Of What Use Is the United Nations?

 

This is just shameful.

TimesOnline is reporting that workers from U.N ‘s World Food Programme (WFP), an effort to get food to millions starving in Somalia, are selling emergency foodstuffs right out of the U.N warehouses to blackmarketers. These are staples (wheat, corn, oil) intended to be distributed free, and yet U.N. personnel are turning a tidy profit by selling the emergency goods to traders who also make a profit by selling the goods in marketplaces in Mogadishu. According to one trader, the scam is blatant:

“They take us to the warehouses used by the WFP and let us load our lorries. The goods are freely available and you can buy as much as you like, but we usually buy no more than 500 to 1,000 sacks at a time. Just a tonne or half a tonne a day can be shifted more discreetly.”

Of course, this is food that is desperately needed by refugees–those for whom it was initially intended. With civil war and drought, Somalia is one of the worst humanitarian emergencies in the world, ranking right beside Darfur. The WFP is supposed to be feeding 3.5 million Somalis (almost half the Somali population). Instead, it seems U.N workers are selling these supplies, making an already dire situation that much worse.

Sadly, many of the supply bags being black-marketed, are, in fact marked:

Many of the sacks for sale are marked: “A gift from the American people”, with the US government’s aid agency, USAID, providing $274 million last year in food and in humanitarian assistance for Somalia.

Some gift. This, of course, also reflects poorly on the United States. How many starving folks see that and wonder why the U.S. is forcing them to pay for something they thought would be freely given?

However, for the United Nations, it’s the same old same old. It seems to be the culture of corruption under which the U.N. operates:

• Remember the U.N. Oil for Food program in Iraq?
• Remember all the U.N. “peacekeepers” with a taste for rape?
• Remember the UNIFIL station on the Israeli/Lebanese border flying the Hezbollah flag–above the U.N. flag?

 The United States spends tens of billions of dollars (taxpayers’ dollars) on U.N. activities each year, subsidizing 22% of the U.N.’s regular budget, and 25% of its peacekeeping budget. Most nations (including the billion dollar oil-rich Arab states) pay between .0001% and 3%.

With the all the corruption, all the waste, all the crime, all the stupidity… why are we still a member of this organization?

H/T: HotAir

Stoutcat

Red Skelton Explains the Pledge (and Divulges How We Will Lose Democracy)

A REAL- LIFE  ”BACK TO THE FUTURE” MOMENT

In honor of Flag Day, I thought our readers might enjoy a video flashback to the man who is arguably America’s Crown Prince of Laughter, Red Skelton. I thought you would enjoy his unique approach to understanding not only the words to ”The Pledge of Allegiance,” but the unique meaning of each phrase.

Little did I know it would also give us a “future history” lesson. On viewing this video gem, I discovered something no one could have predicted back at the time of the original broadcast in 1969. It’s an amazing “Back To The Future” moment: When he filmed this, Skelton had no way of knowing just how important and significant his words would be to those of us in the 21st Century.  But if you listen carefully:

• You will see clearly that we are no longer the nation Red Skelton defines in the explanation of the Pledge.
• You will hear evidence as to how our leaders have lost sight of their responsibilities and obligations to “We, the people” and turned public service into “self-service” for their own special interests… at our cost.
• You will see what it is that “We, the people” have yielded in our indifference and complacency.
• You will get a better understanding how we have come to where we are today.
• You will get a better understanding of what it will take for us to take back our nation.

Here, now,  please enjoy this classic moment in TV History. Perhaps more importantly, please listen carefully to the history lesson presented. It’s all there in front of you and it should send chills down your spine.

Yes, there is the pledge of loyalty itself.  But did you catch the significance of his definitions? If not, play it again and listen for the following:

• States – You will have a better  understanding as to the importance of “States Rights” and what has been lost.
• Republic – Listen to his definition: “A state in which soverign power is invested in representatives chosen by the people to govern. And government is the people. And it’s from the people to the leaders, not from the leaders to the people…”
• One Nation – “Meaning so blessed by God.” (Yes, Mr. President. Like it or not, we ARE a Christian Nation.)
• With Liberty- Which is freedom. The right of power to live one’s own life without threats, fear or some sort of retaliation…

Regarding “Republic,” at least one generation has grown up in a political environment where the power of the people has been usurped by the politicians who now see political positions as their personal brass ring; one which gives them authorization to pursue their own personal agendas at the expense of their constituents. No longer does the power flow from us to them, as defined by Skelton. It is now they who dictate to us, and their decree is usually backed by lobbyists, not “We, The People.”

Ask yourself this simple question: If the power of the republic still flows “from the people to the leaders,  not from the leaders to the people,” would a trillion dollar plus stimulus bill have been shoved down our throats without time for us to examine it (as Barack Obama had promised during the campaign?). I think not.

Liberty?  To Skelton’s definition, I would add, “without fear of intimidation.” Ask voters who had to pass by New Black Panthers who stood in an intimidating fashion  at voting spots if they felt intimidated. And if President Obama gets his wish so that union members must make their vote available to the public, ask yourself if that doesn’t cause both intimidation AND fear of retaliation.

The time has come for each of us to re-think our responsibility to our children’s future and to the future of this country. We can’t do it if we rely on “the other guy ” to take a stand, Every one of us must be “the other guy.” I can’t think of a better day to consider the message Red Skelton has given us than today, Flag Day.

Gerry Ashley

Flag Day: Fly Yours with Pride

From the United States Code:

No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.

(a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.

(b) The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.

(c) The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.

(d) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free. Bunting of blue, white, and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in the middle, and the red below, should be used for covering a speaker’s desk, draping the front of the platform, and for decoration in general.

(e) The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.

(f) The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.

(g) The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.

(h) The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything.

(i) The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.

(j) No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations. The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing. Therefore, the lapel flag pin being a replica, should be worn on the left lapel near the heart.

(k) The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.

“And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

Stoutcat

Exclusive! Spy Photo of First Chrysler/Fiat

Well, it didn’t take long. The first car to be produced by the newly merged Chrysler/Fiat will soon be available to the public. Designed primarily as a commuter vehicle by Emperor Barack Obama, himself, it plays perfectly into his vision of overall “Change” for the U.S. 

If you look carefully below the vehicle, you will see it is, as we predicted, powered by foot. While at first, this may seem like a radical departure, this is actually a design feature first found on the Flintstone Mobile back in the prehistoric days.  But here’s how the up-to-date version will help meet the Emperor’s goals for America:

• No need to stop at all those pesky gas stations. Gas gone up to $11.99 per gallon? WHO CARES?
• This will save the average consumer about $4,000/year on gasoline.  That extra $4,000 will go a long way towards covering that new Cap and Trade increase in our utility bills. 
• Operating the vehicle will take a little getting used to. But once familiar with the design of the pedal-powered system, this model will help tens of thousands of Americans to get back into shape!
• With people getting in shape, they will be happier and healthier. Healthier people do not need doctors nearly as much as sedentary types.
• With people staying in shape, and less need for doctors, the cost of the implementation of socialized medicine will drop significantly.
• Top speed in these vehicles depends upon the driver, of course, but where top speed overall is not expected to exceed 5 mph, there will be no need for 5 mph impact bumpers – another savings for the consumer.
• Removable Top for those special days and nights
• Shown is the commuter edition which holds one person.  A car-pooling version which is similar in design to a tandem bicycle will be available shortly. Later models will include a pick-up and an SUV.
• MSRP on the commuter edition is approximately $39 (Plus destination charges).  With Emperor Obama’s suggested VAT (Value Added Tax) and various other proposed taxes, the out-the-door price is expected to be approximately $14,599.
• The Obamobile has already been EPA certified for all 57 states.

Note for NASCAR fans: A special edition Obamobile will debut as the pace car for the 2010 Daytona 500 Sprint Cup Series.  However, since the competitors will still be driving gas-powered vehicles, the pace car will be towed behind a twin-turbo Corvette, likely to be the last ever made by the new GM. 

The 2011 Sprint Cup racing season will be the first to feature all pedal-powered competitors. Due to the slower anticipated speeds (from an average 190 mph in 2010 with gasoline powered cars to an expected 5 mph in 2011, the opening race will be re-christened “The Daytona 15 and is expected to take slightly over 3 hours to complete which includes pit stops for new running shoes and Red Bull.

One additional benefit of the implementation of the Obamobile “Pedicar” is that it is expected to cause a big jump in the sales of running shoes, bunion creme and athlete’s foot sprays.  

Gerry Ashley

Fed Inspector General: I Know Nothing!

Federal Reserve Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman has absolutely no clue where any of the trillions of dollars went that the Fed has lent, or how it’s being spent, or anything. Video courtesy of the questioner, Rep. Alan Grayson, D-FL, who did a great job calmly asking pertinent questions and getting absolutely nowhere.

This is a trainwreck to watch. Don’t miss it.

Stoutcat

From Omaha Beach to the End of Democracy in America

A commentary

Watching coverage of the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion this past week-end, I couldn’t help but think about the irony… the brave young men who fought (over 1,400 of whom forever sleep in the cemetery at nearby Colleville-Sur-Mer) for the noble purpose of liberating France – and eventually all of Europe – from Hitler’s Nazi Germany. It also assured the protection of our freedom in the United States.

I therefore found it ironic that addressing those gathered for the memorial service was President Barack Obama who, in the eyes of many, has done more in the first five months of his Presidency to undermine the tenets of democracy, the precepts of the Constitution, and the crucial balance of the free enterprise system in America than any foreign threat.

The last of “America’s Greatest Generation” are dying at a rate such that it won’t be long before they are all gone. It appears that the last of them will pass on about the time President Obama drives the last nail into the coffin of America’s free enterprise system and, possibly, democracy itself.

But don’t kid yourselves. Obama isn’t doing anything that wasn’t set in motion several generations ago under the guise of liberalism. Even political enthusiasts from Russia see what so many Americans, blinded by Obama’s charm, continue to miss. One such politico writes in Pravda (the Russian news web site):

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

Indeed, our former foes in Russia are having the last laugh on us, and why wouldn’t they? While they were unable to conquer us during  the Cold War, they have lived to see the day we are succumbing to our own ignorance as we sink into the mire they have already experienced and had to climb out of. You would think a society as smart as America was, we would learn from their harsh lessons. But we haven’t. Why? As the Russian writer continues in his article:

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their “right” to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights.

He’s right. As a nation, we have wallowed in freedom like pigs in mud. We focused on our rights, but refused to acknowledge the corresponding responsibilities associated with each one. Generations have been raised assuming that the freedoms we had in America were an automatically renewable natural resource. Schools no longer teach the significance of how our freedom came to be or, more to the point, how fleeting it can be if we don’t all accept the responsibilities that come fastened to each right. When’s the last time you heard someone demanding his/her responsibility? Continuing from the Pravda article:

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different “branches and denominations” were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses…

In spite of Obama’s obvious attempt at sucking up to the Muslim community (“America is one of the largest Muslim countries in the world…”), America was founded as a nation based in Christianity – only it’s no longer politically correct to point that out.  We are a Christian nation, Mr. President, however we are also a nation tolerant of all religions so long as they are peaceful. The Muslim religion only accounts for about one half of one percent of the nation’s citizens. The numbers don’t lie, Mr. President. However, you do. And it must be stated that the only thing “transparent” about your administration is your agenda to destroy all that the young soldiers died for on Omaha Beach. How absolutely sacrilegious for you to speak on behalf of the nation they died for.

I hope that somewhere between the horror of war that won our freedom and the silence of the final resting place for so many young men who died for us, America will discover there’s an equal responsibility that lies in the hands of the free to make sure we can pass this freedom along intact to future generations.

We’ve been poor caretakers of our democracy when it comes to educating our young; and there are those opportunists who lie in wait, ready to snatch it from us. Sometimes that danger comes from outside, but that danger also looms from within in the form of those who have selfishly decided for themselves that Socialism or Fascism is better than democracy (and easier to implement when leading a nation of those who have let themselves become sheep).

Each one of us must decide for ourselves and as a nation, if we are willing to pay the price to keep our freedom. Once we have the answer to that question, it is time to take the necessary actions. That time is now, but the window of opportunity is closing rapidly.

I call on every American to ask yourselves the following questions:

• Are you willing and up to the task to keep our freedom?
• Are we, as a nation prepared to stand and deliver on the promise to our children that Democracy will still be the American way when they grow up?

Perhaps it would be better if we didn’t answer those questions to ourselves, but if we were  to give our answers directly to our children and those who lie in the graves in Colleville-Sur-Mer (Normandy).

Gerry Ashley

The Globe Teeters on the Brink

 

 Only in Massachusetts…

Another sinking ship of the vast New York Times enterprise, the Boston Globe, is having problems staying afloat these days. The Globe needs to cut $20 million annually to continue to operate. Hence, the newspaper made a proposal to their largest union, the Boston Newspaper Guild, for pay and benefits cuts, with a caveat of far worse if the proposal was voted down.

Monday evening, the Guild narrowly voted down the Globe’s proposal which would cut workers’ pay by 8.3%, eliminate 190 jobs, and cut back on some health and pension benefits. Mangement clearly stated during the process that if this cut did not go through, workers would have to take a 23% pay cut. No matter. Guild votes “No thanks.”

You can guess what happened next. The Guild voted down the smaller pay cut and cutbacks. Management, as it had said it would, imposed the 23% cut (effective this Sunday). Guild screams bloody murder; guild starts legal action to delay pay cuts; guild goes to Labor Relations Board to block cuts; guild, in fact, does everything in its power to ensure the closing of the 137-year-old newspaper and lose all jobs. Go, guild!

All this, despite the fact that the six other unions involved in Globe operations had actually voted for the 8.3% pay cut. Clearly these other unions realized that a pay cut of 8.3% is much better than a pay cut of 23%, and that having a job is better than not having a job.

So Boston will likely become yet another one-paper big city; the Herald will be laughing all the way to the bank; and the hundreds of unemployed business, advertising, and editorial workers will be scratching their heads wondering what happened. (No, not the elites, like Ellen Goodman, Joan Vennochi, Derrick Jackson, and the uber-creepy Dan Shaughnessy. They’ll have something to fall back on or something to leap to. They’ll always land on their feet.)

And ”Coupe” Deval Patrick will have to add 700 newly laid-off people to the state’s unemployment rolls.

Well played, Boston Newspaper Guild. Well played, indeed.

Stoutcat

ObamaCare Poster Contest: Another Poster!

 

Continuing with the poster contest from Ah, Shoot, via Michelle Malkin, to see what kind of posters readers can come up with in order to highlight the perils of President Obama’s takeover of the healthcare industry…

On the other hand, commenter Josie writes that, at 75,  she finds the whole concept of ObamaCare to be not so funny at all. And I agree. It’s not funny, but by calling attention to the problem in a humorous way, perhaps–perhaps–enough people will begin to understand the concerns that are being raised. Worth a try, anyway.

Second effort:

Stoutcat

Pay Czar… What $40,000+ Can Buy

 
Ever wonder how politics works? Very simple… Look at how much the upcoming “Pay Czar” Kenneth Feinberg doled out his 2008 political contributions to specific candidates. (Thanks to the Huffington Post for compiling all that…)

Let’s see… Who donated how much… (The numbers that follow are ballpark. What’s the point in trying to be accurate? The numbers don’t reflect donations to organizations like PACS and committees, let alone hanky panky…)

• Upcoming Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg: $40,000
• George Soros: $9,000
• Barbara Streisand: $6,000
• Sean Penn: $8,000
• Ted Turner: $1,000
• Susan Sarandon: $12,000

Anyway, the folks above are all pretty passionate liberals… But look at how much Kenneth Feinberg donated compared to the rest. And while I’m sure Esq. Feinberg is far from poor, he probably doesn’t quite have the deep pockets of the others.

Hmmm… You’ve got your Bronze level donors, Silver level, Gold level. Clearly $40,000+ is the “Czar” level.

Alan Speakman

ObamaCare Poster Contest

 

From Ah, Shoot, via Michelle Malkin, a poster contest to see what kind of posters readers can come up with in order to highlight the perils of President Obama’s takeover of the healthcare industry. Below is my own humble first effort. I hope to be adding a few more throughout the next day or two, so check back occasionally.

 

If you’d like to contribute, be sure to post your link in our comments section, and also post to Malkin and Ah, Shoot!

UPDATE: More great posters from Malkin readers

Stoutcat