The Bush Doctrine (Obama’s Directive?)

h/t to ThinkProgress for this article that EJ Dionne penned at the Washington Post. Makes sense.

So are we getting that “change” we had “hope” for, yet?

Obama’s Bush Doctrine

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

In electing Barack Obama, the country traded the foreign policy of the second President Bush for the foreign policy of the first President Bush.

That is the meaning of Obama’s apparent decision to keep Robert Gates on as defense secretary and also to select Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.

With strong ties to the military and a carefully cultivated image of tough-mindedness, Clinton will protect the incoming president’s back from those on the right ready to pounce at any sign of what they see as weakness.

As for Gates, Obama has found the ideal figure to help him organize his planned withdrawal from Iraq, and to bless it.

What’s most striking about Obama’s approach to foreign policy is that he is less an idealist than a realist who would advance American interests by diplomacy, by working to improve the country’s image abroad, and by using military force prudently and cautiously.

This sounds a lot like the foreign policy of George H.W. Bush, and it makes perfect sense that Obama has had conversations with the senior Bush’s closest foreign policy adviser, Brent Scowcroft. Obama has drawn counsel from many in Scowcroft’s circle, and Gates himself was deputy national security adviser under Scowcroft.

The truth about Obama’s worldview was hidden in plain sight in his most politically consequential foreign policy speech. Antiwar Democrats cheered Obama for addressing a rally against the Iraq war in Chicago’s Federal Plaza on Oct. 2, 2002. His opposition to the war was a major asset in his nomination struggle with Clinton…

There was nothing “hidden in plain sight”. It was out in the open, all along (which gives Obama the right to say he didn’t lie). But there was a huge group pf people who were so anti-Iraq war that they were willing to listen to the anti-Iraq War rhetoric Obama used to defeat Clinton in the Primary and somehow close their ears and minds to the real militaristic agenda that Obama wants to continue.

And this isn’t just about pitting the “anti-war” folks against the “war” folks. I am not anti-war, but I am anti-criminal activity especially when it the criminals are the ones that control this country. I cannot stand the hypocrisy of it and even less, I cannot condone killing and maiming so many other people for these criminal reasons.

…In fact, Obama sounded a great deal like — Brent Scowcroft. In a widely noted 2002 op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, published six weeks before Obama gave his speech, Scowcroft warned that an invasion of Iraq “very likely would have to be followed by a large-scale, long-term military occupation.” Going to Iraq, Scowcroft said, would “divert us for some indefinite period from our war on terrorism,” and it could “destabilize Arab regimes in the region,” “stifle any cooperation on terrorism” and “even swell the ranks of the terrorists.” Clinton, who once said that “we have to be both internationalists and realists,” is a natural fit with the new Obama-Scowcroft-Gates establishment. In explaining the appeal of Clinton, a senior Obama adviser recently spoke several times of the president-elect’s respect for her “toughness” and described the practical reasons for choosing a figure who would have instant credibility around the world…

And yes, militarily, President Clinton was basically a continuance of Papa Bush’s policy. The big difference is that Papa Bush and Willy knew not to be as brazen about their actions. They had differing styles, but the policy continued and even got worse under Clinton. When Baby Bush createdfound his opportunity (911) to become brazen (harboring an astonishing 90%+ Approval rating… I can say I was part of those pesky 10%ers) he went fucking nuts.

…Obama’s national security choices are already causing grumbling from parts of the antiwar left, even if Obama made clear six years ago that while he was with them on Iraq, he was not one of them.

Ironically, Obama is likely to show more fidelity to George H.W. Bush’s approach to foreign affairs than did the former president’s own son. That’s change, maybe even change we can believe in, but it’s not the change so many expected

I agree, not many “expected” this kind of “change”, but that simply shows their blindness and readiness to follow any perceived Savior without even listening to what their Messiah is saying.

I knew that Barack Obama was not on the up in up when he flip-flopped on his Palestinian stance and became the Zionist regime’s bag man. The day I saw for myself that AIPAC owned him, I knew he had been bought. Since then, there have been countless issues in which the illusion was forced into the light, yet reality was never absorbed by his followers… the “Progressives”.

Yeah, right.

Sheople is more like it.

Remember The Joint You Lost In The Seat Cushions Years Ago?

They found it:

2,700 year-old cannabis stash is ‘oldest ever’

The world’s ‘oldest’ stash of cannabis has been unearthed inside a remote tomb in China.

The 789 grams of marijuana is thought to be about 2,700 years old and appears to have been buried next to a shaman, according to The Star.

Favourable conditions means the stash still has its green tint, although possibly disappointed researchers said its lack of odour told them immediately it wasn’t still good to smoke.

According to an article in the Journal of Experimental Botany it’s ‘the oldest documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent’.

The tomb in north-west China also contained bridles, archery equipment and a harp, but apparently no ancient cache of chocolates, crisps and biscuits.

The article doesn’t mention the box of Twinkies found with the stash (still edible). What strikes me is that 2,700 years ago they knew what pharmacological benefits this drug had. The other thing to mention is that 789 grams is a damned good “stash” (29 pounds of bud). Makes me wonder if this truly was a Pharmacy of old.

Freaky Sex Friday: Europeans Have Little Dicks

It is official, Americans have big dicks, apparently. Bigger than Europeans, anyway (at least speaking from my personal experience):

French say they need the biggest condoms

The French say they need the largest condoms in Europe while Greeks get by on smaller ones, according to a Europe-wide study by a German consultancy that provides advice on condoms.

The snappily named Singen-based Institute of Condom Consultancy asked 10,500 men in 25 countries to measure their penis and enter the number into a database.

From these undoubtedly accurate and entirely true responses they found Frenchmen on average claim to need 15.48cm (6.09inch) long condoms, about 3 cm longer than Greeks, whose condom-size requirement was the most modest.

an Vinzenz Krause, the institute’s director said the data was collected over a period of eight months.

The survey was aimed at educating youngsters about the importance of effective contraception.

The institute also offers online condom-size advice and hosts “Pimp Your Condom” – an annual fair organised in cooperation with the national Aids Trust – with the aim of educating teens about sexually transmitted diseases.

Krause was in the spotlight in the past when he produced a prototype of the “spray-on condom” – an aerosol can which contains latex that creates a perfectly fitting condom. But the idea was surprisingly not developed further.

h/t Metro.co.uk

Also note that my funny Alabama friend, writechic posted about condom sizes way back last year.

More Roaches Come Out Of Hiding: Robert Scheer Scrambles In The Light

Robert Scheer is a man whom I respect and have quoted here on several occasions. However, when he began jumping on the Obama bandwagon and began the offensive towards Ralph Nader regarding this subject, I knew that he, too, had drank the Messiah koolaid. Now, we have him coming out and almost admitting he made a mistake and at the very least does hold claim that he wanted to challenge Ralph to a debate over the issue of the bail out and Mr Obama’s stance.

Now we see what Ralph (and I) have been saying for so long to be absolute truth and now the roaches are running wild that the light has been turned on. From The Nation:

Return of the Wall Street Hustlers

by Robert Scheer

Maybe Ralph Nader was right in predicting that the same Wall Street hustlers would have a lock on our government no matter which major party won the election. I hate to admit it, since it wasn’t that long ago that I heatedly challenged Nader in a debate on this very point.

But how else is one to respond to Barack Obama’s picking the very folks who helped get us into this financial mess to now lead us out of it? Watching the president-elect’s Monday introduction of his economic team, my brother-in-law Pete said, “You can see the feathers coming out of their mouths” as the foxes were once again put in charge of the henhouse. He didn’t have time to expound on his point, having to get ready to go sort mail in his job at the post office, but he showed me a statement from Citigroup showing that the interest rate on Pete the Postal Worker’s credit card was 28.9 percent, an amount that all major religions would justly condemn as usurious.

Let me tell you how one should respond. You respond the same way you would if you happened to see a man break your neighbor’s window and begin hauling shit out of the house. Call the law, make a fuss, stop them with your own might, if needed. But DON’T allow them to continue stealing the man blind.

…Why then has he appointed the very people responsible for this disaster to now make it all better? Why not ask him? Heck, yes, it is time for the many of us who responded to his e-mails during the campaign to now challenge our e-mail buddy as to why he suddenly acts as if the interests of Wall Street and Main Street are one and the same.

You think, Robert? But before I let you go, answer me this? Where the hell have you been this entire run-up to the election? I’m sure that being on the Obama bus caused you to not see or hear this coming from a mile away, right? Sorry, dude. It ain’t that easy when you have such a large microphone. Get real. Admit you were and are wrong, then use that loud assed microphone to change it.

Mine just has a peep coming from it, but I have never stopped warning people. Maybe you should join those who were right all along?

What Are Friends For?

Oktapodi