On Thursday, President Barack Obama stated that he will not make a decision on Afghan troop levels until after the Thanksgiving holiday. This development came at the end of President Obama’s eight-day Asia tour, where he took time to stop at Osan Air Force Base in South Korea. While there, he remarked to 1,500 troops, “You guys make a pretty good photo op.”

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That says a lot, doesn’t it? Upon examination, photo-ops certainly seem to be President Obama’s main concern. If you will recall, just a few weeks ago, Obama visited Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as some of our fallen servicemen were brought home to rest. For reasons unbeknownst to many, the president thought it would be appropriate to allow cameras at the event. Most families were made uneasy by this, and in fact, only one family allowed cameras to follow their proceedings.

Because of that, his visit came off as self-serving, especially when contrasted with former President George W. Bush’s visit to Fort Hood, where he insisted that no press be permitted.

The underlying point of all this, is that President Obama only seems interested in our armed servicemen and women when he can use them as a prop to get his picture taken or to get himself on television.

It has been weeks since General Stanley McChrystal requested an additional 40,000 troops for the effort in Afghanistan, and in the process making it emphatically clear that this was indeed necessary, claiming that the effort was not sustainable with current resources. On top of that, General McChrystal was only able to secure a 25-minute meeting to make the request in the first place.

Something is desperately wrong here.

Does anybody remember the campaign, where Obama insisted that Afghanistan was a top priority? The war we should be most focused on, if you will? What happened to that?

The answer to that is simple. It was nothing more than a campaign promise. It has become quite clear that our Commander-in-Chief clearly has no interest in our effort there, and by extension, it shows exactly what he actually thinks of our troops, which is, not much.

You have to pay attention to what Obama is saying here, and the words that he uses. He is saying he will not make a decision until after Thanksgiving. He’s not saying he won’t commit more troops until after then. This is nothing short of him saying “Yeah, I’m going to continue to put this off until at least after turkey is served.”

Brave sons and daughters dying over there on a daily basis, and our president is content to dither and play games with American lives and American security. This is clearly a tactic he is using in an effort to placate his left wing base, military advisors and cost to America be damned.

This man has already made his decision, and deep down we all know what it is. He may finally be forced at some point to send additional resources at some point, but he clearly has no real interest in doing so.

The only future Barack Obama is interested in is his own.

I might be an asshole, but I’m an honest asshole with a clear conscience: Ted Kennedy is dead and I really don’t care about all the garment-rending going on in the press.

Ted Kennedy killed a woman in a case of vehicular manslaughter, then used his connections to first attempt to cover it up, then get it marked down like a post-Christmas sale to “leaving the scene of an accident”. How such a coward could be lionized for his lack of testicular fortitude, I do not know. The death of Mary Jo Kopechne was an accident, but his actions at the time of and in the weeks following the accident were beyond the pale. Poor, scared rich kid gets strings pulled to make the whole thing go away. Shameful.

The most important thing Edward Kennedy ever did for America was to be born with the right surname, a name he exploited more and more as each (more famous, more useful) family member succumbed to tragedy.

I admit, I do feel bad for the Kennedy-Shriver clan, as they just lost (the far more moral and useful) Eunice a little over a week ago. They must be going through a hard time right now.

But as for Teddy himself, at every turn he sought to undermine American values. He undermined the troops in Vietnam. Subverted the country and worked with the Commies during the Cold War. Was a total NIMBY when it came to his pious devotion to care for the planet. Aided and abetted the murderers, rapists, drug addicts and other assorted felons in his own family.

And now he’ll be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. What an insult that would be to his brother John, who not only served in the US Navy but was blown out of his boat in an attack. Teddy, on the other hand, was shielded from duty by his father. Much as the left accused President Bush of being. I wonder how they’ll feel if the Bush family requests his burial at Arlington.

Klansman/Senator Robert Byrd is calling for the health reform bill - which touts a system no one in the House or Senate would be obliged to use - to be named after Kennedy, thereby making the death of his colleague into a political point grab. Classy.

Stacy McCain has an excellent roundup, and calls for today - August 26, 2009 - to be named as Mary Jo Kopechne Memorial Day, in honor of drunken Ted’s fatal error of judgment.

My final word is as a Catholic: It is hoped that Kennedy made his full confession to God. He never took public responsibility for the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, but one hopes he took private responsibility for it. It is not for mankind to forgive, because forgiveness is divine. We can try, but in my case, I have failed. I’ll discuss that failure with God, in the same manner I hope Kennedy discussed his failings. Otherwise he will spend eternity trapped in an airless car, submerged in the shallow water of Chappaquiddick, gasping for air.

I was in the CBC mothership today for a taping of George Snuffleupagus. His guest was John Bolton, and Kathy got us the tix.

Oh. My. Godless. Where do I begin? I won’t tell you too much about the Bolton interview - you can watch the ignorance on the part of Snuffy. Foreign policy is a little above his leather bar pay grade. He would attack Bolton with some snide remark, but when Bolton came out with a clear, coherent and totally logical response, Snuffy would say “I totally agree with you, but…” Anyway, watch it on Thursday if you can stomach the CBC. Bolton was very collected and knew his shtick.

Now, let’s talk about that bastion of liberal white guilt, the CBC. You walk in to the main atrium, and it’s all security. Everywhere. Ok, I’ll buy that for a multi-media studio. Fine. I stand and wait for Kathy beneath a poster for Little mosque on the Prairie, which has the tagline: The World’s Most Famous Muslims. Really? I can name 19 who were a helluva lot more famous than those people.

Our friends arrive, including Winston. It appears that our Iranian pal is the only visible minority to be found at the multi-culti CBC. Hmmm. Surely I must be mistaken.

I lean over to another pal and say, “Where is the diversity they’re always talking about around here?” Everyone was white. Seriously. We had to import our own brown guy - I’m surprised the staff didn’t make him go fetch them coffee. Camera men (men - all men), grips, assorted lackeys - all white males. There were two chicks with clipboards - they were both white.

When I made this remark to my friend, some woman who sounded like Marge Simpson’s sisters took offense and told us in no uncertain terms that there were lots of women working there, and the disabled, especially in radio. To which my friend replied “But nobody sees them if they’re in radio. It doesn’t mean anything.” The old feminist (who may have once been a guy) was not a happy camper at that.

We went upstairs to the studio where we were perhaps the best dressed people there. It seems to work in television on my dime, you don’t even have to wash your hair before coming to work. And no, I don’t mean just Snuffy - I mean all of them. A crustier bunch of pot heads I haven’t seen since high school. I wandered over to where the vending machines were to toss out my empty water bottle. Given the dogma coming out of the place, I expected to be faced with a veritable buffet of recycling options. Nada. Zip. Zilch. My fully recyclable plastic bottle went into the trash under the milk bar of the coffee counter. An hour later when Snuffy asked us if we were doing our bit for the Million Acts of Green, I told him about the lack of recycling. He stammered. Told us that the offices have recycling. Didn’t have an answer as to why my water bottle will kill a dolphin or whatever it will eventually be accused (by the CBC) of doing.

So people of Canada, I have seen inside the Mothercorp, and I am not pleased. I expected some hypocrisy, but not the level I witnessed. Bottom line talking points for your local MPs: No diversity in the workplace, and no recycling. The CBC needs to practice its own pravda.

It wasn’t so very long ago that Canada was debating homosexual marriage. During that time, the homosexual lobby was screeching about churches fighting them. The churches had tax exemptions, they said, and therefore shouldn’t be involved in a political issue.

The worm has turned. From today’s Star:

Canada’s interest groups have a lot to say, especially those concerned about poverty, women’s rights or the environment. And rightfully so. Their staff, volunteers and contributors care passionately about their issues. But many advocacy organizations appear to have been stifled from expressing their opinion during the current federal election campaign. That’s unfortunate. Indeed, it could be argued, this is when their views most need to be heard.

The problem is that many advocacy groups are registered charities, and federal income tax rules forbid them from getting involved in partisan politics. These rules are long-standing, but the charities were issued reminders in 2004 (when the Liberals were still in power in Ottawa). They were specifically warned that they could not endorse a candidate, post election signs and or give money to a party.

My guess? The Toronto Star editorial board does indeed think “advocacy groups” should be heard, but that they don’t include religious institutions in their view.

From this little slut, Princess somethingorother. (If you can dish it, you’d better take it, dear)

It’s amazing how much “she” sounds like our own Cynic…

Swish of the combable tail to Pony Pal David

Hmmm… Remember, you can denigrate women as much as you want, so long as you are an abortion-obsessed lefty. If you are a conservative, you are merely a cunt.

There is a very interesting tempest in a Babble teapot going on right now. Seems that rabble.ca has posted an ad for k.d. lang’s new album, Watershed, that links to the Indigo music website.

But the Jew-hating lefties on Babble are really upset, because they loathe Heather Reisman and her HESEG Foundation.

Well its pretty clear that ethics play no role here.

Let me see if i have this straight; Chapters Indigo owned by Heather Reisman is part and parcel of the Zionist chain that permits apartheid israel to flourish. Babble endorses a full boycott of Chapters Indigo for that reason. I understand this, i passonately disagree but i understand.

Yet,and here’s the kicker, Babble itself allows its site to be used by Chapters Indigo(for money of course) as a tool by which to advertise its goods. If this isn’t total hypocricy i honestly don’t know what is.

Quick, let’s kill people and blow some shit up!

Terence Koh, the provocative Canadian darling of the New York art scene, has aroused controversy in Britain after a top gallery displayed one of his sculptures showing Jesus with an erect penis.

Media reported that Mr. Koh’s statue at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead “has offended Christians and visitors alike.”

But yesterday, Baltic Centre spokeswoman Ann Cooper said that Mr. Koh’s artwork will remain on display until the exhibition ends Jan. 20. Ms. Cooper added that visitors to the gallery are warned that they may be confronted by images of “a sexual or violent nature” in the exhibition.

“Contemporary art by its very nature is often challenging and controversial; reflecting and responding to some very serious personal and social issues in modern life,” the gallery said in a statement. “Baltic does not shy away from presenting such works.”

How these hypocrites don’t choke on their own forked tongues is beyond my comprehension. Maybe I would take them a little more seriously if they had the balls to print the Dreaded Cartoons of Blasphemy, instead of just shaking their heads at our perceived gaucheness.