Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment.

Obama and Palin react to the Facebook torture of a special needs teen , a Limerick.

A special needs teen is attacked.

Obama and Palin react:

One has feelings, one not

to the evil it brought.

Dear God, we must pray, we must act!

There were two, very different reactions to the brutal Facebook video showing four African-Americans torturing a white teen with special needs in Chicago.

Obama denied that racial tensions have increased in the Windy City, his home town. He said that “smart phones and the Internet has just made such incidents more visible.”

“What we have seen as surfacing, I think, are a lot of the problems that have been there a long time,”

President Obama Jan 5, 2017

Now contrast this with the article by Sarah Palin , January 6, 2017 in Breitbart:

“The child, yet unborn, spoke with the Father, ‘Lord, how will I survive in the world? I will not be like the other children. My walk may be slower, my speech hard to understand. I may look different. What is to become of me?’

“The Lord replied to the child, ‘My precious one, have no fear. I will give you protectors. They will love you because you are special, not in spite of it. Though your path through life will be difficult, your reward will be greater. You have been blessed with a special ability to love, and those whose lives you touch will be blessed because you are special.’”
– From an embroidered plaque sent anonymously to me when my son Trig was born

Trying to fathom what is shown in the Chicago torture video is just too much. I watched a mere few seconds of it and will watch no more. I cannot watch more. Perhaps my family and I see the torture of an innocent young man with special needs through different eyes and with a greater, undeniable sense of responsibility to help; but this story playing out today is proving unbearable.

It’s time for a screaming wake-up call, America.

My extended family discussed the tragedy last night. We concluded we do not care about arguing the legalities involved in categorizing this as a “hate crime” or not a “hate crime.” Obviously it is a hateful, hate-filled crime centering on politics and race. Proof is on tape. Debating the merits of categorizing the disgusting racist and political taunts vomited up by thugs during their brutal beating of a helpless young man is, to us, a media distraction. I leave it to others to focus on that.

My sister Heather has worked professionally in the public school system with older special needs students for decades. She and her husband have also been raising a beautiful son with autism and disabilities. My sister seems to have seen it all. Because of Heather’s years of experience in this tough arena, she could understandably have grown necessarily less emotionally reactive than others when seeing such a news report. But Heather and the family reacted with more explosive shock and disgust, mixed with such profound sadness, than perhaps expected.

She knows her precious students — and son and nephew — could never defend themselves against attacks from such evil people. That’s such common sense, though, that even the depraved creatures haughtily recording their recent brutality knew their victim was as defenseless.

Heather and family remind the public that this targeted beating by young adults is equivalent to torturing a small child. (And media: quit hiding the alleged perps, especially the reported 24-year-old, behind your deceptively descriptive term “teens”!) We’re curious to hear where our public leaders and influential pop icons are on this.

But President Obama… shush. Just shush with your reaction to this racist attack with claims that race relations have improved under your reign. That is BS. And why, even in this, do you have to make it all about you, all the time? Your suggestion yesterday that there’s some silver lining in this shows how completely out of touch you are. Attacks on the helpless and vulnerable — no matter skin color — are society’s cancer. You still don’t get it. A better reaction is to acknowledge, for one, that your pride and joy hometown of Chicago is a mess.

Further, acknowledge that you’ve helped perpetuate a culture that disrespects innocent life by pretending that babies aren’t really babies, so their lives don’t matter; by mocking special needs children on national television (as the President!); by promoting vile gangsta “artists” and their cultural depravity; and by wasting time and public resources instead of using them to better society by, for instance, creating jobs and expecting able-bodied persons to work for self-respect and responsibility instead of incentivizing a lawless, selfish, hard-hearted entitlement culture. You have no credibility when twisting this into somehow being about your “accomplishments.” You fail by making this about you.

And we all fail as protectors of the innocent when we ignore solutions to create a culture of life.

We fail when we accept the killing of defenseless babies.

We fail when we don’t properly budget public resources to afford obvious funding priorities to assist the disabled and elderly.

We fail when we allow the celebration of gangsta’ thuggery and the twisted media that always demonizes anyone with conservative values.

We fail when we retreat and capitulate to the elitist PC thought police who command that we sit down and shut up about their double standards.

We fail when we don’t hold statisticians and pundits accountable when they fake numbers and scenarios to make all cops — and all non-liberals — look like bullies and racists.

We fail when we don’t support law enforcement, and further burden them by wasting their limited time expecting them to respond and resolve every dispute that mature adults used to be able to handle themselves.

We further fail when we choose politicians in self-preservation mode who ignore basic social issues in favor of just the “safer” fiscal issues. Look, we can’t make America great again by focusing only on bureaucratic ideas to hopefully put more money in people’s pockets. Really, it’s more soul in the American life that will make us great again.

Is it politically incorrect to call on leaders — including black leaders — to proclaim this the wake-up call society needs? If so, so be it. I call on them.

Is it politically incorrect to challenge pop culture “heroes” to join in? If so, so be it. I challenge Colin Kaepernick to take a knee over this one, for this cause is based in reality.

May we all do our part to be protectors of the innocent — as God expects. Then our nation will be blessed, for our lives will be touched by special people with a special ability to love. We’ve missed that for too long.

One question: Which one cares?

A different Ballad of the Green Beret, as if sung by Barack Obama.

A song to the tune of the Ballad of the Green Beret about the damage done to the Green Berets during the time of President Obama.

(Imagine Obama singing all the verses but the last)

I was made in U.S.A.,
born in Kenya, what the hey.
this is all I have to say
I just hate the Green Beret.

Blame Republicans each day,
They must shut up and obey.
Sign Iranian give-away
for I loathe the Green Beret.

I use blackmail every day
forcing Congress to obey.
make them do all that I say.
I despise the Green Beret.

Legal guns I’ll take away.
Terrorists must have their sway.
I will jump into the fray,
make of naught the Green Beret.

ISIS growing every day
everything I do and say.
Gave the Army no leeway.
Did not use the Green Beret.

I say ISIL all the day,
thus I Israel betray.
The Levant is the whole bay
Useless is the Green Beret.

coda: (When Obama is gone Jan. 20)

There’s still hope for all who pray
for a while we went astray
When he’s gone we can repay
and restore the Green Beret.

Obama, like the Lion in Wizard of Oz gets Medal of Courage, gets medal of Distinguished Public Service. The 100th and final verse in the Obama song.

On Jan 4, 2017 soon exiting President Obama added another prestigious medal to his Nobel Prize collection when he had Defense Secretary Ash Carter award him the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.

Secretary Carter awarded his boss the medal during the Armed Forces Full Honor Farewell Review for the President held at Conmy Hall, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Virginia. The ceremony was sparsely attended, only the required crew of brass bothered to show up.

Carter insisted that the medal was a token of appreciation for Obama’s service as commander in chief, the Associated Press reported.

Like when the Wizard of Oz gave the Medal of Courage to the Lion lacking courage.

It was too much for one member of the Obama honor guard, so he passed out during the speeches.

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This completes the 100 verses of the Obama impeachment song (as if sung by President Barack Hussein Obama to the tune of “Please release me, let me go”)

Service Medal for myself

I am a narcissistic elf;

soon to be put on the shelf.

My judgment – or lack speaks for itself.

Here is the complete impeachment song: https://lenbilen.com/2015/02/25/the-complete-obama-impeachment-song/

Biomass subsidy scandal in Britain, a Limerick

Burn USA pellets in Britain

The British are subsidy smitten.

It’s the ECO-freaks turn

Must have money to burn.

Keep warm, lest we all get frost-bitten!

From BreitBart:

A green energy scandal that is saw people heating empty buildings just to collect government grants could cost British taxpayers more than £1 billion.

The UK Treasury faces a huge bill after spending on Northern Ireland’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) went out of control, with businesses installing otherwise useless biomass heaters just to profit from the scheme.

The RHI was championed by Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster back in 2012 when she was minister in charge of business and enterprise. There are now calls for her to resign over the fiasco.

The scheme was supposed to cost £25 million in its first five years, but will now likely be closer to £1.15 billion over 20 years. Around £660 million will have to be funded by taxpayers in the rest of the UK after ministers failed to cap costs, The Times reports.

Under the scheme, businesses could receive £160 for every £100 they spent on biomass fuels such as wood pellets. As businesses realised the profits they could make, there was a huge uptake and costs soon went out of control.

Finally, a whistle-blower exposed how businesses were purchasing biomass boilers just to collect the grant. One farmer in particular expected to make £1 million heating an empty shed, while another person hoped to make £1.5 million heating empty factories.

A similar scheme exists in the rest of the UK, but with much stricter spending controls. Northern Ireland’s Auditor-General, Kieran Donnelly, calculates that under that scheme a business could receive £192,000 over 20 years if it runs a boiler all year round. A similar business in Northern Ireland, however, could get £860,000.

Such is the outrage over the scandal that Mrs Foster’s political future is now in doubt. She survived a no-confidence motion last month, but new letters have come to light showing how she encouraged banks to “look favourably” on loan applications.

Martin McGuiness, the Deputy First Minister and leader of Sinn Fein, may now resign, causing the Northern Ireland government to collapse and triggering new elections.

A study in 2014 found that biomass may in fact be worse for the environment than fossil fuels, as the wood pellets used are often imported from North America, creating a bigger carbon footprint and contributing to deforestation in the United States.

The beverage tax in Philadelphia, sugar, aspartame, whatever, tax it, a Limerick.

The City of Philadelphia has levied an 1.5 cents per ounce of soft drinks.

So, if you buy one gallon of sweetened ice tea for 1.72 (on special) you end up paying 1.92 in tax, for a total of of 3.64, a 112 percent tax.

The soda tax levied in Philly

all soft drinks are taxed willy nilly.

Is it sugar? – relax

it’s an aspartame tax.

Ax tax! Lacks facts, whacks backs! Silly.

Nearly one third of Philadelphians receive food stamps (SNAP).

According to a new study released by the Food and Nutrition Service, the federal agency responsible for running the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), soft drinks are the #1 expenditure for people on food stamps (# 2 for the general population).

Great job, Philadelphia! Tax the people on food stamps! It would have been better to make soft drinks not eligible for food stamps! (They would have to settle for 70% or more non carbonated fruit juices!)

commodities_ranking-sc-1

One more verse to the Hillary Nursery rhyme: Hillary left alone.

Tweet 28 Dec

‏@carolynryan

Hillary at breakfast this morning at Mohonk Mountain House, upstate New York. Photo by my former NYT colleague Mike Smith.

This adds one more verse to the Hillary Clinton nursery rhyme:

Hillary, Hillary, where have you been?“It’s none of your business, for I am the queen.”

……more……………

Hillary, Hillary, why so alone?

“Lost election and friends, I am bad to the bone.”

The whole nursery rhyme: https://lenbilen.com/2015/05/17/hillary-clinton-as-a-nursery-rhyme/

Christmas 1941 versus Christmas now. Parallels are eerie.

75 years ago, today, Dec 26, 1941, three weeks after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed a joint session of Congress, urging a complete commitment to the war effort. World War II had been raging since September 1939 with the British hanging on by a thread and the U.S. sitting on the sidelines, only offering limited support. After invading Denmark and Norway, Hitler decided to invade the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France the night of May 10, 1940. This was the moment Britain chose Winston Churchill as Prime Minister.

05/13/1940. The British Prime Minister Winston CHURCHILL gave the speech (on the BBC) he just delievered at the House of Commons : “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat (…) What is our aim? (…) Victory, Victory at all costs – Victory in spite of all terrors (…) for without victory there is no survival (…). No survival (…) for the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move forward toward his goal. I feel entitled at this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, ‘Come then, let us go forward together with our united strenght’.” Next summer the Britain battle started, causing important destructions in London; the Royal Air Force nevertheless succeeded to push back the German air attacks.

When he met his Cabinet on May 13 he told them that “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” He repeated that phrase later in the day when he asked the House of Commons for a vote of confidence in his new all-party government. The response of Labour was heart-warming; the
Conservative reaction was luke-warm. They still really wanted Neville Chamberlain. For the first time, the people had hope but Churchill commented to General Ismay: “Poor people, poor people. They trust me,
and I can give them nothing but disaster for quite a long time.”

Excerpt from his speech: “We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all
our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war
against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable
catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I
can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in
spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be;
for without victory, there is no survival. Let that be realised; no
survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British
Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge and impulse of the ages,
that mankind will move forward towards its goal. But I take up my task
with buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered
to fail among men. At this time I feel entitled to claim the aid of all,
and I say, “come then, let us go forward together with our united
strength.”

Then came The Battle of Britain, which would have been lost but for Winston Churchill and the Royal Air Force. Winston Churchill and Major general Hastings Ismay were travelling together in a car, in which Winston rehearsed the speech he was to give in the House of Commons on 20 August 1940 after the Battle of Britain. When he came to the famous sentence, ‘Never in the history of mankind have so many owed so much to so few’, Ismay said ‘What about Jesus and his disciples?’ ‘Good old Pug,’ said Winston who immediately changed the wording to ‘Never in the field of human conflict have so many owed so much to so few’

Words change history. Britain fought mostly alone in despair awaiting the inevitable invasion that they were in no way prepared to fend off. But then came Pearl Harbor. When Winston Churchill heard about it and that the U.S. had entered the war he slept soundly that night for the first time since the war started. Summoned to the U.S. he gave an impassioned speech to Congress. It was the day after Christmas, so the seats were mostly empty, but he finished the speech with the famous V sign to roaring applause.

About the Japanese he questioned, “What kind of a people do they think we are? Is it possible that they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?” As for the German forces he claimed, “With proper weapons and proper organization, we can beat the life out of the savage Nazi. These wicked men who have brought evil forces into play must “know they will be called to terrible account if they cannot beat down by force of arms the peoples they have assailed.”

That was then. What is happening now is in many ways worse. Germany and Japan were well defined entities, Russia and Iran may be, but the real enemy is the ideology of Radical Islam with a two fold approach in conquering the world, terrorism through Jihad, where the “martyrs” are assured of direct entry to heaven, the other is through “emigration and multiplying.” Normal warfare will not solve this epic battle of the 21st Century. It must be fought with ideology.

Yet the parallels are eerie. Neville Chamberlain came back from meeting with Hitler in Munich with a piece of paper where Hitler promised that after annexing Sudetenland the had no further territorial ambitions. Neville Chamberlain proclaimed “Peace for our time“. That lasted one year.

Obama has “negotiated” a deal with Iran that is much worse. It proclaims to delay Iran’s entry into the nuclear club by 10 years, but does nothing of that sort. Iran can have bombs within six months, and they have the rockets to deliver them. Hitler promised peace, Iran promises that “Israel must be wiped from the Face of the Earth” and “Death to America“. For these promises Obama and John Kerry agreed to abolish the sanctions and give Iran 140 billion dollars, some of it in cash that could be immediately dispersed to their terrorist groups.

Obama’s and Chamberlain’s shame:

Was “Peace for our time” just in name?

When Iran gets its nukes

it’s too late for rebukes.

It’s Winston’s and Benyamin’s claim.

The best way to explain Obama’s negotiating behaviour is that he is delusional. All other interpretations are worse. One telltale sign was when Obama told the British to take back the bust of Winston Churchill that had been on prominent display in the Oval Office. He replaced it wirh a photo of himself walking on water.

Obama shows signs he can’t hack it.

The consequence starts to attack it.

Winston Churchill was right,

We must still face the fight.

The bust of old Winston: Take back it!

The final blow came right before Christmas this year. Obama withdrew his support for Israel by abstaining a resolution to condemn Israel’s settlements. This will further destabilize the Middle East making the task of the incoming Trump Administration much more difficult.

Hannukah and Christmas together, a bond that cannot be severed, a Limerick.

Yesterday the Obama administration, the lamest of all ducks with four weeks left on its “reign”decided to abandon Israel, stabbing it in the back, trying to make it as difficult as possible for the Unites States to play a role in future peace negotiations. Days before the United States had been frozen out of the Syria deal, leaving Russia, Turkey and Iran as the only worthy partners in middle East negotiations.

President elect Donald Trump has his work cut out for him. Yet, there is hope. His latest tweet: “As to the U.N. things will be different after Jan 20.”

It’s Hannukah, Christmas together

and nothing can our bonds sever.

It’s God Jul and Noël

“All is peace”, God makes well.

Obama the traitor, whatever.

“Christmas and Hanukkah doesn’t have to be seen as contradictory, but rather a complimentary celebration of America’s Judeo/Christian foundation”

– Governor Sarah Palin

U.N. votes to condemn Israeli settlements. U.S. abandons Israel, a Limerick.

The Obama administration on Friday allowed the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements, defying pressure from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as well as Israel and several U.S. senators who urged Washington to use its veto.

The resolution was put forward at the 15-member council for a vote on Friday by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal a day after Egypt withdrew it under pressure from Israel and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Israel and Trump had called on the United States to veto the measure.

It was adopted with 14 votes in favor, to a round of applause. It is the first resolution the Security Council has adopted on Israel and the Palestinians in nearly eight years.

Obama has made the decision

to vote to enlarge the division

between Jews and their foes.

He wants war, and it shows.

The verdict: He’s held in derision.

Both Senator John McCain and Chuck Schumer in a rare agreement is condemning the vote to no longer support Israel.

President Elect Donald Trump’s tweet on the matter: As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th.

As to soon to be ex President Obama, he prefers the applause from the 57 Muslim states rather to work for a lasting peace in the Middle East.

Members of Congress threatened to de-fund the UN. The U.S. accounts for some 22% of the UN’s budget, supporting a large, comfortable bureaucracy and its various programs.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) issued a statement, warning:

This provocative action by the United Nations is an outrage and must be dealt with sternly and forcefully.

As the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I oversee the United States assistance to the United Nations. The United States is currently responsible for approximately 22 percent of the United Nations total budget.

If the United Nations moves forward with the ill-conceived resolution, I will work to form a bipartisan coalition to suspend or significantly reduce United States assistance to the United Nations.

In addition, any nation which backs this resolution and receives assistance from the United States will put that assistance in jeopardy.

Others joined Graham’s call to defund the UN, including Sen. James Lankford (R-OH). The Republican Jewish Coalition issued a statement also calling for defunding the UN:

By allowing the United Nations’ anti-Israel resolution to be adopted by the Security Council, in the face of fierce bi-partisan opposition, the actions of the Obama Administration will forever be remembered as a dark, shameful moment for our country. The resolution passed today will only serve as a greater barrier to peace, which can only truly be achieved through negotiations. Instead of pressuring the Palestinians to be a partner for peace, President Obama chose to break with long standing diplomatic practices and allowed the one-sided, anti-Israel United Nations to be used as a tool to bludgeon Israel, our greatest ally in the Middle East.

We applaud the efforts of Republican Senators, led by Senator Graham, to strip funding to the United Nations, which has time and again showed their anti-Israel bias. What happened today will forever be on the heads of the President, his Party, and groups like J Street that remained silent.

Snow in Sahara before Christmas! A Limerick.

It snowed in Sahara last night!

Ain Sefra’s, Algeria delight.

It did last for a day.

Cold. What more can I say?

A wrench in the Climate Change fight.

It is the first time since February 1979 it has snowed in Ain Sefra, located on the edge of the Sahara Desert. That snow lasted for about an hour, and it was mid-winter. This time the snow lasted for a whole day, and it was on the last day of fall!

I guess this is why the alarmists changed from calling it Global Warming to Climate change. Snow that lies doesn’t lie.

It is getting cold.

Look at the snow cover!

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