Archive for January 20, 2009

President Obama: Some observations

Posted: January 20, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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Just back from running errands, putting away groceries etc. Some thoughts.

The line at the post office was long since the stamp machine was broken. I couldn’t help but notice the photos of then President Bush and VP Cheney in the entrance way. I don’t know if those came down at Noon but they were up as of 11:15 and some people in line didn’t like it.

Noticed that Biden was sworn in first with a flourish in the middle so technically for about 5 min Bush was president with Biden as his VP.

To answer the question I was at a traffic light eating a Big Mac.

John Roberts is a great jurist and a fine supreme court justice but COME ON how do you blow the oath of office? He won’t live that down in a hurry.

I stayed parked at Romano’s mkt listening to the speech, not bad some minor weak spots but not bad.

Thought the crowd might Boo when he thanked President Bush.

I noted that the snow drifts didn’t instantly melt nor did the ground open up and swallow the country whole. This must have been a great shock to two very different groups of people.

Watching the dinner on C-Span, boy Ted Kennedy has lost a ton of weight, dying tends to do that to you. I don’t much care for his politics but its sad to watch a person die like that.

The two local stations didn’t carry Rush’s critique or Rush at all. I would have been interesting to hear it in real time but I’ll have 4 years at least to hear and or Join in Rush’s Critique of President Obama.

Joe Biden’s wife is really good looking, I can’t help but like the man. He’s wrong on a lot but I bet o na personal level he can be counted on.

Has a mother-in-law ever moved into the White House?

Obama is greeting McCain and Gore. McCain doesn’t seem upset that he lost, you can still see resentment on Gore’s face. (Saw that on Kerry’s wife’s face to in the crowd.)

Watching him work the crowd he looks good and confident. I don’t care for the idolatry of his fans in the media but he SHOULD be confident he can make a difference. If he wasn’t he wouldn’t be going for the job.

Starting tomorrow the rubber hits the road we will now see if he can cut down the mightiest tree in the forest with a Herring govern.

If he can win the war on terror and turn the economy around he’ll be a winner in my book.

Ann Althouse liveblogging

Posted: January 20, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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Ann Althouse is liveblogging the inaugural. Two entries stand out to me:

8:28: In the comments, Palladian is contrasting the media coverage of this inauguration and the last one. Sample comment: “Enjoy the lefties farting red, white and blue flowers while it lasts. As soon as the the correct candidate loses again, the flags will furl and the bile will flow once again in this Dark Empire.”

8:21: An experiment with biological/chemical weapon goes gruesomely awry for al Qaeda. Yes, laugh all you want and speculate about whether this will make al Qaeda fans think maybe God’s not on their side, but this is a glimpse of what they mean to do to us. George Bush did whatever he did to protect us from those devils, and some people fail to appreciate it when nothing happens. To make this properly part of this inauguration live-blog, do I need to add some message to Obama? I think the message is too obvious to need stating.

I remember Glenn Reynolds saying that the best part of the Democrats taking power is they will suddenly be willing to support the war on terror. Lets hope he is right.

National Review’s farewell to George Bush.

Posted: January 20, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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I gave my farewell to the president here and my ranking here. Today National Review does it.

Roger Kimball has the best one:

When the United States was attacked by al-Qaeda on 9/11, every expert in Alpha Centauri solemnly announced that it was only a matter of time—and not much time, either—before the United States was attacked again. Well, here we are some seven and a half years later and, guess what, it hasn’t happened. I know people—you see what low company I keep—who will tell you with a straight face that President Bush had nothing to do with this run of good luck. “Post hoc,” they sniff, “doesn’t necessarily mean propter hoc, and if America has thus far escaped another terrorist attack, there is no reason to think that W had anything to do with it.” No sane person, I submit, really believes that. Deep down, we all know that the reason the United States has not suffered another terrorist attack is the policies formulated by the president in the aftermath of 9/11. Protecting the country from external enemies is the number-one priority of the commander-in-chief. It is for his tireless pursuit of that task that I am eternally grateful to George W. Bush. Thank you.

Amen to that. They also seem to agree with me on his presidential ranking. They are not as optimistic as the Morning Joe crowd:

Liberals, including historians who ought to know better, have said that Bush might be the country’s worst president ever. That judgment reflects the partisan hysteria that gripped liberals throughout the Bush years. We would place him in the middle ranks of American presidents. It is a pity he did not do better; we are about to do worse.

Carter or Arthur? We will see.

Looking for a war crime? Here’s one.

Posted: January 20, 2009 by datechguy in war
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Here is one war crime/torture story that won’t get any attention from the left of the main stream media:

Eyewitnesses said that Hamas militiamen had turned a number of hospitals and schools into temporary detention centers where dozens of Fatah members and supporters were being held on suspicion of helping Israel during the war.

The eyewitnesses said that a children’s hospital and a mental health center in Gaza City, as well as a number of school buildings in Khan Yunis and Rafah, were among the places that Hamas had turned into “torture centers.”

A Fatah activist in Gaza City claimed that as many as 80 members of his faction were either shot in the legs or had their hands broken for allegedly defying Hamas’s house-arrest orders.

“What’s happening in the Gaza Strip is a new massacre that is being carried out by Hamas against Fatah,” he said. “Where were these [Hamas] cowards when the Israeli army was here?”

The activist said that Hamas’s security forces had also confiscated cellular phones and computers belonging to thousands of local Fatah members and supporters.

Hey I shouldn’t say that I’m sure the media will jump all over it and our friends on the left will express their outrage! Somebody , anybody? Bueller?

Hey at least they are all over the everywhere kid.

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