The Parse

Why is Barack Obama air-raiding villages and killing civilians in Afghanistan?  It wasn’t long ago he was deploring such things.

Barack Obama’s nominee for National Intelligence Director told the Senate Intelligence Committee today that he believes some interrogation techniques should be kept secret so that adversaries can’t train to resist them, The New York Times reports.

“We don’t want to provide open intelligence support for those who are coming after us,” Dennis Blair said.

Well, too late, buddy!  Your soon-to-be boss just signed an executive order today that limits all interrogation techniques to what is allowed in the Army Field Manual.  Yep, that’s the same field manual that’s available online.  Maybe those terrorists don’t have Internet connections that would allow them to see it, though.

The classless Nancy Pelosi described George Bush leaving Washington thusly: “It was like a 10-pound anvil was lifted off my head.”

Now, if only she can do something about the 10-pound anvil that is her head.

Obama is gearing up to close Gitmo within a year.  Of course, the big question is what to do with the human debris currently occupying the prison.  Obama already decided their military tribunals won’t go forward, so what now?

Here’s a thought:  Obama can have the Gitmo detainees bunk with him at the White House.  Now that the Dems are back in power, the Lincoln Bedroom should be open again, so that would be a nice place for KSM to rest his head.

Obama was sworn in as president today. Yes, today, the day after he was sworn in at the Capitol building. The second swearing in happened in the White House out of “an abundance of caution” over yesterday’s flubbed recitation of the oath.

“Are you ready to take the oath?” Roberts asked.

“I am, and we’re going to do it very slowly,” Obama replied.

CNN’s stupid headline blames Roberts alone for yesterday’s mess-up, even though the story itself notes that Obama’s interruption may have thrown Roberts off stride, causing him to botch the next phrase.

According to the Constitution, incoming presidents are to recite the following at their swearing-in:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

When Justice Roberts issued this oath to Obama, he moved “faithfully” to the end of “President of the United States.”  Obama started, then paused until Roberts began to repeat the line again.  Obama then began to restate the line, and in an apparent concession to Roberts, tacked “faithfully” to the end.

So it appears as though Roberts incorrectly presented the oath to Obama.  Still, a teleprompter could have solved this problem, just as it has solved so many of Obama’s other problems.

Obama stumbled with the oath.  Maybe they should have replaced Chief Justice Roberts with a teleprompter.

Wow, the New York Times is actually reporting on the harassment of traditional marriage supporters.  A lawsuit has been filed to have an online map taken down that shows the home addresses of financial supporters of Proposition 8, which overturned the California Supreme Court’s decree that gay marriage is legal.  The map has been used by militant gays and other intolerant types to harass Prop 8 supporters:

In his suit, which is also being argued by the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal group, Mr. Bopp alleges a wide range of acts against supporters, including “death threats, acts of domestic terrorism, physical violence, threats of physical violence, vandalism of personal property, harassing phone calls, harassing e-mails, blacklisting and boycotts.”

In one instance, a supporter found a flier in his neighborhood calling him a bigot and listing his employer. In another, white powder was sent to a Mormon temple and a facility run by the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic group, which contributed more than $1 million in support of Proposition 8. Other supporters, including the director of the Los Angeles Film Festival, Richard Raddon, have been forced to resign because of their backing of the measure, while some businesses have been boycotted because of Proposition 8.

Google, whose technology was used to create the map, has filed briefs in opposition to the proposition.  Isn’t it great to know that the “don’t be evil” guys are against democracy?

Despite Barack Obama’s ability to transcend and overcome America’s ‘racist past,’ he falls just short of eradicating bigotry completely.  Of course, the racist threat must be kept alive to serve as a scapegoat and tool for the ol’ divide-and-conquer.

But, don’t worry.  Obama has a plan to scrub every trace of racism – and indeed, everything he doesn’t agree with – from your mind:

“And yet while our problems may be new, what is required to overcome them is not. What is required is the same perseverance and idealism that those first patriots displayed. What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives — from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry,” The One said on the campaign tr– er, inauguration trail today.

There’s something inherently ironic about the government’s (soon-to-be) chief representative commanding private citizens to erect a ‘declaration of independence’ in their lives.  The real Declaration of Independence was a rejection of government  intrusion, not a certification of government guidelines for ideology and the size of one’s thinking.

In any case, our exhalted president-elect has declared that we are ideological (as though he isn’t); small-thinking; prejudiced; and bigoted.  As such, if your thought life isn’t on the same page as Obama’s, well, you need make sure that it gets that way.

Is George Bush leaving a parting gift for Obama in the form of the second half of the $700 billion bailout?  According to The Washington Post, Bush is moving to request the funds this weekend and threatening a veto if Congress refuses to write the check.  Apparently this is so King Barack doesn’t have to wait a single day after his coronation to start dropping money from the sky.