Clearly the timing of the Time piece is interesting following Obama’s landslide defeats in congress and his need to recast himself and only days before Ronald Reagan’s centennial.

Soviet Dictator Brezhnev and East German Honecker Kissing:

Perhaps there should be one like this one for Obama and the Old Media.

But is there yet another reason Obama with the help of his Old Media dance partner is pivoting on the Gipper’s birthday? Perhaps it is a little something called getting out in front of all of it in order to suck the oxygen out of the room before any movements (Tea Party or otherwise) might get any traction from it. And if you think about it, that’s not a bad plan. Fill the news cycle and talkshow circuit with Obama and Reagan doing what Obama and the media are actually doing and use any outrage Republicans have as filler. If all goes well, it really leaves little left for covering the genuine aspects which make his birthday important or any movements the 100^th might inspire.

It’s not a bad tactic, as they go, to blunt the blow. But it also again reveals just how in bed those people we used to call journalists really are with our current, rather creepy, one-term administration. It also reaveals, over two decades later, how terrified the left remains of Reagan - and rightly so.

Video: Reagan was “Anti-communist, anti-big government” (I.e. anti-Obama)

Martin is a master’s student in national security studies and undertook an internship with the London-based Henry Jackson Society in the summer of 2009. Martin hates the Turabian style format.

You know, um, that liberal media that trashed President Reagan mercilessly? And remember after he left office how they sought to revise history to blot him out of the great events he was most instrumental in shaping like the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union? And all of this because they hated him so much?

Well feast your eyes on this bit of propaganda (and it is propaganda, somewhere on the order of Mother Teresa partnering with Che Guevara).

While it is true that Reagan was a good-natured man who would have embraced nearly anyone on the personal level – from ABC’s leftwing Peter Jennings to Gorbachev – what this cover implies is something else.

Here stand anti-communist and communist and we are somehow to believe they are two men in agreement upon the greater points of how the world works. And it’s all for the purpose of somehow recasting Obama as anything other than the kindred spirit of the failed man Reagan removed from the White House in 1980 – Jimmy Carter.

On the upside, what a shock it will be for all of those public school-indoctrinated pups to learn that Reagan really was a good guy after all. And just wait till they start listening to his speeches, which will invariably make a great deal of sense. And the Democrats will only have a liberal magazine to blame. I guess it’s true that time heals all wounds.

H/T American Glob

Martin is a master’s student in national security studies and undertook an internship with the London-based Henry Jackson Society in the summer of 2009. Martin hates the Turabian style format.

So Obama decided to pitch his grand idea again last night of railroading Midwestern Americans into giving up the privacy, comfort, and independence of their automobiles. And all for his utopian dream of public transit as we head to the unemployment office - as Ann Coulter put it - or what will certainly be an equally efficient government healthcare clinic.

But this time he was smart. While everyone has been talking ahead of time about Obama's homage to Reagan in what would be bouts of almost creepy suddenly uplifting rhetoric last night, he also took a page from George W. Bush's shock and awe playbook, when he threw out there the kind of joke the Beltway types can't help but chortle at when they think about us little people. You know, the one where rape victims only need to worry about being groped by TSA at airports but not train stations (even though Janet Napolitano has already said we can expect a friendly latex glove someday soon there as well)? Sociologists say that placing people in large groups makes the non-self aware dumber. So there's that, too. Obama can add that to the public school system to create more Democrats. So while Americans spend the next day or so waiting for the ringing in their ears to subside, maybe we'll take a moment to refocus on the real problem: Be it TSA or forced railways, Washington is trying train you.

In the Midwest, Obama's train obsession only demonstrates how out of touch D.C. is with our need for travel vs Washington's need for union bribes and something to satiate its insatiable lust for power. We get around by car around here and we like it. We don't need to sit next to someone with TB who smells of urine on the way to work, we don't want to all get blown up by a single terrorist or shot in some gang turf war or have our pockets picked. Here, we aren't forced to be groped by TSA before we ground-commute to work or by unpaid pervs while the train is moving.

No thanks.

Europe can keep its cattle cars; I'll keep my sportscar.

Martin is a master’s student in national security studies and undertook an internship with the London-based Henry Jackson Society in the summer of 2009. Martin hates the Turabian style format.

It is an age-old practice of the powerful and it crosses species’ lines. One need only ask what dogs do to demonstrate their power over other dogs in the pack. Short of outright attacking them, which can lead to injuries and weaken the pack’s ability to hunt, the dominant dog (to put it the only way one can) will hump its subordinates.

All throughout the animal kingdom animals use sex quite literally as a weapon, and among the less civilized this behavior has and can still also be found in humankind. In Islamist (and more universally in ancient Middle Eastern) culture, it was not uncommon for older male family members to use sex as a form of dominance over their younger siblings (e.g. most likely Esau vs. Jacob in the Bible). One vividly also recalls the modern horror of Saddam Hussein’s rape rooms often used for dissidents or their family members – something not quite so uncommon in the region; or the countless stories of mass rape and other forms of sexual assault carried out by warring factions around the world.

Today, most experts on sex crime agree that rapists and similar assailants assault their victims not with sex as the primary motivation but power. Some in our government today, desperate to dominate a free and proud people, have sadly resorted to no less.

Fortunately, our Constitution – specifically our Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Eighth against cruel and unusual punishment”, and others incorporated into the world’s greatest human rights document in the history of man and given the force of law – protects us from this primitive barbarity.

Rogue government entities who violate this law then themselves become criminals, subject to the same common law penalties for assault, kidnapping, theft or any other activity that takes place in or out of uniform but outside the purview of the Constitution, the law of the land.  And, in addition to their being charged by local authorities (and federal authorities under certain circumstances) for whatever misdemeanor or felony they commit, they are also subject to a host of additional civil rights laws, for which they are liable if they violate, thus opening the door for federal prosecution.

But it doesn’t stop just there: government employees are also subject to civil suits by those they have violated not only for pain and suffering, lost wages, emotional distress, and other losses incurred by one citizen violating another, they are open to civil rights damages in civil court as well. And while there is a statute of limitations on many types of crime, assailants must wait many years before it runs out. Compound that with the number of victims a typical TSA agent may assault before he or she retires or TSA policy changes, and the chances of having the statute run out before any one of those hundreds or thousands of victims presses charges to a friendly DA or files a civil suit skyrocket. In other words, every day a TSA agent assaults another passenger is another fire he or she sets to the bridge, sealing his or her own fate.

Bear in mind that constitutional scholars and legal experts have already begun to chime in, and it doesn't look good for TSA at all. Some of them including former New Jersey Judge Andrew Napolitano have even referred to TSA gropes and other abuses including its "child abuse" of the young autistic boy who had his shirt removed as TSA assaults "of a felony nature". As such, these experts are advising passengers to record the names of TSOs and remind TSOs they will be subject to prosecution and lawsuits.

But of course, if private bankers are subject to being surrounded by protesters at their homes or booed at the grocery store or followed around by cameras, even more so civilian government employees. So as TSA sex criminals are wading through the years looking over their shoulders out of fear someone will bring a lawsuit or a DA or even attorney general decides to press felony assault charges with the threat of years behind bars and a horde of most unpleasant cellmates, they also face the civil wrath of a violated public, whose First Amendment grants it the right to make TSA employees’ lives a living hell.

Thus, the government employee is in a far more vulnerable position than even you or I, which is exactly as the Founders intended. In our civil society, where the people are protected by the rule of law and that law protects their fundamental human rights, government workers who try to use sex as a weapon will eventually see it backfire. The legal, financial, and social splatter that causes in the lives of these government employees so great, those individuals will forever be damaged goods.

During the Nuremberg Trials after World War II, scores of Nazi prison camp guards attempted to obtain mercy from the court by arguing they could not be held responsible for their actions because they were simply following orders. The human rights court did not agree, however, and found them guilty of the crimes they committed. There was no mercy for the convicted and many faced the severest possible punishment for their crimes.

If you work for the TSA today, you have only three options available to you. The first is to refuse to follow any unlawful order. That is, any order which violates the human rights – the Constitutional rights – of those upon whom you are expected to carry out your order. The second choice is to resign and find other work. Both of these two options are equally moral and laudable. The third choice is to follow orders and to lose your humanity, to become a criminal, a thief of souls through your calloused sexual assaults; to become civilly liable also, to face being followed around by angry mobs of protesters (who, though angry and protesting civilly and acting in a lawful manner – unlike you – will shred any ounce of privacy you thought you could enjoy while you harmed others).

But you say, “I’m just trying to keep these people alive”. The road to hell is paved and every brutal regime – from Stalin’s Soviet Union to Nazi Germany to Communist China that murdered over a hundred million – is built for the vague utopian ideal of “good intentions”. But that’s ridiculous, you say. “I’m not a fascist or a communist. This isn’t an ideological purge, it’s a pragmatic reality.” If that is so then why has TSA chosen methods of screening proven to be quantifiably less effective than other strategies used elsewhere in the world, such as by the Israelis?

Is it not because of ideology that the more effective methods are not employed? X-ray devices not only fail to find many types of weapons, they may also be a health hazard. So-called enhanced pat-downs (Nazi-style felonious sexual assaults and humiliation of the disabled) is often used as a punishment for travelers who defend their rights and also too widely used to be effective and will not find items hidden in cavities (and random mass cavity searches would certainly cause riots at this point).

Even more absurd is convincing yourselves you do not profile already. You dangerously assume that because a man owns a private plane or is a VIP flying commercial – or someone presumed to be a fellow TSA agent, that this person could not be at least as much a “deep cover” terrorist as granny, a seven-year-old or disabled army officer with top-security clearance. You assume none of those exempted will ever radicalize or go mad, in spite of the fact that the most recent airplane attack on a building was carried out by a private plane operator, some of the most wanted terrorists in the world hold doctorates, and a good number of terrorist acts have been committed with the aid of those supposedly on the “inside”.   

If you choose the third option, remember that you are not insulated. I need not tell you how dysfunctional your agency is; you are no doubt already painfully aware every day you show up for work. Your boss also lies to you when he tells you that you are safe from the legal consequences, even as real terrorists continue to be treated with "dignity and respect" in Gitmo while free citizens are offered neither. And why shouldn’t he? He lies to the taxpayer for no reason other than his personal CYA policy. He knows it’s easier to prosecute and sue you than him, so he thinks he has no skin in the game. Just remember that when it hits the legal fan, it’s you he will gladly throw under the bus to save his own rear end, so don’t expect the cavalry to come rushing in to save you. You will be on your own. Very alone, very poor, but quite possibly with a nice view from your cell and a sweet new boyfriend… And what was that they said about what goes around comes around?

Remember the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and go do the right thing.

Martin is a master’s student in national security studies and undertook an internship with the London-based Henry Jackson Society in the summer of 2009. Martin hates the Turabian style format.

Below are the two arguments used by TSA and its backers for committing acts of sexual voyeurism and sexual assault on the elderly, men, women, and children. Incidentally, Judge Andrew Napolitano has already said that such constitute grounds for not only civil but criminal action by victims, just as if the assaults – often felonious – occurred anywhere else under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Constitution and common law. Furthermore, the political tide is already turning against TSA and there is little doubt district attorneys and attorneys general will begin to see the political necessity to enforce the law with respect to these rogue agents. Keeping that in mind, the statute of limitations runs long, which means TSA agents who dare to violate the Fourth Amendment rights of citizens to be secure in their persons and possessions will have to be looking over their shoulders out of fear of possible prosecution and civil action for many years to come. Or to use a quote by Martin Luther King, Jr., which President Obama is famous for borrowing, ''The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

So without further ado, the TSA raison d'être demolished:

We must use invasive imaging to catch terrorists carrying weapons

FALSE: The TSA (Terrorist Sexoffenders Administration) even cedes the argument to those who say it isn’t so. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, TSA was so convinced of the machines’ necessity that they shut down a great many to allow a speedier flow of passenger traffic through security checkpoints. It would seem counterintuitive for any security expert convinced of these machines’ effectiveness to switch them off during the peak travel times that are prime targets for terrorists. But that’s just what TSA did.

As also noted, security experts have already pointed out that these machines would not have been able to catch the underwear bomber, nor are they able to detect other types of fluid or powder chemicals worn on the person or any type of contraband being carried inside a body cavity.  

We can’t profile because it would be unfair

FALSE: The TSA is already profiling. If you're part of the political class or other type of VIP, those Fourth Amendment rights are recognized and observed to perfection; if you're a member of the hoi polloi you get herded into the boxcar. The argument TSA makes for harassing granny could just as well be applied to a VIP. Anyone could be a terrorist. So that clearly is not the true motivation.

This argument also fails the degree test: Which is the more egregious violation, being selected for a few extra questions as an Egyptian national or having your child sexually assaulted in front of you?

Conclusion

Even the TSA acknowledges its uselessness as an instrument of national security even as it continues close its eyes to proven techniques for combatting real security threats. Such techniques the Israelis would certainly be happy to share. Instead, the agency has jumped right past that and headed straight for unlawfully violating the Constitutional security of persons who, had the victims been actual criminal suspects or terrorists caught on the battlefield, the TSA would not have dared to accost in the manner which they do innocents in pro forma fashion. As such, the agency – consisting of a great many scofflaws, sex offenders, and illiterate degenerate social dropouts – must by all accounts be disbanded, its employees returned to their mothers’ basements whence they came.

Martin is a master’s student in national security studies and undertook an internship with the London-based Henry Jackson Society in the summer of 2009. Martin hates the Turabian style format.  

Well okay, given the frequency with which I post here lately (I am a dutifully busy student after all), it’s probably more like the quote of the month. Either way, it’s brilliant.

So here's a “mean” money quote for a mean little sniveling Meghan McCain and her vapid little booklet:

"It is impossible to read 'Dirty, Sexy Politics' and come away with the impression that you have read anything other than the completely unedited ramblings of an idiot."

Leon H. Wolf is an American hero. He manages to say everything we’ve all thought for a long time regarding Meghan McCain (and her fellow whiny, snitty, back-biting RINO friends – e.g. Lisa Murkowski, Charlie Crist, Mike Castle, et al.). A hateful and shallow lot are they, and Wolf just put them all in their place. Well done, Mr. Wolf.

Be sure to check out his website when it returns (it seems to be not working at the time of this writing, possibly from a deluge of traffic by angry libs and RINOs reading about him at PuffHo).

Why is Twitter surpassing Facebook in popularity (at least for advocates and dissidents)? Well, for one thing it's a free speech zone. And for another, users have control over their privacy.

There has been much talk about the way the two sites are formatted, the simplicity of one, the flight by the other to imitate it wherever it can; the  way information flows into the stream and trends can be tracked on the front side and not just the back end by employees and advertisers.

As many of us already know, Facebook seems to have earned a reputation for deleting and harassing users who  are outspoken conservatives, including one or two rather high profile ones. This increasingly is earning a reputation for Facebook similar to the unsavory one earned by Google, which routinely hands dissidents over in China to authorities who beat, torture, and murder them.

Speaking of Google, a quick web search seems to demonstrate that liberals aren’t complaining about the same treatment from the Facebook gods. (One can be sure that if there were equal treatment, libs would be first and loudest to scream about it.) By Contrast, Twitter’s speech policy seems far more consistent with the spirit of the internet and free-thinking societies in general. With the exception of direct physical threats, Twitter has been pretty good about staying out of the dysfunctional and pathetic game of political content censorship. In fact, some might argue Twitter is too loose, at times, allowing what may be considered libel to be posted without doing much about it; however, as they say, “sticks and stones…” – and most of us would rather have an open forum than some control freak dystopia where site employees regularly give users they don’t like the feeling of living in North Korea.

The other key difference is privacy. To Facebook, the user is not the customer; the advertiser is and the user is merely the commodity Facebook sells to the advertiser, as others have already pointed out:

This may seem like a bad way to treat customers, but the whole point about Facebook is that users aren't customers. Anyone who supposes that Facebook's users are its customer has got the business model precisely backwards. Users pay nothing, because we aren't customers, but product. The customers are the advertisers to whom Facebook sells the information users hand over, knowingly or not. – Andrew Brown

 It is this philosophy that drives Facebook’s disregard for the privacy interests of its users, as evinced by its oft confusing and oft changing privacy policies. In fact, one look at this startling graph (or this one) – both graphs quite popular on the internet these days – shows quite starkly how Facebook has been pot-frogging its users to the idea of sharing everything with everyone on the internet (and the afore-mentioned advertisers, who then make bank stalking you in every conceivable manner). In fact, Facebook’s privacy statement has gone from a little over a thousand words to almost six thousand in just five years. Does such behavior open Facebook up to potential liability if a user unaware their privacy settings have been changed and opened up to the internet is stalked by not a company but a psychopath murderer? Who knows, but certainly one could wonder whether Facebook’s disregard for its users is reckless and short-sighted.

Enter Twitter. If I were a political dissident, this would certainly be my first choice. I can choose any user name I’d like and give up only as much information as I choose. In fact, there’s very little room in my bio to share much of anything! While Facebook and Twitter both suffer horrible user support, at least Twitter doesn’t seem to me to act as though it has nefarious plans sometimes for its users. Refreshing, especially in this day and age where it seems everyone is scheming against everyone else and has lost the decent sense of leaving others the heck alone. And while both social media sites make it difficult to organize and archive contacts and posts, Twitter is far friendlier to third party tools for doing both.

There are certainly other areas to compare the two sites, but these days when freedom of speech and privacy come at a premium, Twitter is hands-down the better medium for the smart advocate.

The Other McCain has posted a great piece on Lisa Murkowski’s chances of surviving the end of her Senate career. Lisa Murkowski was, as we know, just another RINO the RINOs at NRSC (National Republican Senatorial Committee) backed against the better and more Reaganesque opponent. One of the other notables (of all people) was political traitor Charlie “the Unicorn” Crist, whom they backed against rockstar Marco Rubio in Florida. (Birds of a feather.)

RINOs are no friends to the GOP and Texas' other RINO Senator - John Cornyn - should not only be removed from serving in any capacity at the NRSC, he should be removed from office. I'll surely be helping the campaign that makes either of those happen when the time comes. For now, another resounding defeat for the RINO clique that hijacked my Party and another WIN for America and those who love America more than their little club.

War is hell and the leaves are dry. Time for blood is almost upon us. We hide our faces from evil but evil will peel back our masks. If we do not confront it in a favorable time, it will find us in its own. Better the war be cold than hot.

Martin recently completed an internship with the London-based Henry Jackson Society and is presently working on his Master's in National Security Studies. He holds a BA in International Relations. Prior to his time in London, he spent several months in Washington, D.C., where he attended several events, toured the White House, Capitol, and Pentagon. He is a member of Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, the World Affairs Council, and United Nations Association.

IIt’s Fun Thursday. Every month tends to be a boon for interesting search queries that brought people to this blog. June was no departure.  Below is a list of hits ranked by their quantity. These can be fun lists and I publish them as often as possible.

So at the top (sadly), those searching for Flicka the horse wound up at my blog more than any other. Incidentally, these searches are being pointed to my post about the Flicka remake of a few years ago in which the animals were actually mistreated and some died.

Next in line is yours truly, but I redacted my name from the list to avoid the irony of having those searching for me finding me in a list about those who searched for me.  As a rule, I also redact phrases that include a not-so-family friendly term. There were none such this time.

Some of the more interesting searches? Someone wanted to find out if Vasili Mitrokhin, the ex-KGB officer who fled to the West, had documents indicating Carl Sagan was an enemy agent. Go find out for yourself. The rest are emboldened for your quicker skimmer pleasure. Teacher’s comments are of course in red.

flicka horse      

*Yours Truly*    

chomsky          

recession is when your neighbor loses his job. depression is when you lose yours. and recovery is when jimmy carter loses his. This one shows up in nearly every month’s list of top searches. Reagan lives! 

waterworld saga           

joe biden secret service This search found me because of a funny story I had related to me by a friend of a wife of one of Joe’s Secret Service agents.  

flicka the horse 2         

view the cnn pipeline news clip “terri schiavo’s parents” located on the materials tab of your student web site for week eight. state your stance on the terri schiavo case and identify the moral value judgment that influenced you to choose your stance.           

mongoloid child                       

coming back after a horse trailer accident          

spherion skill assessment what to expect          

aclu sex offenders katrina         

iraq unnecessary bush-had-done-nothing           

why france this week wouldn t practice in support of amilka       

beutiful atrocities          

anderson cooper ramada inn hurricane  

mitrokhin archives sagan        

jintao   

alien obama2012          

cchinese it theft cyber attack pentagon dod us companies titan rain Talk about not plugging the dang hole. And this was a serious problem on Bush’s watch. For all you Obamabots out there, stop reading now. It still remains unaddressed, putting us all at risk.       

how many horses were used in flicka 2span style="mso-tab-count:1">  

memoire de vladimir kryuchkov          

border war battle over illegal immigration           

putzin bugger off Because Vladimir Putin is a putz.       

bush achievements constitution

putin i am just a jealous gay litvinenko That would be “Jealous Guy”, and it’s a great video about Russia’s psycho “Putintate”.

pictures beavis and buttheadspan style="mso-tab-count:1">    

espella human zee

democrat double standards

*Yours Truly* myspace

streverse > base64 > rot13 > base64 > morse code to text All your base are belong to my post on fun little ways to encode whatever you’re up to.

where was the original my friend flicka shot

chinese officials torturing

i support israel wristband

hialeah#i=5

oboedīre

flicka a horse

chinese hardware backdoor

hansen dam horse tragedy

what is the penalty for entering mexico illegally? Shootings, hangings, beatings, imprisonment, and other manner of total disregard for human rights.

flaka the hlorsespan style="mso-tab-count:1"> 1

for i am not afraid for i was born for this         

political theory china venezuela chavez hu jintao dominoe effect Obviously a student. Keep at it kid.

quotations from dear john

abeisance

los diablos definition

worker bathroom break urinate  

chinese hardware contains backdoors

blogbats.com

what does the uss new jersey museum tour cover? Basically the USS New Jersey, and sometimes a BBQ, if you go at the right time. Check local listings.

 bush s achievements   

mexican presidential airplane

blogbat

in light of the law being a living body which is constantly evolving how do the personalities actions trends political correctness and the moral aptitudes and ineptitudes of our society influence laws currently being considered both locally within the state you live in and nationally? do you think that our current laws adequately govern the ills of our society? for instance do you think that there are certain social ills plaguing our society today that require tougher laws? on the flip side of that same coin do you think that there are certain laws that are too strict for certain social ills? explain your answers.  Holy Smokes!  

horrors in history          

agent provocateur russian cold war sex Probably linked to one of my posts about KGB tactics, which are of course still very much in use today.

mercy ministries st. louis girls Mercy is one of the best and most worthwhile causes you can support. I’ve known many of the people on staff there and can tell you that your giving makes a huge difference in these kids’ lives. http://www.mercyministries.org

weirdest story  

spherion employee policy dell   

beautiful atrocities        

russia stratfor

james pinkerton newsday father

areas helgstrand

rogue hardware malware

china hardware backdoors

essay soviet intelligence ogpu

clear channel outdoor advertising –largest billboard company in us ... overwhelmingly in support of the new arizona anti-immigration law. ... whe need imigration

stranded calif.  

penalty for entering mexico illegally   

real flicka horse

jimmy carter    

what a harware producer needs to know about china  

spherion policies dell    

laura schultz mercy ministries    

sangar and hitler         

search engine optimization You’re optimized if you made it here.         

the blogesse    

democrats racist hypocrisy       

venezuelan fake document penalties

dell computers employee conflict resolution      

penalty for illegally entering mexico   

sowell nea        

sposa son desprezzata Vivaldi’s Sposa son Desprezzata, a song I probably mentioned at some point.

ronald reagan when jimmy carter loses his     

intitle north korea or intitle dprk or intitle pyongyang or intitle democratic people s republic korea -football -volleyball -sport   

square resistance         

what is dressage Horse-lovers, baby!   

bush administration trade achievements

trusted foundry military cyber attack usb        

noam chomsky holocaust deniers       

putintate          

militant gnomes Probably linking to this: http://blogbat.us/mt/archives/2005/05/travelocity_pre.html       

dell employee performance       

usa vs europe healthcare          

jimmy cater loses his  

penalty for crossing into mexico illegally&                    

fliack the horse Your friend Fliack. Of coarse.

Martin recently completed an internship with the London-based Henry Jackson Society and is presently working on his Master's in National Security Studies. He holds a BA in International Relations. Prior to his time in London, he spent several months in Washington, D.C., where he attended several events, toured the White House, Capitol, and Pentagon. He is a member of Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, the World Affairs Council, and United Nations Association.

Obama has demonstrated once more to all this week that he’s really just a misunderstood genius man of the people. Like Powder. Need we look any further than the most recent example in which he brilliantly displayed his support for the persecuted people of Cuba by not uttering a word when the regime released several of its political prisoners? I think not! Now to you or me, that might seem like a slap in the face of those fighting on behalf of human rights. But Obama is clevererer…er. Clearly, Cuba’s government is so beyond the boundaries of legitimacy, our Wise Obama has decided to pretend *in a whisper* it doesn’t really exist!  You read that right. And all of this without the need for ruby red slippers to click together.

So my only question is, will there ever be any other president like this? What will we have to look forward to after 2012? Can we go on?

So he ignored the drowning flood victims in Nashville and Arkansas, the human booty being spirited across our border in both directions for a growing worldwide sex slave industry, and a few million people and sea creatures along the gulf. So what? Why hate the man? He’s been working hard to make it all go away by ignoring it since the beginning. So now he’s ready to go global.

Americans shouldn't take it so personally, after all. This man is bigger than just us. He is president of the world, the first post-American president since anyone other than the British awhile back, some Germans, Soviets, Chinese and Islamists began making movies about such things years ago! Now, a few of you might be saying that Obama just sucks when it comes to serving the needs of the people and particularly the suffering and the downtrodden. Or maybe it just miffed him because releasing prisoners from an oppressive communist regime ruins the narrative he's been schooled in since he was a young child (as opposed to an old child). But you would miss entirely what makes him the best president we’ve ever had. What other president has summoned the power of Barney the Dinosaur’s imagination and a new age of harmonious cranial cellular singularity for all? So progressive was he that he did this before the Barney Generation was even old enough to implement such an imaginative approach itself!

And lest you think he is not a man of action, he was meeting just this day with Warren Buffett in order to get more feedback from the common people concerning the progress so far of his savoir faire brilliant illuminated-ness. The two men will no doubt be greatly inspired and refreshed by the evening’s soirée that will also no doubt include an A-List musician or two. He is a wise man to know what he needs in order to be at the top of his game. I wonder if he will have one of those Chicago pizzas flown in at our more than willing expense again. It's hard work being prissydent, which makes it understandable that the manchild would need eight hours of golf a day to cool his jets.

Martin recently completed an internship with the London-based Henry Jackson Society and is presently working on his Master's in National Security Studies. He holds a BA in International Relations. Prior to his time in London, he spent several months in Washington, D.C., where he attended several events, toured the White House, Capitol, and Pentagon. He is a member of Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, the World Affairs Council, and United Nations Association.

ABC News acts shocked Russia's spying today is at Cold War levels. A 1992 Jane’s report shows if anything, CIS spying was on the increase over the Cold War era even then.

Here’s the link to my 2006 post that quotes the Jane's article as well as links to others showing Russia's increasing, not diminishing aggressive espionage posture.

Of course ABC News isn’t the only media outlet still left stuck in a half century-old state of denial about Russian intentions and capabilities. While the excuses have changed, the ignorance hasn’t, and that’s just sad for an alleged news organization.

ABC News and other old media prove to be about as teeming with competent Russophiles as the State Department. Maybe that’s why Americans have hit the reset button on the way they gather news.

Martin recently completed an internship with the London-based Henry Jackson Society and is presently working on his Master's in National Security Studies. He holds a BA in International Relations. Prior to his time in London, he spent several months in Washington, D.C., where he attended several events, toured the White House, Capitol, and Pentagon. He is a member of Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, the World Affairs Council, and United Nations Association.

Stratfor reports today that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il requested advanced Chinese fighter jets and other weapons systems, but was rebuffed; however, Stratfor believes it is highly likely that Hu Jintao offered, possibly in their place, Chinese support if North Korea came under attack:

North Korea asked China to provide it with the latest J-10 fighter jets and other hardware but was rejected, Chosun reported June 17. According to a high-ranking North Korean source, leader Kim Jong Il made the request to Chinese President Hu Jintao when he visited China in early May. But Hu apparently told Kim that China would protect and support him if attacked.

If true, such news will come as no surprise to Western analysts and military experts, most of whom have been unimpressed by China’s shell game on the Korean Peninsula. China in the past has been accused of aiding the DPRK’s nuclear weapons program. Some attention has also particularly been paid to an alleged Chinese nuclear plant that sits just feet from North Korea’s border, on the other side of which at about a mile distance sits a rail station. (You can locate it on Yahoo or Google Maps by entering these coordinates: 42°53'34.07"N, 130°17'20.35"E or click the annotated image below to enlarge. Nuclear site location on Google Earth map image courtesy North Korea Economy Watch).  North Korea has, in turn, dutifully passed along its nuclear help to regimes such as Pakistan. Both China and North Korea are the key reason Pakistan now has nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, Jane’s Defence Weekly says that China has proposed a “military technology forum” with Indonesia. The article goes on to point out that Indonesia is increasingly important to the region strategically to both China and the United States, as both navies would like to secure navigational control through its straights and both countries would like to have access to oil and other resources there, as well. Jamestown reported last year, however, that such arrangements have, at least until that time, remained rocky between China and Indonesia. Nevertheless, as we have seen in Thailand and elsewhere in Asia, a weaker US tends to result in cozier relations between China and neighbors eager to keep peace.

It is unfortunate that even as China continues to stand by its close ally, the US seems uninterested in doing the same for its ally Israel (and perhaps others) if attacked. It should be also noted that Iran, which is seeking to destroy Israel is also heavily supported economically and militarily by China as well as Russia. It should serve as a wake-up call for sleeping democracies around the world of the need for solidarity, particularly as this new Axis crisis unfolds – and as the West continues to project division and weakness, that unfolding most assuredly will.

Martin recently completed an internship with the London-based Henry Jackson Society and is presently working on his Master's in National Security Studies. He holds a BA in International Relations. Prior to his time in London, he spent several months in Washington, D.C., where he attended several events, toured the White House, Capitol, and Pentagon. He is a member of Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, the World Affairs Council, and United Nations Association.

Today, even liberal MSNBC bemoaned the lack of “executive command” while using Jimmy Carter – well remembered for his equivocation – as a standard that should not have been too difficult for anyone to surpass. Such things always invite one to wonder what the great Ronald Reagan would have said – or more importantly, done – in response to the gulf crisis, economic crisis, and the growing national security crisis.

If Ronald Reagan were to have addressed the nation tonight, he would certainly have done so far differently than the current occupant of the White House. He would address the oil crisis (if there were one), as well as the good news on the economic front; by this time in his presidency in 1982 lower taxes and deregulation had already pulled the country into real recovery, and equally importantly, the American people were beginning to feel proud again to be Americans, rather than being constantly lectured to (and about) as though we were the world’s red-headed step-child. So without further ado, the Gipper in what could have been his own words, were we so fortunate:

In the weeks that followed that horrible disaster aboard the Deepwater Horizon that claimed 11 lives, we have worked steadily with state and local officials to stop the flow of oil into the gulf along with deploying every tool and erecting every obstacle humanly possible to mitigate that flow into our estuaries, our wetlands, and onto our beaches. 12 countries, including Great Britain and Germany and our neighbors Canada and Mexico have also offered their generous help in expediting the cleanup. I have personally taken the responsibility of ensuring the Coast Guard and all of our local officials and volunteers have everything that they need in order to protect the habitats and livelihoods of those who live and work along the Gulf.

So far, this has met with great success and I am happy to report our hard work has turned what might otherwise have been the worst ecological disaster in human history into a contained spill that is daily diminished.

At some point, fairly soon, we will have most of this behind us and we will, as you might imagine, be faced with a few important questions. Namely, how is it ecologically better to drill in deep waters where such accidents are far more difficult to contain than it would be to drill in shallower water or on land? With this in mind, in the course of the next few days, I will be signing a series of executive orders freeing up vast amounts of unused federal land and shallow water areas where we know oil is plentiful.  Speaker Boehner has also promised legislation, which I will sign, ensuring state and federal authorities work together in the national interest to safeguard our economic vibrancy and national security. While we must behave responsibly and in a manner that is ecologically sound, we can and must do so in a way that does not do harm to Americans, who happen to be the most ecologically-conscious people on earth.

We achieved much over the last 57 days because we are Americans and that is how Americans confront their challenges. A free people, unshackled from the constraints of an overbearing bureaucracy retain both the spirit and the economic resources to move quickly and solve significant problems in challenging times. It may seem like pointing out the obvious, but no one knows better the need for stopping the oil spill than those living in the gulf who lie in its direct path. Once again, it is you the American people, not the government, who have demonstrated that you hold the key to solving this problem, and solving it you are.

President Reagan would also most certainly address issues surrounding the Cold War with our enemy China (rather than pretend it doesn’t exist), condemn Russian support for terrorism, along with a host of other issues and events around the world of great import long neglected.

Assuming Iran would have the temerity to for a moment seriously consider sending naval ships to escort the terrorist flotilla into Israeli waters, the United States would do what is obvious to most by telling Iran that it would not be permitted.

President Reagan might tell the Iranians something along these lines,

We will not stand idly by and watch as one of our closest allies is provoked or attacked; Mr. Ahmadinejad, we cannot allow your navy or any of your sponsored belligerents to enter Israeli waters as you seek to draw Israel into direct conflict. Today, I have given orders to our navy to be at the ready, to assist our friends the Israelis, and to ensure Iran abides by the international desire for peace and stability in the region. I have ordered a carrier strike group – including our newest carrier the USS Barry M. Goldwater – to the area in order to ensure Iran’s cooperation.

They are sad times when crisis hits (as it inevitably does), but even sadder when the ship of state’s crew is asleep at the helm as we drift and take on water into the night. Perhaps we will see greatness again sooner rather than later; perhaps we will be so blessed to have such a great man (or woman) once again called to the forefront in our time. We can certainly pray.

Martin recently completed an internship with the London-based Henry Jackson Society and is presently working on his Master's in National Security Studies. He holds a BA in International Relations. Prior to his time in London, he spent several months in Washington, D.C., where he attended several events, toured the White House, Capitol, and Pentagon. He is a member of Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, the World Affairs Council, and United Nations Association.

Things I learned today: white Democrat congressmen are higher up on the exemption totem pole than black athletes when it comes to being charged with assault. As D.C. police have yet to file charges or take into custody the monster from South Carolina – Democrat Bob Etheridge. (Video: camera 1, camera 2) Meanwhile, Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young already faces a $500 misdemeanor assault charge from Dallas Police for punching a guy at a DFW bar. Apparently Young’s main mistake was that of his career path. Had he simply been a Democrat in Congress all would be forgiven. Heck, he could even drown a girl if he were a rich, white Kennedy.

Apparently Democrats agree with this status quo, too, as they line up to defend their criminal compatriot. And, following the time-honored Democrat tradition of naked hypocrisy, Rep. Etheridge has long campaigned on "protecting the children". Yeah, just like Democrats protect the poor and minorities by keeping them on the poverty plantation and cynically using them as political pawns.

Did Young deserve to be charged? It certainly appears so, but so does Congressman Etheridge the Boy-Slayer. Is this a case for social justice? No, nothing would be a case for social "justice". So-called social justice would call for every congressman to be arrested when one is accused of a crime. Social justice has been played out for much the the 20th Century, although we usually know its results by another name: genocide. No, real justice would suffice for a change. Equal protection under the law is the law of the land and it’s time for it to be enforced, and that doesn’t mean just being sorry you got caught.

Martin recently completed an internship with the London-based Henry Jackson Society and is presently working on his Master's in National Security Studies. He holds a BA in International Relations. Prior to his time in London, he spent several months in Washington, D.C., where he attended several events, toured the White House, Capitol, and Pentagon. He is a member of Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, the World Affairs Council, and United Nations Association.