In a report this morning  on the situation off the coast on Somalia, Associated Press reporters Elizabeth A. Kennedy and Paul Jelinek seemed oddly sympathetic to the cause of the terrorists in training the world insists on calling “pirates,” almost to the point of grudging admiration.

Check out some of the words the AP pair used in their 9:15 a.m. dispatch (saved at host for fair use and discussion purposes, and for future reference if or when the text changes) following the “breaking news alert” at the link:

Undeterred Somali pirates hijack 4 more ships

Undeterred by U.S. and French hostage rescues that killed five bandits, Somali pirates brazenly hijacked three more ships in the Gulf of Aden, the waterway at the center of the world’s fight against piracy.

….. The latest trophy for the pirates was the M.V. Irene E.M., a Greek-managed bulk carrier sailing from the Middle East to South Asia, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.

The Irene was attacked and seized in the middle of the night Tuesday – a rare tactic for the pirates.

Wow. These brave “pirates” are “undeterred.” They’ll change tactics if they have to. And their reward for acting so “brazenly” is yet another “trophy.”

Trophy?!?

It would appear that the reporters’ desire to make America and the free world look weak in the face of lawlessness is more important than the impact its expansion might have on real peoples’ lives, the world economy, and their supposed best bud Barack Obama. Or maybe they’re trying to send a signal to the White House that it’s not going to get any journalistic backup if their guy continues to act like a real Commander-in-Chief instead of the Chief Kumbaya Orchestrator they expected.

The two AP reporters’ work is of a piece with an item James Taranto at Best of the Web noted yesterday at Reuters (bold is mine):

So far, pirates have generally treated hostages well, sometimes roasting goat meat for them and even passing phones round so they can call loved ones. The worst violence reported has been the occasional beating and no hostages are known to have been killed by pirates.

Taranto incredulously asked, “So suffering an ‘occasional beating’ to be consistent with being treated ‘well’?”

Not to put too fine a point on it, but maybe someone should ask Reuters writers Abdi Sheikh and Abdi Guled, if they have wives, how “well” they treat them.

Seriously, whose side are the world’s reporters on?

Back to the AP pair – Perhaps, to advance the cause of investigative journalism, Kennedy and Jelinek should consider offering themselves up in a hostage exchange so they can experience first-hand what these “brazen” and “undeterred” thugs are capable of. No, I don’t want them to really do this. But if they did, and in the somewhat unlikely event they actually survived intact, their reporting might actually improve.

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

Noteworthy Net-Worthies:

As noted at the time, I thought Obama did the right thing with the Richard Phillips situation on Sunday. The overreaction to all of this from both sides has been pathetic. On the left and in the press, with White House help (but I repeat myself, twice), they’re trying to claim that it’s some kind of defining moment. Example: the ever reliable Jennifer Loven at the Associated Press (HT Tim Graham at NewsBusters). That’s really weak. But those on the right, and they are legion, who are saying “big bleeping deal,” are forgetting that Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter would probably have intervened to prevent the Navy from doing its job. So please, lefties, step away from the Mt. Rushmore chisels. Righties, recognize that Sunday was a small step that was at least, and at last, in the right direction. I do agree that whether or not it ultimately does anything to clean up the Somalia problem in general should be a benchmark in evaluating the administration’s success or failure in the region.

Sadly related — The administration’s apparent two week-old halt on using the term “War on Terror” in favor of crap like “overseas contingency operations” is a reality-denying, terrorist-encouraging sign that it isn’t serious about our safety. They apparently denied the bureaucratic revisionism for a bit, but Hillary Clinton confirmed it a few days later.

Speaking of Hillary, in light of this gem captured by Ken Shepherd at NewsBusters, Mrs. Clinton is probably wondering where Katie Couric was when she was making her “experience” arguments during last year’s primaries — “Sticking up against those ol’ playground bullies on the Right, CBS’s Katie Couric tells conservatives in a recent blog post to ” give the new kids on the block” in the Obama administration “a chance to get their learner’s permits first.” More currently relevant: Katie, when do we get to ask if the training wheels have come off yet?

Meant to note this (HT Michelle Malkin) a while ago, and it needs to get on the record here — “One of those allegedly asleep-at-the-switch board members (at Freddie Mac) was Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel—now chief of staff to President Barack Obama—who made at least $320,000 for a 14-month stint at Freddie Mac that required little effort.” Board seats at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which have cost US taxpayers almost $60 billion so far, according to the latest Monthly Treasury Statement (see the line item called “Housing and Economic Recovery Programs” on Page 15), were merely Democratic Party payoffs for other politically-related jobs well done. The Chicago Trib article notes that the negligent boards let accounting scandals fester and permitted aggressive and illegal electioneering.

AP writer Bruce Schreiner, in an early Monday story, failed to identify the party affiliation of officials indicted in March in Clay County, Kentucky. They are accused of rigging elections in Clay County. It appears to be a bipartisan, though leaning Democrat, effort. What was really weird is that it took Schreiner 14 paragraphs to even get around to naming anyone indicted. Even in a background piece, that’s ridiculous.

God Bless Texas, and Rick Perry.

From Modesto, California — don’t miss the final sentence:

On March 27, Pvt. Abraham Odisho was part of a team pulling security for Maj. Gen. Robert L. Caslen, the commander of the Army’s 25th Infantry Division (Light), who was visiting the Iraqi farming town of Ad Dawr.

The 20-year-old from Modesto, Calif., was driving an armored fighting vehicle called an MRAP, for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle. It’s sturdy, but it’s not invulnerable. At 12:30 p.m., Odisho was crawling along at about 5 mph on a divided four-lane road.

His vehicle was the third in a convoy. They’d just passed an intersection when the gunner swore and dropped down out of the turret. Odisho heard an explosion.

An insurgent, or whoever it was, had tossed a grenade at the passenger’s side. A superheated copper slug tore through the armor, grazed Odisho’s right leg and then obliterated his left shin.

Odisho’s legs no longer obeyed orders. On a scale of 1 to 10, the pain was a 10. In the moment, he knew but one thing.

“I have to get out of the kill zone or we’re going to die,” Odisho thought to himself.

Odisho manipulated his right foot with his hands so it was back on the gas pedal. Then he used one hand to push his leg down and get the vehicle rolling again. He finally caught up with the rest of the convoy, where he could be pulled out, hauled back to base and flown to the first of a series of hospitals.

Odisho lost part of his left leg in Iraq, but he considers himself lucky in every way.

On Friday, he endured his eighth surgery since he was wounded on March 27. Now bedding down on Ward 57 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Army private has a long march ahead of him.

He’ll need grueling physical therapy. He’ll get a prosthetic. He’ll face the prospect of phantom pain and, one presumes, nightmares. Yet for all that, he sounds remarkably composed; content, even, particularly with his decision to become a soldier.

“I’ve done things that 90 percent of Americans haven’t done, let alone raising my right hand and taking the oath,” Odisho said in a telephone interview Friday.

….. While he’s no longer with his comrades in Hawaii-based Bastard Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, but they’re lauding him for his adroit behavior under fire.

“They’re saying I saved everyone,” Odisho said.

Odisho is an Assyrian Christian who was born in Iraq and moved with his family to California’s Central Valley in 1991, when he was 3. In time, his parents became naturalized U.S. citizens.

….. “I am Assyrian by blood,” Odisho said, “and American by choice.”

Go here for the rest of the story.

To keep up with what has happened in the aftermath of the odious Kelo v. New London Supreme Court eminent domain ruling nearly four years ago (quick answer: nothing that has to do with actually building anything), your truly gets alerts relating what is going happening in that Connecticut town. As a result, I occasionally get alerts concerning things about the affected Fort Trumbull area that while not directly tied to eminent domain, are nonetheless amusing.

Here’s one: Did you know that we have government boards in many states wrestling with what to do about the supposedly imminent rises in ocean sea levels? Indeed we do, and poor, gullible Judy Benson of the New London Day decided to write about it.

Reactions from readers of the Day were justifiably less than uniformly kind.

Here are key paragraphs from Benson’s report (Day link won’t work without paid subscription after seven days):

Climate change poses challenges for the Connecticut coast

Buffers or barricades? Coastal development or coastal retreat? Marsh loss or marsh replacement?

Tough choices like these confront Connecticut, especially its shoreline, as the planet inches toward what experts say is inevitable: swelling seas and intensifying storms as the effects of climate change are felt over the coming decades.

”It’s a risk problem,” said Gary Yohe, economics professor at Wesleyan University in Middletown and a member of climate change adaptation panels in New York City and Connecticut. “You can’t write a guarantee that it’s not going to happen, but you can reduce your exposure and lessen your sensitivity.”

Yohe is also a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations-sponsored international scientists group that authored a series of authoritative reports on climate change evidence, effects and needed actions.

….. Much of the talk about climate change thus far has focused on finding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the most extreme projections of runaway warming. But adaptation – figuring out how to cope with the effects that can’t be avoided – is also part of the discussion.

Climate scientists say that while reducing future emissions is a needed strategy, the effects of the heat-trapping gases already released by fossil fuel burning and other human actions over the last 150 years can’t be reversed, and will intensify in the coming decades.

Connecticut is among at least eight states and six major U.S. cities that have established panels to begin tackling adaptation. Connecticut’s panel, under the wing of the state Department of Environmental Protection, is charged with making recommendations for next steps by the end of this year.

….. ”Connecticut has some large challenges,” DEP Commissioner Gina McCarthy said, because of its coastal infrastructure, including 32,000 homes in the 100-year floodplain. Ultimately, the state may even have to consider buying up some particularly vulnerable neighborhoods to move residents out of harm’s way, she said.

This sea-level hype, like the rest of what I like to refer to as globaloney, is so much nonsense. In fact, two weeks ago in the UK Telegraph, in the face of lots of strong competition, Christopher Booker called it “The greatest lie ever told”:

If one thing more than any other is used to justify proposals that the world must spend tens of trillions of dollars on combating global warming, it is the belief that we face a disastrous rise in sea levels. The Antarctic and Greenland ice caps will melt, we are told, warming oceans will expand, and the result will be catastrophe.

Although the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) only predicts a sea level rise of 59cm (17 inches) by 2100, Al Gore in his Oscar-winning film An Inconvenient Truth went much further, talking of 20 feet, and showing computer graphics of cities such as Shanghai and San Francisco half under water.

….. But if there is one scientist who knows more about sea levels than anyone else in the world it is the Swedish geologist and physicist Nils-Axel Mörner, formerly chairman of the INQUA International Commission on Sea Level Change. And the uncompromising verdict of Dr Mörner, who for 35 years has been using every known scientific method to study sea levels all over the globe, is that all this talk about the sea rising is nothing but a colossal scare story.

Despite fluctuations down as well as up, “the sea is not rising,” he says. “It hasn’t risen in 50 years.” If there is any rise this century it will “not be more than 10cm (four inches), with an uncertainty of plus or minus 10cm”. And quite apart from examining the hard evidence, he says, the elementary laws of physics (latent heat needed to melt ice) tell us that the apocalypse conjured up by Al Gore and Co could not possibly come about.

Day readers gave Ms. Benson and Nutmeg State politicians an earful in the story’s comments. Here are just a few examples:

“Let’s see, we used to have Global Warming but unfortunately for the Eco-Fascists who make up all of these wasteful and nonsensical government environmental agencies, Global Warming has been proven to be a complete and total farce. Now a new marketing campaign is underway by the same folks who tried to take over and control our lives under the lie of “protecting the planet” from Global Warming, and we now have Climate Change.”

“Let us build a visual marker of this global warming – literally a yard stick stuck in a concrete block at some prominent point that records the ever increasing height of the sea. In fact, you will never do it because it would show little or no increase.”

“The key statement in this article is ‘existing conceptions of property rights and regulatory authorities must be reevaluated.’ Watch out property owners it looks like CT is not only willing to take your property and give it to those who will pay more taxes it will also give it to science.”

“The panel would be more effective investigating the UFO and Bigfoot sighting. Global warming, climate change or whatever the fanatics are calling it today is a myth. The claim that most scientists believe the myth is also a myth.”

Here’s the ultimate irony: If the sea really is to rise as much as Ms. Benson, the IPCC apparatchik, and others fear it might (but won’t), New London’s elders could defend never building on the properties of those they so ignominiously evicted. In fact, maybe they should just condemn the area permanently and tell the world they were just doing everyone a big advance favor.

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

A report by the Associated Press’s Matt Leingang about how Ohio is going to spend about 7% of its highway-related stimulus money not on roads, but on studies, is good as far as it goes.

But one of the studies listed should surely raise eyebrows in Greater Cincinnati. The pie-in-the-sky nature of that study, and the eye-popping projected cost of the construction project(s) being considered, make me wonder if the other studies Governor Ted Strickland wishes to fund are similarly silly and potentially costly. I’ll get to that in a moment.

Here is how Leingang’s report opens:

Ohio wants to spend $57 million in federal stimulus money on highway projects that won’t begin for years, an unusual strategy for money that President Barack Obama said should be used to give the economy an immediate job-creating jolt.

Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and the state’s transportation officials passed over some ready-to-go construction projects and steered about 7 percent of their $774 million share for planning and preliminary studies.

That infuriated some local leaders who hoped the money would build even more new bridges or resurface roads in the cash-strapped state, where unemployment recently hit a 25-year high of 9.4 percent.

“I could have dug the darn thing myself, that’s how shovel-ready we were,” said Fostoria Mayor John Davoli, who sought $10 million to build bridges over two railroad crossings and was denied.

The Federal Highway Administration has no other examples of states using stimulus money for planning, although some states haven’t completed their project lists and the agency hasn’t approved Ohio’s request, spokeswoman Nancy Singer said.

Here’s Leingang’s kicker for those of us in Greater Cincinnati:

The two-year, $20 million engineering and environmental study in Cincinnati will lay the foundation for a $1 billion highway, bus, bike and rail system that will open up economic development in the city and its eastern suburbs, eventually leading to 10,000 new jobs, said Hamilton County deputy engineer Theodore Hubbard.

Red flags:

• $1 billion for 10,000 jobs is $100,000 per job. That’s pretty expensive, even before considering the normal government cost overruns.
• The use of the word “eventually” is code for “I have absolutely no idea if this will ever happen, but it sure sounds nice.”
• Around here, any time a transportation proposal includes the word “bike” in an area as spread out as this one, you know that there’s something in there that has absolutely nothing to do with getting people to and from work, shopping, or other activities. If you want bike trails for the fitness crowd, just say so, but don’t pretend it has anything to do with “transportation” (how bike trails stimulate the economy is also an open question).

But the biggest problem is that what is being studied looks suspiciously similar to, or is at least a large element of, a 2002 ballot proposal that would have greatly expanded bus service in Hamilton County and created a light rail network. It would have been funded by a countywide sales-tax increase. Voters in Hamilton County decisively rejected this ballot proposal by 68%-32%, and quite validly. The idea that there would be anything resembling an acceptable level of utilization was a sheer, transparent fantasy. Voters knew that they would be buying into endless subsidies and said “forget it.” Conditions have not materially changed in the intervening seven years.

Supposedly, the 2002 voter rejection “end(ed) a decade-long effort to bring light rail and improved mass transit to the area.” That was true until stimulus money could get misused (as Barack Obama appears to define it) by our governor to bring the carcass back to life. Here’s a better mass transit improvement idea the urban planning politburo loves to hate, but has always worked: Build the needed roads.

Do Strickland’s other pencil-ready projects also relate to ideas voters have rejected, or that are similarly financially flawed?

Aside: From this Google News search on “Strickland stimulus studies” (not in quotes), it looks like AP has totally scooped Ohio’s media on this story. How did that happen?

Noteworthy Net-Worthies:

In Friday’s news — “President Barack Obama said the U.S. government will buy 17,600 new, fuel-efficient vehicles from ailing American automakers by June 1. …. The decision was made to buy the vehicles on the short timetable to help give a boost to the economy, as well as demonstrating the Obama administration’s support of the U.S. auto industry.” My guess is that the White House has seen the daily sales figures since Obama fired Dick Wagoner and engineered de facto nationalizations of GM and Chrysler, that those figures are not good, and that Team Obama trying to shore them up. “Somebody” is going to remember to subtract these vehicles out of the totals when May’s sales are released to reflect how much real consumers are buying — which is, I believe, not much. P.S. – Does anyone else think that not bailed-out Ford, though mentioned in the article, will be shut out? P.P.S. – The $285 million cost cited in the article is about $16,200 per vehicle. That seems pretty low, especially as it includes 2,500 not-cheap hybrids. P.P.P.S. – Does the government have a real use for them, or is it just going to park them somewhere?

It’s still too early to be conclusive, but recent events on the ground in Iraq are not reassuring. Lefties are going to hate this assertion, but too bad — This is probably a side-effect of an administration that spent an entire week in Europe, and most of the time before that, projecting weakness in other foreign-policy areas, treating things like North Korea’s missile launch as “distractions” to be dealt with by an impotent UN (which then didn’t deal with it) instead of addressing them directly as the world’s lone superpower. Now it seems that for the first time in well over a year, the enemies of representative government in Iraq are emboldened, and that Obama has allowed a terror-encouraging progression that could lead to losing what we’ve won to begin. Obama’s yesterday takedown of the pirates who kidnapped Richard Phillips is a welcome exception that will hopefully begin a trend in the other direction.

In the UK, the blog-driven resignation of one of Gordon Brown’s top aides, Damian McBride, with accompanying demands for a personal apology from Brown himself, is being likened to Rathergate (HT Instapundit). It’s not even close. Rathergate was a group effort that brought down an alleged “newsman” who had been in reality a fundamentally dishonest leftist propaganda meister for decades, and possibly saved George W. Bush’s reelection campaign. That’s impressive, but British blogger Guido Fawkes (key blog post; home page) got wind of a government-inspired smear campaign “to post lurid allegations  -  mainly sex slurs  -  about four Tory MPs on an internet ‘blog’ to be known as Red Rag.” Fawkes, apparently almost singlehandedly, got the goods, got his man (perhaps with more to come), and has decidedly, deservedly, and perhaps permanently weakened Brown’s government.

Now here’s an example of possibly human-caused global warming, according to NASA (HT Hot Air) — “Arctic warming has been caused in large part by laws introduced to improve air quality and fight acid rain.” Note that this news is in a UK and not a US newspaper.

Gay Patriot –  “(Obama) can’t say he won a mandate to increase spending as he has proposed in his budget because he didn’t campaign for such increases.” In fact, he notes that Obama, in his third debate with John McCain last year, said that “there is no doubt that we’ve been living beyond our means and we’re going to have to make some adjustments. Now, what I’ve done throughout this campaign is to propose a net spending cut.” Instead we have a largely Obama-driven deficit through the first six months of the fiscal year of $957 billion. This BizzyBlog commenter nicely and correctly pegs Obama’s involvement in and major responsibility for the spending side of said deficit. The POR (Pelosi-Obama-Reid) Economy that began in June of last year gets the “credit” for the downturn that has resulted in drastically reduced receipts to the Treasury.

From the New York Times, reporting in Columbus, Ohio — “In wide-ranging remarks here, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg defended the use of foreign law by American judges, suggested that torture should not be used even when it might yield important information and reflected on her role as the Supreme Court’s only female justice.” In other words, Ginsburg’s constitution, which she respects so little (despite her swearing an oath to uphold it) that she’s okay violating it by referencing foreign law, is a suicide pact.

Did you know that the Vatican has nixed THREE candidates floated by Team Obama for the position of U.S. ambassador to the Holy See because of their views on abortion? Further, “the lack of a U.S. ambassador “could become embarrassing” for the White House, if the position remains vacant when Obama goes to Italy for the G8 meeting this July. The White House is trying to arrange a time before or after the summit for Mr. Obama to meet the Pope.” If I were Benedict, I’d close the window right now and tell the world that the US has refused to name an acceptable candidate. Obama knows full well what the Vatican’s standards have always been. The problem seems to be that the most stridently anti-life president in US history seems to have an anti-life litmus test for anyone who works in his administration. P.S. – Any comments on this, Steve Driehaus?

From Australia, and St. Bees Island (HT Jonah Goldberg at the Corner):

Last updated at 11:30 AM on 07th April 2009

When Jan Griffith’s beloved dog, Sophie Tucker fell overboard from her family’s yacht she feared her pet had drowned.

But Sophie Tucker, a grey and black cattle dog, wasn’t going to give up that easily.

The determined pet swam six miles through ferocious shark-infested seas to an island, where she survived for more than four months by hunting wild goats for food.

The extraordinary story of the castaway hound emerged today when Miss Griffith was reunited with her beloved pet.

‘I thought I’d never see her again, but she’s proved to be a dog who can really look after herself,’ said Miss Griffith.

Sophie Tucker, named after the American vaudeville comedian, fell overboard from the family’s yacht when they ran into bad weather off the Queensland coastal town of Mackay.

Miss Griffith and her friends searched the area, putting their own lives at risk in the rough seas, but there was no sign of Sophie Tucker.

Unknown to them, the dog swam towards remote St Bees Island, a quiet volcanic strip of land fringed with reefs. …..

Go here for the rest of the story.

The New York Times Global Edition’s home page at the moment is a self-rebuke (red box is mine):

(Update, 5:40 p.m.: The self-rebuking link is no longer at the home page, nor is the pic of Phillips with Frank Castellano).

Of course there are limits, NYT, but most of them, as Mark Steyn so brilliantly noted yesterday, are self-imposed.

Thank goodness Barack Obama ignored “many” of his cowardly “national security” advisers, who, according to yesterday’s Washington Post, were in full hand-wringing mode, best exemplified in the report’s final paragraph:

But many on the national security team insist that it is their caution and willingness to consider all aspects of the situation that differentiate them from the overly aggressive posture of the Bush administration that they say exacerbated the terrorist threat.

So there was a “Don’t be like Bush” drumbeat. How totally disgusting. These 2009 versions of Sandy Berger would have let the heroic Richard Phillips twist in the wind — actually in “a 120-degree oven” — in the name of supposed political perceptions and being liked by the New York Times, while trying to “reason” with those who have none. Phillips’s example puts each and every one of them, and the Times itself, to shame.

Again, a hearty hat tip to President Obama for ignoring the feckless and getting this one right, up to and including okaying killing the bad guys if necessary. He’s demonstrated more willingness to be a real C-in-C than Bill Clinton did during his entire eight years. May the trend continue, and not be a one-trick testosterone display.

More important, I hope that Obama and the portion of his “national security” team that remains, after he gets rid of those he should fire, recognize that this micro episode has many macro applications. Lesson 1: You need to make Bibi Netanyahu your best friend. Now. Lesson 2: Forget your Pali “pals.” ASAP.

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UPDATE: Check out this non-reporting by the Times –

A little after 7 p.m. in Somalia (which is seven hours ahead of Eastern time) , U.S. special forces aboard the U.S.S. Bainbridge shot and killed the pirates from 25 to 30 meters away, the vice admiral said, and pulled the captain from the water.

Well, NYT, what was he doing in the water?!?

Answer(s): Phillips, according to a multitude of TV reports, had again tried to flee for his own safety, giving the Navy a second chance to rescue him after a missed opportunity days ago. Why won’t they report that? (But according to an ABC video report, Phillips had stepped to the side of the lifeboat to relieve himself, thus gaining distance from his captors and giving Navy shooters the opportunity to take out the bad guys.)

UPDATE 2: Dave in Texas at Ace’s Place is less impressed — “As for Obama’s role in this, it seems it was neither heroic nor stupid. This is as it should be. He seems to have given his approval to the military’s requests for authority and then let them do their thing. He did his job, that’s enough for now.” Given the proclivities of the peaceniks in his entourage, he deserves more than passing credit for ignoring them. But now he needs to get rid of them — preferably very visibly. Maybe we’ll get lucky and enough of them will do what the late Cyrus Vance did after the failed Iranian hostage rescue attempt in 1980 — resign.

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UPDATE 2, Feb. 23, 2011: Via NewsBusters commenter “jon_torlin,” a dissenting commentary from the right by Jack Wheeler at Open.Salon.com (copied in full for fair use and discussion purposes; apparently originally appeared at To The Point News, but is unavailable to non-subscribers) –

PIRATE STANDOFF – THE REAL STORY

All of us want to raise our glass the highest this week to the Navy SEALs who popped those three Somali pirates. And I’m sure you want to hear the real story of what happened. Especially because there is a revoltingly opportunistic and cowardly side to it. Guess which side Zero is on (ZERO IS FOR “O”. YOU KNOW WHO!) ?

Why, for example, did it take SEAL Team Six (aka DEVGRU, Navy Special Warfare Development Group, the Navy’s equivalent of Delta Force) over 36 hours to get to the scene?

Because Zero refused to authorize the SEAL deployment for those 36 hours, during which the OSC (the On-Site Commander), Cmdr. Frank Castellano of the USS Bainbridge – repeatedly requested them.

Once the SEALs arrived – parachuting from a C-17 into the ocean near the ship – Zero then imposed Rules of Engagement (ROE) specifying the SEALs could not do anything unless the life of the hostage, Captain Richard Phillips, was in “imminent” danger.

Thus, when Capt. Phillips attempted to escape by jumping off the lifeboat into the ocean, the SEAL snipers had all four pirates (one later surrendered) sighted in and could have taken them out then and there – but they could not fire due to Zero’s ROE restrictions.

When the SEALs approached the lifeboat in a RIB (rigid-hull inflatable boat) carrying supplies for Capt. Phillips and the pirates, the pirates fired upon them. Not only was no fire returned due to the ROE, but as the pirates were shooting at the RIB, SEAL snipers on the Bainbridge had them all dialed in. No triggers were pulled due to the ROE..

Two specific rescue plans were developed by Cmdr. Castellano and the SEAL teams. Zero personally refused to authorize them.

After the second refusal and days of dithering, Cmdr. Castellano decided he had the Operational Area and OSC authority to “solely determine risk to hostage” and did not require any further approval of the president.

Four hours later, the White House is informed that three pirates are dead and Capt. Phillips has been rescued unharmed. A WH press release is immediately issued, giving credit to the president for his “daring and decisive” behavior that resulted in such success.

Zero has absolutely no military knowledge or experience whatsoever. He demanded decisional control over the entire hostage drama to the last detail. All actions required his personal approval. He dithered like a coward while the world laughed at our warships flummoxed by four illiterate teenagers with AKs in a lifeboat.

Only when the Navy Commander decided to ignore his Pantywaist-in Chief and take action and responsibility himself, were the incredible skills of the SEALs put into play.

That Zero could cynically and opportunistically claim that his “bold” “calm” “tough” leadership was responsible should remind everyone that not a single action, not a single word of this man can be trusted. He is bereft of honesty and moral character. That’s why he’s Zero.

The HFR raises a glass full of pride and gratitude to Navy Commander Frank Castellano, the Navy SEALs for their incredible competence, and our military. Let’s hold a Tea Party in their honor.

This post is a BizzyBlog Easter tradition.

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Matthew 28:1-20

1 ¶ In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. 2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. 5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. 6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. 8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. 9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. 10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

11 ¶ Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. 12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, 13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. 14 And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. 15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

16 ¶ Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:1-20 AV)

Luke 24:1-53

1 ¶ Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. 3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: 5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 8 And they remembered his words, 9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. 11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. 12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.

13 ¶ And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. 16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. 17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? 18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? 19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: 20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. 21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. 22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; 23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. 24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. 25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. 29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. 30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. 32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? 33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, 34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. 35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.

36 ¶ And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. 38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. 40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. 41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? 42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. 43 And he took it, and did eat before them. 44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And ye are witnesses of these things. 49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

50 ¶ And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen. (Luke 24:1-53 AV)

John 20:1-31

1 ¶ The first [day] of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. 2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. 3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. 4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. 5 And he stooping down, [and looking in], saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. 6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, 7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. 8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. 9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

11 ¶ But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, [and looked] into the sepulchre, 12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. 14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and [to] my God, and your God. 18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and [that] he had spoken these things unto her.

19 ¶ Then the same day at evening, being the first [day] of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace [be] unto you. 20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them [his] hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. 21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace [be] unto you: as [my] Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on [them], and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; [and] whose soever [sins] ye retain, they are retained. 24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

26 ¶ And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: [then] came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace [be] unto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust [it] into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed [are] they that have not seen, and [yet] have believed. 30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. (John 20:1-31 AV)

Mark 16:1-20

1 ¶ And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. 3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. 5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. 6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. 7 But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you. 8 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.

9 ¶ Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. 10 And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. 12 After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.

14 ¶ Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. 15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

19 ¶ So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. (Mark 16:1-20 AV)

Yeah, this was pretty cool (bold is mine; link added by me):

If the incompetent management driving The New York Times from junk status to oblivion wished to decelerate their terminal decline, they might usefully amend their motto to “All The News That’s Fit To Distract.” Tom Blumer of Newsbusters notes that in the past 30 days there have been some 2,500 stories featuring Obama and “distractions,” as opposed to about 800 “distractions” for Bush in his entire second term. The sub-headline of the Reuters story suggests the unprecedented pace at which the mountain of distractions is piling up: “First North Korea, Iran – now Somali pirates.”

But it’s what Steyn did with the “distracting” info that makes him the world’s One Man Global Content Provider:

Er, OK. So the North Korean test is a “distraction,” the Iranian nuclear program is a “distraction,” and the seizure of a U.S.-flagged vessel in international waters is a “distraction.” Maybe it would be easier just to have the official State Department maps reprinted with the Rest of the World relabeled “Distractions.” Oh, to be sure, you could still have occasional oases of presidential photo-opportunities – Buckingham Palace, that square in Prague – but with the land beyond the edge of the Queen’s gardens ominously marked “Here be distractions…”

As it happens, Somali piracy is not a distraction but a glimpse of the world the day after tomorrow. In my book “America Alone,” I quote Robert D. Kaplan referring to the lawless fringes of the map as “Indian Territory.” It’s a droll jest but a misleading one, since the very phrase presumes that the badlands one day will be brought within the bounds of the ordered world. In fact, a lot of today’s badlands were relatively ordered not so long ago, and many of them are getting badder and badder by the day. Half a century back, Somaliland was a couple of sleepy colonies, British and Italian, poor but functioning. Then it became a state, and then a failed state, and now the husk of a nation is a convenient squat from which to make mischief. According to Chatham House in London, Somali pirates made about $30 million in ransom and booty last year. Thirty mil goes a long way in Somalia, making piracy a very attractive proposition.

It’s also a low-risk one. …..

….. When all the world’s a “distraction,” maybe you’re not the main event after all. Most wealthy nations lack the means to defend themselves. Those few that do, lack the will. Meanwhile, basket-case jurisdictions send out ever bolder freelance marauders to prey on the civilized world with impunity. Don’t be surprised if “the civilized world” shrivels and retreats in the face of state-of-the-art reprimitivization. From piracy to nukes to the limp response of the hyperpower, this is not a “distraction” but a portent of the future.

That would appear to be the case as long as President ‘Prompter and his current crew are in office. April 12: Blessedly, in this case, this assessment was wrong. Let’s hope this is a long-term trend.

____________________________________________________

UPDATE: The BizzyBlog post Steyn should have referred to (/kidding) is here.

UPDATE 2: Steyn at the Corner — “…. while the pirates send for reinforcements, the President sends for pizza.”

UPDATE 3: Ed Driscoll at PJM — “When The Going Gets Tough, The Aloof Call Pizza Hut.”

UPDATE 4: What in the world is so funny, Hillary (YouTube direct; HT Gateway Pundit via Instapundit)?

My guess is that this is not playing well in Underhill, Vermont.

If Condi or Powell had been caught on tape like this, there would have been howls of outrage for weeks. There should be howls of outrage now.

I got this e-mail yesterday from CNN shortly after Uncle Sam’s Monthly Treasury Statement for March was released:

That was indeed a serious piece of news. Only halfway through the year, the federal government’s deficit for fiscal 2009 is already larger by far than any previous year’s deficit.

So I was curious to see how the Associated Press’s Martin Crutsinger might work this story to minimize the damage to Dear Leader, President ‘Prompter himself, Barack Obama.

That Crutsinger and AP intended to go above and beyond the call of duty was obvious in the headline:

Here are the first few paragraphs from Crutsinger’s report:

The Treasury Department said Friday that the budget deficit increased by $192.3 billion in March, and is near $1 trillion just halfway through the budget year, as costs of the financial bailout and recession mount.

Last month’s deficit, a record for March, was significantly higher than the $150 billion that economists expected.

The deficit already totals $956.8 billion for the first six months of the budget year, also a record for that period. The Obama administration projects the deficit for the entire year will hit $1.75 trillion.

A deficit at that level would nearly quadruple the previous annual record of $454.8 billion set last year. The March deficit was nearly four times the size of the imbalance in the same month last year.

In a later passage, Crutsinger attempted to deflect blame from Obama not only for the fiscal year 2009 deficit, but also for fiscal 2010. I’m serious. Read this:

The administration projects that after hitting $1.75 trillion this year, the gap between spending and tax revenues will dip to $1.17 trillion in 2010, and plunge to $533 billion in 2013. If accurate, that would fulfill Obama’s pledge to cut the deficit he inherited in half by the end of his current term in office.

The deficit Obama has promised to cut in half is 2010′s. Crutsinger is thus claiming that 2010′s deficit, not just 2009′s, is “inherited.”

Even the argument that Obama is “inheriting” all of the fiscal 2009 deficit is absurd on its face. Most obviously, a large portion of so-called stimulus money based on legislation passed this year is supposed to be spent, or I should say sent, in fiscal 2009. Much of it won’t really be used by its state, local, and other recipients until fiscal 2010 or 2011.

Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner are the ones deciding to distribute TARP money far and wide, and spreading it to recipients, including auto-parts suppliers, beyond those targeted during the Bush administration. Geithner is also the one who has recently created the Toxic Assets Program. This is what Congress was told TARP would originally be when it passed the original bailout legislation last year. This administration is the crew that has decided that the government should not only “invest” in banks, but also buy their junk.

But Crutsinger clearly goes beyond the absurd to claim that Obama is also inheriting fiscal 2010′s deficit of $1.17 trillion.

What? The Obama administration is indeed saying that it will cut 2010′s deficit by half in three years. But as far as I know, the administration has never said that its projected 2010 deficit will be “inherited.”

But then again, they don’t have to, because lapdog reporters like Crutsinger will do it for them.

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

From Friday’s Wall Street Journal, a tale of two heroes (important historical background facts are in bold):

…. the first time a (McCarthy era) blacklistee was openly brought back into the Hollywood fold actually came almost a decade earlier with the rehabilitation of 42-year-old director and former communist Edward Dmytryk. A young Ronald Reagan, of all people, was substantially responsible.

Despite establishing himself as the father of film noir with “Murder, My Sweet” in 1944, the studios officially wanted nothing to do with Mr. Dmytryk. In 1947, executives fired him and other communists who refused to cooperate with a congressional investigation about Communist Party activity in the movie industry.

By that year, Mr. Dmytryk no longer considered himself a communist, but he had yet to formally sever his ties to the party. He said that his refusal to answer questions before Congress was motivated by what he considered the unfairness of the inquiry rather than by party loyalty, but his stance still earned him a prison term. After serving four months, he was released in 1951. Alarmed by communist aggression around the world, especially in Korea, Mr. Dmytryk sought to distance himself from the party. “It made me realize there is a communist menace and that the Communist Party in this country is a part of that,” he said.

Communist operatives feared that Mr. Dmytryk’s apprehension would turn him into a whistleblower, so they pre-emptively started a campaign of character assassination and harassment against him. Because Reagan had helped block communist attempts to seize control of Hollywood unions five years earlier, Mr. Dmytryk knew that he would be sensitive to his plight.

In the winter of 1951, a small group led by Reagan, who was then president of the Screen Actors Guild, began meeting late at night in an office on Canon Drive in Beverly Hills. Its unique mission was to save the broke, unemployed director.

Mr. Dmytryk’s story was a searing indictment of the party. He described being part of a conspiracy to break up the American Federation of Labor in Hollywood and to replacing it with unions controlled by communists. He revealed that the party bullied filmmakers into molding the editorial content of pictures in keeping with the party line.

He also said that the party had twisted his legal battle into a First Amendment issue so as to demonize congressional investigations. “It was like everything else the communists do,” he told the Saturday Evening Post. “They would go into a lynching case, but instead of trying to help the Negroes, what they are really after is to use the incident to stir up still more trouble. The Negroes don’t matter — they’re just a means to an end.”

Reagan was emphatic that Mr. Dmytryk go public. When Mr. Dmytryk agreed, Reagan built a coalition of liberals and conservatives to champion him. The team purchased a full-page ad in the Hollywood Reporter. “The Communist Party is now trying to destroy Edward Dmytryk,” it read. “We will be surprised if there are not other attacks by the Party on other former communists who have the guts to stand up and be counted and to tell the truth.”

Reagan argued to friends and colleagues that Mr. Dmytryk ought to be embraced for breaking with the Stalinists. The Reagan team even vouched for Mr. Dmytryk when he applied for life insurance.

Later that summer, producers at Monogram Pictures were finally persuaded to hire Mr. Dmytryk. Communists asserted that he had struck a secret deal while incarcerated, agreeing to “name names” in exchange for a lucrative studio contract. In truth, there was no deal. The salary he received was a fraction of what he was making at the peak of his career. Eventually, he reclaimed some of his prestige, directing “Raintree County” (1957) and “The Young Lions” (1958). …..

Read the whole thing.