The Respectfully Republican Conversation

We actually do need more free trade agreements. 95% of the worlds consumers live OUTSIDE the United States. Fair trade would probably be more accurate. Our problem is producing goods that people in other countries can afford to buy.

I think Obama is filling his cabinet with tax cheats (crooks) so he will feel more at home (Chicago) - just like he has the thermostat in the White House raised high enough that it feels like Hawaii. He says one thing and does another. I have gone to whitehouse.gov and have expressed my outrage. He wants to hear from the people - let him hear.

I am glad Canola oil is not toxic - been using it for years along with olive oil, but to be on the safe side may just switch to using olive oil.

I just heard on TV that only 13% of the plan is for infrastructure repairs.  At least if they do infrastructure we'll have something to show for some of the money.  They need to get real.  Monday the debate begins in the Senate.  I plan to listen in.

Hi Beesie, it's good to read you again. We'll have to talk about Canada more often so you'll return.

Sherri,

Of course I'm in.  I'll look forward to every punishing moment of the game and my reward afterwards. 

And I just saw a clip of Obama saying its time to put away bipartisan politics and get this bill passed.  Uh-huh.  63% of the people polled said this bill is lacking, it won't do what it should be doing.  So who was he talking to... the Dems? They should put away politics and give him something to sign?  He's too busy listening to Rush, to pay attention to what we really want.  

We want less $$ spent and more tax benefits to businesses who actually provide the jobs.   

Hey all...if you didn't see it, here is the link for AlaskaDeb:

http://www.ktuu.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=3397947&h1=Community remembers Soldotna woman for cancer outreach&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=184133&LaunchPageAdTag=Homepage&activePane=info&rnd=29812042

That's why I keep getting arrested, I'm just an ordinary flasher, not an emergency one.

And you wondered why Clinton couldn't get far enough away from Carter  -If he moved any farther away he would have been standing behind President Bush.

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From American Thinker

 The neverending Carter foreign policy follies
Ed Lasky
Jimmy Carter continues his foreign policy follies. Now he claims to have brokered an agreement between Hamas and Fatah to form a "unity " government -- but there are conditions. From the Boston Globe:

    WASHINGTON - Jimmy Carter is still trying his hand at peacemaking - this time among Palestinians themselves. In an interview with the Globe yesterday, Carter said he had obtained an agreement in writing from the leaders of the militant movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and the moderate Fatah party, which rules in the West Bank, to form a unity government of technocrats.

    "They both have some preconditions, which is not very good," the former president said. "But [Prime Minister] Salam Fayyad, representing Fatah, could form a government with Hamas in a very short time under the auspices of Saudi Arabia and Egypt."

    Following the meetings, Carter said he sent a letter to both leaders outlining a framework for a new government which they had discussed, and said they both sent him a written response approving the plan. Carter declined to detail the components of the proposal they endorsed but said he forwarded the letters to Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian official in charge of efforts to broker a lasting cease-fire with Israel.

    Whether the Obama administration will shift its policy toward a unity government or toward Hamas remains to be seen. Obama's public statements on Hamas echo those of President George W. Bush. But shortly before Mitchell left for his trip to the Middle East, he asked Carter to urgently send a copy of his new book - which includes a chapter titled "Can Hamas Play a Positive Role?" Carter said.

    "I think George Mitchell will carry out his mandate," Carter said.


Serial meddling in foreign affairs has been a bad habit of Jimmy Carter's since he left office. Habitat for Humanity is a charity and is non-political; but his ventures in foreign policy infringe on the role of the President. Americans who engage in such foreign policy making should be subject to the Logan Act.

    The Logan Act is a United States federal law that forbids unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. It was passed in 1799 and last amended in 1994. Violation of the Logan Act is a felony, punishable under federal law with imprisonment of up to three years.

    The text of the Act is broad and is addressed at any attempt of a US citizen to conduct foreign relations without authority.


Bill Clinton was perpetually aggrieved by Carter's meddling during his administration and the bitterness lingers to this day. Carter frustrated and derailed Clinton's foreign policy approach towards North Korea and its nuclear weapons program (and this but just one example) and made it more likely that North Korea would continue its nuclear program

    Faced with powerful evidence that the North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung was conducting a nuclear-weapons program that posed a looming threat to America's ally and de-facto protectorate South Korea, the President adopted the strongest of lines. "North Korea cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear bomb," Clinton said last November. "We have to be very firm about it." Kim did not seem much impressed by Clinton's firmness: he refused American demands that he stop production of weapons-grade plutonium and open his nuclear facilities to international inspectors. By June of this year, the matter had reached the crisis point, with Administration officials threatening military action. On June 16, while Clinton and his top national-security aides were in the midst of a discussion on building up United States forces in South Korea, the phone rang, and it was Carter calling from Pyonyang. Carter informed Assistant Secretary of State Robert Gallucci, the point man on Korea, that he intended to appear live on CNN within 30 minutes to announce that he had negotiated a breakthrough agreement with Kim. As Clinton and his top aides watched aghast, Carter did appear on CNN. He described as a "very positive step" a stale, previously offered promise by Kim to freeze plutonium accumulation at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex and mistakenly assured the North Koreans that the U.S. was no longer pursuing economic sanctions against their country. Eventually, however, the North Koreans did agree to major concessions in return for diplomatic talks. But as congressional critics noted, the nuclear technicians at Yongbyon couldn't process the plutonium for 5 or 6 months anyway, because the highly radioactive rods needed to be "cooled." At the end of that time, North Korea could revive its nuclear program, finishing the year with enough plutonium in hand to make four or five bombs.


Now his meddling with Hamas and Fatah now may bring into existence a phony "unity government" that will usher in a new waterfall of foreign aid to Hamas (which will dominate the "unity" government until it is overthrown and dispensed with by them).

Most former Presidents realize when their role is over; they move on  to a different stage (sage counselor, charity work); there has never been a President more determined to continue his term in office indefinitely. He has caused a lot of harm (validating the elections of Hugo Chavez, spinning for that tyrant and many other tyrants, such as Yasser Arafat). He is a disgrace. Time to give him the hook and pull him off the stage.


Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/01/the_neverending_carter_foreign.html

And so it goes, many of these guys will not do what Reagan did and ride out into the sunset!  I think we've seen the last of Bush, he was beaten with a stick and hung out to dry by the media, he's not ready to jump back in any saddle, unless it's on his horse!!

I really have appreciated the way GHW Bush and Clinton worked together under W ... seems Clinton didn't overstep his bounds.  Carter should go back to raising peanuts. 

I saw this from V. Hanson:

Perhaps in this dawning of a new America with President Obama we can apply some of this heroic optimism - like that of the disabled mom who raises her four children while working and of the men and women serving in our armed forces. Surely these are the people who display the answer to our current troubles through their very actions, not the executives who beg for more government (i.e., taxpayer) money while they line their own pockets with grotesque salaries and discount the shareholders. Since these executives now essentially work on the public payroll, perhaps they should reduce their salaries to the ratio used at my public university: the president earns about five times the salary of a beginning tenure-track professor. Could the bank presidents, for example, live on five times the salary of a starting teller or even a branch manager? One hopes so.

Paulette, thanks for that link. It is really something what women can do when they work together. What a wonderful tribute to a very special person. I hope that we have offered her family some solace.

Just wanted to put up my fav quote for today.  Then off to beddy by I go.

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our  homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That's not leadership. That's not going to happen," ~ Barack Obama     

"Leadership?"

And then this one:

NY Times

WASHINGTON - The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.

"He's from Hawaii, O.K.?" said Mr. Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. "He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there." 

Leadership?  Oh, I get it.  Do as I say, not as I do.    

Oh girls and ibcspouse... can't stop laughing!

Kel - OMG...girl...you are tooooooooooooooooooo funny! Perhaps you and I can design, produce and sell those flashers! lol

Thanks for all the info... I am really ill right now... can't sleep... it's 2:45 am... sore throat - which I am convinced is metastatic cancer. But I'm trying to remain positive... lol... can hardly swallow... but am trying to ignore it and think about politics instead. lol

Moody,

I'm already praying for her.  Let us know what is happening.  Lots of updates when you can. Ok?

Moody- praying for your daughter.

Laura - get yourself to a walk-in clinic and make sure you don't have strep throat.

Thanks... will be going to a clinic this morning... feel like cra*. Hate this.

Moody - OM - hope, hope, hope all is well with your little one! Keep us posted please.