Kerfuffles

The Divine Comedy minus Ronald Reagan

How interesting that so many world celebrities were included in the “Famous People Painting.” Why there’s Bill Clinton, but where is President Ronald Reagan? Don’t both looking, as he was omitted! Who was a greater influence on world history? Was it Bill Clinton and the infamous blue dress, or Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism? Was it Bill Clinton who saved his own hide, or Ronald Reagan who saved millions of humans from the degradation of slavery? It’s okay, Margaret Thatcher WAS included. Bill Clinton has his beloved saxophone, but I have no idea why he is holding a peeled banana aloft. Or is that a cigar?

Discussing the Divine Comedy with Dante

The Divine Comedy (available for “free” listening at Librivox.org) by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882).

Economists Warn Anti-Bush Merchandise Market Close To Collapse

“If we go to war with them, they will try to turn them on,” — Government official to Wall Street Journal.

New evidence has just been uncovered that cyberspies, likely from China and Russia, have penetrated the U.S. power grid and left behind spyware software that can be activated to disrupt America’s water, sewer and electricity infrastructure, FOX News confirmed today.

The “intrusions,” first reported by The Wall Street Journal, did not occur yesterday, but happened over the period of time when George W. Bush was in charge, a high-ranking government official from the Obama Regime stated. The breaches are “something that the Bush Administration failed to catch,” the official reminded FOX News. Barack Obama himself was asked by the American media if Americans should be concerned that the spyware that Mr. Obama inherited from George W. Bush could be activated during Obama’s reign to disrupt critical systems and make his administration appear inept.

“White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said in a written statement that President Obama takes the issue of cyber security ‘very seriously,’ but that the administration is not aware of any such ‘disruptions’ to the power grid. Cyber attacks are made all the time, however, industry continuously looks for and mitigates against such attacks and we are not aware of any disruptions to the power grid caused by deliberate cyber activity here in the United States.”

While the motivation for the breaches is not well understood, the electronic trail appears to lead to China and Russia. However, both of those nations deny involvement in state-sponsored cyperspying. Officials at both Washington embassies of China and Russia emphatically deny that any of their spies in the United States are certified as cyperspies.

The good news, according to The Wall Street Journal, is that the cyperspying espionage appeared pervasive across the country and did not target any particular ethnic group nor sexual persuasion. Indeed, government officials explained to the Journal, the cyberspying intrusions were detected by those same U.S. intelligence agencies, CIA, DIA, NSA, etcetera, that had been asleep at the wheel during the Bush administration, when “man-made disaster” pilots were flying American-made airplanes into American-made buildings.

“‘If we go to war with them, they will try to turn them on,’ one official told the Journal.” That is why the Obama Administration has already sent a message to both China and Russia, promising that the Obama Nation will NEVER wage war against either of their nations. China, Russia, the rest of the world, and the American people need to be reassured that President Barack Obama will never be a President George W. Bush.

For the first time in hundreds of years, if ever, sea pirates have hijacked an American-flagged ship with American crew members aboard. Again, the Obama administration reminds us that this is just another of the many disasters that Barack Obama inherited from that war-mongering George W. Bush. The vessel was flying the American flag only because it had been contracted by the Bush Department of Defense to ship war supplies.

Satire is probably closer to the truth than any real news you can read in America.

Inauguration Week 2009: America Descends into Self-destructive Insanity
How else can one describe a nation that is planning to close down an off-shore island prison housing dangerous terrorists, and bring them all into the United States where they will have the same rights and protections as any American citizen, and the same access to the courts as any red-blooded American burglar? While, at the same time, the government of the United States of America wants to hand over the former administrators of its nation, Bush, Cheney, CIA operatives and anyone else involved in the War on Terror, to a World Court, to be prosecuted as War Criminals, outside of the United States.

“If terrorists suddenly get the same rights as citizens, then we’ve turned the world upside down,” said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, as he attempts to introduce a bill that would outlaw the release of known terrorists into the United States when President Obama closes Guantanamo.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. John Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Plan to Prosecute Bush Administration Officials for War Crimes, January 18, 2009.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is receptive to the idea of prosecuting some Bush administration officials, while letting others who are accused of misdeeds leave office without prosecution, she told Chris Wallace in an interview on “FOX News Sunday.”

“I think you look at each item and see what is a violation of the law and do we even have a right to ignore it,” the California Democrat said. “And other things that are maybe time that is spent better looking to the future rather than to the past.”

Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced Friday he wants to set up a commission to look into whether the Bush administration broke the law by taking the nation to war against Iraq and instituting aggressive anti-terror initiatives. The Michigan Democrat called for an “independent criminal probe into whether any laws were broken in connection with these activities.”

President-elect Barack Obama has not closed off the possibility of prosecutions …

MSNBC News Call for Prosecution of Bush Administration as War Criminals (Rachel Maddow and Jonathan Turley, 19 January 2009)

“Are we literally looking at a possibility,” Maddow asked, “where administration officials from this [previous] administration cannot travel abroad to the other 145 countries that have signed the torture treaty because they might get arrested?”

“Most certainly,” Turley replied. “The status of George Bush is not that different from Augusto Pinochet. They’ve both been accused of running a torture program. And outside this country, there’s not this ambiguity about what to do with a war crime. … Most people abroad are going to view you not as former President George Bush, they’re going to view you as a current war criminal.”

“And they’re going to view us as an outlaw regime for not arresting him on our own soil,” Maddow remarked.

“I think so, unfortunately,” Turley agreed. “A lot’s at stake.”

9/11 Families Outraged by Obama Call to Suspend Guantanamo War Crimes Trials

Families of victims of terrorist attacks say they are outraged by President Obama’s call to halt the trials of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Family members of people killed on September 11, 2001, and in other terror attacks say they are outraged by President Obama’s draft order calling for the suspension of war crimes trials of prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay.

Murtha Says He Welcomes Guantanamo Prisoners in His Pennsylvania District

Rep. Jack Murtha volunteers to house prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in his Pennsylvania district, as President Obama prepares to order the shut-down of the facility.

Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., says he’d be willing to house prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in his congressional district if President Obama makes good on a plan to close the U.S. prison there.

As one of his first acts in office, the president circulated a draft Wednesday that would shut down Guantanamo Bay within a year.

Murtha only has a minimum security prison in his district. But he says he’d have no reservations about holding detainees there in a maximum security prison.

“Sure, I’d take ‘em,” said Murtha, an outspoken critic of the Iraq war. “They’re no more dangerous in my district than in Guantanamo.”

Murtha added that there was “no reason not to put ‘em in prisons in the United States and handle them the way they would handle any other prisoners.”

Liberals think it is funny - Guantanamo Baywatch

The John Murtha Jihadist Correctional Facility by Michelle Malkin

This was the Midland, Texas home of two American Presidents, one American Governor, and one First Lady from 1951 to late 1955. Located at 1412 West Ohio Avenue, the home is approximately 1400 square feet and largely unchanged since 1956. The George W. Bush Childhood Home.

President George W. Bush bids farewell to an ungrateful nation which responds: “Good Riddance!”

“Oh, and please DO let the door hit you in the fanny on your way out.” You, Mr. President, have kept our fannies safe from harm for the past seven years, and to show our ingratitude we are about to haul your fanny to the World Court and charge you and your administration with War Crimes. MSNBC, Keith Olbermann, and Olbermann’s lackey lawman, Jonathan Turley, have been gleefully describing their plans for vengeance against you, your Vice President and all those government functionaries working for you who have spent the past eight years following that most anachronistic of all “Documents of Freedom,” the United States Constitution.

“Barack Obama has said that it (water-boarding) is torture and torture is a war crime, then the President has committed a war crime, if he did order water-boarding.” ~Jonathan Turley on MSNBC Countdown Show, where he states that President Bush himself admitted that he ordered water-boarding.

As President Bush bids a fond farewell to his beloved nation, ungrateful Americans have him in the cross-hairs for prosecution as a War Criminal. Nothing could warm the cockles of some American hearts more than the sight of a Republican former President rotting in some hellhole of a prison, along with high ranking members of his military, and employees of both the Department of Defense and CIA.

“When we’re talking about talented people at the CIA, in this context, we’re talking about ‘talented torturers.’”~Jonathan Turley, on MSNBC Countdown.

That prosecution called for by MSNBC, Turley and Olbemann would be President Bush’s just rewards for doing his job to keep his nation safe from harm. This is the real war that Democrats and the mainstream media (such as the AP) have been wanting to fight; the war against George W. Bush. And they are calling upon President Barack Obama to do his duty and begin the War Crime Trials against his predecessor, whilst America’s media gush over the “smooth transition of power” that is American democracy.

The World Awaits the Coronation of the King who will bid “A Farewell to Arms Forevermore,” while plans are afoot to execute the former President for his armed agression and war crimes.

Keith Olbermann, is so ignorant of the military, that he does not know that “chopper driver” means “helicopter pilot” in American military speak. Keith Olberman - Every Day’s Worst Ignorant IGNORAMUS in the World!

Once again, in his insane zeal to destroy an American President, Keith Olbermann showed his total ignorance of things militaire. He who has belittled President George W. Bush’s military service for the past eight years, condemned Bush’s military jargon on television last night. When George Bush displayed his years of military training and experience by using the term “driver” to describe those who operate military airplanes and ships, MSNBC’s “Worst Ignorant Ignoramus,” Keith Olbermann, upbraided and ridiculed the President: “they’re called ‘pilots’ Mr. President.” You can see the MSNBC Countdown broadcast of 12 January 2009, on video, where President Bush begins speaking of “helicopter drivers, Coast Guard drivers and chopper drivers” at the 5:13 minute count. Then, at the 5:52 minute count you can see Ignoramus Olbermann’s “dripping with scorn” response: “They’re called ‘pilots’ Mr. President,” and his informing the President that the “Coast Guard were acting under pre-existing orders that had nothing to do with you!” Excuse me? The actions of the United States military have “NOTHING” to do with the Commander in Chief? Obviously, poor pitiful Keith has not only never watched a war movie, he has never even read the U.S. Constitution.

Keith Olbermann’s Countdown Show of 12 January 2009

BUSH: “You know, people said that the federal response was slow. Don’t tell me the federal response was slow when there was 30,000 people pulled off roofs right after the storm passed. … 30,000 people were pulled off roofs right after the storm moved through. That’s a pretty quick response. Could things have been done better? Absolutely, absolutely. But when I hear people say the federal response was slow, then what are they gonna say to those chopper drivers? Or to the 30,000 that got pulled off the roofs?”

The next day, Olbermann was attacking Sarah Palin - likening her to a Pit Bull. What a Guy!

No Terrorist Attacks In the United States! Why?

• On October 12, 2002, in Bali, Indonesia, Al-Qaeda’s Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists targeted packed nightspots, killing 202 people, including more than 160 foreigners. There are even more nightclubs in the United States, why didn’t al-Qaeda target us here?
• On March 11, 2004 in Madrid, Spain, 191 people were killed and more than 1,800 injured in a series of explosions on four trains. al-Qaeda took responsibility for that accomplishment to avenge the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq. But why didn’t the terrorists bomb American trains on American soil? We had even more troops in Iraq than did the Spanish.
• On the morning of Wednesday September 1, 2004, in Beslan, Russia Muslim terrorists and Arab mercenaries wearing explosive belts stormed a school taking 1,200 parents, students, children, and infants hostage. They wired the room with explosives and threatened to blow up the school during a three-day standoff. The children were refused food and water and were held in stifling heat in a gymnasium while the world waited. As Russian forces were collecting corpses from the initial raid outside the school, the militants in the school triggered the explosives inside the school. As the surviving hostages attempted to flee, the terrorists shot them and their rescuers in their backs. At least 326 people — 156 of them children — were murdered at that school and more than 700 wounded. Although 26 of the terrorists were killed, several escaped. Why did not these terrorists take over an American school on American soil? We have lots of schools here.
• On July 11, 2006, in Mumbai, India, seven high-powered blasts on suburban trains killed more than 200 commuters and injured at least 800. America has commuter trains too, why did not al-Qaeda target American trains with bombs?
• On November 26 of this year, again in Mumbai, India, Islamist gunmen launched attacks against luxury hotels. Gunmen from al-Qaeda’s Deccan Mujahedeen group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which killed more than 100. A rabbi, Gavriel Hertzberg, and his pregnant wife were sought out and murdered as were other Jews and Americans. America has many luxury hotels, many Jews and many, many more Americans. Why did al-Qaeda spare American hotels and tourist on American soil?

Could these “Seven Years of Calm in America” have had anything to do with the leadership of America’s Commander in Chief, George W. Bush, his administration and the fighting men and women of his military?

And … What Is an “Office of the President-Elect?”

Office of the President-Elect, originally uploaded by Jules°.

President-Elect Barack Obama is not only history’s first black President-Elect, he is also the first President-Elect to create his own office, the Office of the President-Elect.

What is “The Office of the President-Elect?” I cannot find any mention of it in the United States Constitution, so I went to the legislation regarding the President-Elect.

I read the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 (3 USC 102 note) and it describes the “Office of the President” and the transition of power, but NOWHERE did I find any mention of an “Office of the President-Elect.” If anyone can find with what authority the President-Elect was able to create the “Office of the President-Elect,” fully adorned with American flags which Candidate Obama eschewed during the election, please let us know about it. The Presidential Transition Act cited above mentions (one time) only “transition teams” of the President and Vice President Elects. Sorry, no such office as “Office of the President Elect.”
http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/deliverdocument.asp?citeid=184616

Here is George Bush’s Executive Order, dated October 2008, which also mentions NOTHING (as in ZILCH) about an “Office of the President Elect:”
http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2008/October/20081010093808eaifas0.1962244.html

So what’s with this Obama guy? He cannot wait two months until he is properly elected by his electors, and swears to the oath as spelled out in Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution? So why is he acting as though he is already President and treating the current Constitutional President, George Bush, as chopped liver?

Who is this guy? Why would he display the Presidential Seal as his own before he is even legally President. Or is this seal the Great Seal of the President-Elect, which no one has ever heard of before? Is this arrogant behaviour typical of an out of control narcissist? This guy is going to wear out his welcome before he is even sworn into office. Oh, I forgot. He’s the Messiah and things are different for HIM. He probably won’t even have to swear an oath.

Bells and Whistles, But No Authority

We won. The Iraq War is over. We hereby declare 22 November 2008 to be “Victory in Iraq Day,” or “VI Day.”

By every measure, The United States and coalition forces have conclusively defeated all enemies in Iraq, pacified the country, deposed the previous regime, successfully helped to establish a new functioning democratic government, and suppressed any lingering insurgencies. The war has come to an end. And we won.

What more indication do you need? An announcement from the outgoing Bush administration? It’s not gonna happen. An announcement from the incoming Obama administration? That’s really not gonna happen. A declaration of victory by the media? Please. Don’t make me laugh. A concession of surrender by what few remaining insurgents remain in hiding? Forget about it.

The moment has come to acknowledge the obvious. To overtly declare a fact that has already been true for quite some time now. Let us repeat: THE WAR IS OVER - WE WON!

“Ingratitude is monstrous, and for the multitude to be ingrateful were to make a monster of the multitude.” ~~William Shakespeare (1564–1616), 3rd Citizen, in Coriolanus, act 2, sc. 3, l. 9-11. He was arguing that the people should be grateful to Caius Marcius for defeating the Volsces.

The image, Victory in Iraq, is subject to copyright by barneykin. It is posted here with permission via the Flickr API by barneykin.