Almost As Suspenseful as Professional Wrestling

The White House explains that Obama is "grappling" with his view on gay marriage.  Geez, the suspense is unbearable! Does anyone in the world doubt where he will come out on this?  The only question is whether Obama will decide it is politically advantageous to support gay marriage before or after the 2012 election.  It may be that he hopes his actions on DADT and now DOMA are enough to placate his base and they won't demand that he utter the magic words.  Or, maybe they will. 

POSSIBLE COMPROMISE:  Maybe Obama could preside at a marriage between two gay soldiers at Gitmo.  With Predator drones circling overhead and the Feds wiretapping everyone, to show us how tough (and morally malleable) he is on national security.  Naaah...

Comments

[Gabriel Sutherland]

The President punts again. Lady Gaga negotiates directly with Target corporation for the exclusive release of her next album by placing conditions on Target like supporting GLBT organizations with their corporate money.

He is who we thought he was. Is Lady Gaga a Democrat?

[Some want one, some want the other, some want the whole shebang.]

So, is marriage a religious ceremony or a civil contract?
=============

[clarice]

LOL,TM

Hi, Gabriel..Haven't seen you for a while..

[Danube of Thought]

The NY Times has tried to paint the decision to stop defending DOMA as something other than a flip-flop. I won't bother to link.

[MarkO]

Obama just doesn't like courts. Sometimes they don't do what he says and then he has to scold them. And, he's a liar.

[Gabriel Sutherland]

Think of the difficult it is to work at the NY Times today. You're the sole carrier of the progressive wind. You can only blow so much wind up the asses of progressives until they tune you out too.

Imagine how hard it will be for teh Slimes to spin this?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/50081.html

[Danube of Thought]

They'll spin it by not mentioning a word about it. Not fit to print. Wouldn't be prudent.

[narciso]

What's the deal, that merits the memory hole,

[Neo]

It's not professional wrestling .. it's professional wrasling

[NK]

Excellent snark TM.

Obamaniac is more despicable than even I imagined in 2008. He has no soul no dignity, in a religious or legal sense. He isn't an "American Liberal" like the Clintons or Joe Lieberman, he is a hard core Alinsky urban guerilla. The Bible, Koran, UN Charter and the US Constitution mean nothing to this man. He wants what he wants -- socialism-- and that result trumps all, the rest is just tactics. He's Gadaffi, the Castros and Chavez without the military uniform.

[Neo]

The Justice Department under President Barack Obama has quietly dropped its legal representation of more than a dozen Bush-era Pentagon and administration officials - including former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and aide Paul Wolfowitz - in a lawsuit by Al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla, who spent years behind bars without charges in conditions his lawyers compare to torture.

Must be belt tightening over at DOJ

[MayBee]

They say "grappling", I hear "wrasseling"

[Dave (in MA)]

He said that "marriage is between a man and a woman" within a few days of the '08 election, but the international situation is changing so quickly he can't even keep track of who needs bowing to anymore, so he's throwing a bone to the 'bats.

[Rob Crawford]

OT, but I want to repeat this to an intelligent audience:

Something just occurred to me:

All my life, the left has whined that conservatives “always need an enemy”. Communism was just our boogeyman (never mind the hundreds of millions murdered). Then they said we made up the Islamists to replace the Communists (never mind the thousands murdered and the constant attempts to murder tens of thousands or even millions).

But even granting them their argument all our enemies are foreign and existential. Communists and Islamists would end the United States as it exists; they would reinstitute slavery and end all meaningful liberty.

Now look at who the left gets worked up over: the Kochs, Beck, Palin, Rush, etc. These are American citizens exercising their rights legally.

Odd contrast, isn’t it?

[DebinNC]

Maybee's right. AP: "Obama said in January that he is still wrestling with whether gay couples should have the right to marry."

Dana Millbank sympathizes today with Jay Carney, tasked with being the messenger of a president with no message.

[MayBee]

Very odd, Rob.

[Rob Crawford]

Obama said in January that he is still wrestling with whether gay couples

NTTAWT.

[MayBee]

So can we start to believe he supports all the stuff he said he supported in the early 90's?

[DebinNC]

Excellent point, Rob. Left and right have their share of uninformed folks, but what explains the informed left's vacation from reality?

[Mustang0302]

Rob,

Treason and traitors always start at home.

[Jack is Back!]

Rob,

The left has also left us with the entitlement generation of moochers and the me-me-me philosophy of democracy whereas conservatives believe strongly in individual liberty, resposibility and accountability.

The left sees that kind of values as a threat to collective entitlement, ipso facto, go after those American's who promote liberty. The Communists and Islamists embrace almost the same values of collective entitlement - the idea of politiical control of the whole class.

[Rob Crawford]

Oh, I get why they never had a problem with the Communists -- their alliance with the Islamists makes no sense outside of their determination to be against liberty -- what I thought was interesting is that the people they chose as targets for their Official Hate are fellow citizens.

[Dave (in MA)]

Great, the <==sidebar ad is a gay dating site.

[Jack is Back!]

Rob,

You're assuming the left thinks we are "fellow citizens" when in fact to them we are not. Look how they treated the Tea Party movement, going so far as to be homophobic (one of their protected classes). Look how in Wisconsin they are potraying Walker as everything from Hitler, to Mussolini, to Mubarak. If you respect someone but disagree you don't demonize them for thinking or acting differently. (Unless you can't defend your own position except by getting a little bloody).

[OldTimer]

Good grief and Lord have mercy on America---what will it take to start impeachment proceedings? This administration under Obama is willfully debasing our culture, openly defying, if not intentionally breaking the rule of law, illegally interfering in state's rights, brutally destroying our economy--which deleteriously affects the worldwide financial community. And now in a blind cluster-flak of picking & choosing the ME countries to defend or ignore, they're seriously undermining our legitimacy as a superpower and haplessly encouraging more bloody mayhem internationally.

Seriously. What will it take?

[Uncle BigBad]

He's Gadaffi, the Castros and Chavez without the military uniform.

Please NK. Don't give him any ideas.

[bunky]

Colin Powell (through Andrea Mitchell) says he was lied to by Rumsfeld. Didn't she perform simillar messaging for him and Armitage during Plame game??

[Ranger]

You know, every time I think my opinoin of Powell can't get any lower, he does something to prove me wrong.

[matt]

there are known unknowns and unknown unknowns, and then there is Colin Powell.

[bunky]

Rummy is joyfully doing to Powell what he and Armitage did to Scooter.

[Rob Crawford]

You know, every time I think my opinoin of Powell can't get any lower, he does something to prove me wrong.

Heh. It's been years since I could say that.

[Mustang0302]

Thinking some more about Rob's observation concerning the 'blame America first' crowd, which happens to be the only example of leadership demonstrated by BHO.

Treason carries a tough burden of proof; sedition doesn't quite cover the offenses.

How about charging barratry, with respect to the "ship of state?"

[Dave (in MA)]

OK, now it's advertising Subarus. :-)

[Extraneus]

and then there is Colin Powell

A known asshole.

[Frau Mormonenfreundin]

Andrea Mitchell got off with her "I misspoke" routine.

[Frau Mormonenfreundin]

Barratry works for me, but what happened to upholding the oath of office?

[Frau Mormonenfreundin]

"Rummy is joyfully doing to Powell what he and Armitage did to Scooter."

And Rummy does it with a polite display of regard for the general. Powell's loyalty was definitely not with Pres. Bush or his administration. That horse is long dead, but I cannot help but add Wilson's school and DOS friend Marc Grossman to Powell's accomplices. Dang, that includes Wilkerson, too. What a hostile group.

[Rob Crawford]

A known asshole.

Not fair. Assholes can stop the flow of shit.

[Neo]

From one "community organizer" to another ...

Giovanni Di Stefano — known as “The Devil’s Advocate” — tells TMZ, he wants the Prez to set Manson free. Di Stefano — who has also repped the likes of Saddam Hussein — says Manson was nothing more than a cult leader, not a murderer — Manson didn’t do the killing. Di Stefano says at worst, Manson is guilty of telling his followers to “do something witchy” — never specifying murder. Di Stefano complains, “Manson has been made out in America to be the Satan of the criminal justice system. He does not deserve the title.”

Charlie wasn’t “made out in America”, he did his own PR.
As for the “pardon”, I thought Charlie was convicted on state charges in CA, so Obama can only put in a “good word” for him.

[Lord Whorfin says Murphy was an optimist]

How about "littering"; remember when the Dalai Lama went out the back door??

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

How about "littering"; remember when the Dalai Lama went out the back door??

A friend of mine did all the travel arrangements for that trip. He got to meet the Dalai Lama after the WH visit, and it was clear the entire entourage was pissed off about it.

[PD]

Jane: Even the Dalai himself?

[daddy]

"Almost As Suspenseful as..."

">http://www.adn.com/2011/02/24/1720514/storm-delays-iron-dog-teams-departure.html"> A storm lashing the Seward Peninsula today is so fierce that officials with the Iron Dog snow-machine race this morning postponed the resumption of the race...

Postponed til noon local time, so should be roaring out of time in 2 minutes. Vroooooom!

[clarice]

My fav bit from Rumsfeld's "interview" with Andrea is when he told her to her great surprise that he was at the meetings and Powell never raised a single objection. From what we now know of him, it seems obvious that Powell was bad mouthing Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and had painted himself as a innocent who fought his darnedest to keep us out of war.

Andrea told us more about Powell's dirty game by her questions than we've been able to get therwise, the Feith documentation having been only of on the record stuff, not meetings in which he was not a participant.
LOL

[daddy]

Pinch: "Okay, who wants to spin the President's latest Flip flop?"

Krugman: "Oh geez man, I've really been taking a pounding lately for saying Right Winger's shot Gifford's. Can't Friedman do it?"

Friedman: "Crimony. I've been slinging that "Commie China is wonderful horshs#$t" now day and night for a year, and that's tough to do when they're imprisoning that damned Nobel Peace prize winner. Why the Hell did you let them pick that guy in the first place Pinch? Plus this Global Warming s#$t has backfired on me, so I'm looking even stupider than normal. Let Brook's do it."

Brooks: "Darn it all Pinch. I'd do it, but I've just about used up all my RINO street cred what with my Gail Collin's gabfest yesterday. I've got to do a hit-piece so I can get back to the David Gergen chair on CNN. Ask Gail."

Gail Collins: "Ditto what Brook's said about yesterday's gabfest. Ask Rich."

Rich: "Please don't make me do it Pinch. Honestly, I'm only qualified to disingenuously s#$t on Republicans with animus and hatred. I'm no good at trying to put lipstick on a turd."

Pinch: "Hmmm, Lipstick on a turd. Okay, go get Modo out of the ladies room and tell her she's got an assignment she's an expert at."

[Porchlight]

She did seem taken aback by that, clarice. I figured Powell had squawked to her about all sorts of things, but it didn't occur to me until you pointed it out that he might have portrayed himself to her as having put up a fight when in fact he didn't.

[daddy]

"Andrea told us more about Powell's dirty game by her questions than we've been able to get therwise"

On the money Clarice. Well said.

Tom Collllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllinnnnnnnnnnnnns. (Dog's frisky and full of pep today--2nd walk coming up --- 20 degree's, blue skies, foot of snow on the ground and beautiful.)

[Jane]

Even the Dalai himself?

Well, supposedly, altho I really doubt he told my friend that personally.

[Frau Gasleitung]

Totally off topic of DOMA. This map is easy enough to understand even if it is en français.

This was from a series of maps of Africa and the foreign interests in gas and oil. (Marie Claude on Belmont Club) I cannot vouch for the site but my computer did not crash yesterday and I found the maps very interesting.

[Ignatz]

Here's what Barry and co are doing for hundreds of Americans trapped in Libya; next to nothing.
They're sending a chartered ferry which is now delayed by heavy seas, because sending the Navy might be a provocation.
It's only a nation half full of dolts which prevents a march on Washington to tar and feather and run out of town this entire administration.

[Ignatz]

Interesting story on China's attempted shift to a more consumer oriented economy via its latest five year plan.

[Ignatz]

And finally Inflation on the way, courtesy of Uncle Ben, says the Asia Times.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Ig-

If they're just writing about it now, it's almost over.

[maryrose]

Obama's already lost 4 Americans to pirates so he better come through with getting Americans out of Libya. His administration is again caught with their pants down, clueless and unprepared. If voters need a reason to vote him out they need only to look at his hapless performance in the first 2 months of 2011.His pathetic lackluster attempt at leadership since 2009 has already been duly noted by the voters no matter how much media spin he gets.

[Army of Davids]

GE (Jeff Immelt) is both a TARP recipient (banker) and a beneficiary of green energy (stimulus) subsidies.

McDonald's (Chicago)...ObamaCare pass
Boeing (Chicago)
Archer Daniels Midland (Illinois)...corn ethanol

[caro]

Re MoDo

Daddy,LOL,but I could see it coming a mile away.

[Mustang0302]

Pinch: "Hmmm, Lipstick on a turd. Okay, go get Modo out of the ladies room and tell her she's got an assignment she's an expert at."

AHHHHHHhahahahaha!

Smell ya later, MoDo!

[Ellie Light]

If you were married to Lt Whorf you'd be in favor of gay marriage too.

[Army of Davids]

Assumptions for municipal and state pensions almost universally discount at around an 8% rate of return on contributions.

This is almost surely an unreasonable assumption and is a huge problem in the years ahead. And taxpayers are going to get screwed by these assumptions.

Remember this when you think about public sector unions and the politicians they get elected

[Chubby]

((They're sending a chartered ferry which is now delayed by heavy seas,))

I'm boiling about this. For pity's sake, why they can't send in airplanes like everyone else has done to evacuate their expats.

Maybe Ranger could shed some light on the subject?

[Army of Davids]

"Rights" to collective bargaining?

How about taxpayer rights?

How about employees having the right not to be in a union and have mandatory union dues taken out of their paycheck.

[Ignatz]

Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are described as entitlements, but one good thing about the Wisconsin blow up is that it clarifies that there really isn't anything in the public trough that the pigs don't consider an entitlement.

[Chubby]

I'm so boiling after reading about the U.S. evacuation effort that my grammar's incoherent. "why they can't send in airplanes.." was meant to say, "why can't they send in airplanes?"

[Rob Crawford]

How about taxpayer rights?

What are those?

The surest way to have "rights" anymore is to be a criminal. Spend your life working hard, doing the right things, and the government will do whatever it can to steal your earnings to buy votes. The surest route to being considered an "original thinker" is to mouth the politically correct platitudes.

If you want to live by the sweat of your own brow, you're "greedy". If you want others to provide your every wish, you're "needy".

And if you speak out for your rights? Well, be careful -- you don't know who your words will incite, and the government sure as hell aren't going to lift a finger in your defense.

[Rick Ballard]

Chubby,

It doesn't matter whether it's ferries or planes - those are savages ruled by a madman. If a group of Americans becomes available for seizure for use as human shields, the probability that Daffy will grab them is simply too high. It appears to me that our current bet is that Daffy & Son are going to be extinguished in short order and then we'll get the hostages out prior to the new savages grabbing them.

[Ranger]

Maybe Ranger could shed some light on the subject?

Posted by: Chubby | February 24, 2011 at 06:19 PM

Well, as far as I can tell it is a lack of resources issue. We haven't had any significant presence in the Med for several years.

That's compounded by the chaos in Libya right now. Normally a NEO (Nationals Evacuation Operation) is done in co-operation with the local government. To use aircraft would require co-operation at an airport. I seriously doubt we are going to get that at the moment.

The other option is to essentially invade and occupy the airport or port facility. That's usually only done if there is no government left. Last time that was done on a major scale in the Med was when Albania melted down and the Germans and Italians went in to secure and evacuation (IIRC we had our citizens go to the German embasy for evacuation in that case).

The real question here is why we are so behind the curve on this. The Chinese already got all their people out, and they have a lot more people there then we do. They were obviously leaning forward and had a plan in place to get their people on boats and out of there. We, obviously did not. Its not like there hasn't been serious unrest in the region now for 3 months or anything

[Mustang0302]

Bugger!

What else is there to say about these union buggers?

[DebinNC]

The WH is grappling about whether to send in the military to evacuate the Americans. If he's true to form, Obama is currently allowing "the talent" for tonight to get his autograph and their take-home pics with BO and MO.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Deb-

Libya is a distraction from the serious problems of Ohio and Wisconsin. They have rallies to plan and signs to get printed!

I mean, think of the airtime they'll get for free. They have to strike now.

[Rob Crawford]

The real question here is why we are so behind the curve on this. The Chinese already got all their people out, and they have a lot more people there then we do. They were obviously leaning forward and had a plan in place to get their people on boats and out of there.

They also likely have people inside every faction in Libya, and are likely supplying them all with guns.

[Captain Hate]

What else is there to say about these union buggers?

Tammy Bruce played the full audio clip as is (online broadcasts FTW). Waiting for the MFM to state this is a BFD when it comes to lack of civility with a homophobia chaser.

Should happen any second now.....

*crickets*

[Janet]

BO might as well go to a Motown concert...he is useless.
Someone get the communist puppet masters on the phone & ask them what the plan is.

[MayBee]

France also already has gotten her people out.

LUN is a list of evacuation efforts by country.

[glasater]

Following on Ignatz's 5:08--this was and interesting headline to me:

Communist China Embraces the Gold Standard

One would think the leaders over there should understand that'll never work..

[Henry]

Mel, the Sen Wirch(sp?) recall signature drive kicked off today in Kenosha. Call your friends there!

Walker stiffed assembly Dems compromise offer today, he'll have a news conference any minute now.

[Chubby]

((The real question here is why we are so behind the curve on this))

I read that Turkey also got huge numbers out by airplane. When I read that I did wonder how the planes were landing and taking off. From your comments I'm assuming they probably had Libyan government approval?

[Captain Hate]

The real question here is why we are so behind the curve on this.

Smart diplomacy!! BOzo's probably trying to figure out how he can still act nice-nice to Moammar after he had a Lockerbie dime dropped on him. I don't think even the MFM can insulate him from repercussions from that.

[Melinda Romanoff]

glasater-

Who ever wrote that didn't understand what they were trying to proselytize. There is a big difference between hard money and sound money, where Mises explained the folly of the first versus the goal of the latter.

I saw two things in that piece that raised flags, the first was using TheStreet as a reference. The second was the use of "theorized" when applying motive to Chinese gold buying habits.

Do you know what some Chinese do to "protect" their gold investments?

The bury them. In the ground. Some are that distrustful of others, including other family members.

Fascinating stuff to learn about, but mind TheStreet, where it wouldn't surprise me if AoD is on the part-time editorial staff.

[Ranger]

I'm assuming they probably had Libyan government approval?

Posted by: Chubby | February 24, 2011 at 07:06 PM

Yes, they must have. The question is, why we didn't have a plan in place with the Turks, or the French, or whoever to have them get our people out too? We don't even have an Embasy in Libya, so its hard for us to co-ordinate anything.

[Rick Ballard]

The Italians have pulled a few hundred out but there are thousands living in Libya and the Italian press (at least Il Corriere and La Repubblica) isn't making a big deal out of it. Italians living in Tripoli are reporting that it's very calm in most of the city.

[DebinNC]

LAT this morning:

About 600 Americans were stranded aboard a ferry at Tripoli's harbor, reportedly prevented from sailing by approaching bad weather. U.S. government requests to land aircraft to pick up citizens trying to flee the violence have been denied, State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley told reporters in Washington.

Which doesn't explain why earlier efforts weren't undertaken.

[Mustang0302]

Two basic categories for NEOs (Non-combatant Evacuation Operations)...permissive, and non-permissive.

Apparently, the NCA is overwhelmed by the multiple, simultaneous, concurrent NEO planning/prospects/requirements "suddenly" igniting around that part of the world. Weakness is provocative, and we'll see more of this soon, I'm sure. If you were the Mummyman, wouldn't hostages look good to you at this point? What's he got to lose with JimmahII in office?

The fleet's leaning forward, you can bet, in the absence (what else is new?) of a decision or orders.

[Chubby]

excellent link Maybee

Gaddaffi being the nut that he is, I wonder why he is letting the evacuations take place. He seems like the type who, if he has to go down in flames, would want to take as many with him as possible.

[MayBee]

Almost everybody has been less feckless than us. They've sent ships and planes or organized with other countries.

India is having trouble getting permission to land, Canada is relying on other countries (ha!), and the Philippines is kind of searching around for help.

Other than that, it seems nobody else is trapped on a ferry.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Henry-

Sen. Robert Wirch is correct, but I worry about cross border "assistance" (The first train out of Chicago, on Friday afternoon, is almost back to heyday levels with the "double-dippers", now that the Welfare Reform Act was repealed with Porkulus.)

[Mustang0302]

Ranger, we do in fact have an embassy in Tripoli.

[Rob Crawford]

Apparently, the NCA is overwhelmed by...

...choosing his breakfast, picking out his socks for the day...

[Chubby]

((The question is, why we didn't have a plan in place with the Turks, or the French, or whoever to have them get our people out too?))

That is a big question. Does the ultimate responsibility for lack of preparation belong to the president?

[Ranger]

Ranger, we do in fact have an embassy in Tripoli.

Posted by: Mustang0302 | February 24, 2011 at 07:23 PM

Learn something new every day. I know for a long time we didn't, or technically did, but had no body there. But then again, things have been thawing for a while.

[Mustang0302]

That is a big question. Does the ultimate responsibility for lack of preparation belong to the president?

Even worse, Chubby. He fanned the flames. Mau-mau'd the Big Flak Catcher. That's what Community Organizers do.

[Ranger]

Yes, the ultimate responsibility is with the President. He gives guidance to the Sec Def and the Pentagon. NEO planning was a huge deal back in the day (cold war/post-cold war), but it seems to have fallen out of fashon lately. In all fairness to the military, there have been more pressing problems over the last several years.

[matt]

maybe someone should hum the Marine Corps Hymn within earshot of President Hamster..er Hamlet..That whole shores of Tripoli thing....

The RAF landed a Herk and had SAS on board one of the two commercial planes they got on the ground.Obama is a stone cold p**sy.

If the physical safety of American citizens in the middle of tribal warfare isn't enough imperative, the man should be impeached for dereliction of duty.

The Libyans controlling the oil fields have made it a priority to protect foreigners. I would say there is plenty of political wiggle room.

[matt]

mel;

funny you should mention Chinese burying their gold. I have a hell of a story about that off line.

[Ranger]

BTW, if you want to read about the birth of modern NEO operations, dig up the book Save the Hostages! originally publsihed as 111 Days in Stanleyville. Its a good read and will help illuminate both why these types of operations became so important to military planning over the years, and how complicated they can be.

[glasater]

Got it Mel and thanks!

General Clark was on a phone interview I think with Cavuto and said Zero is handling the situation with Libya just dandy.

[DebinNC]

Whoever it was in Woodward's book who predicted political operative Tom Donilon would be a disaster as National Security Advisor was spot on.

[DebinNC]

It was Robert Gates.

[Chubby]

((Yes, the ultimate responsibility is with the President. He gives guidance to the Sec Def and the Pentagon. ))

The decisions are his, but if he makes wrong ones, can he get away with blaming his subordinates?

[MayBee]

Isn't that great, Chubby? It's via Buy Danish at Hot Air.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

So, is marriage a religious ceremony or a civil contract?

Yes.

And you've put your finger on the problem right there.