Archive for March 24th, 2011

24
Mar
11

‘bush was a uniter, obama’s a divider’

By Chipsticks 24 Comments
Categories: Abroad: Ireland May 2011, All Photos and Articles
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IrishCentral: ….Before Barack Obama became President of the United States the people of Ireland were united, beautifully so … but once it was clear that he was going to be President the real fight started. Neighbor turned on neighbor, brother on brother.

I had never even heard of Moneygall before Obama came along. Why would I have? I’m sure I’ve driven through it on my way to Limerick, but 300 people live there. It made no impression….

When it transpired that Barack Obama is descended from a Falmouth Kearney, who left Moneygall for New York in 1850, suddenly the town started making the news….

Now we have two counties practically ready to go to war over Moneygall. Although the media has repeatedly described Moneygall as being in County Offaly, it apparently could be considered to be in County Tipperary too…

….And now the people of County Kilkenny want in on the action … You see, Falmouth’s family left little by way of a permanent mark on Moneygall, but going back a bit further there is a definite relative, Bishop John Kearney, who is entombed in St Canice’s Cathedral in the beautiful city of Kilkenny.

Now it’s really getting ugly … You see how Obama has divided the people? The desire to claim him as a ‘native son’ could easily lead to blood, war, ruin. Offaly? Tipperary? Kilkenny? Bad-tempered hurling matches engender less bad feeling.

It was all so much simpler with President Bush. No county, no town or hamlet claimed him or wanted to be associated with him. From Election Day in 2000 until he left office, the people of Ireland were quite content and of one mind in detesting the man.

….Now the country is choosing sides in a three-way battle to make Obama their own. It won’t end well. As we all know, the Irish have long memories and this division will take generations to heal.

Full article here

:-)

24
Mar
11

as promised

By Chipsticks 20 Comments
Categories: All Photos and Articles
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Demonstrators gathered in Dublin to show their solidarity with the people of Libya in their struggle against Muammar Gaddafi and his regime

Politico: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton late Thursday announced that the U.S. and NATO have agreed to transition command and control of the no-fly zone over Libya to NATO, a step toward fulfilling President Obama’s directive that the U.S. military’s involvement be time-limited and discrete in nature.

“As expected we are already seeing a significant reduction in the number of U.S. planes involved in the operation as the number of planes from other countries increase,” Clinton said, 

“today we are taking the next step.”

“All 28 allies have also now authorized military authorities to develop an operations plan for NATO to take on the broader civilian protections mission under resolution 1973.”

Clinton praised the international community for acting swiftly and said their action prevented a massacre in Benghazi. 

“After only five days, we have made significant progress,” Clinton said, noting that the coalition has full control of the skies over Libya and USAID doctors have already begun to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Benghazi.

24
Mar
11

“the guy bankrupted his own casino!”

By Chipsticks 16 Comments
Categories: All Videos
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Thank you UT Austin Liberal!

24
Mar
11

‘enough said’

By Chipsticks 24 Comments
Categories: All Photos and Articles
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Robert Shrum: …The commentary on the president’s course in Libya has been instinctively adversarial. Much of the press may be compensating for its cheerleading or supine acquiescence in the fraud of the Iraq War. So reporters chase administration officials around briefing rooms and TV studios pressing questions that can’t be answered at all (about operational details), or can’t be answered candidly — for example, about the targeting of Moammar Gadhafi. On both sides, partisans join in — some Democrats apparently against any conflict anywhere — and Republicans who never questioned Bush, Cheney, or Rumsfeld, but somehow would scorn Obama even if he got Iran to surrender its nuclear weapons.

Having forged a genuine multilateralism on Libya and pulled off the miracle of no Chinese or Russian veto in the Security Council, the administration now has to speak diplomatically while wielding big missiles. But through the white noise of the media and political scrum, some truths ought to be clear even if Obama and company can’t clearly say them.

….didn’t Obama violate the constitution by not going to Congress for a resolution or a declaration of war? I have three words for the critics here: Grenada, Noriega, Balkans. Ronald Reagan, the first Bush, and Bill Clinton didn’t wait on legislative approval before invading two countries and bombing Belgrade when they decided the issues were urgent and the cause was just. …. Imagine if Obama had gone to Congress this time. In the Senate, Rand Paul would have filibustered while Benghazi burned. And perhaps the unserious Dennis Kucinich would have insisted on establishing his Department of Peace as Gadhafi slaughtered thousands. Enough said…….

Full article here - definitely worth reading

24
Mar
11

world view

By Chipsticks 10 Comments
Categories: All Photos and Articles
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Steve Benen: Back during the 2008 presidential campaign, there was a fair amount of talk about how the United States had lost much of the respect we once enjoyed on the global stage. Barack Obama made a point of saying he wanted to improve America’ international reputation and get the world to start respecting us again.

It’s worth pausing from time to time to note that he’s been largely successful on this front. Gallup has a new report out today, documenting the results of an international survey, featuring the results from more than 100 countries. Gallup asked whether people around the world approve or disapprove of the job performance of the leadership of the United States and the same question about the leadership of six other major countries.

In 2007 and 2008, the last two years of the previous administration, the U.S. was sixth of seven, trailing Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and China. Yes, in the Bush/Cheney era, a repressive Chinese regime was actually more popular around the world than us.

In 2009 and 2010, the first two years of the Obama administration, the U.S. now once again is out in front.

Of course, it’s not just Gallup. We’ve seen similar trends in America’s popularity in the Obama era in similar international polls, including the Pew Global Attitudes Project, which also found a vast improvement in global views of the United States since the president’s election.

Washington Monthly

24
Mar
11

so, hp only learnt today that breitbart is a bigot. seriously.

By Chipsticks 41 Comments
Categories: All Photos and Articles
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Greg Sargent (Washington Post): After standing by Andrew Breitbart yesterday, the Huffington Post has made the decision to yank him from their highly-trafficked front page, in the wake of some vicious comments Breitbart has since made about former White House adviser Van Jones, a HuffPo spokesman confirms to me.

HuffPo had come under increasing criticism for giving Breitbart a major platform from groups like Color of Change, which argued that he has a history of racially-charged and factually-challenged political activism that has no place on a reputable news and opinion site. While Breitbart will still be allowed to post at HuffPo, the decision to yank him from the front page and downgrade his visibility effectively gives the critics what they’d asked for.

Last night, HuffPo was still sticking by Breitbart, arguing that the site was committed to airing a range of voices and maintaining that Breitbart’s posts on HuffPo had remained civil. But this morning, the Daily Caller published an interview with Breitbart in which he railed at Van Jones as a “commie punk” and a “cop killer-supporting, racist, demagogic freak.” This put HuffPo in a particularly awkward spot, and now HuffPo has had enough.

More here

24
Mar
11

the muppet show

By Chipsticks 12 Comments
Categories: All Photos
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Gallup

3% of Republicans have never heard of the Half-Termer from Alaska :lol: Aren’t they lucky?

24
Mar
11

friends in high places

By Chipsticks 19 Comments
Categories: All Photos and All Videos
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From CNS News

Thank you Blackwaterdog for the link, you legend ;-)

President Barack Obama talks with Garth Brooks, who was presented with the “Grammy on the Hill Award” for his leadership in advancing the rights of music makers, in the Oval Office, April 14, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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