Odd things about the Fort Hood shooting (1)

President's Obama's shout out before his comments on the Fort Hood shootings: YouTube

I was waiting for, and millions of people were waiting for something that would be consoling and reassuring to the American people on Thursday afternoon from the President. It was bizarre. He seems to make some effort in his remarks to dwell on the mundane bureaucratic meeting which has just concluded and I'm wondering, doesn't he realize the gravity of what has just happened? When he remarks come he focuses on what we don't know and then cautions us not to jump to conclusions with little resolve to determine its cause and punish those responsible.

This reporter expresses what I felt:

Obama's Frightening Insensitivity Following Shooting.
A bad week for Democrats compounded by an awful moment for Barack Obama. : Robert A. George

Observing the President as a former high-school orator

Obama 9/11 speeches today seemed passionless and bland. He used none, zero, of his rhetorical skills in his first of 4 (or 8) anniversaries of the terrorist attacks on lower Manhattan and the United States.

A very strange debate, indeed

In 40 years of paying attention to politics (I'm 55 by the way), I've never seen this obsession with the debaters and the meta-debate, as opposed to just talking about the issues:

Is there actually an Obama health care plan?

What are the motives of the people opposed to the current plan (HR 3200)?

Who's lying?

Are abortions covered?

Are illegals covered?

What is the number of the uninsured 20? 40? 60 million?

How many of the uninsured have single or joint income exceeding 75,000?

Is Medicare broke or going broke?

My bottom line, the promoters of Obamacare won't be candid, honest, transparent, truthful, etc. The most obvious indicator was the haste they tried and will try to get this passed.

I am attempting to find the orgin of this image, but enjoy it in the present moment.

Cash for Clunkers

Since this is a program for people to choose destroy what is still a useful car, years ahead of its time. I wonder if this is soften us for the destruction of human life when the government wants to reduce the burden they impose on the "economy".

See also: Just a reminder: Cash for Clunkers requires destroying perfectly usable car: Hot Air Blog

I am not a "birther" but...

This story recently picked up new life. Barack Obama either can't or won't take the steps to kill the story. He could do so by doing this:

Declare where he was born (city and hospital), and who the doctor was who assisted in or signed the birth certificate.

Produce a copy of the long-form of his birth certificate which was prepared contemporaneously showing the details of the circumstances of his birth and can be authenticated to 1961.

Unconditionally waive any privacy rights he has under law or custom to confirm the above

1961 is only 47 years ago. Hawaii became a state in 1959. I cannot believe that vital paper records from that time were destroyed without being microfilmed or scanned. ancestry.com claims to have 200 years of records for the United States.

I doesn't pass the smell test for me. The only evidence that might be authenticated to 1961 is a birth announcement published in the Honolulu Advertiser on Sunday, Aug. 13, 1961. This announcement discovered in July 2008, to use the cliche, raises more questions that it answers. The Obama File

Upddate:I agree with commenter Kevin. I think BOH may have left this one hang on the vine as bait for its ability to distract and divide his opposition.

"We have a Vatican II president," John O'Malley informs us in a revealing America magazine article: Catholic Culture. Diogenes

It seems that just as Bill Clinton was a "black president," even though he was white, so too Barack Obama is a "Catholic president" even though he is Protestant.

To understand the political translation, you must first understand the-- wait for it!-- spirit of Vatican II. You see, the "spirit of Vatican II' transformed human nature-- or at least our way of understanding human nature. (from Barack Obama and Vatican II: America)

The council hoped that this new style of being, which brings with it a new way of proceeding, would lead to cooperation among all persons of good will—Catholics and non-Catholics, Christians and non-Christians, believers and non-believers—on the new, massive, and sometimes terrifying problems that face humanity today.

Obama makes no distinction between the culture and ethnography of the United States which is, of course, Christian, and its government which is neither Christian nor non-Christian. Since taking the oath ("...so help me God") Obama has only used the word "Christian" to deny that the country is Christian.

In O'Malley's worldview, a Christian who denies Christ is a better Christian than one who affirms Christ. Affirmed Catholic identity is incompatible with "good will".

"...a Roman Catholic priestess" (I am not making this up)

Kicking & Screaming: Journo Dragged From Near AF1: NBC News Los Angeles

A reporter for a small newspaper was forcibly removed from a press area near Air Force One shortly before President Barack Obama arrived at Los Angeles International Airport to depart California early Thursday. ...

"I said, 'I'll take my chances if (the president) comes by here,'" said [Brenda] Lee, who identified herself as a Roman Catholic priestess who lives in Anaheim, Calif. "He became annoyed that I wouldn't give him the letter."

Lee, who was wearing what she described as a cassock, said she protested when she was asked to leave.

Cardinal Mahony, call your office.

Powell wants to "emerge": Washington Post

In a speech in Boston, Powell hit back against the two GOP heavyweights for questioning his loyalty to the Republican party.

"Rush Limbaugh says, 'Get out of the Republican Party.' Dick Cheney says, 'He's already out.' I may be out of their version of the Republican Party, but there's another version of the Republican Party waiting to emerge once again," Powell told the crowd, according to the Boston Globe.

Just what we need -- more Democrats telling Republicans how Republicans can win.

Just what we need -- more Republicans who voted for Obama in 2008 (and will vote to reelect Obama in 2012) to tell Republicans how to win.

With all the people who want the Republicans to self-destruct -- if they believe Rush Limbaugh will destroy the Republican party -- then let Rush do his thing.

Georgetown University Hid Religious Symbols at White House Request: FoxNews

The Reuters caption for the photo:

April 14: President Obama speaks about the economy at Georgetown University's Gaston Hall. The school covered up religious symbols bearing the name of Jesus during Obama's remarks at the behest of the White House.

Catholic League: On Georgetown's cowardice

The Catholic League summarizes it well.
I think we are making regress here: First it was separation of Church and State, then it was separation of religion from public life, and then we have arrived at separation of Catholic imagery from Catholic institutions -- of course on a voluntary basis. Just remember, this is the time of the green wood.

[Luke 23:27] A large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.' At that time people will say to the mountains, 'Fall upon us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!' for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry?"

Vale, Edward Cardinal Egan

I wish Cardinal Egan well in whatever assignment he receives from the Pope. It is ironic that he is getting the greatest amount of local television coverage now at his exit. This wasn't true with his three predecessors during my life. Cardinal Egan was the master of his ecclesial domain and confronting the culture of death was a secondary concern for him. It will take the perspective of history to judge if he left the Church in New York in better condition than he found it.

As I blogged earlier the Cardinal made himself a prisoner of precedent and invited candidate Obama to the Al Smith dinner on the basis that while he was pro-abortion, he wasn't Catholic, and therefore not subject to the Church's "discipline".

Best wishes as well for Archbishop Timothy Dolan.

Notre Dame betrays its Catholic Identity

Norte Dame which claims to have a Catholic identity has betrayed it. President Obama voted three times against a bill that would have made it clear that a child born alive in induced labor abortion procedure would have the right to life under Illinois law.

The greatest moral evil in the United States is abortion and it is opposed by the bishops of the Catholic Church and millions of Catholics and therefore by inviting President Obama, Norte Dame brings dishonor upon itself in honoring, as a Catholic university, President Obama.

Sign the petition http://www.notredamescandal.com/

Read about it http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/24/critics-blast-obamas-notre-dame-commencement-address/

Background on Obama's votes against a born-alive state law on RealClear politics

(From October 22, 2008) Deifying Obama

Fox News Video Fr. Jonathan Morris on the Strategy Room

Worth another look now.

Obama Says Now May Be Good Time to Invest in Stocks: Bloomberg

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said falling share prices may mean bargains for investors with a “long-term perspective.”

Obama, who is seeking to boost public confidence in his strategy to pull the U.S. out of recession, spoke a day after stock markets tumbled. The Dow Jones Industrial Average yesterday dropped below 7,000 for the first time since 1997. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed at the lowest level since October 1996.

The Dow Jones Industrial average on election day was 9625, on the day where President Obama made this announcement the DJIA was 6730, a drop of 30 percent and in round numbers 3000 points.

When does President Obama take responsibility for the economy?

The market is continuously adjusting to and taking into account what the policies are and will be. It is predicting doom at the moment. President Hoover thought that stocks were a bargain after the crash. This one case where President Obama doesn't want to be compared to a prior president.

Is it called Ottawa or Iowa? Edmonton Sun

On his first foreign trip as president, [President Obama] came within a syllable of calling Ottawa Iowa.

As he and Prime Minister Stephen Harper emerged for a news conference after their closed-door meetings, Obama began: "It is a great pleasure to be here in Io ... in Ottawa."

He kept on without breaking stride.

Had this been a Republican it would be in the 10 minute rotation for 3 days. Since it is Obama, it was spiked in the MSM here. I saw it live on CNBC and knew that it would be ignored.

(To Bill Bennett) Why your defense of Obama'a salary cap is wrong

Obama is wrong to do this. He is acting on a socialist class-warfare impulse. This is the nose of the camel under the tent, this is the slippery slope.

From this point forward, you would change our argument to no longer be "we oppose this on principle" but "we quibble now on the details of this new salary cap"

If they can set salaries for some employees in the private sector that have some touch-points with the federal government, what is to stop them from imposing salary controls on any private sector employee -- we're all entangled in some way with the federal government.

Bill, what's needed now is not compromise with the imposition of stealth socialism with salary controls, with entitlement expansion, and government crowding out the private sector. What the country needs is a full and articulate defense of free market capitalism.

We have experienced a failure of crony capitalism with the bailouts of Freddie and Fannie, and government coercion to lend against traditional lending practices that have worked for centuries. The only alternative is not the creeping socialism of the Democratic Party but Reagan conservatism.

Added in my blog:

I will cheer Obama when he does the thing that is best for America. I want that agenda to succeed.

But when conservatives applaud class-warfare "screw the rich" policies, I am a skeptic.

My email to Rush Limbaugh

I support you Rush, citizen of the United States, against the President of the United States. He has singled you out rather than naming a Republican in elective office.

If words matter, I ask you to challenge Obama to a debate -- a real debate. Just the two of you and 2 cameras. Coin toss to go first. Then 15 mins./15/14/14/1/1 and it's done, and then repeat it as often as he opens up his mouth to complain about you. Of course he will not accept, but I think it is important to challenge him.

If he breaks a 220 year precedent and names a private citizen as his political target, then let him break precedent again and debate you.

NY Post, Charles Hurt: PREZ ZINGS GOP FOE IN A $TIMULATING TALK

(Obama to Congressional Republicans) "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done,"

If by "get things done" you mean giving Democrats a permanent electoral majority and transforming private enterprise into socialism, then count us out. I like private property and limited government.

The Democrats in control of the government will drive this country into a deeper recession with all this wasteful government spending. The fewer Republicans who sign on the better. When this whole thing blows up, let's have clarity who is responsible for it.

Also Byron York, National Review Online

AP: Vatican criticizes Obama on abortion issue

Vatican officials said Saturday they were disappointed by President Barack Obama's decision to end a ban on federal funding for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on them.

Monsignor Rino Fisichella, who heads the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life, urged Obama to listen to all voices in America without "the arrogance of those who, being in power, believe they can decide of life and death."

Fisichella said in an interview published Saturday in Corriere della Sera that "if this is one of President Obama's first acts, I have to say, in all due respect, that we're heading quickly toward disappointment."

This was expected and I think, could have been expressed better. The mistake that the Monsignor makes is belief that this is Obama's arbitrary decision. I think the comment on arrogance and disappointment is properly directly towards the 18 million Catholic American voters who voted for Obama. Obama is merely acting on the mandate given to him by the electorate.

A helpful article on the 2008 Catholic vote in Our Sunday Visitor

So nice, they said it twice. I don't get the "12 more balls" reference
Washington Post: Obama takes oath again

After a flawless recitation, Roberts smiled and said, "Congratulations,
again."

"Thank you, sir," Obama replied, to a smattering of applause.

"All right," Obama said. "The bad news for the pool is there's 12 more balls."

Now, if only we could get a look at the original birth certificate on file in Hawaii. I would be satisfied.

Oh! Inaugural Balls. Never Mind....