Fausta’s Blog

Back when I was growing up Old Spice was synonymous with Old Fogey. Glad to see times have changed.

(click on image for large version)

Another Soviet-style performance: Obama’s NASA speech was completely staged — not a single NASA worker was permitted to attend

Interviewed on MSNBC, a visibly shaken Jay Barbree — the longtime NBC science correspondent — described the duplicity of President Obama. Put simply, Obama’s campaign rhetoric — that he would preserve NASA’s cutting-edge science and engineering expertise — was, like so many of his promises, a fabrication. And he couldn’t even tell them to their faces.

BARBREE: …I’m a little disturbed right now, Alex. I just found out some very disturbing news. The President came down here in his campaign and told these 15,000 workers here at the Space Center that if they would vote for him, that he would protect their jobs. 9,000 of them are about to lose their job. He is speaking before 200, extra hundred people here today only. It’s invitation only. He has not invited a single space worker from this space port to attend. It’s only academics and other high officials from outside of the country. Not one of them is invited to hear the President of the United States, on their own space port, speak today. Back to you Alex.

And what did the MSNBC anchor do upon this bit of news?

Spin. Not only spin, but spin that “2500 new jobs will be created.”

At least the MSNBC anchor did not say that the 9,000 NASA employees that are being laid off should thank Obama.

Bringing a water pistol to a knife fight: Part 1
Gates Says U.S. Lacks Policy to Curb Iran’s Nuclear Drive

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has warned in a secret three-page memorandum to top White House officials that the United States does not have an effective long-range policy for dealing with Iran’s steady progress toward nuclear capability, according to government officials familiar with the document.

Several officials said the highly classified analysis, written in January to President Obama’s national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, came in the midst of an intensifying effort inside the Pentagon, the White House and the intelligence agencies to develop new options for Mr. Obama. They include a set of military alternatives, still under development, to be considered should diplomacy and sanctions fail to force Iran to change course.

Officials familiar with the memo’s contents would describe only portions dealing with strategy and policy, and not sections that apparently dealt with secret operations against Iran, or how to deal with Persian Gulf allies.

Jennifer Rubin:

Really, it’s jaw-dropping that, at this stage, Gates must sound the alarm, reminding everyone that nothing they’ve done so far has or is likely to work. Indeed, it’s hard to see how what the Obami are presently doing won’t impair those military options. After all, Obama is giving the Iranians cover to move ahead with their nuclear program while the UN dithers over negotiations about ineffective sanctions. The problem, we must conclude, is Obama, himself, who seems blissfully unaware of his own inadequate and misguided efforts. (”Some officials said his memo should be viewed in that light: as a warning to a relatively new president that the United States was not adequately prepared. He wrote the memo after Iran had let pass a 2009 deadline set by Mr. Obama to respond to his offers of diplomatic engagement.”)

The Obami seemed unprepared for the failure of engagement last year and are only now working on a sanctions effort; Gates’ memo suggests we are now no more prepared for what is in all likelihood the outcome of the next round of dithering: an Iranian regime undeterred from pursuing its nuclear ambitions.

Scott Johnson:

As always with stories like this, one wonders about the motives of the Times’s sources. Why would anonymous officials leak word of a highly classified memorandum suggesting that the administration has no policy beyond what has proved to be empty talk? These apparently well-informed officials must think that we have something to worry about.

Or, you might look at the issue from the Obami point of view, “who, me worry?”

Bringing a water pistol to a knife fight: Part 2
If the water pistol doesn’t work, then make them laugh:
Fight Al-Qaeda with satire, ridicule: researchers

Satire and ridicule can help win the fight against Al-Qaeda by stripping it of its glamour and mystique, a team of researchers argue in a report released in London and in comments to AFP.

Beating the Islamist movement is as much about winning the battle of ideas and undermining Al-Qaeda’s counter-culture cachet as it is about conventional anti-terrorism operations, said the report.

“Terrorism must be defeated through the deliberate ‘toxification’ of the al-Qaeda brand; not by making it seem dangerous, but by exposing it as dumb,” Jamie Bartlett, one of the report’s authors, told AFP.

“Al-Qaeda has to be ridiculed as the equivalent of a middle-aged dad at a school disco: enthusiastic, incompetent and excruciatingly uncool.”

How’s this for a start? Hey Bin Laden Your Brother Married a Goat!

Somehow I can’t believe that broadcasting “Your Brother Married a Goat” to every cave on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border will win us the war on terror. First of all who knows, maybe Bin Laden’s brother has a thing for four-legged creatures. More important is that once you forget the nice “peace, love and granola,” feelings, history has taught us that Islamists respect just one thing, Raw Power. Sticks and stones may not worm, but American Munitions are a better substitute than satire.

It’s bad enough when you have incompetents making foreign policy decisions; what’s even worse is to have unprepared incompetents who lack basic street smarts.

My latest article, Flyin’ High with Evo is up at Real Clear World.

Please go read it.

Ian Crittenden deserves our congratulations for his wonderful work on the Malawi Pangea Project.

Today’s Investor’s Business Daily editorial explains why it’s needed:
Free Trade’s Friends

Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Latin America and the Caribbean last week, making stops to shore up allies Colombia, Peru and Barbados, on the heels of the signing of the first major U.S. defense pact with Brazil in 30 years.

He’s doing his job, and not a moment too soon, given the den of dragons the region has become. Colombia’s FARC terrorists have now made common cause with Mexico’s drug traffickers, whose violence is spilling over the U.S. border.

Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez has allied with Iran and Russia, touting nuclear cooperation with both. Chavez also is acquiring as much as $9.5 billion in Russian arms — bad news, given his history of supplying terrorists and threatening neighbors.

His ally, Bolivia, is setting up a de facto Russian air force base to check U.S. allies in Peru and Chile. And his other ally, Ecuador, is making a name for itself as a money laundry for pariahs like Iran.

So it says something that the one issue Gates came out strongly for was passage of the U.S.-Colombia free trade pact. “I would hope that we would be in a position to make a renewed effort to get ratification of the free-trade agreement. It’s a good deal for Colombia. It’s also a very good deal for the U.S.,” said the defense chief.

The reasons are easy to understand. A stable, prosperous Colombia will serve as a beacon for others to imitate and contrast sharply with Chavez’s failed economic model. It also will send a message to the region that the U.S. can be trusted as an ally.

The irony is that Gate’s plea addresses not just Hugo Chavez, but also the failures of President Obama and congressional Democrats.

The president claims he wants free trade with Colombia, but has done nothing to rouse votes on Capitol Hill or to prod House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who personally iced the pact in 2008.

Mire in domestic politics, Congress remains in thrall to union cash, with Pelosi unwilling to move to a vote until Big Labor gives the nod, something the AFL-CIO says it will never do.

Even so, Obama’s Cabinet officials are pushing forward.

Colombia’s presidential palace told IBD that U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk called President Uribe’s office Thursday to say he’s expecting action soon. That’s welcome news.

It’ll be more than a bit strange if Obama’s own Cabinet pleads for free trade with Colombia while Obama and Congress’ Democrats continue to throw up obstacles. But that’s how it looks.

Must be that “smart diplomacy” we’ve been reading about.

Related:
The US is seeking deeper security co-operation with its Latin American allies, US defence secretary Robert Gates has said.

We will never say thank you

AND
Via Gerard,

You Picked a Fine Time to Lead Us, Barack:

Massive fireball reported across Midwestern sky

Authorities in several Midwestern states were flooded Wednesday night with reports of a gigantic fireball lighting up the sky, the National Weather Service said.

The fireball was visible for about 15 minutes beginning about 10 p.m., said the National Weather Service in Sullivan, Wisconsin, just west of Milwaukee.

“The fireball was seen over the northern sky, moving from west to east,” said the NWS in the Quad Cities area, which includes parts of Iowa and Illinois.

“Well before it reached the horizon, it broke up into smaller pieces and was lost from sight,” the service said. “Several reports of a prolonged sonic boom were received from areas north of Highway 20, along with shaking of homes, trees and various other objects including wind chimes,” it said.

Apparently the first explanation was that it was a meteorite disintegrating upon reaching the Earth’s atmosphere but it may have been asteroid debris or rocket debris instead.

Hat tip: Dan Riehl

Sing it, Jerry Lee:

Europe’s VAT Lessons
Rates start low and increase, while income tax rates stay high.

A VAT is essentially a national sales tax that is assessed at each stage of production, with the bill passed along to consumers at the cash register. In Europe the average rate is a little under 20%. (See the nearby chart.) In the U.S., a federal VAT would presumably be levied on top of state and local sales taxes that range as high as 10%. Some nations also exempt food, medicine and certain other goods from the tax.

VATs were sold in Europe as a way to tax consumption, which in principle does less economic harm than taxing income, savings or investment. This sounds good, but in practice the VAT has rarely replaced the income tax, or even resulted in a lower income-tax rate. The top individual income tax rate remains very high in Europe despite the VAT, with an average on the continent of about 46%.

Add your local, state, gas, Medicare, and Social Security and national healthcare taxes. Kiss your money good-bye.

Was reading the article linked by Babalu on the $30,400 per couple (how much for going stag, I wonder?) cocktail party the Estefans threw for Obama – which preceeded the fundraiser where Obama declared himself amused by yesterday’s Tea Party rallies,

He says he’s been a little amused over the past couple of days when people at the rallies complained about taxes.

Mas, oui,

What does $30,400 get you at an Obama coctail party?

Sushi.

I’m not kidding you. Rather than serve Cuban cuisine, the Estefans had sushi:

“There will be a sake and sushi bar featuring: filtered and unfiltered sake, Hamachi Chimichurri Maki, Spicy Scallop and Crab Maki, Midori Vegetarian Maki, South Beach Lobster Maki, lobster ceviche, and Ropa Vieja Maki.

There will also be hors d’oeurves featuring: Sesame Chicken and Broccoli, Hong Kong Noodles with Shrimp, Chicken and Pork, Thai Lemongrass Steak with Papaya-Pistachio Salad, Mushroom Potstickers (vegetarian), Classic Pork and Ginger Dumplings, and Spicy Chicken and Peanut Spring Rolls

There will be full beverage service with: full liquor bar supplied by the Estefans’ restaurant Bongos, Scharffenberger brut rose from Mendocino, Calif.; Emmolo sauvignon blanc from Napa Calif.; Cloudline pinto noir from Willamette Valley, Ore.; sparkling sake sangria; Sapporo Japanese beer; Tsingtao Chinese beer, non-alcoholic sparkling lemongrass lemonade (served on trays); non-alcoholic hibiscus iced tea; and mineral waters.

And the president can wash the food down with assorted specialty Rainbow Mochi ice cream,” Local 10 News Reports.

Mushroom Potstickers do sound intriguing. Probably best not to ask what’s in those.

Well, at least it was open bar.

I came across this tasty bit:

Emilio Estefan was appointed by the president to a committee that will study a potential National Museum of the American Latino.

Speaking as an American Latina, I’ll tell you what, Emilio: The sushi’s on you but I’ll take the $30,400 instead of any museum.

However, another curious note: The downtown Miami rally gathered 1,000 people to hail Obama, even when the admission fee was a paltry $250.

No sushi was served at that meeting.

We shall wait and see what the Tea Party conga line looks like in November.

Post edited to include Day By Day’s cartoon, with special thanks to Chris Muir.

UPDATE
Welcome, Instapundit readers, and please visit often.