He's Not Laughing With You, Hillary

So far, in return for stiffing our allies in Eastern Europe by ditching our commitment to a missile shield, Obama has been rewarded with: exactly nothing.

Seemingly bewildered by the task of switching from campaigning in front of adoring throngs to the difficult task of dealing with nations who don't give a fig about America or global stability, Obama has been courting Russia's support for diplomacy backed by the credible threat of sanctions against Iran. In the latest, entirely predictable example of non-cooperation, the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov torpedoed Obama's plan by indicating that the threat of sanctions against Iran would be counterproductive and premature.

Well, there goes that.

Hey Hillary, Lavrov isn't laughing with you.

The World Loves Us Now

Kabul University students burned President Obama in effigy and shouted "Death to America" over allegations that a Koran had been burned by foreign troops in Wadak province.

Haven't they heard that we have a transformational President, and The World Loves Us Now?

Hummingbirds

A moment's meditation on one of nature's most astonishing little gifts, the hummingbird.

Today, a storm swept through Northern California. The neighborhood wildlife could feel it coming, and the birds and squirrels had been absent since the day before. Absent, that is, with the exception of the hummingbirds.

The hummingbirds visited my feeder all through the storm, during the worst of the horizontal lashing rains, and revealed themselves to be not only swift and agile flyers but brave and strong flyers as well.

I've experienced a bit of their in-your-faceness before. When returning a full feeder to its hook, they'll buzz around me impatiently; when lounging on my deck, they'll hover in front of me before visiting the feeder as if to say "I've got my eye on you, don't make any sudden movements or there'll be trouble." All accompanied by the sound of a tiny jet engine.

But today they astonished me. Tiny little beings weighing a fraction of an ounce, taking everything the typhoon remnants could throw at them and stopping by for a snack. Remarkable.

They say that birds are descended from dinosaurs; were pterodactyls ever this graceful?

Kanye West Responds to the Nobel Committee

The More I Think About it, the Angrier I Get

The Nobel Committee has just made the world a more dangerous place.

Obama has garnered a Nobel Peace Prize for absolutely nothing. Nominations were due in early February, when he'd been in office for a fortnight. Nothing. But, megalomaniac mirror-gazer that he is, Obama will take this as a validation of his reckless and naive notion that he can wield influence in a dangerous world through His Beneficent Presence alone. The Nobel Committee has relieved Obama of the burden of all those pesky decisions an American leader needs to make in a dangerous world, making it much less likely that America will defend itself or its allies during the remainder of his presidency. (Or, as I prefer to call it, the interregnum.) The first victim of this tragedy, of course, will be Israel. With only France willing to stand up to Iran, the Nobel Committee has guaranteed that Israel will be forced to launch a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear program.

It's as if Norway has declared war on Israel.

Obama wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

In a patently partisan move which diminishes the value of every other award they have ever given, the Nobel Committee has awarded the 2009 Peace Prize to Barack Obama.

A former recipient of the Peace Prize is pictured above.

The Nobel Committee said, in part, that Obama has "created a new international climate." Well, they are right about that. Just ask the people of Honduras, who are scratching their heads wondering why the Obama administration is pressuring them to abandon the rule of law and return Hugo Chavez protege Manuel Zelaya to power after he was lawfully removed from office.

I guess the Norwegians were really impressed by that beer summit. Let's hope the Beer Summit is replicable and scalable for a multitude of problems, because we live in a dangerous world, and America is being led by a man whose only core belief is in the strength of his own personality.

(The best advice thus far has been offered by Mickey Kaus, who recommends that Obama politely decline the Prize.)

Waiting Periods

The State of California imposes a ten-day waiting period before a firearm can be released to its new owner.

So here's my question. If I have to wait ten days to pick up a firearm which is probably never going to hurt anyone, and which will almost certainly kill fewer people than Ted Kennedy's car, why shoudn't a woman seeking an abortion have to wait ten days before taking an action which is guaranteed to kill her child?

San Francisco's LovEvolution Parade 2009

The picture above is of two unsuspecting tourists whose guidebook didn't adequately prepare them for the decadence and social pathology on display in San Francisco's public celebrations, in this case the LovEvolution Parade. Miles away in the safety of the suburbs, I only experience this madness via news reports. The San Francisco Chronicle noted:

Thousands of people dressed in neon wigs, sparkly butterfly wings, tutus, bikinis - or occasionally nothing at all - and danced, hula hooped and hugged their way down San Francisco's Market Street on Saturday for the city's sixth annual celebration of love.

The motorists caught up in this latest display of San Franciscans' self-regard weren't feeling the love. San Franciscans of a Leftward bent profess their peaceableness and love of diversity, but drive into the city with a bumpersticker displaying a sentiment outside of the Leftward orthodoxy and watch how quickly the dreamy young hippie-wannabee stops throwing peace signs and starts calling for your execution.

The Ego Has Landed

Apologies to Drudge for headline theft.

In the Obama Administration's most recent example of megalomania, Imelda Michelle Obama put herself on a pedestal while thanking boosters for their efforts to bring the Olympics to Chicago in 2016.

"As much of a sacrifice as people say this is for me or Oprah or the President to come for these few days, so many of you in this room have been working for years to bring this bid home."

I'm sorry, who exactly thinks it is a sacrifice for the First Lady to buy herself a new frock and jet off to Copenhagen with Oprah? And the only thing Obama has sacrificed lately is American security.

Jimmy Carter accuses the International Olympic Committee of racism in 3, 2, 1...