Robert Maginnis, Human Events.com

 

President Obama’s two overseas trips -- Europe and Latin America -- make him appear more like a diplomatic tourist than the leader of the free world. He met heads of state, made speeches, attended summits, conducted town hall meetings, but accomplished nothing that furthers U.S. interests abroad. 

 

Obama’s agenda -- described succinctly by his spokesmen on the eve of each trip -- was shut out by the leaders with whom he met. 

 

Obama’s only accomplishment is to portray himself as a chameleon-like leader who takes an anti-American tone to please his foreign hosts.

 

Presidential candidate Obama promised to demonstrate a new tone for international relations. Apparently that new approach includes criticizing America, groveling to dictators and rogue leaders, allowing others’ agendas to trump ours, forgetting history, and a willingness to sacrifice Americans and their money while giving allies a pass. Read article.

Mark Alexander, Patriot Post.us

 

My fellow Patriot "right-wing extremists" (or as Barack Obama prefers to describe you, those "bitterly clinging to guns or religion"), it is no small irony that, in the same week the central government demands payment of any income tax they hadn't already withheld (read: "pilfered") from our paychecks for redistribution, we observe Patriots Day.

 

April 19th marks the 234th anniversary of the early morning ride of Paul Revere and William Dawes to Concord, Massachusetts, in order to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that British troops were coming to arrest them and seize their weapons. Revere was captured but Dawes and Samuel Prescott, who had joined them along the way, escaped and continued toward Concord. Dawes later fell from his horse, but Prescott, who knew the area well enough to navigate at night, made it to Concord in time to warn the Sons of Liberty.

 

Protests had been taking place since 1765 over increased taxation and other indignities, resulting most notably in the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773, when colonists boarded three ships in Boston Harbor and threw English tea overboard. The grievances against the imperial authorities were many, but they found their voice in one familiar phrase: "No taxation without representation."

 

In the early dawn of April 19th, Captain John Parker, commander of the militiamen at Lexington (citizens, mostly farmers, who could muster with arms), ordered, "Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they want a war let it begin here." And it did -- American Minutemen fired the "shot heard round the world," as immortalized by Ralph Waldo Emerson, confronting the British on Lexington Green and at Concord's Old North Bridge.

 

A year later, American Patriots formalized their grievances in the Declaration of Independence, and some 3 percent of the colonists took up arms to battle the well equipped British regulars for almost eight years, until victory was won. Read article.

 

James Lewis, American Thinker.com

 

The pirate standoff was a classic Jack Bauer crisis: Either shoot the three nutters pointing AK-47s at Captain Richard Phillips, or watch him be killed. So Obama gave permission to use all necessary force should Phillips' life be in imminent danger, and the Navy Captain in charge gave the order to kill the pirates when a gun was pointed at the hostage's head.

 

In the customary spin of the Leftist media -- which we've come to know so well and despise so deeply -- three innocent young black African teenagers were knocked over by a veritable White Fleet (as Teddy Roosevelt called it) using modern weapons and technology in billion-dollar war ships. And killing the pirates will not do any good; it's just another pinprick against a Vietnam-type People's Quagmire in Somalia, which is so poor that its young innocents will just go on volunteering to be pirates. All the rescue of Captain Phillips will do, as the Left always tells us, is to prop up the infamous Military-Industrial-Capitalist-White-Pig Complex.

 

That's what Jeremiah Wright would have said if George W. Bush had ordered the Navy to kill those pirates to save Captain Phillips. Read article.

Tom Borelli, Townhall.com

 

Recent news stories asserting that President Obama’s interest in pursuing cap-and-trade legislation is dwindling are premature. These media accounts make too much of rumors that Obama is backing away from auctioning 100 percent of carbon emissions credits and the Administration’s only tepid support of proposed global warming legislation authored by Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA).

 

In reality, sketchy plans and letting Congress take the lead is classic Obama.

What Obama lacks in leadership, substance and management skills, he more than makes up for with rhetoric and ideological zeal. Time and again Obama shows he will use his power to drive the left-wing agenda without regard to economic consequences or loss of liberty. Moreover, with the liberal holy grail of penalizing fossil fuel use in his grasp, it’s doubtful Obama will shy away. Read article.

 

Dustin Ensinger, Economy In Crisis.org

 

Big business is gearing up for what may be an epic battle with the Obama administration over its efforts to reform the practice of offshore tax deferrals, which allow companies to avoid paying U.S. taxes on profits made overseas as long as they remain there.  

 

Huge multinational corporations such as General Electric, McDonald’s and Microsoft have joined forces with lobbying groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Foreign Trade Council and the National Association of Manufacturers to create the Joint Committee on Taxation. The group, made up of 200 multinational corporations and trade associations, was created for the sole purpose of opposing the Obama administration’s proposal.  

 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been aiding and abetting this race to the bottom that inevitably comes with “free trade” for years now. As the world’s largest non-profit business organization, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been a force to be reckoned with in the political world for some time. The deep-pocketed organization has the ability to sway votes in Congress and in the general public. Read article.

 

Zach Jones, Australia.to

 

A few weeks ago, Obama selected attorney Harold Koh to be the State Department’s top lawyer; and this pick quickly set off a fire storm of controversy. Evidently, Mr. Koh has on numerous occasions indicated that he believes the Transnational philosophy that espouses supremacy of certain international laws and treaties over the laws and Constitutions of individual nation states, including the United States of America. Given Obama’s repeated assertion that he is also a citizen of the world, this should not come as a surprise but as a wake up call.

 

What this means is nicely summarized by Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice -

 

…Now, here's the danger. Dean Koh is a smart guy… But what he is proposing is to take the State Department — he is not going to be a senior lawyer at the State Department, he is going to be the lawyer at the State Department, the chief counsel, and he is basically saying, we take our American experience and if it doesn't mesh with the rest of the world, the rest of the world wins….

 

Each time Obama agrees to allow the world community (UN et. al.) to set up organizations and courts that can control the regulation of American businesses, financial institutions, environmental concerns, our military, our intelligence agencies, individuals, or trade; all of which should rightfully be within the purview of the individual states and/or the federal government, he is surrendering the sovereignty of both. There will come a point when all the chipping away at sovereignty will leave the United States Constitution as nothing more than a guide or museum artifact. Read article.

 

Ed Lasky, American Thinker.com

 

You want paranoia, conspiracy theories, falsehoods, and attacks on AIPAC and the "Israel Lobby?"

 

You got them - courtesy of Obama's pal professor, Rashid Khalidi - he man he credited with consistently reminding him of "my own blind spots and my own biases" in a series of conversations that were necessary not only around the dinner table of Rashid Khalid and his wife but around "this entire world."

 

A superb column by AT contributor Jonathan Schanzer in the Jerusalem Post destroys Khalidi's most recent points about an "occupational settlement industrial complex:"

 

Rashid Khalidi, the former PLO spokesman-turned Columbia University professor, is convinced that Israel has constructed a "matrix of control" in the Middle East. Khalidi once cited books and articles to back up his skewed views of Middle East history. Now he cites obscure Internet claims of an "occupation settlement industrial complex." Read article.

 

Jason Koutsoukis, The Age.com.au

 

Can Israel still call the United States its best international friend? Apparently not, if you believe the tone of the local media.

 

Watching the drama unfold inside Israel, the increasingly tense dialogue between US President Barack Obama and new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taking on all the trappings of a duel.

 

Almost every day brings news of another sore point between the two countries, a source of yet further inflammation of their once warm relations.

 

One could be forgiven for thinking that the more immediate threat to Israel's national security lay across the Atlantic rather than from closer to home.

 

It is bad enough that President Obama uses almost every opportunity he can to set the parameters of a final peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Now US officials are openly using Israeli anxiety over Iran's fledging nuclear program as a bargaining chip to force Israel's hand on giving up control of the West Bank Palestinian territory. Read article.

 

Barry Rubin, Gloria-Center.org

 

There are many people eager to see President Barack Obama and his administration bash Israel, or predict that has already happened. But the administration has yet to make any significant direct anti-Israel actions or statements. I expect this widely predicted conflict isn’t going to take place.

 

Let me repeat the word “direct.” Inasmuch as the U.S. government gives up too much to Iran, Syria, and radical Islamists, it hurts Israel’s interests, as well as those of most Arab governments and the United States itself. 

 

Still, what’s happened so far is being taken out of context by those who want a U.S.-Israel confrontation because they hate either Israel or Obama. This could, of course happen but hasn’t yet.

 

The story contrasts with U.S.-Europe relations. Obama’s trip to Europe was a failure. To everything he asked—a parallel strategy for dealing with economic troubles, getting Turkey into the European Union, or more help in Afghanistan—the Europeans said “no.” Then everyone proclaimed the visit a great success.

 

With Israel, it’s the opposite in which nothing actually goes wrong but is made to seem that way. Let’s look at the examples and defuse some supposed bombs. Read article.

 

Jason L. Riley, Online WSJ.com

 

When President Barack Obama turns his attention to immigration reform later this year, he will be pressured by advocacy groups and fellow Democrats to focus on a legalization program for the 12 million or so undocumented immigrants already living in the U.S. Obviously, the plight of this illegal population must be part of any policy discussion. But if Mr. Obama wants to be more successful than the previous administration when it tried to reform immigration, he should avoid getting bogged down in a debate over "amnesty."

 

Critics of comprehensive immigration reform, which ideally combines legalization with more visas and more enforcement measures, say that the last amnesty enacted -- the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 -- didn't solve the illegal alien problem. This is true but misleading. After all, border enforcement enhancements over the past two decades haven't stanched the illegal flow, either, but that hasn't stopped immigration restrictionists from calling for still more security measures.

 

The reality is that the 1986 amnesty was never going to solve the problem. Read article.

 

Bob Kemp, Renew America.us

 

In Strasbourg, Mr. Obama said, "In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive."

 

Uh, Mr. Obama...what European leadership are you speaking to exactly?

 

Would it be the role to surrender national sovereignty and open borders? Would it be allowing Sharia Law to settle certain disputes? Would it be the strong military leadership European nations have taken in fighting freedom's enemies in Afghanistan where American armed forces outnumber the Europeans by the thousands? Perhaps you are referring to socializing everything and allowing the government to hire and fire individuals in the "private sector." Maybe you are referring to government control of every aspect of an individual's life and setting the wages for the "private sector," while taxing individuals at an astronomical rate like in Denmark where the tax rate is 60%!!! Is this the kind of leadership you are talking about? 

 

Perhaps you are referring to socializing everything and allowing the government to hire and fire individuals in the "private sector." Maybe you are referring to government control of every aspect of an individual's life and setting the wages for the "private sector," while taxing individuals at an astronomical rate like in Denmark where the tax rate is 60%!!! Is this the kind of leadership you are talking about? Read article.

 

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