The Obamas And Diplomatic Etiquette

Tifatul Sembiring shook Michelle Obama's hand. A "pious" Moslem shook the hand of a woman not his wife. Huge no-no!




She forced herself on him! Yeah, right.

The Obamas are hardly strangers to breaches of diplomatic etiquette:


Don't the Obamas listen to their coaches in diplomatic etiquette?

I'm no defender of Islam and its weirdo traditions and legalisms. That said, I see a bigger problem with the Obamas and their flaunting of protocol.

Furthermore, if a Republican First Family were making these mistakes, the mainstream media would excoriate the entire GOP.

Note: Michelle Obama did manage to conform to the dress code so as to visit Istiqlal Mosque (Click directly on the image to enlarge it):


More photos HERE at Weasel Zippers.

Turn the page ....

America, Welcome To The Gulag!

This topic of this posting is everywhere today, I know. But something as significant and anti-American as what the White House posted on its official web site cannot be ignored by a blog called "Always On Watch."

The screen shot (hat tip to Karen of Eastern Right):


The infamous paragraph is below the fold:

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

The left believes that dissent is fine and dandy when the left is doing the dissenting. Another standard evidently applies when the right dissents.

And the White House is now promoting snitching, even extending to "casual conversation," because some Americans are wary of BHO's health-care reform. Daring to defy BHO makes targets of any who won't toe his line.

[sarcasm] Charming, simply charming. [sarcasm off]

Turn the page ....

Maybe BHO Holds A Grudge Against The Cambridge Police Department

(Note to readers: If you're sick of politics, please scroll down for a musical interlude)



Oh, this is rich (with thanks to The Merry Widow):

...According to the Somerville Times in 2007, as a Harvard Law School student, Obama got 17 parking tickets during 1989-1991 from the Cambridge Police Department that he left unpaid until just weeks before he announced his bid for the presidency.

"In other words, as a practicing lawyer in Chicago, he allowed these tickets and penalties to remain unpaid; as an Illinois state senator he allowed these tickets and fines to remain unpaid; and as a United States senator he allowed these almost-two-decade-old signs of his disdain for the law to remain unpaid," commented John LeBoutillier on Newsmax.com....

Read the entire article HERE. If you don't trust World Net Daily as a source, HERE is the story from the Associated Press; the story is dated March 8, 2007.

So, our Chief Executive BHO is a scofflaw.

Typically, the mainstream media love to dig up dirt like this. Why didn't that dirt on BHO get exposed? Undoubtedly, such information about a conservative candidate or elected official would have been released.

Turn the page ....

The Double Standard. Once Again.

Quickie link to this posting at Down Under On The Right Side. Excerpt:

In response to the College Republican’s anti-Hamas event...held on Wednesday the “offended parties” have banded together to push the school to punish the College Republicans for throwing shoes at the Hamas Flag. Over the next few days the coalition will release a statement making the following demands...

Read it all over at MK's site.

Turn the page ....

Non-Muslims Are Dogs

So were told some ten-year-old children on a field trip to a mosque in Amsterdam — a field trip to promote understanding and to emphasize freedom of religious choice.

Via this posting over at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and discussed a bit at Infidel Bloggers Alliance:

THE HAGUE, 09/04/08 - A primary school in Amsterdam wished to provide its pupils with an understanding for other cultures. But during a visit to a mosque, the children were told they were dogs.

With a view to developing understanding and respect for other cultures among children, primary school De Horizon regularly organises outings to various religious organisations. The chairman of the El Mouchidine mosque told the children from group 7 (aged 10) and their chaperones however that non-Muslims are dogs....

As expected, the children's parents were outraged, the school officials not so much:

..."We will resolve the matter amongst ourselves and I have no inclination whatsoever to discuss the matter with the media", as newspaper De Telegraaf quoted the school's spokesperson Mariet ten Berge. "We have been to the mosque before and it always went well".

Angry parents had sent the letter on to De Telegraaf but were reportedly rapped on the knuckles by the school's management. "The school wishes to play this down. That is precisely the problem", as one mother commented.

Media coverage and public discussion of the matter would be Islamophobic, right? Mustn't show any Islamophobia, no matter what!

According to the article, the school regrets the incident and has declared the mosque chairman's words "unacceptable." The mosque's regret is of the it's-not-my-fault type (hat-tip to WC of The Gathering Storm, citing this source):

According to a press release by Mohamed Guennoun, chairman of the El Mouhahidine mosque, the report above is based on erroneous information. He had never called unbelievers dogs and he rejects such statements.

[...]

There were several tours in March. Since he doesn't speak Dutch well he was assisted by a volunteer during the first three tours. For the fourth group, who had come on March 26th, he had to do without translation.

[...]

Guennoun stresses that he was speaking of the extremists. He doesn't belong to that group and he rejects their way of thinking....

Let's see if we can get this straight. Mosque Chairman Guennoun claims never to have called the children dogs, but now offers the excuse that he had to do without a translator. In other words, he didn't call the children dogs — except that he did by accident — and, in any case, was speaking of others who hold the view that non-Muslim children are dogs.

Whatever.

Guennoun also wants the story corrected. No word yet as to if he's going to the school to apologize personally to the children.

Turn the page ....

Barney Frank's Mistake

According to this December 22, 2007 item in the "Religion" section of the Washington Post, Barney Frank regrets two of the votes he recently cast:

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) says he was wrong to vote different ways on House resolutions recognizing Christmas and Ramadan.

Instead of voting for the Muslim holiday and abstaining on the Christian one, Representative Frank says he should have abstained on Ramadan as well....

In my experience, politicians don't make such admissions unless constituents have applied some pressure. Of course, it is possible that Representative Frank realized all on his own that his differing votes evidenced a double standard.

Why do I have doubts about his revised view, just in time for Christmas? I've become highly skeptical about the integrity of all politicians — the result of my observing politicians' ambivalence and their lack of integrity as they jockey for power and votes.

Returning now to the remainder of the item in the Washington Post, Representative Frank further explained about his change of mind:

Frank says he's Jewish and doesn't observe either holiday, but adds that he wouldn't support a Yom Kippur resolution, either. He says Congress should stay out of religious matters and let Americans worship as they wish. In the future, Frank says he'll abstain on all such resolutions.

I've never quite understood why politicians abstain from voting — unless, of course, they aren't educated enough about a certain matter to vote responsibly. Isn't our elected representatives' job to make decisions?

Why do politicians abstain from a vote, anyway? I look forward to commenters helping me to understand why politicians take non-positions on issues before them.

Turn the page ....

Mocking The Birth Of Jesus

Via this posting by JR of THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS:



YouTube link, which provides this blurb summing up the commercial:

We open on the nativity scene as the 3 wise men place their gifts inside the manger. There's a pregnant pause. Suddenly, one by one, the gifts are thrown out of the manger. The wise men look on in disbelief. Joseph and Mary look to each other with a blank expression.

Would any advertising company dare to design a commercial mocking Muhammad? Can't you just see the outrage which would ensue?

As JR of THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS sardonically stated:

Christians worlwide have of course gone on a rampage, trashed all the firm's stores and called for the beheading of all staff of the advertising agency. And the political Left have defended them for doing so -- saying that their feelings had been hurt and it was all due to poverty anyway.

The news article about the commercial is HERE.

No, this is not my Christmas posting! It will go up tomorrow when I post as part of the Carnival of Christmas 2007, hosted next week by CatHouse Chat. Bloggers interested in participating can find the pertinent information HERE.

Turn the page ....