press coverage of her young children and the cost of the media circus being borne by the state of Alaska as her primary reasons for resigning.

New York Times “columnist” Maureen Dowd, whose most obvious accomplishment in life has been to become the living embodiment of the etymology of her surname, used the occasion to prove the governor’s point, writing a typically rambling screed of venomous invective vaguely in the governor’s direction. Stay classy Maureen.

Good Work If You Can Get It.

The Obama administration used the holiday weekend to release its list of White House employee salaries. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is voluntary transparency by the Obama administration; the report is required by law. The highest paid staffer is a man you’ve probably never heard of, David Marcozzi, who is paid $192,934 per year. Marcozzi is Obama’s personal teleprompter repairman. Just kidding, he’s the Director of Public Health Policy, and apparently the best negotiator at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, as he makes over $20,000 per year more than his colleagues. The full list is available here.

Speaking of Open Positions: For the Right Price…

Obama repaid some outstanding campaign debts on Thursday as he nominated Douglas W. Kmiec as Ambassador to Malta and Fay Hartog-Levin was nominated as Ambassador to the Netherlands. The Republican Kmiec was instrumental in Obama’s presidential campaign, crossing party lines to endorse Obama early on in the campaign and giving pro-life Republicans (false) comfort to vote for Obama. Hartog-Levin came to her position the old fashioned way, campaign contributions: $28,500 from her own pocket.  That’s no small Change™, but I can believe it.

Obama Stays Limp, Even Flaccid, on Iran, North Korea and Iraq.

Following a week in which his former (and future) rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton leaked that Obama is being too weak with Iran, North Korea, Iran, Iraq and Russia were all in the news testing the young president.  (Biden warned us to gird our loins).

On the Fourth of July, North Korea test fired seven short-range missiles, in response, the United States promised to monitor the situation. Perhaps we can give them free telemetry data, while we’re at it. The actual response from the State Department was “This type of North Korean behavior is not helpful.” As of press time, there was no official statement from the White House.

As Iranian election unrest continues into its third week, news surfaced that the Obama administration is actively blocking economic sanctions against the rogue regime. The United States, which is the only member of the G8 without formal diplomatic relations with Iran, is apparently also the only G8 nation opposing sanctions for the bloody and unforgivable tyranny going on in that country.

Meanwhile, even Saudi Arabia has seen the risk the mullahs pose and has apparently given Israel overflight rights in order to strike Iranian nuclear targets. If Obama won’t even agree to economic sanctions, what are the chances he would agree to decisive military action? That was a rhetorical question, but Biden answered it. On Sunday, Biden said that the United States “would not stand in the way” of an Israeli attack on Iran.  So, after 60 years of standing shoulder to shoulder against the evils in the World, the Obama administration signaled that Israel is on it’s own against a holocaust denying, raving anti-Semitic, potentially nuclear armed Iran. That taste in the back of your throat is vomit.

Next door, in Iraq, Vice President Joe Biden was kind enough to throw the enemy a life line.  In public remarks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, Biden warned that, if Iraq were to enter another period of sectarian violence, as it did last year, the United States would have to pull its troops out of Iraq completely. Undoubtedly, future al Qaeda attacks will be designed to mimic or foment sectarian violence in Iraq. Hell, al Qaeda could split itself in two, one group pretending to be sunni, and kill each other.  By Biden’s rule, the US would then leave.  By Well done, Joe. Now come back home and get back to work screwing up the stimulus and the economy.

On the other side of the coin, Obama continued his idiotic stance in support of a fledgling dictator in Honduras as that country was removed from the Organization of American States. It was unclear whether Honduras quit or if they were pushed. Around the region, dictators and other leftist leaders, including Obama, lined up to show support for the man who only wants to be dictator for life.

Yo-yobama Administration Reverses Course (Again) on Secrecy

This is the story that never ends. It goes on and on my friends. On June 3, a court ordered the Obama administration to release a CIA memo detailing interrogation and detention tactics by August 31. Since then, the Obama administration has alternatively announced that it would, then it would not release the memo, always on Thursday or Friday. On Thursday, the game continued as the Obama administration again delayed release of the memo.

In an unrelated flip flop, Obama announced that he would adopt a Bush policy he criticized, and allow the NSA to screen government data on private internet servers. The plan would allow NSA to review data on private, domestic servers in order to guard against cyber attack targeting U.S. government assets. The primary difference between Obama’s and Bush’s plan is that now Obama is in charge, and that’s why it’s okay now. So much for a nation of laws.

Barney Rubble, Still Gambling With Your Money

There’s something even more despicable about a degenerate gambler who likes to gamble with other people’s hard earned money. Barney “Rubble” Frank (D-Masshole) is that kind of a guy. You may recall that when the $700 billion bank bill was passed last fall, taxpayers were promised that, much like the savings and loan bailout, this was a loan; taxpayers would be paid back, likely with a profit. As banks repay the loans, the interest payments would be used to offset losses as other banks default or (God forbid) if the program makes a net profit, to reduce the national deficit.

But now, Massachusetts Slim wants to siphon off the money and use it to create a new housing bubble. Not happy with causing only one disastrous housing bubble in his career, Frank wants to use the repayment proceeds to make sub prime high risk bad loans to drive up property values, causing another housing bubble (with predictable consequences for anyone with an IQ above 40).  Ironically, Frank, who is an avid gambler, even with his own money, is a featured guest at the World Series of Poker this weekend. If only what goes to Vegas would stay in Vegas.

Global Warming™ Consensus is Easier When You Stifle Dissent

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Obama EPA silenced a report by one of its scientists critical of the impact of global warming. The criticism directly undermined the administration’s rationale for enacting a massive, expensive and unduly burdensome carbon tax that will crush the U.S. economy. The Obama EPA’s response to Alan Carlin, the skeptical scientist, was to literally censor him, banning him from communicating with the press or anyone outside of the EPA regarding his findings.

Carlin’s supervisor, in a draconian email,  told him, “The [EPA] administrator and the [Obama] administration have decided to move forward on [a finding that Global Warming poses] endangerment, and your comments do not help the legal or policy case for this decision. . . . I can only see one impact of your comments given where we are in the process, and that would be a very negative impact on our office.” Or, as Obama will say to North Korea when it nuke Seoul, “that was very unhelpful.”  To put in plain English, “we’re railroading this through, and if you want to keep your job, you will shut up.”

The irony, of course, is that for five years, we have had to listen to James Hansen preen around, telling anyone with a camera how the Bush administration has been censoring him regarding Global Warming™. (The irony isn’t lost on me, but it is lost on him).  James Hansen wouldn’t know censorship if it stripped him naked, sprayed him with delousing agent, threw him in a gulag, locked the door, and lost the key.

Completely unrelatedly, the National Weather Service reported that June 2009 was the coolest June in over 50 years, tied for the eighth coolest in the over 130 years of records. The last time is was this cool, Eisenhower made Alaska a state. Endangerment my lily white ass.

We’ve Only Got 60 Votes!

Obama is on his way to Russia to renegotiate the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, under which the United States and the former Soviet republics are reducing their nuclear stockpiles. The negotiations will be contentious and challenging, as Russia will be asking the U.S. to limit anti-ballistic missile systems that it sees as a strategic threat. The former community organizer faces a politically difficult challenge as liberals, who once mocked missile defense, know that it nonetheless helped win the Cold War and is now essential as a defense against rogue states.

In light of these concerns, the Obama administration floated another one of it’s “hey it’s just an idea” trial balloons by suggesting that despite clear language in the U.S. Constitution, the President does not need the Senate to ratify a new arms treaty with the Russian. Such a move would be historically unprecedented, even for a constitutional law professor in the White House. The fact that, even before Obama sits down at the table, he is worried about ratifying a treaty with 60 members of his own party in the Senate (he only needs 50 votes) makes you wonder how bad of a deal is he gonna get? Of course, this is the same man who thinks he can talk the mullahs out of their nuclear weapons ambitions.  Based on no formal negotiation training, no business experience and a scant two years in the U.S. Senate, most of which were spent running for President.

Dishonorable Mention

• More questions were raised regarding how much John Conyer’s knew about his wife accepting $3000 in cash to direct a $1 billion contract in Detroit. If my wife came home with $3000 in cash, I’d be asking a lot of tough questions.  Maybe the “powers that be” decided not to ask her any.
• The FBI released notes on its post-capture interviews with  Saddam Hussein, who said he (convincingly) bluffed the world about his WMD capacity, in part to dissuade Iran from attacking Iraq.
• Chicago politicians are considering taking Gitmo inmates in local prisons. Apparently hardened terrorists are less cutthroat than your average Chicagoland gangbanger, and more trustworthy than Illinois politicians.
• Amsterdam is considering a stimulus package for local prostitutes. Business is hard all over.
• Democrats in the Senate, in an apparent effort to destroy any credibility they have left, are considering a bill that would fine people for refusing health coverage. Apparently healthcare isn’t just a right, it’s now an obligation, punishable by a $1,000 fine.