From American Thinker:

The commission appointed by President Obama to investigate the Gulf oil spill (the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling) does not include a single member with specialized knowledge of petroleum engineering. This is akin to performing a heart transplant with a surgical team that has never set foot in an operating room.

Of the seven members appointed to the commission, not one is a petroleum engineer, and all have long-standing ties to the environmental movement. This is certainly the case with Frances Beinecke, Donald Boesch, Terry Garcia, and Frances Ulmer, all of whom have close ties to environmentalist research and policy groups. Beinecke, in fact, is president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, while Ulmer is a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists. How’s that for an unbiased commission on drilling?

If the president’s intention was to prevent future leaks, why would he appoint a commission with no knowledge of drilling? The answer, it would seem, is that this commission was never meant to perform the task it was officially charged with. It was never really intended to be a commission on drilling safety, but rather a group of environmental activists intent on regulating and taxing the oil and gas companies out of business. Its report is unlikely to focus on improved safely measures with the intent of increasing oil and gas exploration and production. It will more likely issue a blueprint on how to restrict drilling while extorting profits from oil companies by way of new fees and regulation.

Even as the commission hears impassioned testimony from Gulf Coast residents about the economic devastation of Obama’s ban on deep-water drilling (his second ban, the first having been ruled illegal by a federal court), its members continue to register their opposition to drilling of any sort. Following recent testimony in New Orleans, during which prominent Gulf leaders pleaded for a resumption of offshore drilling, the commission’s directors, William Reilly and Bob Graham, offered lip service to the resumption of drilling. But where were Ms. Beinecke and the commission’s other environmental activists during these hearings? From all accounts, they have been silent about the economic damage caused by Obama’s drilling ban.

There are two crucial lessons to be learned from the Deepwater Horizon accident, but it is doubtful whether the commission will comprehend either of them. The first is that “best practices” exist which, had they been strictly adhered to, may have prevented the Deepwater Horizon accident. It is for the commission to determine whether they were followed in that case, but it is incontrovertible that best practices have prevented significant accidents on all of the other 40,000 wells drilled in the Gulf. These practices, with continual improvement, should prevent spills in the future as well.

The second lesson, and one that no one in government or the mainstream media seems to have considered, is that the Deepwater Horizon, however flawed its management might have been, had the capacity to produce a great deal of oil and gas. Based on the enormous flow of oil from the Deepwater Horizon and others among the 33 deep-water rigs operating in the Gulf, it is clear that vast reserves of oil and gas exist off America’s shores. These reserves are enough to make the United States energy-independent. They are enough to revive our flagging economy, enough to produce jobs for hundreds of thousands of workers and to create secondary and tertiary jobs for millions of others.

Estimates of oil flow from the Deepwater Horizon have come in at between 40,000 and 100,000 barrels. Taking a mean estimate of 70,000 barrels, the annual production from the well, not counting natural gas and condensates, would have amounted to 25,555,000 barrels per year. One hundred such deep-water wells in the Gulf, producing equal quantities of oil, would produce over 2.5 billion barrels per year, enough to supply one-third of the petroleum needs of the United States. This new production alone would add over $175 billion to annual GDP, and it would cut America’s annual trade deficit by the same amount. Combined with increased onshore drilling, conservation measures, and increased production of natural gas made possible by advances in drilling technology, offshore drilling would render the United States energy-independent for the first time in a half-century.

Moreover, deep-water drilling has the potential to transform America from the slow-growth, high-unemployment welfare state that President Obama envisages into a prosperous, full-employment economy. This new economy would not only be energy independent, but it might well become an exporter of oil and gas — as it is now an exporter of coal.

Expansion from the current 33 wells to 100 is a realistic goal, since it would not be necessary to drill 100 deep-water wells annually. Oil flow from wells such as the Deepwater Horizon continues for ten to thirty years, or even more (as it has in the North Sea). Ten additional deepwater wells per year, combined with fracking for natural gas on shore, would soon move the country toward energy independence.

For most Americans, new drilling and the energy independence that comes with it seem like a good thing, but that is the very reason why the president has appointed a commission hostile to increased drilling. The success of the free market in the United States depends to a great extent on the availability of cheap energy. By cutting off the supply of oil, natural gas, and coal, Obama ensures a continuation of high unemployment and an extended period of slow growth, and with these, the expansion of the socialist welfare state.

Nothing could be further from the interests of the modern-day Democratic Party than the transformation of the American economy into a flourishing free-market economy powered by cheap and reliable fossil fuels. The fight over drilling, in this sense, is nothing less than a struggle for the future of capitalism in America.

It seems like a nice gesture – an e-mail message from a loving wife, urging thousands of people to join her in wishing her husband a happy 49th birthday by signing an electronic birthday card.

But in Washington, D.C., nothing is that simple.

The wife, in this case, is First Lady Michelle Obama, and the message is being sent by the Democratic Party to people on its list nationwide. And underlying the birthday wishes, the message is political: The electronic card to Barack Obama also is a Democratic Party fundraiser.

“Every year, our family tries to come up with a fun way to wish Barack a happy birthday,” the message from Michelle Obama says. “And this August 4th, when he turns 49, I have something new in mind.”

Her message, which went out Tuesday, is being sent out by Democrats.org, the online presence of the Democratic National Committee.

The first lady, meanwhile, acknowledged that her husband has been “busy.”

“This has been a big — and hectic — year for him,” she wrote. “After signing the Affordable Care Act and Wall Street reform into law — and completing his first year as president — I think it’s safe to say we will remember it for a long time.

“And I know full well how much he credits this movement, and the work of supporters like you, for the change that we’ve accomplished,” reads the message.

“So I’m putting together a birthday card that I would like you to sign,” it says. “Together with supporters — and me, Malia, Sasha, and Bo — we’ll wish him a happy birthday and let him know that we’re ready to take on the year ahead alongside him.”

Clicking on the link — “Will you wish Barack a happy birthday with me?” – sends you to “MyBarackObama.com,” the Organizing for America Web site, which describes itself as “a project of the Democratic National Committee.”

But typing in your name, address and E-mail, and hitting “Sign the Card” takes you directly to another page — a donation page, which states:

“Thank you for standing alongside us, with the President. Now can you make a donation to help us take on the year ahead?” — and a disclaimer that funds would not go to political candidates.

The Morning Sentinel, a small paper from the state of Maine, has a travelogue story of the Obama’s vacation in and about Maine today. It has a very interesting little tidbit in it that should enrage every American. It is something that really shows Barack Obama’s arrogance and his obviously assumed air of noblesse oblige.

Among the exciting details of the Obama’s visit to Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor is this tidbit:

Arriving in a small jet before the Obamas was the first dog, Bo, a Portuguese water dog given as a present by the late U.S. Sen Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.…

As the rest of us toil on the unemployment line, as millions of Americans find their retirement accounts dwindling, their hours at work cut, and their pay scale trimmed, King Barack and Queen Michelle are flying their little doggie, Bo, on his own special jet airplane for his own little vacation adventure.Well, it must be nice to be able to afford to fly your doggie about the country whenever you feel like it. It must be nice to hire people to act as your dog’s escort. It must be comforting to know that you have the power to arrange such luxury for a dog.

As America lurches toward depression our leader is wasting millions on constant vacationing — 16 vehicles were used to drive the Obama’s around North Carolina — and affording his dog …his dog… his owns special jet airplane.

Air traffic at the small Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport in Trenton was shut down for the presidential arrival. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter patrolled the air in anticipation of the first family’s touchdown, and a pair of local fire and rescue trucks stood ready on an otherwise empty tarmac at the private air hangar.

The Obamas then traveled onto Mount Desert Island in a motorcade of at least 16 vehicles. It was led by two Maine State Police cruisers and included five black Chevrolet Suburbans.

And all this on OUR dime, folks. We are paying for our monarch to fly his pets around the country on their own special jets, folks.

Perhaps Barack Obama isn’t like a king. Perhaps he’s more like an emperor? An emperor like the fiddling Nero.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWn1fAS8ZF0

From Human Events:

The White House has stood by NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden’s statement that Obama told him that “foremost” among NASA’s responsibilities was finding “a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with predominantly Muslim nations, to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering.”

Obama stuck to this ridiculous idea that NASA should be devoted to Muslim outreach even after Michael Griffin, former head of NASA under the Bush Administration, said the idea that NASA should be devoted to making Muslims feel good was “deeply flawed.”

“NASA … represents the best of America. Its purpose is not to inspire Muslims or any other cultural entity,” said Griffin.

What is the point of Obama’s directive to Bolden? It is clearly more than outreach. Obama made ample provision for that when he created an entirely new division at the State Department specifically for that very thing: outreach to the worldwide Muslim community (Ummah). He named an Indian Muslim, Farah Pandith, as U.S. Special Representative for Muslim Outreach. So high-level was this new office that Pandith reports directly to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. One of the pillars of Obama’s post-American presidency is the Islamization of America.

In February, the White House Budget Office scrapped NASA’s plan to send astronauts back to the Moon, saying it was over budget and less important than other “space investments.” And now Bolden has made it clear: a more important space mission for Obama is pandering to Muslim countries.

Bolden said at the same time the Moon shot was being scrapped, Obama had asked him to “find ways to reach out to dominantly Muslim countries.”

Bolden, an Obama appointee, spoke last week of Obama’s vision for Muslim outreach.

“I am here in the region—it’s sort of the first anniversary of President Barack Obama’s visit to Cairo—and his speech there when he gave what has now become known as Obama’s ‘Cairo Initiative,’ where he —announced that he wanted this to become a new beginning of the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world.”

No one could have imagined that this new relationship would have anything to do with NASA—no one except Barack Obama. As Islamic scholar Robert Spencer has explained, much of what Bolden referred to as Muslims’ “historic contribution to science, math, and engineering” have been wildly exaggerated. Many are outright lies, fabricated “often for quite transparent apologetic motives.” He shows that most, if not all, of the inventions and discoveries attributed to the Muslim world were actually stolen from conquered peoples, Jews and Christians.

But now NASA is no longer is about space exploration and aeronautics. It has become a political agency whose objective is to whitewash history and shill for Muslim countries.

While Obama is directing NASA’s chief to make it his foremost priority to ensure that Muslims feel good by exaggerating their history and achievements, the advancement of true science, as represented by NASA’s space program, is being shuttered.

NASA’s mission, according to its website, is to “pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.” It focuses on four areas: aeronautics, exploration systems, scientific exploration, and space operations.

NASA scientists,” according to the Telegraph, “have provided some of the most inspiring, eye-catching and terrifying headlines of recent years.” These include their warning about the potential devastation that could be caused by solar flares; the discovery of life on Titan, a moon of Saturn; the most detailed satellite images of Earth ever made; the discovery of water on the moon; and much more. NASA has developed everyday items including invisible braces, scratch-resistant lenses, cordless appliances and water filters.

But those days are over. Now, a clueless and indifferent mainstream media should at least be asking what Obama is giving away to Muslim countries—in the service of making them “feel good.”

Ok, that’s not exactly what President Obama said during an interview this week regarding U.S.-Israeli relations, but the underlying message comes pretty darn close:

During the interview Wednesday, when confronted with the anxiety that some Israelis feel toward him, Obama said that “some of it may just be the fact that my middle name is Hussein, and that creates suspicion.”

Wow.  What a statement and what an ego.  Israelis’ distrust of the presidentcouldn’t possibly have anything to do with his Middle East diplomatic policies; it’s because he has a middle name that sounds “suspicious.”  If they haven’t yet grasped Obama’s brilliance, it’s just because they are narrow-minded and intolerable of others.

Obama then defended his reputation and his policies by saying How could you nottrust me? I’ve got a Jewish friend!

“Ironically, I’ve got a Chief of Staff named Rahm Israel Emmanuel. My top political advisor is somebody who is a descendent of Holocaust survivors. My closeness to the Jewish American community was probably what propelled me to the U.S. Senate,” Obama said.

Just wow.

The notorious and formerly funny movie director Woody Allen is apparently frustrated with the cumbersome operations of American democracy too.

The one-time-father-now-husband-of-his-daughter tells the Spanish-language magazine La Vanguardia that the United States’ Democratic Smoker-in-Chief could accomplish a whole lot more from his White House if he didn’t have so many disorderly, annoying people objecting, distracting and criticizing him all the time.

Such social messiness has been known to occur in functioning democracies, even cinematic ones, although less often on celebrity-strewn movie sets under the direction of a dictatorial director.

“It would be good…if (Obama) could be dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of good things quickly,” Allen is quoted as saying.

Allen is also said to have said:

I am pleased with Obama. I think he is brilliant. The Republican Party should get out of his way and stop trying to hurt him.

With healthcare and the economy now fully fixed, no doubt one area in urgent need of sweeping Obama-style reforms would be targeting movie reviewers who write negatively about Hollywood. Or about its politician favorites.

From Telegraph.co.uk:

A gushing admirer has left US president Barack Obama blushing and tongue-tied after she told him that he was a “hottie.”

Luann Haley, 45, offered her effusive assessment during the president’s impromptu visit to Duff’s Famous Wings, a New York eatery known for its take on Buffalo wings, a favourite regional dish.

Mr Obama was in the hard-hit industrial city of Buffalo to deliver a speech on the economy, which he said was on the rebound following the recession.

The president’s convoy pulled up to the restaurant for a surprise lunchtime visit much to the delight of its patrons – especially Ms Haley, for whom Mr Obama apparently was the most delectable dish in the restaurant.

“You’re a hottie with a smokin’ little body,” she gushed, a compliment that appeared to leave the president speechless.

When Mr Obama gave her a little hug she became even more ecstatic.

“He gave me a squeeze!” Ms Haley squealed.

And with a glance at television cameras capturing the encounter, Ms Haley delivered a little jibe for First Lady Michelle Obama, who did not accompany the president on his New York trip.

“Hi Michelle,” she said. “Eat your heart out!”

President Barack Obama has played golf 32 times since he took office, eight more than his predecessor George W. Bush – who was mocked by the Left for his fondness for the game – did in his entire presidency.

Mr Obama’s latest outing on the links came on Sunday, when an opportunity opened up on his schedule after flying bans over most of northern and central Europe forced him to cancel his trip to Krakow to attend the funeral of Lech Kaczynski, the Polish president.

Mr Bush was shown in the Michael Moore film Fahrenheit 9/11 condemning “terrorist killers” in the Middle East when asked a question on the golf course in 2002. Barely pausing for breath, he added: “Thank you. Now watch this drive.”

Mr Bush later gave up golf, saying in a 2008 interview: “I don’t want to some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander-in-chief playing golf… And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”

The golfing figures were compiled by Mark Knoller of CBS Radio, the unofficial White House statistician.
Mr Obama’s Sunday golf game prompted anger in Poland, where the Warsaw Business Post carried a headline reading: “Obama goes golfing instead of attending Kaczynskis’ funeral”.

A statue of Barack Obama as a boy was placed late Sunday night at the Jakarta elementary school the U.S. president once attended, after its display in a public park prompted backlash in the Indonesia capital.

The re-placement of the bronze statue a week after it disappeared from public view was a low-key event officiated by the school’s principal and three local education officials. Scores of students had been among the 500 watching when Jakarta’s mayor unveiled the statue in the park in December.

The likeness of a 10-year-old Obama smiling at a butterfly perched on an outstretched thumb was returned to its pedestal at 11:30 p.m. local time.

The late night schedule was aimed at finishing before almost 500 students arrive for school Monday, not an attempt to keep a low profile, said the main fundraiser for the statue, American Ron Mullers. The statue’s removal from the park also was done on a Sunday night.

Detractors had argued an Indonesia hero should be honored instead. A Facebook campaign attracted more than 50,000 supporters of the statue’s removal, and court action was initiated to force it.

Mullers accused them of politicizing a statue meant to inspire Indonesian children to follow their dreams.

“This is a statue of boy named Little Barry who went to this school; it’s not President Obama,” Mullers said.

Opponents had mixed feelings about the statue’s new position at Menteng 1 Elementary School where it remains clearly visible from the street through a front gate.

Heru Nugroho, leader of the Facebook campaign to remove the statue, said he was “not happy,” but declined to comment further.

Another opponent involved in the court action, Yenni Rosa Damayanti, said she was satisfied that the statue was no longer in a public park.

“We should not erect statues of other countries’ presidents in public parks when so many of Indonesia’s heroes are not immortalized,” she said. She added that she didn’t mind the new location because the school had history with Obama.

Central Jakarta Education Office head Zainal Soleman, who looked on as laborers were placing the statue a second time, said the school welcomed it.

“It will inspire and motivate the children every day,” Soleman said.

Obama, whose American mother married an Indonesian after divorcing his Kenyan father, went to school in the capital from 1967 to 1971 and is regarded fondly by most Indonesians.

]]> http://www.antiobamablog.com/2010/02/obama-statue-returns-to-public-view-in-jakarta/feed/ 0 http://www.antiobamablog.com/2010/01/obamas-fuzzy-job-creating-math/ http://www.antiobamablog.com/2010/01/obamas-fuzzy-job-creating-math/#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:24:52 +0000 Admin http://www.antiobamablog.com/?p=1238 From GOPUSA.com:

Ok, class… today’s lesson will be on mathematics. No moans and groans from the audience, please. This is an exciting, “new” math. We’ll call it Obama’s Fuzzy Math or OFM.

OFM is quite fascinating. In most math problems if you subtract from a number, the result is a smaller number. But not with OFM. Using Obama’s system, as more people lose their jobs — hundreds of thousands every month — the number of jobs created or saved (whatever that means) has actually gone up. It’s the new subtraction. But, of course, it doesn’t add up.

In December, 85,000 jobs were lost, and the unemployment rate remained at 10 percent. Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) summed up the situation perfectly by saying, “Democrats continue to advance a liberal agenda that is doing more harm than good. The policies of higher taxes, runaway spending, record debt and government takeovers, are having a chilling effect on jobs creators across the country.”

Obama’s policies certainly have had a chilling effect on job creators, but let’s take a look at how Obama sees things using our new technique of Obama’s Fuzzy Math.

As noted in an AP story on GOPUSA, “The White House has abandoned its controversial method of counting jobs under President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus, making it impossible to track the number of jobs saved or created with the $787 billion in recovery money.”

The Obama administration was first claiming that 640,000 were created or saved from the economic stimulus plan. “But more errors were found, with tens of thousands of problems documented in corrected counts, from the substantive to the clerical.”

So… what does Obama do? He scraps his plan and comes up with a new method for accounting that’s even fuzzier. As noted by the AP, “The Obama administration now is making it easier to give the stimulus credit for hiring. It’s no longer about counting a job as saved or created; now it’s a matter of counting jobs funded by the stimulus.”

Is Obama serious? The AP, which is not known for it’s unbiased reporting, even notes that “any stimulus money used to cover payroll will be included in the jobs credited to the program, including pay raises for existing employees and pay for people who never were in jeopardy of losing their positions.”

So, guess what Obama’s new claim is? The 640,000 number is out. The 2 million number is in. Wow! Now that’s quite a change. And, yes… with a straight face, White House officials are now saying that the economic stimulus plan has created or saved up to 2 million jobs.

In another AP story on GOPUSA, Obama is all smiles because of a report produced by his own economic council that states “the annual growth rate last year would have been roughly 2 percentage points lower, and there would have been 1.5 million to 2 million fewer jobs” without the stimulus.

Of course, it’s impossible to prove what would have, should have, or could have happened if something was not done, but that doesn’t stop Obama for taking credit for it.

And now Obama wants another stimulus bill… more money out of all our pockets to fund jobs that HE thinks should be funded. Doesn’t it make sense that jobs will be created when American companies are ready to hire? Creating a job through the government when the economy won’t support it on its own makes no sense. The only reason that job exists is because the government says it must exist and taxpayers are paying the salary.

Obama’s Fuzzy Math is more than just fuzzy. It’s a clear attempt to rally public opinion for a set of policies that take power away from the American people, put more power in the hands of government, and drive the country further into massive debt. That kind of math just doesn’t add up.

Read More:

• 94,341 jobs ‘not really created or saved’ by the stimulus (and counting)
• Obama’s “Create or Save” Jobs Farce
• Obama saved 935 jobs at a place that employs 508 people
• Even CBS Isn’t Buying Obama’s Jobs Saved/Created Numbers
• Obama’s ‘Jobs-Saved’ Claims Flat Out Untrue, Press Giving Him Pass
• The Media Fall for Phony ‘Jobs’ Claims