Obama's First Pitch. Why Does he need a Glove With No Batter?

Obama can't throw a baseball. Compare his Happy the Clown act to the grace of George Bush, wearing a NYFD jacket, no hat, no glove, straight down the pike, in the glove, following a dignified entrance and then making an exit.

Krazy Karzai and Obama's War in Afghanistan

Concern in west as Karzai bites the hand that feeds him
By Matthew Green in Washington

Published: April 5 2010 03:00

The diatribe launched by Hamid Karzai , Afghanistan's president, against the west has sparked a fresh bout of soul-searching among allies desperate to transform him from hindrance to help in their campaign against the Taliban.

The task has taken on a new level of urgency ahead of an offensive in Kandahar province this summer that will represent the most significant attempt to swing the direction of the war back in Nato's favour.

The shock that greeted Mr Karzai's remarks last week shows diplomats are no closer to solving one of the conflict's great riddles: a man almost entirely dependent on US backing to survive seems intent on undermining his main ally.

In a speech, Mr Karzai accused the west and the United Nations of orchestrating massive electoral fraud to undermine his administration and run a "puppet" government.

The remarks' timing, just days after a visit by US president Barack Obama, looked like a deliberate snub to an ally that has ordered an extra 50,000 US troops to Afghanistan to bolster Mr Karzai's government. The White House called the comments "a genuine cause for concern".

Although Mr Karzai later called Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, to clarify his comments, the outburst injected newrancour into his testy relations with his allies.

"The analysis is not that he got emotional and went crazy," said a western diplomat in Kabul. "This was done in a calculated fashion. We don't understand what that calculation is."

Mr Karzai has long sought to shore up his domestic political base by casting himself in the role of chief critic of the failings of his allies, particularly those that lead to civilian casualties.

By publicly painting foreigners as conspirators against his government, Mr Karzai took his criticism into new territory. Escalating the rhetoric poses military and political risks. Stanley McChrystal, the top Nato commander in Afghanistan, has based his strategy on convincing Afghans to side with the western-backed government, a task that may be complicated by the president's anti-foreign stance.

Mr Karzai's remarks threaten to reopen the debate among US and European voters about why their troops are dying to uphold his government.

His outburst will reignite frustration in western capitals over the lack of progress he has made in enacting reforms agreed at a conference in London in January that was supposed to herald a new era of co-operation. Mr Karzai has deflected western pressure to confront the corruption fuelling the insurgency by denying there is a problem. Instead of embracing electoral reform, he is seeking to seize control of the watchdog that uncovered widespread fraud in August's presidential polls.

The paradox is that the troops deployed and the billions of dollars spent in Afghanistan should give Washington and its partners enormous leverage. Instead, Mr Karzai has gambled that his allies are so committed to Afghanistan that he is indispensable. The harder his backers push, analysts say, the more he can portray them as bullies to blame for Afghanistan's miseries.

His dependence on foreign support has not stopped him seeking leverage of his own. Pledges to pursue reconciliation with the Taliban increase his capital by holding out hope for peace. By deepening links with China and Iran, he shows he has options.

While the Bush administration embraced Mr Karzai, officials in the Obama administration have wobbled "We're pretty handcuffed," said Marvin Weinbaum, a scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington. "We find ourselves in a situation where it's difficult to live with him and we can't live without him."

www.ft.com/afghanistan

Rare view of the inside of a can of whoopass.

One Man, Standing and Walking Alone.

Whether Jesus was the son of God is a matter for believers and non-believers, scholars and fools. Whether Jesus was a man, a human being, is not in doubt. As a man, he suffered about as cruel a death as is possible.

The cruelty heightened by his sense of abandonment.

His abandonment has become a symbol and an inspiration to believers and non-believers alike. The life and times of Jesus of Nazereth, son of Joseph and Mary, a young idealist who changed the World ended and began on what is now called Easter.

Your thoughts.

Our Esteemed President, Barack Obama, is selling "Big Fucking Deal" tee shirts on his website

This is hard to believe but before they take this down, which I expect they will, go to Barack Obama's on line store.

Obama on talk radio

Talk radio and conservative blogs are the best friends Republicans have. It would be logical for the Democrats to do everything possible to throttle conservative media. So far they have not.

_________________

From the Wall Street Journal

USA Today reports that even Democrats can only give thanks that elections aren't in April:

"If the election were now, we'd have a 'change' election; we'd have a 1994," says Stan Greenberg, pollster for President Bill Clinton when Democrats lost control of the House and Senate that year. Greenberg questions whether Republicans will be in a position to capitalize on voter discontent. . . .
By Election Day, developments on jobs, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and other events could reshape the political landscape.
"I believe that if we begin to see positive job growth, people's confidence will return, and that will change the dynamic," says Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. But, he says, "the Democrats obviously face an uphill climb. The question is the steepness of the hill."
An interesting little chart shows "congressional vote preference" for the past six midterm-election years:

• 1994: Republican 47%, Democrat 46%
• 1998: Republican 45%, Democrat 46%
• 2002: Republican 46%, Democrat 46%
• 2006: Republican 39%, Democrat 55%
• 2010: Republican 46%, Democrat 45%

The two parties are now within 1% of each other, as they were in 1994, 1998 and 2002--all years when the GOP won a House majority. (Republicans outperform these numbers most likely because Gallup polls all adults, who tend to be more Democratic than actual voters.) It is of course true that lots could happen between now and November, but it's hard to see how anyone could deny that Democrats have put themselves in political peril by focusing on an imaginary health-care crisis at the expense of more urgent matters.

Rep. Hank Johnson is not an April Fool's Joke.

Rep. Hank Johnson, one of our rulers and masters in Congress, who the good people of Georgia saw in their collective wisdom to send to their nation's capital to guide us through perilous times.

HAT TIP: ACE of SPADES



Rep. Hank Johnson has in the past shared his wisdom on other things such as the US Constitution:

The April Fool -Jeb, (Joe effing Biden)

Let's hear it for the the safe pick for the April Fool, Joe Biden.

Vice president calls for changing attitudes about violence
March 31, 2010 9:19 PM


Biden on violence against woman

PEORIA, Ill. -- Vice President Joe Biden, speaking Wednesday at an anti-violence event in central Illinois, called for "educating the whole society" to dispel cultural attitudes that lead to sexual assaults.

Biden was joined by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., at the Center for Prevention of Abuse fundraiser, attended by 1,100 people at the Peoria Civic Center.

The vice president, a former Democratic senator from Delaware, discussed his work to pass the Violence Against Women Act in 1994. In advancing the legislation, Biden said, he had to confront state laws that permitted rape within a marriage and combat cultural assumptions that women "ask to be raped" when they wear short skirts or walk alone late at night.

"No man, no man, no man, under any condition other than self-defense, has the right to raise his hand to a woman. No condition. None. Zero," he said.

The vice president, who said he used to target men's groups when talking about these issues, reminded the men in the room they too are potential victims of rape.

"Why don't you report it? Because you're ashamed," Biden said. "You don't want your friends to know a man raped you. ... How about women in our society? How easy do you think it is for a woman to go home and say, 'I've been raped'?"

Biden also thanked those at the event who assist victims of assault and abuse.

"You're doing God's work," he told them.

He also praised Durbin for his anti-violence work in the Senate and LaHood, a former Republican congressman from Peoria.

Biden said LaHood was "literally the first name that was raised to be in the Cabinet ... which goes to show you this is an all-Illinois team."

While in Peoria, the vice president stopped by two local institutions, George's Shoeshine and the Spotted Cow, an ice cream joint.

George's is a favorite stop for LaHood, and also has been visited by President Barack Obama and former Presidents George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.

Owner George Manias, who has shined shoes for 63 years, said of Biden: "He talks just like an ordinary person, a nice guy."

In honor of Biden, the Spotted Cow renamed its chocolate chip ice cream "Chip off the Old Biden." During the visit to the ice cream parlor, Biden, Durbin and LaHood met with local business people.

--Michelle Manchir