"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is grateful that actor Sean Penn has defended him against his critics within the U.S. media," reports AP.
"It was standing room only at the Boston Brighton Tea Party organised by the Freedom Association early this evening at which Dan Hannan was guest speaker," writes Jonathan Isaby at ToryDiary. "He said that it was time to 'bring sanity and order back to the public finances' an that had to be done by reducing expenditure rather than increasing taxes."
Hat tip: Big Government
Question Politicized Authority: "Without trustworthy science and with so much at stake, Americans should be wary about what comes out of this politicized conference," writes Sarah Palin in a column at the Washington Post.
"The president should boycott Copenhagen," concludes the author of Going Rogue.
Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) "said Tuesday he is going to attend the Copenhagen conference on climate change to inform world leaders that despite any promises made by President Obama, no new laws will be passed in the United States until the 'scientific fascism' ends," reports Fox News.
"The UN Copenhagen climate talks are in disarray today after developing countries reacted furiously to leaked documents that show world leaders will next week be asked to sign an agreement that hands more power to rich countries and sidelines the UN's role in all future climate change negotiations," reports the UK Guardian.
"As delegates from 192 countries kick off the United Nations global climate gathering in Copenhagen on Monday, CNSNews.com offers some angles that are unlikely to make mainstream media headlines."
"Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America's new strategy for Afghanistan," writes Gabor Steingart at Der Spiegel.
"One didn't have to be a cadet on Tuesday to feel a bit of nausea upon hearing Obama's speech," Steingart continues.
"It was the least truthful address that he has ever held. He spoke of responsibility, but almost every sentence smelled of party tactics. He demanded sacrifice, but he was unable to say what it was for exactly."
My View: Obama's heart was not in this speech, just as his heart is not in winning this war.
A dark cloud now hovers above the head of Obama. I hope I am wrong, but this suggests dark days ahead for the United States and our troops in the field.
The need for the people of America to return home to Declarational and Constitutional foundations is stronger than ever. Those foundations will help us weather the mere "values" of weak presidents who know not what they do.
"Last night President Obama outlined his long-anticipated war plan for Afghanistan before thousands of cadets and families at the United States Military Academy," writes Robert Maginnis at Human Events.
Unfortunately, "Obama’s lofty ideas don’t mesh with the realities on the ground."
Heroes on Trial: "In the latest absurdity in the war on terrorism," editorializes the Washington Times, "Petty Officers Matthew McCabe, Jonathan Keefe and Julio Huertas face charges related to the apprehension of Ahmed Hashim Abed, alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four American security contractors in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. The 'war crime' at issue is a punch in the gut."
And after the trial, this may be in order: Let the SEALS run for Congress. They seem to know who the bad guys are.
Mr. Obama's cute line on "jobs created or saved" "Flunks Science Test," writes Caroline Baum at Bloomberg.
"At first it was just an unverifiable assertion," she writes. "Now it turns out to have been a case of bureaucratic ineptitude and possible fraud."
Well, that platitude may be a joke, but Obama's dithering on Afghanistan isn't.
One wonders: In the midst of all this presidential indecisiveness, how many additional U.S. warriors have been wounded or killed? How many hung out to dry because a commander in chief is working on his jumpshot? Or setting up show trials for terrorists in New York City?
And how many additional U.S. warriors will be killed or wounded now and tomorrow in Afghanistan and across the world because an American president exudes a weakness and lack of seriousness approaching and perhaps surpassing even that of the ill-famed Jimmy Carter?
Perhaps CNN, MSNBC, and CBS are already looking into this. Perhaps not.
Or perhaps a hard-news outfit like Fox can ask the president about it when he makes an announcement on Afghanistan sometime after Thanksgiving.
A final point: Weakness invites aggression, but strength invites peace. Go ask Reagan.
"Obama's advisors fear a comparison with former Democratic President Jimmy Carter, even more than with Bush," writes Gabor Steingart.
"U.S. Senator John McCain predicted an allied win in Afghanistan in one year to 18 months if sufficient troops are sent, as the White House mulls sending tens of thousands of reinforcements," reports AFP.
"But he said that timeline is threatened by U.S. President Barack Obama's delay in rolling out a new Afghanistan strategy."
In "The China President Obama Didn't See," an intriguing comment on Obama's recent trip to communist China, Leslie Hook in the Wall Street Journal muses upon why the Chinese government is so fearful of "unregistered" churches.
She writes:
Chinese and foreign observers alike believe the number of Chinese belonging to underground churches may now exceed 100 million people. That figure has grown rapidly as more and more Chinese, particularly well-educated city dwellers, turn away from Communist Party atheism. [emphasis added]
Life has never been easy for the underground churches, and recently it has gotten a lot harder. This is the result, according to the Christian charity group China Aid, of a state directive handed down in August. Why do China's powerful leaders fear these churches, most of which steer clear of politics? It may be that they have grown increasingly paranoid about the political power of religion given the unrest they have faced in Buddhist Tibet and Muslim Xinjiang. Or it could be because dissident intellectuals, such as jailed human-rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, have sometimes tended toward Christianity. [emphasis added]
As a questioning and free-thinking human being who affirms the philosophic and reality-oriented answers given in the Judeo-Christian worldview to the basic questions of existence raised by life in a challenging universe -- answers superior to those offered by secular humanism, atheism, agnosticism, and so on (and superior, by the way, to that fragmentation that passes for political liberalism these days) -- one can appreciate in some small measure why "well-educated city dwellers" and "dissident intellectuals" are attracted to Christianity.
As a person religiously committed to god-talk secularism, Mr. Obama seems blessedly ignorant of the vibrancy and intellectual strength of the historic Judeo-Christian worldview here in the United States. So I suppose, in this respect, it is hardly unexpected that he misses it abroad in the land of Mao.
Upshot for Mr. Obama and the Chinese: The next few years may hold a few surprises for him, them, and like-minded people of secular faith.
Stop Dithering: And why it's necessary to win the "war of necessity."
Peter Goddard writes at the Toronto Star:
News that a McDonald's is to open shortly in the bosom of the Louvre has sent waves of shock and horror worldwide. Appalled art lovers cringe at the possibility of the outlet serving up a juicy Double Da Vinci burger with a side of frites. Or a Francis Bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich.
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Sarah Palin writes on her Facebook page:
Our allies and our adversaries are watching to see if we have the staying power to protect our interests in Afghanistan.
I recently joined a group of Americans in urging President Obama to devote the resources necessary in Afghanistan and pledged to support him if he made the right decision.
Now is not the time for cold feet, second thoughts, or indecision -- it is the time to act as commander-in-chief and approve the troops so clearly needed in Afghanistan.
At the time of this entry here at Pro-Existence, more than 10,500 people had indicated they "Like" what they read, and 1,600 had offered comments. Palin's note was posted yesterday at 5:57 p.m.
Read the rest of "We Must Win in Afghanistan," by Sarah Palin.
"A majority of Americans are skeptical that diplomacy with Iran will succeed and say the U.S. should use military action if necessary to prevent the Iranian government from developing a nuclear weapon," reports Bloomberg.com.
"A Pew Research Center for the People & the Press survey released today found 61 percent of Americans would support a military strike. Twenty-four percent said it is more important to avoid conflict even if that means Iran will end up building nuclear arms."
"Sources tell Newsmax the Obama administration is muzzling its top military leaders, and keeping them from publicly airing their views on how to fight the war in Afghanistan," reports David A. Patten at Newmax.
"The administration's primary target: top Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal, whose speech in London last week apparently caught administration officials off guard," writes Patten. "In fact, The Daily Telegraph reported that Obama's advisers were 'shocked and angered' by McChrystal's speech."
Read the story at Newsmax.
Holocaust-denying Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's "vitriolic attacks on the Jewish world hide an astonishing secret," says the UK Telegraph. "A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows his family has Jewish roots."
"A close-up of the document reveals he was previously known as Sabourjian -- a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver," reports the Telegraph. "The short note scrawled on the card suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when they converted to embrace Islam after his birth."
One wonders how many of Ahmadinejad's Jewish family and relatives were murdered or otherwise liquidated in the Holocaust that never happened.
Peter Ferrara writes at American Spectator:
A cherished maxim of self-congratulatory liberals is the notion that diplomacy and negotiation are always the best course of action because "as long as the two sides are talking, they are not shooting."
That was not true on the morning of December 7, 1941.
On that very day, Japanese diplomats were in Washington to continue ongoing talks for peace between Japan and America, as Japanese planes were slaughtering some 2,400 American servicemen at Pearl Harbor.
President Obama now has America, and Israel, on that same course in regard to Iran.
Read the rest of "A Clear and Present Danger," by Peter Ferrara.
