Originally published May 24, 2009
Even in these days of Hope n' Change, it can be tough to be a Democratic politician. They want Guantanamo closed because Bush was keeping those poor souls locked up illegally. But the Dems also don't want to get blamed if the prisoners turn out to be "terrorists" once released on American soil. So they've denied funds to close Guantanamo...thus making themselves the new jailers.Update 4/2/2011
Guantanamo hasn't been in the news much lately because, two years after the cartoon above, Barack Obama and the Democrats have quietly decided to keep it open after all, even though they'd previously claimed that the simple existence of the prison facility was an abomination which helped our nation's enemies recruit new terrorists.
And oddly, the same mainstream media that had previously lumped Guantanamo in with Auschwitz and Buchenwald has fallen silent. In much the same way that they aren't blaming Obama for the appalling military "kill teams" (who took photos of civilians they'd murdered), even though this same media blamed President Bush personally for the egregious weeny-pointing which occurred at Abu Ghraib.
And so we get back to some very familiar basics: "Presidentin' is hard," "Obama lies," and "the mainstream media is full of hypocritical lefties."
Which brings us to the main reason I pulled this cartoon from the vault: I just really like the punchline about Rocky Mountain oysters and Ritz crackers.-
Today is April Fool's day...a day in which average people tell flagrant lies, play cruel pranks and practical jokes, raise people's hopes and then send them crashing, and similarly spend 24 hours acting exactly like politicians.
But imagine how great it would be if we could somehow turn the tables and force Barack Obama and other politicians to comply with normal standards of truth and honesty for the other 364 days a year!
Elections would actually mean voting for someone who really represents your values and is clear about his or her agenda. America's word in the world would mean something again. And Americans of all ethnicities and economic levels might actually be united by facing real and undeniable truths and challenges together (like, "Sorry! The government spent all the money years ago!") instead of being deliberately divided with cynical and well-calculated lies coming from our alleged leaders.
It's a lovely thought, isn't it? And just for today, April Fool's Day, Hope n' Change would like to believe that someday it could actually happen.We're foolish that way.
Another good clue that March ended yesterday.
To address Americans' concerns about the soaring price of gasoline, Barack Obama has outlined an ambitious new program to reduce imports of foreign oil by one third in the next ten years using a combined strategy of imaginary technologies, burning tax dollars, and Hey! Look over there!
Owing to time constraints, the alleged president didn't mention his role in banning oil and natural gas drilling in America's continental shelf, how he imposed a long and seemingly pointless moratorium on deep water drilling following the BP disaster (after he'd previously given the Deepwater Horizon platform a safety award), closed millions of acres of American land to gas and oil exploration, and had appointed an Energy Secretary who said that he'd like to see the price of American gasoline rise to much-higher European levels.
But Mr. Obama did outline some of his ideas for greater energy independence, including stepping up the use of nuclear reactors (which are now heavily discounted from Japan!), greater reliance on bio-fuels like corn and grass (currently used to power entire herds of cows) and, most importantly, solar power generators which will be attached directly to Mr. Obama's many mirrors and produce more electricity than the Hoover Dam.
Unfortunately, not many people are buying Mr. Obama's "running on empty" rhetoric. It seems like his magic is ebbing away...even though, when it comes to an energy policy, he's still practicing wishcraft.-
