Obama – Page 4 – Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment.

Subtle? Diplomatic insult at the torch lighting ceremony in Sochi.

The Winter Olympics in Sochi is by far the most expensive ever, having cost over 50 Billion dollars so far, maybe 60 if one includes the military security preparations, more than three times as much as all previous Winter Olympic combined.

As the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin was to be a monument to the Fuhrer and to the invincibility of the Third Reich, and the superiority of the Aryan Race, so this is Putin’s games. The opening ceremony in the “Fish Stadium”, built only for the opening and closing ceremonies, was magnificent, highlighting the thousand year history of Russia, with all its glory from Peter the Great, their literature, their longing and dreams. Putin want to reestablish Russia as the world leader. After all he has publicly said that the greatest tragedy of the twentieth century was the breakup of the Soviet Union, never mind World War One and WWII, the holocaust, tenths of million people murdered under Stalin and Mao Tse Tung, the killing fields in Cambodia, to name a few. No his ego must be satisfied.

Obama is not going to the games. He claims as one of the reasons Putin’s treatment of gays, but it is probably more their mutual intense personal dislike for each other. It came in full bloom last September when Obama refused to meet with Putin on a personal level at the economic summit in Russia, and went to Sweden instead. He didn’t dare to talk with Putin about Syria and the Middle East and decided to delight the Swedes instead. After all, Sweden is a world leader in alternate energy research, and that is more important than dealing with Syria.

Which brings us to the Torch Lighting ceremony. Everybody wants to carry the Olympic Torch, so it had been to its longest journey in history, there were many at the stadium, and the torch were handed over and over again. The most important person in the hand-off sequence is the one that actually does the lighting, so Putin chose two.

One of the two was Irina Rodnina.

I remember her well from three previous Olympics where she won the Gold medal in pairs figure skating all three olympics, but with two different partners. This was in the days when grace and elegance was the game, and she had been trained in classic ballet and the Soviet athletes were unbeatable. She went on to be a member of the Duma, joining Putin’s party. She made international headlines last September when she sent out a doctored photo of Obama and first lady Michelle Obama appearing to stare at a banana. The photo outraged the Obama administration and prompted U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul to denounce Rodnina’s “outrageous behavior, which only brings shame to her parliament and country.”

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny re-tweeted the photo, with the caption: “Look at the jokes Russian MPs make.”
Rodnina erased the tweet soon after but defiantly refused to apologize.

“Freedom of speech is freedom of speech, and you should answer for your own hang-ups,” she wrote at the time.

But you know, once you have tweeted a photo, it is there forever, and here it is:

By our standards it is certainly racist, but by Russian standards it simply means “stupid as an ape” and means a stupid person. It is meant as an insult, and has no racial overtones. On the other hand, had she tried this with Putin, the result might have been different. Now she got to light the torch; it delighted her leader.

The lies of Benghazi. Ay, there’s the rub.

“My biggest regret is what happened in Benghazi,” Mrs. Clinton said during an appearance at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in New Orleans, La. “It was a terrible tragedy, losing four Americans, two diplomats, and now it’s public, so I can say, two CIA operatives. Losing an ambassador like Chris Stevens, who was one of our very best.”

This comment revealed more than Mrs. Clinton intended. Her regret is that the terror attack in Benghazi happened during her watch. The comment “now it’s public” revealed much about the callousness of the Obama administration, herself included. On the day of the attack, when the well organized attack was underway, the CIA operators wanted to intervene and save the diplomats but were told to “stand down.” The recent congressional hearings revealed that the existence of the CIA annex was so top secret that even the U.S. military did not know of its existence. Whatever the CIA was doing in Benghazi was so important that it was more expedient to sacrifice the lives of the diplomats than to expose the CIA.

However, the CIA heroes disobeyed the order and went and saved nearly everybody in the mission, but they could not find Ambassador Stevens and another man, so they were left to die at the hands of the terrorists. This exposed to the whole world the CIA annex, so a cover story had to be invented, and thus the lies began.

Who invented the lies about the infamous video clip being responsible? After all there had been a takeover of the U.S. embassy in Egypt the day before where people shouted “Obama, Obama, we are all Osama” and raised the al-Qaeda flag. (https://lenbilen.com/2012/09/20/obama-obama-we-all-are-osama-is-this-rallying-cry-really-the-rage-about-a-u-tube-clip-susan-rice-thinks-so/) That needed a diversion badly and the video clip, which was a secondary rallying cry among the unorganized masses became widely featured in reports. This in turn resulted in multiple protests in many cities by crowds stirred up by agitators.

Obama, Hillary Clinton and the inner circle of the administration had for weeks strongly advocated the U.N’s proposal of religious freedom that would make it a crime to criticize in any way the Prophet Muhammad, so somebody planted the story and link to the U-tube video in a Cairo newspaper. That started the chain reaction.

Now the plot thickens. Who was the “brain” behind this diversion?

Hillary Clinton? Not very likely. She might have been Secretary of State, but as such had very little influence and even knowledge of administration policy. When you want to keep somebody out of the loop you send them to meetings, while important business is being conducted. Hillary Clinton was sent to over 100 countries, and thus being effectively kept out of the loop.

David Petraeus? Even less likely. He was selected CIA director to show the
inclusiveness of the Obama Administration but was kept out of the loop because the administration knew he could not be trusted with this sensitive information, so his role was reduced to a mere administrative role, ready to be jettisoned as soon as the election was over.

Susan Rice? She went to six Sunday morning news shows and peddled the story of the tape. Republicans in general took a dim view of her performance and Dan Pfeiffer of the White House thought they owed her an apology.( https://lenbilen.com/2013/05/19/do-republicans-owe-susan-rice-an-apology-dan-pfeiffer-of-the-white-house-thinks-so-i-think-not/) She is in on the original planting of the video trailer story in the Cairo newspaper, and a willing accomplice in the video diversion conspiracy, but was not part of the decision to sacrifice the diplomats.

Barack Obama? You are getting lukewarm. On a day with fresh news about al-Awlaki, it seemed the president was pondering the drone program that he had expanded so dramatically and with such lethal results, as well as the death of Bin Laden, which was still resonating worldwide months later. “Turns out I’m really good at killing people,” Obama said quietly, “Didn’t know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine.” Obama is certainly callous enough to tell CIA and the military: You do what you have to do, and then walk away. He is thus implicated by being Commander In Chief and walk away. (no picture here. He was AWOL)

Valery Jarrett? She is the brain behind Obama, born in Iran and well versed in what goes on in the Middle East. She holds a part of the key to the mystery of the CIA annex, but did not give the order to “stand down”.

This leaves us John Brennan, you know, the guy who calls Jerusalem Al-Quds. He was Deputy National Security Advisor, a position which does not require Senate confirmation, but he was the most influential of all his advisors regarding the Middle East. He must have been the one that ran the CIA annex operations in Benghazi, and their actions were more important to keep secret than saving a few diplomats. Therefore, using Occam’s razor, he must have been the one giving the order to “stand down”. By the way, he is the current CIA director.

All of this is speculative, and we may never find out the whole truth, since the CIA annex was scrubbed clean within 24 hours of the terrorist attack. Granted it took three weeks before FBI was allowed to go in and start their investigation. Since then 15 witnesses cooperating with the FBI have been murdered.

To the best of my guesses the diversion to blame the video and apologize to the whole world for it at taxpayers expense was a joint effort between Clinton, Obama, Rice and Brennan, led by Valery Jarrett.

As long as the White House is stonewalling, the guesswork will continue.

Obama’s 2013 Thanksgiving proclamation vs Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation.

THANKSGIVING DAY,

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Thanksgiving offers each of us the chance to count our many blessings the freedoms we enjoy, the time we spend with loved ones, the brave men and women who defend our Nation at home and abroad. This tradition reminds us that no matter what our background or beliefs, no matter who we are or who we love, at our core we are first and foremost Americans.

Our annual celebration has roots in centuries old colonial customs. When we gather around the table, we follow the example of the Pilgrims and Wampanoags, who shared the fruits of a successful harvest nearly 400 years ago. When we offer our thanks, we mirror those who set aside a day of prayer. And when we join with friends and neighbors to alleviate suffering and make our communities whole, we honor the spirit of President Abraham Lincoln, who called on his fellow citizens to “fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.”

Our country has always been home to Americans who recognize the importance of giving back.

Today, we honor all those serving our Nation far from home. We also thank the first responders and medical professionals who work through the holiday to keep us safe, and we acknowledge the volunteers who dedicate this day to those less fortunate.

This Thanksgiving Day, let us forge deeper connections with our loved ones. Let us extend our gratitude and our compassion.

And let us lift each other up and recognize, in the oldest spirit of this tradition, that we rise or fall as one Nation, under God.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 28, 2013, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage the people of the United States to join together whether in our homes, places of worship, community centers, or any place of fellowship for friends and neighbors and give thanks for all we have received in the past year, express appreciation to those whose lives enrich our own, and share our bounty with others.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentysixth Day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty eighth.

BARACK OBAMA

This time Barack Obama quoted directly a part of Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation that mentions the Almighty hand. Unfortunately the quote is hanging without reference to what the Almighty hand refers to. Unfortunately the Almighty hand has gotten a wider connotation in modern use. Sen. Orrin Hatch among many others has mentioned “the almighty hand of the federal government”. We get a hint that it must refer to God since he puts it in the last part of the proclamation One Nation, under God. When he recited the Gettysburg address just a few days earlier he omitted the two words “Under God”.

In Abraham Lincolns address on the other hand it is obvious that it is to God we give thanks, not neighbors friends, first responders etc. We should and must be thankful for that.

But first we must give thanks to God. That is what Thanksgiving is all about.

See his proclamation below.

October 3, 1863

By the President of the United States
A Proclamation

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United Stated States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

Abraham Lincoln

The train-wreck that is Obama-care. A Song.

Train-wreck, train-wreck, I despair. Train-wrecked is Obama-care.

Website broke beyond repair. It is Obama-scare.

I’ll be lost without health-care, Go without I would not dare

My old plans don’t have a prayer, too good to be deemed fair.

Cost is more than doubled too. No, Sebelius, that won’t do.

But her attitude comes through: “I do not work for you”.

Crony-ism to the sky, Obama gave his reason why:

“No-one is more mad than I.” Wasn’t that a true reply?

Train-wreck, train-wreck, I despair. Train-wrecked is Obama-scare.

Common sense was never there. But Obama doesn’t care.

What is Obama going to do in Sweden?

Obama is arriving in Arlanda with his entourage on Wednesday morning sometime. His total entourage is 500 to 700 people, all of which pay well to stay at first class accommodations like Grand Hotel.

After that there is a 26 mile trip in his limousine, “the beast” to Stockholm. The Swedes did not want any airport noise close to Stockholm, so they built the airport at a safe distance even from the exurbs.

He will visit (in no particular order)

The Swedish “moderate” Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and talk trade.

The Royal Technical Institute library and be shown some green energy initiatives.

The Grand Synagogue and honor the Swede Raoul Wallenberg, credited for saving over 10000 Jews in Hungary during WWII, was arrested and pined away in a Russian prison.

A dinner with the Prime Minister, maybe joined with his counterparts from Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

On Thursday morning he will pay homage to the King and Queen of Sweden at the Royal Castle before going to Russia. This is different from 4 years ago when he snubbed the King and Queen of Norway after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

Other than that I do not know why he has to go to Sweden instead of meeting with Putin and try to talk him out of providing more support for the Assad regime. After all he promised he would meet and negotiate with our enemies without preconditions.

After that, it is back to Arlanda and off to Russia and the G20 meeting.

He will not meet with Putin, but will meet with some gay activists in Russia. Priorities, priorities.

Here is the Obama entourage

The Obama Doctrine vs. the Palin Doctrine.

For a long time I have been trying to figure out what the “Obama doctrine” would look like. The Jerusalem Post’s Michael Wilner was grappling with the same thing and came up with a few snippets.

The Obama Doctrine: Right is might

“Some things are more important than partisan differences,” Obama said from the White House. “Now is the time to show the world that America keeps its commitments.”

Commenting briefly and unscripted from the White House on Friday, Obama repeatedly mentioned that the murderer of “innocent children” must not go unpunished.

“This is our first task— caring for our children. It’s our first job,” Obama said last December in Newtown, Connecticut, after the mass shooting of twenty school children. “If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged.”

In the fifth year of his presidency, we now have a foreign policy doctrine from Obama: that principled decisions, driven by fundamental good and contrasted by stark and evident evil, serve to reinforce the core national security interests of the United States, even when crippled by practical difficulties.

“Right makes might,” he said Saturday on Syria, from the Rose Garden, “not the other way around.”

“Fatigue does not absolve us of our responsibility,” Secretary John Kerry said from the State Department on Friday. “It is profoundly about who we are.”

Perhaps that, to Obama, is another core governing principle in American foreign policy: that partisanship should end at the water’s edge.

After moving warships and shouting threats, inaction could deliver a steep cost to American credibility around the world. The question Obama wants answered is whether America will adopt the Obama Doctrine: that right is might, and justifies the use of force.

This was the best possible viewpoint the reporter could muster regarding the Obama doctrine.

My take on the Obama doctrine is more: On the one hand…On the other hand.

On the one hand Obama will negotiate with all world leaders without preconditions

On the other hand he will not meet with Putin, goes to Sweden instead.

On the one hand action against Syria is of utmost urgency.

On the other hand there is no need to call in congress early. Take your time.

On the one hand the murderer of “innocent children” must not go unpunished.

On the other hand, if a baby survives an abortion attempt, it is o.k. to let the baby die if the original intent was to abort.

On the one hand, drone strikes are good, even if there are collateral deaths of innocent children.

On the other hand, guns are bad, since the wrong use of them could kill innocents.

On the one hand we will do no military action without the consent of U.N. or at least our allies.

On the other hand we must intervene without international buy-in.

I could go on with rich vs. poor, Muslims vs. Christians, white vs. black, etc. but I refrain.

This is my best take on the Obama doctrine.

Contrast this with the Palin doctrine: A five Point approach to Foreign Policy, presented by Governor Sarah Palin Aug. 27 in a speech at Colorado Christian University

First, we should only commit our forces when clear and vital American interests are at stake. Period.

Second, if we have to fight, we fight to win. To do that, we use overwhelming force. We only send our troops into war with the objective to defeat the enemy as quickly as possible. We do not stretch out our military with open-ended and ill-defined missions. Nation building is a nice idea in theory, but it is not the main purpose of our armed forces. We use our military to win wars.

And third, we must have clearly defined goals and objectives before sending troops into harm’s way. If you can’t explain the mission to the American people clearly and concisely, then our sons and daughters should not be sent into battle. Period.

Fourth, American soldiers must never be put under foreign command. We will fight side by side with our allies, but American soldiers must remain under the care and the command of American officers.

Fifth, sending in our armed forces should be the last resort. We don’t go looking for dragons to slay. However, we will encourage the forces of freedom around the world who are sincerely fighting for the empowerment of the individual. When it makes sense, when it’s appropriate, we will provide them with material support to help them win their own freedom.

Peregruzka? Russia triples the fee to ferry astronauts.

A trip down memory lane from Geneva March 2009.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton opened her first extended talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by giving him a present meant to symbolize the Obama administration’s vow to “press the reset button” on U.S.-Russia relations.

She handed a palm-sized box wrapped with a bow. Lavrov opened it and pulled out the gift: a red button on a black base with a Russian word peregruzka printed on top.

“We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?” Clinton asked.

“You got it wrong,” Lavrov said.

Instead of “reset,” Lavrov said the word on the box meant “overcharge.”

Clinton and Lavrov laughed.

“We won’t let you do that to us,” she said.

It doesn’t say ПЕРЕГРУЗКА on the button, it says PEREGRUZKA. The mistranslation is bad enough, but using Roman letters instead of Cyrillic? What was going on? Didn’t anyone realize they use a different alphabet over there? There are two possible explanations: Ignorance, or arrogance on the part of the Hillary Clinton State Department. I know Hillary Clinton has demonstrated plenty of both in statements such as: “What difference does it make?”

How has this reset worked out for us? Besides Iran, Syria, Turkey, Hezbollah, Libya, Pakistan, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and many other countries where U.S. and Russia have opposing interests, and Poland where we plainly sold out the missile defense, we are in a pickle on another front:

Space exploration.

Since Obama made it NASA’s highest priority to promote the contributions of Islam to science and the scrapping of the space shuttle program with no replacements in sight we are totally dependent on Russia to ferry our astronaut scientists to and from the space station.

Russia is doing the rational thing: Tripling the fees from $22 million to $71 million to transport just one American astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard its Soyuz spacecraft in 2016. –

Maybe Hillary really meant “Overcharge” instead of reset? Obama seems to love to give money to our adversaries instead of caring about our economy at home.

22 embassies closed in Muslim countries. Happy birthday Mr. President!

Aug 4 is the day is the day mentioned on Obama’s computer generated certificate of birth registration as his day of birth. He will be 52 years and in honor of this somebody in his administration has decided to close 22 embassies.
Last Sep 11 on the embassies in Egypt, Algeria and Tunis were attacked and the black flag of Al-Qaida was raised to the chant “Obama, Obama we are all Osama.”
Al-Qaida does not like we are trying to minimize their influence in the Syrian civil war, so this time they might sing:

Happy birthday, Barack
We will launch an attack
on your embassies, Barry.
This is our payback.

Sarah Palin on Syria: Let Allah sort it out.

As Sunnis and Shias are killing in Syria
They blame Sarah Palin for playing Valkyria.*
Bur she said without doubt
“Let Allah sort it out”
For peace is in Jesus – He is our criteria.
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin made the following comment while headlining the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington, D.C on Saturday:
“Militarily, where is our commander-in-chief? We’re talking now more new interventions. I say until we know what we’re doing, until we have a commander-in-chief who knows what he’s doing, well, let these radical Islamic countries who aren’t even respecting basic human rights, where both sides are slaughtering each other as they scream over an arbitrary red line, ‘Allah Akbar,’ I say until we have someone who knows what they’re doing, I say let Allah sort it out.”

* Valkyria (Old Norse).In Norse mythology, a valkyrie “chooser of the slain” is one of a host of female figures who decide which soldiers die in battle and which live.

Obama and abortion, Bill Maher and Trig Palin bashing.

This administration has shown a remarkable disdain for the less than perfect children. Obama himself on the Jay Leno show in 2009 was asked about the bowling alley in the White House. Obama joked to Leno that his average score of 129 “was like the Special Olympics or something.” He is also a stalwart proponent of unlimited abortions, even to the point of letting a child alive after the abortion be left to die if this was the intent of the procedure. The day after pill can now be dispensed without a prescription to anybody, even a child. This can be used as a tool by predator men to force young girls into situations they would never consent to otherwise. Women in so called “Geriatric Pregnancies” has to undergo all tests and listen to the advice of doctors and councelors to consider abortion if there are any abnormalities discovered during their pregnancy.
Predators come in many forms. Bill Maher has made numerous vile remarks about Sarah Palin and her children. He even stoops so low as to make jokes about her son Trig, born with the Down Syndrom. This is bottom feeding “entertainment” of the worst kind.
Needless to say Sarah Palin twitters back true to form:
Hey bully, on behalf of all kids whom you hatefully mock in order to make yourself feel big, I hope one flattens your lily white wimpy a#*.
I’m in your neck of the woods this weekend, little Bill. Care to meet so I can tell you how I really feel?
But here is a real nice photo of Sarah and Trig:

And every time I see them together on a photo I think of an old Sunday School song:
.
Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong.
.
Refrain:
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.
.
Jesus loves me! This I know,
As He loved so long ago,
Taking children on His knee,
Saying, “Let them come to Me.”
.
Jesus loves me still today,
Walking with me on my way,
Wanting as a friend to give
Light and love to all who live.
.
Jesus loves me! He who died
Heaven’s gate to open wide;
He will wash away my sin,
Let His little child come in.
.
Jesus loves me! He will stay
Close beside me all the way;
Thou hast bled and died for me,
I will henceforth live for Thee.