Memorial Day

Enjoy the holiday and a bit if Americana.  Today we pay tribute to our nation's fallen heroes, and double tribute to those who have gotten back up again.  Some lib columnist was whining that Obama should have gone to Arlington National Cemetery today, but who knows what he would see or say?

UNRELATED,  BUT:  Here's to the next meme to die - how little attention will this story linking Rahm Emmanuel to the BP media consultants get?  Here is the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner client list, which still includes BP.

Comments

[True Leadership]

Guess what, conservatards! This BP oil spill is turning into your second Katrina! When "drill, baby, drill" becomes "spill, baby, spill" this fall and the nation sees just where this failed "small government" ideology leads, you'll get your ass handed to you this November. I bet you only get 2-3 Senate seats and a handleful of House seats in redneck hick districts.

OBAMA rocks! GO OBAMA GO!

[Gmax]

Happy Memorial Day!

[centralcal]

Ah, T.L. I agree heartily with your statement: "GO OBAMA GO" - AWAY!!!!

[narciso]

I was trying to LUN that story, all day yesterday, it is curious how BP's money went to the likes of Greenberg, Rangel, and Obama, those most illdisposed toward what their core
product should be

[Vera Bakers Trunk]

" I bet you only get 2-3 Senate seats and a handleful of House seats in redneck hick districts."

I'll take it. We just need a few in the Senate to offset RINOs like Snowe, Collins and Brown.

Democrat control of the Congress started in 2006 and the decline of the country started right after that. So two more years of complete Dem control of both houses and the Presidency will provide the best chances for the GOP in 2012. Sure the county will be totally destroyed by then, but hey, you can't have it all.

[Notice that Palin is already noticing the cozy relationship between Obama and Big Oil BP.]

TL, I dig the way your 'large government' is containing this spill. Now, should we discuss how climate mania from the likes of you has forced exploration into such depths, when there is plenty of fossil fuel on US land and shallower waters?
=============

[Thomas Collins]

So, True Leadership, will you join me in prayers for those who have given their lives for the freedoms that allow you to express your opinions on oil drilling and conservatives? How about it, True Leadership?

[Gmax]

If you ever wondered about the very strange commercials BP had been running, with the Beyond Petroleum theme of how green they were, now we know. It was a concerted effort by a corporation that thought they had an inside friend at the top of the government. Its now coming out that they cut corners on the casing, not a great idea at a mile down where the pressure is very intense and got lots of looking the other way and waivers from the administration.

Beyond Parody might be the better theme.

[narciso]

It is a solemn day, that we commemorate, unlike the original day in 1868, the campaigns
still rage against the enemy.

[peter]

This explains everything. Rahm was running out of dead fish to send to his political enemies, and needed to make some new ones, pronto.

[Gmax]

I see that the suppy of Stelazyne at the Democrat Underground has dropped to zero.

2-3 Senate seats? Delusional

a handful of House seats? Akin to Son of Sam saying his dog told him to shoot those people!

I am sure Zero is giving himself another in a long string of "solid B Plus" successes! And our trolling bootlicker is wondering what it takes to get the A!

[peter]

Minus thirteen at the Ras.

[Captain Hate]

TL is a parody post, right?

[Thomas Collins]

Captain Hate, I'm wavering between parody and unintentional self parody.

[Lurid Traitorship]

bunker, the medicated leo, has the day off. But we remember.
==============

[PD]

It's interesting that the BP spill should be the conservatards' Katrina when it is the Obama administration that failed to follow the inspection schedule and considered the rig worthy of safety awards.

Heckuva job, Bammie.

How's the admin doing at getting the LA levees fixed up, by the way? I mean, in some way other than by President 404 flapping his gums trashing Bush? It's fun to talk grand and make promises, but at some point, shouldn't he get down to the business of *accomplishing* something? Perhaps the doing is on hold until after the second Nobel-for-talking.

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for photos from Arlington National Cemetery.

[Janet]

PD, I see you like the "President 404" from Soylent also. It is perfect.

Error 404. Missing content error. Should be Obama's nickname. President 404.

[sbw]

Watch the American Airlines TV advertisement, "No. Thank you!"

It sets the right tone for Memorial Day.

Thank you to all who serve.

[Jane says obamasucks]

This from rich Lowry today:

This is an administration that showcases the poetry of Barack Obama, while it runs on the prose of Rahm Emanuel. The president provides the rhetorical uplift; the chief of staff provides the politics as usual, with a vengeance. All of Obama's promises of more transparency and a better, cleaner politics were boob bait for the young and the impressionable.

It seems to me the best that can come from the Sestak matter is making Rahm step down. It seems to me Ear leader would be slowed down a bit by that. I suggest that we don't target Obama but rather target Rahm -Between Sestak, Blago and the guy in Colorado, (not to mention Greenburg and BP) it might bear more fruit.

[Why have the Turks gone crazy? I blame Obama for lack of a better reason.]

A commenter at Wretchard says where the attack took place is irrelevant, what is relevant is that the flotilla was broaching a blockade. Netanyahu has cancelled a planned visit to Washington.
=====================

[clarice]

Jane, I'd be astonished if Rahm lasts the year. And I agree about Sestak--it is more damaging to O's credibility and to Rahm than anything else.

[A lawless mob. Just great, Obama.]

Another probably important point; apparently the protestors initiated the violence. Sure hope there is video.
==============

[narciso]

Clarice how has your weekend been, and where

[Mebbe so, mebbe not.]

Heh, Clarice, you don't think Emanuel has Obama over a barrel? You don't think he'd use his power over him?
=================

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for a post from NRO's The Corner suggesting that the Israelis may have thought they were simply dealing with political activists when the reality was that the flotilla included folks who planned violence.

Although early reports are often wrong, this one has the ring of truth. Combine useful idiots and thugs on a flotilla to provoke a response as part of a strategy to justify intervention against Israel by the big powers under the fig leaf of the UN. If that is the strategy of the world interests aligned against Israel, this would be the best time to implement that approach. It is unlikely that there will be in the future a US Administration that is so anti-Israel.

[Sure, let 'em down one at a time. Brilliant.]

There is video. Why wasn't violence expected?
==============

[Ignatz]

--And I agree about Sestak--it is more damaging to O's credibility and to Rahm than anything else.--

Interesting post at NRO describing the Sestak matter as not only a violation of other federal codes but also the Hatch act.

[Melinda Romanoff]

kim-

Rahm, I believe, is the minder of the stooge-in-chief. And the islamists are running the board in Turkey. This is just an example of the multiple purges being undertaken by the islamists under Erdogan.

[Melinda Romanoff]

I suppose they didn't do their usual background check due to the sheer numbers involved, and the thugs, as always, used their "useful idiots" to the hilt.

[Donald]

Jason and the Scorchers have released a new lp, record, disc...whatever.

Halcyon Times!

www.jasonandthescorchers.com

I'm a big fan, which should not cause anybody to not like them.

[Thomas Collins]

Caroline Glick's May 28, 2010 column is a good summary of the anti-Israel policies of the Obama Administration. See LUN.

My suspicion is that Obama will view the Israeli response to the Flotilla Terrorists as an opportunity to advance the policies spelled out in Glick's column.

[Melinda Romanoff]

And Powerline has the video of the sole ship that had violence on it.

Self-defense, or unprovoked massacre?

[glasater]

Amazing Archival Footage Of A Soviet Nuke Plugging A Leaking Gas Well

It's old film footage--maybe from the fifties.

Apologies if someone has posted the link previously.

[Jane says obamasucks]

Is it wrong of me to be thrilled that the satellite that would broadcast ear leader's speech is down?

[rse]

Reporting from the FL panhandle, the beaches are pristine, the waters are clear, the sting rays have been jumping, and there have been sea turtle sitings each day all week near shore.

Too bad the news coverage hasn't explained that Gulf currents run east to west.

They do not seem to want to report actual conditions accurately lest it get in the way of their Green Agenda.

A Boston Globe reporter called and was actually disappointed there was no black sludge to hype here.

Local TV station came ou and picked up one of the crumbly black pieces left over from the cypress forests of the 18th century and announced it might be from Macondo.

Lousy reporting is causing about as much economic damage as the actual well.

Happy Memorial Day!!

[clarice]

narciso, I'm in L.A. for the wolverine's fifth B-Day, having a fabulous time.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Too bad the news coverage hasn't explained that Gulf currents run east to west.

Could this be payback time for Mexico for sending all those illegals?

[PDinDetroit]

Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to all who have served.

I just got back from the Memorial Day Parade in Sterling Heights MI. I marched in the parade with a number of other persons who were Open Carrying at the time. The event was very well received, with the the best responses coming from the vets along the parade route.

LUN - scroll down to post at 5/31/2010 1:03 PM and 1:44 PM.

[Pagar]

Hope everyone has a meaningful Memorial Day!

We had a beautiful observance at our local American military cemetary where the Cub/Boy Scouts had an American flag on each of the more than five thousand graves.

Don't forget to keep up with the ongoing sage of Treasury Chiefs who think the tax laws are for others to follow.

Bonus question; How long will it be before picking a name out of a phone book will get a more honest treasury Chief?

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

I got this in an email from a fellow vet this morning:

"It is foolish and wrong
to mourn the men that died.
Rather we should thank God
that such men lived."
General George S. Patton, Jr.

That's why PD is right. It is a Happy Memorial Day.

May God continue to bless those that gave their all in the service of their country. And all of their families. And all of the JOMers who help me politically sane.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

You guys are breaking my heart: we've had coverage of the Gaza boat thing up since 5AM, and we're updating all day.

The most recent update is from the IDF, reminding people that they'd been trying to get the flotilla to redirect and promising to deliver all shipments after security inspections.

Not to mention the planned response in force by the "peace activists".

[matt]

Never waste a good crisis, as Emmmanuel has said. I wonder how much of this suits Obama's Green agenda.

he has already proven to be a radical with the Cap & Trade bill, his appointments to EPA, his kooky regulation ideas on cigarette smoking and bovine methane..the list goes on.

he has also proven to be a master manipulator right out of Alinsky. At present, offshore drilling, one of the Republicans signature issues, is now DOA. Just a suspicious hunch.

[Pagar]

Jim Rhoads,PD in Detroit, You're right, we should be thankful that such men lived.

[centralcal]

I see on Twitter that Major Garrett says Obama was rained out of his speech (plus thunder and lightening!).

[Melinda Romanoff]

Chaco-

no better coverage. Nice work.

Anybody been asking why June 1?

I must be too dumb to know of any connections...

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Catch Roger's interview with Richard Landes in Israel for more.

[Ann]

cc:
You will love this too:

WestWingReport tweet:
SUV in the motorcade blew a tire on I-55. Everyone got out and switched to another vehicle.

Thunder, lighting and blowouts oh my,

I am thrilled like Jane. :)

[Pagar]

Charlie, It's great coverage and had 97 comments when I was just there, so some have seen it.

Question, did Obama having one of his team in Isreal for the past few days have any connections?

[centralcal]

Oooh - thanks for even more fun news, Ann! That makes three of us who are thrilled. lol.

[centralcal]

Charlie - thanks for that link to PJM. I am in and out today, doing chores, so not keeping up with all of the news at various other sites.

[Porchlight]

Jim Rhoads, thanks so much for that Patton quote.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone.

Ed at HotAir has a must-read. The photo is very powerful.

The price of freedom

[matt]

CC;

It was a set up from the get go. More mau mauing. The whole goal was to provoke a response and now "the Muslim world is alight with righteous rage".

The Muslims can smell blood in the water on Israel now. A feckless American president, an ever more anti-semitic Europe. A Turkey that is now aligned with Brazil and Iran. Hezbollah with long range missiles and an Iranian nuclear program close to fruition.

This is the worst scenario for Israel since 1948.

Now, the quiet cooperation between some of the Gulf States and Israel if Iran provokes a military response is almost certainly dead.

The Taliban is gaining strength in Afghanistan, and our troops in Iraq are getting ready to pull out. This is going to build unless someone with the stature and intestinal fortitude steps in and says enough.

One thing we know about the extremists is that the leadership is smart. I think there is a puppeteer somewhere in this mess.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Could it be the Muslim's Gulf of Tonkin, matt?

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Thanks for the link, Porch. How are you and the bambino doing? I had forgotten how much energy it takes having a baby in the house for the first few months. And as grandpa, I don't have hourly or daily duty! If I did, I'd be in the hospital by now.

[Porchlight]

Hi Jim - everyone's doing great, thanks for asking! It is pretty exhausting, but thankfully I'm not back at work yet, so that makes all the difference. And school is almost out so pretty soon it will be even easier. How is your little granddaughter?

[Gmax]

Breaking news, Jim Hoft has it that the Free Gaza movement is peopled with folks like Bill Ayers, Bernadette Dohrn and Jodie Evans ( Code Pinko and bundler for Obama ). And that execrable John Kerry is wrapped up in pressuring Israel and Egypt to lift the blockade on the terrorist group in Gaza ( Hamas ).

I wonder if this was a set up, and Obama planned to blast Bibi after whatever incident was provoked?

Normally I am no conspiracist, but with this group I have to at least pause, connect the dots and see what figure emerges.

[Danube of Thought]

We've been in Arlington for the weekend in order to attend my dear young cousin's graduation from the Naval Academy Friday. It was wonderful to see, and when Biden gave her her diploma she gave him a hug. The picture made the front page of the local paper.

Spent this morning wandering around the Mall, and got my first look at the WWII Memorial. Saw plenty of bikers here for the Rolling Thunder review. Lots of American flags and military regalia on those Hogs.

Lovely weekend.

[narciso]

Ir's not a conspiracy it's where these people gravitate to, the Chavez fan club, the Apollo
Alliance behind Obamacare and the stimulus, the SEIU,

[Danube of Thought]

Can't you just feel the growing sense of outrage against George Bush over this oil mess? (Ill assume that Carville simply misspoke.)

Yep, by the time the end of the summer rolls around, with images of that hideous and growing blob on the tube around the clock daily, I'd say the voters are going to want to vent their pent-up fury against the Republican Party.

Ever wonder what planet Joe Klein inhabits? What's the frequency, Joe?

[jean]

Well no wonder Obama left town for the weekend all that military regalia,hogs and flags would have been just too much for him.

[narciso]

The Genesis planet, obviously

[Danube of Thought]

Matt's 3:22 seems correct to me in all particulars. Very sad, and very dangerous.

[Danube of Thought]

Raz generic congressional as of today: GOP 44%, Dem 37%.

[centralcal]

Oh, golly, Matt - I see DoT agrees with you too.

He pretty much expressed my feelings - very sad and very dangerous, but I would only add outrageous.

Tammy Bruce is also tweeting the Ayers and Jodie Evans links. The more people that know, the better!

[Jane says obamasucks]

Dot,

Is there anyone in your family that doesn't attend the Naval Academy? I'm just awe struck over your family's service. Thank you.

[Gmax]

+7 is a landslide. And Zero is working on making it double digits. The Democrats are going on a townhalls for more spending tour. It would be funny if I did not have to pay for it.

[Gmax]

Why is it that socialists, anarchists and islamists all find such affinity in causes these days? We need November to get here quick, this bunch is both incompetent and dangerous.

[Gmax]

Hard to imagine a WAG the DOG scenario here, since Zero first and only instinct would be to bomb an ally.

[PD]

PD, I see you like the "President 404" from Soylent also. It is perfect.

Janet, it is indeed. We need bumper stickers.

Obama: President 404

[bunkerbuster]

So Obama's "connection" to BP is that his chief of staff had given business to a PR firm that helped BP promote its environmental programs?
Hilarious. That's more like a demonstration of how distant they were relative to previous presidents. lol...

[So whistle past the graveyard and cry into your spirits.]

You're out to lunch. Everytime anyone turns over a stone there is another Obama/BP connection. climateaudit.org even has stuff on it, a big executive at BP on one of the whitewash committees over ClimateGate.

Palin is onto this politically, and when did she ever misfire?
===================

[And now the Holy Land explodes in unholy violence. Hope, and Change.]

It's quite ticklish, too, so I'm just amazed at her courage. Linking Obama with Big Oil is accomplished politics. What's really cool is that 'Beyond Petroleum' is an atypical 'big oil' and had positioned itself to be the big energy winner in the 'green new world'. So, they are natural allies of the climate tranzis funding Obama.

He's in a spot. Nobody more deserving.
============

[matt]

BP recently shut down their solar module manufacturing plant in Maryland and outsourced it to Poland. BP, like all of the big guys, is committed only to themselves.

They and Transocean are already trying to use the Law of the Sea to limit damages to the value of the rig.

In the meantime, all the President's scientists and all the President's men, can't put Horizon together again.

[You play with the cards what brung ya'.]

So we have a nice perfect storm; Israel exploding, Europe collapsing, and the Gulf browning. Hey, it was supposed to be Climate, Capital, and China.
==================

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for the remarks of a Gaza based academic who is quite straightforward in asserting that the issue is not aid for Gaza but conquering in the name of Allah. And the conquering he is speaking about is not a Sufi-like internal being struggle with chanting of Rumi poems, but external struggle against Israel.

Islamic academics provide more candid information to the American people about jihadist grand strategy than our own leaders.

[matt]

in honor of the men and women who have given their lives for their country, I have LUN'd a blog I wrote last July about two very heroic young men who gave their all.

PFC Casillas has been recommended for a Silver Star.

[Sue]

God help Israel. They are standing alone against the world at the moment. It must be a scary place to be. I have no doubt our president will stand with...not Israel...but the rest of the world in condemning them.

[Extraneus]

What's the alternative to war in the Middle East? For one thing, has there ever been a "negotiated peace" without a war forcing one or both sides to negotiate? Usually, one side has to be utterly defeated before real peace can prevail.

I don't see any way out for Israel except to try to hold on until our 2012 election. But if events intercede - which it seems they're doing - Israel will have to preemptively take out the Hamas missiles, and probably attack Iran. If that happens, it won't be a "World War," because without us, Israel doesn't have any allies. That would seem to raise the prospect that it will be nuclear.

Virtually all Muslims, the leftist intelligentsia, Europe, and even the American President, are arrayed against them.

I wonder what the stock market will do tomorrow.

[Chips and dip only.]

I think the market just went out to dinner.
==================

[LouP]

"So we have a nice perfect storm; Israel exploding, Europe collapsing, and the Gulf browning."

Those are all just distractions, you know. Not in the Obama & Co. game plan!

For the latest distraction, Obama & Co. have already made Israel the bad guys (so the blame factor is already in place). As to what he's going to do about it, why he's going to run to the UN. No siree! Obama & Co. aren't going to get their hands dirty to take any responsibility for this latest distraction. Kind of like voting "Present," you know.

[RichatUF]

Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day.

kim-

You forgot North Korea. Also (I haven't been keeping up) but has anyone found a Chicago Climate Exchange, Obama, BP link?

[Janet]

LUN Some pictures of "peace" protests around the world via Powerline...
"That's about all the peace I can stand for now."

1st phase - a coordinated violent encounter.
2nd phase - protests.

We are sure living in a time when evil isn't hidden anymore. All the cards are on the table. I agree with Sue, God help Israel.

[squaredance]

Drilling is only DOA if the American people let it be.

This is a great moment to seize the initiative on this; the GOP will, however, let themselves be cowed.

The case is perfectly rational. The rational case is against the Left, not for it. But a loud and persistent effort must be made now. The game must be exposed.

It does not matter if this business was actually a planned affair: A modern Reichstag fire. (which it most likely is, BTW. They would do anything to harm this nation and to line their pockets. Do not think that cap and trade is off the table yet. Do not think that they would not do such a thing.)

What matters is their response.

Now is the time to point out the real agenda.

If the right and the GOP cannot get it through to the electorate that the Democrats are the mortal enemy of this country and this civilization they we are doomed. That is doomed and I mean gone from this earth not discomforted.
Wrap you heads around it.

JOMers, as always, can not look beyond the end of their noses, They cannot help be be defined by the Left's propaganda masters.

Wise up, break out of it. Understand you are in a war, not an election, and it is a war for the very survival of our nation and civilization. Understand that the Democrats are have sold us our to foreign enemies, and they are much more dangerous than Soros. (hint: they have nuclear arsenals.) We are not in a "political process". Politics is only a front in this war. We currently are losing this war.

The business in Gaza? A complete setup. The Israelis should have sunk the boats at sea. It is not worthy of discussion. IT is obvious what is going on, and has been obvious since 08, and certainly since Biden let slip the intent immediately on taking office. I told you weeks ago the signals that Obama and his wrecking crew were sending were not trivial slips of the tongue. (and of course I got the usual idiocy out of this pit). It is not the case that these mouthings are glib, arrogant and self-important Democrat hacks and Left wing academics and policy hacks. These are the slips (unintended and intended) of knowledgeable co-conspirators
We teeter on the edge of a Sarajevo for our new century. We stand at the threshold of our destruction.

It is not the only setup It is not accident that in every sector, sphere and region there is chaos. It is not an accident that America has been weakened and is diminished at this moment.

Obama is not his own master. Who is his master? Someone has the Democrats in their pockets. Whose pockets are they in? Just what were they promised?

Events are about to get grimly serious; if not this summer than soon thereafter.

So should you. Fat chance of that.

"History of corn", indeed.

[jimmyk]

Obama & Co. have already made Israel the bad guys

You mean they're not blaming Bush too? Just wait, they will.

[Thomas Collins]

See pages 10-14 of the LUN (via a Claudia Rosett article in Pajamas Media via Instapundit) for information on the "humanitarian" organization involved with the flotilla.

[caro]

This morning I asked my friend,Bucky,age 93,to drive me to the Massachusetts National Cemetery just a couple of miles from where I am temporarily on Cape Cod. Unlike Arlington all the headstones are flat in the grass.

I came upon a Medal of honor winner... Jared Christopher Monti

And a military wife age 98 at her death

Yes, we are happy these heroes lived. Bucky is a Navy veteran from WWII. I am not sure he enjoyed the trip so much, though he said he did.

[Thomas Collins]

Great photos and narrative, caro!

[sbw]

JOMers, as always, can not look beyond the end of their noses, They cannot help be be defined by the Left's propaganda masters.

Read up on the "sympathetic contract"--the necessary bond of sympathy that must take place between the writer and the reader.

If you alienate the reader, as you have, you might as well stop typing before you finish.

[Danube of Thought]

Obama's connection to the BP disaster is that he owns it--lock, stock and gooey barrel. He owns it out of his own mouth and the mouths of Carol Browner, Robert Gibbs and Salazar: the administration has been on it since Day One, and BP has been doing as it was told all along. Or so they tell us.

OK. Now let's watch our planet begin to heal. And if it doesn't, what are we to make of this hopeless dolt? Where do we turn to find an actual Chief Executive? (My guess is that the nation will not again look to the ranks of the community organizers.)

[caro]

Here is a link with info on Jared Monti.

Note the cigar. And the loose change. Several markers had pennys and dimes on them. Does anyone know what that means?

[anduril]

George Friedman of Stratfor reflects on Flotillas and the Wars of Public Opinion.

Plus, Steve Sailer provides some excellent coverage of what our misguided banking and home ownership policies have done to minority communities: Why were these consequences unexpected?

[Greed for money, fame, or power. Yep, this was the fault of humans.]

RichatUF @ 7:53 That is a good question to which I don't know the answer. The connections in this green scam were multifarous and I've little doubt that the one you wonder about exists.

Bear in mind that not all participants were conspirators. Most were merely in the maddened crowd. Just who was doing the egging on, and who being egged on, is not going to be easily resolved, and unless it gets really cold, there won't be much appetite for inquiry, since there are so many suspects.
=================

[narciso]

The problem is as our friend Mickey Kaus points out, events move much faster following
the Feiler fast principle. So we've foreclosed future oil drilling, and we seem to be damaging the biosphere of the Southeast, and this is before Hurricane Season, which has a disproportionate impact in that same area, add to that the ramifications from the Gaza Korea, Euro crisis

[anduril]

There have been people trying to tell us about The Brazen Turkish Lobby for quite a few years. The link is a good place to start:

Leading Law Firm Hires Accused Criminal to Head Up New Office in Turkey

DLA Piper, one of the world’s largest international law firms, is opening for business in Turkey. According to The Lawyer magazine,”DLA Piper has been targeting Turkey after bringing on board (former Under Secretary of State) Marc Grossman.”

Choosing Marc Grossman to front for the Turkish operation is an unusual decision for DLA Piper. Grossman has been credibly accused of serious criminal activity involving the nuclear black market, facilitating terrorism, visa fraud, congressional bribery and blackmail. Former FBI Counterintelligence and Counterespionage Manager, John Cole has confirmed that the FBI investigated Grossman for a decade, and stated that the investigation was “buried and covered up.”

Under normal circumstances, one might expect that these allegations against Marc Grossman would hinder his career until the charges were confronted and dismissed, but the Turkish Lobby appears to applaud and appreciate Grossman’s ability to avoid any accountability.

In a recent court case regarding the Turkish Lobby and their operations in the US, former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds stated under oath (pdf) that she had first-hand knowledge that Marc Grossman has engaged in this serious criminal activities. These activities, these allegations against Grossman, were again highlighted and expanded upon in a November cover story for American Conservative magazine.

Given that the charges against Grossman are well documented and date back to his time as U.S. ambassador to Turkey in the mid-Nineties, and given his subsequent career success, one can only assume that his long rap sheet is not a source of shame or embarrassment, but is actually highlighted on his curriculum vitae. Undoubtedly, Grossman’s employers; DLA Piper, The Cohen Group, and the ‘alleged shady Ihlas Holdings have done their due diligence and know exactly what they are getting when they employ Grossman.

May 9, 2010

[anduril]

our friend Mickey Kaus

Our?

[centralcal]

Well, well, well . . .

FNC aired O'Bozo's remarks at Andrews AFB.

The fastest and shortest speech he has ever given! Not one bit of emotion as he sped read through his prepared remarks. Anxious to get home to the WH, I imagine.

[bunkerbuster]

``Palin is onto this politically, and when did she ever misfire?''

She lost her only national election bid. Then quit her elected position, then lost the Tea Party straw poll to Ron Paul.

Strike three?

[I see Obama hitting them out of the park.]

Heh, you wish.
========

[anduril]

I make no claim to special knowledge of International Law, much less the Law of the Sea, so I'll offer this assessment without comment, beyond highlighting what seems particularly relevant:

http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2010/05/the_legal_posit.html

A word on the legal position, which is very plain. To attack a foreign flagged vessel in international waters is illegal. It is not piracy, as the Israeli vessels carried a military commission. It is rather an act of illegal warfare.

Because the incident took place on the high seas does not mean however that international law is the only applicable law. The Law of the Sea is quite plain that, when an incident takes place on a ship on the high seas (outside anybody's territorial waters) the applicable law is that of the flag state of the ship on which the incident occurred. In legal terms, the Turkish ship was Turkish territory.

There are therefore two clear legal possibilities.

Possibility one is that the Israeli commandos were acting on behalf of the government of Israel in killing the activists on the ships. In that case Israel is in a position of war with Turkey, and the act falls under international jurisdiction as a war crime.

Possibility two is that, if the killings were not authorised Israeli military action, they were acts of murder under Turkish jurisdiction. If Israel does not consider itself in a position of war with Turkey, then it must hand over the commandos involved for trial in Turkey under Turkish law.

In brief, if Israel and Turkey are not at war, then it is Turkish law which is applicable to what happened on the ship. It is for Turkey, not Israel, to carry out any inquiry or investigation into events and to initiate any prosecutions. Israel is obliged to hand over indicted personnel for prosecution.