Tonight we witnessed one of the most important of Obama’s promises actually materialize as the last offensive combat brigade left Iraq!
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No doubt there will still be troops occupying and providing support and training in Iraq until kingdom come. That was to be expected. Hell, we still have troops in Japan, Germany, and South Korea. But the Iraq war has symbolicaly come to an end!
Last week Obama weighed in on the mosque near ground zero at a political event of Muslim leaders. I initially cringed when I heard the story but when I listened to what he was actually saying I did not have any problem with it. I figured it would be just a 24-hour news day cycle and be gone. I guess people took this to heart and he had to expand on his statements over the weekend which made me feel even more comfortable about what he said. It’s now mid-week and this is snowballing into an all out blitzkrieg on the Obama Administration and more importantly, the Democratic party, as we near mid-term elections. I can’t understand why except to conclude that Americans are idiots. Idiots who don’t understand the basic principles that founded this country and can not even comprehend their own language, yes, plain old English.
The Pilgrims first came to this country to escape religious prosecution and our founding fathers amended the Constitution to insure religious freedoms by creating the Bill of Rights. For those who don’t seem to understand what the Bill of Rights are, they are the first ten amendments to the U.S Constitution. How ironically, it is the second amendment that gives us the right to bear arms. Oh now it rings a bell. Must be kind of like selective hearing. Even more importantly than our right to bear arms is our right to religious freedom, speech, press, assembly, and petition. The very first amendment contains the language that insures this:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Flash forward about 220 years later and in todays context and you can interpret this to mean Muslims can build (or expand in this case) a Mosque 4 blocks from ground zero. Is it in bad taste, hell yes. But, do they have the right. According to the fundamental principles that this country was founded upon, yes. Ground zero may be hallowed ground.But even so they have the absolute right. The same things that make our country great are the same things that our salt in our wounds.
So to watch the Republicans try to snowball this and derail Obama and the Democrats this November is just disgusting to me. They are preying on the emotions and in some cases the ignorance of Americans. If people can listen to what Obama is actually saying they are consistent in what all Americans should believe. It is what we celebrate the fourth of July for. It is what our soldiers are overseas fighting and dying for. Here is what a snippet of what he said in context:
That is not to say that religion is without controversy. Recently, attention has been focused on the construction of mosques in certain communities – particularly in New York. Now, we must all recognize and respect the sensitivities surrounding the development of lower Manhattan. The 9/11 attacks were a deeply traumatic event for our country. The pain and suffering experienced by those who lost loved ones is unimaginable. So I understand the emotions that this issue engenders. Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground.
But let me be clear: as a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are. The writ of our Founders must endure.
We must never forget those who we lost so tragically on 9/11, and we must always honor those who have led our response to that attack – from the firefighters who charged up smoke-filled staircases, to our troops who are serving in Afghanistan today. And let us always remember who we are fighting against, and what we are fighting for. Our enemies respect no freedom of religion. Al Qaeda’s cause is not Islam – it is a gross distortion of Islam. These are not religious leaders – these are terrorists who murder innocent men, women and children. In fact, al Qaeda has killed more Muslims than people of any other religion – and that list of victims includes innocent Muslims who were killed on 9/11.
Since no one seems to understands English anymore and took that as an endorsement to build a mosque near ground zero, Obama had to clarify his statements to those vocabulary challenged. This is in no way, shape or form a contradiction or a retraction of his earlier statements.
I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That’s what our country is about. And I think it’s very important, as difficult as some of these issues are, that we stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about.
As is typical of Obama, the words are precise and if people can get over the emotional ties for just one minute and comprehend the words that are coming out of his mouth and what he is inferring I see no reason why these statements should inflict an emotional reaction that will yields Democratic seats this November. Unfortunately they most likely will because of these American idiots who don’t understand their own language!
Now anyone who has read this blog knows that I am an Obama fan, but todays headline “US to sell F-15s to Saudis” had me shaking my head and screaming WTF Obama? Did we not learn a lesson with the Osama bin Laden backfire that got us into two wars? Apparently, as an extension of the George W. Bush’s policy to insure against Iranian expansionism and maintain a broader 20 year old arms relationship dating back to the elder Bush’s administration, the Obama folks are in talks to sell 84 of some of the finest aircraft ever made here in the States to the Saudi Arabians worth an estimated $30 billion over 10 years. Now sure, the Saudi’s already fly some of the beasts, and some may say the F-15s are an outdated 40 year old technology, and we have a one up on them with our latest Joint Strike Fighter, but if you’ve ever experienced a squadron of the F-15′s swooping and closing in on you at a low altitude then you understand the shock and awe that these birds can instill in the enemy. And I’m not talking the ceremonial flyover either although those are awesome too. I digress.
To appease the Israeli’s, the F-15′s will not be armed with some of the more sophisticated weapons systems such as the long-ranged standoff systems used for offensive air-to-land and sea attacks. But even more importantly this deal seems like a move by the Obama Administration to entice the Israeli’s into committing to a big ticket purchase of the more sophisticated Joint Strike Fighters. Now I’ve got to give it to the Obama administration for the creative thinking to stimulate the U.S aerospace industry. But hasn’t that industry been dead for the better part of a decade, at least here in California where a large sector of our workforce were devastated in the 90′s. Those that remain were out on strike just a few weeks ago. So it seems like too little too late but I’m digressing from the bigger picture.
Now, unlike the United States government, whom just happens to be the largest exporter of arms to the world, I’m no expert on arms dealings, or Middle Eastern affairs, economies, or even terrorism for that matter. But my common sense tells me that equipping the Saudi Arabian government with some of the most strategically powerful man made machines that have ever been produced in order to keep in check the expansionism of a state that has no where to go but nuclear and annexed by the mess that is Afgahnistan and Pakistan is a bad idea. To sell an American hallmark that was built by hard working American citizens who proudly branded our Made in the USA stamp upon to a foreign government who is more like our crack dealer then our friend is un American. If I remember correctly, the majority of the 911 terrorists were Saudi’s and I simply can’t understand how we can trust their kings and princes with their bullshit aristocracy. Ya I’ll buy their oil to get me around town tomorrow but I will never trust the motives of a government whose citizens ruthlessly murdered thousands of our citizens. Some might say well they need us for our Benjamins as much as we need them for their black gold? To that I say China has just overtook us as the leading consumer of fossil based fuels. Whose to say in twenty years allies our no longer allies and enemies our now friends and our own technology is used against us, Israel, and the gains that Americans have bled for in the middle eastern dessert. Now I understand some of the reasons that the Obama administration and the previous administrations have chosen to deal with these bastards but I don’t have to like it.