Part 13 of The Swamp’s continuing series on Barack Obama’s main campaign policy document, “The Blueprint For Change,” continues with his call for national service. You must join the Party and become part of the State! (was that Barry O-Zebra or Joey Stalin?)
“Your own story and the American story are not separate – they are shared. And they will both be enriched if we stand up together, and answer a new call to service to meet the challenges of our new century. … I won’t just ask for your vote as a candidate; I will ask for your service and your active citizenship when I am president of the United States. This will not be a call issued in one speech or program; this will be a cause of my presidency. ”
— Barack Obama, Speech in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, December 5, 2007
For only in government can we succeed…..
Barack Obama’s Plan for Universal Voluntary Public Service
It ain’t gonna be universal if it is voluntary.
At a Glance
Ask All Americans to Work Together to Meet Our Common Challenges
Obama will expand AmeriCorps to 250,000 slots and double the Peace Corps and dedicate these positions
to addressing America’s common challenges. He also will provide new service opportunities for working Americans and retirees.
What a load of manure! What has the Peace Corpse done for the USA? Nothing besides be a feel good refuge for the rejects of the 60s and their ilk. What has AmericaCorpse done besides give a bit of good press to Billy Jeff Clinton and get his Willie off the front pages for a while?
Expand Service Learning
Obama will integrate service-learning into our schools to enable students to graduate college with as many as 17 weeks of service experience.
What in the world is he talkin’ ’bout? Giving college kids 17 weeks of experience as waiters and waitresses? Where does he find any federal government involvement with college programs listed in the Constitution? Nowhere in that document does it say anything about socialism indoctrination.
Bolster the Nonprofit Sector
By leveraging federal dollars, Obama will foster the use of best practices of the private sector to nurture innovation in the nonprofit sector.
That’s the job of private contributors, not the federal government. You don’t have authorization to use federal taxpayer funds for charities.
THE PROBLEM
Americans Not Asked to Serve After 9/11
President Bush squandered an opportunity to mobilize the American people following 9/11 when asked Americans only to go shopping.
He asked for folks to serve…in our nation’s military! Oh, sorry. You believe that our military is a bad thing. Our bad. You want Young Pioneers and Junior Communists to Serve the State!
Insufficient Federal Support for Service
While more than 500,000 people have served in AmeriCorps, the program turns away tens of thousands of applicants a year because of limited funding.
It should have ZERO federal funding.
Need for More R&D in Nonprofit Sector
Research and development in the nonprofit sector is limited and there is a disconnect between charitable foundations that can fund innovation and the organizations on the ground that can test new concepts and bring them to scale.
And that is the job of the federal government exactly how? We still don’t find that stuff in the Constitution.
BARACK OBAMA’s Plan
Enable All Americans to Serve to Meet the Nation’s Challenges
Expand Corporation for National and Community Service: Obama will expand AmeriCorps from 75,000 slots today to 250,000 and he will focus this expansion on addressing the great challenges facing the nation. He will establish a Classroom Corps to help teachers and students, with a priority placed on underserved schools; a Health Corps to improve public health outreach; a Clean Energy Corps to conduct weatherization and renewable energy projects; a Veterans Corps to assist veterans at hospitals, nursing homes and homeless shelters; and a Homeland Security Corps to help communities plan, prepare for and respond to emergencies.
Where to start?
a) Zero out Americorpse.
b) You can help out schools by getting the federal government and the NEA out of them, along with allowing school choice, which would force schools to improve or get closed down.
c) Haven’t you already proposed nationalized socialist health care that is guaranteed to fail?
d) Get the government out of the way when it comes to energy. We need to go for more energy NOW while developing cleaner and renewable resources for the future, but gummint isn’t the way to do it.
e) Isn’t that what the VA is supposed to do, if properly funded by Congress?
f) You have opposed everything in the realm of homeland security. The planning, preparing, and responding to local emergencies is the job of the local and state governments.
Engage Retiring Americans in Service on a Large Scale: Older Americans have a wide range of skills and knowledge to contribute. Obama will expand and improve programs that connect individuals over the age of 55 to quality volunteer opportunities.
It is up to those people and those organizations themselves to do that, not the federal government. We are not property of The State.
Expand the Peace Corps: Obama will double the Peace Corps to 16,000 by 2011. He will work with the leaders of other countries to build an international network of overseas volunteers so that Americans work side-by-side with volunteers from other countries.
Where does he find this fertilizer in the Constitution? How does this bovine excrement help America? He doesn’t and it doesn’t.
Show the World the Best Face of America: Obama will set up an America’s Voice Initiative to send Americans who are fluent speakers of local languages to expand our public diplomacy. He also will extend opportunities for older individuals such as teachers, engineers, and doctors to serve overseas.
If people want to do that sort of thing, they can already do so. It doesn’t take the government. Of course, we can start by exporting all people living here who don’t speak English, most of whom aren’t supposed to be here in the first place…
Integrate Service into Learning
Expand Service-Learning in Our Nation’s Schools: Obama will set a goal that all middle and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year. He will develop national guidelines for servicelearning and will give schools better tools both to develop programs and to document student experience.
The federal government has no business getting involved in making demands on our local schools. Forcing schools to make the kids into good little community serving socialists is not allowed. Education was left out of the Constitution because the Founding Fathers felt that it was the job of the states, communities, and families to decide how kids should be educated.
Green Job Corps: Obama will create an energy-focused youth jobs program to provide disadvantaged youth with service opportunities weatherizing buildings and getting practical experience in fast-growing career fields.
Here we go with the “disadvantaged youth” horse hockey that the leftists are famous for, along with more government programs. If building owners want their buildings weatherized, they can pay for it themselves. If they want to train some younger folks, that is up to them.
Expand YouthBuild Program: Obama will expand the YouthBuild program, which gives disadvantaged young people the chance to complete their high school education, learn valuable skills and build affordable housing in their communities. He will grow the program so that 50,000 low-income young people a year a chance to learn construction job skills and complete high school.
a) There’s no such thing as a “disadvantaged youth” in America.
b) Every kid in America already has the chance to complete their high school education, even if it is already run by the idiots of the teachers unions.
c) Any kid that wants to learn skills is free to apply for jobs, since there will be plenty of them when we kick the illegal aliens out.
d) Thanks to the Democrat Congress, housing is extremely affordable throughout the nation these days, and becoming more affordable daily as home values drop.
Require 100 Hours of Service in College: Obama will establish a new American Opportunity Tax Credit that worth $4,000 a year in exchange for 100 hours of public service a year.
REQUIRE????? Where does he get that power? We could have sworn that we were still in the United States of America!
Promote College Serve-Study: Obama will ensure that at least 25 percent of College Work-Study funds are used to support public service opportunities instead of jobs in dining halls and libraries.
You must Serve the State! Since there’s no authorization for any work-study federal funding in the first place, where does he get the power to dictate where state and private funds are spent?
Invest in the Nonprofit Sector:
Social Investment Fund Network: Obama will create a Social Investment Fund Network to use federal seed money to leverage private sector funding to improve local innovation, test the impact of new ideas and expand successful programs to scale.
What? Private sector funding needs no federal funds or federal intervention. The federal government has no place in local innovation and community affairs. PERIOD!
Social Entrepreneurship Agency for Nonprofits: Barack Obama will a create an agency within the Corporation for National and Community Service dedicated to building the capacity and effectiveness of the nonprofit sector.
We hope that Corporation of your’s is a private enterprise with no federal funding or administration, since it isn’t Constitutional and sounds like a load of poultry droppings.
OBAMA’S RECORD
A Lifetime of Service
Obama began his career by moving to the South Side of Chicago to direct the Developing Communities Project. Together with a coalition of ministers (how quaint…he still calls Wright, Farrakhan, and Pflieger “ministers”), Obama set out to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued by crime and high unemployment. By tossing in some good old-fashioned Chicago corruption and racism? That sounds like a real winner of a plan! After graduating from law school, Obama passed up lucrative law firm jobs to head Project Vote, which helped register 150,000 new African American voters in Chicago, the highest number ever registered in a single local effort. 100,000 of them, as per Chicago tradition, were from the local cemeteries or were not actually legal to vote under federal law, such as felons and illegal aliens. Michelle Obama was founding executive director of Public Allies Chicago, a leadership development program that identifies and prepares talented young adults for careers serving the public good.
That’s nice. You did things within the bounds of community and state. That is where those efforts belong. You are now running for the Presidency. Those type of programs are not in the balliwick of the federal government.
for more information
Read the Speech:
http://www.barackobama.com/2007/12/05/obama_issues_call_to_serve_vow.php
Watch Excerpts of the Speech:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post_group/ObamaHQ/CRHJ
Read the Plan:
Click to access NationalServicePlanFactSheet.pdf
or try reading the Constitution and finding out what the actual jobs and responsibilities of the federal government are
Our series on Barack Obama’s main campaign document, “The Blueprint For Change,” continues. Here comes the section on Civil Rights. Of course, one of his big lies comes from this subject, since he stated that his parents met on the Selma march, when he was already born by that time.
BARACK OBAMA’S PLAN TO STRENGTHEN CIVIL RIGHTS
“The teenagers and college students who left their homes to march in the streets of Birmingham and Montgomery; the mothers who walked instead of taking the bus after a long day of doing somebody else’s laundry and cleaning somebody else’s kitchen – they didn’t brave fire hoses and Billy clubs so that their grandchildren and their greatgrandchildrenwould still wonder at the beginning of the 21st century whether their vote would be counted; whether their civil rights would be protected by their government; whether justice would be equal and opportunity would be theirs. … We have more work to do.”
–Barack Obama
Speech at Howard University, September 28, 2007
The party that tries to make the votes of minority members of the armed forces not count is the Democratic Party (see November of 2000 in Florida). The party that protects equal rights is the GOP, but the party that wants to keep discrimination alive (affirmative action) is the Democratic Party. The party that supports equal justice under the actual Constitution is the GOP, while the Dems want the Constitution to change at the whims of the Unelected Folks in Black.
AT A GLANCE
Strengthen Civil Rights Enforcement:
Obama will staff the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department with lawyers who prosecute civil rights violations, employment discrimination, and hate crimes instead of political cronies.
Hate crimes are unConstitutional, according to the equal protection clause of Section 1 of the 14th Amendment. A murder is a murder, and the motivation of it doesn’t matter. If someone commits a crime, and another person commits the same crime, but has racist motives, then to prosecute them differently is not equality under the law. Then again, Ginsburg et al cannot fathom the simple English of the Constitution.
Protect the Right to Vote
Obama will remove discriminatory barriers to the right to vote.
The only discriminatory barriers are the qualifications of age, citizenship, and lack of felony convictions. Does he want people of all ages to vote? Does he want non-American citizens (legal and illegal) to vote? (Probably) Does he want criminals to vote? (Probably) Since he’s from the Chicago Democratic Machine, we know he supports having the dead folks in the cemeteries vote. His party supports discriminatory barriers when it comes to our troops stationed overseas. Besides, there is no actual “right to vote” delineated in the Constitution’s body. Several amendments say that the right to vote cannot be abridged by certain things, such as failure to pay a poll tax or any other tax, sex, race, color, previous condition of servitude, or age (as long as the citizen has reached the age of 18).
Promote Fairness in the Criminal Justice System
Obama will work to ban racial profiling, eliminate disparities in criminal sentencing, and encourage the
Encourage the what? Why is this sentence left open-ended? Profiling is a simple and proper tool for use in law enforcement, intelligence gathering, security, etc. Since 95% of the terrorist incidents in the world are done by arab males between the ages of 18 and 45, it makes sense to look at them. Besides, state and local law enforcement, and state courts with their sentencing guidelines, are not open to federal intervention. It’s right there in that document ©1787.
THE PROBLEM
Pay Inequity Continues
For every $1.00 earned by a man, the average woman receives only 77 cents, while African American women only get 67 cents and Latinas receive only 57 cents.
Try looking at the disparities based on experience on the job and education level. Those pay inequities disappear. Anyway, where does the federal government get any power to interfere in the private business contracts between employers and employees? It’s not one of the powers enumerated in the Constitution.
Hate Crimes on the Rise
The number of hate crimes increased nearly 8 percent to 7,700 incidents in 2006.
All crimes of violence are hate crimes. The use of hate crimes legislation and prosecution is a political tool, so the numbers rise and fall depending on the whims of legislators and prosecutors, not actual actions.
Efforts Continue to Suppress the Vote
A recent study discovered numerous organized efforts to intimidate, mislead and suppress minority voters.
WHERE’S THE BEEF? This is a complete and total lie. There have been no such claims that have withstood the light of examination and investigation.
Disparities Continue to Plague Criminal Justice System:
African Americans and Hispanics are more than twice as likely as whites to be searched, arrested, or subdued with force when stopped by police. Disparities in drug sentencing laws, like the differential treatment of crack as opposed to powder cocaine, are unfair.
Maybe blacks and hispanics are more likely to be criminals (as evidenced by their numbers in the prison system)? Maybe they tend to resist or run much more often, as drug criminals usually do (ever watch a COPS marathon?)? Maybe crack addicts tend to be engaged in much more criminal behavior and violent crime than those who sniff the powder? Maybe crack is more addictive than the powder? It is up to the states to determine the sentencing laws within their borders.
BARACK OBAMA’S PLAN
Strengthen Civil Rights Enforcement
Obama will reverse the politicization that has occurred in the Bush Administration’s Department of Justice. He will put an end to the ideological litmus tests used to fill positions within the Civil Rights Division.
No he won’t. He’d make sure everyone there was vetted by Sharpton, Jackson, the ACLU, etc.
Combat Employment Discrimination
Obama will work to overturn the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that curtails racial minorities’ and women’s ability to challenge pay discrimination. Obama will also pass the Fair Pay Act to ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work.
The Constitution gives you no such power. Try reading it sometime.
Expand Hate Crimes Statutes
Obama will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice’s Criminal Section.
Amendment 14, Section 1….”equal protection of the laws.” So much for your unprovable hate crimes. Thought cannot be proven as evidence.
End Deceptive Voting Practices:
Obama will sign into law his legislation that establishes harsh penalties for those who have engaged in voter fraud and provides voters who have been misinformed with accurate and full information so they can vote.
Wait a sec. You’re going after the groups you worked for, such as ACORN and the Chicago Democratic machine? They are major players in voter fraud. As for accurate and full information for voters…make sure the voters speak English (a requirement for citizenship, so it should therefore be a requirement for voting) since the campaigns are conducted in the language of the nation. Print ballots in English only. Pressure your buddies in the mainstream media to give fair and accurate information about BOTH sides. Oh, sorry. That might cause them to paint you with less than flattering words and expose you for the full-blown socialist you are.
End Racial Profiling
Obama will ban racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies and provide federal incentives to state and local police departments to prohibit the practice.
Yeah. Let’s let muslims go onboard planes unchecked while we give Granny a full body cavity search.
Reduce Crime Recidivism by Providing Ex-Offender Support
Obama will provide job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling to ex-offenders, so that they are successfully re-integrated into society. Obama will also create a prison-to-work incentive program to improve ex-offender employment and job retention rates.
That’s not the job of the federal government. Job training comes from the employers who want to hire those folks. Their incentive is to earn a living and stay out of prison!
Eliminate Sentencing Disparities
Obama believes the disparity between sentencing crack and powder-based cocaine is wrong and should be completely eliminated.
As soon as the disparities in the addictivity and effects of crack vs powder and the behavior of crack users vs powder users is completely eliminated, then the states might consider it. Until then…..NO!
Expand Use of Drug Courts:
Obama will give first-time, non-violent offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior.
Try tightening up the prisons so that there’s no drugs available on the inside. During their stay they will be forced to kick their addiction.
OBAMA RECORD
Record of Advocacy
Obama has worked to promote civil rights and fairness in the criminal justice system throughout his career. As a community organizer, Obama helped 150,000 African Americans register to vote.
As a member of ACORN, he helped facilitate plenty of voter fraud. How many of those 150,000 did he personally help? How many of them were actually legal to vote (no felony conviction, actually alive)? As a civil rights lawyer, Obama litigated employment discrimination
(not a Constitutional federal issue), housing discrimination
(not a Constitutional federal issue), and voting rights cases. As a state senator, Obama passed one of the country’s first racial profiling law and helped reform a broken death penalty system
(by making it impossible for a criminal to get executed in Illinois).
And in the U.S. Senate, Obama has been a leading advocate for protecting the right to vote, helping to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act and leading the opposition against discriminatory barriers to voting.
By supporting legislation making it illegal to require voters to show that they are, in fact, legal voters!
For More Information about Barack’s Plan
Read the Plan
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/votingrights/
Read the Speech:
http://www.barackobama.com/2007/09/28/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_26.php
The 15th part in our series on Barack Obama’s main campaign policy document, “The Blueprint For Change,” gets to one of Senator Obama’s glaring weaknesses, foreign policy. How bad is he wanting to screw it up? Let’s find out.
Barack Obama’s Plan to Secure America and Restore Our Standing
“When I am this party’s nominee, my opponent will not be able to say that I voted for the war in Iraq; or that I gave George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran; or that I supported Bush-Cheney policies of not talking to leaders that we don’t like. And he will not be able to say that I wavered on something as fundamental as whether or not it is ok forAmerica to torture – because it is never ok. … I will end the war in Iraq. … I will close Guantanamo. I will restore habeas corpus. I will finish the fight against Al Qaeda. And I will lead the world to combat the common threats of the 21st century: nuclear weapons and terrorism; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. And I will send once more a message to those yearning faces beyond our shores that says, “You matter to us. Your future is our future. And our moment is now.”
-Des Moines, Iowa, November 10, 2007
What a load of manure! Saddam violated the ceasefire repeatedly, so we were OBLIGED under international law and that treaty to reform the coalition and remove his government from power. We never talk to opposing leaders unless there are preconditions. Torture is fine and dandy when it comes to illegal combatants, according to the Rules of War and the Geneva Conventions. Habeas Corpus is not given to foreign illegal combatants outside of the USA, as least it is not done so in the Constitution that was written in 1787. Man made climate change is STILL a myth.
AT A GLANCE
The War in Iraq
Obama is the only major candidate who had the judgment to oppose the Iraq War from the beginning. He will end the war responsibly by bringing our troops home within 16 months, pressing for a political solution to Iraq’s civil war, and launching the diplomatic and humanitarian initiatives that are need to bring stability to Iraq.
In other words, he wanted to continue the Clinton Administration policy of ignoring international law and our obligations under the 1991 cease fire treaty. He also did not have the intelligence reports that the REAL Senators, President, and leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Poland, etc, had. He’s wanting to immediately return our troops home, in spite of the success they have had. Why would he want to do that unless he wants us to fail?
Terrorism
Obama will fight terrorism and protect America with a comprehensive strategy that finishes the fight in Afghanistan, cracks down on the al Qaeda safe-haven in Pakistan, develops new capabilities and international partnerships, engages the world to dry up support for extremism, and reaffirms American values.
The Swamp agrees with this paragraph. Pakistan is the biggest roadblock right now to winning this fight. Of course, what we know as traditional American values is different from Obama’s Socialist American Utopia’s values, since they are based on personal responsibility and a government limited by the actual words of the Constitution…
Iran
Obama has stood up against going to war with Iran, and called for a new approach. He will lead tough diplomacy with the Iranian regime, and offer Iran the choice of increased international pressure or incentives if it stops its disturbing behavior.
Why offer them incentives? That just rewards them for their bad behavior. Some of us actually believe them when they say that they wish to wipe Israel off the map and destroy the Great Satan (which is US).
Renewing American Diplomacy
Obama will turn the page on the Bush-Cheney diplomacy of not talking to countries that we don’t like. He will talk to our foes as well as our friends, and he will restore American leadership and alliances abroad.
Talking to them is one thing, but doing so with no preconditions whatsoever is just moronic.
Nuclear Weapons
Obama has a bold agenda to reduce the threat of nuclear proliferation. He will secure loose nuclear materials from terrorists, and lead the world toward the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons.
What is he? Superman? How’s he planning to get the Islamic terrorists to give up their nuke materials, when they are operating under the commandments of the Koran?
21st Century Military
Obama will give the finest military in the world the support it needs to face the threats of the 21st century.
He will expand our ground forces, develop new capabilities, and restore the trust between the commander in chief and those who serve.
HAHAHAHA!!! How is he going to restore trust when he doesn’t trust the commanders in the field right now? He is one of the many who refused to meet with Petraeus and refused to believe his reports. His party opposes giving our military the tools it needs, and supports surrendering to our enemies. Maybe that is a reason the military doesn’t trust anybody in the party who’s symbol is the jackass.
ENDING THE WAR IN IRAQ
Judgment You Can Trust
As a candidate for the United States Senate in 2002, Obama put his political career on the line to oppose going to war in Iraq, and warned of “an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs, and undetermined consequences.” Obama has been a consistent, principled and vocal opponent of the war in Iraq:
• In 2003 and 2004, he spoke out against the war on the campaign trail;
Treaties mean nothing unless they are written to cripple our economy (Kyoto)?
• In 2005, he called for a phased withdrawal of our troops; Yet the SURGE has proven that he was wrong!
• In 2006, he called for a timetable to remove our troops, a political solution within Iraq, and aggressive diplomacy with all of Iraq’s neighbors; Let’s give our enemies a timetable for when we will leave, so they can set the date for their final victory offensive.
• In January 2007, he introduced legislation in the Senate to remove all of our combat troops from Iraq by March 2008.
To Hell with success, we need to surrender!
• In September 2007, he laid out a detailed plan for how he will end the war as president. Without consulting the commanders in the field.
Bring Our Troops Home
Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months. Obama will make it clear that we will not build any permanent bases in Iraq. He will keep some troops in Iraq to protect our embassy and
diplomats; if al Qaeda attempts to build a base within Iraq, he will keep troops in Iraq or elsewhere in the region to carry out targeted strikes on al Qaeda.
MORON!
Press Iraq’s leaders to reconcile
The best way to press Iraq’s leaders to take responsibility for their future is to make it clear that we are leaving. No, that’s they way to embolden our enemies. As we remove our troops, Obama will engage representatives from all levels of Iraqi society – in and out of government – to seek a new accord on Iraq’s Constitution and governance. Why bother with their Constitution? You oppose OUR Constitution! The United Nations will play a central role in this convention, which should not adjourn until a new national accord is reached addressing tough questions like federalism and oil revenue-sharing.
They’ve been operating under the proposals for revenue sharing already, even if they haven’t finished ratification.
Regional Diplomacy
Obama will launch the most aggressive diplomatic effort in recent American history to reach a new compact on the stability of Iraq and the Middle East. This effort will include all of Iraq’s neighbors – including Iran and Syria. This compact will aim to secure Iraq’s borders; keep neighboring countries from meddling inside Iraq; isolate al Qaeda; support reconciliation among Iraq’s sectarian groups; and provide financial support for Iraq’s reconstruction.
Earth to Obama: Iran and Syria support terrorists! Ever hear of Hezbollah?
Humanitarian Initiative
Obama believes that America has a moral and security responsibility to confront Iraq’s humanitarian crisis – two million Iraqis are refugees; two million more are displaced inside their own country. Obama will form an international working group to address this crisis. He will provide at least $2 billion to expand services to Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries, and ensure that Iraqis inside their own country can find a safe-haven.
Why not let their fellow arabs, who are swimming in money, help out?
FOREIGN POLICY
IRAN
The Problem
Iran has sought nuclear weapons, supports militias inside Iraq and terror across the region, and its leaders threaten Israel and deny the Holocaust. But Obama believes that we have not exhausted our non-military options in confronting this threat; in many ways, we have yet to try them. That’s why Obama stood up to the Bush administration’s warnings of war, just like he stood up to the war in Iraq.
If we just ask nicely…
Opposed Bush-Cheney Saber Rattling
Obama opposed the Kyl-Lieberman amendment, which says we should use our military presence in Iraq to counter the threat from Iran. Obama believes that it was reckless for Congress to give George Bush any justification to extend the Iraq War or to attack Iran. Obama also introduced a resolution in the Senate declaring that no act of Congress – including Kyl-Lieberman – gives the Bush administration authorization to attack Iran.
No act of Congress has the authority to be an act of Congress? What an idiot. He doesn’t want to counter a military threat with force of our own? What’s he going to counter them with, the Peace Corps?
Diplomacy
Obama is the only major candidate who supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions. Now is the time to pressure Iran directly to change their troubling behavior. Obama would offer the Iranian regime a choice. If Iran abandons its nuclear program and support for terrorism, we will offer incentives like membership in the World Trade Organization, economic investments, and a move toward normal diplomatic relations. If Iran continues its troubling behavior, we will step up our economic pressure and political isolation. Seeking this kind of comprehensive settlement with Iran is our best way to make progress.
Let’s hold hands and sing Kum-bah-ya……. Does he really believe that Iran is going to stop supporting Hezbollah? They have pledged to destroy Israel and the Great Satan. They’re not going to change.
RENEWING AMERICAN DIPLOMACY
The Problem
The United States is trapped by the Bush-Cheney approach to diplomacy that refuses to talk to leaders we don’t like. Not talking doesn’t make us look tough – it makes us look arrogant, it denies us opportunities to make progress, and it makes it harder for America to rally international support for our leadership. On challenges ranging from terrorism to disease, nuclear weapons to climate change, we cannot make progress unless we can draw on strong international support.
You don’t talk to the enemy without some serious prior groundwork and preconditions. Use the Cold War as the example.
Talk to our Foes and Friends
Obama is willing to meet with the leaders of all nations, friend and foe. He will do the careful preparation necessary, but will signal that America is ready to come to the table, and that he is willing to lead. And if America is willing to come to the table, the world will be more willing to rally behind American leadership to deal with challenges like terrorism, and Iran and North Korea’s nuclear programs.
He’s going to use Maddy Half-Bright’s work with North Korea as his model?
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Obama will make progress on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a key diplomatic priority. He will make a sustained push – working with Israelis and Palestinians – to achieve the goal of two states, a Jewish state in Israel and a Palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security.
How many have tried that since 1948? As long as the terrorist organizations have any influence in the area, it will never happen. If the so-called Palestinians want their own state, let them have some of the land on the other side of the Jordan River in Jordan and Syria.
Expand our Diplomatic Presence
To make diplomacy a priority, Obama will stop shuttering consulates and start opening them in the tough and hopeless corners of the world – particularly in Africa. He will expand our foreign service, and develop the capacity of our civilian aid workers to work alongside the military.
Why have consulates in places where there is no real functioning government?
Fight Global Poverty
Obama will embrace the Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme poverty around the world in half by 2015, and he will double our foreign assistance to $50 billion to achieve that goal. He will help the world’s weakest states to build healthy and educated communities, reduce poverty, develop markets, and generate wealth.
How is that our responsibility? Where is that spending authorized under the Constitution? More normal Dim-ocrat entitlement handouts.
Strengthen NATO
Obama will rally NATO members to contribute troops to collective security operations, urging them to invest more in reconstruction and stabilization operations, streamlining the decision-making processes, and giving NATO commanders in the field more flexibility.
Nice words. NATO is disfunctional as an alliance, and will continue to be until they see a serious threat developing (and internal surrendering to Islam doesn’t count).
Seek New Partnerships in Asia
Obama will forge a more effective framework in Asia that goes beyond bilateral agreements, occasional summits, and ad hoc arrangements, such as the six-party talks on North Korea. He will maintain strong ties with allies like Japan, South Korea and Australia; work to build an infrastructure with countries in East Asia that can promote stability and prosperity; and work to ensure that China plays by international rules.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! North Korea and China are on their own program and will continue to be until their governments eventually collapse internally.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
A Record of Results
The gravest danger to the American people is the threat of a terrorist attack with a nuclear weapon and the spread of nuclear weapons to dangerous regimes. Obama has taken bipartisan action to secure nuclear weapons and materials:
• He joined Senator Dick Lugar in passing a law to help the United States and our allies detect and stop the smuggling of weapons of mass destruction throughout the world.
WHERE’S THE BEEF?
• He joined Senator Chuck Hagel to introduce a bill that seeks to prevent nuclear terrorism, reduce global nuclear arsenals, and stop the spread of nuclear weapons.
Reduce global nuclear arsenals? Is he trying to dictate to China and India how many nukes they can have?
• And while other candidates have insisted that we should threaten to drop nuclear bombs on terrorist training camps, Obama believes that we must talk openly about nuclear weapons – because the best way to keep America safe is not to threaten terrorists with nuclear weapons, it’s to keep nuclear weapons away from terrorists.
If all terrorist camps are sheets of radioactive glass, and the terrorists are greeting Mohammed in Hell, then they can’t be getting nukes. If the cave is deep into a mountain, it might take a nuke to properly dispose of it.
Secure Loose Nuclear Materials from Terrorists
Obama will secure all loose nuclear materials in the world within four years. While we work to secure existing stockpiles of nuclear material, Obama will negotiate a verifiable global ban on the production of new nuclear weapons material. This will deny terrorists the ability to steal or buy loose nuclear materials.
SUPERMAN! Or is he just “Barack The Magic Negro”? He can detect nuclear material through his incredible mental powers. He can make rogue nations such as Iran and North Korea abide by nuke bans! He can get China, India, Pakistan, and Israel to agree to his desires. He is the Kwisatz Haderach! (folks who are not fans of the science fiction book/movie “Dune” can look it up)
Strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
Obama will crack down on nuclear proliferation by strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty so that countries like North Korea and Iran that break the rules will automatically face strong international sanctions.
Uh…don’t you have to get the other signatories to agree first?
Toward a Nuclear Free World
Obama will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons, and pursue it.
And there it is. He has now proven himself to be lost in a fantasy world. As long as the technology exists, there will be nukes. The only way to eliminate the technology is to erase all of the knowledge of advanced physics. Nuclear power would have to be eliminated. Obama will always maintain a strong deterrent as long as nuclear weapons exist. But he will take several steps down the long road toward
eliminating nuclear weapons. He will stop the development of new nuclear weapons; work with Russia to take U.S. and Russian ballistic missiles off hair trigger alert; seek dramatic reductions in U.S. and Russian stockpiles of nuclear weapons and material; and set a goal to expand the U.S.-Russian ban on intermediaterange missiles so that the agreement is global.
He seems to be forgetting China, North Korea, France, England, India, Pakistan, Israel, Iran…..
BUILDING A 21ST CENTURY MILITARY
The Problem
The excellence of our military is unmatched. But as a result of a misguided war in Iraq, our forces are under
pressure as never before. Obama will make the investments we need so that the finest military in the world is best-prepared to meet 21st-century threats.
What’s his voting record on the F-22, F-35, EF-18, P-8, Navy ship construction, Army funding, Marine funding? If he wants to see military morale and re-enlistment rates lower than when Jimmuh Cahtuh was President, all he has to do is win in November.
Rebuild Trust
Obama will rebuild trust with those who serve by ensuring that soldiers and Marines have sufficient training time before they are sent into battle.
They already do. Our commanders aren’t stupid, even the ones playing the political game for their whole careers like Wesley Clark.
Expand the Military
We have learned from Iraq that our military needs more men and women in uniform to reduce the strain
on our active force. Obama will increase the size of ground forces, adding 65,000 soldiers to the Army and 27,000 Marines.
We’ll believe it when we see it.
New Capabilities
Obama will give our troops new equipment, armor, training, and skills like language training. He will also strengthen our civilian capacity, so that our civilian agencies have the critical skills and equipment they need to integrate their efforts with our military.
Beef, one each, US government issue…where is it?
Strengthen Guard and Reserve
Obama will restore the readiness of the National Guard and Reserves. He will permit them adequate time to train and rest between deployments, and provide the National Guard with the equipment they need for foreign and domestic emergencies. He will also give the Guard a seat at the table by making the Chief of the National Guard a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
That sounds well and good, but we’ll wait to see if Masters P-Lousy and Reid allow it.
BIPARTISANSHIP AND OPENNESS
The Problem
Under the Bush administration, foreign policy has been used as a political wedge issue to divide us – not as a cause to bring America together. And it is no coincidence that one of the most secretive administrations in history has pursued policies that have been disastrous for the American people. Obama strongly believes
that our foreign policy is stronger when Americans are united, and the government is open and candid with the American people.
So why has your party consistently supported the enemy? Why have you voted party line over 97% of the time?
A Record of Bringing People Together
In the Senate, Obama has worked with Republicans and Democrats to advance important policy initiatives
on securing weapons of mass destruction and conventional weapons, increasing funding for nonproliferation, and countering instability in Congo.
Specifics? 97% party line isn’t working together.
Consultative Group
Obama will convene a bipartisan Consultative Group of leading members of Congress to foster better executive-legislative relations and bipartisan unity on foreign policy. This group will be comprised of the congressional leadership of both political parties, and the chair and ranking members of the Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Intelligence, and Appropriations Committees. This group will meet with the president once a month to review foreign policy priorities, and will be consulted in advance of military action.
That makes sense. Of course Congressional personnel who have a history of leaking sensitive information to the press (Senator Leahy, among others), will have to forfeit their positions.
Getting Politics out of Intelligence
Obama would insulate the Director of National Intelligence from political pressure by giving the DNI a fixed term, like the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Obama will seek consistency and integrity at the top of our intelligence community – not just a political ally.
Since most of the bureaucratic types in DC are liberals……
Change the Culture of Secrecy
Obama will reverse President Bush’s policy of secrecy. He will institute a National Declassification Center to make declassification secure but routine, efficient, and cost-effective.
Keeping sensitive information away from the press and the enemies is now some kind of BAD thing?
Engaging the American People on Foreign Policy
Obama will bring foreign policy decisions directly to the people by requiring his national security officials to have periodic national broadband town hall meetings to discuss foreign policy. He will personally deliver occasional fireside chats via webcast.
We really want the folks of Berzerkley and Than Franthithco to have a say in national security?
ON AFRICA
Stop the Genocide in Darfur
Barack Obama has been a leading voice urging the Bush Administration to take stronger steps to end the genocide in Sudan. He worked with Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) to pass the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. Obama has traveled to the United Nations to meet with Sudanese officials and visited refugee camps on the Chad-Sudan border to raise international awareness of the ongoing humanitarian disaster there. He also worked with Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) to secure $20 million for the African Union peacekeeping mission.Let the African Union pay for the African Union. Obama believes the United States needs to lead the world in ending this genocide, including by imposing much tougher sanctions that target Sudan’s oil revenue, implementing and helping to enforce a no-fly zone, and engaging in more intense, effective diplomacy to develop a political roadmap to peace. The international community must, over the Sudanese regime’s protests, deploy a large, capable UN-led and UN-funded force with a robust enforcement mandate to stop the killings. It is the USA’s responsibility how? How is it a vital part of our national interests?
For More Information about Barack’s Plan
Read the Speech and Learn More About Barack Obama’s Plan on Iraq and Iran
http://www.barackobama.com/2007/09/12/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_23.php
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/
Read the Speech on Nuclear Weapons and Diplomacy
http://www.barackobama.com/2007/10/02/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_27.php
Read the Speech on Counter-Terrorism Strategy
http://www.barackobama.com/2007/08/01/remarks_of_senator_obama_the_w_1.php
Read the Speech on Restoring American Leadership
http://www.barackobama.com/2007/04/23/the_american_moment_remarks_to.php/
We have finally reached the last chapter in our series on Barack Obama’s “The Blueprint For Change.” The final subject is Veterans Affairs, as if he has a clue about America’s veterans.
“Keeping faith with those who serve must always be a core American value and a cornerstone of American patriotism. Because America’s commitment to its servicemen and women begins at enlistment, and it must never end.”
– Barack Obama, Speech in Kansas City, MO, August 21, 2007.
Well, since you are getting rid of all American core values…….
BARACK OBAMA’S PLAN TO KEEP OUR SACRED TRUST WITH VETERANS
AT A GLANCE
A Sacred Trust
Barack Obama believes America has a sacred trust with our veterans. He is committed to creating a 21st Century Department of Veterans’ Affairs that provides the care and benefits our nation’s veterans deserve.
Here we go. I hear Clara Peller’s voice headed this way. “WHERE’S THE BEEF?”
Help for Returning Service Members
Obama will improve the quality of health care for veterans, rebuild the VA’s broken benefits system, and combat homelessness among veterans.
Many politicians have been saying that over the past 25 years or so, but it has all been lip service. Your party has stood in the way, keeping that funding hostage to other liberal anti-Constitutional special spending projects.
Improved Mental Health Treatment
Obama will improve mental health treatment for troops and veterans suffering from combat-related psychological injuries.
How? Beef, location unknown.
THE PROBLEM
Wounded Troops Suffer
The Walter Reed scandal showed that we don’t always provide returning service members with the care they deserve.
And this is different from the way the Dim-ocrat led government has been treating our personnel returning from battle since Vietnam exactly how? So asketh the Sailor who’s grandfather died from poor treatment in a VA hospital.
Veterans Budget Shortfalls
In 2005, a multi-billion dollar VA funding shortfall required Congress to step in and bail out the system.
You mean politicians haven’t properly funded the VA? Really? Since when?
Benefits Bureaucracy is Broken
There are currently more than 400,000 claims pending with the Veterans Benefits Administration. VA error rates have grown to more than 100,000 cases a year.
Because there are more cases. The error rate is probably about the same percentage as prior to 9-11. Remember that most doctors in government service are those who couldn’t hack it in private practice, or pass state exams.
There is a Shortage of Care for PTSD
Veterans are coming home with record levels of combat stress, but we are not adequately providing for them.
Gee. I never heard that during Vietnam or Desert Storm…..okay, so maybe I did…CONSTANTLY.
BARACK OBAMA’S PLAN
Ensure a Seamless Transition
Obama will demand that the military and the VA coordinate to provide a seamless transition from active duty to civilian life.
So why haven’t you and your party been doing that over the past 40 years? Veteran minds wish to know.
Fully Fund VA Medical Care
Barack Obama will fully fund the VA so it has all the resources it needs to serve the veterans who need it, when they need it. Obama will establish a world-class VA Planning Division to avoid future budget shortfalls.
So the plan is to establish MORE BUREAUCRACY! Brilliant! Hey, Barry, we’re getting tired of the empty rhetoric. It is time for deeds, not words. Your opponent probably has a bit more knowledge of the VA and veterans medical care.
Allow All Veterans Back into the VA
One of Obama’s first acts will be reversing the 2003 ban on enrolling modest-income veterans, which has denied care to a million veterans.
But those are the people your party keeps calling “the rich.” Do you really expect that to get past the anti-military Queen of Than Franthithco, Her Majesty P-Lousy?
Strengthen VA Care
Obama will make the VA a leader of national health care reform so that veterans get the best care possible.
He will improve care for polytrauma vision impairment, prosthetics, spinal cord injury, aging, and women’s health.
The Crawfish has experienced military medicine, and knows that our personnel and our veterans get better care when they are sent away from military treatment facilities to those of the civilian sector, as long as the military and VA are paying for it. How does Obama plan to improve all of that care? With his vast medical knowledge or with more bureaucracy and gummint programs?
Improve Mental Health Treatment
Obama will improve mental health care at every stage of military service. He will recruit more health professionals, improve screening, offer more support to families and make PTSD benefits claims fairer.
Still looking for the beef.
Improve Care for Traumatic Brain Injury
Obama will establish standards of care for Traumatic Brain Injury, the signature injury of the Iraq war.
Why not let medical professionals do that, and we’re not referring to Her Bitterness.
Expand Vet Centers
Obama will expand and strengthen Vet Centers to provide more counseling for vets and their families.
As much additional spending as you’ve proposed throughout your blueprint, the idea that you’re going to still have funds left to spend on the military that you have such little regard for is laughable.
Fix the Benefits Bureaucracy
Obama will hire additional claims workers, and improve training and accountability so that VA benefit decisions are rated fairly and consistently. He also will make the paper benefit claims process an electronic one to reduce errors and improve timeliness.
A democrat who will streamline a bureaucracy? Believability factor of zero. A democrat who will hire more workers into government employee union jobs, that we believe he will do.
Combat Homelessness among Our Nation’s Veterans
Obama will establish a national “zero tolerance” policy for veterans falling into homelessness by expanding proven programs and launching innovative services to prevent veterans from falling into homelessness.
Democrat anti-poverty programs have worked sooooo well since LBJ……
Fight Veterans Employment Discrimination
Obama will crack down on employers who commit job discrimination against guardsmen and reservists.
Like he’ll crack down on employers who hire illegal aliens? Yeah, right.
OBAMA RECORD
Record of Advocacy
As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Obama passed legislation to improve care and slash red tape for our wounded warriors recovering at places like Walter Reed. Please cite these laws that he passed. since anything passed through the Senate must have first been blessed by Land Deal Reid. He passed laws to help homeless veterans and offered an innovative solution to prevent at-risk veterans from falling into homelessness. What laws and solutions? Obama led a bipartisan effort in the Senate to try to halt the military’s unfair practice of discharging service members for having a service-connected psychological injury. The services discharge members for all sorts of physical and/or mental ailments. If anything, those discharges have been INCREASING over the past 4 years (while he’s been in the Senate), as the DoD is forced to cut as much cost as possible, with the Dim-ocrats not wanting to fund the DoD. He fought for fair treatment of Illinois veterans’ claims and forced the VA to conduct an unprecedented outreach campaign to disabled veterans with lower than-average benefits. Obama passed legislation to stop a VA review of closed PTSD cases that could have led to a reduction in veterans’ benefits. In other words, he stopped the VA from checking to see if some of the PTSD cases might have actually been fraudulent. He passed an amendment to ensure that all service members returning from Iraq are properly screened for traumatic brain injuries. That didn’t require any amendment. All that needed to be done was to ask the SecDef, publicly, if it was something that should probably be done. It would have been kicked into gear the next day if it wasn’t already happening. He introduced legislation to direct the VA and Pentagon to fix disjointed records systems and improve outreach to members of the National Guard and Reserves. Uh…the military records system has been screwed up for a long time, and efforts to fix it and make it all digital have been underway since well before Obama became a Senator.
For More Information about Barack’s Plan
Read the Speech
http://www.barackobama.com/2007/08/21/remarks_of_senator_obama_a_sac.php
Read the Plan
Click to access VeteransFactSheet.pdf
Join Veterans for Obama
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/vetshome
Crawfish's Claw 