Obama and the Emperor of Japan

So the official word was: Obama didn’t bow. Now, we have a new photo of the president bowing to the emperor of Japan. It’s the kind of image that just doesn’t sit well with many Americans. The president, as the elected representative of the United States, should not be in the habit of bowing to foreign leaders, royal or not. Obama’s deep, subservient bow makes it even worse; this was no little nod.

What will the White House explanation be? Emperor Akihito is certainly shorter than Obama, so perhaps the White House will roll out the old “he’s taller than King Abdullah” story. Perhaps Gibbs will deny that it happened at all. Neither will fly. This is something the president should explain.

Full Post: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Obama-bows-again—-how-will-White-House-explain-70102617.html

Related: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6567670/Barack-Obama-bows-and-talks-of-green-tea-icecream-as-he-pushes-US-ties-in-Asia.html

http://whitehouse.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/11/13/president-obama-meets-with-the-japanese-emperor/

http://www.examiner.com/x-3108-Baltimore-Republican-Examiner~y2009m11d14-President-Obama-bows-to-emperor-of-Japan

http://www.theadmonition.com/?p=2031

UPDATE: See HotAirPundits for pics of other leaders greeting the Emperor. You’ll note that only the POTUS bows!

http://hotairpundit.blogspot.com/2009/11/president-obama-vs-rest-of-world.html

Via email today, I received this synopsis:

* * Let me see if I understand all this…
>
> .        If you cross the North Korean border illegally you get 12 years
> hard labor.
>
> .        If you cross the Iranian border illegally, you are detained
> indefinitely.
>
> .        If you cross the afghan border illegally, you get shot.
>
> .        If you cross the Saudi Arabian border illegally, you will be
> jailed.
>
> .        If you cross the Chinese border illegally, you may never be heard
> from again.
>
> .        If you cross the Venezuelan border illegally, you will be branded
a
> spy and your fate will be sealed.
>
> .        If you cross the Cuban border illegally, you will be thrown into
> political prison to rot.
>
> .        If you cross the U.S. border illegally, you get:
>
>    - A job
>    - A drivers license
>    - A social security card
>    - Welfare
>    - Food stamps
>    - Credit cards
>    - Subsidized rent or a loan to buy a house
>    - Free education
>    - Free health care
>    - A lobbyist in Washington
>    - And in many instances you can vote

      Personally, I think that immigration reform should begin with all illegals going home and getting in line, just as my great-grandparents did. And a note to Nancy Pelosi, a large percentage of those here illegally are here with their allegiance to their homeland, where 90% of their earnings are sent. They are not here for our healthcare….. they are simply providing for their family back home.

       Healthcare reform is necessary, but not a government takeover, and Immigration reform is necessary, but not woth amnesty programs.

Newly appointed White House counsel Bob Bauer is “perfectly positioned to be tasked with erasing the tracks between Obama and ACORN,” one Republican lawmaker charged Friday.

The lawyer’s hiring, announced this morning shortly after Greg Craig officially resigned the post, was also an attempt by the White House to deflect any fallout that may arise from an ACORN investigation currently underway in Louisiana, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) added in a statement.

“Bob Bauer has a public record of defending Barack Obama’s relationship with ACORN, the congressman told supporters. “Bauer’s hiring appears to be a tactical maneuver to strategically defend the White House exactly one week after Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell raided ACORN’s national headquarters in New Orleans and seized paper records and computer hard drives that may lead to the White House.”

See Full story: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/67695-rep-steve-king-bauer-was-hired-to-erase-tracks-between-obama-acorn

From HotAirPundit.com:

An easy pick in one sense, a provocative choice in another.

“We chose (Marco) Rubio because he is an upcoming leader. He is someone that a lot of people are excited about,” De Pasquale told POLITICO. “His name keeps getting brought up and we decided that he would be a good keynote for 2010.”

The keynote speaker gets the coveted 10 a.m. speaking slot that kicks off the conference on Thursday and gets a longer block of time than other CPAC speakers. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) got the slot last year.

Rubio Communications Director Alex Burgos said that “Marco Rubio is honored by the invitation and opportunity. He looks forward to sharing his vision of why mainstream conservative Republicans are needed in Washington more than ever.”

For full article: http://hotair.com/archives/2009/11/12/oh-my-marco-rubio-named-keynote-speaker-at-cpac/

     Speaker Nancy Pelosi quickly swore Bill Owens into office as the Congressman from New York’s 23rd District, in order to have him present for her ObamaCare vote. But, now two weeks after election, New York’s Secretary of State has not yet certified the election.

    It seems that there were some issues with some voting in some of the districts, and a review has been conducted. Owens lead over Doug Hoffman has narrowed from just over 5000 to 3000. Additionally, approximately 10,000 absentee ballots have yet to be counted, and it is believed that Owens will not have a large percentage of votes from those ballots, but Dede Scozzafava will.

     See story: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/upstate_congress_race_still_up_in_B5m1vrhubn6ytQCH3tTquO

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/12/owenshoffman-race-tighten_n_355696.html

     Despite “guilty” please, several of the masterminds of the 9-11 attacks, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, will be brought to the lower end of Manhatten to stand trial for their role in the attacks. From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON – Self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be brought to trial in a civilian federal courthouse in New York, near the site of the devastating 2001 terror attacks. Prosecutors expect to seek the death penalty.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced the long-awaited and politically fraught decision at a news conference Friday. He also said five other Guantanamo detainees, including a major suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, will be tried through the military commission process.

Holder said the Sept. 11 defendants should be tried where their crimes occurred. Nearly 3,000 people died when the World Trade Center towers were brought down by two hijacked jetliners, another hijacked jet hit the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in western Pennsylvania.

“After eight years of delay, those allegedly responsible for that attacks of September the 11th will finally face justice,” Holder said. “They will be brought to New York — to New York — to answer for their alleged crimes in a courthouse just blocks away from where the twin towers once stood.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091113/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_guantanamo_us_trial;_ylt=As4MCceBB9dSAP8fUoSfRWis0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTM0c3NudWhsBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMTEzL3VzX2d1YW50YW5hbW9fdXNfdHJpYWwEY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMyBHB0A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawM5MTFzdXNwZWN0c3Q-

Question: Is this a trial of the attackers, or a trial of the United States?

By Tony Blankley | Nov 10, 5:13 PM

Diane West has an article about the recent US Naval Academy “diversity” flap at the Naval Academy’s Color Guard appearance at the World Series, and how it relates to the handling of Maj. Hasan at Ft. Hood:

Same with Naval Academy Commandant Matt Klunder. Here is the Nov. 5 story from Naval Times (via Marine Mom) revealing his own duty to Diversity Uber Alles. The resulting harm was not bodily, of course,but the PC  ideology at work here is the same:

Naval Academy leaders removed two midshipmen from a color guard that performed at the World Series last week because they were white men, and replaced them with a non-white man and a white woman so the academy could present a more “diverse” profile, according to several sources, a move that has reportedly angered mids and alumni.

As it turned out, the color guard still ended up all white because the male replacement forgot parts of his uniform.

Two white, male members of the color guard learned Oct. 28 they were being replaced with a white woman, Midshipman 2nd Class Hannah Allaire, and a non-white man, Midshipman 2nd Class Zishan Hameed, on orders of the school’s administration, according to an internal e-mail message provided to Navy Times by an academy professor. With a national television audience, Naval Academy leadership worried the color guard it planned to send wasn’t diverse enough, the e-mail said.

However, after the color guard arrived in New York for the game Oct. 29, Hameed, whose family is from Pakistan [on top of everything else], realized he had left his dress shoes and cover in Annapolis. Midshipman 1st Class Aaron Stroud regained his place and served as a rifleman for the presentation of the colors. Allaire carried the other rifle and the four original members marched with the flags.

Naval Academy spokesman Cmdr. Joe Carpenter responded to questions about the midshipmen replacements in a written statement Thursday after the color guard story was first reported on the blog “CDR Salamander.”

Carpenter quoted a statement from Naval Academy Commandant Capt. Matt Klunder, who said he wanted to respond to questions about why some of the members of the color guard weren’t able to march at the World Series.

Academy officials actually sent an eight-person color guard to the baseball game, Klunder said, but the full squad couldn’t perform after Hameed forgot part of his uniform, because color guards need an even number of members. So it wasn’t that the academy administration yanked members of the color guard because they were white men, it’s that Hameed’s “uniform inventory problem,” as Klunder called it, meant that only six mids could march, instead of eight.

FOR FULL ARTICLE: http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/1116/Diversity-Uber-Alles.aspx