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<p>FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin promises to limit her enthusiasm during her visit to North Carolina's Fort Bragg.</p> <p>The former Republican vice presidential candidate planned to sign copies of her new memoir at a post store Monday. Army officials say Palin will not make a speech, pose for photos, or personalize notes in the books she signs.</p>

Obama Says He Would Be ‘Honored’ to Visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki Friday, November 13, 2009 (CNSNews.com) – Visiting the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – targets of a U.S. atomic bomb attack that hastened the end of World War II – would be “meaningful,” President Obama said Friday in Tokyo. “I certainly would be honored – it would be meaningful for me to visit those two cities in the future. I don’t have immediate travel plans, but it’s something that would be meaningful to me.” In an interview with a Japanese network earlier this week, Obama said something similar:...

IsraelNN.com) U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns told the Middle East Institute in Washington on Tuesday that the U.S. recognizes the Iranian regime’s “right” to nuclear power, does not seek regime change and is ready for more talks with Iran. "We seek a relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran based upon mutual interest and mutual respect. We do not seek regime change. We have condemned terrorist attacks against Iran.

Reporting from Ft. Hood, Texas - President Obama is slated to speak at a memorial service today at this grieving Army base, where a military psychiatrist is accused of killing 13 people in a shooting rampage. The service, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. local time, will be a traditional military affair, with a sermon, a roll call of the dead and a rifle volley. About 3,000 spectators, as well as the families of the 12 soldiers and one civilian killed, are expected to attend. The tribute comes amid new questions about whether the shooting, in which dozens were also...

Policy-wise, Barack Obama arguably came into his presidency unqualified. His foreign policy naiveté and spread-the-wealth-around fiscal policy mentality has thus far been a disaster. Unemployment continues to rise, North Korea and Iran continue to be pests, Hugo Chavez is emboldened, eco-radicals are taking over the legislative agenda, and Nancy Pelosi is dictating how health care will work in America. A number of friends in the military have told me that as Commander-in-Chief they must respect the office but they do not respect the person. So is Obama giving the office the respect it deserves by at least conducting himself like...

War On Terror: Sen. John Kerry, who was so wrong about Iraq, now says our commander in Afghanistan is "reaching too far, too fast" and that a "good enough" policy should suffice. It won't. Offering his advice on how to micromanage the war against the Taliban, Kerry said Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Obama's hand-picked general to fight what he called a "war of necessity," is wrong in saying he needs 40,000 more troops to fight and win it. Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday, Kerry advocated a "good enough" policy designed not to achieve victory in al-Qaida's...

War On Terror: Sen. John Kerry, who was so wrong about Iraq, now says our commander in Afghanistan is "reaching too far, too fast" and that a "good enough" policy should suffice. It won't. Offering his advice on how to micromanage the war against the Taliban, Kerry said Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Obama's hand-picked general to fight what he called a "war of necessity," is wrong in saying he needs 40,000 more troops to fight and win it. Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday, Kerry advocated a "good enough" policy designed not to achieve victory in al-Qaida's...

President Obama recently shifted authority for approving sales to China of missile and space technology from the White House to the Commerce Department -- a move critics say will loosen export controls and potentially benefit Chinese missile development. The president issued a little-noticed "presidential determination" Sept. 29 that delegated authority for determining whether missile and space exports should be approved for China to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.

The notion that Mr Obama is a weak leader is now spreading in ways that are dangerous to his presidency. The fact that he won the Nobel Peace Prize last Friday will not change this impression. Peace is all very well. But Mr Obama now needs to pick a fight in public – and win it with a clean knock-out.

If Barack Obama had campaigned on what he has actually done in his first 300 days in office, would he have been elected? That's the question so many are asking today. If Obama had told us he would appoint 34 czars, reporting only to himself and not vetted or confirmed in the constitutional way, building a powerful unitary executive branch of government, would he have been elected? What if he had told us that his green jobs czar had been a Communist, that the science czar wrote in a college textbook that compulsory "green abortions" are an acceptable way to...

War Strategy: When Bush and Petraeus proposed the surge in Iraq, Democrats demanded that the general testify before Congress. So why has the Senate blocked a similar invitation to our commander in Afghanistan? Those with memories longer than the 24-hour news cycle recall that in the dark days of the Iraq War, David Petraeus was summoned to Washington to explain the surge strategy that would eventually lead to victory in Iraq. Democrats hoped for a show trial. MoveOn.org took out a full-page ad in the New York Times labeling the commanding general of our efforts in Iraq "General Betray-us." Then...

Throughout the Bush presidency, a new golden age was promised to the American people if they would just put liberals in charge of the government. That happened last November after Obama's election and the strengthening of liberal majorities in Congress. But after ten months in power, liberals now appear to be a bunch of posers. "Poser" is slang for a person falsely claiming skills, smarts and connections. That guy at the club who says he hangs with Kanye when everyone knows he lives in his mom's basement and works at Popeye's? Poser. Posers are now running our government. Liberals claimed...

Hiding Behind Synonyms: Obama Begins Campaign to Throw Gen. McChrystal Under the Bus Erick Erickson Monday, October 5th at 11:33AM EDT If they had gone to the New York Times, the nation would see it as just another example of the Gray Lady’s unrepentant sixties bra burning hysteria against war. Instead, the Obama administration has gone to the Washington Post to begin the process of getting rid of their troublesome General who dares to think winning in Afghanistan is possible.To understand why and how, we must refer to Jonah Goldberg and his important work Liberal Fascism. This book is necessary...

According to sources close to the administration, Gen McChrystal shocked and angered presidential advisers with the bluntness of a speech given in London last week. The next day he was summoned to an awkward 25-minute face-to-face meeting on board Air Force One on the tarmac in Copenhagen, where the president had arrived to tout Chicago's unsuccessful Olympic bid.

The relationship between President Barack Obama and the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan has been put under severe strain by Gen Stanley McChrystal's comments on strategy for the war. According to sources close to the administration, Gen McChrystal shocked and angered presidential advisers with the bluntness of a speech given in London last week. The next day he was summoned to an awkward 25-minute face-to-face meeting on board Air Force One on the tarmac in Copenhagen, where the president had arrived to tout Chicago's unsuccessful Olympic bi

So our top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has told CBS's "60 Minutes" that he has spoken with President Barack Obama only once since June. This is a troubling revelation. Right now, our commander in chief is preparing to make one of the most important decisions of his presidency—whether to commit additional troops to win the war in Afghanistan. Being detached or incurious about what our commanders are experiencing makes it hard to craft a winning strategy.

WASHINGTON — President Obama had not even taken office before supporters were etching his likeness onto Mount Rushmore as another Abraham Lincoln or the second coming of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Yet what if they got the wrong predecessor? What if Mr. Obama is fated to be another Lyndon B. Johnson instead? To be sure, such historical analogies are overly simplistic and fatally flawed, if only because each presidency is distinct in its own way. But the L.B.J. model — a president who aspired to reshape America at home while fighting a losing war abroad — is one that haunts Mr....

Obama, Medvedev Call for Cut to 1,500-1,675 Nuclear Warheads Title only - story to follow

"(A)s a matter of constitutional law, the OLC (Office of Legal Counsel) memoranda’s most sweeping, categorical, and controversial conclusion – that at all events no statute or treaty may limit thePresident’s sole constitutional powers as military” Commander in Chief” to direct and conduct the use of U.S. force – is in my opinion unquestionably correct. The Office of Legal Counsel has long and consistently defended the view, both in Republican and in Democratic administrations,that the President’s constitutional powers under Article II of the constitution, as chief executive and as Commander in Chief of the nation’s military, afford the President substantial...

Obama's new budget plan includes a little-noted sea change in U.S. nuclear policy, and a step towards his vision of a denuclearized world. It provides no funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead program, created to design a new generation of long-lasting nuclear weapons that don't need to be tested. (The military is worried that a nuclear test moratorium in effect since 1992 might endanger the reliability of an aging US arsenal.) But this spring Obama issued a bold call for a world free of nuclear weapons, and part of that vision entails leading by example. That means halting programs that...

Now, this has occurred before with Bill Clinton, and it quite possibly could have been the same with Bush - the issue is how the MSM spins this and how it will report one way if you are affiliated with one party versus the other way when you have the “scarlet” R next to your name. From Flopping Aces: “Cheered wildly by U.S. troops,” begins Jennifer Democratic Operative Loven’s AP report on Obama’s surprise visit to Iraq on Tuesday. Quite a contrast to the silent treatment Marines gave Obama at his Camp LeJeune speech in late February. Just how did...

US President Barack Obama issued strong messages of reconciliation between the United States and Turkey as well as the larger Muslim world during his trip to Istanbul. (AFPTV)

Gay Rights Activists Chagrined at Obama Administration Foot-Dragging on Overturning Don't Ask/Don't Tell March 30, 2009 7:57 AM Gay and lesbian rights advocates expressed chagrin Sunday at the lack of urgency President Obama seems to be giving his campaign promise to overturn the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the armed forces. Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged on Fox News Sunday that funds have been allocated for the 2010 budget to enforce the "Don't Ask/Don't Tell" policy. "It continues to be the law," Gates said, "and any change in the policy would require a change in the law....

There has been some confusing reporting in the past few days regarding President Barack Obama's plans for the Defense Department budget. Officially, the Office of Management and Budget is claiming that it will increase the budget by 8 percent. But because most of the Iraq and Afghanistan war costs have been funded through supplemental appropriations rather than the regular department budget, total military funding remains a mystery. Mark me down as suspicious. I have been told by sources at the Pentagon that they have been told not to expect full funding of all existing programs. And there is evidence that...

In a recent interview with Chris Wallace, Vice President Cheney made the following claim about a President's ability to launch a counterstrike if the U.S. came under nuclear attack: The president of the United States now for 50 years is followed at all times, 24 hours a day, by a military aide carrying a football that contains the nuclear codes that he would use and be authorized to use in the event of a nuclear attack on the United States. He could launch a kind of devastating attack the world's never seen. He doesn't have to check with anybody. He...

Barack Obama denies having contact with the indicted Illinois governor who tried to sell his old Senate seat yet the president elect’s top advisor revealed last month that the men, longtime political pals, had in fact spoken about a replacement. When a massive federal indictment charging Rod Blagojevich with multiple corruption counts was made public yesterday, Camp Obama suddenly diagnosed the second-term Democrat governor with political plague. The nation’s soon-to-be commander-in-chief claimed to barely know his close political ally. After all, who wants to be connected to a notoriously crooked politician who just got arrested and charged with selling the...

“Barack Obama has never fired a gun. He has never so much as held a gun as far as anyone knows. Now he is Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces.”

Barack Obama will enter the White House without any military experience and with a playbook that emphasizes diplomacy, behind a president who waged two wars and presided over some of the largest-ever defense budget increases. So, how will President Obama be received at the Pentagon? Much depends on his first moves. One of his senior security advisers, former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.), said even though the president-elect has experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he’ll need a strong defense team that works together well.

Nuclear Weapon Personnel Reliability Program: Cocaine History a Disqualifier I blew a few smoke rings, remembering those years. Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though… (Barack Obama, “Dreams From My Father,” page 93, paperback edition. http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/streetterms/ByAlpha.asp?strTerm=B, “Blow” = “Cocaine; to inhale cocaine; to smoke marijuana; to inject heroin”) The Obama campaign at least sanctions (and may promote actively) the spread of rumors to the effect that John McCain has a neurodegenerative disease, usually by citing age as a risk factor for such diseases. Dozens of posts to this nature appear...

Obama Ignorance Watch: What Do the Joint Chiefs Really Do? Before the long weekend began, Barack Obama made a semi-flip-flop regarding the situation in Iraq, even allowing that the surge had achieved some stability and that the next president would be foolish to fritter away those gains. Predictably, this acknowledgement of the obvious triggered howls of outrage on the left. Obama firmly stuck to his new position for almost two full hours before assembling the press once more to reaffirm his long-expressed intention to abandon Iraq. “I am absolutely committed to ending the war,” the longtime community organizer declared. “I...

Some endorsement! Barack Obama's greatest vulnerability as a candidate is, perhaps, his lack of national security credentials—the doubt in voters' minds as to whether he is qualified to be Commander-in-Chief. So if there was one thing Hillary Clinton could have done during her speech today to bolster Barack's resume, it would have been a clear-cut statement that, yes, she believes in his ability to be Commander-in-Chief. In the course of her speech, Hillary did manage to work in the fact that there was a Democrat qualified for that role. But, stunningly, the only person she mentioned as fit to be...

You'll recall Hillary Clinton's recent speech in which she attempted to play up her foreign policy experience by recounting her "harrowing" 1996 trip to Bosnia. "I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base." Well, mainstream media has discounted that account, and such luminaries as comedian Sinbad have chimed in as well. It appears, however, that Clinton caved in too soon when she admitted overstating the dangers, as Barely Political...

I’ve been thinking about this for some time. I just did a bit of googeling but found no satisfactory answers, really none at all. Many jobs require background checks. Law Enforcement and military get even greater scrutiny, and as the job level and contact with sensitive data increases the level of scrutiny goes up. Do presidential candidates undergo Security background checks? If not, WHY NOT. Could Clinton or Obama pass a security background check for a high level job at say the FBI or CIA? If someone were to apply to those agencies and it was found out that their...

Nashville, Tenn. (AP) -- President Bush is serving notice that he's still running the Iraq war, and that he won't be influenced by what's happening in the race for his job. Bush told a friendly audience in Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday that "the politics of 2008 is not going to enter into my calculations." He said that troop levels in Iraq will be driven instead by "the peace of the year to come."

SAN DIEGO The Navy has resumed sonar training off the coast of Southern California despite the continuing legal battle over how the exercises affect whales and other marine mammals. The training by the carrier strike group of the USS Abraham Lincoln is part of a broader exercise to prepare the group for deployment, the Navy said in a news release. During the exercises, which began Wednesday and were scheduled to last through February 1, sailors train in anti-submarine warfare, ocean security operations and other areas. The anti-submarine warfare exercises use mid-frequency active sonar that environmentalists say hurts whales and other...

MIDI - FAVORITE THINGS Trying to talk black, oh, yes, I will pander Having my spin team go out there and slander Voting for me as commander in chief Requires suspension of disbelief On every issue both sides I am taking My Kool-Aide drinkers pretend I'm not faking Voting for me as commander in chief Requires suspension of disbelief Do not try crossing me if you like breathing You will regret it if you caused my seething Voting for me as commander in chief Requires suspension of disbelief I'll keep fooling stupid people...what airheads, good grief I'll never be...

When Hollywood producer Rod Lurie created fictional president Mackenzie Allen in 2005 for the show “Commander in Chief” he made no mistake about one of his goals: tilling the soil of popular culture so that it would soon be easier for a real woman to take root in a nonfiction Oval Office. CBS News had no such goal in 2006 when it gave Katie Couric the anchor’s chair once occupied by Walter Cronkite. But it was a vivid example of the glass ceiling being shattered in one of society’s most prestigious platforms. So will television be a leading indicator of...

On October 10, 1995, the 1/15 Battalion of the 3rd infantry Division of the U.S. Army came to attention at 0900 in Schweinfurt, Germany. All but one of the 550 soldiers were wearing a sky-blue baseball-style cap with a United Nations insignia on the front. One was wearing the olive-drab flat cap that is authorized to be worn with the Battle Dress Uniform. With this simple act of disobeying a direct order, Spc. 4 Michael New set the stage for a legal battle that has profound implications for the future of American soldiers into service of the United Nations without...

...Petraeus begins his mission with three advantages over his predecessors. The first is .... Nevertheless, Petraeus still faces a number of major problems - the most important one being uncertainty in Washington. There is little doubt that many elements within America's political elite want the United States to fail, for a variety of motives. At least some of those elements would do all they can, short of being charged with unpatriotic behavior, to ensure that the outcome of the war in Iraq is seen as a defeat for the United States - even if it is not so in reality....

President Bush recently declared, amid strong public disapproval of his plan to send 21,500 more American troops to Iraq, "I'm the decision-maker." The Senate may be about to prove him right. As Democrats attempt today their first confrontation with Bush over Iraq since the war helped put them in power on Capitol Hill, the issue is a case study in how difficult it is for Congress to challenge even a weak president on a deeply unpopular war. A watered-down, nonbinding Senate resolution backed by Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., is dividing both parties. It says the Senate...

Washington -- Like chess players planning several moves ahead, some Democrats in Congress are looking toward what they see as the inevitable clash with President Bush over who has the power to end the Iraq war. Such a confrontation could provoke a constitutional crisis between two co-equal branches of government -- a Democratic-led Congress bolstered by polls showing the war is deeply unpopular and a Republican president who so far won't budge from his position that he is the decision-maker who will control policy for Iraq. "Since the president is adamant about pursuing his failed policies in Iraq, Congress has...

(2007-01-31) — Under the terms of a bill proposed today by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-PA, the president’s role as commander-in-chief would be “redefined for the postmodern era as collaborator in chief.” The measure comes just a day after Sen. Specter respectfully rejected President George Bush’s claim to be “the decider” on the issue of a troop surge in Iraq, saying “the decider is a shared and joint responsibility.” “The antiquated Constitutional notion that the president is in charge of the armed forces has become obsolete if ever it was true,” the senator said. “A 21st century president isn’t the sole...

  WHY HILLARY'S IOWA MISSTEP CAN SINK HERMISSUS CLINTON'S SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE PROBLEM by Mia T, 1.29.07 ell, it didn't take long for missus clinton, off-leach—(sort of)—to step in it. On reflection, it will become clear that what is being spun as a little Iowa faux pas is in fact a huge blunder with national implications and the potential to sink the clinton candidacy. All the more surprising when one realizes that the visit to Iowa by this Thatcher pretender,1 this wannabe-commander-in-chief, 2 was more a micromanaged toe-dip than a bold foray. Watch the blunder as it unfolds. Notice...

WASHINGTON — President Bush, on a collision course with Congress over Iraq, said Friday "I'm the decision-maker" about sending more troops to the war. He challenged skeptical lawmakers not to prematurely condemn his plan. "I've picked the plan that I think is most likely to succeed," Bush said in an Oval Office meeting with senior military advisers. The president had strong words for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who are lining up to support resolutions opposing his decision to send 21,500 troops to Iraq. He challenged them to put up their own ideas. "Some are condeming a plan...

WASHINGTON — Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, has submitted plans to retire and will leave his post in March, a step likely to make way for a change in military strategy at a time the Bush administration is seeking a new plan for Iraq. Abizaid has been the primary architect of U.S. military strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan since becoming head of the U.S. Central Command more than three years ago. He has strenuously resisted calls to increase troop levels to quell rising violence in Baghdad, arguing it would increase Iraqi dependence...

NOTE: if the unthinkable happens, the commander in chief should be on Armed Forces Radio immediately. ================================================================= MESSAGE FROM THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF To all of you serving our country, I wanted to address you directly immediately after the mid-term elections. First, I want to congratulate all of those who were elected and congratulate the Democratic Party for their success in winning the House of Representatives. The people have spoken, and that is how our system has worked for well over 200 years. That system is the envy of the world. And now to those of you and to your...

When Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced this afternoon that he has agreed to send 1000 of the state's National Guard troops to the Mexico border, it was clear that he-- and not the federal government-- will retain the authority to decide what those troops will do, and how long they will do it. The governor told Capitol reporters this afternoon that he will sign a memorandum of understanding with federal officials in support of President Bush's call for Guard troops to assist agents of the U.S. Border Patrol. Since the President's announcement two weeks ago, Schwarzenegger and California National Guard leaders...

Last week ABC announced it was yanking Commander in Chief, the highly-touted series about the first American female president. It had fallen to No. 64 in the Nielsen ratings, so taking the show off life-support was only a matter of time. Commander in Chief was not a TV series in the usual sense. Rather it was a nationally-televised focus group, designed to test out issues, talking points, and applause lines for Hillary Clinton’s stealth presidential campaign. The lead script writer was Steve Cohen, whose ties to the Clinton family go back to 1991. After a stint in president Bill Clinton’s...

KARL ROVE'S MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION: MOIHEAR HILLARY, CHRIS MATTHEWS ET AL. by Mia T, 2.28.06 (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) BEHEARTED KARL adapted from ilovekarlrove.com graphic December 7, 1941+64 AN OPEN LETTER TO TIM ROBBINS, DAVID GEFFEN, CHRIS MATTHEWS, MAUREEN DOWD + JEANINE PIRRO RE: a not-so-modest proposal concerning hillary clinton Dear Concerned Americans, Hillary Clinton's revisionist tome notwithstanding, 'living history' begets a certain symmetry. It is in that light that I make this not-so-modest proposal on this day, exactly 64 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The context of our concern today--regardless of political affiliation--is...

'HIATUS' FOR HILLARY? by Mia T, 02.02.06 The clintons, as is their wont, are now taking this proxy scheme to even more outrageous extremes. The latest: an actual hillary clinton proxy presidency, populated on both sides of the camera by assorted rodham and clinton ex-staffers, sycophants and should-be felons, witness the latest hire. 'Commander-in-Chief,' a show that sets out to crown a 'queen,' instead exposes the kitschy simplemindedness of Hollywood fantasy and the special sway and shortsightedness of the pathologic ego. Mia T, 10.27.05THE DANGER OF RUNNING VICARIOUSLYBill O'Reilly chews up and spits out the hillary clinton candidacy(clip included)...