April 2008

Today’s press conference was more than simply an (unsurprising) effort by the Obama campaign to pump the water from the sinking ship, it was pure political poetry. These were the Senator’s closing words and a final (contradictory) statement on his relationship with Reverend Wright…

(a poem as ridiculous as the man who uttered its words)

he was never
my, quote/unquote
spiritual adviser,
he was never
my spiritual mentor,
he was
my Pastor.
And so
to some extent
how,
you know,
the press characterized
in the past
that relationship,
I think
was inaccurate. But
he was
somebody
who was
my pastor
and married
Michelle and I
and baptized
my children
and prayed with us

MORE:

Michelle Malkin with commentary and live blogging of the Obama press conference.

Spree at Wake up America feels Obama’s denouncement may be a little too little and a little too late.

Allahpundit at Hot Air has the video; Ed Morrissey says watch North Carolina next week.

LGF finds it extremely hard to believe Obama didn’t know about Wright’s views until yesterday.

Debbie Hamilton at Webloggin explains exactly why Obama has thrown Wright under the bus.

Today we drove to Kromeríž, a neighboring town, for lunch and to visit the Kromeríž Castle, listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization among the World Heritage Sites. Kromeríž is a beautiful city and was founded in 1260 by Bishop Bruno ze Schauenburku. The “castle” is actually the Archbishop’s palace and was once the principal residence of the bishops and (since 1777) archbishops of Olomouc, a city on the Moravia River. The palace is a fine example of the European Baroque style and features a large tower containing a central clock. From the top of the clock tower one has a tremendous view of the city and of the courtyard below (pictured). Certain interior areas of the palace were used as stand-ins for Vienna’s Hofburg Imperial Palace during the filming of the movie Amadeus.

We lunched at the Capital Restaurant near the castle, right off the city square. The restaurant was pretty quiet and I enjoyed a beef goulash with dumplings and a Pilsner Urquell; Cindy a braised chicken dish. After lunch we walked around the square and window shopped before heading back to Zlín. As we drove out of town, I inadvertently turned the wrong way down a one-way street. Although there was no traffic and I immediately turned around, I didn’t escape the watchful eye of the local police department. We were pulled over and after a brief discussion of my error, I was given a 500kc (about $30) ticket. The police officers were courteous and apologized for their poor English (when it should actually be me who apologizes for my inability to speak their language). An interesting experience and my only regret is that I didn’t get a picture with the police officers…

We spent our last evening in the Czech Republic dining at our favorite restaurant, the Sunflower in Zlín. Tomorrow we check out of the Penzion and head to Austria. We’ll spend the night in Vienna and will fly out on Friday morning.

This evening we joined three other North American couples for dinner at the Potrefená Husa or simply “Husa” Restaurant in downtown Zlín. I say “North American” because one of the couples was from Newfoundland, Canada. Potrefená Husa translates as “Crazy Goose” which explains the goose footprints that run up the wall and across the ceiling. This is a great place for English-speaking couples to dine because they provide copies of their menus translated completely into English and the food is amazing! I had pork cutlets and potatoes and Cindy had a delicious garlic soup and marinated chicken; the beer was Staropramen, an excellent Pilsner; and desert was tiramisu and espresso. The conversation was great, we must have been there for more than two hours just eating, drinking and talking. The conversation continued at the hotel after dinner.

Mealy-mouthed ex-president Jimmy Carter claims that no one in the U.S. government told him not to travel to the Middle East. However, he did acknowledge that Assistant Secretary of State, David Welch, told him the trip was not advisable. That sounds to me like the U.S. government urging him not to go, doncha think? After all, how does one “tell” a former POTUS not to do something? I would think the ex-president would respect and heed the advice of the current administration.

(not so…obviously!)

Anyway, Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, left no doubt as to the administration’s actions and intent in this matter:

“I just don’t want there to be any confusion”…”The United States is not going to deal with Hamas, and we certainly told President Carter that meeting with Hamas was not going to help.”

In fact, WaPo reports that Secretary Rice went out of her way to issue an on-the-record statement saying,

“we counseled President Carter against” the trip. “We wanted to make sure there would be no confusion and that there would be no sense that he was somehow a party to peace negotiations” between Israel and the Palestinian government.

So, nobody told you not to go, Mr. ex-president? Gimmieabreak!

Why should anyone have to tell you? Hasn’t it always been U.S. policy that we do not negotiate with terrorists, and hasn’t the U.S. made it quite clear that until Hamas recognizes Israel’s right to exist and calls an end to violence, there will be no negotiations? How hard is that for an ex-president to understand?

Maybe you’re just trying to relive those old glory days of Begin-Sadat. Maybe you’re trying to legitimize the politicized peace prize you won in 2002.

Maybe you’re just a meddler!

Yesterday, we spent a quiet afternoon strolling through the city of Zlín. It was Sunday and most of the shops were closed, so we walked through the parks and visited a small carnival. In one of the parks was a WWII memorial. The statue of the Czech soldier was situated between two marble rectangular slabs with what appeared to be the names of the fallen. The soldier faced the city of Zlín, which could could be seen through an opening in the trees. The rest of the park was very peaceful and we spent quite a few minutes on one of the benches just admiring the foliage, just beginning their Spring bloom.

We lunched in the restaurant of a local hotel, the Baltachi. Cindy had pasta and I had a pork dish with smoked edam cheese and potato pancakes, along with a glass of the local Pilsner. The evening we spent in the lobby of the Uno talking with some other American guests of the hotel. We’ve made plans to get together for dinner later this week.

Former President Jimmy Carter on a one-man crusade to achieve peace in the Middle East has brokered a one-sided, one-piece agreement. Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem, Carter explained,

“Hamas leaders said they would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 border and the right of Israel to live as a neighbor, provided the agreement was submitted to the Palestinian people for overall approval.”

Of course, Hamas later said it might not accept the results of a peace referendum.

(Big surprise!)

Still, it probably wasn’t necessary for Hamas to hedge their bet since the number of Palestinian people who support attacks against the Israelis is on the rise. In fact, more than half of them support suicide bombings and consider them a form of “resistance”!

So, nice work, Mr. ex-president! Hamas is sworn to the destruction of Israel and regularly fires rockets into the country, killing and maiming innocents. Thanks for giving these terrorists a seat at the bargaining table. Thanks for giving their unrecognized terrorist government an undeserved legitimacy. Finally, thanks for alienating our ally in the region, Israel.

In other words, Mr. ex-president, thanks for nothing!

MORE:

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air explains how Carter was twice punked by Hamas on his dream trip of peace in the Middle East!

So, we woke up about 8:30 am after a very restful night’s sleep. We had arranged for Hanna to make breakfast for us at 9 and, once again, were not disappointed: scrambled eggs, sausage, waffles, yogurt, fresh bread with butter, jam and honey and fresh orange juice and coffee. After breakfast we took a nap (jet lag).

In the afternoon we drove to Tesco for some shopping. Actually, Cindy shopped and I sat in the café. After shopping, Cindy joined me for coffee (and we still had a few dollars left in the bank, if you can believe that! ;-). Before we left we picked up some more fresh bread and cheese to snack on later.

Dinner this evening was at the Sunflower Restaurant (pictured), we had Chateaubriand with fresh vegetables and parsley potatoes. Delicious! We also enjoyed a couple of Pilsner Urquells on tap. We were too full for desert, which is regrettable because the deserts here are amazing!

This evening there was a wedding reception in the Bar Uno on the bottom floor of the hotel. Hannah invited us down for drinks, but we didn’t feel right about crashing the reception. The noise was tolerable and the party was over by 11:00 pm. The last time we stayed here there was a party that lasted until almost 3 in the morning and our room was right above the bar! We complained to Hannah who was very apologetic and quite accommodating (I believe she genuinely felt bad–she didn’t charge us for the night and gave us a nice bottle of Czech wine when we left). In fact, she remembered us from our last visit and gave us a key for a room on the top floor so we can sleep if the noise from the wedding reception got to be too much.

Cindy and I have returned to the Czech Republic and once again are staying at the Penzion Uno in Zlí­n. The trip was uneventful after we finally got off the ground in Atlanta (our plane was delayed an hour while maintenance workers changed some “valves” in the engine). This time we flew into Vienna and rented a car, a little Opel compact with plenty of room. The drive from Vienna to Zlí­n was easy (thanks to GPS) and took about 2-1/2 hours. It was mostly highway driving, although approaching Zlí­n we were traveling down little country roads. During the short drive we crossed three boarders, Austria into Slovakia into Czech Republic. We arrived at the Penzion about 4:00 pm.

After unpacking and a short nap, we ventured into town to get some dinner (about 7:30 pm). It seems we waited too long because all the restaurants were “full” (of course, we only visited three restaurants, but it appears Friday night is the “big night out” for the locals and we didn’t have a reservation anywhere). We ended up just picking up some bread and cheese (and beer!) at Kaufland’s and had a quiet dinner in the room. We spent the rest of the evening reading and watching a movie on the laptop (”My Cousin Vinny” is always a riot!).

Her: “I feel so sorry for Brittney Spears!”

Me: “Why?”

Her: “She achieved her success so quickly and has not been able to adjust to it. She’s engaging in all this destructive behavior because she can’t find a way to cope. I think she really needs help!”

Me: “Actually, I think the explanation is a bit simpler…”

Her: “Really? What do you think?”

Me: “I think you can take the girl out of the trailer park, but you can’t take the trailer park out of the girl!”

Senator Barack Obama, campaigning for President in Levittown, PA, claims his foreign policy credentials stem from “real-life” experiences abroad. Apparently growing up in Indonesia, spending three weeks in Pakistan with a side trip to India and having ties to relatives in Kenya gives one the requisite foreign policy experience to be President of the United States. It’s laughable!

Senator Obama and I are roughly the same age. In the last twenty years or so, I’ve visited or lived in Portugal (and the Azores), Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Turkey, Japan, Korea, Guam and Mexico; I’ve also lived in Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Colorado and New Mexico; and I’ve visited most of the remaining United States. Therefore based on my broad foreign policy (and domestic!) “real-life” experience, I am hereby announcing my candidacy for President of the United States of America!

Unlike Senator Obama, I tout my experience tongue-in-cheek and recognize it for what it is and more importantly what it is not: qualifying experience to be President. Furthermore, unlike Obama, I will not even attempt to equate my experiences with those of Senator John McCain. As Mark Salter, a McCain senior adviser points out:

“When John McCain travels on official business, he meets with presidents, prime ministers, foreign and defense ministers, members of parliament, human rights leaders, N.G.O.’s, business leaders and journalists so that he acquires a full understanding of the country he visits and the issues at stake in our relations” … “Oh, and as Senator Obama may know, he has actually spent some time living abroad as well.”

Senator Obama: You do not have the first-hand foreign-policy experience of Senator McCain; stop pushing your childhood and backpacking college days as an equivalent. A mark of good leadership is to recognize one’s limitations and legitimately work to overcome them. Spinning your limited credentials in this area into something more than they are demonstrates that you recognize those shortcomings; stop making excuses and trying to veil those shortcomings in rhetoric–if you want to be President, try being honest with the American people!

MORE:

Pejman Yousefzadeh at RedState is also announcing his candidacy based on “extensive” travels abroad.

The Confederate Yankee responds to a Huffington Post article that essentially claims Obama is a foreign policy expert. Great read!

After cautioning against any sweeping government housing-crisis bailout, Presidential-hopeful John McCain proposes a–well, how would you describe it?–a sweeping government housing-crisis bailout. McCain’s plan would cost taxpayers $3 to $10 billion and “would allow certain homeowners whose houses are worth less than their mortgages to apply for assistance.” In addition, “their lenders would agree to write off part of the loan. In return, the Federal Housing Administration would guarantee the new loan.” McCain estimates his plan will help 200,000 to 400,000 “deserving homeowners” whose adjustable rate mortgages are resetting at unaffordable levels.

Whatever happened to individual responsibility? After all, just a couple weeks ago Senator McCain said,

“I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.”

Alas, the man who said he “will not play election year politics with the housing crisis” is doing just that: giving in to political expediency. Disappointing, indeed.

MORE:

Michelle Malkin weighs in and has some commentary on the “subprime boondoggle” the Senate passed this afternoon.

In an unsurprising move, President Bush decided to suspend troop withdrawals from Iraq this summer. Based on the assessment presented to Congress by Gen Petraeus that the current progress was “fragile and reversible.” Therefore, between now and the end of July, we’ll draw-down from 20 to 15 brigades before taking a 45-day pause to reassess the situation before making anymore changes. This will likely mean the next president will assume office with over 100,000 U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Additionally, President Bush will announce a reduction in Army combat tours from 15 to 12 months, with 12 months between deployments. This new tour length will be applied to units deployed to the region in August. Hopefully, this will reduce the number of “in lieu of” taskings the other services perform in order to ease the deployment burden of their Army counterparts.

So, what about financing the war? Last year, the President asked Congress for $108 billion, to which Congress added $17 billion in domestic spending. Of course, this earned a veto from the President. This year, Congress is eyeing the war-funding bill as a catalyst to stimulate the economy, meaning more ear-marks.

{ sigh }

Supposedly, Congress is concerned with the cost of the war, but rather than trying to control those costs, they’re adding to it. Prudent? Evidently, they didn’t learn anything last year.

The U.S. has now spent over $500 billion on the war in Iraq, a total that could amount to trillions of dollars after factoring in the costs of veteran healthcare and the refurbishment of the military’s depleted equipment and materials.

What does this mean, really?

Current defense spending is roughly 4% of our GDP, compared to 9% in 1968, during the Viet Nam War. Though substantial, it’s hardly budget-busting.

Still, it’s time for the Iraqi government to pony-up! Iraq is pumping about 2.4 million barrels of crude oil a day, the highest output since the 2003 invasion. Ambassador Crocker said that “the era of U.S.-funded major infrastructure projects is over” and Iraq will be spending its own money to pay for rebuilding.

Well, that’s a start…I think the Iraqis also need to re-pay the U.S. for the tremendous cost of their liberation. After all, we’ve essentially financed this war with debt and those bills are coming due.

There have been numerous calls, recently from Senator Hillary Clinton, for the United States and/or its elected officials to boycott the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. Bad move! Although I decry the Tibetan human rights abuses perpetrated by the Chinese, to boycott the Olympic games as a form of national protest will not accomplish anything. In fact, I believe it will only serve to marginalize our influence. After all, did our boycotting the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow have any influence or impact on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan? Nope. Nada. Not at all. It was the U.S. and its allies supporting, training and supplying the Mojahedin, that ultimately (after 10 years of fighting) led to the Soviet withdrawal. Boycotting the Olympic games only served to deprive American athletes of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete and test their mettle.

The Olympic games are supposed to be apolitical and rightfully so! However, a nation-state can allow its athletes to compete while simultaneously denouncing the actions of the host government. For example, President Bush can and should attend the opening ceremonies, but he should not pay his respects to the Games’ oppressive hosts. In 1980, several countries joining the U.S. in the boycott, allowed their athletes to compete, but they marched under the Olympic flag instead of the flag of their home country. Never! Our athletes will compete proudly and fiercely under the U.S. colors! Winning athletes can achieve political victories. Remember Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics?

The reality: Considering China has financed the majority of U.S. debt, how likely is the U.S. government to make a political statement at these Olympic games?

(not very)

MORE:

Mike Tippitt at Wake up America provides an interesting perspective and questions the inconsistency of a politician’s outrage. After all, was Saddam Hussein’s treatment of the Kurds really any different than China’s treatment of the Tibetans?

A bill was introduced in the Senate by Barack Obama (D-IL) that, if passed, would move the United States dangerously close to giving up its national sovereignty. The Global Poverty Act of 2007 (S.2433) would

“require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day.”

This bill is un-American and ultimately, by directing the “achievement” of the United Nations Millennium Development Goal, which calls for the “eradication of poverty” by “redistribution (of) wealth and land,” cancellation of “the debts of developing countries” and “a fair distribution of the earth’s resources”, will set the stage for a global taxation of the United States.

According to Phyllis Shiafly at Townhall.com:

“There is much more to the Millennium Goals than merely extorting more money from U.S. taxpayers. The goals set forth a comprehensive plan to put the United States under U.N. global governance.”

In fact, the Millennium Development Goals call for a “standing (U.N.) peace force,” a “U.N. Arms register,” “peace education” in “all levels from preschool through university,” and most disturbing, “political control of the global economy.” I believe the U.N.’s Millennium Project and associated goals would compromise American sovereignty, and any mandate to implement any of these goals must be staunchly opposed. The “Global Poverty Act of 2007″ is just such a mandate and is not in the best interest of the United States.

Think this could never happen in the United States? Think again! This bill (as H.R.1302) has already passed the House, and was introduced by Representative Adam Smith (D-WA). It was passed by voice vote on September 25, 2007, with no record of the representatives’ position kept.

Write your senators and tell them to kill this bill before its too late!