Dangerous World for Obama: Five Places Obama Will Be Tested

The Five Obama Foreign Policy Tests:
Obama's Not Even Sworn In Yet But
Russia, Terrorists, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran
Have Started the Testing of Obama

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Americans were assured that the world couldn't wait until the election of a President Obama--and it was true. The world didn't wait until Obama officially takes office on January 20 to start testing the former junior senator from Illinois.

Joe Biden called it during the presidential campaign: Within six months, Barack Obama will be tested by countries around the globe if he won. [Joe Biden: Elect Obama and We’ll Have an International Crisis]

The Mainstream press didn't address Biden's comments much--other than feature numerous campaign spokesmen "clarifying" Biden's remarks. Obama's lack of experience or credentials wasn't a topic for polite MSM conversation: it was much more pleasant to write about what "Change" really meant.

Within hours of Barack Obama winning the 2008 election, Russia announced it was putting missiles next to NATO countries. This wasn't the only wake-up call for the new administration. There are other countries and groups seemingly lined up to see what the United States' response will be to global challenges.

We've picked out four of the earliest ones.

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• Test #1: Russia and Europe
  
  From Obama's First Diplomatic Test:
  
  

  The day after Obama's election, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev publicly threatened to deploy missiles near the borders of two NATO allies to counter the Bush Administration's plans to install antimissile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. The Russian announcement, rolled out during an elaborate ceremony, was timed to put one of the most contentious issues between Moscow and Washington on Obama's table right away. Obama and his advisers took it as an intentional provocation aimed at testing the President-elect.

  
  
  TIME then makes an amazing statement: "In fact, Obama's biggest challenge lies not in the tone he takes with the Russians but in the substantive policy choices he makes."
  
  What is this? Won't "acting presidential" pacify the Russians? It certainly worked on the American Mainstream Media during the election. It seems a little late in the game for TIME to talk "substantive policy choices" after the election.
  
  Unlike the MSM, Russia will not be swayed by a confident Obama style only. Like their invasion of Afghanistan during Jimmy Carter's term, the Russians will be watching U.S. responses and adjusting their policy accordingly.
  
  
  
• Test #2: Iraq and Afghanistan
  
  Obama ran a relentless campaign against George W. Bush--who wasn't a candidate. But Obama will find that it was Bush's surge policy--in stark contrast to Obama's plan to beat a hasty retreat--that carried the day in Iraq.
  
  From early indications, Obama will roughly follow the Bush agenda for Iraq; no doubt disturbing his anti-war supporters who helped him secure the Democrat nomination. It's been quiet in Iraq the last several months: some want to declare victory.
  
  But the incoming Obama administration may be tested by all parties in Iraq, including the Iraqi government.
  
  Al-Qaida seems detested, dejected and defeated, but they may be lying dormant. They will monitor developments and American policy and look for any openings to test the new president.
  
  Afghanistan is a different matter.
  
  The Afghan central government is corrupt; NATO allies--with the exception of Britain--are not much good once shooting starts; and, the Taliban appears to be getting stronger as the war wears on.
  
  It's promising that during the campaign, Obama did support the war in Afghanistan. So, cutting-and-running is probably not his first option from the opium capital of the world.
  
  Obama has also said that he recognizes the situation in Afghanistan is worsening. What actions will he take in response?
  
  
• Test #3: Biological and Nuclear Terror
  
  From Panel Fears Use of Unconventional Weapon:
  

  An independent commission has concluded that terrorists will most likely carry out an attack with biological, nuclear or other unconventional weapons somewhere in the world in the next five years unless the United States and its allies act urgently to prevent that.
  
  In a report to be released this week, the Congressionally mandated panel found that with countries like Iran and North Korea pursuing nuclear weapons programs, and with the risk of poorly secured biological pathogens growing, unconventional threats are fast outpacing the defenses arrayed to confront them.
  
  “America’s margin of safety is shrinking, not growing,” the bipartisan panel concluded.

  
  
  Pakistan is a particular area for concern, with terrorists with an eye toward causing death and destruction likely to come from that U.S. ally. It's suspected that the Mumbai terrorists came from Pakistan, where they likely trained and prepared.
  
  “Pakistan is an ally, but there is a grave danger it could also be an unwitting source of a terrorist attack on the United States — possibly with weapons of mass destruction,” the report said.
  
  
• Test #4: India and Pakistan
  
  ABC News called Mumbai "Obama's first foreign policy test". From Mumbai: Obama's First Foreign Policy Test:
  

  American officials believe the terrorists may be Pakistani extremists bent on turning the disputed Kashmir region along the border with India into a separate Islamic state.
  ...
  As Obama continues to work with the current administration to prepare for a seamless transition, history shows that foreign policy and national security cannot be put on hold during presidential transitions.

  
  
  Mumbai was seen by some, including Melanie Phillips, as another battle in the worldwide Jihad now being fought.
  
  One wrong move and the world could witness the first nuclear war between the countries on the Indian subcontinent.
  
  
• Test #5: A nuclear armed Iran
  
  Iran is not going to change its headlong pursuit of nuclear weapons--or its reasons for acquiring them--because of pleasant talk, smiles and handshakes. The Islamic Republic respects one thing: power.
  
  What actions will a President Obama take?
  
  Hopefully, they'll be wiser than the policies of ex-president, Jimmy Carter.
  
  From Obama's First Foreign Policy Tests
  
  

  Successive, Democratic and Republican U.S. administrations have appeased the Islamists in Iran, starting with the catastrophic Carter administration, which secretly assisted the Islamist overthrow of the pro-U.S. Shah, a modernizing monarch, in a craven, cynical attempt to curry favor with the Ayatollah Khomeini.
  ...
  China Confidential analysts believe that Iran's Hitlerian maniac-in-chief, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (whom President-elect Obama has offered to meet in face-to-face talks) is determined to announce a major nuclear breakthrough in time for this February's 30th anniversary celebrations of the Islamic Republic.

Five tests for President-elect Obama.

The world will be watching to see how he scores.

Americans hope he gets a passing grade.


by Mondo Frazier
image: dbkp file

The World and US Elections: Israelis Favor McCain; Iran for Obama

Israelis Favor McCain, Iranians Prefer Obama

By Bob McCarty at BobMcCarty.com

Barack Obama has, according to many news accounts about the 2008 presidential race, won the love and admiration of many people around the world. Perhaps more worthwhile than the results of any global opinion poll is a look at how Israelis and Iranians would vote if given the chance.

Published one week ago, a ynet news article, Poll: Israel votes McCain in US elections, revealed that 46% of Israelis would vote for Republican Party presidential nominee John McCain if given chance to elect the U.S. president while only 34 percent would vote for the Democratic Party contender. Further, almost half of those polled believe McCain would better impact Jewish state.

[ABOVE: Click image to read article.]

Published a few days earlier, another ynet news article, Larijani: Iran prefers Obama, revealed that Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani believes his country is leaning towards Obama in the U.S. presidential election "because he is more flexible and rational."



[ABOVE: Click image to read article.]

Summary: Israelis like McCain, and Iranians like Obama. Any questions?*

*If, after carefully considering the facts above, you find yourself still undecided about who to support in the presidential election Tuesday, remember to listen to "The Poll Whisperer" before you cast your vote.

Obama's Global Poverty Act: Spreading U.S. Wealth Around the World

“Election ‘08: Before friendly audiences, Barack Obama speaks passionately about something called “economic justice.” He uses the term obliquely, though, speaking in code — socialist code.”
--Investor’s Business Daily Editorial



"According to IBD, the bipartisan bill would require the president "to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the U.S. foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day."

The "Millennium Development Goal" refers to a United Nations declaration adopted by the U.N. Millennium Assembly and Summit in 2000 that calls for "the eradication of poverty" by "redistribution (of) wealth and land," cancellation of "the debts of developing countries" and "a fair distribution of the earth's resources."
--Edward Cline, Obama's Global Poverty Act

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Barack Obama's Global Poverty Act:
Spreading U.S. Wealth Around the World

As 'hard-core capitalists', DBKP would have been marked for extermination by Bill Ayers--if Ayers had ever bombed his way to power.

Ayers traded in his bombs for a grant writer's pen. Ayers hit the jackpot when he hired a young lawyer to administer his Chicago Annenberg Challenge.

That young lawyer's name was Barack Obama.

Big Media won't talk about Obama's many ties to socialism and communism--Ayers wrote in "Prairie Fire" that his movement was unabashedly "communist.

References to early Obama associations have been scrubbed from the Internet.

Obama's still refused to release his college and university records and a media which was hot for George Bush's college records and John McCain's medical records, has maintained a lockstep silence over the lack of the same records from Barack Obama.

A John Edwards-esqe cone of silence by the Mainstream Media on these records. The MSM is/has been intent on apologizing, explaining away, whitewashing and comforting voters who may have misgivings over the many questionable relationships and alliances Barack Obama has chosen over the years.

Alliances which shed light on Barack Obama.

Another story that is not getting much ink these days concerns the one bill that Barack Obama has proposed in the U.S. Senate--along with Chuck Hagel and Maria Cantwell: the Global Poverty Act.

The bill was the subject of a strong editorial in Investor's Business Daily of February 28, 2008, "Obama's 0.7% Solution For Poverty Gets Pass from Senate Republicans." According to IBD, the bipartisan bill would require the president "to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the U.S. foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day."

The "Millennium Development Goal" refers to a United Nations declaration adopted by the U.N. Millennium Assembly and Summit in 2000 that calls for "the eradication of poverty" by "redistribution (of) wealth and land," cancellation of "the debts of developing countries" and "a fair distribution of the earth's resources." The IBD reports that "The Millennium project is monitored by Jeffrey D. Sachs, a Columbia University economist. In 2005 he presented then-U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan with a 3,000-page report based on the research of 265 so-called poverty specialists. "Sachs' document criticized the U.S. for giving only $16.5 billion a year in global anti-poverty aid. He argued that we should spend an additional $30 billion a year in order to reach the 0.7% target that the U.N. set for the U.S. in 2000....Sachs said that the only way to force the U.S. to commit that much money is by a global tax, such as a tax on fossil fuels [oil, coal, natural gas]." The tax would be imposed not only on their production, but on their use, as well. Among other consequences, Americans would be impoverished for the purpose of reducing poverty abroad by 0.7 percent of the U.S.'s gross domestic product.
--Edward Cline, Obama's Global Poverty Act

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OBAMA and SOCIALISM

* Barack Obama, Socialist: Obama a Member of Socialist New Party
* Obama: Candidate and MSM Won’t Report Obama’s Socialist Ties
* Obama, Bill Ayers: Ayers Wanted to Kill 25 Million Die-Hard Capitalists
* MSM Education of John Q. Public: Socialism is Code Word for Black
* Obama Tax Plan: We’re Going to Spread the Wealth Around

* Obama Video Shows Pattern Of Socialist Lingo, Socialist Ties

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Barack Obama's record in the U.S. Senate is that he is the most liberal member of that legislative body.

Quite an achievement for a relatively new member of the Senate; a man who "had only been in the Senate 143 days before announcing for president."

Obama's signature piece of legislation in the U.S. Senate is the proposed Global Poverty Act. The Global Poverty Act would transfer almost a trillion dollars from the United States to poor people the world over.

It's stated goal: to cut world poverty in half by 2015--using billions of U.S. taxpayers' money.

* McCain Works on Financial Crisis While Obama Touts $845 Billion Global Poverty Bill Funded by US Taxpayers
* Obama, Hagel, Cantwell: Fighting Global Poverty–One Speech at a Time

The Global Poverty Act of 2007 also had Republican backers; they will bear responsibility for their support.

But only one of the bill's backers is running for president: Barack Obama.

If the Global Poverty Act becomes law--it's already passed the Democrat House--Barack Obama will certainly "spread the [U.S. taxpayers'] wealth around".

It will take from the U.S. taxpayers--Joe the Plumber, Suzy the Homemaker, Phil the Bricklayer, Terry the Teacher and all the rest--and give it to countries around the world.

It will then be up to these countries, many run by dictators who are to blame for their people's lack of wealth, to spread the U.S. taxpayers' wealth around. Wealth that was earned in our capitalist system will be transferred to many who live under systems which are antagonistic to capitalism and wealth creation.

Good luck with all that.

The Obama campaign says that calling Barack Obama a "socialist" is a failed tactic, reserved for the evil troika of Fox News, the Drudge Report and the McCain campaign.

What is the intent of the Obama's Global Poverty Act?

It's part of a socialist vision that penalizes wealth creation, takes from those who earn and gives it to those who don't.


by Mondo Frazier
image: RidesAPaleHorse

Russia, Georgia: Dems, Voters Reminded World is Dangerous

There Is A Bear In The Woods
Russia Bombs Civilians in Georgia
Americans Reminded World is a Dangerous Place





Red Planet Cartoons reminds readers: There's a Bear in the Woods and the world is a dangerous place

From McClatchy: Civilians Were Only Targets Left As Russia Kept Bombing:

Miles away, at one of Tbilisi’s main hospitals, doctors struggled to care for the wounded, who arrived in waves throughout the day. Many were elderly. None was a soldier.

“Just now, we admitted eight patients,” said Tamara Saria, a doctor. “The age of all of them was no less than 80.”

“Do you see any military people here?” asked Nikoloz Kvachatze, another doctor. “These are all civilians.”

He was walking past an 80-year-old woman who had shrapnel wounds across the right side of her face. The woman, frail with thin white hair, was gasping and wheezing into an oxygen mask

“They are punishing us,” Kvachatze said of the Russians. “They are punishing us for trying to be independent.”

RPC also has a collection of background and informational links listed in the post.

In the rush of a busy day, voters sometimes forget how dangerous the world can be.

Barack Obama sometimes forgets it, too.

Russia's invasion of Georgia reminded everyone just how dangerous it is.

by Mondoreb
image: Red Planet Cartoons

U.S. Fertility Rates: Americans Are Reproducing Like Bunnies

A stark difference between the United States and Europe.

For the first time in 35 years, the U.S. fertility rate has climbed high enough to sustain a stable population, solidifying the nation's unique status among industrialized countries.

The overall fertility rate increased 2 percent between 2005 and 2006, nudging the average number of babies being born to each woman to 2.1, according to the latest federal statistics. That marks the first time since 1971 that the rate has reached a crucial benchmark of population growth: the ability of each generation to replace itself.

"It's been quite a long time since we've had a rate this high," said Stephanie J. Ventura of the National Center for Health Statistics. "It's a milestone."

Of course, if you are the sort of person who creams in their jeans at the sight of Mother Earth, the American fertility rate is a disaster.

More people mean more waste products, less "green spaces", and more problems.

In short: in the world of the such environmentalists, the only good human is a dead human.

While the rising fertility rate was unwelcome news to some environmentalists, the "replacement rate" is generally considered desirable by demographers and sociologists because it means a country is producing enough young people to replace and support aging workers without population growth being so high it taxes national resources.

"This is a noteworthy event," said John Bongaarts of the Population Council, a New York-based think tank. "This is a sign of demographic health. Many countries would like to be at this level."

Mark Steyn has pointed out the falling fertility rates in Europe and been called a racist for his troubles.

Modern humans are the only species threatened with eventual extinction because of a lack of reproduction.

Europe, Japan and other industrialized countries have long had fertility rates far below the replacement level, creating the prospect of labor shortages and loss of cultural identity as the proportion of native-born residents shrinks in relation to immigrant populations. In contrast, many developing nations' birthrates far exceed the replacement rate, fueling poverty and social unrest.

"Over the long term you can't have significant continued growth or continued decline," said S. Philip Morgan, a Duke University sociologist. "Neither one is sustainable."

What are the reasons for high American fertility?

Around DBKP, the answers ranged from "Lot of hot chicks right now," to "Girls just wanna have fun," to "Nothing good was on TV all last week." The coffee boy voted for "You can't buy good porn anymore."

Experts elsewhere differed.

The reasons for the unusual U.S. fertility rate are the focus of intense interest. Experts can only speculate, but they cite a complex mix of factors, including lower levels of birth control use than in other developed countries, widely held religious values that encourage childbearing, social conditions that make it easier for women to work and have families, and a growing Hispanic population.

"It's not clear which of these factors is most important," Bongaarts said.

The nation's total fertility rate hit a high of nearly 3.8 in the United States in 1957 during the postwar Baby Boom. But it fell sharply through the 1960s and 1970s with the introduction of the birth control pill and other trends, including women delaying childbearing to attend college and pursue a career. The rate dipped below replacement level in 1972 and hit a low of 1.7 in 1976, but it started rising again in the late 1970s. It climbed steadily through the 1980s, hovering close to but never hitting the replacement rate throughout the '90s. The population rose steadily nevertheless, however, because, in part, of immigration.

The fertility rate finally surpassed the replacement threshold again in 2006, according to a preliminary analysis of birth data released by the government this month. When the report was published, attention focused on a jump in the teen birthrate for the first time in 14 years, but the statistics show that was part of an increase in birthrates across almost all ages.

"The teenagers may have had some impact, but the birthrate went up for every group, including women in their 20s, and they account for a huge percentage of the childbearing in this country," Ventura said.

Some have speculated that one small factor for the rise may be an increase in births in families of military personnel being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, Ventura said.

"Maybe they came back and didn't know when their next deployment may be," Ventura said. "That's very interesting, but it's anecdotal at this point."

Some of the increase is explained by immigration. Hispanics have the highest fertility rate -- about 2.9 -- followed by blacks (2.1), Asians (1.9) and whites (1.86). But Hispanics do not represent enough of the population to fully explain the trend, and the fertility rate of U.S. whites is still higher than that of other developed countries.

"It's hard to say any one factor is responsible. It's frustrating when you can't put your finger on what's going on," Ventura said.

For developed countries, a replacement-level fertility rate is considered vital for keeping retirement programs such as Social Security solvent by supplying new workers to pay into the system to support retirees.

"A low birthrate results in an old society. It will be hard to support social systems when you have so few people relative to older people," Bongaarts said. "The Europeans are very worried and are turning to all sorts of measures, including giving incentives to people to have children."

The slowdown in the fertility rate can be offset by increasing immigration, but that has caused a backlash across Europe.

"It's a real crisis for some countries," Morgan said. "If you're talking about replacing the births you are not having with migrants, that would lead to fundamental societal change for the receiving country."

Although many European countries offer women incentives to have children, such as providing lengthy paid maternity leave, guaranteeing their jobs and subsidizing child care, the efforts have had limited impact.

"It's widely accepted in the United States that women can have this balance," said Mark Mather of the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington research organization. "I'm not sure that's true in some European countries, such as Germany, where there may still be more of a stigma attached to women working and having families."

Finally, the report closes by saying the the modern American woman may be the reason for the fertility jump.

Huh?

The habits of the modern American woman, rather.

While being a mother who works outside the home is far from easy for many American women, many experts said the United States is in many ways more amenable to the practice than many other developed countries. The high-octane consumer economy, for example, helps women run households more efficiently in a number of ways, including making prepared foods more widely available, and weekend and late-night shopping possible. American men are also helping more with their children than in the past, experts say.

"We also have a relatively high percentage of part-time jobs available," said Ronald Rindfuss, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina. "There's also more shift work outside the normal nine-to-five, Monday-through-Friday schedule that enables parents to share child care."

The nation's religiosity also contributes to the higher fertility rate, which varies geographically, experts said. Red states tend to have both more religious people and higher fertility rates.

"Americans are much more religious than Europeans: They believe in God more. They go to church more," said Charles Westoff, a Princeton University demographer. "That sort of religious attitude or set of values is strongly correlated with fertility."

Whatever the cause, the fertility rate combined with increased immigration is likely to continue to fuel growth of the U.S. population, experts said.

"We have a lot of population momentum in this country because we have so many young people who themselves are going to soon be having 2.1 children," Mather said. "We're going to be growing for quite some time at a fairly fast pace."

But not everyone sees that as encouraging, given that the United States remains a leading consumer of increasingly scarce natural resources.

"The world is now consuming resources faster than the Earth can sustain over the longer term," said Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute. "Forests are shrinking. Fisheries are collapsing. Water tables are falling. Large parts of the world's grasslands are deteriorating. The U.S. is already disproportionately responsible for that because of our very high consumption levels."

We were trying to think of a snappy closing, but all that came to mind was the Biblical injunction.

"Go forth and multiply."

by Mondoreb
[image:milkandhoneyfarms]
Source: U.S. Fertility Rates Hits 30-Year High



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Baby Grace, Riley Sawyers: Memorial Service in Ohio, But Riley Was Known Worldwide

Mourners left wooden crosses, angels and other reminders of a 2-year-old girl that made headlines worldwide as "Baby Grace".

The memorial service, held in Mentor, OH, previously the home of Riley Sawyers and her family, before she and her mother moved to Texas.

Riley, whose body was identified as that of Baby Grace, was beaten and tortured by her mother, Kimberly Trenor, and her husband/companion, Clyde Zeigler II.

"Hundreds came Sunday to the Brunner Funeral Home to remember Riley Sawyers and other loved ones as part of the Brunner's Annual Tree of Remembrance Service. Those who honored their family also took a moment to comfort family and friends of Riley, whose body was found floating in a plastic container in Galveston Bay this summer."

Riley's relatives are touched by the support and telephone calls they are receiving from around the country, said Laura DePledge, the Sawyers' attorney. Relatives are raising money to help bring Riley's body to Ohio to be buried.

Donations can be made in her name at the FirstMerit Bank, 7800 Reynolds Road, Mentor, 44060.

Though the physical memorial service was held in Ohio, Riley Sawyers and "Baby Grace" will be mourned much further away.

When it was speculated that Baby Grace's body might be that of Madeline McCann, a missing English girl, papers all over the United Kingdom and Europe carried her story.

In Texas, after the body of Baby Grace was found, people volunteered time and information hoping to help identify her. Tips from all over the world poured in. Police worked around the clock to sift through these bits of hope.

People sent in money to raise a reward fund. Candlelight vigils were held. People prayed.

One man in England wrote President Bush, asking why more wasn't done to find out why more wasn't being done to identify Baby Grace.

Letters and comments from Scotland, England, France and elsewhere speculated who this small girl might be.

Now the world knows: it was Riley Sawyers.

People gathered in Ohio to mourn Riley: some had known her, some had not, but all were saddened by her story.

Sunday, hundreds of people in Mentor, OH said prayers and honored the memory of Riley Sawyers.

Thousands upon thousands elsewhere, from all over the world, sent their thoughts and prayers to join them.

by Mondoreb
[image:rocksaltplum]

Source:
Cleveland Plain Dealer - Mourners Recall Riley "Baby Grace" Sawyers



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.