Jawa Report has the whole story.

The leader of Palestine.

President Obama placed the Middle East at the forefront of his first hours in office yesterday as he sought to make good on his promise of “ushering in a new era of peace”.

In a flurry of telephone calls from the Oval Office, he reached out to leaders in the region and vowed to engage immediately in pursuit of a permanent Arab-Israeli settlement.

The spokesman for President Abbas revealed that Mr Obama had told the Palestinian leader that their conversation was his first with a foreign statesman since taking office. Mr Obama also spoke to President Mubarak of Egypt, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, and King Abdullah of Jordan.

SOURCE

First it was Joseph Lowerys prayer at Obamas inauguration. Now this from Gateway Pundit:


Obama's economic adviser Robert Reich testified this month that the Obama stimulus package should be kept out of the hands of white male construction workers.
Here's your hopenchange video for the day:

I guess to Hamas to can get their rockets into place.

President Barack Obama urged Israel on Thursday to open its borders with Gaza.

The plea came in a speech that signalled the new US administration’s shift from Bush-era policy on the Middle East and the world as a whole. In a high-profile address on his second day in office, just hours after he signed an executive order to close the centre at Guantánamo Bay, Mr Obama proclaimed that the US would “actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians” in the wake of this month’s Gaza war.

SOURCE

How ridiculous is this?

"...We pursued the concept of nonviolent resistance with Hamas leaders and gave them documents and video presentations on the successful experiences of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther king, Jr. and others..."

"...The premise of real peace and security in exchange for Palestinian territory has long been acceptable to a substantial majority of Israelis but not to a minority of the more conservative leaders who are unfortunately supported by most of the vocal American Jewish Leadership.."

Hat Tip Zip

“I already know. I got my 50% ready,”



More at CNS News

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- Military judges on Wednesday will consider motions by the Obama administration to suspend the Guantanamo war crimes trials for 120 days during a review of the system for prosecuting suspected terrorists.

The motions, filed late Tuesday at the direction of President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, will be heard in the cases of five men charged in the Sept. 11 attacks and of Canadian Omar Khadr, who is accused of killing an American soldier with a grenade in Afghanistan in 2002.

Obama has said he will close the military detention center in Cuba, where the U.S. holds about 245 men, and he had been expected to halt the widely criticized war-crimes trials created by former President George W. Bush and Congress in 2006.

The motions to suspend the trials came the day of Obama's inauguration. Before Obama was sworn in, a military judge adjourned the war crimes court until Wednesday, noting the future of the commissions was in doubt.

In the motion filed for the Sept. 11 case, U.S. military prosecutor Clay Trivett says a continuance is necessary in all pending cases because the review may result in significant changes to the system.

"The interests of justice served by granting the requested continuance outweigh the interests of both the public and the accused in a prompt trial," Trivett wrote.

The motion was written at the direction of the president and defense secretary, he said.

"It will permit the newly inaugurated president and his administration to undertake a thorough review of both the pending cases and the military commissions process generally," he added.

There are war crimes charges pending against 21 men being held at Guantanamo, including the five charged with murder and other crimes in the Sept. 11 case. Judges would be required to suspend the other cases as well, though hearings may not be necessary.

Eric Holder, the president's nominee for attorney general, has said the so-called military commissions lack sufficient legal protections for defendants and that they could be tried in the United States.

A human rights group at Guantanamo to observe this week's session of the war crimes court welcomed what appeared to be the looming end of the special tribunals.

SOURCE

This is a sad day for freedom of speech.
Here is the film:




Jihad Watch and Gateway Pundit have much more.

Here is the report from Fox News:

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A right-wing lawmaker should be prosecuted for inciting racial hatred with anti-Islamic statements that include calling the Koran a "fascist book," a Dutch court ruled Wednesday.

Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders made headlines around the world in March 2008 with his film "Fitna," which juxtaposed Koranic verses against a background of violent film clips and images of terrorism by Islamic radicals.

In 2007, Wilders called for a ban on the Koran "the same way we ban 'Mein Kampf."' He said both Adolf Hitler's work and the Muslim holy book contain passages that contradict Western values.

The Amsterdam Appeals Court called Wilders' statements in his film, newspaper articles and media interviews "one-sided generalizations ... which can amount to inciting hatred."

The court's ruling reverses a decision last year by the public prosecutor's office that said Wilders' film and interviews were painful for Muslims but not criminal.

Wilders told Dutch media it was a "black day for myself and for freedom of speech."

The decision set the stage for what will likely be a highly charged trial touching on the declining Dutch tolerance toward a large immigrant population from Muslim countries, mainly Morocco and Turkey. Dutch attitudes shifted markedly after the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a radical Dutch Muslim.

Wilders, whose party has nine lawmakers in the 120-seat lower house of Dutch Parliament, has built his popularity largely on tapping into fear and resentment among Dutch voters of Muslim immigrants.

This Aint Hell has the details:

According to TSO who was at the “Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball”, this newly sworn-in President for the first time in 56 years blew off the ball (that’s 14 Inaugurations).

Those classy leftist in action again.


Gateway Pundit has the details.

Gateway Pundit has the details.

Clearly Obama has no idea what it is exactly that we are fighting. Robert goes into detail about this at Jihad Watch:

The President in his Inaugural Address:

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

Good luck with that. Will he find that mutual respect reciprocated? Do the Saudis treat us with respect when they fill Islamic schools and mosques in America with material teaching hatred of Jews and Christians and the necessity to subjugate unbelievers under the rule of Islamic law? Do the Pakistanis respect us when they take our money to fight jihad terrorism and use it instead to aid jihad terrorism? Will Obama examine the reasons why that respect may not be forthcoming, and adjust policies accordingly?


Robert Also points on that Rick Warren made sure he did not leave Muslims out in his prayer. SEE HERE

You be the judge...




Benediction at Obama 's inauguration, Rev. Joseph Lowery: 'Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen. Say Amen'...

Barber names his tiny shop ‘Barack Obama’ in tribute to man being sworn in as US president.


KHARTOUM - Sudanese men can now get a haircut and a shave at a tiny barber shop named Barack Obama in tribute to the man being sworn in as US president on Tuesday, despite strained ties between Khartoum and Washington.

A huge portrait of Obama with his name written in Arabic has been propped up outside the barber shop in north Khartoum's Markizi, or central, market.

"I opened the shop just before the US presidential election in November but I waited for Obama's victory before naming it after the president-elect," barber shop owner Muntasser Jacob said.

"If the Republican John McCain had won the election I would not have named my shop after him," Jacob said.

Sudan has been on Washington's list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1993 and subject to US economic sanctions since 1997.

SOURCE

Shortly after taking office, President Obama is expected to sign a bill that could give health insurance to illegal aliens and children from middle-class families that make more than $61,000 per year.

Last week, the House voted 289-139 to expand HR 3963, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, a federal program providing coverage to children whose families have higher incomes than those who qualify for Medicaid. The bill, sponsored by Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., renews the program for five years, increases funding from the current $35 billion to $60 billion and expands coverage from million to 11 million uninsured children.

The Senate Finance Committee began reviewing the bill Thursday. If passed by the Senate, the legislation will be ready for Obama to sign after he takes office. Similar legislation sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., passed the Senate 12-7 Thursday. Baucus' bill would increase SCHIP funding by $31.5 billion.

HR 3963 is expected to receive quick approval from the new president.

Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, told the Associated Press Democrats are seeking to give Obama an early victory on healthcare.

President Bush vetoed two different versions of SCHIP extension legislation during his presidency, claiming the bills were a step toward socialized medicine.

Critics claim SCHIP expansion could damage the private insurance market by discouraging employers from covering their workers' children on private plans, CNS News reports. Some say the program could also keep middle-class parents from buying insurance for their children because the legislation calls for an income cap of 300 percent above federal poverty levels – approximately $63,600 for a family of four in some states.

SOURCE

Like many conservatives, I am dazed that an unknown person with a far-left background is about to take office tomorrow as president of the United States. Also, like others of my persuasion, I have been mildly encouraged by the generally central-left appointments Barack Obama has made.

Here are my fears: That Obama will pursue a relatively moderate foreign policy so he can better devote attention to domestic policy. There, I expect, he will seek a fundamental restructuring of the relationship between state and society such as occurred under three of his democratic predecessors of the past century – Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson. Just as the country has started to push back on the Great Society, in will come in a new surge of spending programs and intrusions on personal freedom, prompting changes that in all likelihood will never be undone. (January 19, 2009)

SOURCE

In one of his first acts as president, Barack Obama is planning to lift a rule that prevents federal money from going to international family planning groups that counsel women on abortion or perform the procedure.

Obama's repeal of the abortion aid policy is one of several executive actions that he will take soon after his inauguration today, according to several Obama transition aides. He is also considering lifting Bush administration restrictions on federally funded stem cell research.

On Wednesday he is to meet with military advisers and order them to submit plans for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq within 16 months. That pledge was a staple of Obama's campaign speeches, and aides said he would follow through. But Obama also has pledged to heed advice from ground-level commanders, some of whom believe the 16-month timetable is too rushed.

Obama's team also is reviewing scores of rules and regulations set in motion by Bush administration officials as President George W. Bush's term wound down, the aides said, with an eye toward putting them on hold until the review is completed.

SOURCE

Very bad choice. Robert Spencer explains this in this article at Front Page Mag:

Barack Obama isn’t wasting any time making an impression: he has selected the leader of a group that has been named an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case to present a prayer during his inauguration festivities. Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), will offer a prayer at the National Cathedral Tuesday.

Superficially, Obama’s choice is understandable: Ingrid Mattson is a Canadian convert to Islam who has carefully cultivated the image of a moderate spokesperson. Yet her organization’s record is not entirely clean. Federal prosecutors last summer rejected claims that ISNA was unfairly named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. And ISNA has even admitted ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, complaining only that the government’s evidence for those ties came from old documents, but offering no proof that the organization had reversed course. In a memorandum on the Muslim Brotherhood’s strategy in the United States, a Muslim Brotherhood operative named ISNA as an allied organization in what it called “a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”

What’s more, in a CNN chat room on October 18, 2001, Mattson offered a subtle defense of Osama bin Laden. She avowed that “only a small number of Muslims throughout the world would support Osama bin Laden’s tactics.” (Emphasis added.) Tactics alone? Is that the only problem with Osama? Does she, then, hold to his goals? Mattson even suggested that “a larger number” of Muslims share bin Laden’s grievances, and that he was popular because the leaders of Islamic countries had failed their people: Muslims, she said, “turned to Osama bin Laden as a spokesperson…because they feel that no one else, including their own leaders, has spoken for them.” This disquietingly echoes the jihadist critique of secular regimes in Muslim countries such as Egypt and Pakistan: jihadists label such regimes illegitimate and apostate because they do not implement Islamic law in its fullness.

In 2002 she even asserted that in countries that were not functioning democracies, “‘extremism’ might seem to be the only rational choice, because extreme actions are the only actions that seem to have an effect.” This again gives the impression that bin Laden’s goals were laudable, and that he was driven by desperation to illegitimate actions in pursuit of a legitimate goal.

READ IT ALL


IPT has more on this woman.

And I will be following him closely from this day forward...