Like a 12-year-old who has snuck into the Senior Prom, in the past week the President of the United States has drawn sniggers from around the world for his immature behavior during the current tour of Europe and meetings with world leaders.
The Obama Administration’s official gift to the Queen of England was an iPod. Reports are sketchy as to whether it was purchased at Amazon or Costco. On the plus side, it did contain recordings of speeches by Barack Obama.
His now well-recognized mental deficiencies in the “public thinking” department were on full display when he was “flummoxed” by a question from a British reporter. Ouch. I’m not sure the Republicans need a new Contract with America. I think all they need is the transcript of that answer.
The President revealed who-the-hell-knows-what-but-it-sure-was-weird by greeting with a deep bow to the Saudi king, as other world leaders laughed somewhat uncomfortably all around him. (As a point of reference, when Bill Clinton merely lowered his shoulders to the Emperor of Japan, the New York Times took him to task for it.) And this shall henceforth be known as The Submissive Era.
He asked our European allies for more troop support in Afghanistan and received a resounding “No thanks.” On the plus side, he agreed to allow our grandchildren to send $1 trillion to the International Monetary Fund.
Then today, the President responded to North Korea’s launch of a long-range missile with a stern notice that
I urge North Korea to abide fully by the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council and to refrain from further provocative actions.
The President also stated he will…
…call for the elimination of all nuclear weapons across the globe in a speech later on Sunday that he hopes will lend credibility to his message in atomic disputes with Iran and North Korea.
In other words: “To all of you who want to kill us, I tell you now, we are prepared to lay down our arms.”
There is a word for a negotiating position like this. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking “asshat.”
That may be true, but I think the word that best describes the leader of the United States as he is now seen by the rest of the world is “lightweight.”
As in “Jimmy Carter – how did that work out for you?”
UPDATE: Uh, yeah. How do ya think WE feel buddy?
UPDATE II: Carter’s stillborn second term continues to unfold…
Tags: Obama
Oddly enough Lovisa we are hearing more from jack and cmac on this than we are from Obama aren’t we ? When it is over, he will be standing at the teleprompter telling us how this was all America’s fault, and the result of 8 years of a previous administration.
We just saw above how seriously Clinton thinks the kidnapping is..
What do you think 4 SEAL snipers would do ? Play Bridge ?
“What do you think 4 SEAL snipers would do ? Play Bridge ?”
No — that would require 3 SEALs and a Marine (the dummy).
Four SEAL snipers? Not so sure, Jack. The SEALS are very good, but you have: (1) five men clustered in a relatively small boat; (2) the hostage is probably being used as a shield; (3) the other four have automatic weapons, meaning you would have to down all four simultaneously and no wounding or the hostage could get a burst in pure vengeance; (4) a small boat over 300 miles out in the Indian Ocean can pitch and yawl severely in an unexpected direction just as you pull your shots. Tough call with a lot of potential for misses, no matter how good the snipers.
In the news today: French naval troops boarded and took back a French private yacht which had been seized by Somali pirates. One fatality on our side in the shootout: the owner of the yacht. Undecided yet whether he was felled by a shot from the French or the pirates.
There have been no complete reports of what the Usurper agreed to, signed or promised while overseas.
He believes that he is above the laws of this country to begin with, he believes that we have no right to question his birth, background, adoption, passports, school records, college funding, clients, medical, or anything else.
His social security number is now in question, a private investigator has reports that contain more than a few social security numbers and addresses for him. He found the same on his mother (in addition to name use discrepancies like her son).
The Financial New World Order: Towards a Global Currency and World Government
Following the 2009 G20 summit, plans were announced for implementing the creation of a new global currency to replace the US dollar’s role as the world reserve currency.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13070
What are you talking about Lovisa, my comments were about Hillary and her horrible cackle (kackle? can’t spell this morning) and her money problems, plus the recess photo of her and Obama is just strange. That she thought the pirate situation was so “funny” is also disturbing. People laugh when they are nervous, what is Hillary so nervous about??
Just saw a good interview on VOA with John Patch, former USN surface warfare officer and now a professor at the US Army War College. He cautions not to go at this Somali piracy thing with emotion but to sit back and calculate some productive, overall strategy for the long run. He seems inclined to believe that the use of naval strength that far out into the Indian Ocean is not going to work very well. He also feels that there are a lot of potential problems with anything but a strong multi-unilateral and UN-sanctioned attack on the coastal pirate bases. He seems to have some good points. The naval approach seems to be working in the more confined Gulf of Aden, which is why the pirates are going out further into the Indian Ocean and stretching the naval forces almost to a point of ineffectiveness.
He did have one suggestion which does appeal me: an armed Coast Guard-style patrol closer in and all along along the Somali coast. Object: to confront and destroy the pirate ships before they get very far out to sea. Shouldn’t be too hard to pre-identify those pirate ships through aerial and satellite recon.
I think Obama ought to take a serious look at that suggestion. I had some experience with this sort of thing in Vietnam, to wit a coordinated USN Swiftboat and Coast Guard cutter effort to interdict the landing of enemy armaments on the coast of the Mekong Delta. Sort of like chasing pirates on the Bounding Main. I think it’s worth a try.
Wolve,
Our Navy could get by with blasting pirates in international waters. We couldn’t do that within coastal waters without invite and permission. A coastal Coast Guard would have to be sanctioned by the Somali govt I would think.
ACT — Right now there is no real government in Somalia. That’s the big problem. What passes for a government has been reduced largely to only one part of Mogadishu. The rest of the place is virtual anarchy.
I wouldn’t have a problem with a unilateral or multi-lateral coastal patrol in Somalia any more than the US was inclined to wait for the approbation of the Ottoman Empire when we went after the pirates in Algiers 200 years ago. In fact, that desperate rump of the Somali government would probably give us their approval anyway. Their hands are thoroughly tied, and they have all they can handle just to protect their own shrinking turf.
Oh, this is a funny one. I sent in a Neighborhood Watch report to the HOA containing some moans and groans about the power company being too slow to repair a couple of streetlamps on one of our more vulnerable streets. The answer I got back was that I ought to be thankful that I’m not patrolling the waters off the Somali coast!!!
Wolverine, I don’t find that funny at all. What’s the chance of being pirated off the Somali coast compared to being pirated or terrorized in your neighborhood?
It’s another example that people aren’t taking our crime situations or safety seriously.
HE,
According to a DOJ study, streetlights reducing crime is a myth perpetrated by GE, Sylvania et al. The study also raises the possibility that they increase crime as they have the effect of making dark spots even darker.
It was purely tongue-in-cheek, HE. The guy who sent the message is one of the best supporters I’ve got in all this. He’s the one who fields and acts on all my complaints and requests for action. Couldn’t get along without him.
Come to think of it, maybe Cathymac is right. A chuckle in the midst of a crap pile sometimes helps to keep you from going totally bonkers.
And HE has opened the door for another war story from old Wolverine. I’m in an American mission under seige. An angry crowd is outside blaming America for something we never did and calling for revenge. The rocks are smashing windows and flying into the rooms. The US Marines are on the roof with shotguns and teargas trying to keep the main door from being breached. I, along with other people, am prone on the floor with my head covered to keep from getting hit by the rocks and flying glass.
In that room was a secretary who had been born and raised in England. She stood up suddenly and, in the sweetest voice you will ever hear, asked if any of us would like a cup of tea. I mean, the entire room broke into gales of laughter.
Afterwards, she was asked why she had done that. Turns out that she and her family were in London during the worst of the Blitz. As the bombs rained down on that city and she and her family cowered in abject fear in their cellar, her father always asked that very question. She said it never failed to raise their spirits.
Ha, ha, ha, Dans — in the best Staypuft tradition. Please don’t take away my streetlights!! Big help when I am trying to spot and get a useful description of those yo-yo’s hanging around among the parked cars on the streets most vulnerable to the smash-and-grab. Also a big help when trying to capture the license plate number on a suspicious vehicle. (Very strange how we have this sort of disease which seems to be killing some of those little lights above the plate holder in the rear of our vehicles.)
Wolv, I spent a few years myself on neighborhood watch. Street lights are a placebo. Getting the residents to leave their front porch lights on is much more effective.
http://www.newsobserver.com/978/story/1432350.html
I’ll see if I can find the actual studies and post them. My HOA brought streetlights up a few years back, I did a lot of research and gave my findings to the board. It was nixed.
Do you have a good tactical flashlight ? Or a decent set of binoculars ?
Per the pirates, a long term strategy does not help the hostage, nor does a coastal patrol. The UN sanctioned actions is a great idea, bet it will work as well as UN involvement did in Iraq, and presently Iran..
One thing that sticks in my mind, after steering clear of U.S flagged vessels for all these years, why attack one now ? Hard to not recognize the Stars and Stripes for what it is. Is it possible this was designed to test the metal of the new administration ? I believe this should be considered as a possible motive, and for this very reason we must act decisively so these terrorists know not to f with is.
Is it conceivable that the Somalis were put up to this by other groups, such as Al Queda ? We do know that Bin Laden has deep ties to Somalia, Mogadishu emboldened him, and served to rally support for he and his cause. Could this incident with the Somali pirates serve this purpose yet again ?
Food for thought..
Dans, don’t disagree on the porchlights as a defensive tool for each residence. However, the streetlights are for me and what I do out there. The particular problem I have is street parking for all vehicles, often a ways from the residence. No garages and no personal driveways on your property. Also a lot more foot traffic than one would see in, let’s say, a Lansdowne or Brambleton or even some other parts of the Park. Foot traffic and parking lots — I need the streetlights.
Yep, got both the flashlight and the binoculars. However, things often happen too fast to employ them, especially in a congested environment as opposed to a more spread out surburban setting. The binocs are good on static foot or mobile patrol. Not so good when you are on the move in the cramped confines of a vehicle. What I really need is a good camera system similar to what a LEO has in his patrol car. Oh, well, you make do with what you got and hope for the best.
Good news. American captain rescued. He did about the only thing that would facilitate Jack’s suggestion of SEAL snipers. He jumped overboard again. This time the shooters took advantage and killed three of the pirates, capturing the fourth. Just a nostalgic taste of the good old USN on the Barbary Coast.
Now, back to the issue of how to keep this from happening again. I still say aggressive coastal patrols with a shoot-to-kill mandate. The Somali government, such as it is, would probably welcome a thinning out of those pirates anarchists along the coast.
I have indeed seen some speculation that the chaos in Somalia might present an opportunity for Al Qaeda if both Afghanistan and Pakistan get too hot for them. Not so sure about it though. The Taliban were somebody Al Qaeda could work with. This thing in Somalia seems to be in many ways almost total anarchy. It might be much more difficult for Al Qaeda to work with…unless they themselves established some primacy of control over the situation there.
Like Yogi once said: “It’s deja vu all over again!”
THEN: Mogadishu, Somalia, in murderous chaos, with people on the verge of starvation. Send in the US Army Rangers with their Black Hawks. What? Nah, they can handle it. They won’t need any ground armor to back them up.
NOW: Somali piracy regnant on the Indian Ocean. In the midst of the Maersk-Alabama affair, the pirates seize an Italian freighter and try to capture yet another American vessel. Estimates of pirate hostages rises to over 200. From SecDef Robert Gates: We are mulling over the problem but we don’t think any substantive increase in military strength in the area will be needed.
Wolv, flashlight or a tactical flashlight ? world of difference…
Agree on Somalia, the first time was an Al Qaeda ambush, how can we be certain, if we attack their bases, this is not as well ?
#54
Sure would be interesting to see how they’d “test the metal of the new administration”.
Dans —
Somalia is currently such a mess that it is hard to figure out exactly who’s who in that place. My judgement at present is that the coastal pirates are just that: people who have found a way to make big bucks in a national economy that was never much to begin with and has been subsequently destroyed by civil strife.
The situation in Mogadishu, however, seems to be something else again. The so-called government is fighting at this time just for control of the capital city. As I understand it, the major foes in this battle are Islamic radicals somehow allied with al Qaeda. I’m not up on just how that alliance works — whether al Qaeda is there in significant numbers or this is just a philosophical alliance. However, if the radicals succeed in taking over and if al Qaeda plays a real role in the place, we will be facing an entirely different situation with regard to the pirates and everything else there. Would the indigenous Islamic radicals and al Qaeda fight the pirates to establish the primacy of political control? Would they give the pirates a free hand and the benefit of their assistance as another weapon against us? One thing is sure. Somalia is truly a can of worms.
“Operation Atalanta”
European naval group to protect food shipment in the waters off Somalia.
These freighters/cargo ships already have radar. All they need is a case of grenades. When the intervening vessels pull up along side, lob said grenades over the rail. Problem resolved. I really can’t see the threat or intimidation from these pirates. It isn’t like they have a missle cruiser or destroyer to do their handywork.
There are scads of national laws against having weapons of any kind aboard merchant vessels. Non-naval vessels with weapons aboard can and have been turned away from ports of destination. That is precisely why you see so many merchant crews fighting back against the pirates with no more than high-pressure fire hoses at best. Probably the only way this could change would be wide acceptance of an emergency UN maritme action to create a sort of temporary “armed merchant marine” a la World War II.
I’m still kind of amazed these larger freighters aren’t arming themselves; A pair of M2’s w/incendiary rounds, a Mk19 just for fun, and 3 mercs to run them would take care of these guys.
Of course, they’d actually have to open up on the pirates, and not simply warn them away – when enough pirate ships don’t come back, the problem will quickly solve itself.
Show weakness, predators come. Show strength, predators leave.
“Operation Atalanta” was a good move. The French are certainly trying to do their part. Given the recent successes of the pirates, however, and despite a few winning counterattacks, it looks to me like this operation needs a tactical rethink. We need a fully integrated task force to include such as the Indians and Chinese, who are also out in the Gulf of Aden to protect their own shipping.
Moreover, the US Navy is already stretched because of worldwide obligations and two simutaneous wars. The European navies are small in comparison. There just may not be enough capital ships available to establish an effective watch at sea.
I still think the answer is to set up a tight coastal guard with smaller, faster ships and orders to sink all pirate vessels. The larger ships would be a safeguard to patrol the principal sea lanes, escort merchant vessels headed to African ports, and serve as an emergency backup to the smaller gunboats. To my mind, you would do better with a sort of “blockade” rather than depending on the capital ships to arrive in time at the site of high seas attacks. That’s a big stretch of ocean out there; and those capital ships, as modern as they may be, do not move with the speed of NASCAR racers.
There will be some who think that airpower may be an answer. Well, put yourself in the front seat of a fighter jet or Black Hawk bearing down on a helpless cargo ship with pirates climbing up the hull or already on the deck. What do you shoot at? The ship you are there to save? Do you try to place commandos on the deck? Turkey shoot for the pirates before the commandos place boots on steel. Ditto for the chopper. Tough patch, to be sure.
Wolve,
I’ll take your word on it. If we are to leave the ships unarmed, I fall back to my previous statement of molotov cocktails. I was thinking of scotch to keep dans from becoming arrogant. We could also use tequila since the Yuppies have moved on to Jagermeister. Regardless, days of old allowed a “rum” ration in lieu of pay for the hands and we could just allow the same now. Or just use gasoline and carry plenty of quart Mason jars. There are work-arounds for these vessel’s protection.
ACT — You want to throw a Molotov cocktail at a boat soaked in sea water and probably with at least an inch or so of deck water which has leaked through the draincocks, not to mention pirates soaked in sea spray? Maybe, if you’re a good enough pitcher to throw a strike at the outboard motor. Just don’t take too much time to aim and then get shot first with your arm raised to throw. Hmmm…maybe if the cocktail fizzled out in the sea water, you could get the pirates drunk and have them fall overboard, where they would provide a meal for the Great Whites which also patrol that patch of sea. Well, if you want to go that way, I would suggest a touch of class in honor of Dans: Haig & Haig pinch bottle.
Okay. I will amend my concoction. How’s about we add some laundry detergent. Would that satisfy you Mr. Salty? And we wait till the pirates are along side the ship-that way you don’t miss (it’s just a drop). besides, I’ve seen them do it in the movies and movies are TOTALLY accurate! (the napalm would really work even with sea-water. Been there-done that!)
ACT — stick to the gas in mason jars. It just occurred to me that a bunch of seadogs with a couple of bottles of Haig & Haig…yeesh, the battle would be over before it started. The Navy would arrive to find a wild party on the poop deck, with pirates and seamen dancing arm in arm singing dirty sea chanteys.
Let me tell you about those days in Vietnam. Ship would arrive at a Marine base half full of ammo and half full of beer. Beer so tightly packed in pallets on the cargo deck that a cockroach couldn’t get in there. Start moving the pallets, and beer cans fell out of the holes all over the place. Had to search the ship from stem to stern to find that beer. Haig & Haig? I don’t think so.
The history of the molotov cocktail is interesting. During the 1939 winter war between Finland and Russia the Finns, all dressed in white to blend in with the snow, skied through the woods and attacked the Russian tanks/ Talk about David and Goliath!
The Finns didn’t last long – lost Karelia in the end and were under Russia’s thumb for many, many years. They were tough and much admired.
A point we can truly agree on, Lovisa. The Finns, an almost forgotten people known mostly today for their sauna rituals. What a 20th century those people had, along with the Poles and the Baltic states …. caught between the German wolf and the Russian bear. It is a wonder they survived at all. The Finns as a people have a place in my personal pantheon of heroes.
Not quite forgotten Wolv, some most excellent gunpowders are made in Finland. It is the only powder that I use now…
http://www.lapua.com/index.php?id=851
Obama – 2nd anti-Vegas remark
“Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said during a hastily called news conference that Obama is no friend to Las Vegas and would not be welcomed here if he visits.
“I’ll do everything I can to give him the boot,” Goodman said. “This president is a real slow learner.”
“He has to step up right away and say, you know, he wasn’t thinking,” Goodman said.
“Sometimes when he’s not using his monitors and reading what he says, he doesn’t think.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_las_vegas
…and he bows to the mayor of Tampa with his eye closed in the same week.
Ha, everyone knows he can’t talk coherently without his teleprompter’s.
HE
Guess you didn’t see and hear the President when he had the televised discussion with a republicans. No teleprompter in sight.
Low, The Dipshit used TWO teleprompters at Graham Rd. Elementary school on 1-19-10, he couldn’t even speak to 6th graders without a written speech and his security blanket teleprompters. He chose a school that is basically all anchor babies and illegals.
http://www.eutimes.net/2010/01/us-president-obama-uses-teleprompters-during-speech-at-elementary-school/
The Dipshit didn’t give a speech to the Republicans, it was a Q&A photo-op where he apparently acted like a smartass jackass
“Everyone knows he can’t talk coherently….”
“…he apparently acted like a smartass jackass?
Just shows that you didn’t watch, consequently don’t know what you’re talking about.
You with your constant Dipshit sh^t are the one who can’t write coherently.
You didn’t watch it. I suppose that you will never admit that the Dipshit is a empty puppet in over his head, as is his entire staff.
Obama-GOP meeting turns testy
President Barack Obama wound up debating Republican House members during a meeting whose intent was to foster bipartisan cooperation.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/story/1453996.html?storylink=mirelated
Everything with the Dipshit is me, me, me, just a photo-op for a fake meeting so that he could pretend to be doing something, he would have rather been on a jet on his way to his next teleprompter me, me. me farce.
I wonder if he bowed to any of the republicans when he arrived, he cowers, apologizes and bows to everyone else?
Zoloft generic….
Zoloft side efffects with alcohol. Going off zoloft. Zoloft….