Random Thoughts

People in closed containers…

You simply can not make this stuff up.

Joe Biden seems to be “a little off of the Administration’s talking points.” Ya think?!

Gateway Pundit points out the Administration’s subsequent spin efforts.

And Barack’s Telemprompter (I adore that machine) provides us with a screen’s eye view of Biden’s capabilities.

Why do they let this man out in public?

Turning from the inane to the worthwhile: The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes.

Highly readable and downright prescient given today’s economy. While examining the ambitions and failures of Roosevelt’s New Deal and government intervention, Shlaes also details the leadership of individual Americans who helped restore our country. By turns engaging and thought provoking, this is a must-read for those who don’t want history to repeat itself.

Now, please tell me the weekend is almost here. I don’t think I can take any more Obama Administration asininity this week.

Let’s keep it secret until they panic…

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Feds knew flyover would cause NYC panic.

Federal officials knew that sending two fighter jets and a 747 from the presidential fleet to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty might set off nightmarish fears of a 9/11 replay, but they still ordered the photo-op kept secret from the public.

In a memo obtained by CBS 2 HD, the Federal Aviation Administration’s James Johnston said the agency was aware of “the possibility of public concern regarding DOD (Department of Defense) aircraft flying at low altitudes” in an around New York City. But they demanded total secrecy from the NYPD, the Secret Service, the FBI and even the mayor’s office and threatened federal sanctions if the secret got out.

…The flight by the VC-25, a modified Boeing Co. 747, and two F-16 fighter jets cost $328,835, Air Force spokeswoman Vicki Stein said.

H/T Right Voices.

Your tax dollars at work. I wonder who will be paying for the treatment of PTSD throughout Manhattan caused by that little stunt?

As Fausta points out with her inimitable wit,

Scaring the crap out of thousands of New Yorkers on a Monday morning is priceless. There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s government.

The buck stops somewhere else…

H/T Ace of Spades for this gem:

Isn’t it fabulous how Obama has reconciled with our enemies and put fear into the hearts of Americans? Does any image illustrate so neatly the wrongheadedness of the Obama administration than Americans scrambling in terror from Air Force One?

Lower Manhattan is given a collective heart attack courtesy of the White House, and instead of owning the idiocy, they scramble to place blame.

Although the Federal Aviation Administration says it made local and state authorities aware of the photo-op, no one bothered to tell the public. In fact, the NYPD claims the FAA specifically asked for the mission to be kept secret—so secret that even New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he didn’t know about it, which he’s not exactly pleased about. “I’m annoyed–furious is a better word,” Bloomberg said, telling reporters that he would have gone to White House to make the info public had he known.

Now the finger-pointing has begun. The FAA is directing questions to the Air Force, who is in turn directing questions to the White House. The only problem: The White House apparently doesn’t know anything either. Asked at the press briefing this afternoon if the White House owes the citizens of New York City an apology, Gibbs said he’d seen some news reports but knew zilch about it. He’s checking with the White House military office, which helps plan Air Force One logistics for details.

Finally the tail is pinned on the donkey in the form of Louis Caldera. Caldera, in addition to having been an attorney, a California Assemblyman, and Secretary of the Army under President Clinton, also held a seat on the Board of Directors for IndyMac Bank from 2002 until its failure and subsequent seizure by the government in July 2008. Perhaps the latter explains his inability to anticipate the natural human response this flyover exercise would cause.

Being the good soldier, he falls on his sword:

Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision. While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it’s clear that the mission created confusion and disruption. I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused.

The plane (actually there are two of them) known as Air Force One exists for the use first and foremost of the sitting US President, at his sole discretion.  If it is going to be made unavailable for his use at any time, oh, say, because someone wants to buzz Manhattan in it, then they have to be absolutely certain Obama isn’t going to be using it. Which means that they have to clear it with someone in his office who knows his schedule. And it’s not like taking Dad’s car, it’s a bit more weighty than that, particularly post 9/11; at any given time Air Force One might be needed to get the president to safety. They’re not just going to hand over the keys (metaphorically speaking) without being very clear on the who, what, where, when and why.

Or are they?

The purpose of this little joyride is a bit bizarre. To take glamour shots of the plane?! It’s not like they’re going to be advertising rides on it. Then again, with this administration anything’s possible.

Regardless of the “why,” to pretend that Obama had no clue Air Force One was being flown 1000 feet over the streets of NYC is a bit ridiculous. Unless they really want us to believe he’s that clueless.

I guess the US President has come light years from the attitude of Harry Truman, who had a plaque on the Oval Office desk stating “The buck stops here.” With Obama, it’s apparently “The buck stops anywhere but here.”

When publicly asked about the matter, what did President Obama have to say?

“It was a mistake,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “It was something we found out about along with all of you. And it will not happen again.”

Wow. He really is clueless. And he has such empathy and compassion for the citizens he’s ostensibly leading. It warms my heart.

Fortunately we have TOTUS to give us the real story behind the debacle:

…Toes [Rahm Emanuel] had to admit that he had to call in some favors.

He was pretty proud of what he pulled off. Sending Air Force One to buzz the 9/11 site in New York was probably the best diversionary tactic he could have come up with at the last minute. Frankly, creating a national terrorism panic wouldn’t have been might first choice for a diversionary tactic, but I’m not as politically savvy as Rahm is.

EDITED to add: Caldera’s act of seppuku apparently wasn’t sufficient. Lord Obama via his henchman Gibbs is now declaring there will be an “internal review.” And somewhere in the bowels of the West Wing, people are drawing straws to see who will be the next sacrifice…

Hey, let’s fly over the Pentagon next!

It’s so wonderful to see the Obama administration’s sensitivity to U.S. citizens, and to know that The One and his minions have such a keen grasp of the lingering impact of 9/11.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – An Air Force fighter jet and one of President Barack Obama‘s official planes on Monday flew low over the Statue of Liberty in an approved photo opportunity that startled some New Yorkers who have memories of the September 11 attacks.

New York City officials notified some businesses but not all city agencies or the general public. People in New York remain sensitive to such incidents in lower Manhattan, site of the 2001 attacks involving hijacked airliners that destroyed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

Many people left their buildings, and stock prices extended losses at the time.

The U.S. Air Force, which operates the president’s plane, said the “aerial photo mission” involved an F-16 fighter jet escort and one of the Boeing 747s designated as Air Force One when the president is aboard. Obama was not on board.

Police said federal authorities told them not to disclose the information ahead of time but to direct inquiries to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA called it “an approved military photo op.” The White House declined to comment.

“After our history with planes in lower Manhattan, you would think they would consider doing their exercises over the Potomac (in Washington) instead,” said Peggy Lewis, who heard the planes from her Manhattan home.

The mid-morning flyover made traders jittery at the New York Mercantile Exchange, where they reported seeing the plane flying low over the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, banking, and repeating the pattern.

“We took it upon ourselves to leave the building. We asked police downstairs about it, and they said they didn’t know anything. It could have caused some real panic,” said Dominick Caglioti, an independent commodities trader who works next to the site where the Twin Towers formerly stood.

After the incident, the city released an advisory stating that the flyover was “part of an approved federal activity.”

“We made the notifications to the city so they were aware that the flight would take place between 10 and 10:30 this morning,” FAA spokesman Jim Peters said.

The World Financial Center across the street from the World Trade Center site did not call for an evacuation, although many tenants in the building decided to leave. A spokeswoman said tenants were told the flyover was authorized and that there was no reason to worry.

Flipping idiots.

Where’d I put that filter mask…

I’m thinking of taking the family down to San Diego, which of course is right near the Mexico border. Should I be worried about swine flu, given the proximity to it’s epicenter?

Well our illustrious new Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano is on top of the situation.

Travel advisories have not been issued by the State Department, Napolitano said, nor is the United States going to screen passengers on flights arriving from Mexico.

I fully expect her to proclaim that swine flu is entering the US from Canada.

It’s reassuring as well to know that The One is being kept up to date on this situation. The lack of a Health and Human Services Director during such an incipient crisis is unimportant; perhaps Timothy Geithner can pitch in there if needed. He’s about as qualified for that role as he is to be in charge of the IRS.

Now that Obama’s been proven invulnerable to the disease, I predict sales of votive candles will skyrocket, especially south of the border. (H/T Pamela Gellar at Atlas Shrugs).

Was that callous of me? Ooops. It’s not that I don’t care that people are dying in Mexico, or that we might face a pandemic. I just don’t think Barack Obama is going to have anything whatsoever to do with saving American lives in this situation.

If we’re very very lucky, he’ll end up looking like Gerald Ford. A gal can dream…

In all seriousness, if they start pushing vaccines, I’m so not going there.

Hello dolly…

What is with all the stupid pharmecutical spam in my blog comment box?! I hate having to delete several dozen spam comments every dang day.

Okay, where was I…Odds and ends, from the back of my mind and the pages of the internet.

I understand the Twilight craze. I get why the girls are reading the books, watching the movie and drooling over Rob Pattinson (though Peter Facinelli is really more my speed). But this is taking merchandising a bit too far:

$126 for something that looks like a Ken doll with an attitude?!

Why would you want that, when you could get a Barack Obama doll for only $20?

I suppose it depends on what fantasy world you live in.

Bad bad blogger

I am such a bad blogger. I’ve let eons of cybertime go since my last post (in cyberspace, a week is an eon, right?).

I’ve got so many things on my mind that I could blog about. I could blog about Obama’s attitude toward post 9/11 interrogation techniques. Or Obama’s attitude toward Hugo Chavez. Or Obama’s attitude toward our country in general.

Or I could post about ignoring the monsters in our midst, whether they’re teens hellbent on murder in Colorado ten years ago, or Craigslist predators today.

Or, I could post about what it means to be training for a career in a field that is pink-slipping people by the thousands.

Appropos of that last, I could post something mindlessly fun, like this:

It’s audio only. And I will post something more substantive soon. “Soon” in real time, which would be later today, not “soon” in cybertime, which would be about 30 seconds from now.